Literature / Girly Air Force

From left to right: Gripen, Eagle, and Phantom.

Kei Narutani's life is forever changed when a mysterious invading force called the Zai attacks Japan with technologically superior aircraft. Humanity has learned to fight back using their own advanced aircraft called "Daughters", piloted by "Anima", special genetically-engineered pilots that look and act like teenage girls. When trying to escape a Zai attack with his friend Minghua Song, Kei finds a Daughter who crashed into the sea. He rushes towards the Daughter and tries to save the pilot, who suddenly kisses him.

Much later, Kei contemplates joining the Japanese military to defeat the Zai, which displeases Minghua greatly because she believes Kei will get killed. Kei attempts to infiltrate a military base that houses the same Daughter that saved him from the Zai, and Minghua attempts to stop him, but they are later captured by the facility's soldiers. They tell Kei that he was able to get the Daughter to fly properly and they offer him a chance to help them to fight the Zai. To that end, they introduce him to the pilot he tried to save, a girl named "Gripen".

Girly Air Force is a light novel series written by Kōji Natsumi and illustrated by Asagi Tōsaka. It has been published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint since September 2014 and, as of 2018, has spawned nine volumes. An Animated Adaptation by Satelight premiered on January 2019. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime, which can be viewed here for audiences worldwide excluding Asia.

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Girly Air Force contains examples of:

• Ace Pilot: The Anima were designed to be superior to human pilots, although Kei proves to be an exception.
• Action Prologue: The story opens with the Zai attacking several tanker ships carrying supplies and refugees. Though there are military ships and fighter jets present, neither of them are able to do anything to stop the Zai, which are much faster, more maneuverable, and have much better technology on them. Only when a Daughter shows up do the Zai finally meet their match.
• Amazon Brigade: All of the Anima manifest as cute girls. After all, it's in the title.
• And I Must Scream: In Episode 12, it's revealed that Rhino was programmed with far more safeguards than the Japanese Anima were, to the point that the only personality trait she was allowed to have was an outwardly friendly one. Thus, when the Zai invaded her mind, she had no individual sense of self to cling to and fight back, unlike Gripen.
• Anger Born of Worry: Minghua initially mocks Kei's desire to join the military as immature and reckless, but when she sees he's serious about it, she starts crying and says she's afraid she'll be left alone.
• Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Everyone perceives Viper Zero as someone they're thinking strongly about, even if they try to view her through video or photographs. To Kei, she looks like Minghua.
• Artificial Human: The Anima.
• Asshole Victim: The US military treated Rhino as nothing more than an asset and conditioned her to be subservient to them. Not only that, they're willing to deprive Japan of their Anima so that they won't have to deal with future rivals. They get what's coming to them when the Japanese Anima survive in the face of their plans and Rhino is the one that gets killed, leaving them without any means to defend their country when the Zai eventually make their move on American soil.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Gripen's training mission in episode 3 is interrupted when a Zai fighter shows up, which is startling because they're supposed to be nowhere near the front lines. She tries to engage it, but loses consciousness before reaching it. Her autopilot system attempts to flee the area, but the Zai quickly catches up, and any reinforcements aren't expected earlier than an hour from then. Eagle then appears out of nowhere and takes the Zai out, surprising everyone there.
  • Viper Zero provides a Gunship Rescue for Kei, Gripen, and Phantom in episode 8 while they attempt to wipe out the Zai guarding the new forward base. She destroys the anti-aircraft batteries on the island, which allows Phantom time to coordinate the missiles fired from their allies to destroy the base.
  • All of the Japanese Anima show up to save Gripen and Kei from a massive Zai fleet at the end, as Gripen already expended all her ammunition destroying the Zai-corrupted Rhino.
• Bittersweet Ending: The anime adaptation ends with Kei and Gripen managing to escape from the Zai, but not before Rhino betrays them and they are forced to destroy her. The operation to retake Shanghai is a total failure, and humanity still has yet to know what the Zai and their true objectives are. However, Kei and Gripen's bond has strengthened, and they reunite with their friends to fight another day.
• Broken Ace: Although the Anima are humanity's only real hope against the Zai, they also come with their own baggage. Gripen, for whatever reason, is unable to function for more than a few hours without Kei. Eagle is extremely skilled at combat, but has the intelligence and mentality of a child. Phantom (the oldest of them) was forced to relive so many war campaign scenarios that she is indifferent to the death of individual humans over her own, because her death would lead to the extinction of mankind. Viper Zero is under a permanent Perception Filter, which only manifests as the last person you were thinking about. And Rhino is friendly and curious, but this personality is the only one she was programmed to exhibit. This backfires when she begins being taken over by the Zai, because unlike Gripen, she had no personal identity to hold on to.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • Minghua's reaction when she first encounters Eagle, who hides from her handlers under the table she and Kei are sitting at in a restaurant. Eagle also seems uncomfortably close to Kei even though he says he's only met her twice so far.
  • Gripen is understandably protective about keeping Kei as her partner, especially since without him, she'd be useless.
• Cool Plane: It's a show about fighter jets, after all.
• Cynicism Catalyst: It's implied that before her 100 years' worth of training simulations (some of which ended in crushing defeat), Phantom wasn't always so jaded.
• The Cracker: Phantom can hack into the other Anima's systems to plant false data in their radar and even thermals.
• Cute Mute: Viper Zero, who only seems to communicate via instant messaging.
• Death by Origin Story: Kei's mother is killed when the Cessna she was piloting is shot down by a Zai. Consequently, he's come to hate them.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Phantom warms up to Kei a little more after he and Gripen defeat her in a mock battle, and more importantly, successfully destroy the Zai base without losing any Anima.
• Delicate and Sickly: Downplayed—Gripen can perform as expected when awake, but tends to pass out after a few hours (including in the middle of exercises and missions) unless she's with Kei.
• Description Cut: In Episode 9, when talking to Rhino, Kei respectively refers to Eagle and Phantom as "loud and silly" and "rude and sarcastic". Cut to Eagle and Phantom eating lunch and goofing off.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The ending theme is sung by Gripen, Eagle and Phantom's voice actresses.
• Eagleland: The US military is depicted as overly aggressive and obsessed with control, to the point that they are willing to feign a joint military operation with the JSDF with the hidden purpose of sacrificing Japan's Anima because their lone successful Anima puts them at a military disadvantage against Japan and Russia.
• Eldritch Abomination: Technically, the Zai are one, only in the form of crystals and unnatural chiming instead of flesh and madness-inducing noises.
• Evolving Credits: In the first two episodes, Gripen is seen looking out a window in one scene. Episode 3's ending swaps her out for Eagle.
• Face–Heel Turn: Rhino in the final episode.
• Foreshadowing: We're told that the Americans have been unsuccessful creating Anima or other countermeasures against the Zai because they're unable to see the Zai and especially the Anima as anything more than programs and algorithms, which is why they intend their main weapon against the Zai to be the AI-controlled Brawlers. These easily get hijacked by the Zai in episode 11. In episode 12, this also happens to Rhino, since she was also created with the same flawed programming as the Brawlers.
• Foil:
  • Gripen and Rhino are Anima. Gripen is shy and monotonous, while Rhino is easygoing and friendly.
  • Both have scientists to guide them, but Gripen's acts like a father figure to her while Rhino's treats her as just a weapon.
  • Gripen and Rhino have differing relationships with others. Gripen has made good friends with her fellow Anima, as well as Kei, while Rhino is treated with disdain by the US. It's because of The Power of Friendship that Gripen is saved from the Zai's brainwashing but Rhino isn't.
• Gas Leak Cover-Up: The world's major media outlets report on the Zai attacks as if they're just a terrorist or militant group that somehow possess advanced technology. The cook at the restaurant Kei eats at in episode 2 lampshades how unbelievable that is and comments that it sounds more like an Alien Invasion to him, especially considering that the Zai have leveled all of China and are rapidly expanding their attacks to the Pacific islands.
• Genki Girl: Eagle, who acts and talks as if she's on a sugar high in almost every scene she's in.
• Heroic BSoD: Kei suffers a minor one during episode 3 after learning more about Gripen's origins and learning that the Chinese city he evacuated from was decimated in a Zai attack.
• Heroic Second Wind: Gripen gets one in episode 4 when Kei joins her in the Daughter. Though he passes out from the extreme Gs, she manages to help Eagle defeat the Zai attacking them.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": The Anima are all named after the planes that their respective Daughters are based on.
• Humanoid Abomination: Viper Zero, whose true form is unknown.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • Eagle acts on her emotions and loves to brag, and sometimes she doesn't realize that what she says can upset other people. This is especially evident when she intrudes on Kei while he's out with Minghua. She doesn't know that behaving so familiar with Kei is making Minghua jealous, nor that asking Kei (or both of them) to show her around is interfering with their time together.
  • Kei himself (due to being Oblivious to Love) doesn't understand how rude or insensitive his actions can be toward Minghua, who is obviously in love with him. Five minutes of talking to Viper Zero helped the latter understand how Minghua felt, and she has to tell Kei that Minghua is upset not because she can't go see a movie, but that she can't see the movie with him.
• Jumped at the Call: Kei doesn't hesitate to join the JSDF when he's given the opportunity to sign up and help them fight against the Zai.
• Last Episode Theme Reprise: In the final episode, the opening theme plays when Kei and Gripen fight a rogue Rhino.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The American military tries to rig a joint operation so that it will result in Japan's Anima being killed, negating any possible military advantage Japan could have against the US in the future. Instead, said operation ends with their only Anima being the one that gets destroyed.
• Lensman Arms Race: The Zai boast technology that make their fighter aircraft superior to anything the world's militaries can throw at them. To fight back, the humans started analyzing their enemies and developed their own aircraft tech to match.
• Magic Kiss: When Kei first meets Gripen after her plane crashes near the lifeboat he was on, her first action towards him is to kiss him. Later, the plane's creator notices that Gripen seems to stabilize when he's around.
• Military Moe: Humanity's main line of defense against the Zai invasion is advanced aircraft piloted by Anima, pilots who just happen to all be attractive teenage girls.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kei tries to make up with Minghua at the end of episode 8 after learning that Minghua was acting the way she does because she likes him and doesn't want to lose him. Unfortunately, he immediately screws it up by saying she'd look silly in girly outfits. She gets upset at him again as a result.
• Oblivious to Love: When Viper Zero suggests to Kei that Minghua acts the way she does towards him because she wants to pass her genes with him, he immediately tries to dismiss it, saying that they're more Like Brother and Sister.
• Parental Abandonment: Kei's parents are long gone prior to the story, with his mother being shot down by a Zai craft during an air show, while Minghua was separated from hers during an evacuation. While Kei tries to reassure her that they're probably still alive and will show up on a later refugee ship, it's also likely her parents were killed in a Zai attack.
• Past Experience Nightmare: Kei has one in episode three, reliving the moment where his mother's Cessna was shot down by a Zai fighter while trying to flee from it. The craft then flies down towards him and momentarily turns into Gripen's Daughter plane, since he had just found out she's part Zai.
• Power Glows: When piloting their planes, the Anima's hair and eyes glow.
• The Power of Friendship: Kei and Gripen become a better weapon against the Zai when working together. In Episode 12, their friendship is the only thing that prevents Gripen from being taken over by the Zai like Rhino was.
• Restraining Bolt: An overabundance of these leads to Rhino crossing the Despair Event Horizon.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Gripen may have some difficulties interacting with normal people, but she's an earnest and sweet girl.
• Running Gag: Haruka smoking in the immediate vicinity of No Smoking signs.
• Secret Test: Kei and Minghua are immediately kidnapped by The Men in Black after they linger around outside a military base for too long. He is then interrogated, and the man asking him questions threatens to shoot him for being a spy. However, it ends up being a charade once Gripen's plane lights up behind them and seemingly threatens to attack the man. The man then tells Kei he's a JSDF officer researching technology to help defeat the Zai, and was curious to find out why Gripen seems to be more active whenever he's around.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Anima cockpit and control system is very clearly based on the COFFIN System, what with its mind-based control scheme and glass-less cockpit.
  • The way that the Zai dodge incoming attacks are reminiscent of the physics-defying dodge roll maneuvers that Milosz Sulejmani pulls off in the GAF-1 Varcolac.
  • The FQ-150 Brawler bears more than a passing resemblance to the MQ-90 Quox.
  • The final two episodes have a lot of references to Sentou Yousei Yukikaze, with elements such as the Brawlers being hijacked by the Zai, similar to the JAM hijacking the Faery Air Force's Fand-II drones, and the Zai's aerial carriers looking like miniature Banshee ships. In addition, all the events at the eerily abandoned yet pristine Shanghai Pudong airport are a Whole-Plot Reference to the incident where Rei & Yukikaze are trapped in the JAM copy of Tactical Air Base 14.
• Spell My Name With An S: Crunchyroll's subtitles call the antagonists the "Xi" instead of the "Zai".
• Suppressed Rage:
  • When Kei tells her he's already seen a movie he told her he wanted to see, Minghua becomes extremely angry because she thought he was giving her an idea for a date. They have their first big fight over it, and Minghua is still seething with rage for some time afterward, until Kei tells her about another film they can see together.
  • When Eagle intrudes on a day out with Kei, Minghua becomes increasingly angry both at the other girl's presence and the way she physically clings to Kei.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: Gripen doesn't exactly display how sick she is of Eagle rubbing her superior combat prowess in her face.
  Gripen: I lose in the sky, and on land, too. And then she calls me slow. I can't take that. I'm so mad, I could scream.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Kei gives one of these to Phantom at the end of Episode 6.
• The Tease: Phantom tells Kei in episode 8 that if he ever wants a new partner, she'd be waiting for him. She also suggests she could teach him some new things, which Kei immediately assumes are naughty things.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Both Gripen and Eagle in Episode 5. They develop a rivalry with each other, with Eagle constantly boasting proudly about herself (until her defeat at Phantom's hands in a mock dogfight). Gripen and Eagle also both look down on Phantom until they are both defeated in the mock dogfight. Phantom herself isn't any better either. Over the course of the episode, Kei tries to play peacemaker between them to no avail.
• Tyop on the Cover: Radar screens in the anime identify the Zai as "Boggy" instead of "Bogey".
• Watching Troy Burn: In episode 3, Kei finds out that the Chinese city he had been living with his parents in was essentially burnt to the ground by the Zai.
• Weak, but Skilled: After losing a simulated dogfight to Kei and Gripen, Phantom notes that Kei is a better pilot than Gripen despite not being able to handle as many Gs as the Anima. She recommends that Kei pilots while Gripen handles the weapons and radar.
• Weak-Willed: Rhino was programmed with many limitations on her personality, which means she couldn't develop a sense of self to resist the Zai's brainwashing.
• Wet Blanket Wife: Minghua is against Kei getting involved in the war against the Zai. Understandable, because she doesn't want to lose her only friend (whom she secretly loves) in a Hopeless War. However, this is at odds with the fact that Kei is one of the few humans with the power to actually make a difference.
• Wham Episode: In episode 3, Kei is given a Wham Line by a JSDF pilot, who tells him where Anima such as Gripen originated from. They're made with parts recovered from destroyed Zai aircraft. He also learns that the Zai have destroyed the Chinese city he and Minghua were previously living in.
• World of Silence: The world that the Zai created within occupied China. Rhino finds it to be pleasant, and as she gets taken over more and more by the Zai, she sees the silent world as more desirable than the noisy and strife-filled one that humans live in.
• Yandere: This personality is what manifests in Rhino after she turns. She threatens Kei at gunpoint to prevent him from leaving the Chinese airport, while repeatedly telling him she just wants him to stay with her and Gripen.