First Impressions: Mouretsu Pirates

Yay, a series based on a picture at a doujinshi convention that was rather aptly named "Miniskirt Space Pirates".

I'm gonna have some fun reviewing this, aren't I.

sigh...(I'm being terribly inconsistent, but spoiler alert I guess)

...

I swear to God, if there's one series that I won't search for at a public place even if my life depended on it, it would be Mouretsu Pirates. Forget Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai!. Forget Another. This series mang...

What can I even say about it? Can a series that's not based off a light novel, a visual novel, a manga, a premise they thought of in the secret depths of Gainax studios, or even something an assistant writer hastily scribbled on a napkin plate - but rather a sexy-looking picture found at a convention - succeed? I give it long odds. Long odds indeed.

Especially when the graphics are old-style, perfectly rounded eyes and not enough appeal to fit a thimble. I know that modern anime characters are hugely deformed, but that's just how you appeal to the human psyche. This 90s graphics style deal isn't cutting it. 

Nothing except the strange as hell (But strangely...pleasing. Think of a Hyadain song in a minor key) OP [Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dainana Gakushou "Mugen no Ai"] stuck out at me, but if the soundtrack pieces don't include at least one sentence that has the words "rum", "bottle", and "yo ho ho" in it, I'll be hugely disappointed. Sigh...I guess I'll be getting the music collection for the OP only.

WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS SONG

The plot could be interesting, but it's not like anything has developed so far. IMO developing this slow pace is a poor choice. Every episode you don't do something exciting/good as an "assumed bad" series means more viewers turned off. Don't pull that crap. But again...how far can you get on miniskirt space pirates?

I mean...

Miniskirt Space Pirates?

I dare anybody to read the above title out loud in public and see what kinds of looks he/she will get. Take it as an interesting social experiment.

I don't have candy, get off my lawn kid

The worst part of this though is how little effort Statelight took in making the world seem mildly coherent. The major example is when the main miniskirt-ed girl and her father's pirate crew talk with each other. Seemingly endowed with an ounce of common sense, she asks the question indirectly:

"I can't be a pirate! I don't want to be a criminal!"

At this point I might have been more engaged in the episode since there was an inkling - just that one bit - of hope that they would talk about weighing the moral duties to her father instead of to the stinking police. Then one of the other miniskirt-ed pirate girls opened her mouth.

"Don't worry. We have a license. In fact, we're legal pirates!"

The background seems to be a mix between Venice, what Japanese people think the old part of France looks like, the Oktoberfest section at Busch Gardens, and technology directly taken from the prop set of the Discovery Science Channel.

Status: Dropped, will not watch unless someone tells me that this is the next Cowboy Bebop or something.