The Essentials
Name: Sky Girls
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Episodes: 26
Released: July 5, 2007 - December 27, 2007
Based On: Retelling of Sky Girls OVA
Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki
Produced By: J.C. Staff, Konami
US Distribution By: N/A
Major Japanese Cast
Otoha Sakurano: Ayako Kawasumi
Karen Sonomiya: Saori Goto
Eika Ichijo: Shizuka Itou
Elise von Dietrich: Ayumi Tsuji
Souya Togo: Keiji Fujiwara
Ryohei Tachibana: Kishô Taniyama
Nanae Fujieda: Yui Horie
Takumi Hayami: Ryoko Shiraishi
Ranko Mikogami: Kumiko Higa
Haruko Mikogami: Momoko Ishikawa
Rei Hizuki: Junji Majima
Aisha: Azusa Kataoka
Major English Cast
N/A
Scores
Animation: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Story: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Music: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 8/10 (x 2 = 16 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 7/10 (x 5 = 35 pts)
Total: 147/190 (77.4%)
Review
Sky Girls is about a foursome of girls recruited by the military to pilot new fighters called “Sonic Divers,” which are designed to fight off a type of bio-technological artificial lifeform, called WORMS, which wiped out a third of the earth’s population 12 years prior, and were only defeated by the extensive use of nuclear weapons.
The four Sonic Diver pilots - Otoha Sakurano, who is idealistic and joins to team because she wants to fly; Karen Sonomiya, who is a brilliant, yet shy girl who wants to help others; Eika Ichijyo, who is the serious group leader who wants to defeat an unknown Sonic Diver pilot who defeated her in a test flight; and later Elise von Dietrich, who is looking for revenge against the WORMS for killing her parents - all join the Japanese military under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Souya Togo, who is a competent, if not laid back, commander.
The girls spend the first part of the series largely training when suddenly (much to the girl’s surprise) the WORMS reappear and they must start fighting them off. Unfortunately, the battles with the WORMS rarely end up being all that exciting as the method of defeating the WORMS is almost so amazingly effectively that the battle consists of getting close enough to the WORM to attack while avoiding whatever it decides to shoot at them.
Other than the less-than-exciting battles, my other main problem with this series is that it’s basically an excuse for another loli show. Not that shows with what amounts to lolis are necessarily bad, but given what the girls have to wear when flying the Sonic Divers, it’s pretty clear what one of the goals of the show is.
I also see Sky Girls as one of those “what could have been” shows. Sky Girls started off reasonably well and showed a lot of great promise, but then did very little with it, leaving behind what amounted to a standard fare mecha/loli show without being all that notable. To be sure, I wouldn’t classify Sky Girls as being a bad show, but there isn’t much there to make it very good, either. At least I found the technical aspects - the animation and music - to be pretty good.
Overall, I’m not particularly sure what type of fan would like this show. Perhaps if you’re into mecha shows or loli shows you may or may not like it, depending on one’s tastes, but I wouldn’t consider it good enough for the generic anime fan to really enjoy, especially considering that it’s 26 episodes.
First Watched: July 2007 - January 2008
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: No
March 25, 2008
March 25, 2008
Name: Nanatsuiro Drops
Name: Umisho, Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho
Name: Doujin Work
Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #65 is now online! In this podcast, I review the movie Five Centimeters per Second. I also talk about GONZO’s move to stream their new anime series online, and I also give a mention to the Anime Blog Awards.
