Rocket Girls
{{Short description|Japanese light novel series and its adaptation}}
{{About||the British independent record label |Rocket Girl|the Chinese girl group |Rocket Girls (band)}}
{{Infobox animanga/Header
| name = Rocket Girls
| image =
| caption =
| ja_kanji = ロケットガール
| ja_romaji = Roketto Gāru
| genre = Adventure, Comedy, Science fiction
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Print
| type = light novel
| author = Hōsuke Nojiri
| publisher = Fujimi Shobo
| publisher_en = Viz Media
| demographic = Male
| imprint = Fujimi Fantasia Bunko
| magazine = Monthly Dragon Magazine
| first = 25 March 1995
| last = 25 August 2007
| volumes = 4
| volume_list =
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Video
| type = tv series
| director = Hiroshi Aoyama
| producer =
| writer = Rika Nakase
| music = Shinkichi Mitsumune
| studio = Mook Animation
DLE
| licensee = {{English anime licensee|NA=Sentai Filmworks}}
| network = WOWOW
| first = 21 February 2007
| last = 17 May 2007
| episodes = 12
| episode_list =
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Footer|portal=on}}
{{Nihongo|Rocket Girls|ロケットガール|Roketto Gāru}} is a Japanese light novel series by Hōsuke Nojiri. Set in the Solomon Islands, it follows the exploits of high-school girl Yukari Morita, who is pressed into service as an astronaut by a private Japanese space company called the Solomon Space Association when it is unable to build a rocket that can lift the weight of an adult male.
Rocket Girls was adapted into a 12-episode anime television series that aired between February and May 2007. It was produced with the assistance of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which included astronaut Naoko Yamazaki voicing herself in Episode 7.Credits to Rocket Girls episode 7. Bandai Entertainment had the license and released a subtitled-only Complete Collection DVD on October 28, 2008, before it closed its doors in 2011. Sentai Filmworks announced on September 27, 2018, that it would release the series on a subtitled-only SD-BD set on January 15, 2019.{{cite web |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-09-27/sentai-filmworks-licenses-rocket-girls-anime/.137394 |title=Sentai Filmworks Licenses Rocket Girls Anime |publisher=Anime News Network |last=Ressler |first=Karen |date=September 27, 2018 |access-date=September 27, 2018}}
Characters
- Morita Yukari (Sendai Eri)
- Matsuri (Nabatame Hitomi)
- Miura Akane (Hasegawa Shizuka)
- Morita Hiroko (Natsuki Rio)
- Morita Hiroshi (Cho-, born Nagashima Yuuichi)
- Nasuda Isao (Sugou Takayuki)
More characters are listed in the Japanese Wikipedia article: :ja:ロケットガール.
Spacecraft
=LS-5 Rocket=
class="wikitable"
!Height !Diameter !Liftoff mass !Liftoff thrust !Payload to LEO |
21.0m
|2.4m |116.6t |140.0t |1.1t |
The LS-5 is a multistage expendable rocket used by the Solomon Space Association (SSA) to launch the first Japanese crewed spaceflight. Although older than the LS-7, this rocket has had more successful launches. This rocket was also used to test the new hybrid-fuel. Three rockets of this type has been constructed so far. Their Command Module (CM) have been called Tanpopo (Dandelion) and Coconut.
=LS-7 Rocket=
class="wikitable"
!Height !Diameter !Liftoff mass !Liftoff thrust !Payload to LEO |
31.0m
|2.5m |328.0t |259.2t |2.3t |
The LS-7 was a multistage expendable rocket used by the Solomon Space Association (SSA). However, after several failed launches, the rocket was retired and replaced by the older LS-5.
List of light novels
class="wikitable" width="100%"
!rowspan="2"|# !colspan="2"|Title !colspan="2"|Japan |
bgcolor="#e6e9ff"
!English !Japanese !Release date !ISBN |
rowspan="2"|01
|rowspan="2"|High School Girl, Lift off! |rowspan="2"|女子高生、リフトオフ! |March 1995 |{{ISBN|4-8291-2618-3}} |
October 2006
|{{ISBN|4-8291-1851-2}} |
rowspan="2"|02
|rowspan="2"|Angels' Well that Ends Well |rowspan="2"|天使は結果オーライ |December 1996 |{{ISBN|4-8291-2723-6}} |
November 2006
|{{ISBN|4-8291-1875-X}} |
rowspan="2"|03
|rowspan="2"|Fly to the Moon with Me |rowspan="2"|私と月につきあって |August 1999 |{{ISBN|4-8291-2896-8}} |
January 2007
|{{ISBN|978-4-8291-1882-5}} |
04
|Rendezvous with the Witch |魔法使いとランデブー |August 2007 |{{ISBN|978-4-8291-1919-8}} |
The anime adaption covers titles 1 and 2.
Viz Media released the first volume with English translation in 2010.[http://viz.com/products/products.php?series_id=001274 Viz's page on Rocket Girls] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331181512/http://viz.com/products/products.php?series_id=001274 |date=2012-03-31 }}
{{ISBN|978-1-4215-3642-2}}
Episode list
class="wikitable" width="100%"
! # !! Title !! Original airdate |
colspan="7" bgcolor="#aaaaaa" | |
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 1 | Title = Destiny | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|ディスティニィ}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|2|21}} | ShortSummary = Yukari Morita secretly visits the Solomon Islands during summer vacation to search for her missing father, Hiroshi, who disappeared on her mother's honeymoon. Meanwhile, the Solomon Islands Space Association (SSA) latest rocket, the LS7 has another launch failure. If they don't succeed soon, their budget will get canceled. The SSA director, Nasuda Isao, meets Yukari after tracking down an escaped astronaut. He talks her into becoming an astronaut on the LS5, a more reliable rocket that does not have enough power to lift a full adult. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 2 | Title = Assembly | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|アッセンブリ}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|2|28}} | ShortSummary = Nasuda offers to help Yukari search for her father while she works for him as an astronaut, telling her "It's so simple even monkeys can do it!" Her acceptance is followed by embarrassing medical examinations, continuous training, live-fire weapons training, and the discovery she has to wear a 3 millimeters thick spacesuit. During her survival jungle training she finds a local tribe led by her long lost father. As a delay tactic, he promises to return to Japan with her if Yukari agrees to go on one space mission. Yukari also meets Matsuri, her half sister. The director quickly recruits her to be Yukari's backup astronaut. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 3 | Title = Launch Pad | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|ランチパッド}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|3|7}} | ShortSummary = Tests of the new rocket fuel go consistently and catastrophically wrong, but the director hides the events from Yukari and Matsuri. With Matsuri now an astronaut trainee, Yukari attempts to gain weight and show a poor attitude in order to be kicked off the program. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 4 | Title = Count Down | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|カウントダウン}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|3|14}} | ShortSummary = Yukari suddenly decides to take a hands-on attitude to her job, and gains entry to the capsule construction site. She learns of the conservative philosophy of space vehicle construction. When she then finds out about the radical and unsuccessful fuel tests, she begins a hunger strike. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 5 | Title = Ignition | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|イグニッション}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|3|21}} | ShortSummary = Yukari's unshakable mother arrives and sets the agenda for the upcoming launches. Yukari and Matsuri are introduced to the media ahead of the first launch, which is repeatedly delayed. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 6 | Title = Control | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|コントロール}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|3|28}} | ShortSummary = During the first mission, Yukari's capsule suffers a serious problem. Matsuri is launched in another rocket to provide some extra oxygen as the ground crew tries to determine a solution. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 7 | Title = Gravity | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|グラヴィティ}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|4|5}} | ShortSummary = The astronauts land in Yukari's old high school. Akane, a top student at the school, provides vital help in preserving one of the space experiments taken on the first launch. As Yukari has fulfilled her promise of going into space once, she plans to go back to school just as Akane, impressed by Yukari's attitude and accomplishments, expresses a desire to go to space. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 8 | Title = Separation | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|セパレーション}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|4|12}} | ShortSummary = Akane starts astronaut training, but she fails a number of physical tests. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 9 | Title = Kick Motor | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|キックモーター}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|4|19}} | ShortSummary = Yukari is heartbroken at hearing that Akane left the training program, but the director and the rest of the SSA staff are actually hiding the truth from her. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 10 | Title = Orbiter | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|オービター}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|4|26}} | ShortSummary = The United States space shuttle Atlantis is preparing to launch the Pluto probe Orpheus, but they lose a vital part within the tight confines of the probe and are unable to extract it. The SSA begins planning a rescue mission using their new two person capsule named Mangosteen. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 11 | Title = Turn Start | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|ターンスタート}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|5|10}} | ShortSummary = Akane is able to extract the part, and she and Yukari earn the respect of the Atlantis crew. But the Orpheus launches due to a testing fault, and ends up in a very deep orbit, unable to begin its mission. The crews of the Atlantis and Mangosteen create a desperate plan to rescue the probe. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 12 | Title = Rocket Girls | RAltTitle = ({{Nihongo2|ロケットガール}}) | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2007|5|17}} | ShortSummary = Yukari and Akane reach the Orpheus, but the return trip may be too much for the Mangosteen. | LineColor = aaaaaa }} |
=OP/ED songs=
- Opening: "RISE" by ICHIKO
- Ending (#1): "Ashite Iki no Bus ni Notte" by misae (eps. 1–11)
- Ending (#2): "Waratte!" ("Smile!") by ICHIKO (ep. 12)
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{Cite web |last=Ruh |first=Brian |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/brain-diving/2011-05-17 |title=Rocket Roll High School |publisher=Anime News Network |agency=Brain Diving (column) |date=17 May 2011 }}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20131109093307/http://www.rocket-girl.jp/ Official web site (Japanese)]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070109134050/http://www.wowow.co.jp/anime/rocket-girl/ WOWOW TV network web page (Japanese)]
- {{ann|anime|7232}}
- {{IMDb title|tt1112799}}
Category:2007 anime television series debuts
Category:Anime and manga based on light novels
Category:Bandai Entertainment anime titles
Category:Fujimi Fantasia Bunko
Category:Kadokawa Corporation franchises
Category:Science fiction anime and manga
Category:Solomon Islands in fiction