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4[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SkyGirls9_9436.jpg]]
5
6In the latter half of the 21st century, Earth is threatened by creatures called [=WORMS=], which are huge artificial life forms resembling the first thing they see--usually sea organisms. After a devastating war they seem to have been defeated, only to suddenly appear again.
7
8To fight them, a special unit of MiniMecha has been devised: the Sonic Divers. Curiously, these can only be piloted by young females. The first unit consists of three teenaged girls, one of whom is Otoha Sakurano, an avid kendo practitioner. The story focuses primarily on her plight, although the other girls get plenty of attention as well. In the TV series, the team gets expanded by one more [[ButNotTooForeign girl of German origin]].
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10The series started out with a {{Fanservice}}-laden episode, produced by Konami and released as an {{OVA}}. It later got adapted into a two-season series in which the service got somewhat toned down, although the girls still have to wear extremely skin-tight uniforms to make them "communicate" with their mecha. Despite the obvious appeal to adolescent males, the series still manages to have an engaging plot and a fair amount of character development.
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12For a show with a similar concept that began with an OVA and was later turned into an anime, see ''Anime/StrikeWitches''. Both shows share the same character designer, Humikane Shimada, which may further explain their similarities. For another show and toyline that inherited Shimada's design style, there is Toys/{{Busou|Shinki}} [[Anime/BusouShinki Shinki]] - and yes, there were Sky Girls action figures made with the Busou Shinki [=MMS2=] body-type.
13
14----
15!!The TV series contains examples of:
16
17* TenMinuteRetirement: [[spoiler:Otoha]], although it takes much more than just 10 minutes for her to completely recover. To be fair, TheReveal was [[BreakTheCutie a little cruel]].
18* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's kind of easy to understand after such a war.
19* AcePilot: Eika. She soundly defeated TWO [[CoolPlane Vic Vipers]] [[RockBeatsLaser using an old model aircraft]]. The reason? "You two relied on it too much and let your skills down." Keep in mind that the people she fought weren't random strangers, but members of a friendly rival squad. ''Elite'' rival squad.
20%%* AccidentalPervert: The entire cast, at the same time.
21%%* AchillesInHisTent: Elise, after she joins the team and angsts a bunch.
22%%* ACupAngst: Otoha. Don't point it out.
23* AfterTheEnd: The backstory has it that most of humanity has barely survived a war with a colony of rogue nanomachines called [=WORMs=], which required the united earth forces to NukeEm. This caused the sea levels to rise[[hottip:*:Somehow, the Antarctic ice cap got melted.]] and most settlements are trying to rebuild.
24* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler:The story behind the [=WORMS=].]]
25* AnAssKickingChristmas
26* AnimeAccentAbsence: Elise's Japanese is impeccable. Explained that she is a TeenGenius who is TooCleverByHalf.
27* AppliedPhlebotinum: Plenty of examples, but especially the nanoskin gel and Delta Lock / Quadra Formation.
28* ArtisticAge: Frequently criticized for portraying sixteen-year-old characters with...well, just see OlderThanTheyLook below.
29* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Look closely at the maps shown with the adjusted coastlines. Somehow the sea level rose in such a way that it submerged the Andes while sparing most of the Amazon Basin, and flooded most of the central United States while leaving all of Florida above water. Check out [[http://merkel.zoneo.net/Topo/Applet/ this page]] for a couple of neat applets showing what the map would really look like.
30* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Karen. In and out of combat; her cockpit display is set to provide her a wealth of information so huge that a normal person would only perceive "noise", and she's able to both memorize the enemy's weapons firing patterns so accurately that can intercept them firing over the shoulder ''without looking'', and [[spoiler: calculate Nanae's breast size (that she's hiding behind documents)]] just upon visible measurements, human averages, angles and proportions.
31* BigDamnHeroes: Try telling to the mother, daughter and kitten they rescue from a landslide in the nick of time in their first sortie that they aren't that. Half-lampshaded, half-discussed, as TV broadcasts the whole rescue aftermath and they get to be FamedInStory as BigDamnHeroes.
32* BarelyThereSwimwear: From Otoha's clothing of choice in the mentioned OVA to the pilot suits to... just about anything else the girls wear on and off duty. Karen is visibly distressed about the revealing clothes.
33* BlandNameProduct: Camon cameras, among other things.
34** Not a bland name product per se but apparently in the future Apple and Microsoft are working together. A blink and miss computer screen has Mac toolbars and Windows folder designs. So it's "Maplesoft"?
35* BookEnds: For... basically everyone.
36** For Eika, who is introduced by being defeated by a surprise move from another test pilot in a vastly superior machine. In episode 26, she puts that same move in an ''inferior'' plane against ''two'' other ''superior'' planes and teaches their pilots not to depend too much of the machine's performance.
37** For Karen, whose introduction is she being so timid around males (even for everyday situations), that she's ''unable'' to talk wih two classmates [[TeenGenius she's helping with a report]], needing her roommate to act as intermediary. In episode 26, she's shown confidently talking with those very classmates about their work, much to her roommate's surprise.
38** For Togo, whose introduction is him meeting Eika near her plane, snarking at her age with a fishing rod over his shoulder before informing her of his rank (Eika is not amused). In episode 26, he does ''exactly the same''. ([[CharacterDevelopment This time, Eika just snarks back]]).
39** For the Sonic Divers team, whose first mission was meant to be an airshow which a natural disaster turns into a rescue operation, and whose very last sortie is to put a ''kickass'' airshow for [[PassingTheTorch their replacements]], a dedicated ''rescue unit'' of brand new Sonic Divers. Slightly PlayedWith, as the first book end happens several episodes into the series, well after the Divers are introducted.
40** For Takumi, whose introduction is him taking photos of Karen's brother's buildings. In episode 26, he's again doing the same.
41* TheBrigadier: Rear Admiral Shima. He can never be relaxed around the antics of "those annoying kids". It is revealed later that he is anxious because he had seen so many of his men die during the first WORM War.
42* ButNotTooForeign: Elise. Also later Aisha, she's probably Indian Muslim (not all Indian Muslims migrated to Pakistan), and it's traditional Punjabi clothing she's wearing, not a cheongsam.
43* TheCameo: As seen above, the cast has to compete against the [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Vic Viper]] in an air show.
44* CharacterDevelopment: Plenty of it for most characters. {{Inverted}} with Togo: he already [[HiddenDepths had his own development off-screen]], he's ''exactly'' as he wants to be, and is instead working to change everyone else (including the ''whole world'') to develop the same way.
45* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Due to the obvious fact that on OVA has only 30 minutes, the three heroines is depicted in a very stereotypical way, sometimes at odds with how the series portrayed them. While Otoha's character largely stays the same, Karen's trait as a Teen Genius is more accentuated by her spouting off [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness exact minutes and percentages]], while Eika comes off as a little narcissist by taking sunbathing {{serious|Business}}ly. Other subtler traits however, are used as basis to build their characters in the series, such as Karen's shyness with boys, Eika's seriousness as the only military girl, Otoha's chemistry with Ryohei, Ryohei's love of motorbikes (alluded in the ending theme), Takumi as the TeamChef, etc.
46* ChekhovsGunman: That little ghost-boy on the hilltop in the first episode, and in the Oppama base, seems to look a lot like a certain someone's missing brother...
47* ChekhovsSkill: Otoha is a great fisher(wo)man. This enables her to solve the hunger woes of the crew of Kouryuu. Also, she is apparently a survivalist; when the team gets stranded in an island, Otoha knows exactly which fruits are edible and the not-so-edible ones.
48-->'''Eika''': What about this fruit...?\
49'''Otoha''': If you serve that, you'll send us all straight to heaven... in a bad way.\
50'''Eika''': *pales*
51* ChildSoldiers: Justified by 90% of the male population between 20 and 30 being dead due to the first war and ensuing holocaust.
52* ContinuityNod: [=OVA=] and series are slightly alternate continuities. Both start, however, with a shot (the [=OVA=]'s, ''considerably'' more [[FanService Fan Service-y]]) of Otoha swimming under a boat - even with the same music playing on the radio.
53** The one episode delay between Kouryuu sailing forth and Elize's Diver being operational is another nod to the [=OVA=], depicting a three-girls team on board.
54* CollapsingLair
55* CoolShip: Kouryuu. Also the carrier that later arrives carrying the Vic Vipers.
56* CoolOldGuy: Nasty brigadiers aside, you have the maintenance chief, the Admiral, the chef, etc.
57* CuteLittleFangs: Elise.
58* CreatureHunterOrganization: The Sky Girls, with their nanocells suit for protection and Sonic Divers for offense they're the ones to call for fighting [=WORMS=].
59* {{Deconstruction}}: In a series like this, it ''should'' be unlikely. From the girls being OlderThanTheyLook (low resources society means stunted growth) to Otoha's reaction of finding out about the fate of her brother to Karen's reaction to the clothes they wear on duty, this story has some fairly realistic and dark tones.
60* DepopulationBomb
61* {{Determinator}}: Otoha
62* DisappearsIntoLight: [[spoiler:Yuuki. Twice, actually]].
63* DistantFinale
64* DoomedHometown: [[spoiler: Poor Elise has to be evacuated from West Germany base and had to witness it being bombed to kingdom come before her very eyes.]]
65* DudeWheresMyRespect: Played with; the whole series is the tale of how the trope is first played painfully straight (as the HQ treats the Sky Girls and the Sonic Divers with derision as "toys"); then downplayed when they become FamedInStory, with HQ deciding to treat them as a mere [[PropagandaHero decoy]] of their favored project (the [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Vic Viper]]); and ''finally'' averted when [[EarnYourHappyEnding their own actions]] earn them [[HundredPercentHeroismRating the respect of their peers, the recognition of the HQ, and the admiration of the public]].
66* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:Yukki, after being converted into a human for one last time.]]
67* EleventhHourRanger: Aisha.
68* EmotionlessGirl: Also Aisha.
69* EnergyWeapon
70* EnfanteTerrible: [[spoiler:Yukki, who's resurrected by the [=WORMS=] with the power to vaporize nanoskins and pilot his own Sonic Driver.]]
71* {{Expy}}: Possible instance. The bratty German girl who joins partway into the series is a teen genius, an arrogant and hot-headed person on proving her skill, and has a rather traumatic past. Combined with the synch ratios, hairclips, inhuman enemy monsters with unknown motives, and post-apocalyptic setting, some fans see ''Evangelion'' in the series and Asuka in Elise. Thankfully, though, Elise learns to lose the arrogance before anything too bad happens to her, and this series is not the DysfunctionJunction that ''Evangelion'' is.
72* EvilCounterpart: [[spoiler:The penultimate episode or final battle with the [=WORMS=] has them develop their own Sonic Driver with Otoha's long-lost brother as its pilot.]]
73* {{Fanservice}}: More so in the OVA than the TV series version, though the Motion Slits don't leave a whole lot to the imagination.
74* FantasyForbiddingFather: Eika's father opposed her becoming a pilot. Justified in that, were it not for the PlotArmor, she could very easily have been killed.
75* FashionableAsymmetry: In episodes 4 and 16, Otoha wears [[http://fabien.li/tvtropes/sky_girls.jpg one knee high under her right sock]].
76* FighterLaunchingSequence: "Sonic Diver Team, launch!"
77* FunWithAcronyms: [=WORMs=] are an abbreviation of "Weapons Of Raid Machines", [[GratuitousEnglish for all the sense it made...]]
78* {{Gendercide}}: 90% of the male population of military age was killed off in the initial war.
79* GenkiGirl: Otoha is always enthusiastic. [[spoiler:When her morale finally hits rock bottom at the end of the season, it takes a very serious effort to bring her up again]].
80* GirlfriendInCanada: Eika claims to have a boyfriend. She refuses to give details, to Elise's dismay.
81-->'''Otoha''': What kind of guy is he?\
82'''Eika''': *[[BlatantLies ahem]]* [[GratuitousEnglish No comment.]]
83* GratuitousEnglish: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IADVWJ8K-w opening theme]] [[http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/skygirlstv/virginshigh.htm lyrics]]. However, it's a MELL song, so would you expect anything else from her?
84* HairAntennae: Elise, though she has three rather than the more common two.
85* HeroicBSOD: Otoha, after TheReveal.
86* HeroOfAnotherStory:
87** Elise's prized team photo of the [[spoiler: doomed]] personnel of the [[spoiler: destroyed]] West Europe base shows a nice, varied group, with likely candidates for all the niche roles of the genre, al of whom seem to love and care for her, and makes a very good job of letting the viewer imagine the adventures Elise might have had with them [[spoiler: before they were all killed in a Worm attack that left no survivors.]]
88** The 12 pilots of the new Sonic Diver unit show a varied group of girls with variued attires and personalities, that [[SequelHook are bound to become]] an elite rescue unit of their own.
89* HotSpringsEpisode
90* HumongousMecha
91* HypocriticalHumour: Otoha notices Elise's blonde hair, immediately asking if she is a foreigner. This despite the fact that Otoha's own hair is ''bright orange''.
92* ImprobablyFemaleCast: The entire Sonic Diver team is female. The rest of the crew and the Vic Viper squadron are much more mixed however.
93* IneffectualLoner: Elise has ''zero'' concept of teamwork. It takes a good dose of several episodes and character development to mold her.
94* {{Kimodameshi}}
95* LatexSpaceSuit: The Motion Slits worn by the Sonic Diver pilots. The suit worn by the pilot of the Vic Viper is also skintight and somewhat accentuates his HeroicBuild.
96* LittleBitBeastly: Strangely enough, the Motion Slits include hair decorations that vaguely resemble animal ears and has a cable extension connecting their spine to the Sonic Divers resembling tails. This become even more pronounced at the second generation Rescue Sky Girls, whose hair decs are even more varied. Seems Fumikane decided to cut the middleman and made everyone in ''Anime/StrikeWitches'' magically sprout animal ears and tails without any other explanation other than [[AWizardDidIt their magic powers did it...]]
97* LuminescentBlush: Virtually the entire cast exhibits this given the proper situation.
98* MeaningfulName: The "Rei" in Reijin means "Zero", which is why Otoha called it that. Also an allusion to the famous WWII Zero fighter.
99** Chief mechanic Oto Seibi is this. "Seibi" is the homophone to a Japanese word meaning "maintenance".
100* TheMedic: Aki Yuko, introduced when they move from Oppama to Kouryuu.
101* MiniMecha: The Sonic Divers kinda [[{{Pun}} straddle]] the line between PowerArmor and MiniMecha. They're not much bigger than the girls, and the limbs respond as extensions of the pilots' limbs. But it's hard to call it armor, since the pilots are ''completely'' exposed at the front in the interest of {{Fanservice}}.
102** Incidentally, the in-universe documents refer to it as "Powered Exoskeleton".
103* MissionControl: Takumi Hayami and Nanae Fujieda.
104* MundaneUtility: Combined with a bit of ChekhovsSkill. When the ship's supply warehouse is damaged, forcing the crew to starve, Otoha uses her genius fishing skills to turn the Sonic Divers into fishing machines. No, they don't fish using a rod, they use ''nets attached to torpedos''.
105* MoodWhiplash: As a general rule, expect a dark reveal of some sort to any "light" episodes. For example, the same episode that has Otoha running around the base to find the owner of a large bra is also the episode where Elise is introduced [[spoiler:by having her hastily evacuated from the destroyed West Europe base]]. Also, the real reason why Sky Girls are formed, during a HotSpringsEpisode.
106** The last episode, showing how every character seems to have achieved in the end what they wanted, ''[[spoiler:averts]]'' this trope particularly hard, after 25 episodes of using it more or less straight, when [[spoiler:nothing ruins the mood]].
107* MrFixit: Tachibana Ryohei. He becomes very passionate about maintaining Otoha's Sonic Diver, which she affectionately call "Zero". His reason? He wants to make sure Otoha can fly, at any costs. Mildly hinted to be Otoha's LoveInterest. Also Oto Seibi, maintenance chief who is a CoolOldGuy.
108* OlderThanTheyLook: Official ages of the pilots: Elise is 15, Karen and Otoha are 16, and Eika is 17. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20120227234813/http://www.jcstaff.co.jp/sho-sai/skytv-shokai/skytv-index.htm You decide.]]
109** And then there are twin mechanics Ranko and Haruko Mikagami, who are supposedly ''older'' than Ryohei?
110* {{Omake}}: "Fishing Maniac Eika: Sky Girls Dynamite Fishing".
111* PhenotypeStereotype: Elise, being German, has blond hair and blue eyes. Aisha, being Indian, is dark-skinned and has a mark that resembles a Tilak.
112* PhlebotinumOverload: Aisha can't pilot for too long, since her 118% synchronization rate is [[ExplosiveOverclocking incredibly taxing.]] Just a few minutes is enough to put her in a coma.
113* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Admiral Kadowaki from Kouryuu. Heck, he even authorized the fishing expedition. At first, he tries to give them a reason to sortie in grounds of "training", but later...
114--> '''Admiral''': *stomach growls* ...ahem. Sometimes, we must put our principles aside.
115* RedOniBlueOni: Played very straight with Ranko and Haruko. They provide the trope image.
116* RetiredBadass: Several. [[spoiler:Soya Togo]] is one; he was an AcePilot retiring due to a nasty injury and instead becomes [[spoiler:CoolTeacher to the girls.]] Also, the Koryu's captain and first offficer (Admiral Kadowaki and Rear Admiral Shima), ''very'' high-ranking and ''very'' experienced Fleet officers coming out of retirement for the task.
117* TheReveal: The origin of the [=WORMS=]. [[spoiler:Also why Otoha's brother went missing: He has been "synchronized" with the [=WORMS=], giving them a close equivalent of a leader.]]
118* RousingSpeech: Aisha gives one to Otoha.
119---> '''Aisha''': Whatever happens, always put your trust in me, your TrueCompanions, and [[ICallItVera Zero]]. If you do that, you can fly.
120* SchizoTech: it seems there are technologies still reliant on oil.
121* ShoutOut:
122** Obviously, [[spoiler:the appearance of [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Vic Vipers]]]]. This IS an anime made by Konami after all.
123** [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} That core totally got destroyed at the end of the show.]]
124* SignatureHeadgear: Somehow, the Motion Slit technology requires the pilots to wear some sort of a hair dec. Most of them look vaguely resembling a mechanical version of droopy dog ears, while Elise's stand upright like a German Shepherd's.
125* SixthRanger: Fourth for Elise, fifth for Aisha (even if she doesn't technically fight).
126* SpoilerOpening: The opening spoils the appearance of Elise quite a while before she even shows up and only several episodes after that she actually joins the cast proper; and it basically spoils the entire rest of the cast too. It also shows a girl whose face is obscured by a helmet; it's actually Aisha who joins very late and otherwise only showed up once to fight against Eika in a test battle.
127* TheSquad: The entire anime revolves around how a Squad is formed, how it fights, and how it finally ends.
128* {{Stripperiffic}}: The normally shy Karen cannot bear to go outside the changing room with her Motion Slit on, to which Eika flatly told her that she can wear something else over it (which became the norm; when the pilots are on standby, they wear a jacket over their Motion Slits).
129* SuperPrototype: Subverted: Although Reijin, Fuujin, and Raijin are prototypes, the mass-produced Bachstelze performs just as well. The catch? [[spoiler: The production plant got bombed to kingdom come just after one model is built]].
130* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Especially during [[spoiler:the final assault on the Nest]].
131* TeamChef: Takumi Hayami, when he's not being the MissionControl - however, he's the ''assistant'' chef. (The head chef is Gen, who later [[spoiler: adopts Elise after the war]].)
132* ThemeMusicPowerUp: when the Sky Girls launch on their final mission from Kouryuu, the ''second verse'' of the opening theme plays.
133* TechnoBabble: Quite numerous, but legible. This is the reason why the girls have to go around in a latex swimsuit with a 20-something minute time limit in every battle.
134** Speaking of swimsuits, Karen notes how Motion Slits are even thinner than swimsuits.
135* TeenGenius: Karen Sonomiya and Elise von Dietrich. The former is a top authority concerning nanomachine physics; while Elise is at the very least a gifted polyglot.
136* ThirdPersonPerson: Elise.
137* ThongOfShielding: Pretty much an example of their Motion Slits, though this isn't present with Elise, who is of course the youngest of the group.
138* TooPowerfulToLive: [[spoiler:Yukki and his Sonic Driver, which could overpower any driver in a one-on-one fight, even against close-quarters ones like Reijin.]]
139* TransformingMecha: The Sonic Divers can shift from G Mode (flight mode) and A mode (walker mode).
140* TraumaInducedAmnesia: A side effect of piloting the Sonic Diver for Aisha.
141* TrueCompanions: See Rousing Speech entry.
142* {{Tsundere}}:
143** Eika is a textbook type A.
144** Otoha is a mild type B towards Ryohei.
145* TwiceShy: [[spoiler:Karen and Takumi. Nanae and Hiroharu]].
146* WrenchWench: Two of them, [[RedOniBlueOni Ranko and Haruko]] Mikagami.
147* YoungerThanTheyLook: Is it possible for a single series to invoke both this and OlderThanTheyLook? Yes. But only at the end, and due to a strange and spoileriffic reason.
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