Considering last episode’s cliffhanger I was underwhelmed at the lack of edge this week. The content was generally lackluster but remained careful in pacing for future episodes. That said, the episode is not without points of intrigue, naturally stemming from the opening. Episode 8′s opening narration places galactic history, the war 100 years prior, into perspective and brushes the necessity of Sea of Morningstar’s pirates originating during that time. While this opening seemed rather useless, there was a connecting point I’ll touch on shortly.
Music sets the tone for the opening scene on the Bentenmaru’s bridge, establishing a somber mood as the princess learns the previous captain had passed away. Marika and crew proceed in the only plausible way in trying to make sense of the situation and explain circumstances to Princess Gruier Serenity. This scene also constructs the comical antics seen throughout the episode, with Marika acting novice and treating the unexpected matters lightly.
But Gruier’s royal lineage in the Serenity family offers a clever turn of conversation when Misa explains their heritage. Through Misa’s sharp statements we learn that the Serenity family is able to trace their lineage hundreds of generations in record, and in comparison, kings of the Galactic Empire have even greater range. Given a the typical human generation spans 30 years, these family trees can be traced thousands of years into history. This feat raises interesting questions regarding structure and order within the Galactic Empire, but the duration itself dwarfs the time since the war. It is a powerful contrast which leads me to believe the political world is still quite fragile.
In any case, the concern of Gruier’s presence felt typical of a “princess power” conflict as higher rank or order may become a question; who are her parents or older relatives? We learn she has a request for the Bentenmaru in finding a golden ghost ship, yet the primary conflict tends to point at her whereabouts. Sadly, there is very little progression from beginning to end, and most of the episode is woven with scenes of silly antics to fill space between plot-development.
The episode was not terrible even with the scanty core exposition. And there were some entertaining happenings, but I hope for a stronger return next week.
This is probably only tangentially related to the post, but the mentions of royal lineage, princesses, and galactic history (in conjunction with that pirate hat and crown) make me really want to pick this series up. Yet, I can’t seem to get past all the sci-fi and mecha-ish stuff.
I can’t recommend this show being something you’d enjoy. It’s been stripped of many elements of the novels to a core that is primarily sci-fi, spaceships, and perhaps coming of age. And so far the “princess parts” have been highly generic: she enrolls in the school to hideout and everyone already knows she’s the princess and she gets a bunch of attention, hijinks, etc. Hopefully the politics of her presence will be skillfully used, but I can say another princess worth checking out (similar genre) is Lafiel from Crest of the Stars. The “Seikai no” franchise is so well-written I feel it’s something everyone can enjoy. It’s captivating, whereas with Mouretsu, I feel there’s effort in getting into the story.