It's interesting that WOWOW's new season features two outer space titles. While Moonlight Mile will most likely feature the serious side of things, one can assume that Rocket Girls will take the other direction, i.e., a lighthearted approach.

That is, that's the only way I can perceive the show after watching episode 1. The whole premise of manning rockets with underage amatuer girls just because their weight is under 40kgs is probably the most farfetched plot I've come across in a long time, so I've decided not to take anything seriously from this show. That way, I may even become to enjoy the program.

Just to point out some positive notes:
Good voice acting. Sendai Eri's Yukari sounds just like her Ayumu role in Gokujou, one of my favorite shows, and having Nabatame Hitomi around is an asset, although her role as Matsuri may fit the incomprehensible, wild girl stereotype which I'm not all for.
Nakase Rika's script. People may hate her scripts from Higurashi and Yami Bou, and although she may not be a Yoshida Reiko, she's quite capable. I like her work from Fruits Basket and Futago Hime, so if Rocket Girls is on the lighter side of things, the script looks promising.

On the other hand, I've never heard of the animation studio MOOK DLE before, and although the animation for ep. 1 was passable (except for the unnecessary CGs) I hear the production is way behind schedule (I construe the lack of the opening and ending songs is because it's ep. 1 where they didn't want to show the spoilerish animation sequences;) ), so I'm having reservations on the consistency level of the animation.

Light girls account for loli-like features, where there's at least three of them around, so this could be another loli fest (hm, Rocket Girls and Sky Girls sound similar).

At least WOWOW shows run under different airing seasons from conventional broadcasting stations, so the attention factor will be high for the time being. Let's hope the subsequent episodes will be interesting enough so that it won't be drained out when the onslaught of the April shows commence.

Personally, I liked the character design, backgrounds and animation. From what eggplant says, it may decline as we go on, but I liked the visual aspects of this show a lot in the first ep. I got flashes of Getsumen To Heiki Miina, Mamoru-kun, and the newer Kujibiki Unbalance. From the data on Anime News Network, this appears to be the first time Mook Animation has managed production on a show, rather than just assisting someone else.

And Sendai Eri made Yukari's voice work well with the images to create a sound that matched the character design. I guess that Nabatame Hitomi is the native girl who climbed the tree. And I guess that we saw Yukari's father in one scene....

But the story seemed to crawl, to me. I didn't mind the weird idea that they are going to put Yukari in a rocket just because she weighs 38kilos. That's an entertaining notion. But I found the script for ep1 painfully slow. Not that I can suggest what else they could have done, needing to give us the background and get Yukari from Japan to her new part-time job. The woman scientist seemed a potentially interesting character. No-one else did much for me so far, except Yukari. I'm not seeing a "loli-fest" yet, more like a kids' cartoon show. But it's early days yet.

....... the islanders gathered together to see another expensive fireworks, a direct result of another lauching failure by the Japanese. Is that old man a rocket scientist or something? I would have also requested Yukari's three size measurement if I weren't afraid of getting disapproving looks. The other funny moment for me was when Yukari explained how her father went missing. Her father went about a walk and never returned. I really shouldn't laugh at this, but the way Yukari explained was kind of funny. Oh, and poor Yasukawa. He is the designated "monkey" (or should I call him the "lab rat") who is used to gather valuable information to have the Japanese succeed in their space venture, and join NASA and the Russia in space.