Customer Reviews

Crest of the Stars - Complete Series Set

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Crest of the Stars is not for the impatient. I remember buying the first volume years ago, and thinking at the time that I might continue watching it, but it was the slowest moving anime I had ever seen. This still holds true. The storyline on this one is much deeper than your typical anime, or even your typical sci-fi. The story revolves around young Jinto, who through no fault of his own became royalty, a traitor to his people, and a person without a real family while still a child.

The whole chain of events gets started when the Empire of Abh invades the Martine Star system and Jinto's father (leader of the planet) surrenders without firing a shot. Really, one might say that the real focus of this series is how different ways of thinking cause misunderstandings. When the Martine Star System is invaded, the Abh tell the planet's inhabitants that they are not interested in the planet, just the space surrounding it, and that the people can be ruled by one of their own. The people of the planet take it as an insult, rather than as an act of mercy, and view the surrender of their leader as betrayal, rather than as a brave course of action that probably saved their lives.

What really makes for an interesting twist (like some of the best anime) is the fact that there really aren't any good or bad guys in this one. Some of the things that the Abh Empire does could be seen as evil, and some of the things that the Abh do could be seen as extremely noble. One part of the series which really had a strong impact on me (once I understood it) was an old woman who was helped by Lafiel when her luggage was being stolen, and swore at her. Only at the end of the episode do we see what she was carrying (anti-Abh propaganda).

All of the galactic politics of war in this show is great stuff to be sure, but Jinto and Lafiel are the true stars of the show. On the suface Jinto appears to be a weak and mild-mannered person, and Lafiel appears to be a strong and resourceful Imperial soldier. As the show goes on though, we come to see that there is more to them than meets the eye. Jinto can be brave and ingenius (and even heroic) when he needs to be, and underneath that cool exterior, Lafiel is really just a kind young girl in need of love and understanding.

I highly recommend watching this one in the original Japanese, as it is vastly superior to the English dub. If you love hard-core sci-fi and serious drama, you'll love this show and need to buy it immediately. Espeically if you have the patience for a good story that takes its time.

Firstly I would like to start off by saying what an incredible value this collector set is. At only [money amount]you get 4 DVDs that would initially cost about [money maount]a piece where you to buy it separately. But who cares what the price is if what you buy is just junk? Crest of the Stars is a beautiful anime worth more much more than what you will be paying for.

People looking for mindless action like that of anime like Gundam and Dragon Ball Z will be very disapointed with Crest of the Stars. Crest of the Stars is not an action anime; it is an adventure, love story and political drama all in one. The story of Crest of the Stars is it's strongest point along with it's characters. Many of the episodes in this series are spent on character development instead of focusing on the actual plot, this might turn off some viewers who have a short attention span. The animation quality is great but since the anime is a few years old it isn't as good as most of the recent BANDAI/Sunrise projects such as Cowboy Bebop. The music is excellent but it is not typical of most Japanese anime as it has a more sci-fi feel. At only 13 episodes, Crest of the Stars is hardly complete, which is why viewers of this anime who like it should check out the sequels Banner of the Stars and Banner of the Stars II. Most people who are past the age of 12 and who don't consider Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z the best of anime will most likely like this series.

Jinto and Lafiel are two young royals, who are thrown together during an interplanetary war. The Empire Abh, and the United Mankind Empires are fighting. It raises questions as for who to root for in the conflict. I believe the Abh were once humans, who have progressed through genetic manipulation, and have now rebelled. There seem to be many conflicting reasons for the conflicts, and unusual treatment for the conquered. Jinto was the offspring of a political faction and somehow made a prince.

Beyond the political intrigue, we have some of the differences in the cultures displayed through Jinto and Lafiel. Jinto spent his life on the surface; Lafiel was basically, born in space. Most of the time, it's the Vulcan like logic, and intelligence of the Abh, Lafiel making Jinto seem very impotent. Things change later in the series, when they crash, and have to survive on the land.

It does appear that Abhs were modeled after Vulcan's. The pointy ears, long life spans, and stoic intelligence gives that away. Still, something is quite different in their war vs the human culture. The series has other intelligent treatments of concepts like hyperspace. I did have a bit of trouble believing that mines were an effective space weapon, but I suppose its possible. The space battles are nice and very believable action.

The main thing the series has going for it, is still the characters. The main characters and supporting players, are well developed at each point in the story. The story often plays more like a medieval era adventure, so it can seem a little choppy in places. Still, it looks like the storyteller stuck to their vision, and played out the plots of the main characters within it. When it all comes to an end you do want more, and they made two sequel series, both under the Banner of the Stars heading in the US. Its too bad such a richly created universe does not have the support to create 200 episodes like some other anime series. I guess it would cheapen the quality.

Crest of the Stars starts out very promising, with a mysteries empire know as the United Mankind Empire Abh launching a surprise invasion of our main characters, Jinto, home planet. When it becomes clear to the defenders that fighting back would result in the destruction of their planet, they decide to surrender without firing a single shot. The first episode, without question, is very engrossing and manages to catch the viewer's attention early; however, the follow up is hardly as noteworthy. The rest of volume one is as boring and dull as the first episode is captivating and exiting. I can 100% appreciate a slow, well thought out show, after all, Haibane-Renmei: Complete Vols. 1-4 is one of my favorite animes, but there comes a point where the story has to move forward and for the longest time this one didn't. For three episodes after the opening we are given very little besides horrendously long conversations that go on and on and on without any sort of break in between. Many times I felt like yelling, "Get on with it already" as the show sloshed its way forward. Although we get to learn a lot of history behind our characters, information that is very good to know, there is really little actual development until later in the show. Their personalities, their fears, their hopes and their dreams are all put away to the side in favor of their histories.
Lafiel, an Abh princess and female lead for the series, and Jinto, the male lead, make a pretty good team throughout the story, each playing upon each other's strengths in order to find ways out of tough situations. Although Jinto seems pretty useless during the first three volumes, his weaknesses as a character are more then made up for in the last volume when its his tern to save the beautiful (and lets not forget smoking hot) girl instead of her saving him all the time. It is also to be noted that Lafiel plays the strong female as well, if not better, as any Miyazaki character I've ever seen. She reminded me a lot of Nausicaa from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, or San from Princess Mononoke. How could such a young, skinny, beautiful girl be so darn deadly? Japan has a thing for beautiful worrier princesses, and Lafiel fits in with the best of them.

The story seems to pick up around episode five when there is a battle between an Abh space ship and a small fleet of United Mankind ships, an alliance of human nations which have put aside their differences to fight the aggressive Abh's. Unfortunately the battle itself is very dull, most of it only being shown on radar screens as if they were submarine battles, and the main characters go on a four episode sub plot that, quite frankly, was unnecessary and derailed the main plot considerably. The middle part of this series has little in the way of entertainment, substance, or character development, its just a really long and really annoying subplot. The one thing this part of the series really does well is give us a better understanding of how the Abh live, what their culture is like, and what their motivations are. At this point, I would have given the series a three star review, but fortunately it really picks up in the final volume.

Where the beginning and middle part of the series seemed overly long and boring, the final picked things up to a pace fitting of a sci fi classic. Gone are the fifteen minute conversations and stupid scantly clad bimbos prancing around without a clue as to what is going on, replaced by a generous dose of good action, some real character development, and well thought out scripts. No longer is Jinto some useless piece of meat who gets in the way all the time and always needs saving, now he is the one who's needed, and Lafeil might as well be Cinderella. As an Abh, she has lived her whole life in outer space, so when these two end up on a surface world they are on Jinto's home turf, and he shines like never before proving to himself and Lafiel that he isn't so worthless after all, not to mention Lafeil is even more striking in black hair if that is in any way possible. The last three episodes really do a fantastic job of wrapping up the series and making me want to see the next two installments, Banner of the Stars - Anime Legends Complete Collection, and Banner of the Stars II - Complete Collection. Although it doesn't quite end on a cliff hanger, it does give you enough of an incentive to want to finish what you've started, which is what I plan to do some time soon. Do not get this show if you don't want to watch all three installments. If you don't like it, you'll have wasted your money, if you do like it you will have to see the other two.

Whatever you do, please for the love of all things holey, do NOT watch this series in English. I am normally very tolerant of English dubs, but after five minutes of watching this one I had to tern it off. There is really nothing good I can say about this dub, the acting is bad, the voices are bad, and the main character comes off as gay in it, which he most definitely is not. Its a shame that a show like this gets such a bad dub, but I suppose that not every dub can be as good as Kino's Journey - The Complete Collection or Serial Experiments Lain - Boxed Set (Signature Series).

Although not perfect, the soundtrack for this series is very fitting and nice. When I first heard it, it reminded me of ET and some old 70's sci fi music, but I also heard a lot of similarities to Star Wars and Now and Then, Here and There (Complete Collector's Boxed Set). Very nice music, with woodwinds and strings being the most present instruments. Unfortunately, if also suffers from being played too much. Although I really enjoyed listening to it, I didn't enjoy it so much that I wanted to hear the same exact songs every single episode. I suppose that's to be expected, but still I would have liked to hear a little more variation with the song selection. the opening has a very old fashioned sc-fi sound to it, which makes it seem like an old classic as opposed to a futuristic tale, while the closing delivers yet another mediocre song to go along with a whole host of mediocre anime closers like Cowboy Bebop Remix, Volume 1, and EVA, but that, too, is to be expected.

Overall I'd make the same advice for this show as to someone looking to see Haibane-Renmei, if you HAVE to see action in every episode, if you NEED to see people get their arms ripped off and huge space battles, then this isn't a show for you. It isn't Star Wars, and it isn't Star Treck, there isn't a lot of action at all and is very limited in regards to its space fights as well. It's also very slow and hard to get into, but the rewards are there for those patient ones who are willing to sit though the fifteen minute conversations to get to the gold at the end. There's a light at the end of the tunnel in this series, but you have to struggle though the muck to get to it.

Re-watch value; high.

A few years ago I was exposed to my first anime. I was instantly turned on to it and have seen countless series, movies, and OVAs. Crest of the stars is not for the light-hearted as it is somewhat slow, however its characters are still my time honored favorites. While other anime might have more pretty flashes and explosions Crest of the Stars has an overwhelming character cast (specificly Lafiel and Jinto).

Basicly, if you like Scifi/Drama/Romance Anime and are not of the light-hearted, Get Crest of the Stars.

I won't go too much into the details of the show since I think anyone that knows enough about it to search for it here knows what it's basic storyline is. Not to mention there have already been plenty of people that have explained it.

So let me talk about the collection itself. I was a bit disapointed that the discs came in a over-sized DVD box instead of a actual box set a lot of other animes come in, but that was no real biggy. The DVDs are solid and the quality is good for the age of this show. There are four discs, each have a different colored look to them and when you play them they each have a different menu animation according to the episodes on that disc. Nice to see they put some effort into it. There is also a little peice of paper inside that which explains some of the show (like Abh terms, what this 'word' means, etc..) but that's about it.

One thing that I warn people about Crest of the Stars is the english voice overs, or dubs as most call them, are horrible! If this is your first time ever watching Crest of the Stars do not watch it in English first, it'll kill it for you. May even make you regret purchasing or even watching the show. Watch it in Japanese with English subtitles to truely enjoy it. The English voice actors lack any emotion at all, and I was really disapointed in that, probably the worst english dub ever conceived by man. Not to mention, some of the characters in the show (such as random people that just appear in the show to add atmosphere) don't even have english voice actors! They just left them in Japanese. Only the main characters have their own voices. You'll see what I mean in the first or second episodes. But if you watch it in Japanese, you'll love it. The Japanese actors display a great deal of emotion and even though I can't understand what they're saying without the subtitles, it's obvious they have talent.

Other than that there is really no reason to not purchase this series, it is a classic, and one of my favorites. Overall I'm grateful of the purchase. It has its quirks, and there isn't much in the way of extras.. but I didn't buy it for that, I bought it for episodes themselves. Which I'm sure to enjoy for a long time. 5/5

Crest of the Stars is at the top of my lists of things that I would love to see redone better. Hiroyuki Morioka's story is excelent and the anime respected it. For SF fans it is something worth watching and thinking about. It's ideas on war and combat on a galactic scale are outstanding!

The production and direction of this series are below average and the English dub is absolutely awful! That goes for the follow ons as well.

I don't think that many people would watch long enough to find the strength of the story and that's sad.

Even though it is comprised of only thirteen episodes, this is a thoughtful and carefully developped series. A dry description of the events would not really convey what makes it special or unique - it is the numerous little details that must be seen in context to be appreciated that create the unique atmosphere, or flavour, of this anime.

There is something very touching about the key relationship that drives the show - difficult to define why. A mood of nostalgia and faded memory permeates it - you will have to see it for yourself. This only gets stronger in the later series. Remeniscent of the mood of the independent short "Voices of a Distant Star".

A very worthwhile viewing experience for science fiction cognoscenti, and fans of more mature anime, excellently continued in the two subsequent sequel series (with promise of more to come).

P.S.
The only negative thing I have to say, which does not reflect on the quality of the series itself, is that the english dub is remarkably bad - this is really in a league of its own for horridness. How exactly do they go about making these dubs? If they ask nicely, I'll do it for them instead.

Crest of the Stars is a anime based on a novel and it shows. Lots of details, lots of background, lots of characters and lots of action. Jinto Lin, a Abh by title, and Lafiel, a Abh by birth, are the focus of the 13 episodes. They are thrown into the chaos of a galaxy about to explode into a war, but they always stay the focus of the story even when the events shown are light years away.
The Abh are a race who live in space and use genetic engeering to improve themselves. They believe that to bring peace to the galaxy that they have to control it - why else would they have massive battle fleets and take over planets that couldn't be a danger to their Empire? Of course, the other Human Empires don't agree with their viewpoint and also fear the Abh who they see as organic machines who have gone nuts.
The anime gives us the impression that the Abh have the edge in spaceships and military weapons, yet also show that even the Abh can be selfish and unsure of themselves. At one point, in the last few episodes, a Abh officer did not understand why the enemy fleet would attack him even after realizing that he had the bigger fleet. The idea that the normal humans might prefer to die in battle than retreat or become 'slaves' seemed to be beyond his grasp.
This is the FIRST part of a Epic of stories, starting with Creat of the Stars. I plan to get them all. I want to see who wins, even if I'm not to sure who is the Good Side and who is the Bad Side. Much of the story is seen from the Abh's point-of-view.

Crest of the Stars is a Science Fiction drama that anyone with leanings toward the genre should enjoy.

Jinto Lin, the son of a man who gave up his planet to the Abh - a race of elven appearance and a 200+ year life span - is emerging from a difficult childhood. When we meet him, he is waiting for the small transport vessel that will start him on a journey leading to his grooming by the Abh as a diplomatic figure who will hopefully help to deflate tensions between the races.

Although Jinto doesn't quite know what he thinks the Abh will be like, he certainly doesn't expect what he gets when he meets his escort. He's delighted when Trainee Lafiel turns out to be a friendly young woman, as curious about humans as he is about the Abh, who even keeps the ball rolling when he attempts a joke.

They're both obviously happy when Lafiel is the staffer assigned to him once they reach their mother ship. They turn out to have eerily similar childhoods and start to bond quite quickly, when complications arise. The Abh ship is attacked, and Lafiel is ordered to escape with Jinto and get him to his destination at all costs. Their adventure has begun.

A story like this depends on the chemistry between the two main characters, and it works. First of all, the gender role reversal adds an interesting element - the fact that it's Lafiel protecting Jinto instead of the other way around leads to a different dynamic than usual. Lafiel is quite likable, surprised but never condenscending when Jinto often misunderstands basic Abh psychology and - although she never says this outright - obviously keeping enough of a thin line between them so that she can do her job while still becoming his friend.

If Lafiel is likable, Jinto is even moreso. He's a wonderful narrator - thoughtful, sensitive and open. In short, the type of person you would indeed want to see acting as a diplomat in a few more years. He also doesn't sink into self-pity when he realizes that he's starting to fall hard for Lafiel in spite of the fact that he's completely aware that nothing will ever happen between them, as - barring a tragedy - he'll be long gone when Lafiel is still fairly young.

There are also some interesting moments involving Human-Abh differences. My favorite is when Lafiel, planetside for the first time in her life, bravely tells Jinto to leave her and carry on, as she is going blind - which she can tell because the stars are twinkling! (Jinto quickly and gently explains to her the effect of planetary atmosphere on light).

With two strong main characters and an interesting premise, the series is recommended. Just be aware that it has an open ending, leading to Banner of the Stars.