Like One Piece mixed with all the cosmic battles of Gundam, Bodacious Space Pirates is a must-watch anime series for any fans of Science Fiction stories or pirate yarns. In the far future when humanity has established interstellar colonies, these colony worlds recruit pirates to assert their independence and protect their assets and of course those pirates tend to be intrepid young women.
Bodacious Space Pirates protagonist Marika Kato goes from working at a maid café to the helm of a pirate ship after being conscripted by her father’s former pirate crew to become their new captain.
From there, Bodacious Space Pirates is a romp aboard a pirate ship in the vein of One Piece, though with a Sci-Fi twist on the premise. There are even a few concrete connections with One Piece — in the English dub from Sentai Filmworks, Marika is voiced by Luci Christian, the English voice of Nami.
One Piece’s Piracy Fuses With Gundam’s Space Adventures in Bodacious Space Pirates
The pirate angle makes the comparison to One Piece obvious, but Bodacious Space Pirates also nicely compliments Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. Both are Sci-Fi series with female leads and predominantly female casts against the backdrop of a school setting. The protagonists even have a lot of characteristics in common. Witch from Mercury’s Suletta ends up inadvertently becoming a Mobile Suit pilot and Bodacious Space Pirate‘s Marika gets strong-armed onto her father’s pirate ship. Of course, Bodacious Space Pirates has enough merit to stand out as an anime worth watching in its own right.
As it turns out, the titular pirates in Bodacious Space Pirates operate a lot like Earth pirates did back in the Golden Age of Piracy, up to and including the typical pirate outfits. The pirate’s profession is the same, only the setting is different, with the stars replacing the waves. The crew members that don’t have pirate outfits just throw on whatever cosplay gear they can manage.
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Although it’s established in the opening narration that local governments hire the series’ pirates and operate under letters of marque like real pirates did, most of the actual piracy Marika and her crew do is essentially an elaborate form of dinner theater. Wealthy passengers of interplanetary cruise ships hire the pirates to board the ship with prop weapons and pretend to plunder the ship, so the passengers can vicariously experience the excitement of a pirate raid without being in any real danger.
Bodacious Space Pirates is the Perfect Comfort Anime
The Series’ Light Tone and Short Length Make it an Easy Watch
Bodacious Space Pirates is primarily a comedy and operates under the logic of a lighthearted Space Opera anime romp, rather than anything with hard rules. There are moments of real emotion and high stakes, but for the most part, it’s self-aware and silly. The humor never becomes a distraction from the story and the characters and the 26-episode run is a worthwhile watch. Bodacious Space Pirate can be a welcome palate cleanser to relax with and watch after a more serious series.
Combining the best parts of a Space Opera with a pirate story, Bodacious Space Pirate is an underrated classic that deserves more love and shares its appeal with two beloved classic anime series. With a strong female cast, the series is a worthwhile companion to Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. In trading the sea for the stars, the Space Opera trappings of Bodacious Space Pirates puts a novel spin on the familiar pirate adventure formula of One Piece and the epic depiction of space found in Gundam.
Bodacious Space Pirates is available for purchase on Amazon.
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