Oct 24, 2021
I had really high hopes for this anime. Based on the trailers and after watching the first few episodes, my initial scoring was a 9, maybe even a close 10. It's funny when you check the reviews that 90% of those which have only seen the first 6 episodes or less have given the series a very high score like me, while most of the people who finished also feel like Kaizoku Oujo being a huge letdown.
The biggest reason I was so hyped for this anime is that it offered me the same nostalgic feelings I only felt when I was a little kid watching
...
cartoons almost two decades ago. Interesting and laid-back adventures with a funny and lovable cast, in a mostly episodic style season, where each episode begins a small adventure but it is also finished by the end (with of course a mandatory overarching story which progresses a little bit with each episode and culminates in an epic showdown at the season finale). Someone else in the reviews named this same feeling "old Disney series", and while not all of my memories are linked to Disney products, it's still an apt comparison.
Well, the anime delivers fantastically on everything I just listed above - up until around episode 4-5. After that, it turns into a sort of melancholic soul-searching and poetic wannabe art piece which I wasn't really interested in. There were full episodes where the characters were doing nothing but talk to each other about their feelings! Seriously, during the last two episodes of the season I was so uninterested that I was checking stuff on my phone while listening to the endless inner monologues and dramatic voices of the show. This might be fine for a season 4 finale or something like that, but after like two separate adventures I still can't care deeply enough of the characters for the show to be able dramatize them deeply. At the same time I'm told this was supposed to be a 24 episode season instead of it being halved, so that might have given more depth to the characters for me to care about them.
My other issue is the hurried mess of culture mesh they performed. On paper, mixing pirate adventures with ninja warriors and the legend of the Maid of Orleans sounds like a neat idea, right? Well, it had potential. Unfortunately it was very much wasted. Mostly the whole pirate storyline, which I was the most interested in. The way they combined these elements make it look like the story was written by a 8 year old who just piled on every cool stuff he knew about (ninjas and pirate yeeeaaah!). They do not clash or build on each other and no potential synergy is explored from the different genres.
The visuals and the sound were quite well done, which still cannot save this series from being a disappointing, forgettable drop.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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