is a Japanese

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language ...

series by

Hōsuke Nojiri (born 1961 in Mie Prefecture) is a Japanese science fiction writer. After a career as a CAD programmer and game designer, he was first published in 1992, the ''Creguian'' game novelization. He admires Arthur C. Clarke, and his own works are c ...

. Set in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its ca ...

, it follows the exploits of high-school girl Yukari Morita, who is pressed into service as an

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

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 is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series that aired between February and May 2007. It was produced with the assistance of the

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...

, which included astronaut

Naoko Yamazaki is a Japanese engineer and former astronaut at JAXA. She was the second Japanese woman to fly in space. The first was Chiaki Mukai. Early life Yamazaki was born Naoko Sumino in Matsudo City. She spent two years of her childhood in Sapporo. Af ...

voicing herself in Episode 7.

Bandai Entertainment was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America. Most of the anime and f ...

had the license and released a subtitled-only Complete Collection

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on October 28, 2008, before it closed doors in 2011.

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is ...

announced on September 27, 2018, that it will release the series on a subtitled-only SD-BD set on January 15, 2019.

Characters

* Morita Yukari (

Sendai Eri is a Japanese actress and voice-actress from Japan. Her major roles in anime include Mimino Kurumi/Milky Rose in ''Yes! Precure 5'', Saotome Rei in ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', Sa Kōrin in ''The Story of Saiunkoku'', Morita Yukari in ''Rocket Girls'', Shi ...

) * Matsuri (

Nabatame Hitomi is a Japanese actress and singer who is affiliated with Ken Production. She sang the opening themes for ''Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu'' under the name "Miran Himemiya and Chocolate Rockers". Filmography Anime ;2003 *''Maburaho'' (Yūna Miyama) ...

) * Miura Akane (

Hasegawa Shizuka is a Japanese voice actress from Tokyo, Japan. She appears as a main cast member in a number of Japanese anime shows including as: Yukino in ''Nagasarete Airantō'', Nana in ''Angel Tales'', Tomohane in '' Inukami'', Akane Miura in ''Rocket Gir ...

) * Morita Hiroko (

Natsuki Rio is a Japanese voice actress and singer. Notable voice roles Anime *'' Angelic Layer'' (Tsubasa McEnzie) *''Battle Athletes series'' (Akari Kanzaki) *'' Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040'' ( Linna Yamazaki) *'' Carnival Phantasm'' ( Sion Eltnam Atl ...

) * Morita Hiroshi (Cho-, born

Nagashima Yuuichi was a series of fortresses and fortifications controlled by the Ikkō-ikki, a sect of warrior monks in Japan's Sengoku period who opposed samurai rule. It was attacked and destroyed by Oda Nobunaga in the 1570s. This, combined with the surren ...

) * Nasuda Isao ( Sugou Takayuki) More characters are listed on the Japanese Wikipedia page: :ja:ロケットガール

Spacecraft

LS-5 Rocket

The LS-5 is a multistage

expendable ''Expendable'' is a science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technolog ...

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entire ...

used by the Solomon Space Association (SSA) to launch the first Japanese

crewed spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

. 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

The LS-7 was a multistage

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

The anime adaption covers titles 1 and 2.

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

released the first volume with English translation in 2010.Viz's page on Rocket Girls

Episode list

OP/ED songs

* Opening: "RISE" by

ICHIKO Ichiko (written: 一子, 市子, 伊知子, 以知子 or イチコ in katakana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese singer-songwriter *, Japanese singer-songwriter *, Japanese musician, composer and ...

* Ending (#1): "Ashite Iki no Bus ni Notte" by misae (eps. 1–11) * Ending (#2): "Waratte!" ("Smile!") by ICHIKO (ep. 12)

References

External links

Official web site (Japanese)

WOWOW TV network web page (Japanese)
* *{{IMDb title, tt1112799 1995 Japanese novels 2007 anime television series debuts Anime and manga based on light novels Bandai Entertainment anime titles Fujimi Fantasia Bunko Kadokawa Dwango franchises Hard science fiction Light novels Science fiction anime and manga Sentai Filmworks Shōnen manga Solomon Islands in fiction Television series about space programs Viz Media novels