March 26, 2012

Mouretsu Pirates -- The Gruier arc

Now that the whole Golden Ghost Ship arc is complete, I watched the whole thing in one sitting and took notes, which are below the fold.

I think I was unfairly negative after I first watched ep 12. It's a lot better than I originally thought.

 


 

Gruier's plot arc begins in ep 7 at 06:00 with the unexpected alert from Bentenmaru to Misa, Kane, and Marika.

That was the offer of the job to raid the Symphony Angel. They were offered double pay for it. Why?

Gruier told someone in her retinue that she wanted to experience a pirate attack. And not just by any pirate ship; it had to be by Bentenmaru. It's hard to say whether anyone in her retinue knew she intended to stow away on Bentenmaru; either she fooled them, or they were helping her. But she said that's what she wanted, and someone official went to the shipping company and pretty much ordered them to get Bentenmariu, no matter what.

So they asked for Bentenmaru, and were told that it wasn't available. So they offered double the normal fee, and the folks on Bentenmaru decided to take it after all.

Ep 7, 07:45: why does this shuttle look different than the one in ep 8?

Ep 7, 13:30: Chiaki's phone call to her father. How does he know what's going on?

Ep 7, 14:00: Why were the Corbacks so aggressive? Obviously because they were protecting Princess Gruier Serenity, or thought they were. Eventually the skipper of Symphony Angel called them and said, "Hey, calm down! It's all supposed to be a game! We knew Bentenmaru was coming because we hired them!"

Ep 7, 20:00: Courier reports on some computer interference which permitted Gruier to slip on board. But Gruier isn't carrying any fancy electronics. Is she super hacker? No sign that she is, later. Did a member of her retinue do it? Possible, but I prefer a different idea: Gruier has been genetically engineered, and has some special abilities. More about that later.

Ep 8, 03:35: "Reliable family trees can trace their lineage back over a hundred generations." Baloney. If you figure 20 years per generation then that's 2000 years (and 25 years or even 30 is more plausible). No one can trace their lineage back that far, not even the Emperor of Japan. (IIRC, the Emperor's lineage goes back about 1500 years to the point where the first emperor was descended from Amaterasu, but modern scholars consider the first few hundred years of that to be mythology.)

Ep 8, 10:15: With so little information, why did Marika accept Gruier's job? A number of reasons, I think. One is that she didn't feel as if Gruier was trying to set them up. And it sounded interesting, and if she really was princess of Serenity, the money was going to be good. But a really good reason for accepting it is that if Bentenmaru was hired by Gruier, then it would be hard for anyone to claim that they kidnapped her, or were holding her against her will. Likewise, taking her back to Sea of the Morningstar and putting her in the school under her own name was another way of saying, "We have nothing to hide because we aren't doing anything wrong."

Ep 8, 15:10: Gruier stands alone outdoors, looking at the stars. This is where she is using her "secret method, passed down through the Serenity Royal Family" to communicate with Serenity. How is she doing it? She didn't bring any amazing electronic devices with her on Bentenmaru. In fact, all she took on board was her skin and her dress. They had to make a school uniform for her. So how is she communicating with Serenity?

With her mind. She is using another aspect of her genetically engineered ability. And that's why she knows why Misa, Kane, and Marika were summoned to space the next day, and why she wants to go along. She isn't joyriding, and she wouldn't have done that if it hadn't been an aspect of her job.

Ep 8, 17:50: Another shuttle trip, and it looks different than the one in ep 7. Could it be that there's a big passenger cabin in the back, and a smaller lounge up front? So it's different parts of the same shuttle?

Ep 8, 20:10: Gruier compliments Marika's uniform, and says she'd like to wear it. After the conversation, she looks glum, and Misa notes it.

This scene was noteworthy, and now I think I understand it. As we now know, Gruier doesn't have a father or a mother. There isn't anyone like that, even in history, let alone while she was growing up. And I think it's been an emotional sore spot for her. Somehow, somewhere, she met and spent time with Marika's father -- and I think that mentally Gruier came to think of him as a foster father, even though of course he wasn't. He may have been the only adult man she ever met who wasn't awed by her, who called her by name, who teased her, and treated her like a normal girl. And she liked it. The evidence is pretty strong that Gozaemon was a very charming man.

Likely he didn't know she was feeling that way, but it's evident they became close and she got to know him well (maybe over a few days). And it may be that he let her wear his uniform. And she's remembered that, and wants to make that connection with him again, now that he's dead.

There were strange vibes early on in how she related to Marika, and I think the reason is that she's dealing emotionally with the fact that Gozaemon had a real genuine daughter. I think Gruier emotionally comes to think of Marika as a big sister, a bit. And she wants the same kind of familiarity and intimacy with Marika that she had with Gozaemon. That's why she so readily asks Marika to speak familiarly and call Gruier by her name.

Ep 8, 21:10: It's interesting to compare how the bridge crew act when the Serenity fleet shows up, compared to the raid on the Symphony Angel. In that case they were casual, but this time they're all very serious and disciplined. For the Symphony Angel, they all did what they felt like, but this time they wait for orders before doing anything significant.

Ep 9, 07:30: Gruier says that Gozaemon taught her how to speak casually. That makes more sense in Japanese where polite speech or respectful speech is quite different than familiar speech. (English is much less like that; the language has discarded nearly all such differentiations, especially in America.)

Ep 9, 09:10: Yotof's conversation with Gruier still doesn't make sense to me. my guess is that when he says that "nothing has happened at the Palace" that he means that Grunhilde is still there.

Ep 9, 12:15: Chiaki says that "we were hired to search for the ghost ship too," according to the translation. We now know that they didn't take the job, and I wonder if there's some subtlety in the translation here.

I've run into that before. The English word "drown" implies death, but the Japanese word with the closest meaning apparently doesn't. To get that in English we'd says they "nearly drowned" or something like that.

And I wonder if the word Chiaki used doesn't imply acceptance, the way "we were hired" does in English.

Ep 9, 13:30: Everyone in the yacht club uses -chan to greet Chiaki. There isn't any doubt at all that they know it annoys her.

Ep 9, 16:40: "Let's start by taking Gruier to the Simulation Dome!" I finally figured out what that was. They're talking about the yacht simulators. That's where we first met Marika in the first episode, when Kane and Misa were monitoring her as she made a simulated landing from space.

Ep 9, 18:11: Oyajisan has the same kind of scar on his eyebrow that Hyakume has. I doubt it's significant, except that it may mean he's been in action when he was younger. I wonder if he's a former pirate?

Ep 9, 20:25: Courier says, No one knows why this route was chosen (for the Golden Ghost ship). Now that we know it was acting as the Serenity royal vault, and had been successfully visited many times, likely its route was changed each visit.

Ep 10, 02:40: I have to say that the whole idea of passenger liners hiring pirates to attack and rob their passengers is one of the nicest and most creative ideas I've run into in science fiction in a long time. And Marika's hiring Chiaki and Barbarossa to pretend to be Marika and Bentenmaru is particularly nice. It's going to be especially lucrative, because Barbarossa will get the whole normal fee, plus Marika is going to pay them extra for pretending to be Bentenmaru. (Or, I should say, Gruier is going to pay them. It's another entry in the expense account.)

Ep 10: 05:35: Gruier says, "If it's needed, the ghost ship will come to me." Is that another manifestation of her special ability?

Ep 10, 10:25: "That's why the royal family was able to maintain Serenity's independence." We still don't fully understand this.

Ep 10, 13:30: Lot's going on, but Marika is steady, fearless, and unpanicked. Gruier is watching her. Is it because Marika reminds her of Gozaemon?

Ep 10, 16:55: "The blood of the captain..." No, Gruier is not a vampire. I think this is about her mentally adopting Gozaemon, and now meeting Gozaemon's true daughter. And the fruit didn't fall far from the tree. She keeps seeing Gozaemon in Marika. She apparently has mixed feelings about it: should she be jealous, or happy? Should she think of Marika as a big sister?

Ep 11, 06:00: "So there's something I'd like you to do for me." That's when Marika sets up the plan for the confrontation.

Ep 11, 15:50: "What's the meaning of that uniform, Grunhilde?" I think I understand this now. Only the current reigning member of the royal family can wear such a uniform on the fleet flagship. Grunhilde isn't it. Gruier and Grunhilde are both described as "legitimate heirs" to the throne, which means someone else currently occupies it. Grunhilde wearing that uniform is usurpation. Doubly so, because Gruier herself is senior.

Ep 12, 14:50: Courier calls. Marika isn't wearing her helmet.
Ep 12, 15:00: and now she is. Maybe she put it on so she could use the radio? And Gruier and Misa, too? Or was this just an excuse by the director to get Gruier into her helmet, so she could be gassed?

Ep 12, 16:30: I'll give Marika credit for this: she took the most dangerous job herself. She didn't ask her people to take any risks she wasn't willing to take herself.

Ep 12, 18:15: Heading to Serenity. One question I had was, why didn't the Serenity people do this the last few times they visited it? I think there are two answers to that. First, they didn't want it in the Serenity system, because it would have been too easy to loot. That's no longer an issue; it's all been looted long since. Second, they didn't have Courier, or any equivalent.

Ep 12, 18:20: and on. Now Marika does her toughest job yet. She has to convince Gruier to accept the outcome. Otherwise Bentenmaru won't get paid.

Another point: Grunhilde may be contemptuous of pirates, but the men of the Serenity Navy clearly aren't. It's evident that they hold the crew of Bentenmaru in high regard, and well they should. Privateers are an elite. There aren't all that many billets, and I think that for certain kinds of people, those who love space, getting a job on a pirate ship is the big leagues. It's where the action is. It's where the romance of space is. I suspect there are a lot more people who want to work on pirate ships than there are positions, so Bentenmaru (and the others) can pick and choose.

Besides which, their experience with Bentenmaru over the previous couple of days was very impressive. Marika foxed them good, and they know it.

Ep 12, 20:00: Of course, once Gruier sees the baby, and holds it in her arms, then she is glad that Marika prevented her from destroying the Rose.

Ep 12, 21:10: Kane has been listening to Marika talking to Gruier, and feels relief that Marika has convinced her. This is something of a reprise of the scene in ep 10 when Gruier lost her nerve, and Marika steeled her.

Ep 12, 22:00: And Bentenmaru goes home again.

Among other things, I think Marika has gained considerable credibility with her own crew (all of them, not just the bridge crew). The outcome of this mission was nearly perfect from their point of view. They achieved something tremendous, and saw amazing things. No one got hurt. They're going to collect a huge fee (and, I bet, a big bonus). They didn't damage their reputation; if anything, they enhanced it. Marika was decisive, and she showed a fine ability to take calculated risks. She also anticipated a major crisis and prepared for it before it happened. And she led from the front. She's got guts and brains and she's cute and charismatic. What's not to like?

Having gone through the whole arc like this again, in one sitting, I'm coming around on it. It isn't perfect, by any means, but I now think it's a whole lot better than I did immediately after watching it the first time.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 08:23 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 2284 words, total size 13 kb.

1 I thought, after the last episode, that you were being "emotionally" too harsh (perhaps from disappointment), but your criticisms were spot on.   I'm still somewhat disappointed in the show; good, not great, as I said.

As for your final question, what's not to like is that she's hyper-competent.  If I wanted that, I'd go re-read the Lensman series.   Otherwise, harkening back to the discussion on villainy, it's hard to really shine when your real enemy is the corporate balance sheet.

Posted by: ubu at March 26, 2012 08:47 PM (GfCSm)

2 What I meant was "What's not to like for her crew?"

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at March 26, 2012 09:34 PM (+rSRq)

3 Um, I think you messed up the episode numbers somewhere, since you're ending it with 11.

Posted by: Mauser at March 27, 2012 12:54 AM (cZPoz)

4 Fixed.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at March 27, 2012 04:40 AM (+rSRq)

5 I agree with something you wrote in an earlier post -

Posted by: Siergen at March 27, 2012 03:19 PM (3/gGt)

6 "The evidence is pretty strong that Gozaemon was a very charming man."  He convinced Ririka to marry him, even if it didn't last too long.  Schnitzer has mad respect for her, so if Gozaemon wasn't insanely charming, I'd be amazed.  (Or the character wouldn't work)

Also, it's not out of the question that the Bentenmaru would do a lot of work for the smaller governments.  They need things done on the unofficial, as well.


Posted by: sqa at March 27, 2012 06:56 PM (HclIG)

7 Taking the comment about "enhancing the Bentenmaru's reputation" one step further, I wonder if the rumor is now going to start going around that the Bentenmaru can be in two places at once.  Heh.

Posted by: Dave Young at March 28, 2012 05:59 PM (ZAk0Z)

8 I suspect that if they bother to tell us, we'll find that Gruier's relationship to Gozaemon is more than just a few days encounter.  Perhaps Marika's mom isn't just some random spacer.  Or perhaps a previous Serenity Princess spent some time as crew on the Bentenmaru when she wasn't "on duty" as the rotating princess.
I have no trouble with the concept of tracing your lineage back 100 generations from that point in time.  I can trace my family tree back over 600 years, and I'm hardly somebody special.  And with the data storage we have now, I see no reason why my nth descendants a thousand years from now wouldn't have access to any of that kind of data we have now.
It's looking like we have a bit of the Banner of the Stars type of thing happening here, where there is an excellent, rich source material in the novels, and only so much of it can come through in the anime.  And with Pirates, they're choosing to skimp on the background to make it more accessible to the general fan than Banner was.  With people complaining about the pacing as it is, it's probably a wise choice, but it obviously causes problems.

Posted by: David at March 28, 2012 08:53 PM (Kn54v)

9 David:

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at March 28, 2012 09:21 PM (+rSRq)

10 Unfortunately,

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at March 28, 2012 09:24 PM (+rSRq)

11 What if

-j

Posted by: J Greely at March 29, 2012 09:22 PM (2XtN5)

12 J, the problem is

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at March 29, 2012 09:43 PM (+rSRq)

13 I was thinking along the lines of

-j

Posted by: J Greely at March 29, 2012 10:11 PM (2XtN5)

14 No sale.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at March 30, 2012 06:24 AM (+rSRq)

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