Starship Operators (TV)

Although it may be tempting to Anglicize the ship's name to "Amaterus" or "Amateras" (which, incidentally, the Japanese staff used in the ship displays), "Amaterasu" is a sun-goddess in Japanese mythology. Given that just about every cadet has a Japanese name, it wouldn't be too farfetched to deduce that Kibi was originally a Japanese colony, preserving many traditions of the culture, including its mythology. According to the myth, Amaterasu was born from Izanagi's left eye when he was purifying himself of the corruption of the place of the dead.

There are three "bridges" or command centers on the Amaterasu: the primary command, weapons, and navigation/propulsion. The three leading male cadets-- Kanzaki Cisca, Kiryu Takai, and Mikami Shinto-- command each bridge, and nine women cadets are Operators on the bridges (some suspect, at the insistence of Peter Spikes). Should the main bridge become unavailable or inoperative, any of the other two staffs may assume command. Cisca was voted Commanding Officer (even though technically he's not commissioned) or "skipper" at the end of episode 1, and Takai and Shinto were both voted "first mate".

A couple of names that might be unclear: The "Kingdom", whose warships opened fire on the Maizuru, is a derogatory name for the Henrietta Sector Planetary Alliance (ヘンリエッタ星域惑星国家同盟). There is another, older confederation of planetary governments mentioned later in the series: the Henrietta Sector Independent Federation (ヘンリエッタ星域自治連合), or "Federation" for short. The Kingdom and the Federation have clashed before in small skirmishes, but for now the Kingdom has the upper hand politically while the Federation warily protects its own interests.

Particle detector "Kamioka" in "Amaterasu" was adopted from "Kamiokande"(neutrino detector at Gifu pref, Japan).