*This review will be updated as I watch more episodes, it's up to seven so far.*
STORY: Moretsu Pirates or Bodacious Space Pirates, which ever sounds worse to you... Wow, even a terrible title, but this anime still doesn't blow? Yep, from I've seen thus far, there's nothing but incredible potential in this anime, despite the gaggle of girls, the silly pirate costumes, and, from what everyone highly expected it to be, what it would have appear to be some sort of moe space pirates adventures in the promotions, this anime has real potential to be even this year's best, or at the very least, the best sci fi anime in years.
From actual character build up (Actual believable build up no less) to characters with personalities bigger than their cleavages (Despite that I haven't seen a single chest pillow peek out from any shirt, even though there's now seven episodes available), and great set up on the world of this anime, Bodacious Space Pirates is looking up to be quite the space adventure.
The main focus is on the series main girl and eventual space pirate captain, Kato, the daughter of the late Space Pirate Captain Gonzaemon Kato, who have only just learn about her pirate heratage from her mother and crew members of the late captain and is expected to be the next captain, and is even reluctant to believe it (Along with the news of them being legal pirates). Kato is a lovable main lead that has no where to go in her character but up, she's no typical "I know how to pilot a giant machine without any training" lead character, she's the kind who only grows, and this anime actually acknowledges that as she's not thrown right away at the future plot or the captain's seat right away, a seat that will obviously need an experienced leader and not an unrealistic teenager that magically know what to do in any situtation, she has to do some real learning of what's what, from learning what it means to be a pirate to shooting a lazer gun. And when she's finally a space pirate captain, there will be no moans and groans from me, the anime will have shown her development to that point, it will have shown her effort to become that space captain we will hope she'll become.
But, that's only little of what this anime has does right that others do so yawn inducingly lazy, the whole theme and world build up is done exceptionally well, the other characters are interesting (And though the first couple of episodes will obviously focus on our captain-to-be, the rest of her crew will undoubtly be fleshed out, I mean what's a captain without her crew? A school girl?) and even with only a few episodes in, there's a strong feeling that there's going to be grand adventures that would make certain pirates envious.
But remember, before any of the piracy can start, getting your bearing and settings right is first priority, Mouretsu Pirates has shown through it's character's space yacht exercise that the space battle and exporation portion of the series will be done flawlessly, and I'm glad to know it's willing to spend several episodes to do so (Despite the slow pace, which will be graining to some). However, once the outer space cruise is over, the anime almost seems like it's trying to make up for lost time by literally rushing Marika right into the captain's seat to the point where I wanted to say "Slow the hell down people! She's only a high school student!"
After such a strong string of episodes, it's almost head scratchingly odd to see the pace turned up to the max and have the lead character put to work so soon, especially after it seemed to be taking it's time to get there.
But, does it really hurt the quality of the previous episodes? Not so much, there's obviously going to be more build up for our trainee captain, just because she's leading already doesn't mean she's magically leader material, and it's good to know the anime knowledges that and that Marika is still trying to work hard (School, part time job and being the captain of space pirates? She's tired out for good reasons but doesn't let that stop her). If the anime can get itself out of it's pacing rut, the show can continue to shine bright as it has been so far.
ANIMATION: Superb animation that isn't wasted on what we feared would happen, as expected from Satelight (Ikkoku Meiro no Croisee, Hellsing Ultimate), chaarcter designs are very distinctive, even background characters look well thought out. The animation on everything just overall looks great, space, the space ships, everything that is supposed to look sci fi looks it, no complains from me, despite some goofy pirate costumes.
SOUND: Good, but not amazing, though the voice acting is great. While theme music, the opening is a touch annoying (But that's just me...), but the ending theme is among the best I've heard in a good while.
OVERALL:
The Good:
+ Not what was expected, being some ecchi harem BS that it looks like, which is always a great thing.
+ A great hard working central character who doesn't follow the cliches of most sci fi anime, she'll only grow to be a better main lead with time.
+ Great animation, everything looks well thought out.
+ Great world building.
Mixed:
+/- Ending theme song is great / Opening theme is a tad bit annoying.
The Bad:
- Pacing problems, might be too slow for some, then moves too fast.
As over enthusiastic as I seem, I'm still keeping a weary eye this one, it can be as great as anime can be as much as it can be a colissical let down, but for now, these pirates earn a much better word than bodacious with my expectations flying farther than any space ship can soar.
