Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Spaced Oddity.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 12, 2013

Is someone at NIS America a David Bowie fan? Anyone who’s of a certain age (we won’t mention that age) who hears “ground control” and “to” in one sentence is automatically also going to think of “Major Tom” and Bowie’s iconic Space Oddity. The light novel series which gave birth to this anime series was actually called Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, which according to the not always reliable Wikipedia translates as “electric wave girl and youthful boy”. Now truth be told, maybe it was someone other than NIS America who introduced the “ground control” verbiage, but it actually gives a relatively decent indication of the point of view of the series’ hero, young high school student Makoto Niwa, who is sent to live with his Aunt in the “big city” because his parents have been transferred overseas. Makoto, who narrates the series, has dreams (maybe even fantasies) of what this new life will entail, and once he meets his Aunt Meme, who is a rather buxom and playfully young acting woman herself, he’s even more excited. That excitement changes to confusion once he gets to Meme’s house, though, and sees some—well, object— that’s lying in the front foyer. It seems to be, in Makoto’s thinking, a kind of “human burrito”, someone wrapped up in something. The fact that Meme pays no attention to whoever—or whatever—this thing is only adds to Makoto’s consternation. That thing does in fact turn out to be a human (or at least humanoid, but more about that later). Perhaps more strangely, it turns out to be Meme’s own daughter Erio, who in one of the strangest tropes ever in any anime (and you anime fans know how strange anime can be) walks around encased in a futon, hence the “burrito” metaphor. Initially Makoto is actually more concerned with settling into his new digs and getting his sea legs at his new school than he is in figuring out what’s going on with Meme and her daughter who dons a mattress for her apparel, but soon the mystery of who (or what) Erio is takes over and becomes one of the central focuses of this series.

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl is yet another rather odd little anime entry in NIS America’s offerings, and in some ways at least it’s a little reminiscent of another of the label’s outings, Arakawa Under the Bridge (and that probably no mere coincidence, as some of the same creative staff did work on both series). Much as in that rather odd little anime, we have a young male transported to an unfamiliar environment where he quickly becomes entangled in a relationship with a mysterious female. There’s probably slightly less of a romantic angle in Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl than there is in Arakawa Under the Bridge, and not just because the two main characters are cousins. Instead, there’s a more delicate examination of some slight family dysfunction as well as a more enduring mystery that is at the heart of Erio’s bizarre behavior.

We get an inkling of a perhaps supernatural (or at least otherworldly) element early on in Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl from both Makoto’s narration as well as Aunt Meme’s forthright statements that Makoto’s new city of residence has had an unusual number of UFO sightings through the years. Once Makoto breaks through Erio’s shell (not to mention her futon), he discovers a patently strange looking girl who rather incredibly claims to be an alien herself, part of a sort of expeditionary party that is already on Earth investigating the human race. But Makoto soon learns that there’s more to Erio’s story than meets the eye, and that is what gives the series its dramatic arc.

A lot of the anime released by NIS America has, either intentionally or by coincidence, often focused more on character than a lot of plot machinations, and while there is definitely a through line as well as some considerable forward momentum in terms of the unfolding mystery at the heart of Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl, this again turns out to be a kind of quiet, ruminative piece that focuses on Makoto trying to adjust to his new life (replete with a sort of quasi-harem that soon surrounds him at high school), and especially with regard to the enigmatic Erio. As such, while there are both comedic and dramatic bits that crop up in each episode, the series as a whole is almost dreamlike at times, with quiet talks between characters and lots of scenes of a gorgeous Japanese beach, where Erio likes to go, with Makoto obliging by taking her on his bicycle.

The series is probably just a bit too weird for the putative comedy to ever work really effectively. The best bits revolve around Makoto’s home life with Meme and the always unpredictable Erio, and while there is of course humor to be found in the mere sight of a girl wrapped in a futon, once Erio’s real history starts to come to light, there’s actually kind of a tragic aspect to it all, too, making any laughter seem kind of unempathetic and perhaps even downright cruel. The series tends to work much better as a sort of anime dramedy, with the unfolding relationship between Makoto and Erio providing some real emotional pull, especially after some of the major revelations about Erio have been made clear.

This is another gorgeous looking anime from Shaft, with some incredibly lovely backgrounds and excellent character design. The series, despite the kind of dreamlike atmosphere mentioned above, has a crystal clear, if at times appropriately hazy, ambience along with some incredibly fluid animation. While there may not be enough “in your face” plot elements here to sustain interest for some anime fans, for those willing to just go with the flow and let Erio’s rather strange story unfold on its own terms, there’s a lot to enjoy about Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl. There's a nice ambiguity as well as the series comes to a close and Makoto is faced with the realization that aliens might not be such a farfetched idea after all, and not just with regard to Erio.

Note: I experienced an intermittently freezing main menu on the second disc of this set. If I timed my entries with my remote carefully enough, I was able to access all the data on the disc. The disc surface did not appear to be damaged in any way. If any readers who buy this set experience a similar issue, let me know and I'll update the review.

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of NIS America with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As mentioned above, Shaft has once again provided an exemplary looking anime, one with some stunning backgrounds and precise and well differentiated character design. This high definition presentation offers splendidly sharp line detail, as well as a wonderfully vivid palette full of incredibly varied and very well saturated colors. There's also some lovely quasi-3D stylings applied to some of the backgrounds, especially the skies and starfields with clouds that crop up in most episodes. About the only thing some may complain about is the step backward this NIS America release has taken by only offering nonremovable English subtitles. This may have been a licensing issue (i.e., the master perhaps came that way), but it's kind of a shame, as it would have been nice to simply indulge in the gorgeous visuals without the textual distractions.

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl features the original Japanese language track delivered via an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 track. This is a rather quiet anime on a lot of levels, at least for the most part, with Makoto's narration often taking center stage, and many scenes playing out in simple dialogue moments between a few characters (often only between Makoto and Erio). As such, there's not a lot to exploit in the sound design, but there is some nice attention paid to ambient environmental effects, and fidelity remains very strong throughout the series, delivering everything crisply and cleanly.

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

NIS America has been carving a niche out in the anime world with its so-called Premium Editions, and Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl is no exception. Two slimline cases, each holding one BD and one DVD, as well as a hardback book featuring illustrations and text printed on glossy stock, are housed in an oversized and sturdy slipcase. The book has episode summaries, interviews with various crew members and lots of character drawings. The on-disc supplements include:

• Clean Opening Animation (1080p; 1:31)


• Clean Ending Animations (1080p; 4:31)
• Japanese Commercial (1080p; 00:30). Oddly, this has no subtitles whatsoever.

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl is a sweet natured anime that isn't bombastic or even particularly hilarious, but which casts a nice spell and ultimately reveals some unexpected emotional depth as it explores the relationship between Makoto and Erio. Even with what some will perceive as flaws in the storytelling, this anime is simply gorgeously lustrous, full of brilliantly vivid animation that should easily please most anime fans. NIS America has delivered another very handsome Premium Edition of a very unusual series. Recommended.