Marika Katou is the main protagonist of the Bodacious Space Pirates anime and light novels.
The daughter of Gonzaemon Katou and Ririka Katou, Marika is an ordinary high-school student who participates in her school's space yacht club and works part-time at a local Maid Cafe. It soon turns out that she is the only person who can take Gonzaemon's place (legally). While she's reluctant to take on the role, she does display natural talent for the job and accepts becoming Captain of the Bentenmaru. She also captains Odette II as Yacht Club's President after Jenny and Linn graduate.
In the AWA fics, Marika is set to debut in a future AWA storyline.
In the XP4 fics, Marika debuted in the XP4 Heroes Coalition - AKB0048.
Appearance[]
Marika has light blue eyes and long orange hair that extends slightly above her waist. She usually wears two hairclips on a clump of hair beside her left eye.
At school, Marika wears the standard Hakuoh Academy uniform, consisting of a blazer with a white collared shirt underneath and a red ribbon situated at the front of her chest, and a thigh-length skirt. During work hours at the Lamp House and during Yacht Club activities, Marika wears a maid outfit and a blue Yacht Club hoodie respectively.
As captain of the Bentenmaru, Marika wears parts of her school attire (namely, the collared shirt, skirt, and footwear) underneath a black coat with gold highlights that is open at the lower front. The coat has white cuffs and frills at the ends of the sleeves and white skull emblems on the upper arms. Marika also wears a pale-yellow ribbon with a green gem-clip, and a brown waistcoat underneath. A black cape with a maroon tint inside is attached behind the coat via the shoulder guards. Her sword is attached to the left side of a red belt at her waist. She also wears a bicorne hat with the same colour scheme as the coat, the secondary Bentenmaru emblem in the centre, a red string at the front-left and a white tuft located at its middle-left side.
During the Hakuoh Pirates and Nebula Cup arcs, Marika's uniform sports a few changes, courtesy of her good friend Mami Endo. The usual ribbon on the neck is replaced by a large orange one. The cuffs at the ends of the sleeves become red with yellow frills, and the black/maroon cape is replaced by a white cape that splits into several feather-like ends (with red tips).
In Abyss of Hyperspace, during the search for Professor Mugen's legacy, Marika wears a red version of her captain's uniform with a black cape, a green strap going across her right shoulder and a brown belt.
Personality[]
Marika is cheerful, optimistic and charismatic. She can be naïve and a little clumsy at times, and can come across as a bit of an airhead, however behind this lies a cunning, intelligent and slightly devious persona. She is quite capable of taking into account every option open to her and whatever tools she has available, and utilizing them to great effect, in order to achieve her goals.
As a captain, Marika values the safety of her crew and ship above all else, however she is willing to take considerable risks if doing so would be beneficial to them in the long run. She is a hard worker and frequently pushes herself to exhaustion , but she does ask for help when it is necessary. Partly as a result of this, she often oversleeps and is quite difficult to wake up.
XP4 Fanfics[]
Marika is a member of the Dimensional Defense Union and leader of the Bentenmaru.
XP4 Heroes Coalition - AKB0048[]
In Chapter 32, Marika is present when the Dimensional Defense Union arrives at Atamistar and paid respect to Mace Wyndu's death by gifting him with a Heroes' Tribute.
Abilities[]
Marika has excellent leadership skills, capable of making quick decisions and sticking to them, and keeps herself relatively calm under pressure. Marika knows what tools she has available and what possible options are open to her, and from that she is able to make the best use of what she has to achieve the best result for herself and her crew. She is intelligent and tries to plan ahead, be it for an enemy's possible actions and a plan for a counterattack or what her ship will need in the near future . She is also capable of thinking outside the box and coming up with solutions that might not occur to other people . Dependable and hardworking, Marika will always see her tasks through to the end. Her cheerful attitude and charm also helps to bring people to her side.
Marika is a skilled pilot,impressing Kane during a dinghy simulation and dodging machine gunfire from the Bisque Company during the Nebula Cup . As of Abyss of Hyperspace, she is also a licensed shuttle pilot.
Marika is also trained in swordplay, handling firearms, hand-to-hand combat, spacewalking, electronic warfare, navigation and model-making . As the Bentenmaru's captain, she is familiar with her ship's systems and their operation, and as a member of the yacht club, she has experience in operating systems aboard the Odette II. She also experience with waitress work and making parfaits from her part-time job at Lamp House. After finding the Kato family's secret recipe, she was also able to cook her mother's pot-au-feu without trouble.
Trivia[]
- Given that Marika's great-grandfather Bunzaemon Kato was the first to captain the Bentenmaru under the Letter of Marque and that the letter can only be inherited by direct descendants, it can be assumed, providing that there wasn't an interruption along the line, that Marika is the fourth captain to inherit the Bentenmaru's Letter of Marque.