(L) Mouretsu Pirates

[Sackett]

Originally Posted by TurkeyPotPie

Even the fanservice in this show is old school. Not that I'm complaining, but this really feels like an anime that would have been made 10-15 years ago. Is this going to be two cour? It's taking its sweet time getting up to speed, but I've missed this sort of pacing since most shows were reduced to cramming everything into a single cour.

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Yup, this anime is going to be Two-cour.

Awesome.

I'm loving the old school feel myself.

[MrTerrorist]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

That actually is an interesting question. In history, whenever war broke out, governments signed up as many privateers as they could to interdict shipping. When peace was declared, many of those privateers simply moved into ordinary piracy and became the enemies of everyone.

It's clear that privateering isn't a widespread industry any more, since after all Marika hasn't even heard of them (which is honestly kind of weird--she's a high-school student and hasn't had a basic course in the history of the founding of her own independent planetary government yet? Though I suppose most U.S. high school students couldn't talk about the role they played in the Revolutionary War, either...). The "Letter of Marque" would only allow them to attack shipping from other nations (or a specific rival nation), if it was comparable to those in history. So whom do they attack and why is it tolerated is a good question.

I guess it might be the Galactic Empire or Interstellar Alliance that we hear about at the beginning of the 1st episode.

Remember the intro said that the Empire is conquering other solar systems and Marika's home planet fought for Independence against their Alliance rulers.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

It's clear that privateering isn't a widespread industry any more, since after all Marika hasn't even heard of them (which is honestly kind of weird--she's a high-school student and hasn't had a basic course in the history of the founding of her own independent planetary government yet? Though I suppose most U.S. high school students couldn't talk about the role they played in the Revolutionary War, either...). The "Letter of Marque" would only allow them to attack shipping from other nations (or a specific rival nation), if it was comparable to those in history. So whom do they attack and why is it tolerated is a good question.

Marika hadn't quite "not heard of them." She mentioned when they first sprung the idea on her at dinner that space pirates were ancient history, from back during the war of independence. That's probably about as good as your average U.S. high school student, to use your example, unless said student had just recently gone over a lesson regarding that particular part of history. At least in my history classes there wasn't really a lot of focus on privateers. Oh, they were mentioned, but it was always pretty much a sidenote to the discussion of whatever war we were studying. If the subject was sprung on me out of nowhere, I'd probably do no better than Marika did.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

Ugh, I really hope this show picks up soon because I want to like it, but I found episode 2 to be rather meh; I wouldn't go as far as to call it 'boring' because I did enjoy some scenes. One particular scene I found interesting was the one in which Ririka teaches Marika about weapons, how most fights are decided before they even begin, and the power that pirates possess.

I don't know...Ririka talks about the power of a pirate, but aren't they also just following orders in the end? Police take the orders from their superiors and pirates take their orders from the captain. May be different situations, but doesn't seem like the freedom is that huge.

[Saber Cherry]

Marika: "I don't know anything about electronic warfare, but I'm going to hack into this other ship to prove how decisive I am!"

Oh, really?

I liked episode 1 better, but at least so far, the chara designs have me hooked.

[Kagayaki]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I don't know...Ririka talks about the power of a pirate, but aren't they also just following orders in the end? Police take the orders from their superiors and pirates take their orders from the captain. May be different situations, but doesn't seem like the freedom is that huge.

Sort of, but when you get to the top level, pirate captains are only responsible to themselves and their crew, whereas police and military are responsible to the state. So even the generals and police chiefs still have relatively well-defined responsibilities compared to the goals of a pirate captain.

Also, generally speaking, police (and to a lesser extent, the military) have rules about when they can and cannot fire. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadly_force, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_engagement. Pirates are only bound by their self-interest and their own personal sense of morality or honor.

[Kismet-chan]

^All of that is true, but does the same really apply to privateers? Being a privateer is kind of like being a freelance police officer (that's simplifying it, but it's the same basic idea). Fulfilling a letter of marque & reprisal is serving the state/country that issued it, so don't you have to abide by their rules? Unless privateers had more freedom in how they went about carrying out the letter of marque than I thought.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Kismet-chan

^All of that is true, but does the same really apply to privateers? Being a privateer is kind of like being a freelance police officer (that's simplifying it, but it's the same basic idea). Fulfilling a letter of marque & reprisal is serving the state/country that issued it, so don't you have to abide by their rules? Unless privateers had more freedom in how they went about carrying out the letter of marque than I thought.

I can hardly claim to be an expert, but the impression I've always had is that they got to act exactly like ordinary pirates, except that they only attacked ships on the side that hadn't given them their Letters. Considering how many of them returned to being true pirates once the wars were over, they don't sound like the sort of people who would have cared what sort of rules someone wanted them to follow anyway.

[Kismet-chan]

Ah, I see. That makes a lot of sense. XD

[Ithekro]

Most Privateers that I am aware tend to do what they want. The majority of their deal with a governement is that the Privateer and that governement don't shoot at each other. The Privateer is given a list of what he should be attacking and what he shouldn't be attacking. If it isn't on either list, the Privateer can do what he wants with it. The Privateer is suppose to give a predeturmined cut of the take with the government (sometimes specific things like military prisoners, heavy weapons...sometime the enemy ship if taken), in exchange the Privateers can get assess to that government's ports and gets access to weapons and gear that would otherwise be illegal to have. They sometimes get a discount based on their take. The better the Privateer does, the more likely the government is going to bend over backwards for them. The worse they do, or if they start targetting ships on the wrong list, the Privateers get called Pirates and are considered fair game for government warships and/or police.

Traditionally, a Privateer is a privately owned naval military asset (a converted civilian ship, or sometimes a ship specifically designed for raiding...these are usually build during a war by private companies seeking to be privateers) for a country that doesn't have the resources to build and operate a large navy...or one that is fighting a large navy to the point they can't be everywhere at once. It is easier to pay a civilian that already owns a ship to arm it and send them out to raid enemy shipping. Because they are getting paid for the number of tonnage sunk or captured, it is a nice business deal for some where as nationalizing the ship and making it a warship would require a military crew (which the country might not have enough of) and because of the ridged structure, a lot of sailors might leave and thus make the ship ineffective. Plus the ship's captain already has a crew and pays them himself, thus the government doesn't have to pay much for a privateer since they are mostly self funded (via piracy).

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by Endless Soul

The link you provided has a message about no hotlinking, so I took the liberty of taking my own screenshot, which can be seen here. Yes, even if you dudn't blink, chances are you missed it. It's that fast.

Spoiler for Chiaki's fanservice:

Anyhow, I'm liking this series more and more. I'm also liking how Marika and Chiaki are adapting to each other and thinking alike. That's going to come in handy later.

I have to admit I'm quite taken with Chiaki. ~swoon~

Spoiler for Yes, my Queen:

Endless "The Power of Pirates" Soul

Oh sweetness. You have to be a super pervert to catch that. And so, to anyone complaining about the lack of fanservice in this series -- well -- y'just need a very fast eye for it.

And to think, when I first clicked on this thread today: one of my thoughts asked, "I wonder what color is Chiaki's underwear?" Well, that's answered.

[Kismet-chan]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Most Privateers that I am aware tend to do what they want. The majority of their deal with a governement is that the Privateer and that governement don't shoot at each other. The Privateer is given a list of what he should be attacking and what he shouldn't be attacking. If it isn't on either list, the Privateer can do what he wants with it. The Privateer is suppose to give a predeturmined cut of the take with the government (sometimes specific things like military prisoners, heavy weapons...sometime the enemy ship if taken), in exchange the Privateers can get assess to that government's ports and gets access to weapons and gear that would otherwise be illegal to have. They sometimes get a discount based on their take. The better the Privateer does, the more likely the government is going to bend over backwards for them. The worse they do, or if they start targetting ships on the wrong list, the Privateers get called Pirates and are considered fair game for government warships and/or police.

Traditionally, a Privateer is a privately owned naval military asset (a converted civilian ship, or sometimes a ship specifically designed for raiding...these are usually build during a war by private companies seeking to be privateers) for a country that doesn't have the resources to build and operate a large navy...or one that is fighting a large navy to the point they can't be everywhere at once. It is easier to pay a civilian that already owns a ship to arm it and send them out to raid enemy shipping. Because they are getting paid for the number of tonnage sunk or captured, it is a nice business deal for some where as nationalizing the ship and making it a warship would require a military crew (which the country might not have enough of) and because of the ridged structure, a lot of sailors might leave and thus make the ship ineffective. Plus the ship's captain already has a crew and pays them himself, thus the government doesn't have to pay much for a privateer since they are mostly self funded (via piracy).

Ithekro, thanks so much for this. (Off-topic: I'm currently writing a story based on privateering [is that a word?], and this a lot more to the point and easy to understand than a lot of the boring/lengthy stuff I kept digging up...) Super helpful!

[Ithekro]

Off Topic: If you are after info on Space Privateering (and Piracy) that semi matches up with some historical takes on the matter (so that it isn't as boring/lengthy) I would recommend the West End Games: Star Wars Roleplaying Game suppliments "Pirates & Privateers" and a the campaign based on it called "The Far Orbit Project" by Timothy S. O'Brien. (They should be out of print since West End Games don't make Star Wars stuff anymore and those came out around 1997). It comes across like a mix of the older style 1600 - 1700s pirates and privateering and the Confederate States of America's Privateers during the American Civil War of the 1860s.

Though it is possible that this shows pirates will follow the more Matsumoto style of piracy as show in the 1970s anime "Space Pirate Captain Harlock".

[Misdreavius]

Wow I think this is the only show I've watched where I'm learning from all the discussion about pirates and stuff.

[Flower]

Another solid episode in ep 2.

I really like the nice, slow pace and gradual world-building going on here, and I like the characters.

No doubt there will be a slow build up to action and what not, but I always like the slow, careful development before the proverbial hits the fan, and so far this show is delivering exactly that to me (although it may be a little earlier to say that after only 2 eps).

7.5/10 vote for ep 2 from me. Huzzah.

Not all too crazy about OP btw, but the ED is okay in an odd sort of way, I guess. :\

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by Saber Cherry

but at least so far, the chara designs have me hooked.

This, the character designs have this strange charm.

[Kismet-chan]

Originally Posted by Misdreavius

Wow I think this is the only show I've watched where I'm learning from all the discussion about pirates and stuff.

The more you know~ *rainbow star flies by*

[Soconfused]

I guess I'm the only one not liking the pacing so far. I was surprised when the ED starting playing cause I felt like nothing had happened the whole episode. Also, the chick with the ear peace who rebooted the bridge sounds like she's 40.

And the whole damn ship scene was wasted panty shot potential, completely wasted. Skirts aren't gonna stay like that zero gravity, they should of been all over the place, very impractical.

[djmaca]

WTF!?! An All-Girl's School owns a pirate ship?!?! I would love to turn that school into an actual pirate base.

Originally Posted by Soconfused

And the whole damn ship scene was wasted panty shot potential, completely wasted. Skirts aren't gonna stay like that zero gravity, they should of been all over the place, very impractical.

It's OK: we aren't here for panty shots and fanservice. We are here for moe space pirates!

[Stevie_Nix]

Originally Posted by Soconfused

And the whole damn ship scene was wasted panty shot potential, completely wasted. Skirts aren't gonna stay like that zero gravity, they should of been all over the place, very impractical.

Its the future, I'm assuming that their skirts are engineered not to "go all over the place" in zero g. Anyway I really liked how they didn't resort to massive panty shots.

Originally Posted by djmaca

WTF!?! An All-Girl's School owns a pirate ship?!?! I would love to turn that school into an actual pirate base.

I would love to know how they came into possession of that ship. Theory: either the ship's original captain or one of their descendents founded the school. Heh, I would love it if the school was actually founded to train girls to become crews of privateers!