Girly Air Force
Girly Air Force is a Japanese light novel series written by Kōji Natsumi and illustrated by Asagi Tōsaka. A manga adaptation by Takahiro Seguchi launched in Monthly Shōnen Ace in October 2018, and an anime television series adaptation by Satelight aired from January to March 2019.
Plot
Earth has come under attack by the Xi, a mysterious "armed group" using highly advanced weapon systems far superior to any existing human-developed military technology. A young Chinese-Japanese teenager named Kei Narutani and his Chinese friend Minghua, both living in Shanghai, are forced to evacuate to Japan when the city is attacked by the Xi. During their escape by sea, several Xi fighters begin sinking the evacuation fleet when Kei suddenly witnesses the Xi being repelled by a strange fighter plane. When the plane subsequently crashes, Kei rushes to aid the pilot, but is surprised to find a pretty girl at the controls.
After arriving in Japan, Kei begins investigating the origins of the strange plane, and before long he is captured by Japanese secret service agents. He learns from them that it was a Swedish fighter retrofitted with special technology developed by the JASDF. In order to combat the Xi, their technology—HiMAT and EPCM —was reverse-engineered and applied to existing fighter models, codenamed "Daughters"; in order to function properly, the Daughters require autonomous interface units called "Anima", cyborg girls who are grown around salvaged Xi parts. The girl Kei encountered, named Gripen, is one such Anima unit who formed an emotional attachment to him when he came to her aid. When her supervising developer notices that effect, he invites Kei into the Anima project and act as Gripen's partner in order to boost her flight performance and prevent her from being scrapped.
Characters
;Kei Narutani
;Saab JAS 39 Gripen
;McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
;McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
;Mitsubishi F-2
;Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
;Minghua Song
;Haruka Yashirodōri
;William Shankle
;Funato
Media
Light novels
Kōji Natsumi published the first light novel, with illustrations by Asagi Tōsaka, under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint in 2014.
Manga
A manga adaptation with art by Takahiro Seguchi began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace magazine on October 26, 2018.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation by Satelight was announced on June 1, 2018. The series is directed by Katsumi Ono and written by Shingo Nagai, with character designs by Tōru Imanishi. I've Sound composed the series' music. The series aired from January 10 to March 28, 2019, on AT-X, before airing on Tokyo MX, BS11, Sun TV, and AbemaTV, and ran for 12 episodes. Run Girls, Run! performs the series' opening theme song, "Break the Blue!!". The ending theme song is "Colorful Wing", performed by Yuuka Morishima, Hitomi Ōwada, and Shiori Izawa. Crunchyroll simulcast the series worldwide, excluding in Asia. Discotek Media licensed the series and released it on home video in December 2021.
Reception
Previews
Anime News Network had four editors review the first episode of the anime: Paul Jensen was ambivalent towards the premiere, criticizing the "opening action scene" for being "long on spectacle and short on research" but praised the script for its "mostly-competent character writing" and "interesting bits and pieces" to its overall premise. Theron Martin called it "a new entry in a packed genre, but the first episode offers just enough unique hooks and production value that the series might have a chance to distinguish itself." Nick Creamer felt the premiere had a "pretty middle-of-the-road production" with its inconsistent character animation and indistinguishable character designs, but praised the script for putting thought into its "worldbuilding and characterization" to flesh out a "coherent and sympathetic" story, saying "while this show seems to be setting up a narrative template you've likely seen before, that narrative is executed with enough thoughtfulness that I'm happy to give this one a recommendation." The fourth reviewer, Rebecca Silverman, wrote: "I couldn't guess yet how typical of the genre it will be, but if that's a genre you enjoy, it may be worth giving this a second episode to see how it irons out its other issues and gets the rest of the plot going."
Series
Stig Høgset, writing for THEM Anime Reviews, commended the series for its "oddly realistic approach to the topic of maturity", its bland cast being used relatively well and withholding "definite answers" to questions the viewers can ponder on, but was critical of the animation slipping during the dull slice-of-life moments, a "nonsensical last arc" coming across as "too fillerish" and an inconclusive ending to the overall plot, concluding that: "It's OK. It's got some good parts and some bad parts, and it will probably entertain you if or when it's not making you bored."