The story is deep and intriguing, with a wide variety of piracy missions requiring different skills and tactics. What is emphasised greatly is that preparation is key before engaging in any kind of mission or battle. The show, for the most part keeps the viewer informed how and why a ship's crew has taken a certain course of action.
Unfortunately, the preparation aspect is over-emphasised in the first 4 episodes which really broke the pacing and turned off a lot of potential viewers. The show does redeem itself in the 5th episode when all the preparations go into action. The highly tactical nature is gripping, and is upheld throughout the rest of the series during engagement with enemies.
The end of the first episode was also awkward, as we are abruptly introduced to the political nature and hazards of being involved with piracy, without any follow-up. The best way to describe it is a shoddy attempt to include action and suspense which was counter-productive in the bigger picture. The later episodes do give us a quick rundown, and the viewer is also able to naturally gain a good idea of the setting as events unfold, which makes the awkward first episode sequence necessary.
The structuring of the arcs also took some time to get used to, as the "Mission"-centric episodes bore the hallmarks of a Space Opera while the "In-between" episodes between the Missions were closer to slice-of-life and comedy. The change of pace is totally unexpected and rather confusing at first. The "in-between" episodes show improvement as the series progresses, and successfully provide a good relief from the serious parts.
What the series excels at is how it handles the characters. We have a large cast, but only the important ones get the focus. The viewer develops understanding of the characters through the way they act, rather than empathy that is seen in most other series. This feels rather impersonal as the viewer is unable to directly connect to anyone, and is left as the third person observer. The total opposite happens in Code Geass where we are always with the main lead, going through his thoughts and the fairly minor characters also have their day in the spotlight. Not so in pirates, as we appreciate the excellent supporting cast through observing what they do, and how they do it. The story gradually reveals the characters, rather than the characters revealing themselves.
Remarkably, this is handled in an excellent fashion as we see a very natural progression and development from our main heroine, Marika. Her piracy skills and confidence show a natural growth from experience and the subtle changes over time is just pleasing to see. At the same time, she is no superhuman and has her insecurities. A reluctant leader who becomes a beast of a leader when the switch goes in. The writer of this review has the same experience, being in a zombie-like state outside work, but task-orientated and focused while at it.
The BGM is very good, and supports the different moods, from mission planning sequences to high-stakes battle action. There is a noticeable lack of variety at times, and repetition through the episodes can get a little tiresome. It is a case of quality over quantity, although a little more of the latter would be welcome! The insert songs and a special ending theme sets a good feel-good and concluding mood, while the regular ED sets a tone of anticipation with the lyrics giving an excellent portrayal of Marika. The OP is a matter of taste, which in itself is an excellent example of Bodaciousness and pirates by their nature are just that.
General sounds are also great, and really reinforce aspects of the story. The various pirate ships are a century old, and have undergone custom modifications throughout the years. While the external designs have similar roots, the differences in customisation is apparent. Such is the attention to detail in that each ship has its own unique warning siren.
The general character art and animation is very average for a televised series. Character detailing is usually good, but there is some inconsistency across different episodes. The animation is decent to good most of the time, but there are the rare exceptions where framelag is highly noticeable. The CGI on the other hand is outstanding. The detailed designs of the pirate ships, and the large amounts of different shading that is used is exceptional. The movement is extremely fluid, with extremely accurate thruster deployment as a ship changes direction. Zero-G environments and physics are excellently represented in both "ordinary" and "CGI" sequences (technically, it's ALL CGI but you get the gist) with floating characters having to kick objects to change direction, as well as going "upside down"
At the end of the day, Mouretsu Pirates is a highly compelling show that dared to do things differently. Tactics instead of pure action. Third-person character development instead of through first-person empathy. It even throws in comic relief in this highly complex execution. Even the producers seemed to struggle, as seen in the first few episodes but they learnt from their mistakes and each successive arc improves upon the previous ones. While the end results were far from perfect, they gradually become close enough. This is certainly a show which a patient viewer with an interest in space would enjoy.
