Spirit of Wonder

Spirit of Wonder has one two episode story about the Scientific Boys Club and their plan to visit Mars. the club has only three members, Cooper, Gordon and Shepherd. Jack is the son-in-law of one of the members and Windy is his wife, the daughter of Gordon. She also happens to be the mind behind the theory of ether currents. In other words without her knowledge going to Mars isn't going to happen.

There is also two shorts featuring China and friends. SHE is the main character of the manga and, frankly, I don't know why she has become a side show.

At first I thought China's voice actress was Carrie Savage but it turned out to be Carrie A. Daniels (Angel Tales). Jim is played by Crispin Freeman (Hellsing, Howl's Moving Castle) while Windy is played by Tricia A. Dickson (Read Or Die, Hellsing) and Jack is played by Justin Gross (I MY ME! Strawberry Eggs, Ikki Tousen).

The stories have humor and a touch of old fashion Victorian scientific romance but are too short. The extras don't make up for the lack of material.

In a small town lives a girl named Miss China, the owner of the local tavern and her friends. In an unexplained phenomenon, a message appears on the night of a full moon and she wants to know how it got there.

The story around Miss China's Ring includes many different stories rolled into one. The movie features the story of three characters and leaves viewers hanging, giving the impression that more characters and different stories will be told if this series progresses. The character designs are very well drawn and could be closely compared to the Disney style of animation. The movie does not contain any adult situations and because of that, I feel that this title is safe for the whole family to enjoy END

I love it! As an older adult, I'm delighted with the calm pace of the story, the lack of adolecent hyperactivity which taints recent film. I think of these characters, they are authenitc, deep and complex. I like the art; it's accurate to life, modest in color, almost perfect! The people really look like people, similar to studio Ghibli's work.
Best, how I would love to fly to Mars in a dirigible! To explore the canals Pecival Lowell mapped, the romance of Ray Bradbury's lonely Martian cities! Mars paitently awaits people with the courage and ambition to explore her... I wonder how many of you have forgotten the gutsy barnstormers of the past? It was not so long ago that great men built their own flying machines, unconventional machines like gyrocopters and even high-altitude dirigibles and flew! Perhaps to me Tsuruta Kenji's story is real, while in your mind it is impossible; that is the twist of the tale, and adds to why I love it. With the demise of NASA, building our own rockets truly is the future. Let's go!
I just wanted to note that there is another film called Miss China's ring, released earlier, in 1996 or 1997. As so often happens, it seems that other reviewers of this film have these two films confused.