is a Japanese

light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...

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 cl ...

. Set in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

, 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 List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

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 a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

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 Aeronautics, 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 satell ...

, 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. Aft ...

voicing herself in Episode 7.

Bandai Entertainment was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution company, 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 ...

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 ki ...

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

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC (or simply Sentai) is an American entertainment company. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is Sentai Studios. The ...

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

Characters

* Morita Yukari ( Sendai Eri) * 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". Biography Filmography Anime ;2003 *''Maburaho'' (Y ...

) * 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 series 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 Atlasi ...

) * 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 surrender ...

) * 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

The LS-5 is a multistage

expendable ''Expendable'' is a science fiction novel by the Canadian author James Alan Gardner, published in 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers under its various imprints.Avon Books; HarperCollins Canada; SFBC/AvoNova. Paperback edition 1997, Eos Books. It i ...

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

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 entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

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 ...

* 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 Corporation franchises Hard science fiction Light novels Science fiction anime and manga Sentai Filmworks Shōnen manga Solomon Islands in fiction Television series about astronauts Viz Media novels Science fiction comedy