Moretsu Pirates 18 ~ Chiaki-sama’s been under a lot of stress
May 5, 2012
Chiaki Kurihara handles things “pirate-style”.
Episode 18 ends the third major arc of Mouretsu Pirates (Bodacious Space Pirates). Frankly this third arc hasn’t been the best of the series, even though it still had some elements that were interesting. I liked the way that it used characters we already knew from earlier arcs, instead of introducing a lot of new characters, for instance.
Another example is the way they made use of the Silent Whisper, something that Uldihaa nailed in a comment last week:
I do wonder how they plan on using that newly acquired ship they got. And I’m pretty confident that it will be used at some point. This show never drops something like that into a story without using it fully. It’s gotten way too much attention to be a ‘throw-away’ ship.
If it follows established practice, next week Mouretsu Pirates will be another transitional episode. I really hope the final arc is a strong one, and that this show ends well.
Bonus Service (Chiaki-sama)
Chiaki Kurihara in Miko outfit with gun.
Don’t ever get on a woman’s bad side.
Abandoned Factory Anime Review 
May 6, 2012 at 7:04 am
So far the director has used up 3 volumes of the Mini-Skirt Pirates Novel so right now it’s unknown whether Sato will be moving on to the 4th volume or using original material for the remaining episodes.
On the plus side, Sato mentioned he’s interested in doing a 2nd season…no greenlight yet though
May 6, 2012 at 9:37 am
Thanks, that’s very interesting.
May 6, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Chiaki fit those miko robes extremely well. I loved that we got to see her ‘Inner Ham’ again too. She really enjoys being a pirate, doesn’t she?
So they managed to remove the teeth of a shark, though like all real sharks, those teeth will be regrown eventually. Hopefully he’s lost enough influence that it’ll take years to get back to where he was at. That he’ll be able to avoid prison is sadly accurate. With a little luck, Jenny will have time to graduate and get her company solidly going before he’s able to get back enough influence to bother her.
Speaking of Jenny, I’m really pleased that her relationship with Lynn will continue. I also noticed that they changed the still-shot of the yacht club in the opening. Now you can see Jenny and Lynn holding hands if you look carefully.
I hope this next ‘breather’ episode has some Mami in it. We haven’t seen enough of her lately.
May 6, 2012 at 2:53 pm
If I’m looking at the same shot you are talking about, they were always holding hands, it is just very subtle. This link is to the shot as it appeared in the 1st episode: http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5844/yachtclubmouretsupirate.png
May 6, 2012 at 5:25 pm
I’ve mixed feelings about the show as a whole, but I thought this episode nailed the show’s theme and much of what had been built on in prior arcs was used to good effect.
As for the last arc, I’ve not read the source material so I don’t know where it is going, so I’m wondering about that there are two crews, two captains (Marika and her mother), and one ship.
May 6, 2012 at 7:28 pm
“much of what had been built on in prior arcs was used to good effect.”
Yes.
This particular arc was quite indulgent in the aspect of the show I was least interested in: the play-acting “piracy”. The way these things generally go is that it comes down to whether or not they pull off a good ending. If the ending is weak (as weak as this arc), it will leave a bad impression of the series. At any rate it seemed like a stronger series last season when it had less competition.
May 6, 2012 at 8:02 pm
“The way these things generally go is that it comes down to whether or not they pull off a good ending.”
Yeah I’m now wondering the same thing as well. Since the novel is still going and will still continue after Mo-Pai is completed they may pull an original ending which could be good or extremely bad. I’m really a purist for original source material so original endings don’t always sit well with me….but I hope to be proven wrong. Still enjoying the ride though. I haven’t felt this way about anime since the early 90s.
I’m hoping that Akihabara sales are doing well enough that the potential green light for a second season will be announced. They seemed to be selling out of volumes 1 and 2 of the BD the last time I was there though it could just be that they didn’t have enough of a fulfillment and retail establishments ordered in smaller quantities.
But regardless, if they’re alloted another 26 episodes then they can actually cover volumes 4-6 of the novel with perhaps some of volume 7 since that was recently released. and if this happens, they might be attempting to pull the same method that Asahi had done way back when, for its fellow series Uchuu Senkan Yamamoto Yohko.
Either way, crossing my fingers.
May 7, 2012 at 8:52 am
I guess we’ll just have to see what happens. I’m with you, in that I prefer to see them follow the original, because all too often anime-original endings are pretty stupid.
July 11, 2012 at 12:48 pm
So, now that the series is over, what did you think of the way they ended it? I was pretty pleased. They brought a lot of things together, told a pretty rousing story, and yet left plenty of room to continue the series if sales and demand justify.
This story very intentionally stayed away from the “grittier” aspects of storytelling — for example, we never see anyone die. Generally I find that a cop-out, but it seemed to work for this show. I enjoyed the light-heartedness of it, while still finding it fairly exciting in parts. That’s quite an accomplishment. If there is a second season, I’ll definitely look forward to it.
July 11, 2012 at 4:06 pm
I think that is a fair assessment. I was not happy with the direction the series went in the second half, but it certainly was not without charm. I’m not feeling inclined to watch a second season, although I don’t feel it was a complete waste to have watched the first.
To be clear, I think they decided to move in a more character-driven direction, with a very light tone, and that wasn’t what I enjoyed the most about the first half of the series. I preferred the sense of what “sea-faring” might be in space. I actually liked the hoisting of the solar sail, and navigating the turbulent space storm. The dinghy race towards the end, was pretty fun, although it lacked the substance of the earlier arcs.