Yeah, I'm not so sure I liked this episode's feel in contrast to all the previous ones. I was with it until the pirate hunter capital ship did the crazy spin. That ruined it for me. I was expecting it to do something like generate enormous gravity wells that would prevent the pirates from escaping via FTL, not that garbage.Originally Posted by David75
Worse, it is apparently only operated by one person (and presumably tons of computers).
What I did like about the episode was that they discussed Marika's future, and where the Bentenmaru fits in with the rest of the pirate community, and how big it is in total. Out of 200+ flotillas, Bentenmaru is right near the bottom in terms of armament, but thanks to its crew, is one of the most prominent. I sort of got the feeling that while it is well known, it probably isn't very respected by the other pirates, since it evidently mostly does cruiser raids, basically theater. Smart, very capable crew, but not exactly something to terrify those who might cross it.
Maybe that's intentional. The Bentenmaru gets out of binds very quickly, and its non-"generic faces" crew has skills and connections that we certainly don't even see from Chiaki's family. The Bentenmaru gets underestimated, and wins without trying too hard from the unexpected angle, as we saw with Jenny's marriage issue. The other ship got messed up by the hunter's electronic warfare, but Coorie managed to keep Bentenmaru's working reasonably well. Crew obviously matters, and thankfully, Marika has already developed a decent pool to pull replacements from (at least electronic warfare, helmsman, and chief engineer, and probably medic/XO too).
Like I said, I really liked the scene with Kane and Marika discussing whether or not she'll become a real sailor, or just keep doing it part time. I think it's pretty obvious, and Ririka has certainly been pushing Marika in the direction of self-sufficiency, as has the yacht club, and the Bentenmaru's crew. A nice serious discussion after the enjoyable silliness of Jenny and the dingy race.
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