Without doubt Alien Nine is a great series. The story is based off of Otani Yuri, who is a 6th grade middle school student who is elected, against her will, for alien patrol. Yuri has a huge fear of aliens; she can barely look at them, yet alone capture them. Yuri becomes the outcast of her squad of 3 at first as she is constantly crying and running away in fear. Which you can’t blame a 12 year old girl for wanting to run at the site of hideous aliens trying to kill her and her friends.
One of the biggest issues for Yuri is the fact she has to wear a Borg which is a parasitic alien that attaches to her head and protects her against alien attacks. Her teammates have a little difficulty understanding her as both of them run around enjoying themselves, but the team of three girls are eventually forced to depend on everyone in the team, and that includes Yuri who needs to get over her fear.
The series is hilarious at times and Yuri is a very lovable character, despite her constant crying which can get a bit annoying at times. Her other two teammates Kumi and Kasumi are nothing like Yuri, in that they never back down from attacking aliens. Kumi is part of the student council and deals with a bit of an extra workload at home. Kasumi is a child prodigy who is talented in almost everything imaginable.
Some of the best parts of the series were the unique storyline, excellent character development, and amusing aliens. Despite a lot of the positive there were a few issues, which is to be expected with any short OAV. In Alien Nine the plot is cut short leaving you with a lot of unanswered questions. Though, most of these answers can be found in the Manga which you should be encouraged to read if you want to learn more about the series. For a short 4 episode series, it is definitely worth a glance. Just be warned that the ending does leave you questioning a few things.