Ranked #4687

Starry☆Sky

Having played and completed every main visual novel available (at the time of writing this review) of the Starry☆Sky (I'll shorten it to S☆S from here on out) series, I was looking forward to the anime adaptation... very much so. Given that video-game-to-anime/live action adaptations tend to go awry, I set the bar of my expectations relatively low. However, in spite of my low expectations, I still managed to be significantly disappointed. I'm of the opinion that the anime was purposed more as an advertising medium rather than an attempt at an established anime adaptation.

The long and short of my review is this: If you can ignore the near-absence of plot and character development in favour of gorgeous guys with nice voices, then look no further.

~ Story ~

Very basically put, S☆S' plot revolves around the lives, trials and experiences of the students and teachers of Seigetsu High School, diving into 13 story arcs. It's essentially a slice-of-life series. There is a special emphasis on the show's only female protagonist, Tsukiko Yahisa, as she is involved in all 13 story arcs in varying degrees of significance. I also view S☆S as a "reverse harem" series, as Tsukiko is the only female student of the previously boys-only school.

This is wherein my first point of criticism lies. Give me a break! I'm supposed to be lead to believe that Tsukiko is THE ONLY female that wanted to enrol after Seigetsu High went co-ed? Having witnessed a boys-only school go co-ed, I can tell you that an equal amount of girls enrolled along with the new boys. It's not only "Mary Sue-ish" on Tsukiko's part (though it isn't her fault), but patently unbelievable. Yes, one doesn't go to anime for believability, but if it's a slice-of-life series, that's a different story.

Moving on, the story arcs are divided by the number of male characters that each correspond to one astrological sign. The thirteeth, for those unfamiliar with astrology, is Ophiucus. Each character gets a two 10-minute episodes each, and the said arcs progress in the order of the months the astrological signs are assigned to (starting with Capricorn and ending with Ophiucus).

This, of course, is foolhardy, because the creators are essentially trying to condense a couple of years worth of drama CDs and visual novels into twenty minutes for each character. As a result, you don't really learn a lot about each character, nothing really happens and nothing feels satisfactorily resolved. You just feel like you stared at colourful pictures for 10~20 minutes. To make matters worse, S☆S is riddled with poorly-executed cliches and plot devices. Some episode arcs managed to feel longer than 20 minutes, or worse, one EPISODE felt like a standard 22-minutes episode- not good at all.

~ Art ~

The animation was pretty shoddy, but not God-awful. Again, I suspect that the S☆S anime isn't supposed to be an attempt at a fully-fledged series, so I suppose the budget was low. Despite the subpar animating, the art itself was beautiful. The entire cast were colourful, and pleasant to look at. A special mention goes to the Seigetsu High uniform designs- absolutely brilliant; it was also nice to see how the personalities of the students somewhat reflected how they wore their uniforms- Kanata and Hayato being good examples. The background artworks ranged between mediocre and great- an example of great being scenes involving spring.

~ Sound ~

Not possessing even an opening or an ending, as well as a bland BGM soundtrack, the music of S☆S is frankly, nothing worthy of note nor mention. HOWEVER... I've watched many series and movies, but trust me- there are few works out there that can rival the magnitude of the awesomeness of S☆S' voice cast! Read the cast list and pinch yourself to believe it. Even the supporting-borderline-extra characters have some pretty well-known seiyuu!

~ Character ~

A common problem a large cast experiences is a lack of depth of its characters, S☆S exemplifies this too well- despite most of its cast members having two episodes dedicated to them and them alone! This of course, can be largely attributed to the shortness of the episodes; technically giving only 20 minutes to each member. On a positive note, with 13 different young men with different goals, aspirations and personalities, the advantage this large cast is the fact that you can't help but be drawn to at least one of them. Yes, their characterisations are shallow, cliches or both, but at least they're mostly realistic and tap into themes that are relatable.

Another large grip- more like disappointment- I had with S☆S was Tsukiko. If you have played the visual novels, you would know that Tsukiko is a Mary Sue merely there for the gamers to step into the shoes of. Focussing on the anime, though, she is merely underdeveloped and as flat as a sheet of paper. We learn a bit about her thanks to Kanata, Suzuya and You's arcs, but all-in-all, she's just there, like a ghost. If she didn't have her parts in some flashbacks, she's practically an extra borderlining on a supporting character. She's definitely one of the most underplayed and underused "main" characters I have encountered. To make matters worse, when she does make an appearance, she is so boring. She's the archetypal Shoujo heroine- clumsy and overly determined (to the point of self-exertion; "I'm fine"; "I can carry on!", etc.), but not truly "flawed".

~ Enjoyment ~

If taken at face value, S☆S is enjoyable. Who doesn't like a bit of eye and ear candy? If the fact that the plots are cliche doesn't bother you too much, you can probably enjoy its simplistic executions. It's especially good for those that don't like being confused or feeling trapped in a complicated chain of events. Everything is flat, but straight to the point and transparent... to a fault, in my opinion.

~ Overall ~

It's mediocre- VERY, VERY mediocre- but most of all, just disappointing for me. Once the novelty of the legendary voice cast and the hotness of the male cast wears off, the cliches- and maybe Tsukiko- made my eyes roll around a few times. Definitely NOT for anime enthusiasts that want a good plot- you won't find it here. I can almost guarantee that the visual novel fans will just watch the arcs of the characters they like. read more

This is a review on the first 6 episodes of the Starry Sky ONA. Each episode is 10 minutes. Short, but does it work. Sometimes yes, sometimes no...

Story: 6

It's not the best. If you've read the synopsis, you can tell that this will end up being a rather cheap series. A harem of 12 guys almost always leads to a cheesy disaster. Surprisingly, it's not as bad as one would think. There is always a laidback atmosphere to Starry Sky making it a easygoing slice-of-life series. Albeit boring. My favorite arc so far is Tsubasa's arc. It portrayed him well and made use of two 10 minute episodes. It was realistic for the most part, though it didn't manage to fully escape the cheese that plagues this series. There really isn't much really romance in Starry Sky despite its title. The first arc, Yoh, was the only one in which Tsukiko is a romantic interest. Speaking of that particular arc, I suggest you to just skip it. Really. When I first watched this series, Yoh's arc was what almost made me drop it. It's just terrible. Just skip it. Tsubasa's arc, which follows Yoh's, is much much better. Kanata's arc wasn't as good as Tsubasa's but it was still enjoyable and again, did not have much romance. Still, however good Tsubasa's and Kanata's arc was, this show really does not make optimal use of 10 minutes. The pacing is wonky and despite only being 10 minutes long, the story tends to drag. A lot.

Art: 6

I was stuck with this rating. The character designs were drawn by Kazuaki and are therefore very nice to look at. Kanata's hair is especially a source of win. However, the characters are often drawn off model and sometimes just look ridiculous and ugly. In addition, there is very little animation. In effect, there's just flapping mouths, no blinking, a lot of background shots, and little movement. This anime's more like a slideshow with a drama CD voice over. Studio Deen was never a bunch of animators, more like a bunch of artists. However, they couldn't make this series look good, despite the little animation and lots of still images.

Sound: 8

The music for the OP and ED are both instrumental and short, but they're decent. Very average, but decent. But what makes up for it is the amazing cast of voice-actors. If you go down the list, I'm sure you will find someone you know. This anime has most of the top male voice actors in Japan right now and they make the show much more high-quality. The monologues in Starry Sky can be long and boring, but since it's these guys who are saying them, it's not as bad. ^^

Character: 6

Given 10 minutes per episode, there really isn't much time to flesh out the characters well. However, each character has a distinct personality, a distinct objective, and a distinct past. Two 10 minute episodes are dedicated to each character. The first episode tends to be about their past and objective. The second usually wraps it up by either having the character complete their objective or reflect on their objective. Excluding Yoh, the characters have so far been realistic and enjoyable. Once again, however, there really isn't enough time to flesh them out and they all end up somewhat flat and one dimensional. Tsukiko being the worst as she has little backstory and a very cliche harem lead personality. Very plain. But, it's not too bad since she's really only a background character for the most part. And it seems that she will get fleshed out through the other character's arc since we learn more about her in Kanata's arc. But we will definitely not get any more information on the first three guys and they are all flat, but enjoyable.

Enjoyment: 6

Given the not-so-great art that gives me a headache, cheesy, slow story, and flat characters, it's very hard to like this series. However, somehow, it does make up for it. The voice actors are superb and are reason enough for watching their series, the character designs themselves are still pleasant, and the story doesn't come out as bad as it would seem to be at first glance. It's a very average series that I only watch when I am bored, but it's not a bad way to pass time. However, once again, I will say it again. Skip. Yoh's. Arc.

Overall: 6 read more