Come on, they are pirates. She should be happy they aren't cutting her throat the first chance they get, when she's not wary enough to pay attention. They should all have their own reasons for being aboard that ship, and I'd be disappointed if that reason was to cheer a new captain. Their income obviously depends on continuous heists, yet now they have a captain who's more interested in finishing her high school...
So now, who hires the Bentenmaru, benefits go where?
Is that their region of space that gets the money taken from the richer one? Some kind of tax, pirates being the ones to collect it?
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
... Okay. So, the ordinary business of these so called pirates is that of a theater troupe. Earlier I at least thought they worked somewhat independently but within rules and limits and the government sanctified them and insurance companies compensated their hauls. Now, however, it was made clear they have clear customers who contract them to "attack" and they ever plan the raids beforehand with the customer.
I'm now hoping we will meet real pirates at some point. Especially with the kind of attitude Marika was showing in this episode. She wasn't taking anything seriously, beyond thinking the theater performance needs to be pulled off in the quickest way possible. Being quick in itself is only sensible, but not if it makes her careless and think nothing unexpected could happen.
Let those real pirates I'm wishing for be one of the original crews/ships who got the letter but rejected the idea of being dogs of the system!
I'm not so negative about the whole thing the way Kraco is. I think that doing "piracy" more as theater and less as actual hijacking is a good thing, for all involved. The helmsman said it himself, guardian ships so rarely get to fire at anything these days. Everyone operates in a large galactic empire that is, curiously enough, peaceful. The customer gets a little excitement without the risk of their ship actually being compromised and everyone aboard breathing vacuum (which as Ririka showed, is alarmingly easy to do with handheld weaponry).
Nor do the pirates have to worry about much of a risk (in part due to the Bentenmaru's superiority) when attacking or boarding. The wealthy aristocrats think of it as a game and something to brag about to their equally frivolous and bored friends. They're not about to fight back, the cruise liners are insuring all their belongings. Perhaps it is more that the pirates are choosing their contracts very carefully. If they went after non-luxury liners, they might have to risk fighting with passengers or crew. People with something to lose.
It's win-win. As Ririka also mentioned, it's best when you only need to use the threat of violence. Pirate Theater accomplishes that nicely.
Marika's attitude is a problem. Chiaki and Mami recognized it, as did Misa and Kane. She's convinced she can do school and her two jobs, but it's becoming clear that Marika can't handle all three, or even pirating and school. There's something behind why she so badly wants to complete school, but trying to handle all three seems to have something to do with surpassing Ririka, as Mami also mentioned. I think that the next big hurdle for Marika is that she is going to be forced to give something up. Piracy isn't as simple as Marika wants it to be (neither is maintaining the faith of one's crew in their captain), and school requires equal effort.
For me, the theatre troupe approach actually makes sense considering the first mission Marika had to pull off. I wouldn't otherwise be able to imagine how "aggressive" pirates would have been hired to do a "peaceful" pirating demonstration.
It does feel funny at the same time though - especially when the crew is rather content with their missions as well (or at least aren't showing their discontent - Mami calling the missions small doesn't count). It's like a bunch of mercenaries are being hired to play a game of paintball.
I also echo the problem with Marika's attitude, and the pirate-play doesn't help. Hopefully this new irregularity does. (I was actually hoping the escort ships would actually try to shoot down the Bentenmaru, showing that not all transactions go according to plan.)
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
I like the rather whimsical nature this show is starting with. It's far more believable to see your "average high school girl" basically preform(in the theatrical sense) as a pirate as opposed to actually being one. It'll also leave more room for character development later on in the series when the inevitable real pirating/saving the known universe begins.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Well we got "epic theme music" at the end of the episode so I assume shit is about to go down. I like this show more as every episode goes on.
I'd assume things could get real now if some shadowy party has looked for willing people to remove all competition. The clip of a fight in the preview also looked more real and less theater than the fights we have seen Bentenmaru in. About the time as well. I wouldn't mind it if Chiaki and Marika fought it out in space. Chiaki still isn't a captain but maybe her dad would amuse himself by making them fight.
Although I complained about it earlier but in this episode I was very satisfied with Marika's performance and attitude. Interrupting the musings of the other crew members by making the table roll and telling them the time for talks is over and it's the time for action was 100% captain like.
I'm surprised at the lack of hostility/rivalry between Chiaki and Marika after hearing that they're competing against each other (with at least one other party ordered to take out opponents). Marika should have been able to join the dots together, and Chiaki doesn't seem like the type who wouldn't do a proper research on something.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Jenny Doolittle <3
She's like a true aristocrat. She knows highly influential people, is skilled at obtaining information (and not just via gossip), and has multiple times now anticipated and acted on Marika's needs before she even gets a chance to ask about it. She's also got really strong leadership skills (asking for concurrence, but still making the decisions, often quickly), great tactical knowledge ("I thought so too," to a subordinate), and she's got class. A proper pairing of brains, and combat leadership skills.
It was amusing the see Chiaki go through an overly-elaborate bow (as if she was wearing a ball-gown), while Jenny mirrored Gruier's more subtle curtsy. Breaking Chiaki's stoicism and exposing her more typically girlish quirks is a well-executed part of the humor.
I agree with Kraco. Chiaki's father will probably give her provisional command over the Barbalusa as a way to train the two girls. I don't know how serious they are about supporting Gruier's opponent (whomever that may be, I'm thinking an elder princess or bureaucrat), but if Chiaki was leaking that info, they're probably not too happy about their client.
I'm still curious as to why Gruier seems so intent to find this ghost ship. They haven't told us what she wants out of it.
Could Gruier be a passenger from the ghost ship?
It sometimes is show in SF, how a civilization creates a ship with no FTL ability go on a very long journey for centuries. But then said civilization, the ones remaining on the home planet eventually get access to FTL and colonize their region of the galaxy even before the initial ship arrives at it's first destination.
So if Gruier is from the ship, that could explain why she seems to know Chiaki's father. She underlined that fact in each episode from her first appearance.
She met Chiaki's father when the bentenmaru found the ghost ship, then she was put to sleep before she's taken out of her slumber again and even gets to be freed from it.
But it might be wrong. Why let people in that ship and not free them, why then extract some of those people and leave the ship be?
Why the strange route and why hasn't it be salvaged already?
I hope that ship isn't called Destiny (Stargate fans, don't hate me for that one)
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
That theory seems a bit too highflying, David. My memory isn't the most reliable thing, but hasn't it been indicated Gruier is a proper princess from her home planet? If she was from some ancient slower than light ship, I don't see how that could fit in with anything else, the least of all belonging to the current royalty. However, obviously she's looking for the sleeper ship for reasons that could upset the current order, or otherwise her competition wouldn't be hiring unscrupulous undertakers. Maybe the real royals are sleeping on that ship, and her family is just luckier lesser nobles who seized the opportunity with FTL. Or it could be anything else worth acquiring.
Marika's dad will still alive a short while ago, so Gruier could have met him any time. Perhaps he was hired to kidnap her...
Episode 10 - HS
- - - - - - - ---
There is something shady about the royal family. The contradiction with the security code suggested something like that, in addition to the fact Serenity has been regularly looking for the ship. Of course it's still anybody's guess whether they ever found the ship. Is it something that could shake the power structure or is it something they need every now and then? Hopefully the next ep will shed some light on it.
Chiaki was definitely enjoying it. Not to mention Marika, who finally got rid of the theater performances and faced the real shit. Though I'd expect after this she will like the theater even less than before... Maybe she'll become an unruly pirate.
She'll become a legendary rampaging pirate like her mother. I don't think they really mind the theater, they just get more and more fired up when they do it, it gets more natural.Originally Posted by Kraco
This felt like a cheap episode where not much occurred. Perhaps a lot of that is the lazy animation with nothing to look at but purple dust, or orange ignited dust.
I felt otherwise. The episode felt like shit finally picked up a notch.
Kraco: I believe it'd definitely a struggle for power within the family. The weird code also suggests that Gruir was engineered to follow a genetic pattern.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
So know instead of Gruyère (yes I prefer the cheesy name...) being put to sleep and back, it might be she's a clone and they are able to input memories into the clones. That's why she knows Marika's father and is so young at the same time.
Regarding the gold ship, for some reason it's like it creates these very difficult flight conditions by itself, as some kind of protection. Weird.
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
I still think you're reaching with this one. It's true she is very young, but she's a princess. The Bentenmaru is apparently the most famous pirate ship operating, by far. Is it so unlikely that someone as famous as Gruelle met someone as famous as Marika's father? He only died a few months ago, and he himself was captain for only as long as Marika has been alive. Ririka held the title for some time until they married (allowing him to take over) and she retired to give birth to Marika.
Jenny and Gruelle met at a party years ago and remembered each other. Gruelle is far more well traveled in social circles than you are giving her credit for, and many of the pirates are well known to the wealthy and nobility (since they are increasingly likely to be robbed aboard wealthy pleasure cruises than normal people).
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