Forum - View topicBodacious Space Pirates (TV).
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dirkusbirkus
 Posts: 699 Location: Manchester, UK |
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I really, really enjoyed episode 5. It was weird, the vast majority of the 'action' spoiler[took place on a darkened bridge and on computer screens, but the groundwork put in during previous episodes made the battle pretty tense throughout.
] With Nisemonogatari, Rinne no Lagrange and Mouretsu Pirates all running concurrently, this is turning out to be the season of strong female protagonists. I warm to Marika more and more each episode, and the dynamic between the group introduced thus far works pretty well. If this is going to be a two cour, I'm pretty much sold for the whole package right now. |
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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"Marika Makes a Decision" seems that it might prove to have been a watershed episode for the series that alleviated the worries of skeptics and cemented the fondness of devotees. It's convinced me to continue my premium Crunchyroll membership after the end of my thirty-day trial. (I'm pretty sure that I can handle seven dollars per month) I'm even beginning to look forward to when Sentai Filmworks releases this in the United States; my enjoyment of this episode in particular could be improved by a good English dub.
Unrelatedly, I've found a two and a quarter minute long official trailer for the series that seems to have never been posted on ANN (there was a news post with a trailer, but it was shorter and has since been removed for some reason). Many of the footage for it came from episode five and given that most of the rest probably comes from episodes not much further on, those craving action should get some satisfaction in not too long. As I was watching episode five a second time, I noticed that the opening for the long spinal corridor of the Odette II is on the 'floor' of the bridge, which means that's 'ceiling' is oriented toward the nose of the ship instead of being oriented toward some arbitrary side of the ship with the crew looking forward. That's another one of those nice touches of technical realism. A nice dramatic touch that I overlooked at first was the spoiler[surprise on Ririka's face when Marika addressed her as, "mom," rather than by her name.] I hope that the series explores their relationship further, because it has hinted that there's potential depth to it.
They appear only fleetingly, so I didn't really notice it the first time, but upon review, they are indeed a bit silly looking. Maybe the mechanical designer let his ten year old come up with those.
Mea culpa. I'm still new at this 'commenting on an ongoing series' thing.
That is much appreciated as more respectable and reliable evidence. Given the release dates for the home video volumes, I think that Bodacious Space Pirates will be produced all together rather than split at episode thirteen. I have a feeling that this series won't sell very well in Japan, but I'm always having feelings like that.
That's an interesting theory. I certainly expect to see more of the Yacht Club, especially Jenny and Lynna, since they appear in much of the opening and closing themes. The same goes for the Odette II, especially given that the series took care to have spoiler[Hyakume say, "I think it still has a lot of fight in it."] Given how enjoyable I found them in these episodes, I look forward to that.
I haven't had much to say about the character designs so far other than to find them very satisfactory, but now that its appearance in the series proper is nigh, I have to admit that Marika in her pirate dress looks awesome. I love really theatrical eighteen and nineteenth century nautical costume and it looks as though Noriyuki Matsumoto (the character designer) has embraced that style with great aplomb. And hey, cool hat! I wants it... Oh, and you're shallow... and late for dinner... and your fly is open. So there.
I was struck by that to. This was a tense, exciting episode, but when I think back, the action could be described as, "mostly schoolgirls sitting at computer consoles typing and talking fast." That could easily be construed as denigration, but the fact that it's a relatively accurate, if vague, description and the episode was quite compelling even so says good things about this series. All that came before it made it feel like a really satisfying payoff. If the series has a structure of short three to five episode arcs that build to ever bigger payoffs, I'll be pleased. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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That would have been a rather good feeling, because before episode 5, the first volume was projected to have around 2k stalker points. It had an average ranking on the Amazon DVD sales at #274. Since episode 5 though, the show has been holding steady at around #50. So it's still not a guaranteed hit of course, but Marika spoiler[making her decision to be a pirate as well as our first view at ship-to-ship warfare] seems to have renewed a lot of otaku interest. If it can continue to do so, it'll definitely have a shot at reaching some measure of profitability. Something I enjoy about this show is that it's not light sci-fi and it's not hard either. It's somewhere in the middle which is quite enjoyable. For example, when the readings showed that the Lightning 11's infrared level was rising and Marika said that they didin't need to burn the ship, she wasn't joking. Concentrated sunlight can be an incredibly powerful weapon. As Archimedes' Death Ray had hypothesized and this much smaller scale version proves. |
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wandering-dreamer
 Posts: 1733 |
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I saw someone theorize that they could be designed for ramming which sounded plausible enough for me, although I'd imagine that would be a last ditch resort. |
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Nayu
Posts: 676 |
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So, and I'm going for cheese here, could spoiler[Ririka's line have been translated as "Live long and prosper?"]
Yeah, this is totally in the must own on bd pile now. Definitely. |
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Megiddo
Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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That's exactly how a certain fansub group translated it as.
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Parse Error
 Posts: 592 |
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That was also what crossed my mind. In a desperate situation, which a military ship might very well face, it could perhaps keep the ship in a salvageable condition while utterly devastating the opponent, and should certainly cause greater damage to the enemy ship than itself. It's nice to hear that not only is the show two cours, but there's at least some chance of a second season. I wasn't frustrated with the pacing, because they avoided any drawn out introspection and most of the cheesy dialogue that would normally accompany a character who's mulling over an important life decision. Perhaps it's natural for those of us who would jump at such fantastic opportunities, or just like to think so, to expect a main character who shares our enthusiasm, but Rinne no Lagrange is already doing a superb job of covering that approach, so this provides variety. I'm fairly certain that even 26 episodes will only leave me hungry for more, though I blame the promise it holds rather than the path it's taking. |
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wandering-dreamer
Posts: 1733 |
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I've heard that the anime is planning to follow the original LN series through the third volume (episode five I think finished up the first volume) and then go anime original, so around episode 15 maybe.'m not so sure how easy it would be to create a second season (I think the 8th or 9th volume in the series is set for a March release so there is more material, fingers crossed that the staff knew what they were doing). Oh and apparently the show is completely finished by now, production wise I mean, so hopefully this means no drop-offs in quality!
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3653 |
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Episode 6:
Okay, show. You win. I couldn't figure out what the peacetime occupation of pirates would be, and no, spoiler[tourist attraction] was not on my list of predictions, but it works for me. And it also allows for a more serious occupation for wartime, while also justifying the ridiculous look. We "meet" a lot of the crew, but not really. They just pass by. It does kind of have that "new job" feel, with having to do a bunch of paperwork, running around, and meeting a bunch of people without getting to know them, yet. |
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Beltane70
 Posts: 3893 |
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I just finished watching the new episode and I can now officially say that this is definitely my favorite show of the season. If it continues the way it has been, it just may very well become one of my all-time favorite shows.
spoiler[I really like how, despite the fact that Marika is officially the captain of the Bentenmaru, she's still undergoing training. While she may be a bit awkward in her new role, Marika shows quite a lot of promise. I really enjoyed Marika's training sessions throughout the episode as well as her first official pirate raid.] |
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jsc315
 Posts: 925 |
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With episode 6 I am now in love with this series.
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23805 |
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 wtf was THAT? Mostly I was grinning, imagining dtm42's head exploding like an over-ripe pumpkin if he's even watching any more.
I found it to be a bizarre shift in tone. It's not that comedic elements were absent before, but they were definitely muted and submerged under a neo-realism of quasi-credible space stuff. Buh-bye that version of the show. I'm not complaining. This is what I thought the show would be from square one. I am disappointed that they rushed Marika's introduction to the Bentenmaru and her crew. Well, rushed isn't the right word. "Completely skipped over" would be more appropriate. Again, kind of surprising considering how much time and detail was lavished on the Odette II. No matter, I'm digging it. Carry on. |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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About the only extra soft element I saw this episode was the introduction of FTL travel, which was already implied(I'm not counting the graphical effect, given the show's already established it's not going to let physics get in the way of a spectacle) and they hardened up the space suits; I'm guessing the ones we saw earlier were meant for peaceful maintenance(you could even excuse the apparent lack of control if they weren't actually intended for EVA).
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15482 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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The episode we were waiting for in a show about space pirates, purely epic really. The best bit undoubtly was when they pirated the cruiser. Fist having her totally ruin first imprssions with their spoiler[mole having to hold back laughing], and choking while trying to laugh. spoiler[But they really made the actual appearance as quite a show that had the people in show having fun], and I was on the edge of my seat during it.
So the secret to pirating is spoiler[insurance covers any loss, and the pirates put on a big show, like something from Sea World.] Guess we still have to see the officials who do not approve, or if there are some not so nice pirates who do not care about having a letter. |
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Surrender Artist
Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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I did not see that coming. I had been wondering what space piracy (space privateering, for the pedants) would entail. That spoiler[they are a sort of paid entertainment surprised me]. It certainly explains why Marika's pirate captain costume is so theatrical. I had thought that it was just drawn that way because the character designers thought it looked cool, but in fact it's probably spoiler[supposed to look cool for the benefit of the 'audience' within the story]. I think that I've seen things like this before, although I can't recall an example at the moment.
This episode veered into overt comedy, but did it with enough of its trademark reserve that it felt fine. It felt perfect that the first thing that Marika had to do was sign forms and deal with a battalion of government departments. I've dealt with and studied the public sector, so I was sympathetic. Hell; I once had to sign and complete nearly a dozen forms for a week-and-a-half temporary job at my university bookstore during book buyback. (Fun fact: My mother made me do it and what I was aid, less than $200, made my income too high for my parents to claim me as a dependent, thus costing them several thousand dollars in taxes.) The training montage was a little cheesy, but damn it, montages do get the job done. The quiet conversation in space between Marika and Chiaki was a nice touch, as were their more practical spacesuits. I wonder about how space piracy came to be the way it is. One guess is that it's spoiler[a sort of normalized extortion that began with cruise lines heavily insuring their passengers so as not to be driven out of business or forced to inconvenient travel routes that led to an arrangement of cruise ships simply accepting and complying with pirate attacks to avoid costly losses and then evolved into cruise lines staging or inviting pirate 'attacks' because the promise of the experience became attractive to customers.] There are clearly nevertheless more serious threats and situations. I wonder if spoiler[pirates with letters of marque are expected to police themselves and illegal pirates. Perhaps the stellar military accepts the existence and behavior of legal pirates in exchange for the pirates assuming the burden of dealing with illegal or rogue pirates]. This series still looks really good. The character designs are distinctive and appealing, it's well animated and even the computer generated things look pretty nice, certainly better than the average for Japanese television. Despite the tonal shift, I continue to look very much forward to the next episode. Next week promises some more conventional excitement and I'd really like to get to know the crew of the Bentemaru better. I think it would be consistent with the style of what went before it the series were to take its time in introducing them rather than parade them with names and blood types right away.
That would be fitting, especially as one of the members of the yacht club is named Syoko Kobayashimaru. (Indeed, I couldn't help but think of that during the simulation scene) |
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