Mouretsu Pirates 26 – Drink up me ‘earties, yo ho!

And thus ends Mouretsu Pirates, a series that started off slowly all those weeks ago but gradually built up into one of the best of the year with fascinating characters and an excellent story. It has been a long time since there was a space opera that had such an excellent and importantly consistent case of characters. The finale answered many questions that had been building up over the course of the series, while still keeping several important ones unanswered, possibly to allow for other series in the near future. Marika was a brilliant lead character, someone who was both brilliant while retaining a certain element of naivety and obliviousness that made her such a joy to watch. Ultimately it was a series about her discovery of what it means to be a pirate and how it has impacted on her and her friends lives.

Mouretsu Pirates 25 – A bit like Phantom of the Opera, only with better looking masks and more pirates

One of the central questions of this series has been what it means to be a space pirate; it is a question that has come up on multiple occasions, and asked by a variety of different people. For the most part the answer has been somewhat simplistic in nature, often pertaining to possessing a Letter of Marque, and thus being part of what has become an elaborate web of official business within various solar systems. Essentially to many people the entire world of a space pirate revolves around this piece of paper, and as such they must obey its commands as if it were a sentient being. But of course this is wrong, pirates come in all shapes and sizes, and many of them are not bound by the Letter of Marque, but instead by their own rules.

Mouretsu Pirates 24 – The Plot Thickens!

Far from clearing up questions, Mouretsu Pirates has lately only been piling more questions and mysteries onto our already overloaded plates. The countless little hints about political subterfuge, backroom wrangling and black-market dealings have built up to create a story that is as dark as it is colourful. A story that makes less sense, but also becomes more interesting the more of it you watch, further enhancing the idea that Marika may be far more significant to the pirates cause, and far more involved that even she may know. What this final arc is going however is bringing together the darker elements of the series, showing us how pirates truly live of a knife-edge, caught between the illegal worlds that they inhabit, while still maintaining the position in space through legal means.

Mouretsu Pirates 23 and the realisation of what it means to be a pirate

There has been an element of Mouretsu Pirates that follows the politics and importance of being a pirate. While the majority of the series has focussed on Marika, along with the Hakuhou Girls Academy Yacht Club, there has always been a significant political sub-plot to the series. What this final arc is doing is bringing together all the little elements that we have been shown throughout the series to give us some indication as to the importance and power that pirates truly hold. What is most significant however, is the appearance of the Galactic Empire, or at least two of its ships. Throughout this series the Galactic Empire has been an unseen, unknown presence, staying in the shadows as if it were waiting for the right moment to strike. We are told about it during the very first arc of the series, with Misa demonstrating its importance, along with its power.

Mouretsu Pirates 21 – Reputation is what you make of it

 

It has been hinted upon since the very beginning of the series, but at last we see concrete proof that despite her apparent easy life, Marika is being constantly watched. But more than this, we see that her life is in fact almost always in constant danger, with numerous groups envious of her current position. This helps to demonstrate that while Marika may be famous and the captain of what we are told is a very well known pirate ship, the world of pirates is not quite as rosy as their performances might suggest. Last weeks episode had an excellent example, with numerous powerful individuals, apparently from Umi no Akeboshi talking about their current protection deal involving Marika.

Mouretsu Pirates 18 – Pirates as outlaws

Two weeks ago I talked about and explored the idea of pirates as performers, bringing a sense of the carnivalesque to peoples lives. They put on a show for rich passengers on cruise liners in order to maintain their position within society. There is also the notion that in order to keep their Letter of Marque pirates need to keep putting on these shows, and are in a sense more akin to travelling performers than rogues or outlaws.

Mouretsu Pirates 17 – Pirates walk a fine line between legal and illegal

In the universe of Mouretsu Pirates, Space Pirates constantly walk a very fine line between the legal and the illegal. They do not however stay on that line, frequently meandering backwards and forwards across it depending on the job and of course the necessities that come with maintaining their Letter of Marque. Throughout the series we have seen both sides of being a pirate, with the big, flamboyant displays that are put on for rich space cruise passengers, to the more dirty jobs that require cunning, guile and nerves of steel.

Mouretsu Pirates 16 – Piracy as performance

It has become abundantly that piracy in the Mouretsu Pirates universe has two distinct sides. On the one hand we have piracy as a performance, with pirate ships and crews employed to fulfil the role of an in ship performance, giving many people a chance to see something new and exciting. On the other hand, however, pirates are on the fringes of lawful society, taking jobs that may be illegal, dangerous and potential life threatening. That they can exist within these two opposing worlds shows the versatility and adaptability of those that call themselves pirates.

Moutetsu Pirates 15 – Beware princesses bearing parfaits

One thing that I have always enjoyed about Mouretsu Pirates is its pace – rather than throwing the cast into what may appear to be a never-ending series of missions, each one crazier than the last – this show has opted for a far calmer approach, choosing instead to build upon what has come before with plot and character development rather than big flashy effects. This episode is no except, instead of thrusting our stand-in Bentenmaru crew into the fray and effectively force them into a piracy job, this episode acts as a transition, allowing the makeshift crew to get used to their new roles, along with the ship.

Mouretsu Pirates 14 – And the miniskirt pirates are born

It seemed almost a foregone conclusion that something was going to go wrong when we learned last week that the Bentenmaru would be transporting a bio-container full of cat-monkey hybrids. Alas it turned out to be true, which puts Marika and the Bentemaru is a bit of trouble regarding their obligations as a pirate, along with the conditions of holding a Letter of Marque. Due to the container mysteriously opening of its own accord – it had a time delayed lock according to Misa – the Bentenmaru’s crew are quarantined due to the contagious nature of whatever it was that they caught.