The Japanese publisher Asahi Shimbun Shuppan has revealed that the anime adaptation of Yuichi Sasamoto's Mini-Skirt Uchū Kaizoku (Mini-Skirt Space Pirates) space-opera adventure novels will run on television in 2011. Director Tatsuo Sato (Stellvia, Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed, Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars) will helm the project and supervise the series' scripts. Satelight, the studio behind Aquarion, Basquash!, and Macross Frontier, will produce the animation. Besides Mini-Skirt Uchū Kaizoku, Sasamoto also wrote the novel inspiration for the Ariel video anime, screenplays for the Dirty Pair video anime series, and The Venus Wars anime film.
The story centers around a spirited high school girl named Marika. She keeps herself busy with the space yacht club and her part-time job at a high-class retro café. One day, two men suddenly appear and claim to be subordinates of her dead father. They demand that she assume command of the space pirate ship Benten Maru. A privateer ship's compact was made during a war of independence a century ago, and according to that compact, the ship must be inherited by the captain's next direct descendant. Marika finds herself embarking on a new life as a space pirate.
The first Mini-Skirt Uchū Kaizoku volume was published last year as the first book under the brand-new Asahi Novels imprint, and the third novel, Mini-Skirt Uchū Kaizoku 3: Cosplay Minarai Kaizoku (Mini-Skirt Space Pirates 3: The Cosplay Apprentice Pirate) will ship in Japan on November 20.
Source: Sashin Anime Jōhō
Update: The title is written as Minisuka Uchū Kaizoku (literally, "Mini-Skirt Space Pirates") but the furigana pronunciation guide indicates that the title is pronounced as Minisuka Paireetsu or "Mini-Skirt Pirates" without "Space." This is similar to how the Kyuuketsuki Miyu anime's furigana pronunciation guide indicates it should be pronounced as "Vampire Miyu" instead of the literal "Vampire Princess Miyu." Thanks, nargun and Sakagami Tomoyo.
