Houkago no Pleiades (TV)

Fuji Heavy Industries is a well known Japanese conglomerate company in which they produce everything from planes down to their most notable product, automobiles. Their Subaru brand has created quirky vehicles for more than 60 years and has seen record breaking success in the last decade. Thanks to catchy advertising that caters to former yuppies with growing families and a portfolio of safe and reliable vehicles such as the Forester, Outback, and Impreza they have broken internal sales records for more than half a decade. With such success, experiments are soon to follow. Houkago no Pleiades is the perfect example of this. It was a ... magical girl show funded by Subaru and produced by the animation studio Gainax during the Spring 2015 anime season. There was a previous set of ONAs which aired online back in 2011 when this project first came to fruition as nothing more than an advertisement. Regardless, this was an unusual partnership considering the fact that Gainax has been largely irrelevant this decade and that Subaru funding a magical girl anime seems a bit out of place. However, the results are rather interesting considering the subject matter and the story that it portrays. What is the most striking thing about this show is that it was not a shameless advertisement like many would expect, it featured a cohesive story with likable characters and an overall goal and purpose. Something that is relatively rare in terms of directly sponsored anime.

In regards to the story, Houkago no Pleiades follows a rather typical magical girl theme with a rather unique backdrop. The plot revolves around a group of girls in an after school club who are trying to help an alien from the Pleiades star cluster go home. For those of you who are unaware, Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster and is the logo for Subaru automobiles which obviously makes the alien's home a fitting choice. With this, the main cast travels through both space in time on their magical “drive shafts” which feature the typical throb and rumble of a boxer engine, the trademark engine type used by Subaru. The story itself makes you really question what is reality and brings in many hard science ideas such as theoretical physics, time travel, and multiple universes. If this story was not planned out years prior, one could argue that it was heavily influenced by Christopher Nolan's “Interstellar” which featured many of the same ideas. So “Bravo Gainax” for creating such an interesting story to back up your Subaru sponsored advertisement.

The art for Houkago no Pleiades is incredibly well done and thought out. There are incredible backdrops in the space scenes and the main and supporting cast has colorful and well designed outfits. The drive shafts which the characters fly on are also well designed since they feature grills from the previous generation Subaru vehicles that were sold back when the original designs were created back in 2010 – 2011. There are also some interesting cameos of new Subaru vehicles which pop up throughout the show which will entertain a car enthusiast who watches this show. The color palate is also well done and fits great with the theme of the show. For a magical girl show, everything should be vibrant which Gainax certainly delivers upon. The CG when used is also mostly okay, but CG itself has gotten significantly better over the years and it has become not as jarring when you see it mixed with 2D animation which Gainax does an acceptable job with. That being said, there are no glaring issues with the art overall.

As for the sound, it was unique to say the least. In terms of human characters, their voice acting was perfectly adequate. The voice actresses for the main cast are relatively unknown in the industry so it was refreshing in a sense to hear new voices while many of the supporting cast were easily recognizable veterans. Going into the cast itself, they were all well written and played their respective parts just fine. The show did go in a different direction than many fans may have wanted in the last episode, but they can put their goggles on for another show. Regardless, the characters were nothing truly outstanding and will most likely be largely forgotten as time goes on unlike some characters in magical girl anime. What did steal the show though were the sounds of the drive shafts which featured sounds from various Subaru engines. If you had a discerning ear you could pick out the rumble and burble of the unequal length headers of an EJ257 along with the smooth mechanical sounding FA20DIT. Both of which are engines that are used currently in the STI and WRX respectively. Once again, if you are an auto enthusiast you will certainly find it entertaining to hear the burble of a turbocharged flat four engine in your cute magical girl show.

When it comes down to my overall enjoyment, I must say that I am completely pleased with this show. It was one of the shows that I was looking forward to the most in 2015 due to the fact that I am a long time Subaru enthusiast and a flat brimmed hat and Ray Ban sunglasses wearing boy racer who drives a WRX. This show checked off all of the boxes for what entertains me, if you want to bring up pandering to a certain audience I would certainly be their ideal person. However, outside of car enthusiasts I really fail to see many of the aspects in this show really meaning much. If their goal was to paint the Subaru brand in a comfy and cozy light among otaku who watch late night anime, they certainly hit their mark. However, that may not be the best place to market things which leads us to the elephant in the room, the studio. This is most likely Gainax's swan song, it has been reported that they have not been working on any other new projects. For a studio that brought us such iconic anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gurren Lagann it is depressing to see them go out like this. I hope that the relative success of Houkago no Pleiades may bring some life into their studio after they lost the majority of their talent to both studio Khara and TRIGGER. That being said , it is difficult to truly recommend this show to many people, mainly newer anime viewers. It goes between several different genres and brings up many ideas that are difficult to combine together. The story itself is cohesive, but it still feels quite odd considering the magical girl backdrop. It feels more like a hard sci-fi show that should be a bit more serious and feature characters other than a group of girls in an after-school club. In the end, it comes off as being an enjoyable, but still flawed show with some questionable choices with the story. If you are a fan magical girl shows, science fiction, and cars – this is the show for you, it will certainly not disappoint in that regard.

"Physics don't apply to us when we're transformed!" -Hikaru

Preface:

Deep in the multiverse, a giant spaceship with stars flashes by, absorbing a black hole and growing to an unfathomably large size, larger than ten thousand galaxies are wide. Five figures shine brightly- as though they were a small constellation of pink, green, blue, purple, and yellow stars converging into a single point of light, and suddenly disappear. Beyond infinity, these five are searching for the last piece of potential- an abstract form of energy that allows for interworld, extragalactic, and interdimensional travel. A million, million worlds.

Nah, Gainax isn't making a sequel to Gurren Lagann, but ... there are definitely some moments you can tell they borrowed from it in this new show, Hokago no Pleiades. In a departure from the wild, zany, dark, or introspective shows Gainax is known for, they've taken a different direction in recent years (mostly since the departure of key members to Trigger).

Hokago no Pleiades is a magical girl show, and is actually aimed at an age appropriate audience. This is a kid's show. With all of these parody and satire based inversions, subversions, and straight PERversions of magical girl these days, it's rather refreshing to see a show return to the roots of the genre and be kid friendly, clean, and fun.


Artwork and Animation: 8

It can't be said that Gainax's visuals don't look good. Take one look at the commercial slides and tell me they aren't amazing works of art. The meat of the show is very colorful, flashy, and generally vibrant. Great fluidity, and while generally fairly simple, there are some pretty intense scenes where 3D would have been used by a lesser studio, but Gainax took the high road and animated it traditionally. It's a very pretty and aesthetically pleasing show, certainly- particularly the space backgrounds.


Sound and Voice Acting: 7

This cast is a pretty varied group of VA, some veterans, some noobs. One of note is Saki Fujita, Nanako here. She also is the voice sample of Hatsune Miku. As far as the soundtrack goes, it's mostly cutesy little tunes that go right along with the tone of the show. Nothing to report.

Story and Characters: 6

Because the plot summary MAL has is... extremely vague, I'll help out.

Subaru, our MC, is a young girl who's just entered middle school. Upon entrance she meets an old friend, Aoi, who invites her to join a cosplay club. Within this cosplay club, there are 3 other members, and together they help an extraterrestrial called "the President" (who is a member of a species known only as a Pleiadan) find fragments of his spaceship's engine so that he'll be able to leave the Earth before his ship appears, which will destroy the entire planet.
The President bestows the 5 young girls with magical powers, because they have a great amount of "potential", and with their help, sets off to recover the fragments. Along the way, they run into a villain, along with some interpersonal issues- faith in one's self and others, the meaning of friendship, and how people can be physically separated, but their memories will live on forever.

Each character has an arc where the focus is on them, and how they work through their problems with the friend group. The overall conflict is an episodic format where they go to gather fragments, are foiled by the villain, regroup, and eventually come out on top.
It's a very heartwarming and cute show that's not backed by any false sense of perversion. Houkago no Pleiades is a pure show, through and through. Pure in that it's true to the origins of the magical girl genre, pure in content and taste, and pure in that it doesn't lie to the audience and try to be something it's not.


Enjoyment: 7

This new production is a wholly original anime, but in a traditional format that takes Gainax in a new direction. Gainax has been all over the map in types of adaptations they've covered, and even further ranging in originals. It can't be said that Gainax won't try anything once, and I think this was a nice foray into something completely different.
The thing was funded by the Subaru car company, even! (sound effects included!) {it's kind of a giant ad}


Overall: 7


Recommend?

If you came expecting Madoka Magica, you'll be sorely disappointed, but if you have an open mind, enjoy the ever-gorgeous Gainax visuals, and a taste for something a little different, this just might hit the spot.

*Some spoilers may follow*

I went into this show with unrealistically high expectations, since I based them completely off of the mysterious key visual and the fact that I have yet to watch another magical girl anime that is true to its genre. (Kill La Kill doesn't count.)

It was only natural that I was disappointed by the first episode... and the next one... and the one after that. From a mostly flat protagonist whose dialogue mostly consists of "Huh?" and repeating things that other characters have just said to characters who get a single episode of development which is subsequently ignored, the show was almost a ... chore to watch and I was ready to give up on it and dismiss it as a disappointment.

That is, for the first eight episodes. That's when I was forcefully reminded that this show was made by Gainax, and that they may or may not have a little surprise or two up their sleeve.

In this case, they did, and I believe this show was saved by its lone male character, Minato.

Unlike the other main characters, Minato spends most of his screentime shrouded in mystery, and has conversations with Subaru (the aforementioned ditzy protagonist) that seemingly serve only to give her some kind of motivation. This is in stark contrast to his apparent role as the antagonist of the show, because when he is in his Mahou Shounen outfit, he is only focused on stopping the girls from collecting the fragments. It is in this manner that the first two-thirds of the show follows this pattern every episode:

* Character has some backstory
* Subaru has a conversation with Minato
* Fragment appears
* Girls chase the fragment, Minato tries and fails to stop them
* Girls collect the fragment, everyone is happy for the most part

(not necessarily in that order)

It came off as formulaic, even to me who has never watched a magical girl anime. But perhaps this was buildup to the last few episodes, where Minato's past (and possible affiliation with other characters) is revealed. And it is here that the show begins to deviate (for the better) from its cyclical first half, and the plot twists that followed showed a surprising amount of promise. An anime that can keep me guessing, especially after being predictable for the majority of its runtime, is one that proves that it has my attention.

Aesthetically, the the space scenes are among the standouts of this show. Not only are they scientifically accurate, but as a sucker for stargazing myself, they were striking, colorful, and very pleasing to look at. The opening is also a high point, and along with being incredibly catchy, it is my favorite opening this season. The ending is cute, but nothing special.

Other than Minato, there isn't much to say in the character department, design-wise and complexity-wise. It's pretty apparent that they were designed with moe in mind, but that's all there is to it. If there's anything to take away from them, it's that 12 episodes probably isn't enough to give each girl enough development to actually make them interesting and feasible. More often than not, I felt that they were just there to collect the fragments. That's not too far from the truth, but it left me wishing that they were a little less flat. This just goes to show how forgettable most of the character development was.

Despite all of my grievances, the show has enough interesting plot twists and high points to leave me feeling satisfied. It's far from the best show I've ever seen, or even seen this season, and it may prove to be forgettable, but it pleasantly surprised me. Maybe my complaints won't reflect in my overall score, or maybe I'm just giving it too much credit, but I liked it in the end, and that's all I can ask for. Who knew that a Mahou Shoujo anime would be saved by a Mahou Shounen?

When I first watched Houkago no Pleiades, i expected to give it the same score of 7 that i saw the other reviews give it, but instead i found it to be far greater than that, and I think you should give this unconventional magical girl show a chance!

Story- 8/10 : This reason that the story is as low as it is and not any higher, is that, at the beginning, the story goes a little fast , and the episode is over before you know it! But, after that, the story slows down a bit and makes way for the more complicated and/or space ... themed aspects of the story , which are no doubt my favorite.

Art- 9/10 : This score is mainly because of the space sections of the show, which are absolutely gorgeous , but as much as I'd like to explain them I won't because it would just spoil the moment. The Character design is also fantastic, with all the characters looking very distinct, and their magical girl outfits are just as great

Sound 10/10 : I.Just.LOVE , the soundtrack of this anime, i can't really explain it in detail but it is very enjoyable. The show also effectively uses a music box version of Clair de Lune , which sounds very pretty and somber. Last but not least , the opening, which is great and enjoyable, and a tiny bit catchy

Character 9/10 : The Characters are also a great part of the anime, but I also do not want to explain a whole lot because spoilers, but I will say that all 5 main characters ( Plus Subaru's mysterious friend) all have their distinct personalities that make them all stand out, and Subaru does well as the main character of the story

Enjoyment 9/10 : I thought that Houkago no Pleiades was a fun , inventive, and slightly unconventional magical girl shows, as Houkago has a space theme, with the characters going further and further into space the longer the story progresses, which i found to be very interesting. In all I found Houkago no Pleiades to be a show well worth watching.

Overall 9/10

Houkago no Pleiades is a great show if you're looking for a mahou shoujo with a slow start to a heart-clenching ending. It has some twists in character relevance that I didn't expect. It also has some interesting ties with modern physics, astronomy, and aerospace engineering that populate a large majority of the show. Think Interstellar but magical girls.

Coming from a collaboration with the car company Subaru, it really shocked me how good it was. I went in not expecting much and came out loving it.

There's not too much fanservice (barely any), the art pieces mid-episode are BEAUTIFUL, every character is lovable in their ... own way, the story is surprisingly deep, and also, its FUN. It is awesome seeing the gang level up in power every episode and see where they will go next. I haven't marathoned a show in a while, and this hooked me.

In addition, there is a surprisingly lovable male character among the 5 girls. If you watch a lot of anime, you know this can be rare.. male characters among a group of girls tend to be flat and lacking a unique backstory. But this takes that and throws it in the TRASH, giving him a great origin story and purpose.

My native language is not English,
so probably I have a lot of mistakes....
This is my third review

This anime is as kawai as entertaining, and beautiful

Story 6/10

Subaru and her friends need to find parts of an alien spacecraft for help a little alien to come to help her friends. That includes Travel to the end of the universe. Perhaps story is focused on Subaru and the mysterious guy who is behind the door, neglecting her friends

...
Basically, it's an anime of mahou shoujo girls without fight for the peace and stuff but Also It is based on the strength of friendship. A bit predictable

Art 8/10

the entire MC are beautiful and original. All MC have some unique features, full of details and very colorful. The scenery is beautiful and detailed, but towards the end of the anime it can be a little repetitive

Sound: 8/10

Ambient sound in all his adventures, except when training, just what I expected and what they had to do. Sometimes the easiest way is the best

Character 7/10

Each MC is well done as I said before. Maybe it needed something else in this section, because only Subaru evolves considerably in history. The other characters also evolve, but not as much as Subaru. But as a point in favor I will say that all the characters are charismatic, and have her little story

Enjoyment 9/10

I not know why, maybe is usually I not see mahou shoujo, but it's really fun see the stories about how they collect the pieces and how they train. Also see the space and the planets its fun. This anime has a great work in the landscapes and small details very good, for example, how to see the space when traveling at a speed close to light.

Overall 8/10

For anyone other than me maybe it can be generic or boring, but I really like this show for the reasons what I just say

Well..... I got lost in the plot of this series.
I'm actually speechless and have no clue on what to write about this anime...

The series lost me at the end when it was explaining what was exactly happening...

Although it was interesting to watch it took me a few re-watches to figure out exactly what was happening in the series (Don't judge people who got it on their first watch. The amount of information that is explained in this series is a lot in one episode :/ )

I would recommend for people who are interested in sci-fiction genre anime
Or people who are huge fans of this series ... (As there's been a movie and an alternate version of this series; which I saw watch!)

This anime is the epitome of kawaii!

The Story(8):it is very unique and original and I haven't seen it in any other anime!It is also very interesting with all the flights and action although its pace is kind of slow(which isn't a bad thing)!

The Art(10):if you like colours, precision without getting to realistic though, and animation like the one in Toradora or Hataraku maou-sama or Sword art online then you are going to love it.

The Sound(7): athmospheric and calm like what it should be for the anime!

The Characters(8): all the girls have their own stories, their own secretes, and their own fears which are gradually presented ... as episodes evolve!Friendship and teamwork are beautifully presented.

Enjoyment(8): Apart from being extremely cute, this anime is funny, and makes you feel warm and fussy at times when music colours and animation combine!

I really do not know what to speak of this anime when I watch he did not expect anything because I do not usually assitir anime with cute girls who use magic, but he impressed me.

The story has nothing too are the girls helping the captain and an alien to repair his ship even the most surprising was the final stretch when he tells the story of Minato and the last episode that happened a lot that even I did not understand some parts.

Overall I liked him and not anything groundbreaking but it was good while it lasted.

All my reviews are spoiler free aimed towards people who haven't seen the show.

Wish Upon the Pleiades, A collaboration between Gainax and the car maker Subaru.

Some info on the staff:
Director/Script :Shouji Saeki (FLCL, parts of Gurren Lagann)
Chief Animation Director: Mai Otsuka (Unlimited Bladeworks, Shakugan no Shana, Gundam 00 Movie)
Art Director: Hiroshi Kato ( Neaon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in a Shell SAC)
Music: Shiro Hamaguchi (Hanasaku Iroha, One Piece, Tari Tari)

I went into this on a whim with no knowledge of the staff involved and very little expectations from the bland synopsis. Upon watching the first episode I was immediately compelled with the opening monologue from ... our heroine Subaru. What I experienced throughout the show was some laughs, excitement, sorrow, inspiration, a bittersweet romance, a bit of science & space education, a simple premise yet cleverly crafted story, I loved every bit of it.

Story: "Even shining stars that seem very close are actually far, far apart, separated by many light years. Perhaps we're like the stars we all gaze upon, shining alone in the empty void of space. Having faith that one day, our light might reach someone. Will you gaze upon the stars tonight, shoulder-to-shoulder with someone, and lend your ear to the whispers of their light? Mingling with the stars, as they shine so close together." - Subaru. With a natural potential for magic, Subaru unexpectedly stumbles onto the rest of the girls as they plan to catch a engine fragment. One of the girls, Aoi, just so happens to be an old friend of Subaru's. They decide since she found them on accident, it must be fate, and not an accident at all. The alien then gives her a "Drive-shaft", a dress with big bows, a cute hat, and make her the fifth member of their fragment hunting Magic Girl crew. Thus begins their adventure to capture the 13 scattered engine fragments so they can get the stranded alien whose ship broke down back home. Things take a sudden turn when a mysterious boy cloaked in black interferes with the capture to take the fragments for himself. For the most part the story is pretty straight forward. The Prez/Alien predicts a forecast, they go after the fragment, each fragment becoming harder to capture by being farther out into the universe or at ridiculous speeds, and of course at every step of the way, they must deal with the boy who continues to get in their way. In-between these events, Subaru meets another boy named Minato in a hidden dimension only she can find every so often at random. She spends time confiding her worries and discussing things she finds hard to tell her "old friend" Aoi. The narrative is at a quick pace and somewhat vague, until all of a sudden more than half way through the season, it all comes together like, "Ehhhhh?!?!?".

Characters: For the most part, they are kinda... bland in personality, but moe as f@#$..... Ehm emm. Anyway. Subaru is a timid and clumsy Mary Sue who is always unsure of herself but manages to pull through for the Magic crew after an self inflating pep talk. Aoi is rather impatient, it's obvious she cares about her friends but has a hard time expressing her feeling. Hikaru is confident she can excel at anything and sometimes reckless. Nanako is the emotionless kuu character who only speaks when she has something enlightening to the situation. And Itsuki is just kinda... there to be cute every now and then. They do have some interesting back stories. They all get a single episode about their regrets and the opportunity to overcome that sorrow. They're rather typical and not very fleshed out, but it's more about providing the narrative some material to wrap the show up with the moral of .... you guessed it... friendship. The meat of the show is with Subaru.

Art & Animation: Is pretty good. They do use some CGI but a lot of action is also drawn. The way some of the scenes are drawn make for some intense moments. Gainax didn't go cheap on this show. The backdrops of the sky and out in space were beautiful. Especially the eye-catches.

Sound: Pretty decent. Love the OP and ED. There are a few catchy tunes used here and there for fun. The music indeed added to the action, suspense, and romance. They spent some budget here as well.

Enjoyment: Ever though the characters were a bit bland and the story was basically a moral lesson in friendship, it could also be a bit convoluted with it's lightning fast pace. It was well crafted, you think you see what's going on, then they mislead and confuse you, then EP 9 just breaks the show wide open. I honestly don't know exactly what it is, but something about this show made me anxiously await the next episode. And I was left with a somewhat satisfying yet bittersweet conclusion.

As far as recommending the show, it depends, I'm a sucker for light romance and sweet stories of friendship. Keep in mind this is a G rated show. The story has some twists that aren't 'shock value" but are just a good turn of events. There is a bit of philosophical depth but it's kinda cliche in the same breathe. The action was fun to watch and the dry humor is amusing. Most people will turn away from the show from the image, claiming it as I quote, "an anime for sissy men". I think it's really underrated and not getting enough attention. I love it. It's a 7, but I'm going to give it an 8/10 personally.

very different from others magical girl anime, this one had so much meaning behind it, it's not that kind magical girl where they have to save the world, it's a magical girl where the girls actually just a normal person who's trying to find her true self.

what i don't like about this show is that they put a little romance in it on second half, i thought they're just going to focus on magic, astronomy & how the girls try to save the alien build her ship back.

slow pace but worth to watch, if there's no 'romance' in it i will give this show 9/10, ... i wish the show keep focusing on magic & astronomy.


sorry for my bad english

Houkago No Pleiades is a magical girl anime that involves the girls gathering fragments to help an alien fix his spaceship. When I take a look at the synopsis of the show, I was interested. I mean seriously, I was like "I should watch this anime!". Well, it turned out not what I've expected for a magical girl anime.

The story was a little slow but I'm glad that they gave each of the characters their own episodes. I got to know the characters because of this. The art was good and the first time I saw CG outside an idol anime. The opening and ending ... songs were the only masterpieces in the series xDDD. Each of the characters personalities were different but they needed more development. I find the series' enjoyment a little off. I mean, I already enjoyed the series as it is when I entered the 7th episode. Overall, the series is great and I find the star theme very interesting.

I for one have watched really questionable anime (specially the first ever one I've reviewed on this site)

I wanna point this out first that I have zero clue what the hell happened with the story since it has been confusing since the start up to the end

All I know is that this was a collaboration anime with [insert brand here] and I just said "I don't have anything to watch and I'm bored so I'll just finish this" and yes I did finish it, confused, really confused

Story | 5/10
Only thing I have to say here is its just confusing

Art | 10/10
The art was just the ... style I really like and it looks amazing

Sound | 10/10
Don't have any preferences really, as long as you can hear audible audio its perfect

Character | 8/10
It was confusing since [spoiler warning] they were making Minato and the horned person sound so different but in the end its still him and my hunch was right, overall though I like what they did for every character

Enjoyment | 7/10
I enjoyed the anime, somewhat got bored since again it was really confusing

Overall | 7/10
I'd say for a confusing anime it was a decent one to watch, not much to say since everything is above

I started watching with no expectactions, good or bad, at all and I ended up loving it.

Characters

This anime has a very small cast, just the bare maho shojo essentials: the magical girl team, the talking creature companion and the antagonist. We see small glimpses of their families and classmates, but they aren't even named.

Subaru is our main girl, we see the story throught her eyes for the most part since she's the latest member of the group. She's your classical clumsy but full of hope protagonist. She loves astronomy and is the sole member of the club at her school. Subaru used to be Aoi ... childhood best friend, but as the show starts, they're longing for eachother friendship in the distance. Aoi is a sweet girl who is always ready to help a friend, but she questions if her motivations are truly selfless or not. Hikaru is a clever and cheerful girl with perfect hearing. Her father is a musiciand and her mother works in the astrophysics field, so she knows a lot about both things. Itsuki is the femenine and sensible girl of the bunch, or is she? Nanako is the misterious and mature one. She wears a cloak and a witch hat with long bunny ears and she knows a lot of languages.

Nanako is also the interpret for the pressident or the Pleiadeian, the nickname they gave to the little alien they are helping out, as she is the only one that can understand him. He is the source of power, information and guidance for the girls. He needs them to find and collect fragments of the engine of the spaceship he and his people travel in.

Minato, from the very first episode, has a dual role in the story. On one hand, he is the melancholic but gentle boy that Subaru finds inside a conservatory full of blue butterflies. They meet randomly when Subaru opens a doorand the conservatory appears in the other side, instead of the room she wanted to enter. Minato and Subaru become friends even if they don't fully understand the things that the other is talking about. On the other hand, he is a mage shearching for the fragments for his own cause. They don't recognice each other when they transform.

Overall, the characters are simple but well rounded, each one with their own struggles. Their interactions are both funny and heartfelt when needed. The friendships feel beliable and make you rot for them.

Story

Subaru is going back to her school before the sunset because there is a meteor shower that night that she wants to see from the observatory. Once there, she opens a door just to find out her stranged chilhood friend Aoi and three other girls in weird but cute costumes, a blob looking aliend and a window that works as a portal to outer space. They're all surprsed that she can see them at all and the pressident says that that means that she is the fifth member of the team. Subaru is confused but eager to help, so she goes with them to catch the fragment and they succeed for the first time.

From there, we learn little by little the rules that their powers follow, based in real astrophysics but with fantasy/scifi tweaks. The episodes have the basic maho shojo structure: they have a small mission in each one and the narrative is centered in the backstory of one of the girls and in her inner struggles as a growing girl. Every one has space to shine and grow.

With only 12 episodes, is a very simple but warm story. It's funny, sweet and well paced. The tension grows slowly at first, but faster and faster as it reach the end. There are a few clichés, but they manage to make them fresh again.

Transformations, props and everything magical

They all have a main transformation and a swimsuit one, including Minato. The main outfit it's the same for all the girls except for the hat they wear, that matches eachone personality and role in the group. It has a sailor/marine feel to it, but with star motives and big bows in the signature color of each girl. It still manages to not look like the sailor senshis uniforms at all. It consists of a sleeveless white coat with a scallop collar decorated with a big bow and four point star, epauletes on the soulders a long tail on the back for the top part; a pleated white skirt for the bottom, long white socks and gloves and a hat. In the swimsuit transformation, they all have different suits, being bikinis most of them and a one piece for Nanako. This transformation was only seen in one episode. Minato usually wears a red and black suit with a long cape and little horns on his head while transformed. In the swimsuit transformation, he wears what look to me as generic sport/beach clothes in red and black.

All six of them have a "transmission axis" if I recall the name correctly: a long metal rod with a four point star in the back that they use to fly and capture the fragments. It's a odd mixture of a magic wand, a witch broom and a subaru car. Each one is made out of a personal possesion of the character that transforms with them. The doors and windows work as portals, but are protected from outsiders, so they can travel long distances to find the fragments.

Their powers are very limited at first, but become stronger overtime at an engaging pace. They're able to fly, breath in outer space and to capture the fragments that move and look like shooting stars.

Conclusion

This is a light show with some sad moments, but a general hopeful feel. It follows the classic maho shojo tropes and uses clichés in an interesting way. It has a bit of fanservice, specially in the underwater episode, that clashes with the rest of the anime. It doesn't feel like a car ad at all. The desings are cute, the characters are likable and the easy to follow story manages to convey a wide range of emotions very well.

8/10. I would recomend it to maho shojo fans looking for something brief and lightheartet, specially younger teens.

This is another original anime that aired in this season (Spring 2015) along with punch line.

Also welcome to the anime which uses ford engines. So if you watch the anime be sure you know which ford is being used when and where and why. Anyway back to reviewing this anime

Story: 5/10 The story was pretty good and interesting until Episode 9/10. After that everything went downhill. I expected the last episode to be atleast good but the last episode didn't make sense. This was supposed to have a nice story. Why Gainax? Why did you do this? All I can say is that don't expect ... much from this anime as the ending sucked.

Sound: 8/10 Oh those ford engine sounds is so good *Insert Oh Yes Meme Here" the OP music was catchy to me. Let's discuss ford engine sounds this review as I love those engine sounds. Are you a fan of cars? Yes? Then watch this anime for the sound. No? Then Still go watch thi anime and become the fan of the awesome ford car engines.

Characters: 6/10 At first they looked like they were unique but in the end everyone was same except Minato-kun. He was a special character. Also I hate the fact that Gainax only looked at those girls point of view and not by Minato's point of view. If you put a damn character then atleast show his point of view. Showing his past ain't helping anyone or the viewers. *Insert pissed off meme here*

Animation: 9/10 Only thing this anime had was really beautiful animation and nothing else. No more comment

Enjoyment: 6/10 Even the damn enjoyment was limited in the end. What did Gainax want to make? An enjoyment anime with seriousness or a serious anime with enjoyment? I have no idea.

Overall: Was a shit anime in the end. All my expectations thrown away just like a rock is thrown. I still will recommend you to watch the anime as atleast there is good animation for only animation looking people.

Overall score: 6.8/10