Anime Review: Bodacious Space Pirates

If you look at my entry logs you might notice that I have vanished for the past two weeks... Well I have... So, that's it. Anyway, this week we are going to take a look at a recent series called Bodacious Space Pirates..... Yes, the series is called Bodacious Space Pirates.... Just let that sink in for a few seconds. I'm reviewing an anime, called Bodacious Space Pirates. Formulate your own ideas while I get started with the review.

Space.. The Final Frontier... These are the voyages of a perky High School girl.

In the age of space travel, when colony planets grow in population and production, their relationship with their parent government worsens. This was the case of the planet "Sea of the Morningstar" and her government The Stellar Alliance. To bolster their forces to combat the military might of the Stellar Alliance, Sea of the Morningstar issued a daring edict: The Letter of Marque. With, this pirates became free to run their raids against enemy forces, and the dawn of a new type of pirate was born: Legal Pirates. A hundred years had pass since the end of the War of Independence and pirates where thought to cease to exist. At least that is what Marika Kato, a High School student, thought for all of her life. That is until she receives news that her father had just died; moreover, her father was a pirate; moreover, her father was a LEGAL pirate; moreover, legal pirates still exist; moreover, as his daughter, Marika is to inherit her father's ship and position as Captain should she choose. This is a lot to take in, and to make matters harder for Marika her new homeroom teacher is her helmsman, her school nurse is her ship surgeon, the new transfer student knows a lot about pirates, and a bunch of shady men are eying her. What is a girl to do?

Really, it's all about the theatrics.

Before I start to talk about Bodacious Space Pirates, I think it is important to reflect on my thoughts about the series going into it, namely that I was about to watch a series called Bodacious Space Pirates. Seriously, what do YOU think when you hear a title like Bodacious Space Pirates? See, I was thinking this series was going to be loud and flashy without two working braincells between any of the cast. It certainly didn't matters when the main character is a upbeat high school girl who captains a pirate ship. It was going to be dumb, no matter how it goes, the only question was that was this going to be an awesome kind of dumb where the flashiness is used to create loads of camp value, or will it be the horrible kind of dumb where it is more annoying than fun. What I got when I saw the series was something completely unexpected.

Honestly, I thought I would see a lot more of this.

The series is AWESOME, but it wasn't the dumb kind of awesome. It was smart, very, very, VERY smart. I'll put it to you this way: The first major action scene revolves solely around the characters talking to each other. I'm serious, it's mostly the cast dissecting a situation that involves their unarmed ship being hacked by a possibly armed ship, and formulating a plan to counter such an attack with their own hacking. It is mostly just dialogue and MY GOD was that intense. And really, that's what makes this series great. The characters likable and intelligent, the story is well written and well thought out, the action is intense even when there isn't a fire fight between people or ships, and the comedy is fantastic.

It's amazing how a series called Bodacious Space Pirates can be so great. By it's title alone, it could have been 26 episodes of flashy mindless fan service with nothing of real value. Instead we have a fantastic sci-fi adventure that never felt boring, never felt padded, never felt contrived, in fact I can't think of a single negative thing to say about it. Everyone should give this show a viewing, it is one of the few things in existence that is both Awesome and Smart. Must Watch!

Until next time.

Crescent, Pirates on one side, school girls on the other.