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Jul 9 2012 11:08 AM
You know what? I for one didn't mind the slow pace of the story-line in the end. It's not like they were wasting time with filler, it was all important to the character and story development. The one thing I felt a little let down by, though was how little Chiaki and especially Mami figured into the story. You would think characters so heavily featured in the OP and ED would have more of an impact, but in the end, we got more of the Loli princesses than we did of them. But still, I quite enjoyed this series, mostly because of how fun Marika and her interactions with the people around her was. I am very much looking forward getting more from this franchise in the upcoming movie.

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Jul 9 2012 01:31 AM
Well while it was an okayish storyline, it felt like some things should have been... well more emphasized here. I mean there was some yuri, but it felt like it was being forced to be out of place here. Also, it felt like hte storyline did drag its feet in certain points to make it were it sometimes felt rather agaonzing to watch this series.

Pretty much I started off thinking that this was going to be yuri and/or fancervicy here becuase of the title itself, but instead I got a rather decient to okayish storyline with some elements that did feel out of place.

Also, on a side note the serenity sibilings do get the mention of pretty much showing somewhat of a hommage to the Sailor Moon series. I mean some of thier fanartwork kind of show that right off the bat you know.

In any case I kind of wonder how this series managed to get a movie deal out of it, but then again that was on Sankaku Complex's site so I can't tell if its credible or not.

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Jul 8 2012 11:35 AM

As I said in my review above, the show is a character development/coming of age title. It basically tells the story of Marika going from a normal high school girl to a full-fledged space pirate (licensed and insured I might add).

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Jul 8 2012 03:38 AM
Well, it's not an action show, so if that's what you're looking for, you're in the wrong place.

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Jul 7 2012 11:23 PM
I can't say that I am enjoying Mouretsu Pirates. I can see potential, but I wish there was more physical action.

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Jul 7 2012 12:50 PM
Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku (a.k.a Miniskirt Pirates/Bodacious Space Pirates/Mouretsu Pirates, etc…) is based on an ongoing light novel. The anime premiered during the Winter 2012 anime season and ran as a 2 cour series. It was simulcasted by CrunchyRoll and acquired by Sentai Filmworks for US distribution. It features Marika Kato, a high school student who’s life suddenly changes when she is asked to become the captain of the famous space pirate ship, Bentenmaru.

The story, to sum up, is pretty much a coming of age development around Marika as she gradually becomes the new captain of the Bentenmaru. At the same time, it focuses on her trying to balance work and life with work being piracy and not her cafe work. The space pirate concept is cool and all and feels a lot like the retro Captain Harlock series. So, what’s the problem? It’s a half-hearted pirate show. If you were watching this series for true space pirates or just pirates in general, you’re probably on the wrong boat. This show is anything but actual piracy. You don’t see actual looting going on or people kept hostage, etc… At the end of the day, it’s pretty much happy goes lucky where very few people get hurt and basically zero die. The show is basically broken up into a number of arcs. Many of which are actually boring despite being filled with Marika fun. I personally enjoyed the Jenny and Lynn shoujo-ai/yuri arc. The final arc against the Grand Cross had a lot of good hype going into it but ended up being a complete flop as the series continues its half-hearted problem of not killing people. It was the first time the series got very close to actual piracy with good space battles too, yet it decided to shoot itself in the foot at the last moment. I will say, however, with the actual light novel being titled “Miniskirt Pirates” I had a completely different image in my head and a very negative one at that. It avoided that pitfall but couldn’t provide a convincing story to accompany it.

Art wise is fine. Backgrounds are nice and detailed along with decent character designs. A few slip ups every now and then but solid all around. Animation wise is generally solid as expected of Satelight. Good C.G. animation as well space-setting animation. In terms of same season animation comparison, Satelight easily tops Aquarion EVOL animation for mecha but I feel it’s at best AKB0048′s animation quality. Outside of mechs though, the quality isn’t so hot. I should also note that there is a lot of recycled animation in this show when it comes to the space fights and there is also a general lack of movement not just in space but in the show as a whole.

OP theme can be considered “fabulous” but pretty much forgettable. ED themes are mixed but generally decent. Nothing particularly outstanding though. Now, if there’s one thing the show excels in, it’s the background music. It sounds a lot like Yuki Kajiura’s retro themes such as from Erementar Gerad (which also happens to involve actual pirates) or Tsubasa Chronicle and quite fitting for the show’s “premise.” Sound effects were mostly “pew pew” noises as far as I remember. Seiyuu wise, Mikako Komatsu did a surprisingly great job as Marika given her experience in the industry (Joey from Heroman and Kotori in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL). The rest of the seiyuus were generally pretty good in this show (e.g. Kana Hanazawa as Chiaki, Haruka Tomatsu as Gruier Serenity, etc…) but the cast was so damn large that a lot of the supporting cast are generally forgettable.

Enjoyment? The entire show is practically a snooze fest. It does have a lot of Marika (and occasionally Chiaki) fun but that alone is not enough to carry the show. The show also makes little “logical” sense making things even more difficult to wrap your head around. Arc transitions are also a bit rough as it was often difficult to tell when the show was actually done with an arc or having an epilogue episode. Coming from Tatsuo Satou, who did Uchuu no Stellvia back in 2003 and one of my favorite Sci-fi titles from the 2000 era, this show is a complete letdown.

Overall, Mouretsu Pirates gave off a lot of hype with its initial episode. Of course, that was easily shattered as the series became boring really fast as well as the lack of piracy. The slowness of Stellvia is definitely in this show but unlike Stellvia, it fails to have a constant attention grabber within the episodes. I really should have expected this coming off of Rinne no Lagrange last season as it happens to be a show Tatsuo supervises. I’d highly recommend Uchuu no Stellvia or even better Crest of the Stars, Martian Successor Nadesico, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes over this if you want (tactical) sci-fi action. Starship Operators is another one. If you want pirates, One Piece is the most obvious choice or even Erementar Gerad. For the best of both worlds, go to Captain Harlock, Space Pirate Mito, or even Outlaw Star. Mouretsu Pirates is unfortunately too tamed for its own good. Good job avoiding the miniskirts, bad job avoiding the actual piracy. Can’t say I look forward to the movie.

Preliminary Score: 7/10
Final Score: 5/10

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Jul 2 2012 06:55 AM
There are three main faults this show has.
First is that you dont get to know anything about the characters, except a bit of Marika. But nothing about the Bentenmarous crew, almost nothing about Ririka and Marikas father or any of the classmates (not that I care much about them anyway)
Second is that this show is just not serious enough, its always only happy-go-lucky. Even when ships get destroyed nobody dies, everyone is nice to each other and nobody dislikes anyone. Thats just so unrealistic. Overall this show is unrealistic to the core.
Third it doesnt give any explanations regarding the universe they live in (except those little bits about pirates), the technology or the people. You just get thrown from one little plot to the next without even knowing what you watch.

At least they answered the question to why nobody was shocked that Marikas father died or that nobody ever talked about it since hes still alive and somehow everyone except Marika seems to know it (but it seems that she has a hunch about it). Im looking forward to the upcoming movie to see how they finally meet. At least thats what I think the movie will be about.

The fight at the end was pretty good and while it may appear as too easy it isnt. After all Christie had to control three entire big ships, from the sensors, electronic warfare, navigation, steering and whatnot and regardless of how intelligent and trained someone is a human can only do so much so the Pirate Alliance had a big advantage over her. And Christie seemed to be really inexperienced while the Pirate Alliance had some really experienced people.

Overall it was a nice watch but it coulve been so much more if taken more serious.
6/10 from me.

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Jul 1 2012 02:41 PM
And Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku comes to a close.

I loved the finale on this one, that space battle was quite brilliant. It walked the line between realistic combat and fantastic sci-fi battles well, and it made good use of technology without over-committing to how it worked.

The very end was amazing and confuzzling at the same time - Christy's invitation to Marika added to Ironbeard's earlier proclamation that the Privateers of the sea of the morning star would soon have the choice of stepping up to be real pirates. There's something massive brewing and Marika is being drawn to it. Ironbeard's real identity wasn't a terrible shocker, and was in some ways disappointing, but on the upside, it's good to see Lilika and Ironbeard happy together, in the end.

And then there was that bit with the Oddette II and delivering it to somewhere. Huh.

All in all, I'm going to miss this series. The pacing and sometimes patronizing explanations were a bit much, but combined with the narration style and blend of brand new scifi and "used future" motifs, it built an atmosphere and feel to the story that gave it an endearing quality.

It would've been nice to learn who the crew was. We learned more about Chiaki's father than we did most of the crew.

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Jun 3 2012 10:57 AM

From the preview, it looks like he was projecting a hologram of himself on top of the ship to look more intimidating.

If the Chekhov's gun salute is any indication, we're looking at a pirate armada claiming their own independent space, making themselves known by killing all the privateers who'd work under the government.

And Lilika will probably be driving one of their ships.

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Jun 3 2012 05:58 AM
Eh, the latest ep was WTF? Did the Gundam and Super Dimension universes collide and open a reality hole in the show?

And what's with the suit-less guy standing on top of the silly-looking ship?