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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Rent | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:2513#1552] |
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Mouretsu Pirates is far from being the perfect title, but it did make for quite the addicting watch for me. The series is pretty much divided into a number of arcs focused around the various adventures that Marika and the members of the Bentenmaru crew get entangled in, especially as the former juggles her life as a high school student with her duties as captain of Bentenmaru. Marika's classmates in her school's yacht club also occasionally get involved in the action to humorous effect. Mouretsu Pirates is mostly a light-hearted and fun romp featuring Marika juggling her duties as pirate captain and high school student, featuring a likeable cast of characters who are along on the ride and engaging adventures that serve to either feature more fleshing out on prominent elements of the world of the series such as the pirate world and influential figures or having fun at exploring the unusual circumstances of Marika's unique situation. The visuals to the series are great on the eyes featuring bright color tones and plenty of detail with scenery and character designs. It also sports nice-looking CG renderings of the various pirate ships seen throughout the series. Battle scenes are well-animated featuring a great amount of fluid movement and rendering from characters and spaceships as they engage one another. While the premise to Mouretsu Pirates is a fun one and sports great visuals to boot, I do have to admit that the series isn't the best in terms of delivering depth. The series only delivers enough detail on its characters and major elements that are necessary in creating its plot, but not enough to get one to know more about the various characters and pirate crews encountered throughout the series. Not to mention that Mouretsu Pirates clearly has some loose ends with its plot and characters for its finale, particularly with a major villain that Marika and the Bentenmaru come at odds with in the title's final arc which was noticeably more serious compared to the earlier arcs in the series. Despite its depth issues though, Mouretsu Pirates was a fun and addicting title offering a light-hearted and quite funny focus on Marika's juggling of being a space pirate captain and high school student. Last updated Saturday, June 30 2012. Created Saturday, June 30 2012. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
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[series:2513#628] | ||||||
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(Five episodes watched): I had thought that this show would be, as the title promised, bodacious, with plentiful comedy and wackiness regarding a girl who somehow winds up in the unlikely position of being the captain of a pirate spaceship. Marika's silly pirate getup suggested that as well. But it has turned out to be nothing of the kind; right from the start the jokes were clearly unremarkable and therefore the only way to save Space Pirates would be if it would be some sort of adventure series. That would require a degree of plausibility, and Marika 'inheriting' the captain's position on a spaceship was a bit of a stretch. While watching episode one I thought this idea might be expanded into something fun and interesting, or it might have already gotten as sophisticated as it was going to get. Once the basic premise was explained, I wasn't all that surprised by anything that happened. Is the Stellar Empire evil enough that piracy against it is justified? Will Marika have an understandable reason for going into this business? Will comedy or adventure have priority? Are people going to get killed and injured? It was clearly too soon to say if this show would have the right spirit to it. I was left undecided as to whether I liked Bodacious Space Pirates. But the comedy hasn't appeared and there is little adventure, either. In short, this is boring. A small army of MiBs stake out Marika's workplace, but not one is posted to keep an eye on the building in case she returns later? Wouldn't they head straight for her home after she makes her escape? Marika is introduced to deadly firepower--but wouldn't one of those weapons pierce the hull of a spaceship, resulting in fatal decompression? I'm clearly looking for plausibility, since serious humor or coolness don't seem to be among this show's strengths. On the other hand, the hacking business (or 'electronic attack' as it's called here), makes some sense. Unlike 'pirating' EW really might be commonplace among spacecraft. The plot seemed to be moving slowly; obviously Marika would wind up as Captain of the Bentenmaru, so let's not waste too much time pretending that maybe she won't. She knows nothing, yet is 'decisive'--her personality could use some work. Other than the fact that she is perky and clever, I still feel that I know practically nothing about her after five episodes, and even less about everyone else. I still have no idea what the political situation is, and whether pirating is justified. Do I really want to commit to this series for 26 episodes when I already wish I could skip over it and watch something else on my roster? When a show gets to the point where you wish you didn't have to watch it, chances are that it is too far gone to recover. By the time Marika finally agreed to become a pirate captain I had lost interest and decided to drop Space Pirates. Last updated Monday, March 05 2012. Created Monday, January 09 2012. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Official Japanese Series Web Site | http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/mo-retsu/ |
