Protagonist Yukari Morita is an ordinary Japanese high schoolgirl who wants to find out what happened to her father who apparently walked out on her mother during their honeymoon on the Solomon Islands. During her summer vacation Yukari heads to the Solomons to search for him. Meanwhile on the same island the latest test launch of a proposed manned rocket has exploded; if the programme is to avoid being cancelled they will have to use an older rocket
which will necessitate a much lighter astronaut. The man in training runs off rather than reduce his weight to 40Kg; on his way he bumps into Yukari but is soon captured
then the flight director has an idea; Yukari is just the right size and sending a teenager into space would bring lots of publicity to the programme
it is just a shame Yukari doesn't want to become an astronaut! She is soon bribed into taking the job though; if she becomes an astronaut they will help find her father.
All that was in the opening episode and in the second she finds her father by herself; he is living as chief of a native village! This doesn't get her out of her job though; in fact it gains the programme a second astronaut; her half-sister Matsuri! Over the next few episodes they undergo vigorous training before Yukari heads into space for the first time. Inevitably the mission doesn't go quite as planned. After an unexpected visit to her school another school girl is recruited and the team prepare for their next flight; this one turns out to be a dangerous mission to help the Americans with a damaged probe a task that requires somebody much smaller than the American Astronauts.
This anime series might not be well known but it is worth watching; the characters are a lot of fun; Yukari, Matsuri and later on Akane are good protagonists but the rest of the cast are entertaining too; especially the doctor who is a little too keen to test her subjects to the limit and the chemist who rather likes explosions! The science is surprisingly real for a show about teenaged girls going into space; because the Japanese Space Agency acted as technical advisers... even the use of teenaged girls is somewhat justified by the plot! For the most part things are played for laughs but there are still some surprisingly tense moments when things go wrong in space. Some viewers may be a little shocked at Matsuri's first appearance; I couldn't see a western series getting away with depicting a (half) native South Sea Islander in a grass skirt and carrying a spear! It isn't too bad though as she is the equal of the other girls if a lot more enthusiastic about everything. Overall I'd recommend this series to anybody wanting a short series that is funny and has a reasonable story.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
All that was in the opening episode and in the second she finds her father by herself; he is living as chief of a native village! This doesn't get her out of her job though; in fact it gains the programme a second astronaut; her half-sister Matsuri! Over the next few episodes they undergo vigorous training before Yukari heads into space for the first time. Inevitably the mission doesn't go quite as planned. After an unexpected visit to her school another school girl is recruited and the team prepare for their next flight; this one turns out to be a dangerous mission to help the Americans with a damaged probe a task that requires somebody much smaller than the American Astronauts.
This anime series might not be well known but it is worth watching; the characters are a lot of fun; Yukari, Matsuri and later on Akane are good protagonists but the rest of the cast are entertaining too; especially the doctor who is a little too keen to test her subjects to the limit and the chemist who rather likes explosions! The science is surprisingly real for a show about teenaged girls going into space; because the Japanese Space Agency acted as technical advisers... even the use of teenaged girls is somewhat justified by the plot! For the most part things are played for laughs but there are still some surprisingly tense moments when things go wrong in space. Some viewers may be a little shocked at Matsuri's first appearance; I couldn't see a western series getting away with depicting a (half) native South Sea Islander in a grass skirt and carrying a spear! It isn't too bad though as she is the equal of the other girls if a lot more enthusiastic about everything. Overall I'd recommend this series to anybody wanting a short series that is funny and has a reasonable story.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
