Sky Girls

Sky Girls follows the experiences of three young girls in a futuristic military as they combat monsters with their exoskeletons known as Sonic Divers. It's a very good take on the traditional mecha fighting anime by avoiding the giant robots and adding young female leads for fanservice appeal. Tis one volume manga is essentially the same as the Sky Girls OVA. It does a good job of summarizing what's going on within the universe, but does little to establish character backgrounds or building any type of actual story. As an accompanying title to those that enjoyed the TV series, it does well.

The artwork in the manga is good as best. Backgrounds are very prominent and the use of tone is fair. The only complaints with the artwork is that it seems inconsistent at times. The biggest errors are with proportions as sometimes a characters head will be a bit too large for their figure. Still, it is not so horrible as to ruin the series, but it is noticeable.

The characters are as lively as they were in the OVA and TV series. You get a decent feel of all of their emotions and where their interests lie. Since the manga doesn't follow an actual complete series you don't really get to bond with them, but they are still approachable and cute in their own sense. Those that haven't watched the series may have trouble with connecting with the characters.

From beginning to end, the manga serves as a little more than a warm-up to the TV series. Just like the OVA that was adapted from the manga, it serves well to satisfy fans paletes and give potential fans a taste of what they might enjoy. Those looking for an in-depth story, development, and closure will be disappointed. In the end, the manga is highly recommended for fans of the series and for those who want to sample the series before jumping right in.