Well if nothing else it can be be the flagship for one of the many pirate ship squadrons that Admiral Marika Kato will have when she reaches the peak of her pirate career.
We still have not hit the piracy portion of the show but boy did they make sure to tease us with yet more universe establishment with the cat and mouse game in interplanetary space and Marika’s plans for ambushing the would be ambushers. This is wonderful and I am fully committed to their combat mechanics, yes it is less high tech and more complicated but this is how it should be. More often than not space combat is simplified with visual scans and utility scanners but this is as hard sci-fi as it gets. Yes the Odette II is more like our current space shuttle than Battle Frontier, but it’s rare that we get a low tech space war that feels almost like Crest of the Stars. Granted we are approaching Start Trek levels of technobabble but I like the fact that space combat is going to be more than pew pew lazors. I am buying the premise that EW and celestial phenomena are going to affect combat and I am thrilled that they are making a conscious effort to explain in depth why the Sand of the Red Star is the likely point of ambush.
I was so giddy when they started using multiple sensors that were very specific in what they would be able to detect. That scanning equipment is limited and that the vastness of space prevents easy visual identification, I am eagerly anticipating long ranged games of cat and mouse where ships and fleets will use whatever means they can to fool sensors to gain tactical advantages. While it is strange to see a bunch of high school kids behave so calmly about imminent violence I guess that because space is so vast and help often so far that they would not be in the club if they were afraid, that or they are so young and green that their elan greatly eclipses their rational thought processes. Still if Ms. Doolittle knows that the Odette II is an old warship and the fact that somehow for some reason the weapons and military grade ECM, sensors, and armor were left intact and functional there is a good reason to believe that the Yacht Club is made up of more that foolish girls who like sailing. I just wonder if the leave every ship armed due to vastness of space, lack of military resources, persistent pirate problems, or any combination thereof.
Ms. Doolittle is as brave as her name sake and I have high hopes for one with such sound judgment and habit for thorough background checks. It makes sense, she is, after all, a very important heiress that is heir to an empire of sorts and she would not be taking dangerous space cruises with shady students or going far afield without the wits and means to protect herself. While the Bentenmaru is watching their back I am glad Kane and Misa aren’t taking over and allowing events to unfold to test Marika’s mettle. If Marika is the captain they hope her to be then they need to be able to trust her judgment and skills at military operations. Again Marika did not disappoint and while her plan is simplistic it is fundamentally sound, the only thing is that they better be able to execute and adapt to the changing battle when battle is joined.
The limitations of sensors just offers so many fun possibilities and new dimensions to every battle, stealth drones, faked signals, jamming, hacking, blind spots, and hiding places means that any combat at range will play out like submarine combat. You can’t see the enemy but you can possibly “hear” them so to speak. I am not sure what this means for fighters and bombers if they even play a real role in starship combat but given the limitations of sensors they might be able to saturate sensors with so many signals that a fighter/bomber squadron can get in close and wreck some shit. Marika’s idea to give their foe a fake database to attack as a method of ECM was pretty inspired as they could then lull the enemy into thinking that they had the upper hand and play along until the opportune time arose to give them a face full of whatever the Odette II is packing. I just hope that when combat is joined that they can hold their own and didn’t just walk into the firing arc of multiple hostile capital ships. Even if that happens it will be interesting to see how Marika responds to the shifting tide of battle. More importantly I really want to know what kind of arsenal the Odette II is packing. It was a flagship in its heyday I just hope it was armed to the teeth and not just some command and control ship that needs a fleet to protect itself.
While visually not gritty by any means, I like the idea that space ships can be used for centuries at a time and hulls are refitted and re-used it implies that every star system is largely independent and there might be very few galactic powers that have the means to send out war fleets, which means space is full of rogues and adventurers. Still I am really pulling for a massive engagement at some point, since there has to be some great power that the Sea of Morningstar rebelled against a century or so ago. Next week promises some degree of action and it will be fun to see how capital ship weapons work. If there is anything to complain about so far it is that the term battleship got tossed around, this worries me because the Bentenmaru looks to be a Pleiades class Battleship, I am hoping that this was a mistranslated and that there are bigger warships out there that fit my definition of battleship, that being big, heavily armored, heavily shielded, slow, and armed with enough fire power to level a major city in 5 seconds with conventional munitions. even better if they have Star Destroyer DNA.
Boys generally aren't as smart or clever as they think they are...
Oh is Marika planning to recruit the Jersey Club to fight Demeteria and plunder their merchant marine?
I am sure that at some point Chiaki will warm to Marika's brand of humor.
HAIL MISA may she continually ship MarikaxChiaki.
I agree with Chiaki you better not play at war like some foolish noble, but hey Chiaki will be your chief of staff right?
We are barely out of orbit and already Marika is itching to fight battleships...
I see that Chiaki is already helping Marika come up with pretexts, she will make a fine Chief of Staff to Marika.
This is a curious way to visually depict a sensor sweep...
I like that many zeroes when talking long range. Though this means that light years are an impractical measure of distance...
I see what you did there, Seven Sisters AHOY!
Did you say Federation? Does this mean there is a Zeon? If so Marika can join Lady Cima and make Delaz walk the plank and throw Gato to the space sharks while taking Neue Ziel as plunder. Feel free to run your cutlass through Nina Purpleton with PREJUDICE.
I really hope that they have more regal warship names as we go. Just once I want to see a ship named Dreadnought, Valour, Inflexible, Dauntless, Invincible, etc.
Such a fine crew we have here a good start for the Legend of Vice Admiral Jenny Doolittle of Battle Group Kato.
I see...well I think we just found our Chief of Military Intelligence aka GRU.
So anxious for battle that she couldn't sleep eh? How adorable.
As Horatio Nelson had his napkin so does Marika Kato have her flowchart.
Classy pirate move right there, just remember if you get ambushed in turn fight through it and get clear of that kill zone.
Also can someone translate the diagram I feel as if I am being cheated of an opportunity to marvel at Marika's grasp of operational planning.
Let's see if that deduction is accurate, still a fairly valid conclusion based on available evidence.
Well I'll tell you this much her arranged husband better be wary I am sure there are plenty of would be suitors who are aghast that it will not be an open competition.
Good to know that she is already a pirate.
I hope Misa will be soon be 1st Lady of the Bridge, she just needs to find her Shammy, Vanessa, and Kim.
That's fair...
Hey don't go telling her that we can't have her resting on her laurels now.
I am elated that there are stealth drone perhaps there are also unmanned drone fighters...
I can't wait to see them fire a full broadside...
A Message From Your XO, EO: Misa HHHHNNNNGGGGG Edition
MY. HEART.
Oh god, I think this episode was trying to kill me. Mai Waifu of the Season, Misa Grandwood, had many lovely appearances in between the explanation of all the electronic warfare and cyberwarfare systems and Marika’s plan this episode. From the moment when she slowly floated down behind Kane while he was at the console to her conversation about Marika’s plan, the HHHNNNNGGGGG was strong with this episode. But before I get to my uninhibited adoration of Misa, I guess I should mention the couple other thoughts I had on aspects of this episode. First, I loved the depth of detail that they went into with the sensors and EW/CW systems. Not being able to see or rely on optics means the ships have to use all kinds of other sensors to feel their way around in space, which really adds to the tension and feeling of being isolated out in the universe. Despite the pretty pink bridge area and the cast of pretty typically anime-style (character design-wise) girls, this show has more hard sci-fi in it than anything I’ve seen in quite a while. The other point that I thought I’d mention, one that comrade Crusader took issue with above, was the sloppy use of senkan/battleship. Senkan is the correct word for that class of ship, but it seems to get thrown around a lot in anime. I’m not sure if this is due to a lack of familiarity with naval terms among anime writers or if the word tends to be a catch-all word for warships in the language more broadly. I don’t recall series outside of Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Crest of the Stars/Banner of the Stars that used the terms for different classes of vessel like destroyer (kuchikukan) and cruiser (jyunyoukan) as well as senkan for battleships. In most series like Gundam shows the characters will use senkan to refer to any warship, whether a cruiser like a Musai-class or a carrier like the Albion or Archangel. Regardless of whether it’s a language issue or an ignorance issue, I appreciate it when fansub groups use ‘warship’ for the translation instead of the literal, but at least in my Commie subs they unfortunately went with the less accurate ‘battleship.’
But back to the important part. After Misa departed the bridge she floated elegantly down the corridor, another HHHNNNGGGG moment. One of many. Then she’s sitting at her desk in DAT POSE as she listens in on Marika and Chiaki, helping to ship them together so they can become the Pirate Queens of Tau Ceti. Then cut to Misa quickly while discussing Marika’s plans. And then back to her again, at an even closer distance JUST IN CASE I WASN’T DEAD ALREADY. So much <3
Kane, you’re a lucky so and so.
fffffffffffffff this episode is trying to kill me.
Someone’s played Homeworld.
I’m not sure what to even say anymore other than HHHHHNNNNNNGGGGGGG.
Most impressive.
14 Comments
It might not be moving very fast, but this show feels really genuine. By genuine, I don’t mean that the techno-squable is accurate or anything, just that, the writers aren’t going “pew pew explosion!” and are actually trying to add depth to space warfare. It would be really cool if they at least carried some of this over to when the Bettenmarou engages in warfare. I want to see Marika and Chiaki micro-manage an entire fleet of scouts and unmanned drones and stuff!
May the Misa-hnggg and the yuri between Marika and Chiaki stay strong until the end of time.
I am sure they can work in a field exercise in at some point. If nothing else there will be more opportunities to create tension.
First, complete agreement on the way sensing equipment was handled.
I’m not sure that the Bentenmaru is Pleides class. I’m comparing the profile in the image 04-13 (above) to the shot of the Bentenmaru flying through mist in the OP (~1:05 in my copy), and it looks to me that the Bentenmaru has a third (larger) engine that isn’t accounted for on this profile.
The only other thing I want to say is that Kane had a neater version of the flowchart that seemed to show more boxes, though it lacked annotation, so having both translated would be good. :’>
You might well be right though the engine layout is similar enough that it is also possible that the Bentenmaru is a variation on the Pleiades-class, other than the change in engine size there isn’t that much to distinguish the two. Given how hulls are generally re-purposed and recycled the Bentenmaru may have started out as a standard Pleiades-class warship that got successive upgrades from raiding other ships.
I toroughly enjoy this attachment to the details of operating such things as a sensor net or an electronic warfare platform. It makes guessing about hardware capabilities and operational constraints much more interesting.
For exemple, Odette II use of solar sails raises a few questions. These look they would be hideously vulnerable, but on the other hand they might be crafted from radiation-absorbing material and thus be effectively stealthy enough to escape unwarranted attention from missiles on-board terminal guidance systems or ship-based fire designation emitters. Still the sheer volume they take make damage to them something to be considered, if only by proximity kills and shrapnels as they certainly don’t look armored. What would be the consequences then ?
If these ‘solar sails’ are just fancy solar panels, collecting energy for the ship power plant, then damage would only result in loss of power and so potentially diminished acceleration. However if they are true sails, then battle damage may result in loss of both acceleration and maneuverability due to unbalanced ‘drag’ between the three masts.
Obviously Odette II stiil would be able to fall back on a conventional power plant. But what are its specs ? Is it only an auxiliary system, to be used in emergency and when entering or leaving port ? Can it provide comparable or better acceleration and maneuverability that the sails ? And does Odette II have the bunkerage to operate it for extended period of times ?
One thing for sure, if I were in command of the op force tasked to capture/destroy Odette II, I would certainly consider crippling the sails among my options. At the very least the French Navy of old would approve !
I think that the solar sails are used as the last means of powering a ship or simply to conserve power. Given the over all lack of speed travelling interstellar distances in this manner would take centuries. I suspect that they are only using solar sails to learn how to sail with the most basic of technologies similar to how the US Navy and some others have training ships that still use wind to get around (though they all have alternate power plants). If the OP is any measure then the masts are retracted during combat. We shall see but I have the feeling that solar sails are only being used as a training tool and are not the primary means of propulsion.
As for the French Navy I hope you would run your ships better considering how less than stellar their record was during the Napoleonic Wars.
I am SOOOO digging this show. I grew up watching Star Trek (first generation) back in the 70s, and tecky stuff like this makes me drool. Sorry, I am just to distracted by terms like “gravity waves”, “doppler effect” and “EW” to notice the mini-skirts anymore.
Well at least here you don’t have to worry about crude oil monsters and Red Shirts. Even if Marika is no Kirk the hand to hand combat will hopefully be better.
They sure hit the books when they were thinking up of ideas and what hard sci-fi elements to run with.
Finally had a chance to watch the episodes so far, and the level of science fiction is surprisingly hard for the initial premise, although it’s not HARD in the sense that Planetes or Traveller RPG is (by reputation).
The solar sails carried by the Odette II serves as as source of propulsion and a way to supplement the ship’s power supply. Unsurprisingly JAXA has done it IRL with the IKAROS probe in 2010. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_sail#In_science_fiction).
Weaponry wise, I’m not sure whether if the Odette II has any left from it’s Q Ship days, but lasers will take seconds to reach their targets. Something similar to mine warfare might actually be more plausible instead.
I am in agreement that the solar sails seem to be supplementary and not primary propulsion even if at the moment they are using solar sails almost exclusively for their training cruise. As for weapons Doolittle thinks that they are packing enough firepower and who knows maybe they arm every ship that goes out since space is vast and there are never enough ships to patrol every system.
Lasers seem plausible though I wonder if they still use missiles/torpedoes, and if they have developed railguns to supplement their laser batteries. Certainly you would need something that packs a wallop at range and in a friction-less environment….
Here’s something either you (Crusader or EO) might have seen before, a rather good website on space combat using hard science fiction principles: http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/spacewarintro.php
I’d suppose almost every ship out there has some form of armament, seeing how there are still privateers/pirates operating in the area. I haven’t geeked out over a show like this since Sora no Woto…
It may have been a long while but let’s enjoy it while we can a series like this doesn’t come along that often.
Thanks for the link, I wish I had more time to devote to it, alas I suppose it is better to have employment than all the time in the world while slowly marching into destitution.
Hope they will have some exotic stuffs like laser head of Honorverse.
The disscussion about railgun remind me me this Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLpgxry542M
In Ep 3, Odette II used its thrusters to move around before deploying solar sail so crippled solar sail isn’t a problem. Problem is those thrusters is quite small, possibly from the day it acted as a Q-ship.
I wouldn’t say Sora no Woto is a hard Sci-fi Anime but Leopard is awesome through.
LOL Mass Effect 2, can’t wait for Mass Effect 3…
I wonder about the need for massive engines though, but at least it will be interesting to see their take on how much thrust you need in a friction-less zero gravity environment. That said I wonder how fast they can top out at. Then again maybe you needed the smaller engine to keep the illusion of being a merchant ship. It wouldn’t have been much of a Q-Ship if it had massive engines jutting out of it’s hull.
Sora no Woto was probably more 1920s-1940s given the tech base, Leopard was a relic from a more glorious past, but it was nice to see them try and attempt to make it’s Resurrection plausible with the absence of industrialization married with precision. If nothing else at least there was a factual basis for why tank rounds were bouncing off of Leopard’s Chobham armor assuming they were using vintage WWII AT rounds.