Product Description

Most families have a skeleton or two in the closet, but Marika is understandably shocked to learn that what her family has been hiding is a skull and crossbones! And while the revelation that her late father was a space pirate would have been earthshaking enough for most teenage girls, discovering that he was the captain of the notorious pirate ship Benten Maru will change Marika's life forever. Because, you see, pirating is a family business, and she's just inherited the position of captain. Not to mention that her father's former crew is quite intent on making sure Marika accepts the job! So what's a girl to do? Well, if you're a high school student whose prior total naval experience has been working at the space yacht club, there's really only one moral dilemma that has to be resolved: are pirates allowed to wear really short mini-skirts? Get ready for intergalactic buccaneering unlike any you've ever seen before as the spaceways get broad-sided by cutting lasses, curvy knaves and the sexiest pirate's chest ever in Bodacious Space Pirates Collection 1!

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Every family has a few skeletons in its closet; Marika Kato's has a skull and crossbones. Based on a series of light sci-fi novels by Yuichi Sasamoto, Bodacious Space Pirates (2012) is a comedy-adventure set in the distant future. Marika believes she's just a normal high school student, living on the third planet of Tau Ceti with her divorced mother. But with the death of her father Gozaemon, she inherits the captaincy of the spaceship Bentenmaru and its rare, valuable Letter of Marque (a sort of piracy license issued by European rulers from the Middle Ages through the Napoleonic era). After some initial shilly-shallying, Marika takes over the family business, such as it is. Under the tutelage of her father's key officers, she launches a few raids, then aids the Princess Grurier of the planet Serenity on a secret mission. Although she's a space captain in her own right, Marika continues going to school and working part-time at a maid café. Director Tatsuo Sato was one of the principle creators of Martian Successor Nadesico, and the setup of a misfit crew led by an inexperienced, slightly ditsy teenage girl has a familiar ring. But Bodacious Space Pirates lacks the take-no-prisoners nuttiness of Nadesico. The raids on ritzy passenger liners are little more than dinner theater, with the passengers getting a rare thrill and the insurance company footing the bill for any loot taken. The crisis on Serenity resolves itself a little too neatly--and off camera. Despite charging through storms in space (?), Bodacious Space Pirates and the Bentenmaru never seem to get out of second gear. But the show was popular in Japan: a Space Pirates feature is slated for 2014. (Rated TV 14: violence, alcohol use) --Charles Solomon

(1. Pirates Coming Through, 2. My Power, the Power of the Pirates, 3. The Odette II Leaves Port, 4. The Final Battle Is at Midnight, 5. Marika Makes a Decision, 6. Marika's First Day at Work, 7. The Peace Does Not Last, 8. The Princess and the Pirate, 9. A Beautiful Launch, 10. Battle in the Storm, 11. Wanderer of Light, 12. A Return from Eternity, 13. Marika Sends an Invitation)