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REVIEW: Bodacious Space Pirates Blu-Ray 1


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wandering-dreamer



Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 1733
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:17 am Reply with quote
I've heard similar things about the dub, although I'm a bit alarmed that Sentai seems to keep including flubbed lines in the final product instead of re-doing them. In any case, still plan on picking up the title at some point so I'm glad to hear that it mostly checks out, although by now I just have to sigh that there are still grammatical mistakes in Sentai's subtitles.
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getchman
Space Cowboy



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:31 am Reply with quote
to me it seemed that Carli Mosier made Misa sound almost like she was bored.
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Animerican14



Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 963
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:09 am Reply with quote
Man, the technical foibles listed here seem to be shared with the Penguindrum release-- subtitles that weren't cleaned up well enough of grammar mistakes, loose adherence to lip flaps w/dub, and filler words (though I never noticed anything awkward about whatever ones there were in my viewings of Penguindrum).

Just.... what is going on at Sentai? Penguindrum was the first release I've ever gotten from them post-ADV... have the majority of their releases these past few years been so iffy? Is it their modus operandi, no matter who the ADR director is? What's their financial status? Do they not have enough money left over from all their acquistion sprees to sink into more professional releases? Do they not have enough people working? I mean, god... why have a single ADR director head dubs for shows & movies like Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, No. 6, Heaven's Memo Pad, Grave of the Fireflies, Children Who Chase Lost Voices, & Penguindrum within a period of what must have only been several months? However good or bad the dubs might have been with these releases, I feel that they'd be better if the same person or persons did not work on them back-to-back-to-back.

It's like watching an old dog that tries to hard to do everything it did in its younger and more well-nourished days, and you want it to calm down and breathe a little, but it keeps on exhausting its energy with no end in sight. It's a mixture of pained frustration and pity.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:35 am Reply with quote
Animerican14 wrote:
Just.... what is going on at Sentai? Penguindrum was the first release I've ever gotten from them post-ADV... have the majority of their releases these past few years been so iffy? Is it their modus operandi, no matter who the ADR director is?

It's very hit-or-miss. Sentai does seem to have what I call the "not completely refined" problem more often than any other current American dubbing studio, but it's hardly every time; the second Mardock Scramble movie is a recent example where the dub was nailed, for instance. It's also not always the same director responsible, either. The feeling I get in these cases is more that the process had to be rushed, with careful editing being the first thing sacrificed for speed.

And, again, I want to stress that the problem isn't egregious here; this isn't even close to a Canaan or Guin Saga part 2-level problem.

As for the subtitle thing, it's really only 2-3 mistakes total in 13 episodes, but that's a problem that Sentai has had frequently ever since they first started releasing titles as Sentai.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:39 am Reply with quote
[dtm42 edit: Due to someone else's posts being deleted, three of my posts are now consecutive. I have put the latter two into this first post, and edited them slightly. Just wanted to let people know so that they understand why my post is so long and seems a bit strange.]



I thought this would have been an A-, given Theron's love affair with it.

Theron wrote:
This also results in some atypical approaches to combat, too, such as a heavy emphasis on the role that electronic warfare can play in space battles (an aspect woefully overlooked in most space-based sci fi series)...


There's a good reason that electronic warfare is not more prevalent; because it's stupid and illogical. In real life, you don't ever hear of terrorists or pirates bringing down 747s or F-22As by hacking into them and turning off the engines. You never hear of warships being hacked and forced to fire at allies, or oil tankers being hacked and forced to travel to Somalia without pirates having to board it. Why? Because no sensible aircraft or ship manufacturer - civilian or military - would build planes and boats in such a way that systems could be remotely hacked and taken over. It's moronic and unsafe, and simply unnecessary to have that capability. The closest that anyone has gotten with computer trickery is gaining access to the imaging feeds of unmanned drones so that they can see what the drone sees. Actually hacking a drone and wresting control of it is supposed to be impossible, if you believe the United States military. Hacking a manned aircraft like a fighter jet or airliner over is impossible, because they have manual redundant systems and don't allow their computers to be accessed from the outside whilst in flight. Same goes for ships.

I appreciate that Bodacious Space Pirates tried to do something different with its warfare, but hacking is a step backwards. Nobody is going to make a multi-billion-dollar spaceship and have it be susceptible to hacking like that. Just ain't gonna happen.

The same factors that make vulnerability to hacking stupid, undesirable and unnecessary nowadays will still be around in two thousand years.

My assertion is only unprovable in that no-one knows if humans will be around in two thousand years. But if there are humans, I can say with complete confidence that they will not be putting huge weaknesses into their computer systems that allow anyone and their dog to hack in and control vital systems of their planes and ships. It's not logical now, and it won't be logical then, because deliberately putting a weakness into your system for no discernible gain is madness and will always be so. No competent engineer would do that.

Bodacious Space Pirates is not alone in making machines that should never be hackable, well, hackable. I'm reminded of Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, with spoiler[the spider-tank] that could hack missiles aimed at it. That only works if the missile-makers are stupid enough to produce hackable missiles in the first place. The modern-day javelin system is inherently incapable of being hacked, not because it's too clever but because it lacks the ability. No matter how good your electronic warfare capabilities are, you can't hack something that won't receive your signals in the first place. Same goes for a hellfire missile or a hydra rocket. So why in the future were there no anti-tank weapons available that didn't have an internet connection? Why go through the expense of putting a weakness on something when it offers no benefits?

Anyway, hackable ships wasn't even close to being my biggest problem with Bodacious Space Pirates. I only mentioned it because Theron said in the review that electronic warfare was a good thing. While I do like electronic warfare in general, hackable ships is not the way to go about it.


Last edited by dtm42 on Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14756
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:04 am Reply with quote
Animerican14 wrote:

loose adherence to lip flaps w/dub


Are anime fans actually bothered by lip-flaps? Laughing


dtm42 wrote:

Actually hacking a drone and wresting control of it is supposed to be impossible, if you believe the United States military.


So, did the drone crash-landed or not? Laughing
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:24 am Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
So, did the drone crash-landed or not? Laughing


It didn't. The Americans only realised that the terrorists were capable of watching the video feed after they'd already done do several times, IIRC.

However, just because the drones are incapable of being hacked, that does not prevent them from getting glitches and disobeying orders. And yes, that's actually happened. Skynet is upon us, LOL.
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Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:43 am Reply with quote
I thought the electronic warfare was ridiculous as well, but I suppose it seems reasonable if you don't realize that Microsoft has a unique dedication to buggy software with security holes you could drive a Landkreuzer through. The fact of the matter is that even in the PC space every other operating system is much more secure, both because of production methodologies and overall design choices; in the area of vehicle control software, modern avionics programs are kept as small as possible to make it easier to check for potentially lethal bugs.

The idea that Redmond's development culture could infest something as important as spacecraft systems is simply ludicrous.
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boredandlazy



Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 189
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:00 am Reply with quote
Thanks very much for the heads up everyone. Here I was thinking I was watching an anime about space pirates of all things, but with everyone's help I realise I've been watching something else that should be judged on how realistic it is!
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:08 am Reply with quote
Glad I couldbe of help. It's always nice to hear someone say how much they appreciate my posts.

*blushes*

Oh shucks, this is so embarrassing. I'm so touched there's tears in my eyes.
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prime_pm



Joined: 06 Feb 2004
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 9:00 am Reply with quote
Speaking aside from the logistics of space technology and cyberpunk foibles, I've been waiting for this one for quite awhile now, and glad it's finally here. But, with my budget already trim as it is, I may just have to stick with my Crunchyroll version for now. Maybe if they release both seasons together on Blu-Ray in some kind of package deal. It could happen.

Also, nice mention of Starship Operators near the end. Good undervalued series. Anyone know where I can get the first volume? I tried getting the whole set; instead of Vol.1, I got Stratos 4.
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Keichitsu0305





PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 9:59 am Reply with quote
prime_pm wrote:


Also, nice mention of Starship Operators near the end. Good undervalued series. Anyone know where I can get the first volume? I tried getting the whole set; instead of Vol.1, I got Stratos 4.

A Used Volume 1 copy can be found on Amazon.com.

The highlight of the English dub has to be Luci Christian as Marika. She's been in the biz for awhile so I wasn't surprised that she did a great job getting Marika's bright, cheery attitude down almost flawlessly. My main complaint is the Narrator (Mike Yager), Jenny (Shannon Emerick), and Chiaki (Caitlynn French). They all sound so stilted like they are just reading off a script.

The electronic warfare doesn't bother me. It seemed more of an aesthetic showing off how competent the Yacht Club members are rather than an actual possibility for future warfare. If they had just shown it without bringing the characters back than, I would have thought the original author was just being a show-off. After the Serenity Arc, they come back and play a larger role in the second-to-last final arc.
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LinkTSwordmaster



Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 381
Location: PA / USA
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:02 am Reply with quote
Before I get going with my comment on the review, I'd like to point out that the 2004 Battlestar Galactica made it a point to keep non-networked computers to avoid letting Cylon viruses compromise the ship. Based on the the way that BSG handled electronic warfare, I didn't at all find it odd that Moretsu included it as well. If you further take into consideration the fact that pirates in Marika's universe act as entertainers, electronic warfare offers a non-lethal combat option (plot device?) in a situation where launching beams and explosives could kill innocent people.

That said, watching Moretsu each week on Hulu was a wonderful experience that brought me back to the nostalgic days of watching such things as Crest/Banner of the Stars. Even compared to Starship Operators, I think Moretsu does a good job of setting itself apart from the other space series by allowing Marika to grow and mature as a captain-in-training along with the audience (so far as coming to understand exactly what's going on). Every time I'd sit down to watch a new episode, it felt as if I was peering into someone else's life rather than just simply being entertained by a TV show (Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star by comparison always grabbed my eye a bit more with the action).

Out of a lot of recent anime releases, I probably respect this one the most on account of it's mostly mature take on the wonders and vastness of space. A lot of the characters' poppy & upbeat attitudes were also fairly refreshing in a sea of "cute girls doing cute things" - Marika usually learns things and grows a bit as a person by the end of each episode, and at no point does it feel like she (or most of the other characters) are being sexually objectified.

I think the review pretty much is spot-on and a great representation of the series. I'd highly suggest Moretsu/Bodacious to anyone of a Crest, Starship, or Star Ocean persuasion, as I certainly wasn't disappointed (I actually thought Starship Operators fell a bit flat at the end, and Moretsu thankfully delivers in full). Try to check out the subbed version though - the English episode samples up on YouTube don't seem like the VAs captured the poppy/upbeat tone of a lot of the characters as perfectly as they could, and the presentation turns a bit wobbly. It's otherwise one of the more inspiring, hopeful, and adventurous series that have graced my TV screen in years.
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Key
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:18 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
I thought this would have been an A-, given Theron's love affair with it.

Oh, if I was grading it purely on entertainment value for me, it would get a full A, no question, as it's quite possibly my favorite series of the past couple of years. But while I may let personal likes and dislikes influence review grades, I never let them dictate. That's why the ratings that I give series on my "My Anime" list don't always match review grades, as I let personal enjoyment influence the former much more.
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DangerMouse



Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:37 am Reply with quote
Totally agree LinkTSwordmaster.

Also, it was great reading the part of the review about the characters, they really did such a great job with Marika (and Chiaki, and several of the crew ofcourse).
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