Some quick Blind Buy reviews from the Sentai Sale

[El_Fez]

This was the year of the Sentai sale. I went up and down the big list of everything they had on sale, went "hey that trailer looks kind of fun!" and picked up a whole bunch of blind buys for super cheap. And so far I've been happy with the results (more or less) - and I thought I'd share as I went through this massive journey of discovery.

Lets start with. . . .

Rocket Girls -
Premise: Imagine the Jamaican Bobsled Team, but instead of Olympic athletes, it's NASA. They recruit a Japanese schoolgirl (of course) because of weight restrictions and try and get her into orbit.
Episode Count: 12
Year: 2007
Opening Theme: Kinda skippable
A shockingly delightful and charming series. A little slice of life, a little drama, and some surprisingly realistic portrayal of space exploration (aside from the whole 'Japanese schoolgirl becomes astronaut' thing). It's quirky, optimistic, easy-to-watch and whimsical. I really dug this one.

The Girl in Twilight -
Premise: A gang of Japanese Schoolgirls become extradimensional superheroes after experimenting with radio frequencies tied to an urban legend.
Episode Count: 12
Year: 2018
Opening Theme: Dark and moody, I love it!
This one starts kind of flighty, with with the show looking to be a Sliders-like Dimension Of The Week story, but it quickly settles down into a pretty compelling blend of sci-fi, mystery, and heartfelt drama with tons of great action (Old West dimension was my favorite of the dimensions of the week). The characters are all really well developed as each alternate reality forces the characters to confront their fears, regrets, and backstory. It's got some great animation and gets kind of dark and existential at times. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, especially when they start jumping all over the place, but it was fine enough in the end.

The Magnificent Kotobuki -
Premise: Imagine Area 88, but with Japanese teenage girls as mercenaries battling sky pirates in the age of Zeppelins.
Episode Count: 12
Year: 2019
Opening Theme: Total banger!
Oh my god this one was SO good! Tons and tons of intricately choreographed dogfights that really keep the show moving along. The series is a bit more episodic that what you would expect (there is some multi-part adventures towards the end tho) and the characters are very much archetypes (the Smart One, the Leader, the Hot Blooded one, The Serious Loner and so on), but the vibrant personalities and their camaraderie really keep things engaging.

Kandagawa Jet Girls
Premise: Imagine if Initial D and the old PS1 game Jet Moto had a baby. Then add boobs.
Episode Count: 12
Year: 2019
Opening Theme: Meh - kind of generic
This is the weakest show of the ones thusfar - that said, I'm still enjoying it. My god, so much gratuitous fanservice and jiggling boobs (almost to the point where I'm not sure if it's suppose to be a parody of Jiggle Shows or not), but it has an underlying charm and earnestness to it that I'm finding difficult to resist.

If there's a problem with the show, it's "show, don't tell". For example it's constantly mentioned that our Genki Airhead and Serious Loner leads have teamwork issues, but they don't seem any worse that the other teams. Or how their jetski performs worse in the corners but should dominate in the straights, but most of the time they're staying at a constant distance regardless of the track.

It was a fine way to kill an afternoon, but I don't see a lot of rewatching of this one.