(L) Rocket Girls

[zrdb]

Well-it's over-a short but sweet series.

[David Johnston]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I'm especially impressed with the American astronauts command of Japanese. Who knew it was part of their training!
.

I assume the girls are actually speaking english to the astronauts, and thats the reason why half-sister doesn't go. She can't speak English.

[grey_moon]

Originally Posted by David Johnston

I assume the girls are actually speaking english to the astronauts, and thats the reason why half-sister doesn't go. She can't speak English.

What didn't you see little fish tails sticking out of their ears?

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by zrdb

I'm enjoying this little series despite scientific inaccuracies.

Actually, they got a heck of a lot more right than most shows. Most American live-action shows for adults are much less accurate, never mind the animated shows for kids.

I still think the ending was kind of rushed. They need Akane on the mission for her brainpower, and they go to the trouble of having her memorize all the numbers, only to have her pass out before she can recite any of them back. They could have at least had her get part-way through the list, so that maybe Yukari only had to do the last "skip" by the seat of her pants instead of the whole reentry process.

I believe the technique they were using to slow the Mangosteen down is actually called "aerobraking," and it really has been used with unmanned space probes going into orbit around Mars (and possibly Venus, too). I've never heard of the Apollo astronauts using it - although it's funny, when they started talking about the girls re-entering the atmosphere from an altitude of 3000km, the first thing I thought was, "Nobody's come back from that far out since the Moon landings."

In any event, thanks and congrats to the folks at Rakuda for your great work!

[grey_moon]

Spoiler for my reply to BBOvenGuy:

Originally Posted by BBOvenGuy

I believe the technique they were using to slow the Mangosteen down is actually called "aerobraking," and it really has been used with unmanned space probes going into orbit around Mars (and possibly Venus, too). I've never heard of the Apollo astronauts using it - although it's funny, when they started talking about the girls re-entering the atmosphere from an altitude of 3000km, the first thing I thought was, "Nobody's come back from that far out since the Moon landings."

Wiki has it down as skip reentry, and Apollo was capable of one skip, but it doesn't say they actually performed it. It was actually the Soviets who performed a successful skip reentry!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_reentry

Hee hee but didn't you like the reference to radiation exposure at that height

[TougeSil80]

Watched the last ep a few weeks ago, but forgot to discuss it here.

Spoiler for EP.12:

I too feel the ending was rushed, if they made it into 13 eps it would've been perfect. When Akane passed out, I really thought they would burn in the atmosphere. Too bad they didn't give an explanation on how Yukari did the skips without knowing the coordinates. As for the scientific inaccuracies, it doesn't really bother me, I watched a lot of anime that's even more outragouse than this.

[EdZ]

The events of Rocket girls certainly aren't scientifically or technologically impossible, merely highly implausible. Especially the extremely rapid pace of orbiter and rocket construction, lack of testing, and general 'gung ho' attitude to the missions.

[grey_moon]

Spoiler for reply to TougeSil80:

Yukari + Some problem + Stitch = Landing in school pool

They should just forget about the landing procedure as so far Yukari has been able to hit a target the size of a swimming pool in a build up area twice!

I really hope that the lack of scientific accuracies doesn't spoil this fun show for anyone. As it is a really fun show. With just referencing implausible situations from this show, we could go on for ages, but I think its far more entertaining to sit back and let SSA take us along for a really crazy ride.

[SeijiSensei]

My only disappointment with the ending was their failure to tie together some of the threads that seemed important at the outset, especially those concerning Yukari's parents. For instance,

Spoiler:

on her first trip, her father casts the spell that sends the capsule off course. Why? Even at the time his motivations aren't really discussed. We also never get to see the parents meet again. When her mother arrives, Yukari tries to get her to visit her father, but she says she'll do it next time she comes. That time never arrives.

Otherwise a fun ride. No one can expect any show like this to be scientifically accurate, but I'm with BBOvenGuy on this one. The producers seemed pretty committed to at least trying to inject some science into the script. Shows like this one, or one of my favorites, Noein, are essentially fantasies with a layer of science as an attempt at plausibility.

[Slice of Life]

This anime came as a positive surprise to me. I normally don't like this harem-related, fanservice-heavy genre where an all-girl teeenage crew do odd jobs with no explanation at all, or worse, a very contrived one.

However, the first episode convinced me that this show was a bit different. The anime never tried to hide the fact that making an teenager pilot a rocket is an absurd idea. Instead, is was well-integrated into the comedy. The director and the doctor were built up during the first episode in a way that their idea "Hey, why don't we just grab this little girl, and stuff her into out rocket." was just consequent and genuinely funny. They seemed to be well aware that one shouldn't make a minor a rocket pilot. They just didn't care! This is probably the best way to handle the issue without making the audience roll their eyes.

I found Yukari's uncaring father that has been criticized so much funny for similar reasons. "It should be OK to curse the rocket ... I think." Talking about the father

@SeijiSensei

Spoiler:

He obviously cursed the rockets just for the fireworks. It seems he had qualms on Yukari's first mission altough thinking that she was "probably" not on board so the curse didn't work so "well". Or her charm protected her. And I don't have the feeling his ex-wife wanted to see him. What for? It was only Yukari who had this fixation on the man she never had known. And the idea to take him back at gunpoint was of course absolutely silly. Again: what for? Probably even she understood this in the end.

It would have been nice to make him do some magic to help his daughter return safely in the end, though.

The mother didn't seem that much concerned about the question if her daughter lives or dies either.

Spoiler:

As became clear once again in the end when she explained how dying in space is a "nicer alternative" compared to slipping on soap. Pure comedy gold!

Things went worse later when the comedy was replaced more and more by drama though, because this is where the concept falls on its face IMHO. More examples of a thoughtless/uncaring attitude from Yukari's surroundings would have been better.

[Goofus Maximus]

Minor point that irked me, while I let all the other less-than-believeable stuff slide by; why did they show the Shuttle firing it's MAIN engines, which require the external tank, instead of the OMS engines which do the actual orbit adjustments? That part irked me beyond reason...

My favorite supporting charactor for this show? The chemist! You have to wonder what planet she is orbiting at any given moment. It's clear she's not on Planet Earth, even when she's standing right in front of you...

[grey_moon]

Originally Posted by Goofus Maximus

Minor point that irked me, while I let all the other less-than-believeable stuff slide by; why did they show the Shuttle firing it's MAIN engines, which require the external tank, instead of the OMS engines which do the actual orbit adjustments? That part irked me beyond reason...

My favorite supporting charactor for this show? The chemist! You have to wonder what planet she is orbiting at any given moment. It's clear she's not on Planet Earth, even when she's standing right in front of you...

Akane prbly did some A-Team magic and rerouted their fuel supply from the OMS engines to the main engine whilst memorising what she needs to do when she reaches the probe...

The chemist ruled, but I did like the nerds speech on old tech

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

No one can expect any show like this to be scientifically accurate, but I'm with BBOvenGuy on this one. The producers seemed pretty committed to at least trying to inject some science into the script.

The way I like to think of it is that the producers showed respect for the realities of spaceflight, even if they didn't follow those realities to the letter.

[CPOK]

Indeed a few loose ends where left, but it also left it open for a second season or some OVA's.

[grey_moon]

Originally Posted by CPOK

Indeed a few loose ends where left, but it also left it open for a second season or some OVA's.

The whole world realising that male adult astronauts are the thing of the past? Skin tight suits and teenage girls FTW!!!

[GHDpro]

I'm glad I found this series last week, as it was quite fun, especially how Yukari was frequently put in absurd situations and reacted accordingly.

Originally Posted by jtrog

I liked the Taxi Cab science bit info the most.

$799! Lucky!

Now I just don't hope that were Solomon Island Dollars, as I won't be riding that cab then ($799 SBD = $109 USD). If you do similar math btw, the bet amounts (on success or failure of the LS-7 rocket) in the early episodes weren't that spectacular either, and Yukari's Chinese deliveries were about the same price of a happy meal ($39 SBD = $5.33 USD).

[neverlife]

A sweet little series, a lot more realistic than most. I have to agree that the ending seems rushed, but maybe we can hope for something more later.

[tomcurda]

Is there a some place online where one can get an SSA Ballcap? As I do not speak Japanese or read Kanji, I'm clueless as to whethere the RG website has a merchandise section. If it does, I'd be obliged if someone would tell me.

[mdauben]

Now that the whole series is subed and available, I just stated watching it today. The first two episodes were good, and I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

One minor gripe about the otherwise excellent fansub. I really hate it when subbers "invert" Japanese names. Its bad enough when its done in a dub, but at least in the dub you don't hear a character say "Morita Yukari-san" when the sub reads "Yukari Morita-san".

[Goofus Maximus]

Heh. Translating from or to a culture with an inverted name order is problematic for the translators, I guess.