The current anime season is an extra-good one, with several interesting series I want to follow, and I’ve had to really juggle my schedule to create enough free time to watch them all. (Sometimes being a dedicated Japan/anime blogger can be hard work). One show I’m liking a lot is Mouretsu Uchu Kaizoku, translated as Bodacious Space Pirates, though I shed a tear that the original novel’s title of Mini-Skirt Space Pirates wasn’t preserved, since girls wearing mini-skirts in zero-G spaceships is…well nevermind. It’s a well-made space opera about Marika, a genki high school girl who learns that her father was a famous space pirate, and is told she must take over as captain of his ship. As usual, it’s common for elements of the story to potentially cause confusion. In one scene, captain-to-be Marika calls the intelligent Chiaki (also known as “Kuroneko…In…Space!”) by the familiar name “Chiaki-chan,” which causes the mature girl to take offense. This is the kind of cultural issue you might counter when watching anime that can confuse you even if you have subtitles — in this case the chan name suffix is only added to people who are younger than you or below your station somehow, and some females dislike having it added to their names.
Space pirates in mini-skirts certainly are bodacious.
