Girly Air Force is a Japanese light novel series written by Kōji Natsumi and illustrated by Asagi Tōsaka. A manga adaptation by Takahiro Seguchi launched Monthly Shōnen Ace in October 2018, and an anime television series adaptation by Satelight aired from January to March 2019.
Plot
Earth has come under attack by the Zai, a mysterious "armed group" using unusually highly advanced weapon systems far superior to any Terran military technology. A young Chinese-Japanese teenager named Kei Narutani and his Chinese friend Minghua, both living in Shanghai, are force-evacuated to Japan when the city is attacked by the Zai. During their escape by sea, several Zai fighters begin sinking the evacuation fleet when Kei suddenly witnesses the Zai being repelled by a strange airplane. When the plane subsequently crashes, Kei rushes to aid the pilot, but is surprised to find a pretty girl at the controls. After arriving in Japan, Kei begins investigating the origins of the strange plane, and before long he is captured by Japanese secret service agents. He learns from them that it was a Swedish fighter retrofitted with special technology developed by the JASDF. In order to combat the Zai, their technology - HiMAT and EPCM - was reverse-engineered and applied to existing fighter models, which are codenamed "Daughters"; but in order to function properly, this tech requires an autonomous interface unit called "Anima", android shaped human-like girls who are made from salvaged Zai parts. The girl Kei encountered, by the name of Gripen, is such an "Anima" unit who formed an emotional attachment to him when he came to her aid. When her supervising developer notices that effect, he invites Kei into the Anima project and act as Gripen's partner in order to boost her flight performance and prevent her from being scrapped.
Characters
;Kei Narutani ;Saab JAS 39 Gripen ;McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle ;McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II ;Mitsubishi F-2 ;Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet ;Minghua Song ;Haruka Yashirodōri ;William Shankle ;Funato
Media
Light novels
Kōji Natsumi published the first light novel, with illustrations by Asagi Tōsaka, under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint in 2014.
Manga
A manga adaptation with art by Takahiro Seguchi began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace magazine on October 26, 2018.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation by studio Satelight was announced on June 1, 2018. The series is directed by Katsumi Ono and written by Shingo Nagai, with character designs by Tōru Imanishi. I've Sound is composing the series' music. The series aired from January 10 to March 28, 2019 on AT-X, before airing on Tokyo MX, BS11, Sun TV, and AbemaTV. The series ran for 12 episodes. Run Girls, Run! performs the series' opening theme song "Break the Blue". The ending theme song is "Colorful Wing" performed by Yūka Morishima, Hitomi Ōwada, and Shiori Izawa. Crunchyroll simulcast the series worldwide excluding Asia.
