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Fans of this 1999 TV series compare it to the live-action sci-fi programBabylon 5. Jinto Lin becomes a prince when his home planet Martine is conquered by the interstellar Abh empire. The Abh claim to be descended from humans, but have altered their genetics to give themselves 200-year life spans, blue hair, and elfin features. As Jinto begins his education aboard an Abh starship, he meets pilot trainee Lafiel, the granddaughter of the Abh Empress. Jinto is a good-hearted, unassertive character, while Lafiel vacillates between no-nonsense discipline and romantic daydreams. Jinto's puppy-like adoration and Lafiel's reluctant acceptance of his attention is played against the escalating conflict between the Abh and the forces of United Mankind. AlthoughCrest of the Starslooks and sounds good, with lavish backgrounds, flashy CG effects, and a lush score, the story telling is often spotty. The filmmakers devote too much effort to preserving details from Hiroyuki Morioka's science fiction novel and too little to pacing and character development. Aya Yoshinaga's screenplay suffers from an overload of Abh jargon, including such nonsense as "You put lope in your til nom?" The series ends with Jinto declaring he will always remain at Lafiel's side, but questions of divided loyalties, the rights of subject people, the legitimacy of military conquest, and the struggle for freedom are left unresolved. The sequel,Celestial Banner, followed in 2000. (Rated 13 and older: brief nudity, minor profanity, violence)--Charles Solomon
I truly believe I tortured myself watching this! Before I'm mercilessly bashed with no votes and death threats(cause you just dont agree, never mind if its helping a clueless buyer) I will point out the fact that this anime is not for everybody. And I'm one of those everybodys. First off, I dont like most sci-fi anime's(mechas and robots) to begin with. I trusted the 5 star reviews and decided to take a chance with this and neon genesis. And I hated them both. Not because I already didnt like mechas and spaceships but there was too much talking and half the time, it didn't lead to anything. Most of the conversations consisted of something like this, "why did you say that?" "I thought you said this." "thats not what I meant." So why did you say it like that?" "I meant to say this but I'm sorry." "well i didnt ask you anyway." Pointless. And the plot, if you can call it that, was very flat and really didnt go anywhere, it was just very slow pace for me and I lost patience. I didn't like any of the characters at all, and the battles were very lame. Except the last 2 episodes, but those fights couldn't arouse my interest cause it was already dead by this time. I just dont see the enjoyment behind spaceships being blown to bits and you dont really see it. Or very long conversations consisting of someone pulling rank on a subordinate who already knows the rules, or someone being offended by something that was said and the guy is defending himself for like 5mins. There is no action whatsoever until like the 4th episode and its nothin to really get excited about. Besides the animation there really isn't anything for me to say positive about this show. If you liked Evangelion, then you most likely going to eat this up. But if you hated evangelion, you like to see lots of action or a fast paced story, you are going to hate this show with a passion. It got to the point I was only watching this just to get through and make sure it didn't skip so I could sell it. And to those who plan on dropping your harsh comments cause you just dont agree or you think my intellect is just too low to "really" see what this show is about, keep in mind while your typing, its just a REVIEW on how I feel about this show. I'm not changing coke to pepsi. Or planing a murder. This is just how I feel about this anime. The entire story just didn't move me due to the slow pace and serious lack of action. As far as I'm concerned(I maybe exaggerating), this is the worst anime I ever saw.
Great Anime! 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. 5/5AMAZING SHOWS I have seen many shows in the past but about this one, I have to admit that it is truly an amazing show. I will avoid writing down all the names and terms that occur during the shows so that to avoid causing any "headaches" to the reader.
The story basically evolves through a galactic war among an elf-look-alike nation, called the Abhs, and humanity. Thing is that the first ones are human beings as well; they just altered their DNA and became something like a supreme human race. Moreover, they are conquering the galaxy and as it becomes obvious let us say, the "primitive" kind of humanity resists.
Apart from it, the amazing thing is that the story evolves around Lafiel and Jinto, the first is the daughter of an aristocrat and a princess at the same time, of the Abhs, and the second one is a human and a noble man among the ranks of the Abhs. May sound confusing, but in the series it will become apparent that some human nations have also formed alliances with the Abhs and fight side by side with them.
Having watched the complete shows, meaning all the episodes from "Crest of the Stars" up to "Banner of the Starts II", the viewer will definitely get hooked up with the show. As the episodes go on, the more attached he or she will become with the main protagonists, especially with the relationship between Lafiel and Jinto, that starts as a strong friendship and evolves to a... . Furthermore, the protagonists are caught up in the mists of war and have to do anything possible not just to stay alive but also to protect each other... As for the ending, it surely answers all the questions that me be in the viewers mind and has a satisfying ending.
All this been said, I will definitely suggest the show. But if you truly want to watch the show, than you must see it from the beginning, meaning to the "Crest of the Stars", then "Banner of the Starts I" and lastly, "Banner of the Starts II". The only sad thing is that in the end you will want more of these shows but I do not know if there will be anything new "out there".
