Rocket Girls...
Recently, I picked up Rocket Girls...
I've seen the entire series and it's actually surprisingly good. I had my doubts when I first saw this item on the store shelf. It was calling to me, but, I still had my doubts.
The animation is crisp and bright. It appears to be mostly traditional animation with a handful of CG elements thrown in here and there -- nothing too spectacular. The CG effects are not blended very well with the traditional animation and, at times, appear somewhat out of place. The story-telling is somewhat contrived, but, still reasonably good. The humor in the series held my interest fairly well. There are no naughty bits or gore to speak of. The series is a nice character-driven drama -- there's very little action and very few visual effects.
Overall, the series is reminiscent of movies like the "Right Stuff" or "Apollo 13". There's quite a bit of technical jargon and a number of pretty images of the Earth, as seen from space. In some of the more technical aspects of the series, reality is stretched pretty thin. But, if you can suspend disbelief to some degree, I believe that you'll find the series entertaining.
There were no inserts in the case and only a handful of special features in the set. The most interesting part of the special features was a three-minute pilot episode. The pilot version reveals that the character designs had changed dramatically compared to the final version -- the characters originally had a slightly older, more realistic appearance.
I liked the fact that the entire series is in one package, but, I didn't like Bandai's decision to use multi-disc cases where the discs overlap one another. I prefer to have each disc on a separate panel, so, I moved the series to my own three-disc case.
Still, all things considered, I am fairly pleased with Rocket Girls, but, I'll admit that the series may not be for everyone. In addition, the series' $50 price tag and its subtitled-only format may not inspire others to take a chance on the series. I gave Rocket Girls a 4 out of 5.
School is finally out for the summer and Yukari Morita has big plans this season. It's off to the Solomon Islands for her, in search of her long-lost father. Unfortunately, the archipelago stretches over 28,000 square kilometers and boasts a population of about 500,000 people. With odds like that, what's a girl to do?
Luckily for Yukari, the local Solomon Space Agency is in desperate need of a new astronaut. With their promise to help find her father, Yukari begins her part-time job as an astronaut!
I've seen the entire series and it's actually surprisingly good. I had my doubts when I first saw this item on the store shelf. It was calling to me, but, I still had my doubts.The animation is crisp and bright. It appears to be mostly traditional animation with a handful of CG elements thrown in here and there -- nothing too spectacular. The CG effects are not blended very well with the traditional animation and, at times, appear somewhat out of place. The story-telling is somewhat contrived, but, still reasonably good. The humor in the series held my interest fairly well. There are no naughty bits or gore to speak of. The series is a nice character-driven drama -- there's very little action and very few visual effects.
Overall, the series is reminiscent of movies like the "Right Stuff" or "Apollo 13". There's quite a bit of technical jargon and a number of pretty images of the Earth, as seen from space. In some of the more technical aspects of the series, reality is stretched pretty thin. But, if you can suspend disbelief to some degree, I believe that you'll find the series entertaining.
There were no inserts in the case and only a handful of special features in the set. The most interesting part of the special features was a three-minute pilot episode. The pilot version reveals that the character designs had changed dramatically compared to the final version -- the characters originally had a slightly older, more realistic appearance.
Still, all things considered, I am fairly pleased with Rocket Girls, but, I'll admit that the series may not be for everyone. In addition, the series' $50 price tag and its subtitled-only format may not inspire others to take a chance on the series. I gave Rocket Girls a 4 out of 5.
