Well, the show's finished airing in Japan, so they should be out there. I used the torrent method, myself, so there's not much help I can offer re: streaming even though I've got all 26.

I would just like to note for those members of the class who came in more recently than 1994 that this is coming from a man whose favorite anime of that period was the original Tenchi Muyo. :)

--G.
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Most of my anime viewing is somewhat guilty - I mean, I'm gonna be doing one of these for Girls Und Panzer once the final episode comes out, which is... something - but Mouretsu Pirates isn't one of them.

And then, suddenly, it clicked. It reminds me of The Wreck of the Dark Matter, which I had almost completely forgotten about, and which reminds me that A) I never did anything with the setting from the pre-CoV scenes and B) Dark Matter is an excellent name for a space pirate ship.

Mind, Captain Rik Vortex is an actual pirate, not a privateer grandfathered under a weird law nobody thought to repeal after the requirement for it had ceased to be valid; and his crew are ninjas, not schoolgirls. But still. There is a certain similarity of background hum. :)

--G.
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I thought you'd dig that, yeah, although I hadn't consciously linked the two prospects myself.

-----

"V, did you do something foolish?"

"Yes, and it was glorious."

So I'm watching episode 18, and thinking about the various other individuals we've already met in the UF universe who could fall loosely under the classification of "righteous pirate" (as opposed to the actual-murdering-bastard kind like Captain Vortex)...

... and it occurred to me that there is a moment around the middle of that episode where was was really needed was for the Narada to come barging out of subspace all AVAST THAR TINY CORPORATE BATTLESHIP. :)

(I know we haven't technically met that version of the Narada, but I've alluded to it a couple of times. :)

--G.
"Captain, you're being spoiled."
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Hi there, Liza.

...I admit that, even as I was watching the show, I was picturing the Bentenmaru and the Kuratai doing some kind of two-thirds-playful cat-and-mouse game through an asteroid belt or something.

-----

"V, did you do something foolish?"

"Yes, and it was glorious."

I could easily see the piracy-as-showbiz thing being something Liza does for the entertainment of certain liner passengers en route to Jezebel. Not on every run, that would get stale, but just... you know, let it be known that there is a certain percentage chance on any given run from Babylon 6 to Jezebel that you will be mugged in a friendly way.

Mind you, that could get complicated in that there are actual pirates in that part of space - Liza knows that better than most! - so it would require very careful planning and execution. You wouldn't want the paying customers to find themselves being genuinely robbed and/or dragged off to who knows what fate by the likes of Rolfgar Lundgren. That would not be a viable business plan.

So you would probably need two fast, heavily armed ships to really do it right: One to raid the liner, and one to patrol the area at a discreet remove and make sure no opportunistic interlopers decided to deal themselves into the game. I could easily see Liza developing a shortlist of trusted colleagues she could call in based on availability and timing to fill that role, and/or trade off with the Kuratai on the actual raiding, just to add a little more variety to the experience.

That way, if you were booked on, say, the Cunard Salusian longliner route from Tomodachi to Jezebel via Salusia and B6, you would know that it's possible nothing would happen, but on the other hand, you might be pirated by the Kuratai, or the Barbarossa, or the Black Pearl, or the Bentenmaru. And if it's the last one on the list and you roll a natural 20, you get the Cosplay Pirates instead of the regular crew! :)

--G.
"Dammit, Liza! It was your turn to be the escort!" "Sorry, I forgot. But everyone really enjoyed the pirate-on-pirate fight scene!" "Next time, warn me! You know I'm no good at ad-libbing."
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Expanded headcanon: they've never met. They don't know about each other, because they both use professional pseudonyms. There will, one day, be an incredibly awkward conversation by the punch bowl at Great-Aunt Vandi's hundredth birthday party filled with a deep sense of unease as professional chit-chat turns into dawning realization-slash-horror.

-Merc
Keep Rat

As an aside, the fan sub I dug up claims that Chiaki's father's ship is called the Barbalusa, but I'm assuming this is somebody not knowing what the hell they are doing, because Barbarossa is such a central-casting pirate-ship name. I mean, come on.

>or the Black Pearl

Very rarely, as for all that Liza is - for reasons which Azalynn finds inexplicable - rather fond of that drunken oaf Sparrow, it has to be admitted that he is quite unreliable, and his crew mutinies all the damned time.

>or the Bentenmaru.

Presumably Liza's favorite. It's so refreshing to work with real professionals. Particularly adorable real professionals who wear short pleated skirts with their Captain Morgan coats and remind her of Tenjou. ("You leave that poor girl alone, you predatory hussy!" Azalynn chides her, causing everyone at the captain's table to spit out their grog.)

--G.
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You remind me of a couple of cases in the Fullmetal Alchemist manga where the fan translation did a better job of reflecting the author's probable intent than the official (Viz) translation. Most everyone in FMA has a Western name, and although it's never explicitly said to take place on an alternate Earth, there are quite a few hints about geography that suggest that it is, and that it's somewhere around where Turkey is in our world.

A prominent secondary character is officially named Riza Hawkeye: the fan translation started out calling her Liza.

An important historical location is officially called Cselksess, which I suspect to be a literal transliteration of the kana, but if you're paying attention to the clues dropped about the geography, the fan choice of "Xerxes" makes a whole lot of sense.

(In both cases, the fan translations, running many volumes ahead of official publication, switched when the official translations came out, with an apologetic note to the effect that they were pretty sure they were right, but it would be even more confusing to not use the same names.)

Heh. Shades of Gunsmith Cats, in which the official translators looked at Irene Vincent's nickname and thought, "Well, she's a stunt driver, so this must be 'Rally'." (She's actually supposed to be called Larry. It was Sonoda's idea of a joke, you see. Though he seems not to have insisted at any point, so I guess he decided it wasn't a strong enough joke to make a fuss over. Which, in fairness, it isn't, really. :)

And, on the flip side, there was that strange stripe of Revolutionary Girl Utena fandom who used to get obstreperous about Anthy's name being rendered "Anthy" in the official translation - apparently unaware that "Anthy" is an actual name (it's Greek, short for Anthea, which means "flower", do the math :) and "Anshii" is just phonemic nonsense.

The canonical example is Belldandy, of course, although moving away from names, my favorite "well, the translators obviously didn't get this joke" moment is in an issue of Caravan Kidd in which one of the characters tells another, "Go shove your head up a pig." Given that the character speaking is an android, this is pretty obviously supposed to be a reference to the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation's motto from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "Go stick your head in a pig," but I guess Toren Smith hadn't read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, so we got a different version of the same phrase.

--G.
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Bonus points: people who insisted that Juri's name must actually be Julie, because "Juri" isn't actually a name in either Japanese or English, and Julie is.

I'm... not sure names work like that.

Although I still, to this day, get into... I'm not sure I'd call them arguments, they don't rise to that level. Discussions, I'd guess? About the pronunciation of Kozue's name. I pronounce it "Ko-zay", because that's how it is pronounced in the series and what she answers to and, presumably, she'd know, but I get "Ko-zoo" and "Ko-zoo-ay" a lot.

-Merc
Keep Rat

I seem to recall that the Software Sculptors subs actually spell it "Jury", as in "of one's peers", which is also pretty funny. I suppose, she is among the most judgmental members of the cast. :)

>Although I still, to this day, get into... I'm not sure I'd call them
>arguments, they don't rise to that level. Discussions, I'd guess?
>About the pronunciation of Kozue's name. I pronounce it "Ko-zay",
>because that's how it is pronounced in the series and what she answers
>to and, presumably, she'd know, but I get "Ko-zoo" and
>"Ko-zoo-ay" a lot.

I admit I lean toward the latter (elided a little bit, so it ends up being two syllables, the second more of a "zway" sound), but it's not a conscious statement of position, it's just what my tongue does with those letters in that order if not diligently policed.

--G.
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Having finished the series, there's even a ninja pirate. I didn't catch his canonical name, but I now choose to believe that he is Captain Rik Vortex's former first mate, William "Bloody Bill" Ito, having taken the rest of the Dark Matter's ninja crew and gone (semi-)legit. :)

--G.
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If we didn't know Riri-kaasan, I'd almost suggest that Marika might be Annabelle's half-sister.

But we do, and she's way too awesome to not exist, so it's just a coincidental resemblance.

-----

"V, did you do something foolish?"

"Yes, and it was glorious."

Heh, I thought of that, but A, Utena's already on record that she's Not Going There, and B,

>But we do, and she's way too awesome to not exist, so

well, that.

Also, I just got the "Riri-kaasan" joke when you wrote it out there. It's not commented on in the subs I have - they omit all honorifics and just render Marika's references to her mother as "Ririka", so it comes across that she's just addressing her mother in a peculiarly non-familial way... which doesn't really clash much with their weird home dynamic anyway. Ririka's obviously a mom in the Kei Morgan tradition, except Kei took Priss out to the starship graveyard to blow shit up for the first time when Priss was about six. :) (Kate wasn't interested in that kind of thing.)

--G.
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She does seem a bit too active to deal well with that situation.

>well, that.
>
>Also, I just got the "Riri-kaasan" joke when you wrote it out
>there. It's not commented on in the subs I have - they omit all
>honorifics and just render Marika's references to her mother as
>"Ririka", so it comes across that she's just addressing her mother in
>a peculiarly non-familial way... which doesn't really clash much with
>their weird home dynamic anyway. Ririka's obviously a mom in the Kei
>Morgan tradition, except Kei took Priss out to the starship graveyard
>to blow shit up for the first time when Priss was about six. :) (Kate
>wasn't interested in that kind of thing.)

I'm actually not sure that the joke is even there in the original...

Marika blurs through that address pretty fast, and as you say their family is the sort where that might well happen - I used my own mother's name until I was about five, and my parents asked me to switch so that my little sister would have an example, which I did.

...but it's so amusingly perfect it's become my headcanon anyway.

As awesome as she is, and as much as I want to pet that one underclassman's hair (shut up, it's not like that, she's just so fluffy), though, my favorite character is Chiaki.

She's like Mio's badass cousin from the other side of the Veil.

-----

"V, did you do something foolish?"

"Yes, and it was glorious."

That, and she's seen the endgame live and in person now. And quite frankly, the hell with that.

I don't think she'd necessarily mind having a child (she's more or less got one now, and it took her a bit to adjust, but she's getting there), but bearing one? Forget it.

>As awesome as she is, and as much as I want to pet that one
>underclassman's hair (shut up, it's not like that, she's just so
>fluffy), though,

Eh? Not the one with the Finn the Human hat, obviously, but beyond that, I'm not sure who you mean.

(As an aside, there's an interesting little revelation about Ai in there. She loses that hat in the Nebula Cup episode, but is wearing it again the next time she appears. It seems vanishingly unlikely that she was able to retrieve it, so she must've acquired another one. This indicates that it isn't some kind of strange fixation with that particular hat, like a woobie, she just likes the look. Which may actually make her weirder than the former case. ... I rather like Ai-chan. :)

>my favorite character is Chiaki.

Eeehh... well, I will grant that I can see why, but she's not for me. It's not just that she's abrasive, but that she's so consciously dedicated to being abrasive. I mean, she goes out of her way to give the impression that she's annoyed by people being glad to see her, what the heck is that about? I don't know why Marika puts up with her. :)

In her place, I would totally hang with Chiaki's dad instead. He'd be a way cooler Special Pirate Pal. Besides, he's a brother captain; hanging with the peons should be beneath Marika's dignity.

(I'm kidding about that last part. Her willingness to hang with the peons is part of what makes Marika so awesome.)

>She's like Mio's badass cousin from the other side of the Veil.

Pah. Chiaki can't even stand being called "Chiaki-chan" for more than a couple of seconds; she wouldn't last five minutes in Sawako Yamanaka's crosshairs. Say what you want about Mio, she's got endurance. :)

(Although, Mio does have a badass cousin from the other side of the Veil, for certain values of badass - Yukari Akiyama from the DSM Tankery Club. :)

--G.
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Sasha Staple is her name. Fluff, fluff, fluff.

>(As an aside, there's an interesting little revelation about Ai in
>there. She loses that hat in the Nebula Cup episode, but is
>wearing it again the next time she appears. It seems vanishingly
>unlikely that she was able to retrieve it, so she must've acquired
>another one. This indicates that it isn't some kind of strange
>fixation with that particular hat, like a woobie, she just
>likes the look. Which may actually make her weirder than the
>former case. ... I rather like Ai-chan. :)

Pretty much all the characters on this show are kinda awesome, really.

>>my favorite character is Chiaki.
>
>Eeehh... well, I will grant that I can see why, but she's not for me.
>It's not just that she's abrasive, but that she's so consciously
>dedicated to being abrasive. I mean, she goes out of her way
>to give the impression that she's annoyed by people being glad to see
>her, what the heck is that about? I don't know why Marika puts up
>with her. :)

I think that cool-and-pretty must be Marika's type, really. Plus she's so adorably bad at being abrasive. Which, admittedly, makes her think she's not being taken seriously and try even harder and fail even more and so on...

>>She's like Mio's badass cousin from the other side of the Veil.
>
>Pah. Chiaki can't even stand being called "Chiaki-chan" for more than
>a couple of seconds; she wouldn't last five minutes in Sawako
>Yamanaka's crosshairs. Say what you want about Mio, she's got
>endurance. :)

...Actually, I can see Chiaki's sense of dignity linking to Sawako's Death Devil side and making them get along.

>(Although, Mio does have a badass cousin from the other side of
>the Veil, for certain values of badass - Yukari Akiyama from the DSM
>Tankery Club. :)

Well, they won the tournament, so yeah, that's a value of badass.

-----

"V, did you do something foolish?"

"Yes, and it was glorious."

Ah, OK, her. Bunny of the Cosplay Pirates. :) Yes, I see what you mean.

(As an aside, the people who set up that wiki need a talking-to. Purple on black? Really? They might as well just go around to people's houses and poke them in the eyes personally. :)

>Pretty much all the characters on this show are kinda awesome, really.

Honorable mention: their insurance agent, who I'm pretty sure is a refugee from Cowboy Bebop.

>>I don't know why Marika puts up with her. :)
>
>I think that cool-and-pretty must be Marika's type, really.

Great Hanfstaengl's Ghost, as if the poor girl's life wasn't complicated enough already. :)

>...Actually, I can see Chiaki's sense of dignity linking to Sawako's
>Death Devil side and making them get along.

... riiiiight up until Sawa-chan's manic bit flips back on and she makes Chiaki wear the nurse costume.

Then it's "pirate blood feud for life" time. :)

--G.
Doubly so when Captain Kurihara sees the photos and laughs his 'tache off.
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Well, she forgave Marika for sticking her in a Miko outfit... and for broadcasting their bad kareoke to an entire pirate fleet... so I'm pretty sure that Chiaki's one of those people who tries to take their Things very very seriously but is cursed with both irreverent co-workers an an inability to hold a grudge...

...huh.

She's Pirate Azusa +5 Years.

-----

"V, did you do something foolish?"

"Yes, and it was glorious."

I am so making that happen now.

--G.
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I think Captain Kurihara beat you to it. ^_^

-----

"V, did you do something foolish?"

"Yes, and it was glorious."

Well, sort of. There are similarities, but Azusa's battleaxe routine is a lot less convincing. Chiaki's demeanor would actually be intimidating if the people she was trying to exercise it upon weren't so monumentally dense. Azusa... not so much. :)

I put it to you, though, that without Azusa, the Light Music Club's pirating career would be pretty short. Ritsu wouldn't file the paperwork properly, and without Azusa to badger them into action, they wouldn't get around to doing any piracy within the first month, so they'd lose their letter of marque anyway.

--G.
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Heh, I just realized something about this. Chiaki and Azusa are actually about the same age - if Chiaki really is supposed to be in the same school year as Marika and isn't doing the Jump Street thing. She's in 10th grade when the series opens and 11th at the end, just like Azusa in seasons 1 and 2 of K-On! Azusa only seems younger because she's so tiny and adorable.

(There's even a joke about it in the K-On! movie; when they all go to London together and they're clearing Customs on the way into the UK, there's a wide shot where Azusa's standing by the desk and telling the immigration official, who is depicted as being at least two feet taller than she is, "Yes. I am seventeen." :)

--G.
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For the record, in the UF universe this was almost certainly a cover of the theme to Battlecruiser Vengeance.

--G.
Hand and weapon! Heart and power!
Cry it with the voice of Empire!
Victory and prize and plunder!
Bentenmaru flies at morning!

... also, have I pointed out before that that scans to the chorus of the theme from Underdog? Speed of lightning, roar of thunder! Fighting all who rob or plunder!
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You have? But that's entirely ok, because -every time- I'm reminded of that it is absolutely hilarious.

-Droken

It would not surprise me if John M. Ford had done that on purpose.

Hm. I see she gets fashion tips from the same place the Rune Knights do, what with the "specialized clothing over schoolgirl uniform" look she's rocking.

-- Bob
-------------------
My race is pacifist and does not believe in war. We kill only out of personal spite.

I think in Marika's case that's mostly because she's always pressed for time. You can, with a little skill, put on a Cap'n Morgan coat on the run. Trousers, not so much. :)

--G.
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Upon reflection, I'm pretty sure this is what Heavy Citrus sounds like. :)

--G.
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Have you seen the Official Music Video?

Names removed from an actual AIM log, following my sharing the above link:

A: Oh hey, this is the opening to Mouretsu Pirates
Me: The official full music video.
A: They seem to be dressed like some kind of Space Pirate Idol Sentai team
Me: The band's, I mean.
A: ... Writing those words in that order made me want that to be real
B: Hehehe
C: ....okay then
A: o_o I feel... Something.
C: Growing horror that this actually exists?
A: It's not enlightenment or a kind of high but... I feel like my eyes were opened to SOMETHING, and then sat down and given a soda and an affectionate pat on the head before It skipped off.
Me: Mixed with the crazed and frothing glee of a cultist as Dread Cthulu rises from the depth.
A: But they're just the most CHIPPER cultists
Me: IA! IA! JPOP FTHAGN!
A: "Cthulu Fthagn! <3"
B: "Cthulhu-san noticed me!"

-----

"V, did you do something foolish?"

"Yes, and it was glorious."

Help, I can't stop laughing...

--
Unable to save the day: File is read-only.