CREST OF THE STARS
When it comes to Crest of the Stars and people’s opinions, this is one of the most divisive series in anime history. People seem to hate it or completely love it beyond measure. There is no in-between. However, luckily enough, when I did a proper viewing of this series, I found a lot of things to be poorly executed, and I found a lot of good stuff in it too. It’s not a bad series by any means, but it isn’t good either, so where does it land? Let’s take an in-depth look at Crest of the Stars.
Crest of the Stars is based in a bleak future where a new race that humans formerly engineered has taken over the galaxy and become a feudal nation within the galaxy. The only opposition they face is different human groups, each with their own agendas. The Abhs are these genetically modified humans that have taken over the world. The series focuses on two different stories; both of these stories are connected and often intertwine within the series.
The first and most important story in Crest of the Stars is of Jinto and Lafiel. I’d get into spoiler territory, which I really dislike, so without giving away much, most of the story focuses on these two characters, their dynamic, and their development as both characters and as a duo. The second story is that of political agendas between different factions, such as The Abhs and the remainder of the human factions that rebel against them.
Crest of the Stars starts off so darn strong with its artistic character choices and its incredibly nuanced take on a PG-13 storytelling format. Honestly, it might actually seem downright insane of me to ultimately say that I think it is a very mediocre show.
Most of Jinto and Lafiel’s story revolves entirely around being tossed by the events that happen to them. None of their decisions make much sense within the confines of their world, and as it happens to be, all they do is go with the flow for the entirety of the series. That being said, I feel like Jinto and Lafiel are both EXTREMELY well-written characters that are highly fun to watch on screen.
The series chooses to incorporate many dialogue sequences for its characters, which helps them develop a lot over time. Jinto is a VERY human character; however, he’s put into a highly unique situation that helps us relate to his reactions better. Fan-favorite Lafiel, on the other hand, brings an element of logic to their duo. She’s a very logical and intelligent character, but she’s not a genius and makes most of her decisions based on the betterment of her people. There are many more characters in this saga, too; however, sadly enough, none of them are developed as well as Jinto and Lafiel.
I can describe the art and animation for this series simply as “average.” It looks and moves like an anime from the 90s, and that is what it is. It’s not some revolutionary, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop type stuff; it’s very regular, and it’s very bland. At times, the art can be quite pleasant; there are battleships, star systems, planets in the distance, and many different locations explored in the series, each with its very own atmospheric tone and design.
There’s definitely a ton of attention to detail in this aspect of the series; every location and object feels like it belongs in its world. This can be said with the character designs too. For example, the Abh, such as Lafiel, are beautiful and robust vampire-looking creatures with distinctly blue hair. While humans, such as Jinto, are very regular-looking anime figures that don’t have much personality outside of that.
The animation itself is decent; however, not much of that involves a lot of movement. Most of the series revolves around long conversations in different locations, rendering the animation team safe. However, when it comes to the battle sequences; there’s a lot of colossal gunfire, lasers, missiles, ships, and explosions to keep you engaged; however, they do take you out of it sometimes because of how rugged the animations look at times.
Soundtrack-wise, it brings nothing new to the table. It feels like a typical space opera orchestral soundtrack, but it’s missing a lot of the weight and the oomph that other space series such as Cowboy Bebop, Legend of Black Heaven, and Evangelion had. The OP is sublime, though, and the ending song is just bland 90’s Japanese pop music.
To be fair, I still think that this series is definitely worth a watch. However, I cannot call it a great or even a good series, in my sensible opinion. The best parts of Crest of the Stars are its characters, and the characters hold this series together. Even these characters and the incredible voice acting can’t save this series from some of the most unpolished writing in the latter half.
Many of the powerful story moments are missing the emotional effects that you would want, and most of the arcs remain untethered at times despite the critical parts being connected. It’s an average at best type of show, and I would still think that it’s worth a watch so that you can see how well Jinto and Lafiel mesh together as characters.
