Bodacious Space Pirates (モーレツ宇宙海賊)

The Letter of Marque.

The letter itself is passed down

with a new name and date written inside.

After an endless mountain of paperwork, Kato Marika

has successfully earned the right to become captain

of the space pirate ship Bentenmaru

However, this is only the start of what she must do

to be recognized by others as a pirate captain.

Stay strong, Kato Marika!

Fight, Kato Marika!

Space awaits you.

It's Marika...

Here I go!

Even at the furthest fringes of the universe I think of you

Countless shooting stars surround me and I make my wishes

So close, yet so far,

and every day my eyes fill with tears

Whom can I blame? Fate? Destiny?

I'll devote all I have,

and explode, combust, blow up, detonate, erupt

Rage!

Even if I should turn into cold stardust

I would continue to love you

My feelings burn

like the scorching flame of Antares

I don't care how many lightyears I have to cross

because I love you

My wishes won't falter

The star children will continue to protect you

Rage!

Your objective here is recon.

Keep your data lines and radio channels open at all times.

Roger.

But if we get into a battle, I'll have you shut them both down.

Yeah, gladly.

How's the probe looking?

Fine.

It's transmitting the information.

What are you playing around for?

There's something fishy about this plant.

Auto-programmed tugboats, huh?

There's nothing on the radar.

But...

I knew it!

I found the enemy on the other side of the planet.

Stealth, huh?

No wonder they didn't appear on radar.

We see them, too.

Captain, return to base.

Roger.

If I don't return soon, the Bentenmaru will be in danger!

This is really, really bad!

I'm serious!

Calm down.

Think.

Calm down...

Calm down!

This isn't the time to be calm, Marika.

Did I get shot down?

Your pencil box did.

A dream, huh?

That's a relief.

Jeez.

Look.

Homeroom's over.

The teacher felt bad and let you sleep.

He said to come to the nurse's office once you woke up.

Why the nurse's office?

I know I may not have room to talk,

but are you okay, Captain?

Well...

Your grades have been falling since the second semester began.

You were doing well before, so you aren't failing yet, but...

You've been getting Fs on all your quizzes lately.

Even on pop quizzes.

Well...

Sorry.

We won't do anything too hard while our captain's still in school.

We're trying to choose jobs that we can complete in a single day.

But if doing both is too hard, then you should consider dropping—

I'm not dropping out of school!

I'm going to graduate!

I'm just fine!

I'll try harder!

There are times when trying harder isn't enough.

I can decide that for myself!

And I will!

So please...

She's the one doing the studying.

I guess the change in circumstances has been hard on her.

She always used to be on time and have perfect attendance,

but now she comes late and leaves early almost every day.

It's out of our hands.

We can't take any big jobs.

That means taking more small ones.

She says she'll make the decision for herself.

That's natural for a captain, but...

She's a first-year high school student.

But she's a pirate.

And for a pirate, all that matters in the end is winning.

This is training, too.

For adulthood.

But I wonder why she's so obsessed with high school.

Lamp House

Thank you!

The Lamp House is great.

It calms me.

Yeah, I bet the manager would be happy to hear that.

I heard we won't be doing any pirating for a while.

I have to redeem myself.

Redeem?

Then why not study?

Haven't your test scores been horrendous lately?

My job here is important, too.

Welcome.

Huh?

Chiaki?

Quit being so friendly.

Here you go.

Everyone was surprised when

you transferred at the start of the second semester.

Sorry for not coming to introduce myself.

Marika?

I knew it.

Sorry.

She was here a second ago,

but I guess she had a job to do.

No way.

She wasn't supposed to have any work this week.

I knew you came to see her!

N-No...

I came to eat this parfait.

My shift's almost over.

Want to come with me afterwards?

Here's the data from Hyakume.

Contract

Contract

Contract

Contract

Contract

Contract

Weren't we supposed to have an empty schedule this week?

It's a sudden job,

so we get paid up front, plus a big bonus.

Twice the normal rate.

We'll take it!

It's the usual pirate job on a luxury liner.

But the client added an optional package this time, so be careful.

Optional package?

We're almost at the Bentenmaru.

Marika works really hard.

People only look at the results,

so they all treat her like a genius.

But you know the truth.

Yeah. She pushes herself really close to her limit.

Back in middle school, I once asked her

why she works so hard at everything.

And she said she wanted to know more about Ririka.

Even though that's her own mother.

I was like, "Huh?"

But when I went to her house, I understood.

Her mom's amazing!

I know that.

Blaster Ririka.

A legendary female pirate.

So I heard.

But it wasn't an old story like that...

When I met her,

she was so amazing I didn't know what to do.

When you're near her, it's just overpowering.

She's huge!

Huge?

Yeah...

As a person.

You mean to say she's a great person?

Yeah, that's it.

And so her mom's like this big mountain, and Marika doesn't want to climb it.

She wants to be another big mountain next to her.

Yeah, that's it. I'm sure of it.

What? That doesn't make any sense.

I suppose that's true.

See you later.

Thanks for coming with me.

What were you trying to say, anyway?

I don't know.

Just seeing your face

made me feel like talking, Chiaki.

I told you to quit being so friendly.

Bye!

You're taking over my role in space.

Thanks.

Who's taking over?

Thanks, huh?

Captain... Captain...

Please report to the bridge immediately.

Captain!

Aye!

Aye,

aye,

aaaye!