Line #30 Anime/TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughSpace


1	[[quoteright:246:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TVT-Sorakake.jpg]]
2
3	Original title: ''Sora o Kakeru Shoujo'', and also abbreviated as ''Sora Kake Girl''.
4
5	As the Earth became unable to sustain ten billion people, humanity took action. They built a giant space colony that orbits close to the Earth, and apparently took a RaygunGothic design style along with them. There are five main points along this space station, each one hosting a group of countries, and an Orbital Union oversees it all.
6
7	The year is Orbital Era 311. In the cluster of space colonies (or "Structure") called Kirkwood, located at the fifth Lagrangian point, 17-year old plucky Akiha Shishido is entering into an ArrangedMarriage. She'd be the first one in her family to marry, but she's still in school and wants nothing to do with it. She and her little assistant, Imoko, get out of the way and end up walking into an abandoned space colony run by sentient AI Leopard, who's firmly on the side of crazy. At the same time, a mysterious girl named Honoka awakens and begins leading Akiha into more than she planned. Inter Colony Police member Itsuki Kannagi is also watching the events...
8
9	Animated by Creator/{{Sunrise}}, ''The Girl Who Leapt Through Space'' is done by the same creative team behind ''Anime/MyHime'', ''Anime/MyOtome'' and ''Anime/IdolmasterXenoglossia''.
10
11	The title is a reference to the similarly named ''Anime/TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughTime''.
12	----
13	!!Tropes in ''The Girl Who Leapt Through Space'' include:
14
15	* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: The Student Council of Akiha's school is apparently so powerful, they can mess with the [[SpacePolice ICP]] if they want.
16	* AfterTheEnd: It is only vaguely alluded to throughout the series, but humanity nearly wiped itself out more than once, which is most likely why [[spoiler:the Shishidou council decided to create the Brain Colonies in the first place. This works pretty well. If you like boxes.]]
17	%%* AntiMagic: Stated to be [[spoiler:Nami's]] power.
18	* ArcWords: "[[TitleDrop The Girl Who Leapt Through Space]]"
19	%%* AgentMulder: Itsuki
20	* AIIsACrapshoot: Leopard is completely insane and, at his ''best'', a major {{Jerkass}}. Nerval, on the other hand... [[spoiler:is relatively sane, and not malevolent at all. He just takes "protect humanity" a bit too far.]]
21	* AlternateCalendar: The Orbital Era calendar, now in the year 311 when the story starts.
22	* ArtificialLimbs: Sakura's scarf doubles as a second set of arms. In fact, she uses it more than her real arms. And it is actually alive.
23	%%* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Nami]]
24	* AHouseDivided: Briefly in episode 16, which ends with Akiha, Honoka and Itsuki feeling really bad about their outbursts at each other.
25	%%* AMechByAnyOtherName: QT-ARMS
26	%%* BaseballEpisode: Episode 9 ([[BizarroEpisode completely detached from the continuity]]).
27	%%* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: And so can [[spoiler:Nami]] with her suit.
28	%% * BerserkButton: Do ''not'' call Imoko a "boiled potato", as Leopard learned the hard way.
29	%%* {{BFS}}: Leopard's Sword
30	%%* BigDamnHeroes: Takane gets a few of these moments.
31	%%* BirdRun: Akiha does this in the OP.
32	%%* BishieSparkle: Leopard. Nobody else is impressed.
33	%%* ButtMonkey: Nami, in the beginning of the show.
34	%%** Nami goes back to this at the end after [[spoiler: Aleida/Kagura destroys the source of her powers]].
35	%%* CallingYourAttacks: Leopard's Soul Shouts.
36	%%* ChainedHeat: With ClothingDamage! (ep 4, 19:00)
37	%%* ChainsawGood: Brain Colony Benkei sports an ''immense'' one.
38	* ChekhovsGunman: Akiha's sister Nami is one of the first characters introduced, but is completely irrelevant to the plot until episode 11. Then she suddenly becomes very important.
39	** The red-haired woman who repeatedly appears in Akiha's dreams early on is eventually revealed to be (or at the very least look exactly like) [[spoiler:[[TheDragon Aleida]]]].
40	* ColonyDrop: Very barely avoided when Leopard decides to Colony Drop himself, then parodied when Nerval [[spoiler:colony "drops" Leopard on the moon. Colony suplex, more like]].
41	** Then dropped for real, then averted ''again''. Leopard drops a lot.
42	%%* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Leopard and all brain colonies at the best of times.
43	* CombiningMecha: Inverted: Bougainvillea and Mintao's joint QT Arms can split in two if needed.
44	* CrazyPrepared: The Department of Mysteries issues standard equipment to its officers "to act in every possible situation". This of course includes three differently-styled sets of female swimwear just in case the officer and two civilians come in a situation where an opportunity for FanService arises.
45	%%* CuteLittleFang: Sakura, Akiha's younger sister
46	%%* DarkMagicalGirl: [[spoiler: Nami]]
47	* DeadlyUpgrade: Nami has the IncurableCoughOfDeath after episode 16. Or at least a cough.
48	** She was shown using a sort of inhaler before that, so presumably she had the incurable cough before.
49	** Then the whole illness is [[AbortedArc never mentioned again]].
50	* DeathFakedForYou: Nina does this Itsuki before sending her into Akiha's school to get [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Bougainvillea and Mintao]] and their corrupt superiors off their backs.
51	* DemonicPossession: Professor Fon's comments about Leopard's new mirrors hints that [[spoiler:this is what happened to Leopard, due to the EvilTwin residing inside them.]]
52	%%* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife:
53	%%** Akiha.
54	%%** In a way, Nami as well.
55	* DeusEstMachina: The raison d'etre of Brain Colonies -- especially Nerval. However, even gods have their complexes.
56	* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Imo-chan appears to have survived her kamikaze-manoevre against the antimatter-missile--saved by Nerval, no less]].
57	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Leopard needs a pair of golden balls so that he can successfully shoot his cannon. Fits together rather nicely, doesn't it?
58	** Some of the dialogue after Leopard fires his gun for the first time includes Akiha saying she hurts all over and Leopard having "burnt out all his white as a man".
59	** Akiha's attempt to reassure Leopard after his gun completely fails to fire in the first episode is similarly humorous.
60	** Not to mention after Nerval bites into him, he becomes frozen on the inside and can't fire because the orbs are "shrinking".
61	** Also, when Akiha accidentally hits them during their installation, it causes him a serious amount of pain.
62	** Even when Leopard becomes the baseball demon in episode nine, he ''still'' gets to do this by asking Itsuki to grab his "iron rod" (a demonic baseball bat).
63	** Itsuki's mecha with a gatling gun ''in its crotch'' is also worth mentioning.
64	* DontYouDarePityMe: Completed inverted by Nami, who WANTS everyone to pity her. The fact that no one is willing to indulge her is what largely leads to her [[spoiler: FaceHeelTurn]]
65	* DualWielding: Takane goes for a rather realistic variety with a longsword in the main hand and a short sword/long dagger in the off-hand.
66	* DramaticWind: Takane is so cool, she finds one ''on the Moon surface''.
67	* {{Egopolis}}: Leopard, being big enough to contain a city structure within him, takes pride in his city by, for example, naming all the animal species within him after himself. ''Crocodilius leopardus'', anyone?
68	** ''[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Panthera pardus leopardus]]''?
69	* {{Elseworld}}: Episode nine, out of nowhere, takes the main cast (including Leopard!) and sets them in a modern day world with a baseball team story. This episode serves as a sports anime-styled allegory explaining QT powers and their regulation, topics only hinted at in the rest of the series.
70	%%* EmotionlessGirl: Honoka, except when Nerval is nearby. [[LesYay Or Kagura]].
71	%%* EverybodyLives
72	* EverythingIsOnline: Averted: Leopard is not. He has to borrow Akiha's notebook to access the internet. He demonstrates, however, that he is nevertheless able to hack into [[LatexSpaceSuit Q-Tector Suits]] and [[ClothingDamage make parts of them disappear]] when he is pissed/bored.
73	** The Q-Tector bit may be slightly justified in that Leopard provided Akiha's. It doesn't explain why Itsuki's ICP-provided suit also experienced ClothingDamage, but... (actually, Itsuki herself mentions that her suit is affected because of the handcuffs - which sort of makes sense in a futuristic world)
74	* EvilCostumeSwitch: [[spoiler:Nami gets her own Q-Tector (in evil black and purple) when she goes to the dark side.]]
75	* EvilIsDeathlyCold: Nerval specializes in cold attacks.
76	* {{Expy}}:
77	** Takane is a dead ringer for Chikane from ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden''
78	** There's Nina, who looks and acts very much like an older, time-transplanted [[Literature/MariaWatchesOverUs Sei Satou]].
79	*** The three female leads complete the same Sassy ActionGirl heroine/Serious but {{fanservice}}-prone cool secret agent/short, mysterious weird girl triad as in ''Anime/MyHime''. This one is probably intentional.
80	*** Honoka's resemblance to [[Franchise/DotHack Tsukasa]] probably means nothing.
81	%%* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Nami, mostly due to her [[TheUnfavorite Unfavorite]] status, and Takane (though she's only {{Mind Control}}led)]]
82	%%** Also possibly [[spoiler:Kagura]].
83	%%** [[spoiler: Leopard]] in episode 24.
84	* FakingTheDead: Itsuki fakes her own death and becomes a NewTransferStudent at Akiha's school, as Honoka had one episode prior. HilarityEnsues when Bou and Min see her and run off, thinking they've seen a ghost.
85	* FreudianTrio: Akiha, Itsuki, and Honoka (probably representing Ego, Super-Ego, and Id, respectively, but the jury is still out).
86	* FunWithAcronyms: '''Q'''uantum '''T'''echnology '''A'''dvanced '''R'''einforced '''M'''aneuvering '''S'''hroud.
87	** Also, '''Q'''uantum '''T'''ransducing '''E'''nvironment '''C'''rosslink '''T'''errain '''O'''perational '''R'''einforcer.
88	** And '''B'''eyond '''O'''rbital '''A'''zonal '''R'''unabout Ship.
89	* GeniusDitz: Sakura. A child prodigy with machines with a habit of speaking more often with sound effects than actual words; to the extent her sisters have to translate.
90	* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Honoka does this to a mind-controlled Akiha.
91	** In episode 23, Itsuki also gets to slap Akiha.
92	** In episode 26, [[spoiler: Akiha does this with an [[Anime/GunBuster Inazuma Kick]] to free Leopard from possession.]]
93	* GratuitousEnglish: Special mention goes to Ul's VerbalTic of adding an English word after his sentences.
94	* GroinAttack: Yes, it's possible to have a groin attack on something mechanical. Leopard's reaction when Akiha bangs into the spot where the Golden Orbs are supposed to go can't be anything but.
95	%%* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Benkei.
96	* HenpeckedHusband: Benkei (okay, he and Tsutsuji aren't actually married, but she definitely henpecks him)
97	* HeroicSacrifice: In episode 21, [[spoiler: Imo-chan kamikazes into an antimatter missile headed for Kirkwood.]] [[spoiler:She survives.]]
98	** [[spoiler:Nerval]] in episode 26. [[spoiler:He survives, too.]]
99	** [[Creator/YukariTamura Kazane]] channeling [[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry dark Rika]].
100	** Even there not much relation between the two [[Creator/{{Yukana}} Takane]] is C.C.
101	%%* HighlyVisibleNinja: Bougainvillea and Mintao
102	* {{Hikikomori}}: Leopard. He claims to be a "lone noble soul", but definitely shows some insecurity when he's accused of being a shut-in, not to mention his rather pained reaction to being exposed to the sun without any shade.
103	** Also what the [=AIs=] are trying to turn all of humanity into. For our own safety, of course.
104	** Nami is implied to be this, hiding away in her room. Though in her case it was a (mostly ignored) cry for help.
105	* IndirectKiss: Leopard gets a LuminescentBlush and says the trope name when Akiha drinks some of the tea he had been scanning. Yes he is a very large computer but as has been mentioned before he is quite insane.
106	* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Itsuki, who learned about how high school girls act from [[YuriGenre Yuri]] manga. HilarityEnsues.
107	* InstantBandages: Hilariously, Leopard's huge eye gets covered with stiches after a savage scolding from Imo-chan.
108	%%* LaResistance: What the protagonists have become.
109	%%* LadyOfWar: Takane.
110	* LatexSpaceSuit: Skintight and mostly ''[[{{Stripperiffic}} transparent]]''.
111	%%* LargeHam: Leopard, as expected from Lelouch's {{expy}}. Though here, it's mostly played for laughs.
112	%%* LightningBruiser: Takane. That, or GlassCannon given how thin she is.
113	* LogicBomb: Inverted: AI logic bombs a human. Leopard answers to the question "What are you?" with the [[ArmorPiercingQuestion counter question]] [[spoiler:" Do you humans understand what you are?"]] and after a moment of awkward silence glees about how this question always short-circuits the human mind.
114	%%* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: Nerval to Leopard.]]
115	* LuminescentBlush: Leopard in the first episode, god knows how he managed it. Also, Benkei, during a scene in which he had to witness Tsutsuji bathing.
116	%%* MacrossMissileMassacre: Animation studio Sunrise loves it.
117	* MarsNeedsWomen: Much like ''Xenoglossia'', it is possible for a human girl and a computer AI to love. Honoka's the matchmaker of this unusual pair.
118	** It seems that Benkei and Tsutsuji's relationship is also like this. Mostly on Benkei's part.
119	* MartialPacifist: Mr. Black Belt is a freaking ASIMO robot who knows kung fu but wants to be friends with everyone due to prolonged contact with Sakura.
120	** Sakura is also the reason why he's a black belt who can do missile kung fu, so it all balances out.
121	%%* MasterComputer: Leopard
122	* {{Meido}}: Imo-chan, and several others in the employ of the Shishidou family.
123	* MsFanservice: Itsuki. As if seeing her stretched out along the bottom of the title picture wasn't enough of a clue, episode four has her roped into red leather bondage gear and then a [[ClothingDamage rapidly disintegrating]] (and already {{Stripperiffic}}) [[LatexSpaceSuit outfit]].
124	** And episode 10 has her be the only character to receive a closeup of their (fairly cute, actually) pajamas during the sleepover.
125	** The position is taken over by Tsutsuji in later episodes who is permanently wearing nothing more than a tiger-stripe bikini.
126	* MobileSuitHuman: Imoko's Maid-Droid body.
127	** UL's inches closer to LittleGreenManInACan.
128	%%* NewTransferStudent: Both Honoka and Itsuki.
129	%%* NinjaMaid: Imo-chan
130	%%* NoblewomansLaugh: Xanthippe's.
131	%%* NonHumanSidekick: Imoko for Akiha, UL is Itsuki's.
132	* NoSympathy: Nami gets absolutely no love from her sisters, which highly contributes to her descent into depression. [[spoiler:A FaceHeelTurn ensues]].
133	* OminousLatinChanting: Leopard's theme music, usually reserved for colony warfare.
134	%%* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The ICP is presented as one in every sense of the trope.
135	%%* OutOfTheInferno:
136	%%** Mr. Black Belt gets to pull one off.
137	%%** So does Nami in a later episode.
138	%%* ParentalAbandonment: Itsuki's backstory.
139	* PaperThinDisguise: Undercover spying is not Itsuki's best skill.
140	** Not to mention Leopard wearing a ''moustache and glasses''.
141	** Or UL's undercover attire. What exactly he is trying to present himself as? A miniature ghost maybe?
142	** Imoko's rather weak attempt to [[WigDressAccent dress up]] as Kazane and impersonate her in a video conference fools no one.
143	%%* PictureDrama
144	%%* PoweredArmor: UL's police armor and [[ImplacableMan Aleida's]] combat gear.
145	* ProductPlacement: It was small at first - logos of the show's sponsors flying by on the highway of the stars -- but then comes episode 14. [[Anime/CodeGeass The Anime God cried the day Sunrise sold their souls to Pizza Hut]].
146	** In fact, [[spoiler:Bougainvillea and Mintao apparently ended up liking pizza so much, ''they put a Pizza Hut logo on the side of their spaceship''!]]
147	* PromotionToParent: Kazane is the eldest Shishidou sister and practically runs the family in the absence of her [[ParentalAbandonment never-mentioned parents]].
148	%%* PsychicPowers: QT Powers.
149	* RagnarokProofing: Averted. UL finds 50 year-old weapons, but they were in near-freezing temperatures and beyond repair.
150	%%* RaygunGothic
151	* RoboticReveal: After getting heavily injured (and with a lot of blood) it turns out that [[spoiler: Akira]] is a Naviman in a droid.
152	* RuleOfSymbolism: A cult of people who want to be isolated in boxes, a FaceHeelTurn for the promise of being kept in a box safe from others...[[{{UsefulNotes/Existentialism}} "Hell is the Others"]] [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion again]]. But with [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness cardboard boxes instead of Absolute Terror Fields]].
153	* {{Sarashi}}: Itsuki sports these under her schoolgirl attire.
154	* ShoutOut: [[Anime/CodeGeass Leloupard]] preforms a [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack colony drop]] on the earth whilst screaming [[Anime/EurekaSeven "I CAN FLY!"]] and spreading [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Feathers]] all over the shot.
155	** Akiha's suit also makes her look like a human-sized Anime/OvermanKingGainer.
156	** Akiha's "Imagine, imagine!" as she is about to place the Golden Orb into place may be a reference to ''Anime/StellviaOfTheUniverse'', where it is Arisa's CatchPhrase, which she uses while handling heavy but delicate objects with mechanical arms. Also, the male student uniforms in Akiha's school are suspiciously similar to those on Stellvia.
157	** Is it a coincidence that UL's cyberjack used for hacking into the base's mainframe looks ''exactly'' like [[Franchise/StarWars R2-D2's]]?
158	** At the beginning of episode five, Honoka checks Leopard's missing parts in a book labeled "[[Literature/CthulhuMythos Leopardnomicon]]".
159	** The solar panels that are used to melt the ice off of Leopard during his battle with Nerval seem to suspiciously resemble a [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Solar System]].
160	** The cradle used by the Navi robots to connect with vehicles resembles the ones used by the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Haros]] in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory Gundam]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]''.
161	** The Shishidou Family's Navi wears clothes similar to Lelouch's from the last few episodes of ''Anime/CodeGeass R2''.
162	** Leopard's "Fade In!" in episode 15 is a reference to ''{{Anime/Raideen}}''.
163	** Given the aims of who she is working for, [[spoiler: Nami]] saying "ResistanceIsFutile" might be one.
164	** In the first {{picture drama}} Imo-chan is seen riding a model of [[Series/{{Thunderbirds}} Thunderbird 2]]
165	** "[[Anime/{{Gunbuster}} Welcome home]], Leopard."
166	** Xanthippe: [[Anime/Macross7 "Listen to my song!!!"]]. Since she used "watashi", Sheryl Nome of ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' may be a more direct reference than Basara.
167	** One of the Shishidou elders has hair and clothing colors that match Mashiro's from Mai Otome, and her doll's hair and clothing colors match Akira's.
168	** The [[HeadlessHorseman Headless Armor Ghost]] in episode 8 seems to be enjoying swapping heads using the RingMenu of the ''VideoGame/WorldOfMana'' series.
169	** A bunch in the final episode:
170	*** [[spoiler: Akiha's [[Anime/GunBuster Inazuma Kick]] on Leopard.]]
171	*** [[Music/{{Vocaloid}} Hatsune Miku]] is visible on Xanthippe's monitors.
172	*** Nerval's "face open" form looks a lot like [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Galvatron]].
173	*** The line [[spoiler: "What you can't do by yourself, you ask for help from others"]] was used in the finale of ''Anime/CodeGeass''.
174	** Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo itself is referenced rather blatantly in Episode 0 of ''Literature/ModernMagicMadeSimple'', where the main character Koyomi (who has the same seiyuu as Imoko) is more or less forced onto a bus labeled Hako Bus, and is seen moments later wearing a blue version of the standard QT-Arms "LatexSpaceSuit".
175	* SmiteMeOMightySmiter: Tsutsuji Baba makes a scene like that soon after landing on Earth, which may be a ShoutOut to Takano's in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''.
176	%%* SpaceClothes
177	%%* SpacePolice: Itsuki.
178	* SpiritualSuccessor: Mostly of ''Anime/MyHime''/''Anime/MyOtome'' with a bit of ''Idolmaster Xenoglossia'' thrown into the mix.
179	* {{Stripperiffic}}: The Q-Tector suits leave almost ''nothing'' to the imagination.
180	** Tsuji's tiger-print bikini also qualifies. Justified that on Earth, she was trying to blend in with the natives... but not when she starts wearing it away from Earth.
181	* StealthInSpace: Leopard has a stealth system built in, allowing him to skirt around undetected and appear at dramatically appropriate moments.
182	* SuckingInLines: Leopard's WaveMotionGun.
183	* SweatDrop: Leopard manages to do even that. But then again, Imo-chan is indeed ''[[BewareTheNiceOnes scary]]'' when angry.
184	* TechnoBabble: Honoka delivers a textbook example in the beginning of episode 5 as she sumarizes the status of Leopards parts.
185	** Sakura goes to both extremes in episode seven by speaking total gibberish, mostly made up of sound effects, while a subtitle track explains the details in technobabble, which may as well be gibberish.
186	* TeenGenius: Sakura's the youngest of the Shishido sisters, and she's already creating martial arts robots and working at science labs.
187	%%* TheDragon: ALEIDA aka [[spoiler:Kagura Shishidoh]].
188	* TitleDrop: The first words Honoka speaks, among plenty of other instances - the title also serves as the series' ArcWords.
189	* TransformingMecha: The QT Arms, which can go from spaceship to [[SpiderTank something centaurian]]. A humanoid on four wheels.
190	* {{Tsundere}}: The jury is out on whether Leopard is a male example of this or just a JerkWithAHeartOfGold and a tragic backstory.
191	** Male tsundere = Oranyan, technically, but Leopard is still an AI, so either should work.
192	%%* {{Underboobs}}: Itsuki.
193	* TheUnfavorite: Nami, who is disliked by all of her sisters, but mostly [[PromotionToParent Kazane]]--[[spoiler:which contributes greatly to her FaceHeelTurn.]]
194	** Takane is at least willing to listen to what she has to say rather than dismiss her out of hand. Though that winds up being too little to make a difference.
195	* TheUnintelligible: Sakura speaks nonsense that few are able to decipher.
196	* UnlimitedWardrobe: Imoko seems to have a suitable costume for every possible occasion... Including her very ''own'' chibi robo-sized [[LatexSpaceSuit Q-Tector]].
197	%%* VillainDecay: [[spoiler: ALL OF THEM!]]
198	* WaveMotionGun: Subverted at first when Leopard dramatically prepares to fire his gun, only to have it be a dud. Later played very straight once he has his [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Golden Orbs]].
199	%%* WellIntentionedExtremist: Nerval
200	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never did find out what was in Kagura's note on the message board.
201	%%* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Nami, which leads to some angst that we don't really see... until episode 11 that is.
202	%%* WithMyHandsTied: Takane gets to pull it off against Aleida.
203	----
204

Context Anime / TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughSpace