[update: chapters two and four turn out to be twice as long as one and three, so the next update will be a little while. Teaser: 「女の子同士なのに、なんでどきどきしてるのよ」. It seems the yuri is strong in this one.]

Prologue is Marika’s duel with Kane and their discussion after, with the only significant changes being the descriptions of the crew backing up Marika; Schnitzer’s appearance is apparently quite different. Amusing note: the two girls Kane is flirting with are referred to as “long-hair” and “short-cut”. Oh, and this might not be Marika’s first mission; the last line has her looking back to her life as an ordinary schoolgirl six months ago.

Chapter one opens much the same as the anime, with a lot more background detail due to the lack of moving pictures. There’s more of a crowd in the café, and Marika is a bit clumsy navigating her way through it after taking their order, leading Kane to call her a bit of a dojikko, which Misa thinks could be a problem; however, with a tray full of drinks, she navigates the crowd smoothly.

In conversation, Misa is much more direct, and Marika is a bit wary when she claims to be an old friend of mom. Misa doesn’t ask something as simple as “have you ever been to space?” and Marika doesn’t chat about the school yacht club or the relay station:

Misa: “Do you like space?”
Marika: “Eh?”
Misa: “How about becoming a space pirate captain?”
Marika: “Huh?”
Misa (correcting herself): “Are you interested in becoming the captain of a space ship?”
Marika (laughs and nods in appreciation of recognition of her aspiration): “Space ship captain? If I could have a space ship of my own someday, I could go wherever in space I wanted.”
Misa: “It’s possible, for you”.

At the house, much the same (including sign/countersign), with a few interesting notes. First, dad’s full name is given as Gonzaemon Kato Yoshiro (ゴンザエモン加藤芳郎), and several times Ririka refers to him familiarly as Gonza (権左). She also shows Marika a holo of him that’s stored in her pendant, and looks chagrined when Marika looks at his smug face and says (roughly) “I didn’t think this was your type”.

After the history lesson and explanation that the letter of marque makes them legal privateers, Marika still firmly refuses to accept the job. Why? Because if she did, she’d be forcing her own children down the same path, before she’s even found a partner. Shocked, Misa asks Ririka if this is really her child. Visibly proud of her daughter, Ririka assures Marika that neither she nor Gonzaemon believed in forcing her down this path; it’s her decision, of her own free will.

Ririka then asks Kane why he’s been so quiet. Pretty reticent for someone so young, hmm? He mumbles about how delicious the food is, but she presses, and he answers, “how could an ordinary guy like me cut in between our scarier-than-the-captain Bloody Doctor and the legendary Captain Ririka”. Marika freaks, Ririka looks chagrined again:

Marika: “Wait. The famous legendary lady pirate Captain Ririka was you, mom?”
Ririka: “I did a lot of crazy things when I was young.”
Marika: “Seriously, mom, you went rampaging around as an embarassing cosplay space pirate?”
(Misa busts out laughing)
Ririka: IT WASN’T COSPLAY! The business depended on popular favor, so wearing a flashy costume was just Service.
Marika: “Service? What kind of service are you saying pirates do?”
Misa (still laughing): “These days space piracy is a service industry. Sorry I can’t give you the details right now; trade secret.”

On a side note, Misa is absolutely terrified of Ririka’s cooking, which makes it all the more amusing when she reports that Gonzaemon died of food poisoning. When they’re leaving, Misa thanks her for the food and comments that she’d never thought she’d say that to Ririka, who answers that Gonzaemon always loved her cooking…

[on to chapter two!]