Everybody knows HorribleSubs is horrible. They are only using the subs from CrunchyTroll for the sake of pissing them off, thus explaining the no-karaoke for OP/ED (which means it’s not like they hate doing OP/ED karaoke, they just don’t know Japanese).

This post is not about mocking or insulting HorribleSubs, and it’s not about praising them either, despite how I’m going to emphasize their good points here. The fact is I still appreciate them as they’re the fastest (which is not a fair competition with other subbers as they’re just stealing from CrunchyTroll after all) and that’s one of their good points. Because they’re fast it’s fine to have them first while waiting for my favorite subbers to come up with their own works.

Another good point about HorribleSubs, which is the important point in this post is they can serve as a BENCHMARK on how worthy a series is. How is that possible? Keep reading.

If Horriblesubs is the only subbers left or still doing an anime series, there’s a high chance that the anime is abandoned (by all other subbers) or is worth abandoning/dropping.

If there’s no other subbers but only HorribleSubs picking up a new series, there’s a high chance that the series is not even worth following.

The above ‘benchmark’ is surely not absolute but it could serve as a good guide to picking the next anime you’re planning to watch. After all a subber’s approval rating is way more valuable than a fellow fan/viewer’s because subbers always got the thing first hand and we’re just like the end users who only enjoy other people’s works (the ‘afterwork’) without sweating ourselves like them.

Now into what this post actually about; let me tell you Mouretsu Pirates is one primary example of abandoned series (recently abandoned to be precise). It used to spark an interest in the anime fandom for featuring high school girl pirates in miniskirts while at the same time redefining ‘piracy’ into ‘entertainer’. It might have cute characters but now people seem to have lost interest in it. It might still can be saved if there was fanservice but the anime makers seem too determined to avoid that. Sure fanservice is not always necessary but in the event where people have lost their interest like this, it could be what the series needs. By the time of writing Mouretsu Pirates ep. 14 is already out. I watched it but didn’t pay much attention. I just skipped some scenes, fast-forwarded the rest and only stop at some interesting moment for the sake of taking snapshots before continuing again what I was doing before, and that continues until the 4th quarter of the series. So what happened at the 4th quarter that made me stop skipping scenes? Read until the end.

I wonder who’s really still watching it? Not sure about others but for me Mouretsu Pirates without Chiaki-chan is ‘boringness’, just like OreImo without Kuroneko If they couldn’t include fanservice they should have at least made Chiaki-chan to play a more important role than she already is, even if she wasn’t intended to drive the story like Kuroneko did with OreImo. One episode of her absence is fine but for 2 or more consecutive episodes is ‘torture’. Hey, if they could use different character design from the light novel then why couldn’t they use slightly different plot as well? They could still doing that without having to change the original setting. Thanks to that even most people I know already dropping it for the same/similar reason.

Lucky that Chiaki-chan has finally made her comeback this time, and that was unexpected. Continuing from last week’s episode where Marika wanted to recruit new crews for Bentenmaru, this time she’s ‘forced’ to do that because all the key crews of Bentenmaru suddenly fell sick at the same time, thus need urgent replacements. After being turned down by potential candidates that she approached to, she ran into Chiaki-chan’s father whom then guided her to look for crews based on what she really needs from them. Though Chiaki-chan and her father didn’t directly suggested it, Marika got that the best crews she could get are her school friends from the space yacht club!

That said the next week episode will be what this series is really about, which is the school girl pirates. I’m not going to spoil much here but right now I do miss the last week’s ED a lot, which I thought would be the new ED, but I was wrong then. Not that the current ED is bad but I was hoping for a change and I wished they could do it.

This is not really a review for Mouretsu Pirates ep. 07 (The peace does not last) so you’ll find the lack of depth analysis, conspiracy theory or research here (not that I’ve done any of those before anyway).

After 7 episodes I still don’t get it. What’s really the point of pirating in this series actually? If what they’re doing isn’t crime then what is, I mean what is it they’re doing? Are they reinventing piracy or just redefining it? (giving a new meaning to piracy?)

If they’re not being a hero (there’s no war to fight in anymore to begin with) or not helping in anything with regards to peace, security and safety, what they’re doing is simply crime, if not terrorism. OK, ‘terrorism, might sound too extreme but in the even they made people feel terrorized, even if it’s only one people feels that way, it is still a terrorism. Also they’re fiddling with other ship’s safety/security system and I don’t know any other word to ‘politely’ describe that act other than crime.

In the beginning of this episode Marika did mention the word ‘battle’. Seriously? Alright, they’re going to fight a battle, but what kind of battle? Who are their enemies? If they are the heroes then who are the bad guys? They can just set a target, and then ‘lawfully’ steal, rob and plunder as they please just because they carry this bullshit called letter of marque? I think I might have been able to accept it better if it was about treasure or bounty hunting (like attacking the ‘bad’ pirates) instead of ‘attacking’ other ships and take their valuables. Speaking of “taking valuables” refer back to episode 06. Aren’t they taking them by force? They even threaten people not to refuse. Again, that’s enough proof that they’re the criminals.

Too many questions? Don’t blame me. Blame this anime, or rather the novel. Later in this episode there’s a part where they mentioned about ‘jobs’. What kind of job? Oh maybe it’s a pirating job but who assigned the job? Oh maybe the pirate-supporting government but… the list goes on. They even mentioned about getting paid. I thought their income were from the stuff they forcefully took from pirating activities? No? Oh maybe all those valuables were given to the government and they received their pay for it but still wouldn’t that make their government the bigger pirate itself? For me a government that seek peace should not make itself look like the enemy. However that is what the government of the Morning Star is doing. England may once issued the letter of marque too in the past but once peace is achieved the ‘legal’ pirate system were automatically abolished.

Also there’s this mentioning about ‘client’. Who’s the client? Who can be the client? They can just attack anybody as long as there’s a client willing to pay them a good pay? I remember earlier in this series we’re told about the peace has been achieved for about 100 years. For only 1 planet that’s moderately populated that should be enough to phase out all the letter of marque handed out to the pirates during the war-time. *Sigh* I pity those non-pirate ships. It’s as if they’re doing shipments only to get pirated.

I’ll keep complaining until I get what on earth is this so-called piracy system of the Morning Star government. It can’t be helped, I like Marika and I can’t stand seeing character I like doing crimes. It’s more depressing than seeing my favorite characters die in battle.

Lucky today I found a “hidden gem” in this show. I didn’t realize it because my focus were always fixated at Hanazawa-san Chiaki-chan’s face (>_<)

I found it ridiculous though that there’s no pantyshot happens even once in the micro-gravity space with those girls in their miniskirts all the time. I know this is anime and it doesn’t have to comply with every laws of physics but there’s a limit on how much physics laws you can defy, even in anime! (>_<)