Originally Posted by Buffalobiian
I thought he was dead. I also thought Ririka was the former captain of Bentenmaru.
I thought he was dead. I also thought Ririka was the former captain of Bentenmaru.
Ryll said Ririka was a former captain, but none of the characters have ever really hinted as such. The only back-up is that she wore the hat in one of the pictures Marika found on the internet, and that she's well known around the place (everyone knows a famous pirate ship's captain.. but rarely does the name Misa or Kane get spread around).
The mask means mystery man. I can only think of one mystery man.
I would have thought of scars too, indicating that he survived whatever horrific injury the crew thought he fell fatal to. Now that I remember.. they said he actually died of food poisoning...
(/me expecting some gag about him experimenting on a recipe with new native ingredients on an exotic planet and fell into a near-death state)
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
I always thought it was fairly straightforward that Ririka was previous heir to the Bentenmaru. She's wearing the captain's outfit in all the old photos, and knows the secret pot au feu recipe (that Marika only just found with the command ring). She married whatshisface to get out of the deal (someone had to succeed), and raise Marika peacefully and normally on Sea of Morningstar. If they're married, they're family, and he could inherit the Letter of Marque. Naturally, after he "died," their daughter inherited the ship and Letter of Marque.
It's possible that Ririka went from a horrible cook to a rather decent one because she obtained the recipe from Gonzaemon after she married him on board (or however it happened), but I believe more evidence sways toward her being the captain two captains ago, rather than her just being another enforcer on board. The captain always boards as part of the theater display after all.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Looks like it could indeed be a live test run of a government ship. A pretty dodgy way of testing weaponry, but then again, it's weaponry so the only way to really test it is to destroy stuff and kill people. At least they found an obvious sadist to pilot it. The pirate from the Empire should be a real pirate, though, not a theatrical one, unless some Empire nobles and social circles started to envy the cruises farther away for having such exotic entertainment and established a licensed pirate order of their own, including much more impressive armaments. If it was a real rogue, though, they would need to be damn good to operate closer to the Empire and its obviously omnipotent military.
Ironbeard's true identity wasn't really confirmed one way or another.
Yeah. He really might be some random out of nowhere, but Misa seems to recognise him.
This episode made me believe even more that Ririka wasn't a captain since it seems more comparable to how Misa made a name for herself out there.
The most amusing part this episode was how much fun Gruier had when she was just doing all the stuff she doesn't normally get to do (like wearing a maid's uniform and serving tea).
(University-Life Jenny sighted!)
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Not quite!
As cliché as it often is, I love that kind of development every time it is used. The suddenly beautiful side character gag never gets old for me. Coorie kind of looked like Fine from Symphogear, but I really liked that Horie Yui slid back from her adult refined voice to the lazy slob voice she's using for Coorie for the reveal. If you look carefully at the pretty version, and the slob version we're used to, you can see all the same shapes and lengths in her hair this whole time, which is a nice touch of continuity.
The other great part was that their enemy didn't remain aloof and mysterious, she has the haughtiness to show up at the very semi-secret pirate nest of those she is hunting, without her ship openly threatening the place. She does it just to feel out her opponent. She's worthy of being a pirate herself, if she ever wants to quit who she's working for.
I guess the remaining question is, where is the real Luca (hopefully not dead), and what's the deal with the twin Kanes?
P.S. Oh, and Chiaki getting all embarrassed about her "Onee-sama!" crush on Marika...by her father of all people.
Yep, I sure was mistaken, and it was a nice refresher too.
I had wondered why I like Kane so much.. it didn't hit home until this episode that he gave off Lockon Stratos vibes.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
I don't know about that. She seems like a person who enjoys fighting and killing and not necessarily even for the thrill of battle since she has maintained absolutely superiority of power all the time, even now at the station where she has better chameleon armor than predator ever did. At the moment I'd think she's a semi-insane killer of no morals. If she decided to become a pirate, she would be so ruthless the Empire would hunt her down, unless somebody else destroyed her first. Well, I suppose all that makes her a perfect opponent for Marika.
[Gundam 00 Reference]You wish for the Grand Cross pilot to kill Kane like Ali killed Lockon..?[/reference]
Last edited by Buffalobiian; Sun, 06-17-2012 at 08:38 AM.
Nah, just the hair, carefree nature and all.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
As Marika has been reminded multiple times by others for her development, not all of space is safe, and not all pirates are theater troupes and couriers.
She'd be hunted down, but she wouldn't need nor want a Letter of Marque to operate legally anyway. She considers the current usage of them as a waste. She doesn't even consider Marika and her allies to be true pirates. I got the impression from her discussion that she respects real pirates quite a bit more, ones from the greater Empire.
I didn't mean that she'd make a good Sea of Morningstar region pirate, but a good pirate in general. Less of a Drake, more of a Blackbeard.
Well, we don't really know. A real pirate wouldn't enjoy going around alone slaughtering other pirates just for the sake of doing it. Where's the profit, freedom, and romance in that? What's pirate like in that? Nothing. She's clearly a dog of some power right now, running a test run for a new machine of war. By any measure she's much lowlier than the humblest of the Sea of Morningstar region licensed pirates. Unless they pull out of their ass for her to be some billionaire that mysteriously managed to fund and have such a ship developed and built for her. Then she would be quite a high-calibre killer indeed.
But I do admit she got it right that the pirates in those parts are sorry excuses. At least Marika has sought a little adventure in addition to those theatrical contracts.
HorribleSubs - Episode 25
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Twin Kane... looking back at the episodes, it's all been pretty consistent - Kane referring to "Coach" as someone else when he and Marika talked about speech formalities on the shuttle.. "Coach" tending to the students while Kane showed up at the shady bar with Ririka one time, and quickly appearing on Bentenmaru to save Marika from the yacht-race sabotage as well.
Not the mention the "shady guy at the bar in the corner" was actually Ironbeard (aka Marika's dad) making sure no one touches her.
Last edited by Buffalobiian; Sun, 06-24-2012 at 05:09 AM.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
HorribleSubs - Episode 26
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Great finish. Conclusive yet leaving room for more. That red space-suit reminds me of Emeraldas's one.. which = dead sexy.
I wonder if the Gonzaemon really did ditch the rest of the crew with a "food poisoning" stunt in trying to fool them all. Misa might have recognised him because she was the certifying doctor who helped him pull it off, but if even Gruier could recognise him then it's only a matter of time before the rest of the crew finds out, if they haven't already.
Last edited by Buffalobiian; Sat, 06-30-2012 at 12:56 PM.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Damn, the design of the Grand Cross is great - rotating weapon platform, with central unmoving command bridge.
It even has a weakness - zig-zag gravity engine isn't that great - it needs to have route prepared in advance so no sudden changes are possible(although it has no 'cooldown' time, and the route can be plotted pretty quick judging by its performace) - it even has less weapons that we originally thought - just scattered groups of few rapid firing laser beams that just spray the are in front of it.
Not to mention that it is the FIRST battleship in this series that isn't sword shaped.
Sadly its defense against projectile weapons are a joke - ONE missile pierced through layered armor..
We can conclude from that: in Galactic empire nearly no one uses projectile weapons.
This episode was good and i'm seriously hoping for second season(or maybe third even).
Number of works of fiction that made me shed at least one tear: 3Thou seeketh soul power, dost thou not?TOX: 33524385841A92B08787EEBEBA2DB51ED293C4F15A2E292F3F C92165E82388281433A77EA8FE
Marika sure had a nice body in the tight space suit, just like Bill noted. I have been thinking that before during the show, from the occasional glimpses granted, but now they really went all out to show it.
Quartz herself was really the biggest culprit for losing this fight. Not only did she grandly underestimate the pirates but her skills aren't anything to speak of. Her only strength was, in the end, the great machine that she wasn't able to utilize beyond 30%, I reckon. Maybe Grand Cross also had some critical flaws in the control systems, but since those would have been made evident even in combat simulations, I wouldn't really count on it. Nobody throws into a battle an obviously expensive ship running Windows 98 as its operating system... I'm not trying to say Marika didn't pull off an excellent fight, she really did, but they wouldn't have had much of a chance against a more capable opponent. But then again, trying to alone effectively control three ships at the same is a joke in itself.
Great last episode in any case. Marika must be a real prodigy in ship captaining (even if she isn't one in planning her personal schedule), so the rest really need to be worried about their future, should they ever find themselves opposing her.
Great last episode. The series had its ups and downs, with the teenage girl outing parts boring me to death, but the more serious episodes are great.
I can't wait for the movie.
Peace.
Not really a surprise. Once they invented effective large-scale laser weapons, the added weight of projectile weapons, or even kinetic ones is a liability. The reactors are going to generate what they will, so less weight, the better, plus, laser weapons have "ammo" as long as the reactors are still running.
But the bigger difference was the volume of them. Pirates use "brutal" missiles. The Barbalusa's singular missile was a beast. They were able to ram in down the beta-Grand Cross throat because they overwhelmed the defenses with a feint. That makes me wonder if the Grand Cross-class barrier system functions similarly to the Macross Pinpoint Barrier. An absolute defense, but only in one concentrated focus. A lot of the weaknesses Marika and her merry band exploited was overwhelming Christie's command. She had a lot of automated systems, but she was still only one woman piloting three ships at once.
All in all, a great show. Could have used a little more focus on actual tactics, and maybe a little more realism toward the vein of Starship Operators, but at least it wasn't dry for even a moment. It was fun, and Space Operas are always welcome.
You guys recommend this series? Seeing 7 pages of discussion I'm leaning towards "Yes".
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