Crystal Tokyo Anime Blog

     Well, episode 3 starts out with the girls getting basic training geared towards being able to operate the sonic diver units. The training includes classroom work, simulator training, g-force training, and physical fitness training. The training takes its toll on Karen and Otoha, while Eika takes it without a word of complaint. Later Karen finds Eika doing extra training and discovers that Eika barely meet the minimum requirements so that’s why she works so hard. Then the girls get to meet the people in charge of the maintenance of the sonic diver units, and each unit has its own individual mechanic.

     Otoha’s unit has a male mechanic that seems to have made a pass at her almost right away. On the first test flight, Eika’s unit runs fine for a while then the sync breaks down and the unit goes out of control. Capt. Togo wants to save the unit and pilot but Lt Hizuki wants to eject the pilot and save the unit, while they are fighting Otoha convinces her mechanic to help her get her unit into the air and try to save Eika. Otoha manages to save Eika, and Eika becomes a little more friendly with Otoha. Well that’s all for episode three.

     Well this episode had all the standard stuff you’ll expect to find in any team building phase of an anime show, the stuff in this episode is almost a carbon copy of the same stuff you saw in the Rocket Girls  anime, including one girls rescuing the other girl. You also get the introduction of other players in the series, and you also find out that the Capt. cares more for the pilots than his Lt. does. Also you get the introduction of the Ryohei & Otoha combination that was so funny in the OAV. Before anyone gets the wrong idea I checked the Sky Girls  website and discovered Ryorei is 19 and Otoha is 16, so this is not an old man/loli combo its just that she’s animated younger looking than she should be/ or he’s drawn older looking. That issue aside I find the series kind of interesting, it seems like nice mellow light sifi anime. I really didn’t need another angst filled super dramatic emo kids save the world from monsters anime. The fan service level in this episode was a little higher than the first two.

     Episode 5 starts out with Judy receiving a letter, and this makes her very happy. Back at the room Julia is being very disagreeable with two workmen about her choice in wallpaper, and poor Sallie is caught in the middle. Soon, Judy arrives at their room and the wallpaper issue is solved. After Julia leaves the room in a huff Judy and Sallie open Judy’s letter, and it contains her thirty five dollar a month allowance. Judy and Sallie go to the graduating student sale to look for some furniture for Judy’s room. This episode also features the arrival of the dorm supervisor Joanna Sloan, a women in her late forties or early fifties, she takes great offense to people calling her ma’am instead of miss.

     At the furniture sale Judy buys a lot of stuff, and she is very happy, telling Sallie that this is the first time she’s buying stuff with her own money. Sallie assumes that Judy has had her maid or butler pick her stuff up like everyone else. Judy almost immediately gets in trouble with miss Sloan for causing a commotion in the dorm, later Judy gets it to even more trouble for making a lot of noise. Judy gets punished for breaking the rules by having to hand write a copy for every room. Because miss Sloan was not specific on how she wanted them written, Judy manages to get back at miss Sloan. Well, that’s about all from episode 5. Below are some screen shots.

     Well episode 5 of Daddy Long Legs continues with the character development of Judy, Julia, and Sallie. This episode also introduces miss Sloan, a person I assume will be kind of an adversary of Judy for most of the series. So far none of main players seem to be bad people, Julia might be be a little spoiled but not evil. The main themes for this episode is that the simplest things continue to make Judy happy. One thing I have to mention is that orphanage girls seem to be great at climbing trees, Judy is great at it, and Candy from Candy Candy (1976) is a tree climbing expert. Also, Judy has told nobody about her orphanage upbringing. 

NPR’s American Radioworks will air a one hour radio documentary on how Japan’s popular culture is sweeping the globe. This program will feature the rise in popularity of Japanese anime, manga, pop music, and other things are becoming very popular in the US, and around the world. This feature will air on Michigan Radio on Tuesday July 31 at 9 PM. Click on the following link to reach American Radio works for more information  http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/japan/ I’m sure you can down load a podcast after the air date.