(L) Mouretsu Pirates

[Midonin]

Mobirates 12 - Gold Mode

There's something about wreckage of technological civilizations (or magical civilizations. Wreckage in general, really) that I find interesting form a storytelling perspective. The exploration of the ghost ship had a lot of character moments in it, which I can definitely appreciate. The conquest of the pirates' "take a third option" philosophy was really nice to see. Being a pirate means you can be an entertainer and a hero, even if obeying the law isn't the first first priority. So the royal family has at least three members now... and from the looks of it, Marika made another friend.

Overall, I would say this first arc improved my opinion of the show considerably. The show can have a sense of humor about itself, still has some of that magic within it, and fleshed out the characters. It's a good watch. So, onward towards the second half!

[Jimmy C]

Did they ever explain how they got the ghost ship to make a controlled FTL flight to the Serenity home system in the novel?
From this episode, I got the impression that the ghost ship wasn't "lost" as much as "well-hidden" by past Serenity rulers, who used it as a piggy bank for discrete funds.

[Anh_Minh]

I must have skipped something, because I still don't get the source of the conflict. What did each sister want? What did the servants want?

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

What did each sister want?

Maybe they're fighting over a boy. LOLOLOLOLOL

[AbZeroNow]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I must have skipped something, because I still don't get the source of the conflict. What did each sister want? What did the servants want?

Spoiler for Gruelle's and Grunhilde's goals:

I'll spoiler tag this as a courtesy to those who haven't seen the episode yet.

Gruelle wanted to destroy the artificial womb or stop it from producing any more Serenity children. She also said something about the people no longer needing the Serenity royal family, which makes me think Serenity's homeworld has something like the U.K: figurehead royals, the head of state is actually someone else like a prime minister.

Grunhilde wanted to bring the colony ship to Serenity.

The servants just wanted a peaceful resolution, which is why they went along with Marika's plan.

[ars89]

Everything works out if your a pirate! Like how Marika sent a message to those 2 people that met with Gruier last time. Nice decision by Marika to take out the princess for a while. So Grunhilde joins the school next week.

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I must have skipped something, because I still don't get the source of the conflict. What did each sister want? What did the servants want?

Originally Posted by AbZeroNow

Spoiler for Gruelle's and Grunhilde's goals:

I'll spoiler tag this as a courtesy to those who haven't seen the episode yet.

Gruelle wanted to destroy the artificial womb or stop it from producing any more Serenity children. She also said something about the people no longer needing the Serenity royal family, which makes me think Serenity's homeworld has something like the U.K: figurehead royals, the head of state is actually someone else like a prime minister.

Grunhilde wanted to bring the colony ship to Serenity.

The servants just wanted a peaceful resolution, which is why they went along with Marika's plan.

I have to agree with Anh Minh about this. What I felt was lacking about this episode (and really, the entire arc) is that there were all these backstory hints about the political conflicts on Serenity and how the royal sisters had their own take on them. The "rose plant" source of the royals' bloodline was reasonably well-foreshadowed (with the incident of how Gruier's identification was accepted by a system that was created long before she was alive), but I never really got the sense that I understood what was going on.

Spoiler for Spoilers for those who haven't watched yet:

What's more, I got even less sense that Marika knew what was going on. Now, the "cool part" of this episode was that essentially Gruier and Hilde's followers (including the pirates) were all reasonable people who saw no harm in seeking a peaceful solution, so the pirates (being the kind of outlaws who could gas a couple of royals unconscious ) were able to get the princesses and their pride and their personal agendas off the board so everyone could talk things out instead of having it turn into a bloodbath because of two tween girls who had strongly personal takes on the issue. Bonus points, of course, for the rose plant just happening to be out of babies, taking the issue of destroying or preserving it completely off the table. But if Marika didn't really know or understand the conflicts, how could she work out a solution with Yusuf, etc.?

So, in essence, I walk away from this episode satisfied by the "action on the ground"--what the pirates did throughout the search for the ship until they resolved the conflict, but disappointed because I never really understood what the conflict was about. That is to say, what did Gruier hope to gain by destroying the rose plant? If the royals were just figureheads, then there's nothing to be gained by exterminating them. If, however, they weren't figureheads--or some political strife is going on over trying to bring them back to power, or the like--then it might explain why Gruier is taking such actions.

Ultimately, the strength of Gruier as a character and her quest is entirely dependent on her motivations. She snuck onto a liner, smuggled herself aboard a pirate ship to seek help, set up a false cover story for herself on Sea of the Morningstar, then used the pretext of the yacht trip to explain her absence, while the delivery of the data to her developed into a shooting match between spaceships...everything here speaks of some very powerful, personal motivation, some deeper cause, something she hopes to gain or accomplish by cutting off the source of the royal family. But this is never explained to us, the audience, of why it's important, so I leave the story arc with a bit of a hollow feeling.

Did anyone who read the novel know if it went into any more detail about the political situation on Serenity and what was driving Gruier so strongly?

[ookamigirl]

So... now they're stuck on the ghost ship.
The exploration part was really interesting and nice to watch.
That cyborg sure came in handy on that ship ^^
The abandoned city & gene bank inside were impressive in size, but also kinda sad & spooky.
Things got really heated up once the competition arrived, but didn't expect them to join hands and work together. Still, it was nice.
This was the most interesting episode for me since this anime started ^^

[Wandering_Youth]

EH?! I was really expecting some action this episode with guns, lasers, bombs and muscle, but they pulled a fast one on me!

Lol, I should probably stop expecting any real action in this anime and just go along for the ride.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by AbZeroNow

Spoiler for Gruelle's and Grunhilde's goals:

I'll spoiler tag this as a courtesy to those who haven't seen the episode yet.

Gruelle wanted to destroy the artificial womb or stop it from producing any more Serenity children. She also said something about the people no longer needing the Serenity royal family, which makes me think Serenity's homeworld has something like the U.K: figurehead royals, the head of state is actually someone else like a prime minister.

Grunhilde wanted to bring the colony ship to Serenity.

The servants just wanted a peaceful resolution, which is why they went along with Marika's plan.

Spoiler:

OK, thanks. (And does that mean that the Royal Family just gets a new member from the Ghost Ship periodically instead of reproducing normally? Not entirely unexpected, but still weird.)

But what, exactly, was the crisis that sent those sisters on their ways, and how does control of the artificial womb solve the issue, one way or the other?

[Kyuu]

In very short summary: The Royal Family doesn't copulate?!

[Anh_Minh]

Not for reproduction, apparently. Maybe they're all lesbians. Maybe Marika's building a harem.

[Random Wanderer]

I also feel like the reasons behind everything are very unclear, which leaves a rather unsatisfying feel to this arc. I don't know why any of it happened, so I can't make sense of it.

Maybe Marika's building a harem.

What do you mean "maybe?"

[MeisterBabylon]

Originally Posted by Kyuu

In very short summary: The Royal Family doesn't copulate?!

Its just like the Ancient Belka, who used cloning to ensure each generation has the same superpower magic. Serenity uses them to give the impression of right of rule, or just the illusion of immortality. However, I believe all that's left is a long-dead woman's megalomania whose plot has run its course, leaving her clones to end it.

That said, the way this episode was resolved is like the good old days when Star Trek was pure and Gene was alive.

[gaiar31]

Spoiler:

The Royal Family want to keep original Gene and DNA. that' them don't need to married for along time.

they're use that Rose to product the child.


that's why Gruelle wanted to destroy the artificial womb.

because if you married you can't keep your original Gene and DNA and royal power can change easy.

[tsunade666]

^ thanks for that info. It helps because the anime really didn't give much hint or explanation on it. But the episode itself is plenty fun watch and off all the anime I watch. This one is really special in a way I really didn't notice the time at all. I'm just watching and the next thing I know it's already half way through with the cut off commercial thing. It's really an exceptional in the way it sucks you through the story.

[00Coyote]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

What do you mean "maybe?"

Marika's harem grew by 1, and she was ... uh directly responsible for the birth of one princess.

You got to hand it to her, Marika moves fast, swift and decisive.

[RX-78GP04G Gerbera]

Did anyone else besides me get the whole "Ultimate Coordinator" vibe from Gundam SEED/SEED Destiny with this episode?

[tsunade666]

what do you mean by ultimate coordinator? Kira was genetically engineered by birth to become the ultimate coordinator but here they just keep the original gene and dna of the royal family. Making an identical person or a clone.

[Master_Yoma]

So did they steal any thing or did they just help out the princess