Project Blue Earth SOS, directed by Tensai Okamura and animated by A.C.G.T.,note is a six-episode OVA series set in an alternate version of the nineties. In a review for the first DVD volume, Anime News Network's Carl Kimlinger had called the show as a "throw back to the gee-wiz adventures of 50's B-cinema and the likes of Tom Swift".
The story is as follows: petroleum-based energy has become obsolete due to the efficient, powerful, and renewable energy of the G-Reaction engines. On January 1, 1995, a G-Reactive fighter plane was being tested, while it was hit by a mysterious rainbow light and disappeared. In they year 2000, two boys, Billy Kimura and Penny Carter, view similar events occur right before their eyes. Realizing that something is up, the two boys take it upon themselves to get to the bottom of the strange occurrences. Eventually, they learn of an Alien Invasion and the government's efforts to defend the earth from this impending threat.
The series' setting is made to be what some people in the mid-twentieth century would imagine the future to be like. That, coupled with the series' flow and sheer over-the-top nature is very reminiscent of the legendary Giant Robo OVA series. It's an intentional homage to science fiction TV shows of the black-and-white era, complete with campy designs for alien weaponry and human technology, overacting on the part of minor characters, and two young heroes.
This manga provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Emely is one of the most competent members of the cast.
- Adults Are Useless: Averted. The kids need the help of the adults in the Labyrinth Alliance at more than one point.
- Aliens Are Bastards: The Baguans really have nothing to gain from wiping out humanity.
- Black-and-White Morality: The evil Baguan aliens want to wipe out humanity for no apparent reason? Fear not! The Labyrinth Alliance and its superior technology shall fight for humanity's survival to the bitter end!
- Child Prodigy: Billy and Penny both graduated from prestigious colleges when normal kids their ages would have been in middle school.
- It's discussed more than once.
Captain Clayton: Their observational skills surpass that of most adults. - Cool Car: Emely has two - her main one is a pink, Cadillac-inspired Flying Car with weapons, including a four-pronged armor piercing drillnote . There's also a decidedly less cool red one she uses in episode 2.
- Deus ex Machina: Averted! The existence of a group fighting against the Baguans was hinted at several times before they came to save the day.
- Fantastically Challenging Patient: An unintentional example. There's an alien autopsy scene. Unfortunately, the alien isn't quite dead, making it this.
- First-Episode Twist: The Existence of the Labyrinth Alliance is treated as a plot twist. Admittedly, each episode is rather long and contains two or three episodes' worth of content. What would be an individual episode's ending consists of a campy "On the Next Episode of..." Catch-Phrase that includes a brief summary of the episode's recent developments, what could this mean? and someone literally saying find out on the next episode of Project Blue Earth SOS!
- Government Conspiracy: At first, the Labyrinth Alliance tried to cover up the oncoming invasion in order to prevent a panic.
- Mind Probe: After Penny's captured in the final episode.
- Retro Universe: The series takes place in an alternate year 2000 when people never stopped using Moderne and Googie inspired architecture.
- Tagalong Kid: You'd figure that Penny and Billy would fall into this category, but they fit better in the Kid Hero area. The title of the series' Tagalong Kid goes to the one and only, Lotta Brest, that boarders on The Load but barely manages to avoid it.
- Weaponized Car: Emely's Cadillac-inspired Flying Car with weapons, including a four-pronged armor piercing drillnote .
