Crystal Tokyo Anime Blog

     This episode starts out with Yukari, and the others returning to the SSA base, Yukari asks the others if they can keep her part-time job a secret from her school, and Satsuki says “No Problem”. The next day Yukari undergoes a battery of physical tests, then she’s told that she is fully qualified to be an astronaut. She says, “no way, impossible” but director Nasuda holds his help in finding Yukari’s father over her, so she agrees.

     The next day astronaut training begins, and the training team works Yukari to the point of exhaustion. Yukari is extremely embarrassed when they force her to strip, to take a full body mold, in order to make her spacesuit. As training continues, Yukari is thrown out of a helicopter in the spacesuit, and told to return to base within three days. This is for the purpose of survival training, when Yasukawa hears about it he goes to help her. She lands in the middle of one of the local tribal villages, causing quit a stir. Yukari meets a cute native girl named Matsuri Morita, she takes Yukari to meet her father, who also turns out to be Yukari father (talk about seven degrees of Kevin Bacon!).  Well, lets put it this way the meeting does not go well, Yukari pulls her gun and demands her father returns with her to Japan. He makes a deal with Yukari, when she finishes her job as an astronaut, he’ll return with her to Japan. Matsuri help Yukari return to base, at that point the director notices the slim figure of Matsuri, and asks Satsuki how much does Matsuri weigh, she replies 38.5Kgs, height 153cm, and measurements 85-53-84, Satsuki says she an extremely healthy girl. The director asks her to join the force, and Matsuri agrees.

Here are a few screenshots of Yukari’s training.

Here are a few screenshots of Yukari’s family reunion.

     I find this anime series to be quite entertaining, the young female characters are quite cute, funny, and likeable. While, the adult characters are lighthearted, funny, and interesting. I think this series is well worth watching.

     Rocket Girls episode 1, well here’s the setup, we have plucky Japanese high school girl Yukari Morita (aren’t they all cute & plucky), setting off to search for her long lost father, whom abandoned Yukari’s mother after their honeymoon. Yukari travels to the Solomon Islands to look for her father. Based in the Solomon Islands is the SSA (Solomon Space Association), which is funded by private corporations, and the Japanese government.

     The SSA has fallen on hard times, their last five launch attempts have all ended in failure, and the sixth attempt is just about to take place. The SSA’s director (Nasuda-san) is given an ultimatum, if failure keeps occurring, their funding will be cut off. Just as Yukari arrives on the island, the sixth launch attempt ended in failure. Yukari finds a Japanese restaurant and gets directions to the SSA base. After the launch failure, a government inspector tells the SSA director that funding will be cut off, and the base closed within six months. The director decides to continue the program using an older less powerful, but more reliable rocket engine.  But using the older engine would require the current pilot (Yasukawa) to cut his weight to 40Kg (about 88 Lbs), the medical/training director (Satsuki), states that Yasukawa would need to weigh less than skin and bones.

     Hearing this, Yasukawa states that they are all crazy, and he takes an armored vehicle, and escapes from the base. While fleeing the base, Yasukawa runs into Yukari, whom is walking up the road. Yukari forces the vehicle to stop, and then she demands a ride to the base, or back to town. After forcing herself into the vehicle, they are chased by base security forces. After escaping the security forces they return to town and are given a room to hide out in by the restaurant owner. This leads to a funny situation, involving the restaurant owner thinking that Yukari and Yasukawa are going to use the room for very personal reasons.  A short while later, Yukari and Yasukawa are sold out by the owner, he states he needs everybody’s business. Yasukawa is drugged by Satsuki and taken away, Satsuki upon seeing Yukari states her vital stats as height 153cm, weigh 38kg, and measurements of 80-54-82, or in English 5’-1’’, 84lbs, and 31.5-22-32.5. Upon hearing this, director Nasuda offers Yukari help in finding her father in exchange for her working part time as a pilot. Well, that’s the basic setup, cute girls in space, can it get any better than that? Or the moral of this tale, never send a professional astronaut to do the job of a Japanese schoolgirl.  

Here are some screenshots.

Left to right, Yukari and friends, Yukari herself, and Yukari at the room.

 Left to right, director Nasuda, pilot Yasukawa, medical/training director Satsuki.

 A cute island girl, boy isn’t she just too cute.

     Well, I just finished watching the Pretty Cure Max Heart Movie 2,  the movie has running time of 110 minutes. Well the whole Max Heart group is back for a second movie adventure. Here follows the basic plot of the movie. The Max Heart crew is taking a short vacation at a ski and snowboarding resort. When a sage from the garden of clouds drops  an egg near were the pretty cure crew is taking their skiing and snowboarding vacation.

     Hikari finds the egg while outside, when she picks it up it hatches reviling a small golden bird she names Hinata. Shortly after that, a pair of villains show up named Freezen, and Frozen, and they start fight with Hikari, and Pretty Cure. Hanoka and Nagisa are less effective during a battle because of a misunderstanding from earlier in the day. But, they still manage to defeat the bad guy’s creation in short order. After they fight they meet the sage from the garden of clouds, and he takes them up to the garden of clouds, where they find out that Hinata is a baby Phoenix, and that they must protect the baby Phoenix or all the worlds will freeze. Shortly, Freezen and Frozen show up and defeat Pretty Cure in short order turning the garden of clouds to ice. After that Pretty Cure chase the bad guys to their stronghold, were Cure White is taken over by the bad guys and forced to fight Cure Black. But, Cure Black won’t fight back, so the bad guys take control of her and force Pretty Cure to fight themselves.

     At the last minute, Hanoka’s and Nagisa’s mutual love and friendship towards each-other breaks the bad guys control over them, but they seemingly fall from the tower of ice to their deaths. Pretty Cure’s fall was cushioned by the clouds, where they wake up and apoligize to each-other, after they make-up they return to the fight, just in the nick of time. Wherethey proceed to get their asses kick for a while, then the villains freeze them. but at the last minute, Hinata gives them a power-up and they proceed to kick ass, destroying Freezen and Frozen. After the fight, Hinata seems to have died from her effort, Hikari and the others give Hinata their powers in an attempt to revive her, and it works. Hikari uses a portion of her power as the queen of the garden of light to fully transform Hinata in to a Phoenix. After the Phoenix melts the frozen garden of clouds, the whole crew returns to the ski resort.

Below a some screen shots of Hinata, bad guys, and the first fight.

Here are some screen shots of Hikari, isn’t she one of the cutest magic girls?

Here are some screen shots of Pretty Cure.

     What I really like about this anime movie is that it has the best qualities of a magic girl show, and a fighting anime like Dragon Ball Z. If you have not viewed a magic girl show in a while give this movie a try.