Bitchin’ Space Pirates 2 – Sunglasses at Night

Best mom, or BEST mom?

I like how practical Ririka is regarding Marika’s inevitable leap to piracy. She knows there’s really nothing she can do to prevent Marika from being a captain (short of the crew performing a mutiny, I suppose), so instead of dissuading Marika from the pirate lifestyle, Ririka instead imparts the lessons of piracy. Image matters. Consider your situation before you pull the trigger. Handle giant fucking laser guns. That’s everything you need to be a successful pirate!

Again, I really like the relationship Ririka and Marika have, too. They have sort of a sisterly thing going on, what with how Marika addresses Ririka and how they relate to each other, but Ririka isn’t afraid of being a mother to Marika in her own way. She has all that pirate experience going on for her: Might as well put it to some use, right? I also like that Marika has such a decisive personality. Bit of a refreshing change from the usual in anime, yes? I imagine that decisiveness developed because Ririka wasn’t always around — she seems to be a bigwig in some such government department (important enough to carry around a trunk of guns without being arrested, anyway!), and you don’t become that important by slacking off. Marika probably had to learn at a rather young age to be decently capable on her own.

It’s the gumption (I just aged 50 years by using that word) Marika displays during the electronic warfare scene that shows she has what it takes to be a pirate captain. People in charge don’t always know what they’re doing; I’m pretty sure we all see that day in and day out. If you’re going to be a leader, though, you’ve got to make the best decision you can with what you have available, and then see that decision through as thoroughly as possible. Marika knows fuck all about electronic warfare, and it seems Chiaki knows little more than that, but in this setting, I doubt that will matter much — the will to kick some electronic ass is all that matters here.

I doubt they’re in any significant danger, anyway. My suspicion is that this is a test set up by Kane to gauge Marika’s worth as a captain. She’s already shown that she knows her way around a ship, but does she have what it takes to take charge and confidently lead a crew when the pressure is at its highest? So far she’s passing the test with flying colors. Chiaki is staying cool under pressure, too, so I’m sure there’s room for her on the ship, as well, unless of course she has some ulterior motives floating around. She wasn’t connected to the folks who went after Marika in the first episode, but doubtless there’s something going on with her. Nobody is that tsuntsun all the time for no reason!

I will say, though, that she won me over by bringing her parfait with her while she ran Marika to safety. That’s a hilarious touch to the scene, and the note she leaves in the parfait glass shows that she has some good ol’ fashioned pirate style to her, as well.

And, people, I’m not gonna lie: The OP for this show is so dumb, but I totally dig it in a “FUCK YEAH HAIR METAL LET’S SHRED AND WHIP OUR HAIR AROUND” kind of way. Cheesy anime hair metal is the greatest.