is an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 created by Satoshi Urushihara

Satoshi Urushihara

is a Japanese manga artist and illustrator known for his distinctive style of featuresque and beautiful characters. His work is the basis for anime such as Plastic Little and Legend of Lemnear, and appears in the Langrisser and Growlanser series of tactical CRPGs.-Early life:Satoshi Urushihara was...

. It was published in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 as a one-shot OVA. The anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 motion picture was first released in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 on VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 by ADV Films, in 2001 ADV announced that the anime would be released on to DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 on February 5, 2002. Like much of Urushihara's work, Plastic Little provides significant amounts of fan service

Fan service

, fanservice, or , is a term originating from anime and manga fandom for material in a series which is intentionally added to please the audience. It is about "servicing" the fan - giving the fans "exactly what they want"...

.

Plot summary

The main character of Plastic Little is Tita Mu Koshigaya, a young woman who captains a ship, the Cha-Cha Maru, whose business is capturing exotic creatures in the 'sea of clouds' of the planet Ietta, apparently a gas giant

Gas giant

A gas giant is a large planet that is not primarily composed of rock or other solid matter. There are four gas giants in the Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune...

 of some kind, and selling them to collectors and zoos. By chance, she saves Elysse Aldo Mordish, a young woman of her own age, from a rogue faction of Ietta's own military forces, led by the armored commander Guizel, who already killed Elysse's scientist father. As the military conducts a vicious chase for Elysse, it becomes apparent that she holds the key to a secret that could determine the fate of the entire planet's independence.
Although the anime's overriding goal is of course that of saving the world, an almost equal amount of time is spent on character interaction. Much of Tita's crew once served under her father, and Tita has inherited much of the respect and devotion that he earned from them. Tita and Elysse's relationship is the focus of much screen time; Tita risks life and limb for Elysse seemingly on a whim, later explaining that she felt it was impossible to stand by and watch her capture. In a small heartfelt speech delivered during a sunrise breakfast, Elysse speaks of feelings for Tita that could be interpreted as being 'like love at first sight'. Tita has also shown some fondness for Nichol Hawking, a somewhat bumbling young man on her crew who has a long-term crush on her. Tita's feelings for Nichol are shown in much less detail, restrained to a small, chaste kiss on his forehead after Nichol has fallen asleep beside her sickbed. Tita never makes romantic feelings clear for either of the possible love interests.

In a short mini-series of comics that followed the OVA, this tendency to use action and adventure mostly as a vehicle for character interaction continues. Elysse and Tita are not together physically, but apparently keep in very regular communication via videophone. (For which communications, Tita does not seem particularly inclined to wear clothes.) Other issues see Tita searching the Cloud Sea in the vain hope her father might somehow still be alive, and helping Nichol to win a race he's been attempting for years. Much is made of a family dynamic among the crew, with Balboa an obvious father figure for Tita, Mei as mother, and Mikhail as gruff grandfather.

Major characters

Titaniva Mu Koshigaya

The chief heroine of Plastic Little, Titaniva Mu Koshigaya (or Tita to her friends) is the captain of the Cha-Cha Maru, a petshop hunter ship she inherited from her father, Gentaro Koshigaya. A tomboy at heart, whenever she gets time away from the gas ocean, Tita often enjoys riding on her jetcycle. However, Tita would prefer to cruise the gas ocean. Although it is apparent her father is dead, Tita still believes that a part of Gentaro still lives or that he may be still alive.

In the manga version of Plastic Little, it is further known that Tita also has the ability to sense weather patterns at least a day ahead of time. She can even know if a storm is due just because of the air currents.

Elysse Aldo Mordish

The target of Lord Guizel's search, Elysse Aldo Mordish had escaped the gravity belt complex with the aid (and ultimate sacrifice) of her father, Nalderof Aldo Mordish. Her last twelve digits of her D.N.A. sequence, decoded using the BRG method, is the code to unleashing the Gravity Destruction Ray, a potent weapon created from one of the gravity belts which could destroy the island colony.

When she was first rescued by Tita, she was more than a little bashful, even when Tita invited her to the Cha-Cha Maru's bathhouse (and VERY embarrassed when Tita accidentally fondled her when she helped her undress for that bath). However, as time went on, she began to trust her. However, in the end, Ellyse decided to go back to the colony to continue her father's work.

Mei Lin Jones

Medical officer on board the Cha-Cha Maru, Mei Lin Jones is charged with the health of the crew. The medical talents of this stunning beauty is tested to the limit, especially when Tita is gravely injured at the hands of Guizel.

In the manga, Mei is depicted as a sister figure to Tita; Tita was raised as part of Mei's family after her father died. It is also revealed that Mei once saved Tita's life when Tita was suffering from a deadly disease called 'Ietta Fever.' She is also a skilled martial artist.

Mikhail Diagilev

The chief engineer of the Cha-Cha Maru, Mikhail Diagilev might be the most loyal supporter of Tita on board. His service goes back to Tita's father the previous owner of the Cha-Cha Maru. He still bears guilt of allowing Tita's father to die when he jettisoned the engineering section eleven years prior and would die rather than seeing Tita die as well.

Nichol Hawking

Nichol Hawking, the Cha-Cha Maru's chief pilot, has a big crush on Tita. Once he, with a little help from Roger Rogers, spied on Tita as she and Ellyse bathed (and suffered a nosebleed as a result). Tita, however, got even with the both of them. When Tita was injured by Guizel, Nichol stayed at her bedside while she healed.

Nichol is an expert pilot. Although he tends to panic, he knows enough to keep a level head in a crisis situation, especially when Tita leads the Cha-Cha Maru against the rogue fleet of Guizel.

Other voice actors

Character	Japanese	English
Joshua L. Balboa	Norio Wakamoto Norio Wakamoto is a veteran male seiyū and budō expert affiliated with Sigma Seven. He was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and was raised in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. He graduated from Waseda University...	Aaron Krohn Aaron Krohn Aaron Christopher Krohn is a former Texas-based voice actor who primarily worked on the properties of ADV Films. Aaron was formerly a voice actor but he has since moved to New York City and is currently working as a stage actor.His most well known role is that of Ryoji Kaji on the hugely...
Roger Rogers	Ryūsei Nakao Ryusei Nakao , known by his stage name , is a Japanese actor, singer, and voice actor from Tōkyō Metropolis, Japan. He is attached to 81 Produce. He has also worked under the name of ....	Doug Smith Doug Smith Doug Smith may refer to:*Doug Smith , former MLB baseball player*Doug Smith , English flat racing jockey*Doug Smith , American former basketball player...
Nalerof Aldomordish	Yōsuke Akimoto Yosuke Akimoto is a Japanese actor and voice actor from Tokyo. He is currently attached to Mausu Promotion. He is a graduate of the Hosei University business school.-Television animation:*Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple *Angel Heart...	Guil Lunde Guil Lunde Guil Lunde is an American voice actor, mainly specializing in anime English dubs. Mostly, he is a contract voice actor for ADV Films.-Anime cast in:* Battle Angel - Dr...
Guizel	Hiroshi Naka Hiroshi Naka is a Japanese voice actor affiliated with Production Baobab. He is originally from Ōita Prefecture.- TV anime :*Baki the Grappler *Clannad *Comic Party Revolution *Cowboy Bebop...	Bryan Bounds
Computer A & B		Matt Greenfield Matt Greenfield Matt Greenfield is the American co-founder of the now-defunct ADV Films. Originally an avid fan who ran an anime club in Houston, Texas with John Ledford , he and Ledford founded ADV Films in 1992. ADV Films began as an importer of anime, marketing primarily to the existing network of anime fans...
Computer Tech		Jason Lee Jason Lee (actor) Jason Michael Lee is an American actor and skateboarder known for his role as the title character on the NBC television series My Name is Earl, his portrayal of Syndrome in the film The Incredibles, his role as Dave Seville in the Alvin and the Chipmunks films, and his work with director Kevin...
Mercenary		Joe Pisano
Fleet Commander		Rob Mungle Rob Mungle Robert Louis Mungle is a voice actor for Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, Seraphim Digital, and OkraTron 5000...