Sky Girls

Sheex Jul 13, 2007

3

StoryWhen I watched Sky Girls' opening sequence, I immediately noticed the similarities between it and Yukikaze:  Aliens have invaded earth, earth's population is in shambles, yet mankind has managed to pull off a victory in the end.  Within the first five minutes, however, I quickly came to realize that such likeness was superficial on every level.  Instead of witnessing badass dogfights with incredible CGI, you get to see some sixteen year old girls (who look younger) trounce around in tiny bikinis.  Not a good sign to say the least. As you might expect, these girls are actually pilots of the military's top secret weapons, Sonic Divers, and of course all three follow cliché archetypes.  There's Karen, the supposed genius who is unable to speak with men and talks by spewing random percentages (because remember, if you have a percentage in your sentence it makes you smart!); Eika, the emotionless military type who everyone in the OVA heralds as the best pilot on earth; and Otoha, the loudmouth airhead whose single-digit IQ is mankind's only hope.  None of these three have an inkling of depth, yet the scriptwriting flaunts their shallowness as if it were a virtue. By the time the action scene rolled around, I was already snoring; twelve year olds flaunting various swim suits isn't within my tastes.  Never mind that the world is in danger, our favorite imbecile mechanic has to get a good view of Otoha's panties, and the two must argue for two minutes about how stupid the other person is.  The entire OVA is filled with pointless scenes like this -- one lame segment is immediately followed by another of similar quality.AnimationThe animation isn't up to OVA standards. For supposedly being military personnel (since when does that matter in anime anyhow?), the three girls spend about twenty of the thirty minutes waltzing around in swimsuits.  Hell, even their pilot uniform is just another variation of one. I don't see why they even bothered with this, as the girls' designs are far too simplistic to really even call it fanservice. There's an abundant lack of detail ranging from character designs to the scenery, which easily equates an unpleasant visual experience. Just a hint to the creators: If you want to make a fanservice OVA, even if the girls are 12, at least make the girls cute.SoundWhile I'm on the topic of the girls not being attractive, let me add that this is also because of their voice acting. Perhaps it was because of an abhorrent script; regardless, it was terrible. At their very best they were decent, and on average they sucked. Couple in some crap opening/ending themes and lame insert music for good measure. I've three words for the sound score: bad, bad, bad.CharactersThe characters are the worst part of this tripe, though. They throw in three obvious "romances," all of which are so contrived it's laughable. Each of the girls are incredibly retarded cliches, and the "admiral" doesn't say his orders out loud, but rather points forward and somehow the crew unanimously understands what he has in mind. I must admit, though, I did actually chuckle when I heard the guy with the goatee say (paraphrasing), "It's one of two things -- a giant alien life form or a flock of birds, we just can't tell yet!" That's about as intuitive as the characters get.OverallI must admit, anime series/OVAs like this are productive on one level: They enhance my vocabulary for words synonymous with "bad," and if I can't find one that suits my tastes I can simply create my own.  For this particular instance, I think "craptastic" aptly sums up the thirty minutes of garbage which you hopefully will never put on your screen.  I've been racking my brain in an attempt to come up with at least one redeeming quality this OVA might possess, but I continue to draw blanks.  Simply put, even if you're bored out of your mind, don't bother; you could be doing more productive things like watching paint dry.

sothis Jul 11, 2007

3

StoryIn a perfect world, one would be able to replace a review's contents with a large eye-rolling smiley face image. Alas, this is not that perfect world.Sky Girls begins with a narrative which is remarkably more epic than the content itself: mysterious beings known as Worms came to Earth, messed shit up, and ultimately kicked humanity's ass so much that it resorted to nuking Earth to save themselves. Unfortunately, this not only submerged 50% of the land mass under the ocean, but also killed off 90% of men aged 20-40. Humans: 1!Dating and sex life of any adult woman: 0!After such an intriguing narrative one can't help but be baffled at what comes next: a barrage of panty shots, cleavage shots, and ecchi Love Hina-esque moments. Oh, and did I mention that the three main characters all appear to be 12 years old?! They fight one of the monsters in their wacky mechanized contraptions - complete with an Evangelion-style suit that disintegrates after a short time - and that's about it. OH MAN, SO AWESOME.I've seen fantastic short OVAs, and this is not one of them. The story was boring and unoriginal, and ultimately ended up being a weak excuse for (bad) ecchi. Yaaaawn. AnimationThe animation is decent yet unexciting. Backgrounds are detailed enough (though due to the short length and location, they are generally either a wall of a ship or the ocean) and colors are vibrant. However, the character designs are rather odd. Male characters look appropriate, but the only female characters look extremely young. For this reason, it is even more disturbing that the camera can't stop sneaking a peek at the posterior or flat chest of one of the heroines. SoundThe majority of the OVA is devoid of any background music, which fits fairly well. During the battle sequence there is a generic orchestral / metal hybrid song that blends into the background a little too well. Nothing spectacular, but nothing offensive either. CharactersGenerally I don't dock the characters score of a short OVA for lack of development, but in Sky Girls's case, the characters themselves are so utterly annoying that I can't help but do so. Not only is there no development, but the characters are remarkably stereotypical: nasal and childish girls who would rather go swimming than fight the bad guys. I can't say much else in this area, because there is nothing memorable to write about. OverallI've seen good and short OVAs: Atama Yama, Super Kuma-san, and pretty much anything by Studio 4C. Sky Girls is not one of these OVAs, and is essentially a complete and total waste of time. If girls fighting baddies is your thing, try out the far superior Stellvia. Use that 30 minutes you've saved doing something productive, like making recommendations!