(L) Mouretsu Pirates

[DXMichael]

Ehh, I don't know about this anime anymore...I want to like it, but there has been very little to motivate me to continue watching. I finished watching episode 4 but I just didn't get anything from it. Some of the dialogue they say confused me, a lot of the scenes were boring, and this anime doesn't have that many likeable characters. Marika is ok, and my favourite would have to be Ririka.

Only a few scenes have caught my interest in this anime, such as when Ririka was teaching Marika how to use space weapons and when Marika and Chiaki were attacked at the working place.

However, I can defend this episode by saying that episode 4 was setting up the next episode. From both my expectations and the preview, the next episode is going to have a lot more things happening in it, things that will perk my interest again. Also, the music is rather catchy Fortunately, I know this anime will get better further in, and as a rule I set myself, once I begin an anime, I will finish it, so still expect me on the thread hopefully proving myself wrong when the next few episodes come out.

[Ithekro]

The Six Frigates were later for the US Navy's rebuilding following the Revolutionary War. (One of which being the surviving USS Constitution)

I did learn something though. I've not heard of Washington's seven cruisers (schooners) that he financed personally before the founding of the Continental Navy in October of 1775. Hannah, Franklin, Hancock, Lynch, Washington, Lee and Harrison. These were the pre-navy, Navy, and because he's already be using these ships against the British, the Continental Congress was sort of forced to authorise a navy...since their sort of already was one.

[Dark Wing]

I really do love how they try to ground this show in realism and make it work I like all the detail they with into with the technical explanation.

[djmaca]

Originally Posted by Dark Wing

I really do love how they try to ground this show in realism and make it work I like all the detail they with into with the technical explanation.

Well, its a space opera after all.

[AbZeroNow]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Jenny is quite impressive in many ways. She is calm, collected, intelligent, knowledgeable, and adaptable. She is a good choice for the club president. She has a number of well-trained leadership skills, and I think Marika would do well to learn from her. Marika has some good instincts, but she needs to refine them, and Jenny has clearly learned many of the skills that Marika could use when she becomes captain.

Yes, I think Marika could use Jenny as an example of what a good leader does, and I think Jenny would be a remarkable ally for Marika. I know I also liked how she said that she would like to see some space piracy, so her joining the Bentenmaru is something I wouldn't rule out. Certainly she'd be one of Marika's best and most loyal officers.

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

You took the words right out of my mouth. The last episode, I thought, was a half-point off the early standard of excellence, but this one featured building tension, the heroine being both smart and cool, Kane and Misa doing their job (monitoring Marika's safety while training her to be the person who can accept the responsibility of captaining the Bentenmaru), interesting SF elements grounded in science instead of Rule of Cool, and a coolly badass group of high-school girls (I loved Kane's snarky comment about the pros on the Bentenmaru getting spotted by the girls; I'm guessing somebody's going to get ribbed about that one!), and a warmup to the space battle including actual planning and preparation instead of just "Hey, let's do it!" gung-ho-ness. Jenny, especially, was fun as she let Marika explain her plan, pointing out the drawbacks and asking her to explain what she'd do in X and Y situation, doing the kind of things a good teacher (or in this case, club leader) is supposed to do.

Yes, I liked how I could mainly follow the technical things in the show too, and how things for the most part seem to follow actual science. I like hard sci-fi stories, and this is a surprisingly hard sci-fi show, so this pleases the science geek within me. I liked them mentioning the Doppler Effect(aka Doppler shifting) and how that would have to manipulated in order to make a 1 meter long probe appear much larger and much more massive.

I also liked how Jenny was shown to be "in charge" by the way she was questioning Marika about her motives while being reasonable and logical in how she lets Marika go ahead with her planning. I certainly hope to see more Jenny and Lynn once this "practice cruise" is over.

Another thing that I forgot to mention was how much I am loving the BGM. The Celtic-sounding BGM at points really makes me enjoy seeing them "sail" through the vastness of their star system. The OP and the ED are really growing on me too, as I just love hearing the metal of the OP each week.

[Endless Soul]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

The Six Frigates were later for the US Navy's rebuilding following the Revolutionary War. (One of which being the surviving USS Constitution)

I did learn something though. I've not heard of Washington's seven cruisers (schooners) that he financed personally before the founding of the Continental Navy in October of 1775. Hannah, Franklin, Hancock, Lynch, Washington, Lee and Harrison. These were the pre-navy, Navy, and because he's already be using these ships against the British, the Continental Congress was sort of forced to authorise a navy...since their sort of already was one.

Interesting. I guess I learned/re-learned something as well. I say re-learned because I' not sure if I knew about this before, and simply forgot. I am getting on in the years.

Endless "So old" Soul

[kk2extreme]

How many ep is there? At this pace, I don't think Marika would become captain for at least a couple more eps down the road...

[AbZeroNow]

Originally Posted by kk2extreme

How many ep is there? At this pace, I don't think Marika would become captain for at least a couple more eps down the road...

*does bad pirate impersonation*
"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, matey, there be 26 episodes in this here voyage."

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by AbZeroNow

*does bad pirate impersonation*
"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, matey, there be 26 episodes in this here voyage."

Yarg! We be here to plunder Chiaki's booty. Yarg!

[djmaca]

Originally Posted by Kyuu

Yarg! We be here to plunder Chiaki's booty. Yarg!

Which booty that be, capt'n? The one in her skirt or the one in her ship? XD

Originally Posted by AbZeroNow

*does bad pirate impersonation*
"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, matey, there be 26 episodes in this here voyage."

Did "Talk like a Pirate" day got moved?

[Ithekro]

I noticed that the people's names are Western style even for the Japanese names. Given Name followed by Family name. Is that just a style for this planet or has this started to become more common in Japan?

[CWW]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

To the specifics of your point, I think I've pretty much stated what my POV is on that - what I'm looking for is some sort of dynamism - any sort. Clearly a lot of viewers don't care about that, or feel that there's enough of it to satisfy their needs - that's fine.

The rest of us have long given up on the show's ability to commit.

For the record and it'll be the last thing I'll say before bowing out of this thread, I adore slice of life and I don't mind a slow pace at all, but for me they either need to be funny or progressively develop characters on an emotional level or a mix of both, and this show does neither of them well.

The characters are flat; even Marika's motive to be a pirate doesn't enthrall, because she has none. It'd have been something if, say, she has had an admiration of her father since she was little, but she doesn't even have that. She's simply going with the flow. A coming-of-age story is fine, but there needs to be some level of personal growth for the protagonist - a certain philosophy or political opinion. Marika hasn't changed one bit since the start of the first episode and this is worrying. If she isn't growing as a character, what's even the reason to keep watching? It's certainly not for the action.

I'm not saying it won't happen at some point in the future, but the ship has already sailed unfortunately. To all of you, enjoy the show!

[Mercurius.H]

Depressurization before space walk.
Auto-adapting sunshade mask.
Honeypot strategy in electronic warfare.

I love those details. Instead of throwing out homemade technobabble, Mouretsu shows great effort to depict realistic science or plausible near future sci-fi elements.

[Endless Soul]

Originally Posted by Kyuu

Yarg! We be here to plunder Chiaki's booty. Yarg!

Aye, t' Dark Queen be aye t' have hidden treaaye which would be wonderful t' behold.

Endless "Avast!" Soul

[Sackett]

Originally Posted by Endless Soul

Aye, t' Dark Queen be aye t' have hidden treaaye which would be wonderful t' behold.

Endless "Avast!" Soul

This be that legendary "Chocolate Parfait" of legend that I do hear tell of?

[Ithekro]

I see these episodes in a different way. Instead of character building, what they are showing is character competence. Not only of Marika but also those around her. To the point where the pirates are impressed. This would seem to be needed for later so that whatever she does with her own ship seem believable, but also show a reason for the pirates to actually take orders from her later aside from her being "captain" by blood as oppose to by skill.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

I noticed that the people's names are Western style even for the Japanese names. Given Name followed by Family name. Is that just a style for this planet or has this started to become more common in Japan?

Only some of them are like that. Marika is still introduced as Kato Marika. I think it's meant to deomnstrate that the people here are from multiple cultures.

[FlavorOfLife]

Throwing this out there. I am thinking that the idea of these 4 episodes is to create a sense of awe of space. Basically they are trying to feel like one of the crew rather than an outsider looking in. Case in point, i found i felt a sense of danger or more accurately tension during the depressurizing and opening of the outer hatch.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

mike, I basically agree - I don't really think the girls are in all that much danger (this is only episode 4, after all). But even so, they're don't know everything Kane does, so while he has acciess to a panic button if he needs to use it, they don't necessarily know that.

I don't expect them to be running around panicking like their hair is on fire, no - in fact it's nice to see high school girls not depicted that way. All I'm saying is I'd find the series more engaging if the characters were giving me a little more. A little more reaction, a little more insight into whether they're feeling anything whatsoever, about each other at least. The reason I used the word "documentary" is because the show has the feeling of, as you say, a sports trip - but with a few hidden cameras turned on. It does create a low-key sense of realism, absolutely - it's just that for me the experience is a little flat. If that's not the case for you, that's great.

I think part of the problem is that the voice direction and script are starting to betray their light novel origins, and what I mean by that is that every so often a lot of light novel adaptations that I've seen will go into this sort of heavy dialogue driven storytelling mode where as a result the voice actors may start to sound all monotone and the lack of change in pitch and tone in their voices can lead to a lack of continuing interest in the scene for some. These are the sorts of episodes where you really need some strong and improvisional voice acting, creative directing and good chemistry between the participants in the dialogue and I personally didn't sense any of that from the 4th episode when the characters were interacting with each other and that might be the lack of emotional investment you were talking about earlier. I kind of expected a little more of a feeling of comraderie and familiarity with the characters by now, but it feels like someone slipped Marika and Chiaki the valium for example in the scene where they are doing they're sensor sweep.

Then again maybe I've been watching too much One Piece which is stocked with veteran voice actors that have been together for way longer than even that series and seem to delete in playing off of each other in the down moments and making the scenes better as a result.

By the way normally I would look to Kana Hanazawa to carry these sorts of scenes we saw in episode 04 since even though I've only known of her for about a year and a half I've come to recognize her as one of the stronger more talented VA's of the current generation, but unfortunately she's been cast as the stoic emotionless girl in this one and also unfortunately has played her role perfectly in all the strengths and weaknesses it brings to the table.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

but it feels like someone slipped Marika and Chiaki the valium for example in the scene where they are doing they're sensor sweep.

Considering this is the same director/sound director duo as Rinne no Lagrange that's a much more lively show I think this might be intentional.

Basicly listening to the girls here reminds me of listening to NASA astronauts talk while they're on mission.Problem is a lot of people tend to find listening to those conversation boring as hell

There's also an adaptation choice that I find interesting:the lack of inner monologues,lots of adaptations have those and use them as an easy way to communicate the feelings of the protagonists,but there's none here.