Craig Reviews Bodacious Space Pirates: Episodes 1-10

It seemed, at first, that the Winter 2012 anime season held very little of interest for me. There’s the very cute fluff that is ‘Poyopoyo’, and the continuation of one of my favourite series, ‘Natsume Yuujinchou Shi’, but outside of those two series I could find very little that appealed to me. With some hesitation I decided to give the first episode of ‘Bodacious Space Pirates’ a try. My expectations were low, mostly due to the truly awful English name, but I was surprised to find that the show is actually pretty sophisticated. Yes, it’s high school girls in space, but there’s a lot more substance here than you’d expect, and plenty of style too.

The show follows Marika Katou, a high school student and part-time waitress in a far away galaxy, who one day discovers that her absent father has recently passed away, leaving her as sole heir to the role of captain on the infamous pirate ship, the Bentenmaru. The biggest credit to the story here is it’s pacing. I can imagine a lot of other shows would have made Marika a pirate captain before the first episode was through for the sake of moving on, but here her decision isn’t made until we reach the fifth episode. Yes, by that point we’ve all seen the opening animation five times and it’s pretty clear what’s going to happen, but we’ve got a much better sense of what is motivating the intriguing cast of characters.

These opening episodes are based largely around the high school half of the series, as Marika and her school’s Yacht Club are taken on a practice cruise into space while members of the Bentenmaru watch over her to assess her suitability to captain their ship. This mini-arc is really interesting, as we discover more about the galaxy that these characters inhabit, and the role that pirates play in it. Pirates who were given a Letter of Marque during the war that ravaged the galaxy 100 years ago are now allowed to perform legal acts of piracy. Marika’s first official act of piracy is a little surreal; the pirates acting as a bizarre tourist attraction, as they attack a cruise ship and steal the guest’s possessions. The guests are more than happy to be robbed; indeed they seem to consider themselves lucky to have lost their jewels at the hands of pirates. I didn’t fully grasp this aspect of the show to be honest, and the arc that has followed, revolving around a stowaway princess who asks for the Bentenmaru’s assistance in locating a ghost ship, has not quite managed to hold my attention like those opening episodes did, not yet at least. There’s a lot of potential in this show’s surprisingly deep science-fiction setting. Admittedly it has gone largely untapped at the moment, but I look forward to seeing it explored more in future episodes.

Marika, Chiaki and the Bentenmaru looking all artistic.

Visually the show is a treat. This is clearly a fairly big-budget production, with some great CG work in the space sequences in particular. The show is very bright and brash, the space sequences teeming with laser-fire and explosions, while the scenes set back on Marika’s home planet are full of vibrant space-age details. The design work on the show’s spaceships is undeniably cool, and the character design is consistently appealing, particular with the slightly oddball crewmembers on the Bentenmaru. The soundtrack is equally upbeat and bright, the score fits the show perfectly and the voice acting is almost universally excellent. Marika’s best friend does begin to grate a little whenever she’s on-screen for too long, but that’s thankfully a rare occurrence. Special mention must go to the opening theme, 'Moretsu Uchu Kokyokyoku Dai 7 Gakusho 'Mugen no Ai'' by Momoiro Clover Z, which is quite easily up there as one of my favourite openings ever. It’s a perfect fit for the show and a superbly catchy song in it’s own right that I promise will burrow it’s way into your head after a few episodes, good luck getting it out of there!

The characters are really what have me hooked on the show at this point, it’s been a while since I saw any anime with such a well-rounded ensemble cast. Even the schoolgirls bring something to the table beyond wearing short skirts, which is always a refreshing change of pace. Marika herself is an instantly likeable protagonist, and her journey from schoolgirl to a pirate captain, nervously finding her feet yet naturally gifted, is always a believable one. Marika’s mother is an interesting character, I’m hoping to see a lot more from her in future episodes, while the central crew of the Bentenmaru could do with some further development beyond simple introductions, though I'm sure that will eventually come. 


All in all then the show has a lot going for it, even at this early stage. It's had a slow start, but that's no bad thing, indeed it leaves me hopeful that this is a show that knows what it's doing. The setting is interesting, the characters are great and the production values are certainly there. All that remains to be seen is how the show will tell it's story. For now though the early indications are certainly good, and I think this could end up being a truly great series.