Marika’s facing some tough choices but the risks could certainly be worth the reward.
What They Say:
For Marika, being a pirate is about taking risks, and kidnapping is something licensed pirates do not engage in. Before Marika can put her plan into action, an unidentified ship heading toward the Bentenmaru changes everything.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The exploration of what it manes to be a licensed pirate is definitely interesting since it’s a bit of theatrics, a bit of commerce and a fair amount of risk when you get down to it. But because it’s legalized, there are regulations and rules about what you can and can’t do. So when the Bentenmaru is approached by a young man who has orchestrated events to get their attention, they learn that he wants to hire them so as to kidnap his true love before she’s married off to some interest. Lynn is intent on making sure that she doesn’t end up in a bad way as Jenny has an impressive life ahead of her, from a company that she has to going to university. It’s something that definitely moves Marika, which isn’t a surprise.
While Chiaki is the only one that’s against this, even she comes over to agreeing to it after making it clear what some of the costs will be if things go wrong, especially considering the inexperienced crew they have overall. The first half of the episode deals with the whole catching up to where she is and the rescue itself, which plays out in a rather surprising form as things go much quicker than you’d expect based on how the series has progressed to date and we get to see that Jenny is and isn’t like what Lynn has portrayed her to be. The reunion is far quicker than one would expect and that leads to its own bit of fun as the two get to have a passionate embrace, which cutely has all the girls on the bridge squealing with delight. Pirates indeed.
The second half deals with the fallout from the event as there’s some amusing connections going on here, from who Jenny really is and the group that’s now after her to cause trouble. Not surprising is the direction that Jenny’s uncle takes when he finds out that she’s on the Bentenmaru as he doesn’t go for the heavy force approach but rather massaging it from the back by going to their insurance company to try and get things resolved in a cleaner fashion to his liking. It’s fun to see that approach used since not only does he do things as you’d expect but you see Jenny and Lynn have their own strengths here to play, which in an amusing way puts Marika in a position of power with all of this, something that you wouldn’t have expected considering all the risks she did take from the start of this whole arc when he crew ended up sick.
In Summary:
While this part does set things to a close in one way, it opens it up to more as the real mission begins and the true part of the arc gets underway. The use of Lynn was mildly interesting at first but the bringing in of Jenny and who she really is makes for a lot more fun since it makes it all quite personal for the yacht club members who are now playing at being Cosplay Pirates for Marika as he crew is down and out in quarantine. Not unlike the series as a whole, the show here definitely has its own vibe and goes in a particular way with its pacing and structure that feels a little off but still manages to work because of how it all comes together. There’s some fun to be had here even if it overplays its hand a bit with the Lynn and Jenny relationship and reunion
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.
