Never, ever, trust a cat-monkey.
What They Say:
The crew of the Bentenmaru is under quarantine after transferring infected cat-monkeys. It’s only for 2 weeks, but after treatment and follow up, it could be over a month. Marika will lose her license if she doesn’t do piracy for a month. Where is she going to find a crew in time.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a fairly lengthy startup story that took place in the first half of the series, we got a good introduction to the world that Marika lives in and how she became a legal pirate for the area. They also got a good look at one lengthy adventure that while interesting in how it was produced in smaller segments at the start, more of a mystery, it felt like it was dragging on too much as it moved along week after week. So while we now do have the characters like Gruier on her homeworld after all that happened, the show can try and move on a bit further as well from that and into new territory. Which is very, very welcome. The previous story wasn’t bad but I certainly had enough of it at this point and of characters like Gruier.
Unfortunately for Marika, as much as she’s gotten to work well with her crew, she’s now lost them for a time. While she was back at school for a bit, the crew ended up in quarantine because the cat monkeys they had on board were infected and they have to be isolated for the duration. This isn’t bad in a sense because she can view it as some down time, but it means their jobs are going to get pushed back due to what has to be done both to the crew and to the ship itself. Because of it all, they’re going to be out of commission longer than expected and enough so that Marika’s license could be revoked since it’ll be over a month without an action. And that has her dealing with the insurance company over things as well, something that isn’t too bad of an idea since she is the captain and has to get a better knowledge of the operation from top to bottom.
This puts her in a real awkward position because she certainly doesn’t want to lose the ship or its crew but has to figure out a way to conduct some pirate business so that she doesn’t lose things. Amusingly, Gruier is the one who will end up helping and motivating her to get things done as she helps her select a new, temporary crew in order to conduct the business. Gruier’s attempts at getting Marika to dress properly for it is lightly comical but it’s just right, not overdone, as it gets her in the right kind of suit and moving into a professional realm for it. The back and forth between the two as they try and figure out what’s needed and how to go about acquiring them. It does lead them down some amusing paths, to say the least, as it brings Chiaki back into the circle for a bit.
In Summary:
In a way, this episode is surprising for the approach it takes as the first thing you’d expect is for Marika to go to those she went to school with since she knows them, knows it’s a temporary gig and can use that well. But it also makes sense to go for the real thing out there since there are dangers and required knowledge and skills needed in order to pull off the jobs at hand and conduct proper business. Though the episode is laid back, there’s a good bit going on and we get a good expansion of how the legal pirating angle works as well as a look at more of the pirates as we see Marika going on her recruiting mission with Gruier. The series continues to have its distinctive pacing about it but it works well and this episode has some good fun about it as it progresses, both in how it educates Marika more and how it has her dealing with those she comes across.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
