While NIS America’s anime division have released some more serious titles such as Usagi Drop and my North American Anime Release of the Year 2012 ‘anohana: The Flower we Saw That Day’, they also have licensed and published many comedy anime titles such as Ghastly Prince Enma Burning Up and Arakawa Under the Bridge which have been an amalgamation of storyline and comedy aspects – as several of their video game releases have involved in some part. Their latest anime release – Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl is sort of a merger of the two, a light-hearted and sometimes comical tale which provides an interesting and well implemented concept with strong character development.
The story follows Makoto Niwa, a student who has moved to the city to live with his aunt after his parents had to move away for work. The only thing is…. his normal enjoyable adolescent life (For which he has a positive/negative point tracking system) is thrown off track when he finds out that Meme has a secret daughter ‘Elio” who believes she is an alien and likes to spend her days wrapped in a futon. Throw in his new friends who are a bit out there and a flirtatious aunt and you have 13 very interesting episodes. While the first few episodes seek to introduce the smaller character cast and dwells on Erio believing she is an alien, this is not the sole focus on this series and while there is the whole ‘alien’ angle in some degree all the way through there is much more it it than that.
The true charm of Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl comes down to its characters and their development throughout the thirteen episodes. Erio does to an extent remain the focus of attention throughout the series, with the others having their development revolving around her to some degree – but given the smaller character cast and an interesting set of personalities they work well with the episode limit they have and all receive ample attention in the storyline. It is a series which uses characters and not so much storyline to deliver the viewing experience – with the storyline itself at times lacking a direction and not really setting itself out from the crowd.
While not all series with a male lead and an almost all-female cast end up performing well when it comes to an anime release – but Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl provided more than a few surprises. With an interesting protagonist and an interesting set of characters – this is a great drama / slice of life series which suits what I would expect to see NIS America licensing. While unfortunately the storyline could have been better in my opinion, the character development more than makes up for it and still led to an overall enjoyable experience.
Assumingly due to restrictions placed on NIS America when localizing this title, subtitles on the Blu-ray discs are locked on and cannot be disabled. The localization work is fairly solid however do note that the only way to appreciate the storyline without text at the bottom of the screen is through the DVD edition.
Design
Animation studio Shaft were behind this title, and given their previous works such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Bakemonogatari and Arakawa Under the Bridge I had high expectations when going in. Fortunately they were able to provide and this is a series that is worthy of receiving the blu-ray treatment in my opinion with strong animation and designs across the board. The character designs come with a good level of detail and a colourful design palette – especially in the designs of Erio and Yashiro. The environment designs were also solid, and complemented the character designs well – aided by good use of lighting effects.
Music / Voice Acting
The opening theme Os-Uchujin by “Erio wo Kamattechan” is an enjoyable track which when coupled with the animation highlights the standard I expect to see from an opening sequence – something that captures your attention, captures the theme of the series and sets itself apart from others. The ending sequence Ruru by Etsuko Yakushimaru tones itself down a bit but also boasts some solid animation. The rest of the music in this series is great and comes with a nice selection of tracks which are used well.
As with every other NIS America anime release, there is no English dub included and instead only includes the original Japanese dub which does itself well. Miyu Irino and Asuka Ogame suit the intended tones of main characters Makoto and Erio well, while the other cast members also do solid performances for their respective characters. I will give a special mention this review to… Ai Nonaka who voiced Meme in this series.
Extras
As with every other NIS America anime release, before a standard edition is made available they release a slightly more expensive Premium Edition with a few extra goodies. The hardcover artbox features nice artwork of Erio on one side and the other main characters on the other, and is of solid build quality. While NIS America have been quite creative with many of their more recent premium edition artbooks, often trying to tie it in to the series itself, unfortunately they were not able to do so with Ground Control – instead opting to call the artbook simply a ‘Story Guide’. Most of the pages are dedicated to each of the episodes but also feature character profiles and designs, a few interviews and is one of the better designed and laid out books I have seen from the company.
On-disc extras are simple, and include Clean Opening / sequences, a Japanese commercial for the show and trailers for assorted other releases by the company.
Final Word
Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl was a series well suited to NIS America and I am glad that they were able to pick it up. While the storyline could have offered more in terms of content, with a small but interesting collection of characters it was certainly an enjoyable coupled with solid design, music and the normal goodies that come with a NIS America premium edition release.
Final Score
Storyline / Character Development: B
Design: A
Music/Voice Acting: A-
Extras: B+
Personal Preference: A-
Overall Score: A-
