Moretsu Pirates: Bodacious Space Pirates

[Ryllharu]

Alternate titles: Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku, Bodacious Space Pirates, Miniskirt Space Pirates

Description: Marika is a first year high school student living on a frontier planet that gained its independence from the Stellar Alliance with the aid of pirates carrying Letters of Marque. She is a skilled member of the yachting club, which practices spaceflight in simulators and occasional go to help out at the space station. One day she finds out that her recently deceased father was once the captain of one such "legal" space pirate ship called the Bentenmaru. There's a catch, the only one who can inherit the captain's title has to be a direct descendant.

Genres: Space, Action/Adventure, Space Pirates!, Coming of Age

Links: AniDB, ANN, Official Page

HorribleSubs: 720p


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I like it. It's very neo-classic space opera anime. Modernized, but there's a definite Outlaw Star or even Captain Harlock feel to the whole thing. Little bit of a Vandread feel too, without the ecchi. It feels like a 80s space adventure anime with updated visuals. Coming of age, Marika finds out about her legacy in a very laid back way ("I forgot," her mother says, who was without a doubt the captain for a time herself)...and then everything spirals out of control quickly as interested parties keep showing up.

Definite Kuroneko clone with the character who will no doubt become Marika's first officer and friend/rival Chiaki Kurihara. Looks like her, same VA, and using the same tones and attitude. Marika herself gives off a refreshing feel. She's not unwilling, but she's obviously unsure about the whole thing, or how serious it is turning out to be. The rest of the cast is good too. Again, no, it is not an all-girls cast. Just predominantly.

Meanwhile, we've got the old pirate crew scheming behind her back, making sure they are filling her crew with people she knows.

The lack of ecchi is interesting given the title and variants of the title. It's a nice change of pace honestly. This furthers the comparison with classic space opera anime.

[Archangel]

K-ON in space, dropped.

[Ryllharu]

K-ON in space, dropped.

Is "K-ON in _____" supposed to be an insult these days?

I'm reasonably sure you didn't watch the episode at all, because the comparison makes you look like a moron.

edit:
It's a slow day, and I'm bored, so let me think up what "K-ON in space" would be like...

You've got the klutzy cute one, the brash one, the idol-esque one, the rich refined one, and the reserved shy one that all the fans make a big deal out of. They all have spaceships but they never fly them beyond a montage of them getting into and out of them. They are usually goofing around, doing their own things on their space station. Occasionally they go on trips, but still never really achieve their objectives.

Oh, wait a second...that premise sounds familiar. Right, they made it into an anime 6 years before the K-ON manga even started.

Hmm, Morestu Pirates seems to share none of these qualities.

[Kraco]

An interesting space opera every now and then is always welcome. I miss the days when I could watch shows like Vandread for the first time. This seemed somewhat heavily biased on the girls-boys ratio, which isn't an aspect welcomed by me, but otherwise it looked more promising even story wise than I expected.

[Buffalobiian]

Space opera's always cool. I was going to watch Galaxy Railways I soon, but that can take a backseat in the meanwhile.

I don't get how everyone was saying that the new chick was "cute". She was giving off something best described as a death stare the entire time.

[Xelbair]

1st episode shows promise for decent, if not good space opera series.
Buff - i agree about the stare, but well.. it is Kuroneko clone, as stated by Kraco on irc.

[Kraco]

Yeah, cool would have been more like it, instead of cute. She might turn cute once she's thawed, though. Or maybe they were all already so used to icy people they thought nothing of it.

[Buffalobiian]

HorribleSubs - Episode 02

[Ryllharu]

I like the punch of the weapons. Ririka made a good argument that, for pirates anyway, the threat is more important than actually using it. If the other party knows you can punch a hole through their hull and hop back aboard your own ship leaving them to breathe vacuum, they might be more...receptive.

Another nice touch was the dockside power of the Odette II. No ship wastes reactor fuel when they can get electricity from their dock. Booting all the systems up was very methodical, and I hope they have the same approach to the electronic warfare.

Anyone else think that the Lightning 11 is really the Bentenmaru (or at least her crew)?

Either way, I'm glad they are taking the nice and slow approach to getting Marika aboard the Bentenmaru. Like Outlaw Star did.

I like the roughness of the OP song too. I doubt I'd listen to it out of this context, but it makes me smile. It's just one more of those things that makes Moretsu Pirates remind me of old space opera anime. It's unconventional nowadays.

edit: Totally forgot about it. Kurihara hanging onto her parfait the entire fight & flight. Everyone has a weakness.

[Buffalobiian]

Anyone else think that the Lightning 11 is really the Bentenmaru (or at least her crew)?

Yeah. It felt like a test.

Kurihara in the ED has me confused. She's dressed like a mechanic, which isn't exactly a role I'd imagine her to fit.

[Kraco]

Anyone else think that the Lightning 11 is really the Bentenmaru (or at least her crew)?

The crew, maybe. That was my first thought as well, but the ship didn't look cool or big enough to be Bentenmaru itself. Maybe they dragged some old hull from somewhere and use it as a base of operations. But it could also be the first contact with an actual enemy. The pace of the show is pleasantly unhurried otherwise, but it's not impossible they'd get down to the business in the background nonetheless.

[Buffalobiian]

HorribleSubs - Episode 03

[Kraco]

Episode 4 - HS





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Who could have known this show that was supposed to be only about pirates in miniskirts could turn out interesting story wise. While I enjoy greatly the unhurried and surprisingly intelligent approach this is taking instead of being all about action, comedy, and pantsu like I expected, I also feel they are taking it a bit far right now. As a viewer I'm not anymore sure just what they are facing here. They treat it like another part of club activities, yet we know there are people who could be after Marika's very life.

Nevertheless I liked the fact the president already knew about Marika's unusual opportunity. Much better than a cliched host of background characters who are always surprised by everything.

[Buffalobiian]

I keep forgetting that pirates here don't really hold the same feared, criminal scum/bandit impression that they do in real life.

It's funny how an encrypted line could still be hacked if you know the ID of the ship at the other end. Security is pretty funny in this show.

My favourite track is the woodwind adventure tune that plays during the recap and preview segments.. but it greatly misleads the show. Hearing it makes me think of a Space Battleship Yamato type of thing.. not a Girls-on-a-club-activity-type-of-run.

[Kraco]

It's funny how an encrypted line could still be hacked if you know the ID of the ship at the other end. Security is pretty funny in this show.

I'm not so sure of that. When the president appeared, surprising those two eavesdroppers, she accused them of bugging the captain's room to listen to the teachers' talks. At least according to Horriblesubs. So, they might have just been listening to the room, not the actual communication line specifically.

[Animeniac77]

agree with the space-drama type scenario, it sorta makes ya miss shows like cowboy bebop

[Ryllharu]

[WhyNot] Mouretsu Space Pirates - 05



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I'm a big fan of the Yachting Club President being as utterly 90s cliché anime as possible. She's got the high-ponytail, blond, Anglic name, a very haughty attitude, and an oujo voice to match it. It's one of those details that makes this series very nostalgic, despite being new. Based on my impressions from the OP, the Bentenmaru's crew all carry the same kind of feeling, only they're lovable eccentric personalities.

People have been complaining for a while around the web that nothing happens during these episodes. I can't help but feel they're not even watching the same series. It's a slow approach, but one that gives it a feeling of sincerity and realism. Sure, they've got beam weapons, but the goal isn't to scrap another starship, it's to rob it, or kidnap the crew and ransom them off. Hence, electronic warfare and taking over another ship's systems is more important. The mention that opening up an FTL line to fake a distress call (and thus convince the Lightning 11 that they had the Odette II) would only open them up to real-time attack was a nice one. Same with Jenny's dismay that someone would even dare to fire weapons optically. For all the girl's planning, turning off a vital computer wasn't something they had considered would happen. Luckily, they had their own strategist aboard.

Marika's quick thinking of using the solar arrays to blind the enemy was nice as well, but revealed an interesting tidbit. The girls mentioned that the Lightning 11's thermal signature started to rise, as in considerably so. Combine this with the creaking of the Odette II as the beam weapons missed it meant something pretty important. Ships are annihilated in this series the same way they were taken out in Starship Operators, my favorite strategic space warfare series. The crews inside are roasted alive as the hulls get superheated. That's why Marika was quick to state that they didn't need to burn them up, only blind them. A nice sense of judgment and compassion for a legal pirate captain.

Chiaki being yet another Pirate Captain daughter caught me by surprise. It was obvious that she had led a life in space rather than on planets, but I expected her to be a rebel or a homesteader colonist or something like that, not in a similar position as Marika.

[Buffalobiian]

The biggest break in my expectations was that the big scary armoured fellow isn't an archenemy. Looks like he's either crew or Chhiaki's dad.

I'm also slightly disappointed that the teacher wasn't really married. It would have been a lot more fun to see I reckon.

The physics is a little weird in this show, but well within usual anime fare. It was definitely strange for the Bentenmaru and the other pirate ship to jump in. I was under the impression that they didn't care too much unless their captains/crew were in danger. And it seems being legal means they can steal a ship right in front of the military, lol.

[David75]

Having watched the Mysterious Cities of Gold and the Solaris eps, the Light reflecting (and concentration) idea Marika had was obvious the very same instant she got the flash.
The whole ep felt like textbook rookie crew training.

Thanks for reminding me that ligthning 11 goal wasn't to scrape the Odette, but stealing it for its value.
So the laser aim was at the sails/masts rather than the ship itself. Destroying it would only waste its value.

Overall, one good point in the ep was that the girls realized there are more than computers and computer assisted weapons to space combat... and that even when all your systems are down, when you have power, you can still manually shoot. Even if the error margins are high, you might eventually hit your target.
Just remembered writing it that to help your eyes and arms, you can have basic assistance for targetting in the form of relatively low tech electronics you can't hack at all. These systems would only be down with powerful EM waves, so powerful in fact you'd kill any living thing in the ship before affecting those parts...
So yes, the old ways of doing it are not to be forgotten.

[Kraco]

Quite a nice arc all in all. While the show certainly takes some freedom from physics and other matters for the sake of entertainment, I feel having this kind of introduction was better than throwing Marika immediately into the captain's chair of Bentenmaru and real, heated fights of split second decisions.

I didn't deem Bentenmaru and the other pirate ship appearing strange. All things considered they must have made the decision to interfere when the enemy started shooting. It's only that they appeared when the situation was already over, practically speaking. The navy appearing might be a bit more strange. Who told them to be ready to intercept?

Marika and Chiaki will be rivals, then. It's yet to be revealed just what licensed pirates can do and can't do, but one would assume they aren't bathing in gold coins. No matter how vital they were to the indepence of the planet in the past, they went around robbing every ship, no government would stand them, despite dusty old treaties. If they mainly attack foreign vessels, it's a different thing, but I at least hope in this show lone pirates aren't stronger than navies backed by whole worlds of industry, research, military academies and whatnot.