Summary
Follow the adventures of woman Space Pirates, April, Feb, Jan and Jun (and stowaway Mayo) in a slick and stylish remake of the classic series.
Review
Of course I had to check this out: It’s about women space pirates! When I first watched the show, however, as each volume was released, I was extremely disappointed, thinking that it’s a series that sacrifices intellectual substance in favor of extremely polished and beautiful animation and character designs.
Then, in order to really analyze it for this site, I did a marathon viewing with all episodes at once and realized that the series has a lot more depth than what I originally thought, especially around Feb’s issue of whether or not sacrificing a “normal” life for a pirate’s life is a wise trade, and who REALLY owns April’s pistol. My current major criticism of the series is that it’s too short, cutting story development time which I’m sure would have been used had it been available. With six episodes, you have the basic intro, an ep to highlight each of the crew members, and the final wrap up ep, which is not much time to truly delve into fleshing out a complex cast of characters.
On the other hand, I’m NOT saying that this series is something that should be listed as a must see classic. For all of its potential, it still falls a little short of where it could have gone, still favoring style and flash. And I spent a good bit of time feeling like the series was too focused on stereotypical issues between men and women, either symbolically or directly, and you can imagine how interesting that was for someone like me. (NOT!)
Otherwise it’s worthwhile viewing if your expectations aren’t too high in that you are willing to shut your brain down a little bit and just go with the flow. I would definitely look forward to a sequel though…
Lesbian Analysis
Well, sadly, each of the women show or say things which indicate a heterosexual orientation.
In the case of the extremely butch Jan, she exhibits a little homophobia as well, given her use of the Japanese equivalent of the word “fag”, which didn’t sound to me like someone who was enlightened enough to use it in jest or respect. In her spotlight episode, though, she clearly falls for a guy even more butch than her, which is possible. – It really can happen after all. (In contrast, April does seem skeptical however when she misunderstands Jun and thinks the latter woman had a vision of Jan and some bald guy screwing.)
Otherwise, the only truly noteworthy thing to comment on is the fall out which happens between April and Feb.
Through flashbacks, we find out that Feb had been a prisoner on a ship for reasons unknown. April and Jan raided said ship, broke open Feb’s cell and invited her to come along with them. Feb vividly remembers the moment with a special glow around a smiling April as she has her hand outstretched in invitation, which the imprisoned woman clearly accepts.
Now fast forward to the “current” timeline and we have a Feb who sleeps and drinks all day long, which are clear signs of depression and escapism. She also deals and reads tarot cards and finds the Lover card, which if shown upside-down, means the opposite. This upside-down card is dealt as a foreshadow to the episode when she and April fight about Feb’s growing discontentment on the ship. Feb storms out, leaving said upside-down card as her farewell note.
I’m thinking that’s rather interesting symbolism to use given the circumstances involved crewmates, and not actual lovers, (or so we assume.)
Even though she has a pirate boy-toy for the moment, April then falls into a horrible depression about Feb.
Feb on the other hand, drinks herself even more into an oblivion, although her issues seem to be around her ability to believe in dreams and being able to “live.” Even before leaving the crew, Feb does openly regard April to be “her sun” – I don’t think she announces it to everyone as much as it’s an accepted fact for herself.
When Gyunter the Bad Guy abducts and keeps a passive Feb, she’s clearly got lingering issues with her thoughts focusing on April and how important the other woman was to her. When April makes a rescue attempt, it’s also interesting to note how the two women are synchronized with each others’ thoughts (an almost romantic gimmick in and of itself), even to the point that April can look at a wall of a ship’s corridor and know Feb’s on the other side.
Feb decides to abandon Gyunter and company to go back to the Sol Bianca (and April) but before she can do so, witnesses the apparent destruction of the ship. She’s in total tears over the death of April – never comments on the other crew members, just April.
But as with such shows like this one, there’s a happy ending, and everyone is reunited, minus April’s boy-toy (who conveniently dies in the last battle.)
So do I think there’s something deeper between April and Feb? Well, sure I do, but I admit I don’t know if it quite goes into the romantic love category. After all, these are two women who don’t really act like long time friends or “sisters”, but their emotional connection is clearly the deepest in terms of all of the character interaction dynamics possible in the show. Let’s just say I think they have incredibly strong potential if either woman ever really stopped to analyze why they affect each other the way that they do.
And in the end, our crew flies off to their next adventure, without a single man in sight. K
