Bodacious Space Pirates aka Miniskirt Space Pirates

Obligatory:

Obviously in this alternate world Roy Mustang did indeed become Fuhrer and instituted a dress code that was handed down as a holy tradition, even extending to female officers in space.

Actually I watched this without any clue what it was, just happened to see that there was an episode 1 out and decided to check it out blind.

It was... interesting. The character design made me think that it would be horribly cheesy and bad. The awful over-the-top "pirate clothes" of course, but also the school girl outfits and character designs were also... I don't know... off somehow. Cheap. Not as smooth as it should be.

However... once you get past all that:

1: The plot is not bad. A war of independence supported by privateers (the "pirates" are actually privateers, not pirates), some kind of inheritance laws govern inheriting privateers. A main character who has a missing father is revealed to be a special person. Dangerous events force her out of her normal world into a big adventure. Some pretty basic plot lines there but actually executed rather well. Reminds me of Treasure Island more than anything else.

2: The science so far isn't bad. Knowledge of basic space physics such as aerobraking and so forth demonstrated. Which is encouraging. Also, the "everyday technology" was incredibly cool, and you can actually conceive of these things happening in the near future. I happen to know Microsoft is working on some of that stuff right now.

3: Most important the characters are already being established in the first episode. The main character is still a blank slate so far, but that's normal. Other characters are being established. But to me the big clue that there might be something worth watching here was Mami.

Mami is the best friend of the main character in her normal life. Usually such a minor character would get hardly any characterization, and is soon left behind as the main characters move on to more interesting things. Yet with just a few lines and a couple scenes they've already fleshed out this minor character as someone interesting. Enough that I'm actually hoping Mami get to go along on the big adventure with her friend the main character. She'd make for some good comic relief.

Is this going to be the great anime of 2012, with deep philosophical insights like Madoka was last year?

No. But it does look like it might be a fun show. Although I suppose it could still run off the rails. Approved to watch the second episode. Hopefully it will turn out to be fun, even if it's a bit silly.

I also can't help but laugh at the English title "Bodacious Space Pirates" I can't decide if it's worse than "Miniskirt Space Pirates" or not.

edited 7th Jan '12 1:01:41 PM by Sackett

Apparently this show has been stalled in pre-production for a number of years and went through various design phases with radically different thematic emphases. Which normally makes a show end up kind of crappy, but I was quite pleased with the first episode. Although conceivably it's due to my lowered expectations, in the end the show felt like it was respecting its audience, which is always the most important part.

First episode was good, although it looks like it's a 26 episode run so who knows how it'll go from here.

Cautiously optimistic.

not bad, It was funny, not mentioned legal pirates did exist. So it isn't even much farfetched.

This is the closest I'll get to a new series in the style of Crest Of The Stars so I'll take it.

I liked it. Probably not the best I'm watching this season, but still good.

One of the better premieres in the sense that it got the plot started and had solid animation and direction. On the other hand, the plot wouldn't be super-interesting at the best of times, and it's in a season with a lot of crazy stuff

Also; it's kind of annoying that the plot revolves around letters of marque and the word "privateer" hasn't appeared once

Eh. They may have not used to word, but the concept is pretty clearly in use.

But yeah. This show looks like it could be fun.

I don't think the Japanese language has an equivalent to "privateer".

I just watched the first episode, and it was pretty good. There was a surprising lack of overdone Fanservice, the characters are likable (although Marika herself is a bit generic so far), and the setting is a lot more plausible than what you'd expect from a Space Pirates show.

edited 7th Jan '12 3:33:04 PM by silver2195

That's exactly what I expected, given that they even went out of their way to take out "miniskirt" from the original work's title, they are obviously trying to play it cleanly.

Weirdest thing to me was the keypad. What the heck kind of design is that?

LOLZ. Nothings says ferocious LEGAL pirates than schoolgirls and miniskirts.

With skull and crossbones pirate hats.

Can not forget the pirate hats.

edited 8th Jan '12 5:33:11 PM by Sackett

Watch out. Pirates coming though!

@ Arilu, the clear ipad thingy? That's popular in a lot of scifi, I wonder if we have enough examples to launch a trope.

Hm, which subs would you guys recommend? I've heard mixed things about Horriblesubs, most bad and I don't know much about any others either.

edited 8th Jan '12 8:03:45 PM by Chariot

Horrible is just a rip from Crunchyroll. Outside of the horrible squid puns, I like their subs.

Use Crunchyroll, since, you know, they're the ones who have the license.

Haven't heard good things about theirs either so,uh, no?

Crunchyroll is an actual legal distributor.

I can't use Crunchyroll though.

Actually an interesting first episode. I was expecting something crazier because of the title, but this kind of laid-back sci fi atmosphere is not bad at all.

Commie. I'm avoiding Horrible and Why Not, and there's not really anything wrong with their subs.

edited 8th Jan '12 11:35:23 PM by fillerdude

What subs did you use then?

It would be nice if this thread had the show's actual title, but this one's amusing.

At last, another anime with pirates! We don't see enough anime pirates! What, did One Piece have some monopoly on it?!

edited 9th Jan '12 7:44:14 AM by kyun

"Bodacious Space Pirates" is on the logo and is the title by which it was licensed for English distribution...

Crunchyroll calls it "Moretsu Pirates".