The Girl Who Leapt Through Space
The Girl Who Leapt Through Space is a Japanese anime television series, created and produced by Sunrise. Based on the original concept by the Sunrise animation staff, the series is directed by Masakazu Obara and written by Jukki Hanada, overseeing a team of animators noted for their previous work on My-HiME and My-Otome.
The anime began airing in Japan on the TV Tokyo television network on January 5, 2009. The series is set in the far future where humans now live in space colonies orbiting far from Earth. A manga adaptation, Sora Kake Girl R, began serialization in the March 2009 issue of Ichijinsha's Comic Rex, and another manga, Sora Kake Girl D, began serialization in the April 2009 issue of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Daioh. A light novel adaptation began serialization in Ichijinsha's Chara Mel in December 2008, and an Internet radio show has also been created.
Plot
In the year 311 of the orbital calendar, humanity has migrated to countless colony clusters in space. Akiha Shishido encounters a malevolent artificial intelligence, Leopard, who has been installed on a colony. She is joined by Inter-Colony-Police officer Itsuki Kannagi, taciturn young girl Honoka Kawai, and a robot-potato, Imoko "Imo-chan" Shishido.Characters
Main characters
;Akiha Shishido;Itsuki Kannagi
;Honoka Kawai
;Leopard
Shishido family
;Imoko Shishido;Kazane Shishido
;Takane Shishido
;Nami Shishido
;Sakura Shishido
Intercolony Police (ICP)
;Soldier Ul;Nina Stratoski
;Bougainvillea
;Mintao
;Erika
;Lily
Surre Academy
;Julio Surre;Neneko Okura
;Elle Surre
;Emilio Surre
;Shigure Shinguji
;Byakuya Subaru
;Akira Mikagami
;Yurii Sakharov
;Tsutsuji Baba
;Mitchan and Satchan
Nervalists
;Nerval;Benkei
;Xanthippe
;Aleida
Others
;Kagura ShishidoTerminology
;B.O.A.R Ship: Beyond Orbit Azonal Runabout;ICP: Inter Colony Police
;QET: Quantum Engineering Technology
;Q-TECTOR: Quantum Transducing Environment Crosslink Terrain Operational Reinforcer
;QT: Quantum Telekinesis
;QT-ARMS: Quantum Technology Advanced Reinforced Maneuvering Shroud
Development and production
The anime series, produced by Sunrise and Bandai Visual, began airing in Japan on the TV Tokyo television network on January 5, 2009. The animation character designs and animation for the series is overseen by Yōsuke Kabashima, who converted the original character designs by Kazuyuki Yoshizumi, whereas the mecha designs are supervised by Kazutaka Miyatake, Jun'ichi Akutsu and Noriyuki Jinguji. The music for the series is composed by Ken'ichi Sudō, Tomoki Kikuya, and the JAM Project, with two pieces of theme music being used for the episodes; one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Rara Eve Shinseiki", performed by Ali Project, and the ending theme is "Sora wa Shōjo no Tomodachi sa by Mako, Aya Endō, and Yui Makino. The opening theme's single was released on January 21, 2009, by Lantis and Geneon. The ending theme's single was released on February 4, 2009, by Lantis and King Records. The anime was licensed by Bandai Entertainment. At AmeCon 2010, European anime distributor Beez Entertainment announced that they had the distribution rights to the series, but when they closed, it became their last release. Following the 2012 closure of Bandai Entertainment, Sunrise announced at Otakon 2013, that Sentai Filmworks had rescued The Girl Who Leapt Through Space, along with a handful of other former Bandai Entertainment titles.The first volume of the series' original soundtrack was released on March 25, 2009, also by Lantis and King Records. A character song single featuring songs sung by Mako was released on February 25, 2009. Two more character song singles sung by Aya Endō and Yui Makino was released on March 11, 2009.