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Rating: 9/10

Japanese Title: スカイガールズ
Genre: Action, Mecha, Sci-fi
Episodes: 1 (OAV)
Release: 08/2006
OP: “Baby Tears” by Riyu Kosaka
ED: “Shooting Star~Negai o Komete~” by Saori Goto
Website: http://www.konami.jp/visual/skygirls/

Impressions:

Contrary to some people’s beliefs that this show is merely a half an hour’s worth of loli-mecha pilot fanservice, I found this one-off OAV to be very good. (Okay, one friend does not account for ’some people’, so yeah…) The plot was not that good, but interesting enough and definitely allows for another OAV (or OVA; same thing) and possibly even a full season tv series. That would be great; definitely worth the watch. The music was good too – not war-like, intensive music, but light, happy music. I can’t really explain why this goes well with a military/mecha show like this one. Perhaps it’s because it suits thse girls piloting the Divers.

The characters were awesome too. The girls are super cute while all the other characters are normal people you’d expect in any military show. Although I think Eika looks the cutest, my favourite character would have to be Karen for her shy nature. If only her relationship with Takumi had developed more. In fact, the whole show should’ve been movie length. There were so many things that could’ve been expanded on. The lead up to the fight should have been longer to allow the characters to be introduced better. The actual battle was well done, but once again too short. Otoha should’ve also stayed underwater for a bit longer when she was shot down – just for the drama.

Overall, it was very good quality, but that’s expected of an OAV. The fighting scenes were great, unlike certain mecha-wannabes-who-use-crappy-cg-in-an-attempt-to-look-better shows such as ZEGAPAIN! That’s right, you heard me. That show has a pretty good storyline, but let’s face it, the CG itself looks good but it limits the amount of movement the producers are willing to put in the fights, resulting in slow sword swings and such. Boring! All the rockets and stuff in Sky Girls made everything extremely fast paced, and that’s what makes a good action-mecha show! Now I really wanna watch more mecha – hopefully there’s a good one next season!

Characters:

Otoha Sakurano
Age: 16
Diver: Reijin (aka Zero)
Energetic, fun and upfront. Seems to have quite a good relationship with Tachibana, one of the mechanics on the ship. Good with a sword. May have some sort of hidden power.

Sonomiya Karen
Age: 16
Diver: Fuujin
Shy and reserved. Has taken a liking to Takumi, a communications officer on the ship. Intelligent and a mechanical genius.

Ichijo Eika
Age: 17
Diver: Raijin
Acts cool, calm; like a leader. Most talented with the Divers out of all three pilots.

Prelude:

2079 CE – the first mechanical cell clusters, or ‘worms’, appeared and began their attack on the human race.

2081 CE – after losing a third of the Earth’s population, the nations united to create a single entity to combat the worms.

2083 CE – the Earth’s forces could not turn things into their favour, and so resorted to the use of weapons of mass destruction. Using this, they seemingly annihilated the worms. However, the massive bombardments the Earth received caused the major continents to break apart. Antarctica melted, resulting in the submerging of half the remaining landmass. The worst part is that 90% of all military age personnel were killed.

2086 CE – of course, before the humankind can repopulate the Earth and repair all the damage, the worms returned. And that’s where the Sonic Divers come in, piloted by the only able people left on Earth – teenage girls (wonder what’s wrong with the guys…)

Summary:

Three girls are relaxing out in the ocean on a calm, sunny day. A few higher-ups are discussing the possible scrapping of the ‘experiment’. (The experiment is to see whether young girls such as the heroines in the show are capable of piloting the Sonic Diver mechas and combating the worms effectively). Without any results – i.e. actually engaging the worms – the entire team will have to be dismissed. As Otoha and Eika are talking in the water, Karen, who is on the deck of the ship, receives a message on her cell phone. Hearing the familiar tone tat signifies some kind of urgent or important event, the girls out in the ocean start heading back to the ship.

In the briefing room of the ship, three men are discussing the current situation; the Admiral, Captain Togo and Rear Admiral Shima. A 50,000-dot class worm cluster has appeared ahead of the ship (I assume 50,000-dot means 50,000 cells), and the question is whether they should continue in that direction and prepare for a confrontation, or steer away and evade. Although the girls are inexperienced, the Admiral gives the order to continue forward and intercept the worms, as this will be the perfect opportunity to test the pilots.

As the three girls arrive at the elevator, a mechanic (Tachibana Ryohei) comes out who seems to know them pretty well. He calls the girls the ‘insecticide unit’ in a friendly way, but Otoha gets annoyed and starts arguing him with. Eika asks him if he had finished the adjustments to the rudder which she requested. Tachibana had completely forgotten. Otoha takes this chance to tease him and quickly gets in the elevator before he can start retaliating.

While the girls are changing, Karen asks Otoha if she’s good friends with Tachibana. She denies this and asks if their brief meeting earlier had given her this idea. Karen says she envies her because she can talk to guys so naturally. When the girls have changed into their military uniforms, they report to Captain Togo for a briefing. He tells them about a possible confrontation with worms and instructs them to standby in their motion slits for an hour. Otoha doesn’t want to wear the ‘underwear’, as she calls it, because of a certain ‘kid’ called Tachibana. Before Eika can leave, she is called back for a short, private meeting. Togo informs her that the presence of the worms is definitely, regardless of what he said earlier. He blatantly tells her that it is a test to see how the girls fair against the real enemy.

After the girls get changed into their motion slits, Otoha makes her way to the hanger to check up on her Diver. Although she is wearing a jacket to conceal the motion slit, she accidentally exposes more than she wants to when she bends over. Tachibana is in perfect view to see it and makes no attempt to hide the fact that he saw. The two get into another fight – just goes to show how close they are!

On the deck, officers review the three pilots. Eika is obviously the best of the three in terms of skill, while Karen is more the calculating type and an asset in terms of planning and such. However, the only good description of Otoha is that she is good with a sword, something which the Rear Admiral does not see as a good enough reason to be appointed a pilot. While they are discussing this, a few other things are happening on the ship. One, Eika is trying to wash off the sunscreen she had put on earlier. Two, Hayami Takumi, a guy who works as a communications officer as well as a helper in the kitchen, is being scolded for slacking off. His punishment is to come up with tonight’s menu. He notices Karen staring at him and gives her a wave, which makes her blush and turn away. Three, Otoha is giving Tachibana a beating with a broom.

Emergency sirens begin to wail throughout the ship, signifying the approach of the worms. They are just 200 metres ahead of them and the ship has been put on full alert. The mechanics team begin their work to ready the Divers. Tachibana bids Otoha good luck as she leaves, but she won’t accept such a thing from him (though she does blush). As the worms are this close, more data is collected. It is confirmed that the worms are a 50,000-dot class, and they are also on the level of B+ (the B+ probably indicates the danger or strength level of the worms). Visuals of the enemy is put up on the monitor, depicting the worms combining and forming some sort of dragon-like creature.

The girls prepare to take off and the rest of the ship goes into first-level battle stations. The girls go through a specialized elevator where they are coated in nanoskin gel to protect them while they’re in the air. Guns begin to blaze and the struggle begins. While the might of the ship seems great with all the rockets and gatling guns, the giant worm formation does not falter. It retaliates with its hundreds of tentacles, tearing up the armour of the ship. Further firing downs the giant worm, but no one is convinced that it is finished. When the girls make it to the hanger, they find the catapult hatch damaged and unable to open. The chief mechanic Outo requests that they are allowed to blow it up. While the Rear Admiral thinks of this idea as a preposterous one as it will further weaken their armour, the Admiral says that they will not go down before launching the Divers. The order is given to blow up the hatches. The worm resurfaces and resumes its attack. The girls get into the Divers and prepare to launch. When they have synchronised with the Divers and the hatches have been blown apart, the roof forced inward. Tachibana manages to protect Otoha with his giant excavator thing, but breaks his arm in the process. He tells her that he’s fine and the girls take off.

The girls begin their attack: Otoha using her sword as it is her specialty and Eika launches a barrage of rockets. The nanoskin gel will only protect them for 20 minutes, so if it disintegrates while they are in flight, the chance of survival is practically zero. One of the communications officers informs the girls that they may use the ‘Delta Lock’. The three divers switch to a standing position to form the Delta Lock, but before Otoha can lock on to the worm, she is struck by a tentacle and starts to plummet. She falls into the water (and survives when the height of the fall should have ripped her to pieces…) and, after a wakeup cal from Zero, wakes up and returns at full strength. Takumi requests for the girls to return to the ship as they only have three minutes before the nanoskin gel disintegrates, but they are confident they can defeat the worm in time. Karen even has the guts to tell Takumi that she’ll be looking forward to his dinner tonight, which makes him redden. The girls try the Delta Lock again, this time succeeding. The result is a triangular formation where a large black orb is created in the middle, which sucks the worm inside. The orb then shrinks to nothingness, annihilating the worm with it.

At the end of the day, the girls try to make the most of the remaining day off. As Otoha goes to get a drink, she runs into Tachibana who had come to see her. He congratulates her on her success, but she suddenly tells him that he’s a liar. This is because he had said he was fine earlier in fact his arm was broken. He’s not listening though, as he is busy feasting his eyes on Otoha in a swimsuit. She replies by hitting him on his broken arm and calls him a kid. Karen, who is watching, calls them both kids, while Eika is more blatant and calls them idiots.

The Admiral, Rear Admiral and Togo are being debriefed by some higher-up at headquarters. He is told that although the worm was destroyed, the overall outcome was average when you take into account all the damage caused. The Rear Admiral is surprised that their presence was known, to which the Admiral says that they will have to rely on the girls.

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