History Literature / GirlyAirForce

* SecretTest: Kei and Minghua are immediately kidnapped by MenInBlack 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.

* HumanoidAbomination: The Anima are {{Artificial Human}}s imbued with [[spoiler:Zai parts]]. Special mention goes to Viper Zero, whose true form is unknown.

* RestrainingBolt: [[spoiler: An overabundance of these lead to Rhino crossing the DespairEventHorizon.]]

* DelicateAndSickly: Gripen, unless she's with Kei.

* BareYourMidriff: Eagle wears a tank top that exposes her midsection.

* DescriptionCut: 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.

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, Kei finds a Daughter who crashed into the sea. He rushes towards the Daughter and tries to save the pilot, who suddenly kisses him.

* HumanoidAbomination: The Anima are human clones imbued with Zai parts. Special mention goes to Viper Zero, whose true form is unknown.

* WhamEpisode: In episode 3, Kei is given a WhamLine by a JSDF pilot, who tells him where Anima such as Gripen originated from. [[spoiler:She's made of parts recovered from destroyed Zai aircraft.]] He also learns that the Zai have destroyed the Chinese city he and Minghua were previously living in.

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", genetically-engineered special pilots that look and act like teenage girls. When trying to escape a Zai attack with his friend Minghua, 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 has decided to join the Japanese military to defeat the Zai, an attack that displeases Minghua greatly because she believes Kei will get killed. Kei attempts to infiltrate a military facility 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 called "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, it has spawned nine volumes. An AnimatedAdaptation by Creator/{{Satelight}} premiered on January 2019. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime, which can be [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/girly-air-force viewed here]] for audiences worldwide excluding Asia.

* AcePilot: The Anima were designed to be superior to human pilots.
* ActionPrologue: The story opens with the Zai attacking several tanker ships carrying supplies and refugees. Though there are military ships and fighter jets, 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.

* AndIMustScream: In Episode 12, it's revealed that [[spoiler: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.]]
* AngerBornOfWorry: Minghua initially mocks Kei's desire to join the military as immature and reckless but when she sees he is serious about it, she starts crying and says she is afraid she will be left alone.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: The US Military treated Rhino as nothing more than an asset and conditioned her to be subservient to them. Not only that, they are willing to deprive Japan of their Anima defenders so that they won't have to deal with future rivals. They got what was coming to them when the Japanese Anima survived against their plans and Rhino is the one that gets killed, leaving them without any means to defend their country when the Zai made their move on American soil.]]

** Gripen's training mission in episode 3 is interrupted when a Zai 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. [[spoiler:Eagle then appears out of nowhere and takes the Zai out, surprising everyone there.]]
** Viper Zero provides a GunshipRescue for Kei, Gripen, and Phantom in episode 8 while they were attempting to wipe out the Zai guarding the newly built 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.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The anime adaptation ends with Kei and Gripen managing to escape from the Zai but Rhino betrays them, siding with the enemy and they have no choice but 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 have strengthened following this and they reunite with their friends to fight another day]].
* BrokenAce: 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 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 PerceptionFilter which can only manifest as [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith the last person you were thinking about]]. [[spoiler: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.]]

** Minghua's reaction when she first encounters Eagle, who hides from her handlers under the table she and Kei were sitting at in a restaurant. Eagle also seems uncomfortably close to Kei even though he says he's only met her twice so far.

* CoolPlane: It's a show about fighter aircraft, after all.

* CuteMute: Viper Zero, who only seems to communicate via text. She seems to understand speech, when Kei talks to her and mistakes her for Minghua wearing a frilly dress.
* DeathByOriginStory: Kei's mother is killed when the Cessna plane she was piloting is shot down by a Zai. Consequently, he's come to hate them.
* DescriptionCut: In Episode 9, when talking to Rhino, Kei refers to Eagle and Phantom as "loud and silly" and "rude and sarcastic" respectively. Cut to Eagle and Phantom eating lunch and goofing off.

* {{Eagleland}}: The US military is depicted as an 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.
* EldritchAbomination: Technically the Zai is one, only with the forms of crystals, aircraft, and chiming noise instead of flesh, madness inducers, and tentacles.
* EvolvingCredits: In the first two episodes, Gripen is seen looking out a window in one scene. Episode 3's ending swaps her out for Eagle, the blonde haired girl.

* {{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 or Anima as anything more than programs and algorithms, and not people, which is why they intend their main weapon against the Zai to be the AI-controlled Brawlers, [[spoiler: which easily get reprogrammed by the Zai in episode 11]]. In episode 12, this also happens to [[spoiler:Rhino, since she was also created with the same flawed programming as the Brawlers]].

** Gripen and Rhino are Anima. Gripen is shy and monotonous while Rhino is easy going and friendly.
** Both have scientists to guide them but Gripen's acts like a father figure to her while Rhino's treat her as a weapon.
** Gripen and Rhino have differing relationships with others. [[spoiler: 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 PowerOfFriendship that Gripen is saved from the Zai's brainwashing but Rhino isn't.]]
* GasLeakCoverup: The world's major media report on the Zai attacks as if they are 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, commenting that it sounds more like an AlienInvasion to him, especially considering that the Zai have leveled all of China and are rapidly expanding their attacks to the Pacific Ocean islands.

* HeroicBSOD: 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 burnt to the ground in a Zai attack.
* HeroicSecondWind: Gripen gets one in episode 4 when Kei joins her in the Daughter. Though he passes out from the extreme G's, she manages to help Eagle defeat the Zai attacking them.
* HumanoidAbomination: The Animas are technically those, as they are human clones that imbued with the neural parts of the aforementioned Zai. Special mention with models like Viper Zero that could trick human brain to interpret her appearance to the viewer's significant one.

** Kei himself (due to being ObliviousToLove) 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 Anima understand how Minghua felt and 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 Kei''.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Kei doesn't hesitate to join the JSDF when he's given the opportunity to sign up and help them fight off the Zai.

* LaserGuidedKarma: The American military tries to [[spoiler:rig a joint-operation so that it will result in Japan's Anima being sacrificed, negating any possible military advantage Japan could have in the future. Instead, said operation ends with ''their ONLY'' Anima being the one that gets destroyed.]]
* LensmanArmsRace: 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 technology.
* MagicKiss: 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.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Kei tries to make up with Minghua at the end of episode 8 after learning that another Anima that took her form suggested that Minghua was acting in the way she does because she likes him and doesn't want to lose him. Unfortunately he immediately screws it up after some miso soup she was heating up for him spills on the oven, and he starts saying how she would look silly in girly outfits. She gets upset at him again as a result.
* ObliviousToLove: When Barbie 04 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 LikeBrotherAndSister.
* ParentalAbandonment: Kei's parents are long gone prior to the story, with his mother being shot down by a Zai during an airshow, 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.
* PastExperienceNightmare: Kei has one in episode three, when he relives the moment where his mother's Cessna was shot down by a Zai while trying to flee from it. [[spoiler:A moment later, the Zai flies down towards him, and momentarily turns into Gripen's Daughter plane, since he had just found out she's part Zai.]]
* PowerGlows: When piloting their planes the Anima's hair glows.

* RunningGag: Haruka smoking in the immediate vicinity of No Smoking signs
* SecretTest: Kei and Minghua are immediately kidnapped by some MenInBlack 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.

** The Anima cockpit and control system is very clearly based on the [[Videogame/AceCombat3Electrosphere COFFIN System]], which the mind-based control and glass-less cockpit.
** The way that the Zai dodges incoming attack are reminiscent of the physics-defying dodge roll maneuvers that [[Videogame/AceCombatJointAssault Milosz Sulejmani]] pulls off in the [=GAF-1=] Varcolac.
** The final two episodes have a lot of references to ''Literature/SentouYouseiYukikaze'' [[spoiler: with elements such as the American Brawler drones being hijacked by the Zai similar to the JAM hijacking the Faery Air Force's Fand-II drones and the Zai's [[AirborneAircraftCarrier aerial carriers]] looking like miniature Banshee ships. In addition, all the events at the eerily abandoned yet pristine Shanghai Pudong airport are a WholePlotReference to the incident where Rei & Yukikaze get trapped in the JAM copy of Tactical Air Base 14.]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Crunchyroll's subtitles call the antagonists the "Xi" instead of "Zai".

* TookALevelInJerkass: Both Gripen and Eagle in Episode 5. They have since developed a rivalry of each other, with Eagle constantly boasting proudly about herself ([[BreakTheHaughty 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 [[{{Jerkass}} isn't any better either]]. Over the course of the episode, Kei tries to play peacemaker between them to no avail.
* TyopOnTheCover: The anime identifies the Zai as "Boggy" instead of "Bogey" during the radar scenes.
* WatchingTroyBurn: In episode 3, Kei finds out that the Chinese city he had been living with his parents in was essentially burnt to the ground during a Zai attack.
* WeakButSkilled: [[spoiler: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 handles the piloting while Gripen handles the weapons and radar.
* WeakWilled: [[spoiler:Rhino was programmed with many limitations on her personality, which means she couldn't develop a sense of self to resist the Zais' brainwashing.]]

* WhamEpisode: Kei is given one by a JSDF pilot when he tells him of how Anima such as Gripen originated from during episode 3. [[spoiler:She's made of parts recovered from destroyed Zai aircraft.]] He also learns the Zai destroy the Chinese city he and Minghua were living in.
* WorldOfSilence: The world that the Zai created, within occupied China. [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:Rhino, while she's possessed by the Zai. 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.]]

''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, it has spawned nine volumes. An AnimatedAdaptation by Satelight premiered on January 2019. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime, which can be [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/girly-air-force viewed here]] for audiences worldwide excluding Asia.