Sky Girls TV Series

[FlareKnight]

Yeah I found it odd they still think the Vic Viper is the solution to everything. The Sonic Divers have been doing great against the WORMS and yet they are going for the jet that didn't finish the last one off. Seems like they are stuck too much with the standard plan to use their jets to blast things apart. Do they just not want to see the Sonic Divers work?

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Well this stuff isn't new.

In the Halo series, despite its admirable results against the covenant, the Spartan-II program was critized and dropped in favour of the III phase due to the fact that the same budget required to create a Spartan II was almost equivalent to outfitting an entire battlegroup of starships.

In Evangelion, the evangelions were also critized due to the fact that the costs of maintaining and repairing them was more than enough to bankrupt an entire country.

And here as Shimza noted, the costs of the Sonic Drivers was immense and that the world's economy simply isn't adequate to focus its money on such a small project.

[FlareKnight]

Well I guess that's a pretty accurate assessment. Even if something works pretty well if the cost is too high they will want to find something that will work but doesn't cost as much. Since they've probably got the jet business figured out it might be easier on them.

I should remember a real life example. With the Avro Arrow, damn good piece of technology but cost too much and couldn't find someone willing to buy.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Yeah I found it odd they still think the Vic Viper is the solution to everything. The Sonic Divers have been doing great against the WORMS and yet they are going for the jet that didn't finish the last one off. Seems like they are stuck too much with the standard plan to use their jets to blast things apart. Do they just not want to see the Sonic Divers work?

Maybe they're just chauvinistic and don't like being shown up by a bunch of girls.

More likely it's the inability to let go of old way of warfare. Story Time:

I read the story of Captain Billy Mitchell in a Bathroom Reader recently that told the tale of Billy Mitchells attempt to convince the U.S Military that it needed to build up an Airforce to catch up to Britain and Germany and that the future of combat would be dominated by Air Superiority, in which America was borderline defenceless against without a suitable Air Force. The military was not convinced and was firm that battleships were still the most immediate neccesity to maintain in an army. They saw battleships as unsinkable fortresses who's presence would forever remain the deciding force in combat. Well Captain Mitchell got them to schedule a test for his bombers to demonstrate their capability and prove the power of Air Power. His group managed to sink a battleship, but the brass was still not convinced despite the overwhelming evidence and made him try again with even less resources against a much large german battleship they had captured. His men scuttled that one even quicker, but again the military still wouldn't admit the navy's vulnerability to the point where they had Captain Mitchell court martialed. It was the overwhelming public pressure at the obviousness of the situation that actually finally allowed the U.S Military to correct it's error and build a strong air force.

Never underestimate the power of the public. The Sky Girls are pretty beloved amongst the public, so I'm sure if the military tried to pull anything then the military would have an earful from all those people the Sky Girls have helped over the course of the series. Their stubborn ways will see the light even if it's not going to be their own realization that reveals it.

[Risaa]

A few thoughts on episodes 9 through 12:

Spoiler for 9-12 + screenshot:

- First, I'm SO disappointed beyond belief that Karen's beloved ani-sama isn't actually like, King of WORMs or something. I was hoping the brother she loved and trusted would turn out to be some supreme evil overlord who torments pandas just for fun and wants to roll the world into a big katamari and force the Sky Girls to become his maids and personal panty-shot girls while playing FFVII with some WORMs. (Hey, it could've happened!) I just can't believe he turned out to have such a *boring* and normal role in the series! Zannen!

- I'm glad Elise came into the series. Prior to her arrival, Eika was the one (and actually, only one ) I really liked out of all the characters, but even she was beginning to feel a little dry to me. Elise is the fresh new character I've been waiting for.

- Speaking of Elise, she's only one year younger than the other girls (well, two years than Eika) yet she's so much shorter and immature. OK, I can see immature as being a personality issue, but shorter? The girl's German! Regardless, I still like her a lot -- I like her character design and she's quickly warming up to me personality-wise. It's strange; I don't usually like the bratty types... but somehow, Elise works for me. (And it's not just her cute "ears" or her fang... I'll never admit to liking anime-girl fangs. )

- I'm not going to say anything about Ayako-Fansubs or this particular screenshot or anything, except...

WTF! *stifles snorks and laughter*!!

(Just to be clear, it's a mistake on the part of the subbers, not that Eika actually said that.)

Sadly, while I watch Sky Girls I often think... "I could do so much better! Let ME pilot!!!"
(please don't take me seriously there. )

[Mef]

haha
interesting "romance" between the chef and elise

[Rengemaru]

Spoiler for regarding Elise:

It's funny when you think about it this way. Elise is 15, she's immature mentally and physically, while Nenae on the other hand is 15 and she's kinda mature both mentally and (especially) physically.

[Ashlotte]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Yeah I found it odd they still think the Vic Viper is the solution to everything. The Sonic Divers have been doing great against the WORMS and yet they are going for the jet that didn't finish the last one off. Seems like they are stuck too much with the standard plan to use their jets to blast things apart. Do they just not want to see the Sonic Divers work?

Yea like the example kaoshin pointed out theres a very long history of the military being resistant to change and new tech, although thats softened considerably post-coldwar.

Something about stick in the mud old generals and admirals that dont like to see warfare change too much or something I guess...

[Mef]

ohhh elise was so great in ep16

elise daaaiisuki!

[Solafighter]

In my view, this anime is getting better and better.

I just rewatched the OVA and uploaded the beauty opening of this on stage6.

To watch it, check following link:

http://stage6.divx.com/user/Falcon26...y-Girls-OVA-OP
(DivX requisited)

[KJlost]

Everyone's looking at this in terms of "Old-tech vs. New-tech". I'm more inclined to look at this in terms of "Kingtiger vs. M-4 Sherman". In the end, the ones who win the war (in reality) are not the handful of special, premium combat units, but rather the rugged grunt units that you might be able to kick around in a duel, but will eventually surround you and shoot your tracks out. Say what you will about German tanks, they still lost WWII.

Standardization is the key to military equipment. You have to remember that the nature of Sonic Divers seems to indicate a special kind of natural-borne ability is needed to pilot the machine. This calls for a very, very small and selective potential pilot pool and resources. The military would absolutely hate this kind of weapon platform and situation for several reasons.

The Ace of Ace kind of selection means that you are completely dependent on a very small group for your defense. The smaller the unit, the more vulnerable it is to sudden shifts in moral, mood, and performances. The possibility that overall combat effectiveness of a unit could suffer because of a small crack in unit dynamic makes such unit undesirable in terms of military purposes. Also, you cannot recover from losses as easily as you could with a much larger combat units. A single loss from current Sonic Diver squadron would mean loss of 25% of your combat capabilities. Loss of 25% of your available combat capability is as good as being completely destroyed. In WWI, combat units that had suffered 30% casualty were written off and pulled off the front if possible.

The Vic Viper is much more conventional weapon platform. Aside from the fact that the military likes conventional methods in general, the pilot pool for this machine is, or should be, considerably larger than Sonic Divers because of its conventional layout and cockpit-driven controls. The machine itself is more or less standardized unlike the Sonic Divers, which means mass-production on some level is possible. A much larger combat units and reserves can be fielded as a result, allowing greater operational flexibility. Basically, you can defend larger areas rather effectively, even if you can't completely destroy the threat.

The Sonic Divers have been great in operating in their area and all, but they would never have gotten anywhere near Europe or Africa in time to be effective defense. A mass-production unit with an effective defensive and offensive capability against the WORMS would be a God-send in many other areas of the world. The overall availability just doesn't compare.

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Just finished watching 16.

Not a bad episode but we see more development on the Vic Viper.

You are both right and wrong KJlost.

My only critisim of the Vic Viper was that it relies too much on conventional methods and firepower. WORMs are NOT your conventional enemies. They are made up of millions of nanomachines that not only are capable of regenerating but are capable of evolving to become stronger as we saw in 14. The Vic Viper damaged the WORM but it came back significantly stronger.

In fact, we see several WORMs being routed by Vic Vipers in 16. That's the problem, with WORMs you need to take them out in the first round otherwise they'll come back with stronger defenses and the Vic Viper would be helpless.

So if anything, it's the Vic Vipers THAT should be buying time for the Sonic Drivers to locate the source of the WORM infestation and destroy it for good.

And the Sonic Drivers WERE slated for mass production but the WORMs destroyed the facility. Elise's Sonic Driver is the only MP that would exist for the time being.

[FlareKnight]

Yeah the line comes between what will win and what wont. Right now we haven't seen the Vic Viper actually win. Sure it can drive them back the first itme which isn't bad at all. plus that energy shield is pretty handy. But these are opponents that will come back and hit you harder next time which means they will lose. If the WORMS didn't grow and get stronger it would be more effective for a more mass produced Vic Viper that didn't have the same requirements to use aside from training.

At best the Vic Viper is a delay tactic for the Sonic Divers to come in and finish the WORMS off. If they could win on their own it'd be pretty useful on the mass scale. If a swarm of Vic Vipers could pull it off then it'd be fine, but if they can't win what is the point

Anyways nice little chapter for Nanae. Getting to deal with a relationship with her. Maybe shouldn't have been surprised by his distaste for the military being there but was. Is understandable since its a strain on the island and keeps them from being able to do the things they need to. But all worked out in the end. The island is protected (even if the ship being there is the reason they were attacked in the first place....). And we find out that Eika has relationship experience .

[KJlost]

I'm just approaching this from military's point of view. By design of the anime, the Vic Viper program is destined to fail, no other way to run the story otherwise.

From what we've seen so far, the Vic Viper has successfully engaged and repulsed the enemy. They haven't been able to eliminate the WORMS yet, but in terms of initial deployment, I'd say the results are promising so far, and the destruction of the WORMS might be just the matter of better doctrine or more firepower. It's been successful, it's conventional, and it's becoming more widely available, what else can you ask for from the military's point of view?

But like I said, by the design of the story, they are going to become useless in the end, so the point is moot.

[SoldierOfDarkness]

More like design of the enemy. The enemy is someone you simply do not want to repulse. You want to annihilate it down to the last cell, not drive it off and let it heal.

Unless the Vic Vipers start actually annihilating WORMs, all those WORMs their fighting will just keep coming back bigger and stronger which will make them better equipped to take down those Vic Vipers.

[CrazyPerson]

Going to be thinking like the military in the show here...

I think the most important point here is availability. If you have noticed, the Vic Viper seems to be fully mass-produceable, with pilots available as long as you have trained pilots. You don't even have to be an ace pilot, just don't ram the ground or a building and let the shield handle enemy attacks.

If you look at the Sonic Divers, they are much more limited in number. While the point of "mass produced Sonic Divers" such as Elize's diver, I noticed that they are still using little girls (like Elize) to pilot the sonic divers. That suggests that while the Sonic Divers could be widely available, the pilots still need to be specifically chosen from a VERY small number of candidates, and that's before factoring in a massive population drop from nuking all over the planet to stop the WORMs (I expect a couple of cities destroyed from WORM attacks too, and birth rates must be very low with all military personnel from what, 20 to 68 lost?). They probably have a lot of trouble finding the compatible little girls to fly the Sonic Divers. They had to pick Otoha and Karen from the civilian population, and Otoha was from a backwards island town! Desperate for pilots indeed.

The military choosing the Vic Viper can be easily understood this way. Place all your faith in the Vic Vipers, who could even fight to a draw, massively available everywhere, or place faith with the elite Sonic Divers who could win almost every battle, but can NOT be available everywhere. Picking the Sonic Divers as the primary anti-worm units would be like being able to win a battle, but lose the war. Sonic Divers defend one place, WORMs attack another 3 places, and probably annihilates those cities. 99% loss, 1% win. With Vic Viper, it's at least a 100% draw (until the WORMs evolve enough, but we know that the military is short sighteed).

Now, technology is developing, and worms can be defeated as shown by the Sonic Divers, the military may be thinking that in the future something could be outfitted on the Vic Viper that can a eliminate a worm. Heck, with enough Vic Vipers, maybe they're thinking you could shoot a worm down on the ground, and then just repeatedly strafe the ground over and over and over again to make sure no cells remain. That could a win with the Vic's as well.

Oh, last thing on the evolving, there's no indication that all WORMs can evolve into a stronger kind anyway, maybe only A+ levels like the one in Ep14. In Ep9, they attacked a B+ WORM heading towards some oil plant and failed to kill it the first time, and the second time around it showed no signs of having evolved. Add that with the short-sighted military, they'll probably favour the Vic too.

There's my thoughts on the how the military there would see things. That's why they would prize the Vic Viper over the Sonic Divers Remember, availability appeals to the "big picture" people. Protect all the places you need to with the Vic, or win a battle and lose the war with the Divers.

I think I wrote way too much for this.

[ReddyRedWolf]

It be better if the Vic Viper squads were back-ups to Sonic Divers.

Weaken the worm then let the Sky Girls finish them off.

Kinda like the relationship of Gatchaman team and Red Impulse squadron.

I have a feeling once all five girls are gathered there will be a battle of the sexes thing with Vic Viper pilots.

edit:

WW2 tidbit.

What is a bomber without it's fighter escort?

[narmi]

Originally Posted by CrazyPerson

Spoiler for Vic Viper and Sonic Drivers (size):

Going to be thinking like the military in the show here...

I think the most important point here is availability. If you have noticed, the Vic Viper seems to be fully mass-produceable, with pilots available as long as you have trained pilots. You don't even have to be an ace pilot, just don't ram the ground or a building and let the shield handle enemy attacks.

If you look at the Sonic Divers, they are much more limited in number. While the point of "mass produced Sonic Divers" such as Elize's diver, I noticed that they are still using little girls (like Elize) to pilot the sonic divers. That suggests that while the Sonic Divers could be widely available, the pilots still need to be specifically chosen from a VERY small number of candidates, and that's before factoring in a massive population drop from nuking all over the planet to stop the WORMs (I expect a couple of cities destroyed from WORM attacks too, and birth rates must be very low with all military personnel from what, 20 to 68 lost?). They probably have a lot of trouble finding the compatible little girls to fly the Sonic Divers. They had to pick Otoha and Karen from the civilian population, and Otoha was from a backwards island town! Desperate for pilots indeed.

The military choosing the Vic Viper can be easily understood this way. Place all your faith in the Vic Vipers, who could even fight to a draw, massively available everywhere, or place faith with the elite Sonic Divers who could win almost every battle, but can NOT be available everywhere. Picking the Sonic Divers as the primary anti-worm units would be like being able to win a battle, but lose the war. Sonic Divers defend one place, WORMs attack another 3 places, and probably annihilates those cities. 99% loss, 1% win. With Vic Viper, it's at least a 100% draw (until the WORMs evolve enough, but we know that the military is short sighteed).

Now, technology is developing, and worms can be defeated as shown by the Sonic Divers, the military may be thinking that in the future something could be outfitted on the Vic Viper that can a eliminate a worm. Heck, with enough Vic Vipers, maybe they're thinking you could shoot a worm down on the ground, and then just repeatedly strafe the ground over and over and over again to make sure no cells remain. That could a win with the Vic's as well.

Oh, last thing on the evolving, there's no indication that all WORMs can evolve into a stronger kind anyway, maybe only A+ levels like the one in Ep14. In Ep9, they attacked a B+ WORM heading towards some oil plant and failed to kill it the first time, and the second time around it showed no signs of having evolved. Add that with the short-sighted military, they'll probably favour the Vic too.

There's my thoughts on the how the military there would see things. That's why they would prize the Vic Viper over the Sonic Divers Remember, availability appeals to the "big picture" people. Protect all the places you need to with the Vic, or win a battle and lose the war with the Divers.

I think I wrote way too much for this.

True, the most of the military higher ups are short sighted... too short sighted. True the availability of the Vic Vipers over whelms the availability of the Sonic Drivers. This is good for the story, if there was squads of Sonic Drivers the conflict against the WORMS wouldn't be as interesting .

Originally Posted by ReddyRedWolf

It be better if the Vic Viper squads were back-ups to Sonic Divers.

Weaken the worm then let the Sky Girls finish them off.

Kinda like the relationship of Gatchaman team and Red Impulse squadron.

I have a feeling once all five girls are gathered there will be a battle of the sexes thing with Vic Viper pilots.

edit:
WW2 tidbit.

What is a bomber without it's fighter escort?

Good "tidbit" , anyway I have a feeling we will get to see a "squad" of Vic Vipers supporting the "Sky Girls" squad.

Now to move on, I just watched episode 17 and I found it pretty good. I can't wait to see the remaining episodes!

Anyway hi CrazyPerson, it's been a long time .

[Solafighter]

Spoiler for episode 17:

The Sonic Diver can fly theirselfs..?
Mh well whatever.

From on the 18th episode, it begins to be more complicated and interesting.

I cant wait for the next and all remaining episodes.

[narmi]

Originally Posted by Solafighter

Spoiler for episode 17:

The Sonic Diver can fly theirselfs..?
Mh well whatever.

From on the 18th episode, it begins to be more complicated and interesting.

I cant wait for the next and all remaining episodes.

My theory which will be explained in the future episodes.

Spoiler for possibe spoiler for episode 17:

When the Sonic Drivers with the girls piloting them got struck by lightning. Their personalities and ways of thinking might have been uploaded into the OS of the Sonic Drivers by accident. As a result an Artificial Intelligence was "born". This phenomena was evident during the earlier episodes when Otoha lost consequence. Her reason why she woke up before crashing into the ocean was because of "Zero", "telling her to wake up" and as a result she woke up. The reason why Zero couldn't "pilot" itself is because Zero didn't know how too. Now that the Sonic Drivers have "learned" how to control themselves, they can fly themselves. Think of it like this, we know how to walk, talk and do many things because we learned it. The Sonic drivers are basically like us except they are machine.

Now if your asking why the girls didn't die from the lightning strike. The reason why they didn't die is because of the nano skin gel. It was explained in the earilier episodes that the nano skin gel would help protect them. Also they weren't in contact with the ground. If learned physics, the reason why you get an electric shock is because of the electric current discharging from your body by finding a way to the ground. Anyway I'm getting a little bit off topic.

Complicated? I hope not hahaha .