is a Japanese

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 A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

, created and produced by

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

. Based on the original concept by the Sunrise animation staff, the series is directed by Masakazu Obara and written by Jukki Hanada, overseeing a team of animators noted for their previous work on '' My-HiME'' and '' My-Otome''. The anime began airing in Japan on the

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.space colonies orbiting far from Earth. A

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

adaptation, ''Sora Kake Girl R'', began serialization in the March 2009 issue of

Ichijinsha is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was first established in August 1992 as a limited company under the name Studio DNA whose main purpose was to edit shōnen manga ...

's '' Comic Rex'', and another manga, ''Sora Kake Girl D'', began serialization in the April 2009 issue of

ASCII Media Works , formerly , is a Japanese Publishing, publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing headquartered in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It originally formed on April 1, 2008, as a result of a Mergers and acquisitions, merger bet ...

' '' Dengeki Daioh''. A

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 ...

adaptation began serialization in Ichijinsha's ''Chara Mel'' in December 2008, and an

Internet radio Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...

show has also been created.

Plot

In the year 311 of the orbital calendar, humanity has migrated to countless colony clusters in space. Akiha Shishido encounters a malevolent artificial intelligence, Leopard, who has been installed on a colony. She is joined by Inter-Colony-Police officer Itsuki Kannagi, taciturn young girl Honoka Kawai, and a robot-potato, Imoko "Imo-chan" Shishido.

Characters

Main characters

; : :Akiha is typically a careless and dense girl who has no special talent outside of piloting QT-ARMS in combat, but she is kind, easygoing and courageous. Akiha's role as the protagonist begins in earnest when she and Imoko are swept into the gravity quake of Leopard breaching out of hyperspace while in flight from her eldest sister Kazane's marriage arrangement. Considering that she is the third of five siblings, Akiha's lack of ambition throughout much of the series is not an unreasonable outcome. In addition to piloting the war-era Starsylph QT-ARMS in combat, Akiha uses a golden gun, the Arma Ignis Aureus to assist Leopard in discharging the "Soul Shout" energy attack from the Leopard Cannon. It is shortly after Leopard's battle with Benkei that it becomes apparent that Akiha is vulnerable to Nervalist mental manipulation. While encased in a Full Cowl box aboard Xanthippe, Akiha comes to understand the attraction of Nerval's subjugation without being caught up in it thanks to Imoko's encouragement. Akiha inherited the "will" from Kagura. In Nami's attempt to kill Akiha, the EXISTENCE protected her. She was asked to destroy Leopard by Kazane. ; : :Driven by her parents being conscripted into the Terra Abduction at the hands of a mysterious colony, Itsuki joined the Inter-Colony

Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

in lieu of the secondary education most teenagers are made to undergo. Itsuki dislikes making mistakes and places a heavy emphasis on her work as an ICP officer which forces her into things such as fighting Bougainvillea and Mintao as per the orders of the ICP administration from within the experimental Arc-II-Jl QT-ARMS along with initially being Akiha and Honoka's adversary as the two are collecting components for Leopard. During her time in Surre Academy as the student Mutsumi Shimoyama, Itsuki demonstrates a lack of proper social skills that causes a few awkward misunderstandings—one of which is a very destructive duel with Honoka that suggests that she may also be an Ex-QT. As she spends time around Akiha over the course of the series, Itsuki experiences an extensive anthology of events such as having the Terra Abduction incident demonstrated for her (the EXISTENCEs hypnotizing people into the Pied Piper orbital elevator for use as Nervalist vassals) along with the aftermath of Nerval's exploitation. ; : :Awakening shortly after she boards Leopard for the first time, Honoka enrolls in the Surre Academy to stay close to Akiha who she declares as "The Girl Who Leapt Through Space". As demonstrated during her duel with Itsuki and during the early component retrieval missions, Honoka has the quantum energy manipulation capabilities endemic to Ex-QTs whose utilization for combat makes her eyes glow red and pilots the war-era Wygar QT-ARMS. In spite of being quiet most of the time and focused on Leopard's well-being, Honoka has quite an anguishing prologue that evokes some strong emotions. Once wielded as an EXISTENCE, Honoka broke away from Nerval 50 years ago with what are now the Shishido elders and fought alongside Kagura who matched her hatred for Nerval. Honoka is on borrowed time as she struggles to reconcile how things have changed over the past half-century with Kagura and Friedrich along with all the crucial actors in Nerval's recent advent. She also revealed that her life is coming to an end. After Honoka's Wygar QT-ARMS was destroyed in battle with Takane, she used her new QT-ARMS, which resembles the EXISTENCE units that Nami controls. ; : :Even before he breached out of hyperspace before Akiha and Imoko, it quickly becomes apparent that Leopard has an intricate and extensive prologue with the Shishido family. Considering his construction was financed by the Shishido Conglomerate and his fundamental programming seeing its roots in Friedrich Otto Noblemain after Nerval performed as expected, it could be argued that the aristocratic and eccentric Leopard is in a sort of family feud with his siblings who consider him the black sheep of the family. Even though he usually spends time alone in his room exciting himself into laughter and enjoying brewed tea before also taking to playing around on Akiha's laptop, Leopard realizes the high stakes involved as he charges Akiha the retrieval of specific components that were unjustly arrogated. It is for this reason that Leopard repels Benkei's persistent attempts to steal his mirrors so fiercely—even to the point of once conducting a surprise counterstrike on Benkei. :Leopard and Akiha's mutual interdependence exponentially develops over the course of the series because it is only by Akiha's assistance that the Leopard Cannon is successfully discharged while at the same time Akiha is guided through truly appreciating life for the gift it is. There is an arc near the end where Leopard annoys Kazane with his insistence on immediately rescuing Akiha heedless of its futility that suggests he has come to care about Akiha very much. Leopard has two creatures he has personally named residing in his colony, one of which is a crocodile-like creature named Crocodilias Leopardus, which is shown to have three younger Crocodilias. The other creature is an octopus-like creature named Leoparda Octopada. There is also a headless ghost which wears a golden armor and stays in the library. :Leopard has a dark side, who introduces himself as the "Prince of Darkness". The only difference is the eye colour which is blue. According to his dark side, 50 years ago, Leopard was the one who dominated the world with tremendous power and blanketed it with fear. When Benkei came to challenge him to a duel, Leopard has already switched to the dark side of his and even used his sword to damaged Benkei badly. He did not even allow anyone to enter his room. According to Fon, it is the swords that is cursed and awakened Leopard's dark side. His dark side does not require Akiha to activate his "Soul Shout" energy attack as he defeated Nerval by himself. He also recruited Nami.

Shishido family

; : :Because Akiha is the only one of the Shishido sisters that made time to care for her when she was newly manufactured and brought to the Shishido household as a maid, Imoko is best friends with Akiha and has been adopted as the sixth Shishido sister. As a Naviman nicknamed as a potato because of her appearance, Imoko has the capability to interface and operate almost any electronic device which delights Akiha and has even saved her life on numerous occasions throughout the series. Imoko's willingness to sacrifice herself to rescue Kirkwood from an approaching anti-matter missile inspires Nerval to intercede and have a change of heart with how he recruits people into his Utopian plans. Even with room and board at the Orbital Cafe Enigma endemic with Nerval's intercession, Imoko's inability to return to Akiha with the insight she has gained from watching Nerval as he tries to understand humans proves crucial in Akiha growing into her role as the "Girl Who Leapt Through Space". ; : :As the first of the five Shishido sisters, Kazane administrates the Shishido Foundation estate and provides the strategic leadership necessary for the Enigma Alliance to prosecute its crusade against the Nervalists. Kazane has it demonstrated during the course of the series that it takes a lot more than the second sight inherited from Kagura and an almost congenital business sense to be a good leader as her poor family government of her younger sisters Akiha and Nami attests—both of whom end up in a bad way that ranges from merely freezing their lives in limbo to outright self-destruction. It is also through Kazane that it is demonstrated that no plan survives contact with the enemy or even her own allies, especially Akiha whose headlong rush into danger frightened for Imoko's safety near the end of the series almost jeopardizes the endgame strategy against Nerval who now wishes to co-exist with humans. She and Kagura finish their explanation of the "Girl Who Leapt Through Space" to Akiha with the directive to destroy Leopard when his evil personality Panther makes its advent. ; : :As the second of the five Shishido sisters, the battle strength inherited from Kagura serves Takane well as she prosecutes her role as one of the squad leaders of ninja soldiers the Shishido Foundation wields in its fight against the Nervalists both on foot and from the controls of the Ravana QT-ARMS. Unfortunately, the circumstances turning sour during a recent mission become the preamble for Takane being temporarily wielded as a Nervalist vassal. Takane's emancipation from being Nerval's bodyguard comes about when Nami picks a fight with her after finding Honoka in her Wygar QT-ARMS to be an insufficient challenge for her. Of the other four Shishido sisters, Takane is the closest to understanding the agonizing distress Nami is facing. ; : :As the fourth of the five Shishido sisters, the agoraphobic Nami demonstrates through her downfall from being a former teen model because of a nasty comment on her blog to an evil "Girl Who Leapt Through Space" that simply having common cultural and genetic origins will not lead to a worthwhile cohesive family. The Primavera staff affords Nami the capability to channel her QT powers for such things as discharging energy blasts at her enemies and controlling the EXISTENCE—the latter often being wielded as foot soldiers. As Takane and Akiha have demonstrated for them, Nami's inherited anti-QT powers will discharge as a concentric circular energy wave that cancels any other QT energy fields as a result of a direct hit at just the right time during combat. The defection of the EXISTENCE to Akiha who wanted to protect Itsuki and Honoka along with finding Imoko drives Nami into a genocidal and misanthropic psychosis as she makes a hasty retreat. As Nami bloodthirstily fumes in disgust of the world and reaffirms her volition to exterminate the human race starting with Akiha and her other three siblings, Panther flies over and invites Nami aboard the Leopard colony—which is Akiha's next destination. ; : :As the fifth of the five Shishido sisters, the intelligence inherited from Kagura draws the attention of many universities and serves Sakura well in designing new space colonies as well as being a general handyman as evidenced by her martial arts robot bodyguard Mr. Black Belt and several other repair jobs that she prosecutes over the course of the series. The gibberish that Sakura uses when describing and explaining things is actually a customized language that Sakura has developed. Considering that Nami is the only Shishido sibling that cannot interpret it, this customized language is most likely QT energy waves channeled through her alien partner Yuupitan whose dormancy state is as her hat and scarf. While Yuupitan can move about on his own, he is quite content to act as an extra pair of hands at Sakura's very frequent request in return for Sakura transporting him.

Intercolony Police (ICP)

; : :Itsuki's partner, a combat-type Naviman. A hard boiled cool guy in personality. He has a tendency to apply odd and rather situational one-time nicknames to others. He has spoken English before and is capable of training soldiers. ; : :The head of the ICP's mystery department and Itsuki's superior. She is also an old acquaintance of Elle Surre and Emilio Surre, who were surprised to find her with the ICP. She recently tempted Bougainvillea and Mintao to join the Mystery Department by offering them Pizza. ; : :An elite agent of the ICP's Central Public Security division, she is sent to deal with Itsuki's attempts to independently investigate the issue of the brain-colony. She has a rather childish personality. She is nicknamed ''Bou'' by her partner Mintao. She pilots the Bougailian, which is a split form from the QT-ARMS known as Bouminder. Despite being an elite, she is afraid to see dead people or badly injured people, for example Elle Surre's case. Later they joined the Mystery Department when promised pizza every day. She considers being related to Kannagi as a curse as misfortune always befall them when pursuing Kannagi or even befriending her as in episode 19. She controls her QT-ARMs with her hands only. She and Min were so well integrated into the Mystery Department that they do not fear the headless ghost. However, when Kannagi approaches them in the dark with a torchlight, they screamed and ran away. ; : :Bougainvillia's partner, she has a much more matured personality than Bou but takes great pride in herself. Nicknamed ''Min-chan'' by Bou. She pilots the Mintaiger, the other half of the QT-Arms Bouminder. Despite being an elite, like Bou, she also is afraid to see dead people or badly injured people, for example Elle Surre's case. Later they joined the Mystery Department when promised pizza every day. She also considers Kannagi a curse. She controls her QT-ARMs with her legs only. ; : :A traffic patrol officer in the ICP. ; : :Erika's partner.

Surre Academy

; : :Akiha's classmate and close friend. His family owns the Academy. ; : :An underclassman and close friend of Akiha and Julio. She has an energetic personality. ; : :Julio's older sister and the principal of Surre Academy. She's also a member of the Shishido Foundation's Board of Trustees and is good friends with Kazane. Later revealed to be an old acquaintance of Nina. ; : :Julio's older brother, as well as Akiha and Julio's homeroom teacher. He appears to have a crush on Kazane. He has knowledge of the Shishidos' battle against the Nervalists, but is mostly kept in the dark. ; : :The president of the Surre Academy Student Council. He is very popular among the female students. He knows that Itsuki is from the ICP when she enrolled in the Surre Academy. He does not have any knowledge on Nerval previously. Shigure later reveals that he is also an Earth Orphan just like Itsuki. ; : :The vice president of the Student Council. ; :The secretary of the Student Council. He's also a capable fighter and fights using throwing needles. It is revealed that he is also a Naviman, when his droid got damaged by Nerval's guards he was forced to use Imo's droid for a short period of time before his droid is repaired. ; :A member of the Student Council and a narcissist. ; : :A member of the Student Council. She aspires to be much like Shigure, the current president of the council. Later she agreed to help Aleida and serves as a partner to Benkei. She frequently uses poetic language when speaking to Benkei. Her purpose of teaming up with Benkei is to ensure that she will be noticed. She revealed that she is an independent party in the battle. Her ancestors were all Nervalists. When talking to Nerval, she admits being a Nervalist, but lost hope in Nerval, till the extent of comparing him with

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel, ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a poor man named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

. She even said that the next time he meets Benkei, they will be in a battle. ; :''Mitchan'' :''Satchan'' :Twin sisters who go to Surre Academy. Mitchan is in Akiha's class.

Nervalists

; : :A brain-colony. Though unlike the mostly benign yet troublesome Leopard, Nerval is a malignant entity who seeks the enslavement of humanity. He is aided by a loyal movement of people known as the Nervalists. He takes the form of a yellow hair male and Takane served as his guard before she regained consciousness. He however fears Leopard as Leopard is an unpredictable character. Nerval's brain is already completed and he first attacked the lunar base, by freezing the whole moon and the fleet. Nerval wants to understand the humans and therefore starts to do so by cooking. However, after Kagura taught him that seasonings will make the Naporitan tastier, he used them on Manmaru-yaki too. When talking with Tsutsuji, he was compared to Pinocchio by her as he is similar to Pinocchio who wishes to be human. He later approached Leopard and was defeated after Leopard used his "Soul Shout" energy attack. ; : :Benkei is a vain brain colony who likes collecting mirrors. He rivals Leopard and e-mailed Leopard stating that Leopard's mirrors will be the 100th mirror he steals, which he successfully did when Leopard is in a traumatized condition. Leopard later took back his mirrors after assaulting Benkei. His original name is Bonapart. His weakness is irresolute as stated in the second opening. He is most likely to have become an independent party as he attacked Xanthippe under Tsutsuji's order. Leopard later gave him his mirrors as a payment for helping retrieve the Proxima Ring. When Nerval ordered him to return he was stopped by Tsutsuji and forced to obey her as she has control over his chainsaw. He was later badly damaged by Leopard. ; : :Another brain colony. Xanthippe is a supporter of Nerval's cause. In the second opening sequence, she is described as greedy, likes singing, and the weakness is tone deaf. She also treasures her "skin" very much. Xanthippe has been severely damaged after Leopard used his Sword against her. ; : :A silent and mysterious Ex-QT clad in silver armour. She serves the whims of Nerval and wields a large energy blade called a Tachyon Sword. She was later revealed to be Kagura when she reveals her identity when taking back Hako-chan.

Others

; : :A mysterious woman seen in Akiha's dreams within a Jazz-themed tea house, which was revealed to be Orbital Cafe Enigma, located near Jupiter. Much like Honoka, she called Akiha "The Girl Who Leapt Through Space". She is later revealed as Aleida, another agent for Nerval. She is from the Shishido family and has been fighting Nerval for a long time, but now she works for them. Now that she is on Nerval's side, she calls Nami "The Girl Who Leapt Through Space." After Nami unleashed her power, Kagura recovered, just like how Takane did. Now she is on Akiha's side.

Terminology

;B.O.A.R Ship: Beyond Orbit Azonal Runabout ;ICP: Inter Colony Police ;QET: Quantum Engineering Technology ;Q-TECTOR: Quantum Transducing Environment Crosslink Terrain Operational Reinforcer ;QT: Quantum Telekinesis ;QT-ARMS: Quantum Technology Advanced Reinforced Maneuvering Shroud

Development and production

The anime series, produced by Sunrise and

Bandai Visual 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 ...

, began airing in Japan on the

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Tomoki Kikuya is a Japanese composer, arranger and guitarist. Kikuya is best known for composing original soundtracks for anime series, including most notably ''Nisekoi'', '' Eromanga Sensei'', '' Bocchi the Rock!'', '' Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs'', ...

, and the

JAM Project JAM Project ("JAM" standing for "Japan Animationsong Makers") are a Japanese Music in Japanese animation, anison band founded on July 19, 2000, by anison singer Ichirou Mizuki. The band is composed of many vocal artists well known in the anime mu ...

, with two pieces of

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

being used for the episodes; one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is , performed by

Ali Project Ali Project (typeset as ALI PROJECT) is a Japanese rock band with a strong Japanese aristocrat-style image, consisting of and . The band's work is divided into two styles, which lead singer/lyricist Arika Takarano has termed for the band's ...

, and the ending theme is by

Mako , better known by the mononym name Mako (sometimes stylised MAKO), is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actress, singing, singer and a member of the band Bon-Bon Blanco, in which her prominent role is as the maraca player. She has also perf ...

, Aya Endō, and Yui Makino. The opening theme's single was released on January 21, 2009, by Lantis and

Geneon (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise that is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, owned by American telecommunications/media company Comcast headquartered in Akasaka, Tokyo ...

. The ending theme's single was released on February 4, 2009, by Lantis and King Records. The anime was licensed by

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 ...

. At AmeCon 2010, European anime distributor Beez Entertainment announced that they had the distribution rights to the series, but when they closed, it became their last release. Following the 2012 closure of Bandai Entertainment,

announced at

Otakon Otakon ( ) is an annual three-day anime convention held during July/August. From 1999 to 2016, it took place at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district; in 2017, it moved to the Walter E. Washing ...

2013, that Sentai Filmworks had rescued ''The Girl Who Leapt Through Space'', along with a handful of other former Bandai Entertainment titles. The first volume of the series' original soundtrack was released on March 25, 2009, also by Lantis and King Records. A character song single featuring songs sung by Mako (Akiha Shishidō) was released on February 25, 2009. Two more character song singles sung by Aya Endō (Itsuki Kannagi) and Yui Makino (Honoka Kawai) was released on March 11, 2009.

Related media

Light novel

Before the

series aired, a

entitled began serialization in volume seven of

's ''Chara Mel'' magazine sold on December 25, 2008.

Manga

adaptation entitled written by Kunihiko Okada and illustrated by Kabocha began serialization in the March 2009 issue of

shōnen manga is an editorial category of Manga, Japanese comics targeting an audience of both adolescent boys and young men. It is, along with Shōjo manga, manga (targeting adolescent girls and young women), Seinen manga, manga (targeting young adults ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

'' Comic Rex'' which was sold on February 9, 2009. A preview of the manga appeared in the February 2009 issue of ''Comic Rex'' released on January 9, 2009. A second manga entitled began serialization in the April 2009 issue of in

' shōnen manga magazine '' Dengeki Daioh'' sold on February 27, 2009.

Internet radio show

show entitled produced by Lantis Web Radio and Beat Net Radio had a pre-broadcast on December 25, 2008. Regular broadcasting began on January 5, 2009, and is broadcast weekly on Monday. The show is hosted by

who plays Akiha Shishidō in the anime adaptation, and contains three corners, or parts, of each episode.

Video game

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

titled was released by I.T.L. in 2009 for

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

's now closed

DSiWare This is a list of games and applications, collectively known as DSiWare, for the Nintendo DSi handheld game console, available for download via the DSi Shop and unplayable on earlier DS models. An update released for the Nintendo 3DS in June 20 ...

shop. Critics noted the game play as similar to

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

's famous ''

Gradius is a series of shooter ( shoot'em up) video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper. ...

'' series.

References

External links

Official website

''Sora Kake Girl''
at

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.2008 Japanese novels 2009 anime television series debuts 2009 manga Anime with original screenplays ASCII Media Works manga Bandai Entertainment anime titles Bandai Namco franchises Dengeki Daioh Ichijinsha manga Ichijinsha Bunko Light novels Mecha anime and manga Sentai Filmworks Sunrise (company) Shōnen manga