Bodacious Space Pirates (2012)

Marika is a pretty average high school gal. She is a member of the school yacht club and she works part time at a cafe called Lamp House. One day she finds out that the Father she never met has died from food poisoning. What's more, he was a pirate ship captain. It is tradition that the captain's position was taken over by his oldest child. So now, Marika has to choose whether to be a space pirate or to keep on living her quiet life. She has a very interesting experience on a yacht club cruise, and decides to add pirating to her busy schedule.

After barely getting settled into her new position, she gets a stowaway aboard her ship, The Bentenmaru. Her stowaway is a royal princess. Princess Gruier from the Serenity Planet System has a job for the Bentenmaru. Find a ghost ship that has been causing some trouble for the Serenity military. This job is a little fishy. There seems to be some strange behavior from the Serenity Royal Court and the military. Marika and her crew may be in over their heads.

This series is a lot of fun. It has great animation, voice acting, soundtracks; lots of cool characters, plenty of action, and some comedy. Many series nowadays rely on fan service and perverted situations to keep people interested. This series surprisingly doesn't have any of that so far. I'm not knocking that stuff, but I had the impression that this was gonna be that kind of show; given the name of the series and the product description.

This anime is well thought out. The backdrop is a really giant interstellar world, with lot's of history, nations, and possibilities. The production quality is top notch, as I mentioned before. There are lots of great voice talents. Luci Christian, Chris Patton, Hilary Haag, Monica Rial, and Brittney Karbowski are all among my favorite voice actors, and play major roles in this series. I must admit that I didn't expect too much substance from this anime. I have actually used my brain a little bit while watching. the story and mystery are pretty interesting and kept me wanting more.

I think that this anime will probably get even better in the 2nd volume that comes out in a couple months. I'm looking forward to it, and I think that most every anime fan will enjoy Bodacious Space Pirates. I highly recommend it and I hope you enjoy it.

On a future world where space travel is common, a high school girl named Marika Kato discovers her father has died. She also learns that he was a space pirate, and that she must take over his ship and crew. Her mother has groomed her all her life for this, and combined with her natural talent and hands-on experience through her school's yacht club, she actually gives it a shot. It turns out she's very good at it...which is good because they have to engage in privateering at regular times to retain their official letter of marque that sanctions their livelihood. But she also wants to graduate from high school, so she has to juggle two sets of responsibilities as best she can: one set as a civilian student; the other as a pirate captain.

While the weird anime fixation on high schoolers doing unbelievable stuff continues here, it makes it fun and engaging. It starts with likeable characters, from the lead to her crew to her classmates. Even though the piracy is sanctioned and largely benevolently applied (they often raid cruise ships who request them to do so as a show for their guests), there are regularly developing dangers for Marika to overcome on the job while she gets a handle on things...all while maintaining her grades, club activities, and part-time job on the ground.

The visuals are animated quite well for a television series, with nice ship design and character art. Although most of the girls sort of blur together to start with due to numbers, they begin to be used more towards the end of the run, so it's not a problem. If you're wondering, there's not a lot of fan-service here, which is appropriate for the majority of ages depicted, so don't look to this show for that.

I didn't expect to care for this series too much, but I really enjoyed it and look forward to it continuing. They are making a movie to expand on the conclusion, and I hope it proves successful enough that they shoot for a second season.

TL;DR version: Bodacious Space Pirates is a whole lot of fun. Highly recommended.

P.S. I find the Editorial Review for this series to be a gross mischaracterization of the series. The first two paragraphs aren't bad, despite a bit of exaggeration regarding a minor plot point. But the last line? "Sexiest pirate's chest ever"? In case you are wondering, the main character is a 15 year old girl. This otaku-flavored dreck is a disservice both to casual browser who might be put off by such objectification, and to actual perverts whose sad interest would lead only to disappointment.

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The story evolves around a teenage girl who one day is all of a sudden faced with the decision whether she wants to take on her deceased father's job as a captain of a pirate cruiser or if she wants to remain an honor student at an elite high school. She takes on her father's job and becomes a so called legal pirate.

There are some enjoyable characters in this show but all in all you have your stereotypical Japanese anime characters. The main protagonist has deeper emotions and ambitions. She is talented and a born captain.You do get pumped up when the opening starts playing and it's possible to ride that high for a little while. But, eventually, you either enjoy the events that are unfolding or you don't. The important thing is that you want to stick around long enough to find out whether you'll like it or not. Sometimes, you get bored out of your skull. Other times, you're hooked from beginning to end. That inconsistency can easily threaten your enjoyment of the show.You have your typical anime stereotypical relationships.

The Anime has very pretty visuals, from the shots of Marika's Elaborate University High to all the little things like the omnipresent computer displays that float in the air wherever they might be summoned.The bridge crew of the Bentenmaru are all unique, each with their own quirks and all with very nice character designs that set them apart from each other

This series is likely to be high on nearly everyone's list of anime that they've enjoyed. Moretsu Pirates/Bodacious Space Pirates is going to be around for awhile, and not watching this series is missing out on something that kicked off the 2012 anime season.Likable characters, carefree and enjoyable story, with a lot of action and nicely done artwork and visuals. Even the side characters are alive and enjoyable.

Overall quite a fun series, also there Movie is planned coming soon for this series due 2013

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But gets a little unbalanced after halfway. When this series starts it has a lot going for it. One of the best theme songs and a space pirate storyline. The show begins very slow and sets up a rich backstory set in a universe after a great war happened where pirates roamed freely. The perils of space travel are apparent and the show, while SciFi, tries to remain grounded in reality to a degree. It is an odd play on things. But unfortunately, the show doesn't remain there. Where this show really could pick up and get good, it squanders and flounders about with moronic side stories and a poor supporting cast.

Till about halfway of this show, it will have you hooked well. The potential of the universe it is set in is huge. While being a mostly all female cast anime, it doesn't screw it up much till then. But then this show suffers. It starts to bring in wild ideas and it goes into story arcs which just fit girls into silly costumes and have no real point. This series goes to great lengths to build a serious atmosphere, then ruins it by making it too lighthearted.

Unfortunately this is why all girl anime shows generally aren't that good. They always suffer from the same issues. Symphogear is another great example. The background and story behind it all is good, but the characters are just beyond generic. You can predict it and they spoil the potential of the show. Scenes that can be used for rich character building moments are generally lighthearted and silly. Even if horrific battles happen, characters rarely die.

In the end, Bodacious Space Pirates delivers a good opening and a very memorable theme song. But it's potential bottoms out towards the end. It is worth a watch, but by the end, you might just stop caring. I personally, cared more about the events that happened before this show than I did for Marika. The backstory involving the war seems so much richer than this show. Overall this is interesting till you realize they are not real pirates. These are just entertainers. The final nemesis doesn't really fit the universe as it is set up in the beginning and isn't that interesting. It wraps everything up in a nice neat girly style ready for another school day *rolleyes*.

3 stars is harsh but 4 stars is a bit too generous for this. The show fits between the two. It was good enough to have me anxiously waiting each week for a new episode. But the faults that appeared later in the series completely undid that feeling by the end. Give it a shot, rent it if you can. You might like it. I'm just giving you a heads up to not judge the second half based on the premise of the first half.

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I Like this series. This is an odd story, that grows on you as the captain, her crew, and her classmates develop together.

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