Wish Upon the Pleiades
Houkago No Pleiades (literally After School Pleiades, but known in English as Wish Upon the Pleiades) is a 2011 Magical Girl original net animation. Born from a collaboration between Gainax and Subaru -- yes, the car manufacturer; "Subaru" means "Pleiades" -- each ONA episode is around 6 minutes long.
The ONA is available for free on the Subaru x Gainax YouTube channel, in Japanese and with English subtitles.
The remake has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America, Madman Entertainment in Australia, and Animatsu Entertainment in the UK.
Tropes used in Wish Upon the Pleiades include:
- Anime Theme Song: Episode 4. After the final battle with Minato.
- Badass Longcoat: Minato's Super-Powered Evil Side. Eventually Subaru when she gets Minato's school jacket.
- Big Bad: Minato
- Bishounen: Minato.
- Cute Witch: The girls are capable of flying thanks to their weapons, though Aoi has the look.
- Chainsaw Good: The girls' weapons rev up like a car engine.
- Emotionless Girl: Nanako
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The President
- Evil Redhead: Minato
- Fridge Brilliance / Continuity Nod: Subaru, the company, is the Japanese name for the Pleiades, a Star Cluster. Guess where they're transporting the "President"?
- Gainax Ending: Subaru enters the artificial garden a second time. She sees that it's night time in there, and there's one flower remaining. Though it's not quite as confusing as other endings.
- Genki Girl: Subaru seems to be one, but then stops after episode 2.
- Hey, It's That Voice!
- Nanako is Yusa also a relatively emotionless girl.
- Informed Disability: Aoi says that Subaru is an idiot and isn't capable of taking up the Magical Girl job. This idiocity never shows up in Subaru. In fact, it seems that she gets the most thoughtful dialogue in the 4 episodes.
- Interchangeable Antimatter Keys: Subaru uses one key (Which looks suspiciously like a car key.) to open the doors in school.
- Les Yay: Mostly between Subaru and Aoi.
- Magical Girl
- Memento MacGuffin: Minato's Jacket to Subaru.
- Mentor Mascot: The President.
- Peek-a-Bangs: Nanako
- Product Placement
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Minato normally has blue eyes, which turn red in his superpowered form.
- Rose-Haired Girl: Subaru
- Simple Staff: Minato is the only one who has one.
- Sinister Scythe: The girls' weapons look suspiciously similar to scythes, though the blades look like the grille from a Subaru.
- Super-Powered Evil Side: Minato
- Transformation Sequence: There's only one, and Subaru was first transforming.
- The Unintelligible: The President, although Nanako can understand him.
- Weaponized Car: Or rather, the car has become the weapon.
- Where It All Began: The magically sealed artificial garden.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Aoi. And Nanako has lavender hair.
