Daphne in the Brilliant Blue

Top of her class and fully expecting to pass, Maia Mizuki walks into the entrance exam for the Ocean Agency — the most prestigious organization in a future where rising seas have swallowed most of the Earth — and does not pass. Then things get worse. Within days she's evicted, robbed, taken hostage, and shot. Not exactly the career trajectory she planned. Rescued by two women from a scrappy help-for-hire outfit called Nereids, Maia gets pulled into a very different life than the elite government career she trained for. The setting is genuinely interesting — floating cities, submerged ruins, a civilization clinging to what's left of dry land — and the show uses it well as a backdrop for a mix of action, mystery, and character-driven comedy. The female-led cast carries most of the weight here, and watching Maia figure out who she actually is when her original plan collapses is the emotional core of the whole thing. It's a 24-episode TV series from J.C.Staff with a tone that shifts between genuinely funny and surprisingly grounded. If you liked Burst Angel or Solty Rei, this fits comfortably in that same mid-2000s action-comedy-with-heart space. Coyote Ragtime Show fans would probably get it too. Fair warning: the ecchi elements are present, so go in knowing that.