Bitchin’ Space Pirates 1 – Ahoy, Matey!

I don’t have a problem with the concept of the title Bodacious Space Pirates — rather, my issue is with the choice of word. “Bodacious”? That is an awful piece of slang. It doesn’t sound good, it doesn’t look good and anyone who has used it in the last 20 years is a grade A douchebag. I get that the point is to make the show sound exciting and fun in a throwback sort of way, but I am going to suggest a different ’80s slang word to use:

Bitchin’ Space Pirates.

Now there’s a word that still holds up. It makes the show sound kickass and fun, the word itself sounds and looks good, and, most importantly, it has my seal of approval. Good bye, Bodacious Space Pirates; hello, Bitchin’ Space Pirates. Done and done.

Anyway, this is about as solid an opening episode as you can have for this sort of thing. You’ve got the basic premise, characters galore, some world building and a nice firefight to cap things off at the end. I especially like the appearance of the Space Yakuza at the end. Nothing would make me happier than to see all these illicit earthbound groups wage war in space. Bring on the Space Mafia, Space Crips and Space Bloods, Space Triads — get ’em all up in space! We don’t really know yet how this piracy/privateering/whatever works in here, or how many competing factions there are, or whatever else, so that will be fun to see when Marika inevitably becomes the captain of the ship and goes after some of that sweet, sweet booty.

I’m interested to see what direction they go in with Chiaki, as well. Those crazy eyes she has going on in the above screenshot, as well as her general attitude toward Marika in the maid cafe, seem to indicate that she is a rival character (maybe leader of her own faction of pirates?), but there’s also the possibility that she teams up with Marika and becomes a First Mate or something. (Not that kind of First Mate, shippers!) She’s kind of grumpy, but she at least helps Marika escape from the Space Yakuza and the fake government official with her flashy gun skills, so there’s that. (Or maybe the Space Yakuza is her entourage. That’s kind of unclear for me.)

My second favorite part of the episode is Ririka throwin’ down mugs of wine and reminiscing about the good ol’ days with her pirate buddies. Really fun scene that shows a lot of character for everyone. I like how this episode goes about suggesting Ririka’s devil may care pirate attitude, like how Marika addresses her by name rather than a title like “mom” or “momma” or whatever. She does seem like the cool mom type who would be OK with that sort of thing. And if her outfit at the end of the episode has anything to say about it, Ririka did not retire from pirating to be some no name nobody — she has a position of some importance in this place. You don’t wear a hot businesslike outfit like that if you’re not an important person.

So, yep, fun opening episode, and I’m definitely looking forward to more. Fun pirate times for everybody!