Mouretsu Pirates Episode 7

The Peace Does Not Last

Kie: Just when you think it’s turning around and it’s going to be great, another boring* episode airs. Sure it was interesting from the start, but it got to a point where watching them talk about how the enemy is changing formation and firing more warning shots got beyond boring. It may just be me, but.. well yeah it is just me. I don’t mind the type of action which involves more talking than actual contact between the opponents, but not when it’s so calm. It attempts to make out it’s a big deal with the constant alarms and Marika overreacting, but everything was under their control from the start. Not to mention they’re getting paid for it by the enemy themselves.

Is there ever going to be an actual threat? To me it seems like this is just a slice of life with an unusual show host job. On the bright side, Marika is still an extremely impressive character and portraits her personality very well. We’re getting to know the members of the crew better each episode too. Even if they have just a few lines, you can see what type of characters they are already. The majority at least. Chiaki, however, is just annoying. Unlike all the other characters, she’s completely unrealistic. She’s a trademark stubborn anime character. Something you don’t see in real life. Yes, this isn’t real life, but when you have a cast which is so unique and actually acts how you’d expect people to act, you don’t want to see someone like Chiaki.

Regardless of how many problems I have with there not being enough action, I still enjoy this. Why? It’s actually entertaining as a drama. It may not be living up to my expectations for a pirate anime, and I am disappointed about it looking and feeling more like a slice of life, but it’s a good one. The cast alone is enough to keep me happy, for now at least. I just wish they’d drop the ‘pay to see pirate combat’ side of it. A real threat would really turn this around. Did I mention anything that actually happened in the episode other than the combat? Marika’s grades are going down, so Misa suggests she drops out. That’s the school side we get shown, as well as a cafe scene where Marika insists her job is important as well.

Finally, theres a stowaway aboard the ship, who apparently got on during the piracy. It’s a child, and wants to speak to the captain; Marika. They make it a cliffhanger, which is.. okay I guess. It did get me interested. Until I saw who it was in the preview for next episode. WHY. Why would they do that?! I mean it wasn’t the biggest mystery ever, but I still didn’t want to find out until next week. Oh well, so it looks like some sort of princess/empress. Whatever the reason she’s on board, I hope it leads to a fight. I like Pirate fights.

*The combat was boring. The rest was fine.

Mouretsu Pirates Episode 6

Marika Does Her First Job

Kie: I love pirates so much. Purely for the show they put on during action scenes, which they seem to do almost all the time. I guess you could call this the true opening episode to the main events of the anime. I thought it was going to be a filler when it started with Marika going to a swimming pool, but luckily Misa takes her away to prepare to be a pirate captain. After some valuable training, she finally makes her first raid, which is really enjoyable, and pretty funny. Only thing I’m disappointed with is that the rest of the crew aren’t properly introduced, but they probably will as the show goes on. And it looks like we’ll still be getting the great mix of daily life & pirating action next week. Excited.

Mouretsu Pirates Episode 5

Marika Makes a Decision

Kie: YES. This is what I was waiting for. The decent episode I predicted finally came. Even if it wasn’t exactly the best episode ever. It’s the second time this anime has got me excited, and this time I hope it’s gonna continue. Although it was just electronic warfare, how they portraid it made it so much more. The tension between each decision and event was perfect, and wow, the end. This is the first time we’ve seen an actual threat to lives, and it was pretty good. I am concerned with how the majority of the girls acted when they were being fired at. They could’ve died right? I don’t know, but most of them seemed too calm, regardless of the screaming.

Marika decides she wants to captain the Bentenmaru, and Chiaka reveals that the other ship is hers, which appear to be enemies, unless they were firing at the lightning11. Next episode looks like it’ll be good, with an actual space pirate ‘adventure’. Oh and I just realised this anime has a great ending song.

Mouretsu Pirates Episode 4

The Decisive Battle is Late at Night

Kie: Finally some excitement. I really enjoyed this episode. Mainly with Marika showing she’s got what it takes to captain the Bentenmaru. Nothing serious happens, apart from them discovering a ship is after them. It could be compared to the previous episode really but I found this to be so much better. Everything that happens just shows potential, and the preview for the next episode looks like theres finally going to be some action.

Mouretsu Pirates Episode 3

The Odette II Leaves Port

Kie: It could’ve been worse. At least it showed promise for the next episode. Like, both previous episodes did too. I expected so much from this and I still do. Even though right now it’s pretty much a generic school anime set in space, something keeps telling me that I was right from the start. The first half was rubbish, but the second half got them into space and was slightly entertaining. From how it’s going, I can see them running into some serious trouble, especially with the hints it keeps throwing at you. Hopefully this will draw in the Bentenmaru to save them, and the anime will really kick off. I have to say the electronic warfare from episode 2 was more important than I though it was though, so I was wrong about them bringing up something useless. Since I’m not such a big sci-fi fan, this kind of build up can be more on the boring side for me. No doubts on next weeks episode though.. for the third time.

Mouretsu Pirates Episode 2

My Power, A Pirate’s Power

Kie: I think this pretty much defined ‘average’. It isn’t as though it was bad, but it just wasn’t that interesting. The action scene from the first episode was only mentioned for a few seconds, and what I thought was going to be important was just one guy attempting a kidknapping. All the other mafia people were just police? Kind of a let down. Ririka shows Marika some weapons and how to use them, telling her about the ways of a pirate, and Kane ends up as the yacht clubs advisor. This is almost all that happens. It’s completely boring, and even though this is probably (hopefully) just build up towards some decent stuff, I’m really not interested. Near the end Marika talks about ‘electronic warfare’ as if it’s the end of the world, and it looks like that’ll continue next episode. The show still shows it knows how to handle characters, but that’ll only take it so far. I’m expecting something big next episode, or at least a decent cliffhanger to give me the incentive to keep watching.