(L) Mouretsu Pirates

[Kanon]

I was happy Chiaki participated in the raid this time, and was even more delighted when she blew a fuse. She's really fearsome when she's under stress

The conclusion of the story was okay, but I wish the girls had dug up dirt on Jenny's uncle by themselves instead of relying on the Bentenmaru's crew again. Just a minor complaints. I'm glad that at least Marika realized where the info came from and thanked Misa for it.

[encia]

Originally Posted by 00Coyote

Now that I've watched episode 18 a second time, here's my take on the good, the bad and the interesting.

Spoiler for the Bad:

The first half... that was some shoddy storytelling. Not so much that the story was shoddy, but how they presented it really, really needed to be redone. They make a short jump, suddenly Jenny is back in her wedding dress, enemy fleet shows up and starts shooting, Marika calls an exposition time out, and they cheerfully leave the bridge while under attack.

Uhh. No. Try again.

There are so many ways they could have better handled this.

The most obvious, to me at least, Bentenmaru makes the FTL jump, Marika immediately calls exposition break, and she, her XOs, Number One, and the client hash out the plan as it were. Enemy fleet shows up, decoys launched, FTL jump and the story is back on track without looking stupid.

Alternately, if you want to give Ai a little more time to make the Bentenmaru dance among the lasers, it takes Gruelle just a bit to find where the "Glorious Coolph" is. Cue evasive maneuvering and then the FTL jump.

Jenny's dress is a elementary fix. She stays in her old school uniform during the confrontation, but before they board the "Glorious Coolph" you have an exchange like this.

Marika: Jenny, can you change back into your wedding dress?
Jenny: o.O why?
Marika: Well, you are going to meet your fiancee.

Cut to the scene of the girls running through the halls in their battle gear. Problem solved, no fuss no muss.

Spoiler for ...:

On leaving the bridge issue, note that Bentenmaru has a military grade energy shields. This is not 21st century naval ship's defensive layer.

Using Star Trek Online's weak opponents (i.e. non-elite missions) example, I sometimes set my ship to follow a team player, set to auto fire, set to max shields and then get a cup of coffee/tea/hot instant soup i.e. "They're no match for the Enterprise" mentality.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by encia

Spoiler for ...:

On leaving the bridge issue, note that Bentenmaru has a military grade energy shields. This is not 21st century naval ship's defensive layer.

Using Star Trek Online's weak opponents (i.e. non-elite missions) example, I sometimes set my ship to follow a team player, set to auto fire, set to max shields and then get a cup of coffee/tea/hot instant soup i.e. "They're no match for the Enterprise" mentality.

Spoiler:

But this was an elite mission -- the Bentenmaru was going up against high-grade capital vessels, including one full-blown battleship -- and the crew consists of a bunch of teenagers. You need someone on the bridge to keep order and make sure they don't get maneuvered into a trap, yet Marika took everyone who could do that into a conference, except for Lynn who was too busy hacking.

[Dark Wing]

You got to admit it was funny to see Jenny's uncle out smarted by a gang of high school girl with the help of Marika's crew.

As for Jenny's wedding dress I don't she was ever suppose to take it off in the novels...

[Gohan78]

I enjoyed episode 18 but there were some parts that really irked me:

1. Jenny being back in her wedding dress for no reason.
2. The captain leaving the bridge for a brainstorming session during an attack is a big no-no.
3. The whole attack was so random. Were they just firing warning shots or were they actually trying to sink the Bentenmaru? In the latter case, what awful aim!
4. Robert Dolittle was a terrible villain. He should have caved in when Marika showed him the incriminating files. Didn't he notice the girl with the camera?
5. I didn't like that they hinted that Robert could get out of jail and back to his former position through bribery.

Despite all these flaws, I can't really hate an episode where Chiaki-sama goes ballistic with a laser gun.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

No, you just deny them, denounce the "evidence" as fabrication.

He tried that, and then they played the comm logs with his voice in them. His reaction to hearing those logs would make any further denial rather difficult, since it was broadcast live. Also it wouldn't be hard to run a voiceprint and prove that it really was him talking in those communications.

Note that Odette II is an ex-military capital asset i.e. it's battleship level EW suite, CIC functions and warship grade armour are still intact.

Sure, but those are over 100 years old. With Silent Whisper being as new as they say, some of its technology is still likely to be classified.

5. I didn't like that they hinted that Robert could get out of jail and back to his former position through bribery.

Welcome to life. It is very hard to keep powerful people behind bars, because they have all the money and connections and legal tricks to weasel their way out.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

He tried that, and then they played the comm logs with his voice in them. His reaction to hearing those logs would make any further denial rather difficult, since it was broadcast live. Also it wouldn't be hard to run a voiceprint and prove that it really was him talking in those communications.

So they're a really good fake. So what? Public opinion isn't going to care very long, and judges are already paid for.

If their justice was functional, then he'd be finished and anyone with him would suddenly be horrified that they'd unknowingly been part of criminal activity. They all totally thought they were rescuing from black hearted villain, and will be glad to help restrain Robert.

Since it's not, the evidence changes nothing.

[Ithekro]

Considering Marika's experiance, in a situation where they are being fired on, if she doesn't have a plan to escape yet, there is really nothing effective she can do on the bridge once the Helmsmen and Electronic Warfare Specialists are on the job of making sure the ship doesn't get hit. She can't mystically make the ship turn any tighter, nor can she make the EW suite fuction any better. What she can do is plan what they can do to get out of this mess. Hense plot out what to do.

While she might have been able to do that on the bridge, I'm pretty sure the girls would have been a distraction, and having Jenny, Chiaki, Marika and the princesses plotting might have distracted Lynn and Ai form keeping the ship safe.

Also judging by how quickly the Doolittle Fleet found them, they really wouldn't have all that much time to plot before they were jumped again. At least here they know where the enemy is and what they are doing.

Lynn seems capable enough with a full out combat rig...one that seems far better than than on the Odette II. She was keeping the enemy ships from hacking the Bentenmaru's systems and probably keeping their fire controls messed up.

Ai, dispite her inexperiance, seemed rather capable at the helm. She managed to keep dodging the enemy attacks, though there also seems to be a bit of reluctance in the enemy crew in shooting at the Bentenmaru. They seemed fine with warning shots, but actually shooting the ship seems to be outside their comfort range.

There is nothing Marika could do to make Lynn or Ai function better, and getting the talk off the bridge might have been to keep those two from being distracted as Lynn would certainly have been distracted by Jenny and Ai's nervious enough without Marika and the rest talking.

However, Marika and Jenny seemed to have a plan before Show interrupted them. Functionally they did have enough to stop the wedding. They could have likely done enough politcial damage just from that to get Jenny to Space University. Also the attack on a bunch of school girls (even if they are under the license of a Privateer) would get public opinion against Robert. The data the Bentenmaru's crew and Show dug up are basically insurance on top of Marika's plan.

That the Bentenmaru did not fire back is even an important thing. The "pirates" were not acting aggressive, nor were they conducting illegal activities. Jenny's escape depicted as being against potental hostage takers, thus, self-defense. I am not sure if she "stole" the Silent Whisper or not. It doesn't seem like it. Marika just responded to a distress call...so she did nothing illegal as for as I can tell. The Doolittle Fleet (from what we can tell) didn't seem to give demands....they just opened fire. That and the Doolittle Fleet is not the police...nor the Stellar Military. Thus they had no legal right to fire on the Bentenmaru. Thus Marika has a lot of public opition she can throw around with a live vid to get Robert in hot water.

As for leaving the Silent Whisper at a dock with the Yacht Club...I'm guessing the Bentenmaru needs maintenance and a fighter in the dock might be in the way. As for what she might call it to the local government? A FLT training gig. That is one thing the Odette II cannot teach the yacht club as it doesn't have an FTL drive.

[Wild Goose]

Also, an idea may have been planted into Marika's mind - should she ever need new recruits, what better way of seeing that new talent is on the rise than the Yacht Club?

"Now girls, remember, best pilots get to take the Silent Whisper for a spin! And, if you're really good, our Club Sponsor/Ex-President/Former School Idol Captain Marika might just recruit you for her crew!"

Also, just a note: Silent Whisper should really not have italics; ship names, such as USS Missouri are italicised, but fighter reporting names, such as EA-18G Growler, or Su-27 Flanker, are not.

[Ithekro]

Depends if you consider it a fighter or a boat. I consider it a boat at this point with a class name.

[Wild Goose]

Given that it's explicitly referred to as a fighter in-series (sentouki), the fighter interpretation has the most weight.

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

As for leaving the Silent Whisper at a dock with the Yacht Club...

IMO the silent whisper is the perfect vessel for marika to come/go from school to the bentenmaru, with the FTL capabilities now they do not even need to get close for Marika to come on board/leave for school.

[Sackett]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Also, an idea may have been planted into Marika's mind - should she ever need new recruits, what better way of seeing that new talent is on the rise than the Yacht Club?

"Now girls, remember, best pilots get to take the Silent Whisper for a spin! And, if you're really good, our Club Sponsor/Ex-President/Former School Idol Captain Marika might just recruit you for her crew!"

Also, just a note: Silent Whisper should really not have italics; ship names, such as USS Missouri are italicised, but fighter reporting names, such as EA-18G Growler, or Su-27 Flanker, are not.

Marika-sama. Got to remember to use the correct honorifics.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Considering Marika's experiance, in a situation where they are being fired on, if she doesn't have a plan to escape yet, there is really nothing effective she can do on the bridge once the Helmsmen and Electronic Warfare Specialists are on the job of making sure the ship doesn't get hit. She can't mystically make the ship turn any tighter, nor can she make the EW suite fuction any better. What she can do is plan what they can do to get out of this mess. Hense plot out what to do.

I agree that there was nothing wrong with Marika ducking out for a strategy conference. But there has to be someone on the bridge in her stead to keep order and make snap decisions if the situation changes. What if the enemy fleet had surrounded the Bentenmaru a few minutes earlier before Lynn had the decoys ready? What if one of the girls had panicked? What if the enemy made a mistake that only someone with experience could spot? It just would've made more sense to leave Chiaki in command while Marika and the others left to discuss matters.

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

I agree that there was nothing wrong with Marika ducking out for a strategy conference. But there has to be someone on the bridge in her stead to keep order and make snap decisions if the situation changes. What if the enemy fleet had surrounded the Bentenmaru a few minutes earlier before Lynn had the decoys ready? What if one of the girls had panicked? What if the enemy made a mistake that only someone with experience could spot? It just would've made more sense to leave Chiaki in command while Marika and the others left to discuss matters.

Not to roll around on Star Trek too much -- where it is protocol for the Captain to announce leaving the bridge, and the highest ranking officer left on the bridge assumes command.

This ain't Star Trek.

Nevertheless. In a situation like that, someone definitely had to be left in command to deal with the rapidly changing situation. If anything, Marika didn't need to be part of that strategy conference at all. Chiaki coulda handled it on her own just fine (or vice-versa as commented already).

[Wild Goose]

I think Marika would have liked to have someone she could trust on the bridge, but that wasn;t really an option; with a full crew, you'd have a few junior officers who could run the ship (the Officer of the Deck, in USN parlance), while the command team is in a meeting, but she didn't have that here. On the other hand, she had to have the meeting, and needed everyone in the meeting there.

Not a lot of good options there.

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

What if the enemy fleet had surrounded the Bentenmaru a few minutes earlier before Lynn had the decoys ready? What if one of the girls had panicked? What if the enemy made a mistake that only someone with experience could spot?

The path you are pointing is towards micro-management, where every tinsy-bitsy detail of Marika's subordinates should be scrutinized because they MAY fail (due to the pressure, lack of experience, lack of knowledge, etc.). I like more Marika's attitude, she trust her crew for five minutes to think of a new strategy, Chiaki could have been left behind to baby-sit the crew, but she might have had the insight to solve the situation at the 5 minute conference, which one was more important? Of course errors can happen, even on the most quiet night on non enemy ridden waters, look at the Titanic, but micromanagemente is not IMO the solution.

[Ithekro]

After Marika, due to this being the Yacht Club, technically Lynn (as club president) is next in command. Chaiki is sort of the observer from the other ship (she's a Captain's daughter, but aside from knowledge she has less "experiance" than Marika). Chiaki is a member of the club that is also a transfere student, thus basically not ranked. The Princesss are stowaways and very junior members as they are in middle school. And Jenny is the client.

And Lynn was on the bridge.

[Random Wanderer]

Lynn was busy. She had her hands full running the EW battle against the fleet. It would have been a bit much to ask her to handle tactics as well.

[Ithekro]

Probably, yet that would be the chain of command.

Plus the Yacht club probably has at least some proceedures from their own voyages, and since Marika, Chiaki, and the Princesss are basically outside those procedures (Marika is usually off on being Captain of her own ship...the Princesses are usually tagging along with Marika, and Chiaki is still the transfere student...plus she's sometimes of on her own ship), they should be "fine" without Marika and company for a few minutes. Even in combat.

As I said, there isn't a whole lot Marika can do at that point that isn't being done already, except come up with a plan of action, and that is what she was doing.