Original title: Sora o Kakeru Shoujo, and also abbreviated as Sora Kake Girl.
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 Raygun Gothic 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.
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 Arranged Marriage. 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...
Animated by Sunrise, The Girl Who Leapt Through Space is done by the same creative team behind My-HiME, My-Otome and Idolmaster: Xenoglossia.
The title is a reference to the similarly named The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
Tropes in The Girl Who Leapt Through Space include:
- Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The Student Council of Akiha's school is apparently so powerful, they can mess with the ICP if they want.
- After the End: It is only vaguely alluded to throughout the series, but humanity nearly wiped itself out more than once, which is most likely why the Shishidou council decided to create the Brain Colonies in the first place. This works pretty well. If you like boxes.
- Arc Words: "The Girl Who Leapt Through Space"
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Leopard is completely insane and, at his best, a major Jerkass. Nerval, on the other hand... is relatively sane, and not malevolent at all. He just takes "protect humanity" a bit too far.
- Alternate Calendar: The Orbital Era calendar, now in the year 311 when the story starts.
- Artificial Limbs: 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.
- A House Divided: Briefly in episode 16, which ends with Akiha, Honoka and Itsuki feeling really bad about their outbursts at each other.
- Chekhov's Gunman: 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.
- 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) Aleida.
- Colony Drop: Very barely avoided when Leopard decides to Colony Drop himself, then parodied when Nerval colony "drops" Leopard on the moon. Colony suplex, more like.
- Then dropped for real, then averted again. Leopard drops a lot.
- Combining Mecha: Inverted: Bougainvillea and Mintao's joint QT Arms can split in two if needed.
- Crazy-Prepared: 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.
- Deadly Upgrade: Nami has the Incurable Cough of Death after episode 16. Or at least a cough.
- She was shown using a sort of inhaler before that, so presumably she had the incurable cough before.
- Then the whole illness is never mentioned again.
- Death Faked for You: Nina does this Itsuki before sending her into Akiha's school to get Bougainvillea and Mintao and their corrupt superiors off their backs.
- Demonic Possession: Professor Fon's comments about Leopard's new mirrors hints that this is what happened to Leopard, due to the Evil Twin residing inside them.
- Deus est Machina: The raison d'etre of Brain Colonies — especially Nerval. However, even gods have their complexes.
- Disney Death: Imo-chan appears to have survived her kamikaze-manoevre against the antimatter-missile—saved by Nerval, no less.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Leopard needs a pair of golden balls so that he can successfully shoot his cannon. Fits together rather nicely, doesn't it?
- 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".
- Akiha's attempt to reassure Leopard after his gun completely fails to fire in the first episode is similarly humorous.
- Not to mention after Nerval bites into him, he becomes frozen on the inside and can't fire because the orbs are "shrinking".
- Also, when Akiha accidentally hits them during their installation, it causes him a serious amount of pain.
- 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).
- Itsuki's mecha with a gatling gun in its crotch is also worth mentioning.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: 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 Face–Heel Turn
- Dual Wielding: Takane goes for a rather realistic variety with a longsword in the main hand and a short sword/long dagger in the off-hand.
- Dramatic Wind: Takane is so cool, she finds one on the Moon surface.
- 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?
- 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.
- Everything Is Online: 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 Q-Tector Suits and make parts of them disappear when he is pissed/bored.
- 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 Clothing Damage, but... (actually, Itsuki herself mentions that her suit is affected because of the handcuffs - which sort of makes sense in a futuristic world)
- Evil Costume Switch: Nami gets her own Q-Tector (in evil black and purple) when she goes to the dark side.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: Nerval specializes in cold attacks.
- Expy:
- Takane is a dead ringer for Chikane from Destiny of the Shrine Maiden
- There's Nina, who looks and acts very much like an older, time-transplanted Sei Satou.
- The three female leads complete the same Sassy Action Girl heroine/Serious but fanservice-prone cool secret agent/short, mysterious weird girl triad as in My-HiME. This one is probably intentional.
- Honoka's resemblance to Tsukasa probably means nothing.
- Faking the Dead: Itsuki fakes her own death and becomes a New Transfer Student at Akiha's school, as Honoka had one episode prior. Hilarity Ensues when Bou and Min see her and run off, thinking they've seen a ghost.
- Freudian Trio: Akiha, Itsuki, and Honoka (probably representing Ego, Super-Ego, and Id, respectively, but the jury is still out).
- Fun with Acronyms: Quantum Technology Advanced Reinforced Maneuvering Shroud.
- Also, Quantum Transducing Environment Crosslink Terrain Operational Reinforcer.
- And Beyond Orbital Azonal Runabout Ship.
- Genius Ditz: 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.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Honoka does this to a mind-controlled Akiha.
- In episode 23, Itsuki also gets to slap Akiha.
- In episode 26, Akiha does this with an Inazuma Kick to free Leopard from possession.
- Gratuitous English: Special mention goes to Ul's Verbal Tic of adding an English word after his sentences.
- Groin Attack: 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.
- Henpecked Husband: Benkei (okay, he and Tsutsuji aren't actually married, but she definitely henpecks him)
- Heroic Sacrifice: In episode 21, Imo-chan kamikazes into an antimatter missile headed for Kirkwood. She survives.
- 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.
- Also what the AIs are trying to turn all of humanity into. For our own safety, of course.
- Nami is implied to be this, hiding away in her room. Though in her case it was a (mostly ignored) cry for help.
- Indirect Kiss: Leopard gets a Luminescent Blush 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.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Itsuki, who learned about how high school girls act from Yuri manga. Hilarity Ensues.
- Instant Bandages: Hilariously, Leopard's huge eye gets covered with stiches after a savage scolding from Imo-chan.
- Latex Space Suit: Skintight and mostly transparent.
- Logic Bomb: Inverted: AI logic bombs a human. Leopard answers to the question "What are you?" with the counter question " 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.
- Luminescent Blush: Leopard in the first episode, god knows how he managed it. Also, Benkei, during a scene in which he had to witness Tsutsuji bathing.
- Mars Needs Women: Much like Xenoglossia, it is possible for a human girl and a computer AI to love. Honoka's the matchmaker of this unusual pair.
- It seems that Benkei and Tsutsuji's relationship is also like this. Mostly on Benkei's part.
- Martial Pacifist: 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.
- Sakura is also the reason why he's a black belt who can do missile kung fu, so it all balances out.
- Meido: Imo-chan, and several others in the employ of the Shishidou family.
- Ms. Fanservice: 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 rapidly disintegrating (and already Stripperiffic) outfit.
- And episode 10 has her be the only character to receive a closeup of their (fairly cute, actually) pajamas during the sleepover.
- The position is taken over by Tsutsuji in later episodes who is permanently wearing nothing more than a tiger-stripe bikini.
- Mobile-Suit Human: Imoko's Maid-Droid body.
- UL's inches closer to Little Green Man in a Can.
- No Sympathy: Nami gets absolutely no love from her sisters, which highly contributes to her descent into depression. A Face–Heel Turn ensues.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: Leopard's theme music, usually reserved for colony warfare.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Undercover spying is not Itsuki's best skill.
- Not to mention Leopard wearing a moustache and glasses.
- Or UL's undercover attire. What exactly he is trying to present himself as? A miniature ghost maybe?
- Imoko's rather weak attempt to dress up as Kazane and impersonate her in a video conference fools no one.
- Product Placement: It was small at first - logos of the show's sponsors flying by on the highway of the stars — but then comes episode 14. The Anime God cried the day Sunrise sold their souls to Pizza Hut.
- In fact, Bougainvillea and Mintao apparently ended up liking pizza so much, they put a Pizza Hut logo on the side of their spaceship!
- Promotion to Parent: Kazane is the eldest Shishidou sister and practically runs the family in the absence of her never-mentioned parents.
- Ragnarök Proofing: Averted. UL finds 50 year-old weapons, but they were in near-freezing temperatures and beyond repair.
- Robotic Reveal: After getting heavily injured (and with a lot of blood) it turns out that Akira is a Naviman in a droid.
- Rule of Symbolism: A cult of people who want to be isolated in boxes, a Face–Heel Turn for the promise of being kept in a box safe from others..."Hell is the Others" again. But with cardboard boxes instead of Absolute Terror Fields.
- Sarashi: Itsuki sports these under her schoolgirl attire.
- Shout-Out: Leloupard preforms a colony drop on the earth whilst screaming "I CAN FLY!" and spreading Feathers all over the shot.
- Akiha's suit also makes her look like a human-sized Overman King Gainer.
- Akiha's "Imagine, imagine!" as she is about to place the Golden Orb into place may be a reference to Stellvia of the Universe, 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.
- Is it a coincidence that UL's cyberjack used for hacking into the base's mainframe looks exactly like R2-D2's?
- At the beginning of episode five, Honoka checks Leopard's missing parts in a book labeled "Leopardnomicon".
- The solar panels that are used to melt the ice off of Leopard during his battle with Nerval seem to suspiciously resemble a Solar System.
- The cradle used by the Navi robots to connect with vehicles resembles the ones used by the Haros in Victory Gundam and Gundam 00.
- The Shishidou Family's Navi wears clothes similar to Lelouch's from the last few episodes of Code Geass R2.
- Leopard's "Fade In!" in episode 15 is a reference to Raideen.
- Given the aims of who she is working for, Nami saying "Resistance Is Futile" might be one.
- In the first picture drama Imo-chan is seen riding a model of Thunderbird 2
- "Welcome home, Leopard."
- Xanthippe: "Listen to my song!!!". Since she used "watashi", Sheryl Nome of Macross Frontier may be a more direct reference than Basara.
- 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.
- The Headless Armor Ghost in episode 8 seems to be enjoying swapping heads using the Ring Menu of the World of Mana series.
- A bunch in the final episode:
- Akiha's Inazuma Kick on Leopard.
- Hatsune Miku is visible on Xanthippe's monitors.
- Nerval's "face open" form looks a lot like Galvatron.
- The line "What you can't do by yourself, you ask for help from others" was used in the finale of Code Geass.
- Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo itself is referenced rather blatantly in Episode 0 of Modern Magic Made Simple, 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 "Latex Space Suit".
- Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter: Tsutsuji Baba makes a scene like that soon after landing on Earth, which may be a Shout-Out to Takano's in Higurashi: When They Cry.
-
Spiritual Successor: Mostly of My-HiME/My-Otome with a bit of Idolmaster Xenoglossia thrown into the mix. - Stripperiffic: The Q-Tector suits leave almost nothing to the imagination.
- 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.
- Stealth in Space: Leopard has a stealth system built in, allowing him to skirt around undetected and appear at dramatically appropriate moments.
- Sucking-In Lines: Leopard's Wave-Motion Gun.
- Sweat Drop: Leopard manages to do even that. But then again, Imo-chan is indeed scary when angry.
- Techno Babble: Honoka delivers a textbook example in the beginning of episode 5 as she sumarizes the status of Leopards parts.
- 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.
- Teen Genius: Sakura's the youngest of the Shishido sisters, and she's already creating martial arts robots and working at science labs.
- Title Drop: The first words Honoka speaks, among plenty of other instances - the title also serves as the series' Arc Words.
- Transforming Mecha: The QT Arms, which can go from spaceship to something centaurian. A humanoid on four wheels.
- Tsundere: The jury is out on whether Leopard is a male example of this or just a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and a tragic backstory.
- Male tsundere = Oranyan, technically, but Leopard is still an AI, so either should work.
- The Unfavorite: Nami, who is disliked by all of her sisters, but mostly Kazane—which contributes greatly to her Face–Heel Turn.
- 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.
- The Unintelligible: Sakura speaks nonsense that few are able to decipher.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: Imoko seems to have a suitable costume for every possible occasion... Including her very own chibi robo-sized Q-Tector.
- Wave-Motion Gun: 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 Golden Orbs.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never did find out what was in Kagura's note on the message board.
I have control!
