(L) Mouretsu Pirates

[Midonin]

Mobirates 17 - Millefeuille Combo

This has been a fine time for yuri fans. But this episode, this episode... the yuri level just shot through the roof. Jenny/Lynn are in the running for the couple of the year. It would require a pretty strong level of denial to call this subtext. The stuff with the insurance companies and Jenny basically domineering the space travel industry was nice, but the one thing I took out of this episode was the yuri. Sweet, delicious girl-on-girl romance. That's another thing I got into this show for, on some subconscious level. Marika/Chiaki may not be that blatant, but give it time. This season is turning out pretty satisfying.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Midonin

It would require a pretty strong level of denial to call this subtext.

Not even that really.

Spoiler for ep17:

They state they are in a relationship after all, so it's official and canon whether we like it or not.

EDIT: as for Marika and Chiaki... even if I am a yuri fan, I don't think they will ever be more than friends. I could be wrong, but that's the impression I've got.

[00Coyote]

Spoiler for episode 17:

Gotta recap this episode in a +/- format

+1 Lynn: I need you to kidnap/rescue my damsel in a sparkly dress
+20 Jenny: Hey, I'm no helpless damsel in distress here.
After escaping the generic Thugs in glasses, stealing an expensive military grade prototype shuttle, all while looking awesome.

-4 Chiaki: Pirates stay within the lines.
+18 Marika: Screw the lines, this looks fun.

-1 Show: Corporate is trying to strong arm me, show me what you got.
+15 Marika: (epic leg cross) lets get down to business, what's in it for me?
+5 Jenny: Money
+5 Lynn: Information
+5 Show: You girls are frightening

+19 They actually showed a kiss on screen!
+19 Twice!

-5 Don't leave the bridge unattended.
-5 For not anticipating the incoming fleet.
-30 You pick up a mysterious shuttle, with a hot passenger. What do you do? Sit around in the same place? Hell no GTFO, clear the datum point and start bouncing safes while you sort out what is happening and come up with a plan.

-20 for cutting back to the Bentenmaru crew, just so Show can re-tell what the audience just heard. It sorta broke the flow and urgency of the previous scene on the bridge.
-10 For most of the scenes with the Bentenmaru's crew. It's not that I don't like seeing them, something wasn't working with those scenes, on first watch it wasn't adding anything.

Comes out to +32

Most of the negatives were due to what I'm gonna call 'Plot is lacking spatial awareness'. In all the previous episodes, there was a sense that the characters were aware of their surroundings, and acted and reacted accordingly. That wasn't present in this episode. They switched to the very restrictive 'if it's not on screen the character can't see it'. So you get the silly situation where, wow, that huge ass noisy battleship snuck up right behind that guy.

I'd have little to complain about if they'd stayed on the Bentenmaru bridge, as the hostile fleet jumped in, showing more of the girls reaction and scrambling to get the ship ready to go FTL. Having Show regurgitate info, and then see the initial attack via the computer was too restrictive.

[Kyuu]

K... k... k... kissing scenes?!

[Random Wanderer]

SQUEEEEEEE!

I've got some issues with some of the art in this episode, though. They screwed up the shape of several people's faces in some scenes, including Jenny's at least once, which is not forgiveable.

[dahl_moon]

Spoiler for episode 17:

Marika was awesome, from the Let's skirt the law since it seems fun and we're PIRATES! to the Let's get down to business. But Jenny is turning out to be a huge Jenny Sue by now. I had to laugh out loud when she was acting the "unkillable protagonist" with shots all around her, not to mention her travel agency... On the flip side, the yuri was a nice addition

[Random Wanderer]

I posted a more complete reaction post elsewhere. I'll just copy it over here.

Spoiler for episode 17:

I'd just like to state ahead of time, that there were several points in this episode that, in my opinion, succumbed to QUALITY in regards to art. There was more than one point when the faces of characters who were the focus of a scene lost their distinctive shape, resulting in their expressions looking... well, not looking like what they were supposed to look like. I realize it has happened before in this series, but it seemed especially noticeable in this episode. It's bad enough when it happens to Marika or Chiaki, but letting it happen with Jenny is all but unforgiveable.

Anyway, on to episode 17.

Jenny appreciates your efforts on her behalf, but is perfectly capable of rescuing herself in a pinch, thank you very much. That's my girl. Don't let a minor thing like a half-dozen armed men bursting in on you while you're in your wedding dress prevent you from shooting your way to a brand new top of the line FTL-equipped shuttle and escaping.

And we have our canon yuri moment! Fans of the novels were afraid that Jenny and Lynn's relationship would be cut out of the anime, but now they can relax. Greeting each other with a rather intense kiss (two of them, in fact!), and acknowledging outright that they're in a relationship should calm the worries there.

Corporate infighting is sinking to a rather low point, though. I can get pushing Jenny into a low-value marriage to get her out of the succession for the company, but actually sending armed goons after a teenage girl (apparently with "shoot to kill" orders, given all the gunfire), is pretty ridiculous. From the sound of it, Jenny isn't even interested in taking control of Hugh and Dolittle. She's started up her own company (which is apparently doing quite well) and after going to university she intends to devote her time to that. There is no need for all this fighting.

A definite plus is that Jenny pretty much pwned everyone. She has her future planned out quite extensively, she fought her way through her uncle's hit-men and escaped (in the process stealing a shuttle that novel readers tell me is worth more than the Bentenmaru itself), she dominated Show in negotiations through making it plain how much it would be to the benefit of the pirates and the insurance company to help her, and in the process made an even better contrast to her uncle who just resorted to threats rather than payment.

Notice to the corporate fleet: you said Jenny's been kidnapped and you want her safely returned. People's belief in that is going to take a hit when they see how much firepower you're throwing at the ship she's aboard. That amount of shooting rather indicates that you don't care who might get killed should you hit. Now, I realize that you actually do want to kill Jenny, but revealing that so loudly to the universe at large when what you've been saying is "she's been kidnapped and we want to save her" will not do you any favors in public relations.

Next week Jenny's back in her dress? Unacceptable! You look much better in Yacht Club attire, girl, why would you want to put that frilly thing back on?

[ookamigirl]

Private job to "kidnap" Jenny.
Guess she wanted to avoid that marriage at any cost.
Her uncle was not planning to give up on her that easily.
Blackmail is such a low blow, but was kinda expected.
Can't wait to see how it'll continue.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Anyone want?

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

Anyone want?

I'll take this one, thanks.

[sa547]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

SQUEEEEEEE!

I've got some issues with some of the art in this episode, though. They screwed up the shape of several people's faces in some scenes, including Jenny's at least once, which is not forgiveable.

Probably with the outsourced studio, which could've used a cost-cutting technique (I recall that there were some slight variations of character design back when I was watching Macross Frontier).

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by 00Coyote

Spoiler for episode 17:

-5 For not anticipating the incoming fleet.
-30 You pick up a mysterious shuttle, with a hot passenger. What do you do? Sit around in the same place? Hell no GTFO, clear the datum point and start bouncing safes while you sort out what is happening and come up with a plan.

-20 for cutting back to the Bentenmaru crew, just so Show can re-tell what the audience just heard. It sorta broke the flow and urgency of the previous scene on the bridge.
-10 For most of the scenes with the Bentenmaru's crew. It's not that I don't like seeing them, something wasn't working with those scenes, on first watch it wasn't adding anything.

Comes out to +32

Most of the negatives were due to what I'm gonna call 'Plot is lacking spatial awareness'. In all the previous episodes, there was a sense that the characters were aware of their surroundings, and acted and reacted accordingly. That wasn't present in this episode. They switched to the very restrictive 'if it's not on screen the character can't see it'. So you get the silly situation where, wow, that huge ass noisy battleship snuck up right behind that guy.

I'd have little to complain about if they'd stayed on the Bentenmaru bridge, as the hostile fleet jumped in, showing more of the girls reaction and scrambling to get the ship ready to go FTL. Having Show regurgitate info, and then see the initial attack via the computer was too restrictive.

Spoiler for 17:

All part of the plan to deal with the uncle definitively. Though I'll agree it sounds like a rather stupid plan right now...

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

I posted a more complete reaction post elsewhere. I'll just copy it over here.

Spoiler for episode 17:

Jenny appreciates your efforts on her behalf, but is perfectly capable of rescuing herself in a pinch, thank you very much. That's my girl. Don't let a minor thing like a half-dozen armed men bursting in on you while you're in your wedding dress prevent you from shooting your way to a brand new top of the line FTL-equipped shuttle and escaping.

Spoiler for 17:

Yes, those men look like really terrible shots.

Spoiler:

Corporate infighting is sinking to a rather low point, though. I can get pushing Jenny into a low-value marriage to get her out of the succession for the company, but actually sending armed goons after a teenage girl (apparently with "shoot to kill" orders, given all the gunfire), is pretty ridiculous. From the sound of it, Jenny isn't even interested in taking control of Hugh and Dolittle. She's started up her own company (which is apparently doing quite well) and after going to university she intends to devote her time to that. There is no need for all this fighting.

Spoiler for 17:

From the uncle's point of view - and he may be right - starting her company is her way to appeal to the shareholders as the potential next CEO.

Spoiler:

A definite plus is that Jenny pretty much pwned everyone. She has her future planned out quite extensively, she fought her way through her uncle's hit-men and escaped (in the process stealing a shuttle that novel readers tell me is worth more than the Bentenmaru itself), she dominated Show in negotiations through making it plain how much it would be to the benefit of the pirates and the insurance company to help her, and in the process made an even better contrast to her uncle who just resorted to threats rather than payment.

Spoiler for 17:

She didn't dominate Show. He wasn't that hostile to start with, and what happened is that she paid through the nose for her rescue.

Spoiler:

Notice to the corporate fleet: you said Jenny's been kidnapped and you want her safely returned. People's belief in that is going to take a hit when they see how much firepower you're throwing at the ship she's aboard. That amount of shooting rather indicates that you don't care who might get killed should you hit. Now, I realize that you actually do want to kill Jenny, but revealing that so loudly to the universe at large when what you've been saying is "she's been kidnapped and we want to save her" will not do you any favors in public relations.

Spoiler for 17:

The hitmen were already a problem. I don't think the uncle's power is meant to be absolute, or Jenny wouldn't be a threat to start with. So how is the rest of the family going to react to the message that it's ok to kill family members to secure positions? If it becomes open season, they're all potential targets, and they're all potential perpetrators.

[Kanon]

Not one but two kisses! This is more than I was hoping for. It feels good not having to use your yuri goggles from time to time.

Jenny showcased again how awesome she is in this episode. I love how she didn't even need the Bentamaru to stage her kidnapping and instead escaped all by herself, providing us with an amazing action sequence. The best part of the episode was her reunion with Lynn and the kisses, I loved the girls' reaction to it, Gruier's in particular (Grunhilde's poker face was also amusing).

Although Jenny and Lynn stole the show this week, Marika was also awesome. I find it rather fallacious that pirates can't do piracy (I wish they'd use Privateer to refer to them instead, because they can currently hardly be called pirates) so I'm glad Marika decided to screw the rules and do what she wants; I expected no less from her of course. That's what being a pirate is about! Freedom!

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

I posted a more complete reaction post elsewhere. I'll just copy it over here.

Spoiler for episode 17:

Corporate infighting is sinking to a rather low point, though. I can get pushing Jenny into a low-value marriage to get her out of the succession for the company, but actually sending armed goons after a teenage girl (apparently with "shoot to kill" orders, given all the gunfire), is pretty ridiculous. From the sound of it, Jenny isn't even interested in taking control of Hugh and Dolittle. She's started up her own company (which is apparently doing quite well) and after going to university she intends to devote her time to that. There is no need for all this fighting.

I don't get why her uncle is so hell-bent on getting rid of her either. We've been told he's doing that because he doesn't want Jenny to succeed her, and it's quite apparent Jenny has no intention to take over his company, so there shouldn't be any problems, should there? It sounds like the kind of problems that could be solved through a simple discussion. He can just make Jenny sign a contract stating she gives up her shares or whatever if he doesn't trust her.

[tsunade666]

wow super episode and the clothes adds to the SQUUUEEEEE! SPREE Factor. A prince and a princess in wedding dress though she hides a laser firing pistol on her thighs

Super exciting episode and I can't wait for the next one. This anime is really indeed one of my favorite from the past season and still dominates my passion even this season. This season just lacks that "something" which I like.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I find it rather fallacious that pirates can't do piracy (I wish they'd use Privateer to refer to them instead, because they can currently hardly be called pirates)

They can't really be called privateers either. (What are privateers, if not pirates with letters of marque? )

I said it before - they're entertainers and couriers.

so I'm glad Marika decided to screw the rules and do what she wants; I expected no less from her of course. That's what being a pirate is about! Freedom!

No, it's about attacking merchant ships and robbing them...

I don't get why her uncle is so hell-bent on getting rid of her either. We've been told he's doing that because he doesn't want Jenny to succeed her, and it's quite apparent Jenny has no intention to take over his company, so there shouldn't be any problems, should there? It sounds like the kind of problems that could be solved through a simple discussion. He can just make Jenny sign a contract stating she gives up her shares or whatever if he doesn't trust her.

How is that apparent? Because she has her own company, thus showcasing her business acumen? That's the opposite.

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Not even that really.

Spoiler for ep17:

They state they are in a relationship after all, so it's official and canon whether we like it or not.

Score one for authorial guts, there. It's nice to see them saying, "screw subtext, the lesbian supporting couple are in fact a lesbian supporting couple." Loved how the director trolled hard during the kiss scene by pulling back and showing multiple camera angles that made it looked like they were going to weasel before coming in around to show the kiss.

EDIT:

as for Marika and Chiaki... even if I am a yuri fan, I don't think they will ever be more than friends. I could be wrong, but that's the impression I've got.

Honestly...yeah. Among other things, we have no idea if Marika's even interested in girls. Chiaki's tsundereness is what's pushing that pairing with the shippers. They did better Spock-and-McCoying it over the law-abiding nature of piracy (I liked how the yacht club girls were operating under the assumption that pirates, well...pirated ).

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

I'll take this one, thanks.

Gah! This is what I get for taking a nap this afternoon and being late to the party.

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

They can't really be called privateers either. (What are privateers, if not pirates with letters of marque? )

I said it before - they're entertainers and couriers.

...Well, the history indicates that they clearly started out as privateers in the traditional sense, only after the Galactic Empire swallowed up everybody (I still get "does not compute" vibes over the idea of a good-guy Galactic Empire, though. Seriously, nobody does that. ), and ended the conflict, they had to channel their activities into other areas. In RL history, what happens to privateers is that their letters of marque are revoked by the government and they either turn pirate or return to legitimate private-sector seafaring jobs. It looks like Sea of the Morningstar's government decided not just yank the letters but use government regulation to ease the transition and keep their spaceways from being flooded with suddenly unemployed space raiders. Over a century-ish, this is what we've got left...

I still nearly facepalmed over Chiaki's "We're PIRATES! We don't commit criminal acts!" routine, though.

How is that apparent? Because she has her own company, thus showcasing her business acumen? That's the opposite.

It's interesting; Lynn's discussion of the background details suggested that that was pretty much the case, that Jenny had started her own company as, in essence, a trial run to enable her to gain experience and begin positioning herself as the next Hugh and Dolittle heir. On the other hand, Show suggested that Fairy Jane was operating on a scale to register as a potential future competitor to one of the largest corporate entities in the setting, suggesting that Jenny was going the "independent rival" route.

I loved the negotiation scene, though, as it showed off Marika's strengths rather forcefully:

1. Quick reaction time to a hostile situation, instead of sitting around babbling.

2. Gut instinct to identify the best way to proceed (Harold Lloyd Union was being threatened on a business basis, so the way to counter that threat is by showing that the alternative is more, or at least potentially more profitable, especially when she also realized that Show was pretty much looking for an excuse to take their side), instead of wasting time on hand-wringing and "oh won't you please help us?"

3. Trust in her people--she was sure that Jenny was going to have this aspect of things worked out in advance, so she quickly moved to give her the opportunity to bid high and make things work.

Misa--possibly my least favorite recurring character in the show--nonetheless gets considerable bonus points from me for cutting off the "we must break out and save our captain/ship!" train ride by pointing out that Marika is the captain and that it's her job to send for them, not their job to ride after her whenever they think the going is tough. I really like the development here in this arc which suggests that the crew is starting to think of Marika as their captain and not a little kid like in Ep. 6-7. Character relationship development FTW!

Next ep. preview suggests that things are going to end up face-to-face with the wicked uncle. I hope that resolution comes in the form of something that Marika (preferably) or Jenny (acceptably) planned out and not through blind luck. Perfectly fine if a squadron of Serenity warships drops in to protect Princesses--ahem, Citizens--Gruier and Grunhilde or the Bentenmaru's crew appears with a crazy last-second rescue--if it's because Marika set it up so that they could do so. Or, to sum it up, I want Marika and the Yacht Club Pirates to beat Jenny's uncle, not escape him.

[Kaihan]

Hey hey hey... I thought they said there gonna be no yuri stuff. Not only did they jump pass the line and showed a kiss scene, there was another kiss scene and stated their relationship.

[Kadi]

I think they said "no romance", no matter the kind, and I don't see romance here, just an established couple. Wait, they did go against that announcement by going with Parfait x Chiaki...

[Kazu-kun]

The "no romance" thing was a misunderstanding to begin with.

[Sackett]

Well... that was a fun episode.

Some "quality" moments in the animation for sure. The Jenny escape was poorly sketched- just a bit too speed up- but I guess the awesomeness of the story there would cover for that. But even a few of the still shots were off, there was one particularly noticeable one of Marika that reached Meguca levels of off model.

I'm not a yuri fan, but hey, at least there was no pussy footing around about it. Marika obviously was shocked by it- suggesting to me that Marika is going to stay decidedly asexual. Which is a good thing I think. Can't have the Captain get entangled in romantic relationships.

I do have to say the show is missing a little testosterone. I almost wish Marika had managed to hire at least one crew member during her little recruiting trip. Maybe an easygoing fellow who decided that Marika's hot legs were too much to pass up, even if the captain of the Barbarossa was threatening him.

During that negotiation scene when Marika crossed her legs while glossing over the risks involved I couldn't help but think that Marika uses them like a weapon. 'Oh, you're going to try and treat me like a little girl who needs the grownups to protect her? Let me cross my awesome legs to distract you before I pwn your feeble objections."