Hoshiai no Sora

Constantly outperformed by the girls' club, the boys' soft tennis club faces disbandment due to their poor skills and lack of positive results in matches. In desperate need of members, Touma Shinjou is looking to recruit capable players, but he fails to scout anyone. Enter Maki Katsuragi, a new transfer student who demonstrates great reflexes when he catches a stray cat in his classroom, instantly capturing Touma's attention. With his interest piqued, Touma ambitiously asks Maki to join the boys' team but is quickly rejected, as Maki doesn't wish to join any clubs. Touma refuses to back down and ends up persuading Maki—only under the condition that Touma will pay him for his participation and cover other club expenses.

Maki joins the team, and his incredible form and quick learning allow him to immediately outshine the rest of the team. Although this gives rise to conflict among the boys, Maki challenges and pushes his fellow team members to not only keep up with his seemingly natural talent, but also drive them to devote themselves to the game they once neglected.

As the members of the boys' soft tennis club discover their own capabilities, they endure personal hardships and deal with the darker side of growing up in middle school.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Katsuragi, Maki Main

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

Shinjou, Touma Main

Hatanaka, Tasuku Japanese

Asuka, Yuuta Supporting

Yamaya, Yoshitaka Japanese

Mitsue, Kanako Supporting

Mineda, Mayu Japanese

Ameno, Itsuki Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Tsukinose, Nao Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuusuke Japanese

Soga, Tsubasa Supporting

Toyonaga, Toshiyuki Japanese

Ouji, Arashi Supporting

Terashima, Takuma Japanese

Futsu, Rintarou Supporting

Satou, Gen Japanese

Takenouchi, Shingo Supporting

Satou, Keisuke Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Itou, Shousei Producer

Kyoutani, Tomomi Producer

Mukaichi, Motoki Producer

Reviews

Jul 30, 2023

JamieNormand

Recommended

This was the best anime I have seen all year. Everything in it made me feel happy. From the drawing of characters to the Tiktok dancing at the ending animation, I loved every bit of it - except for the cliffhanger ending because, unlike most anime, Hoshiai no Sora is not based on a manga - it is an anime original series.
Now, basically, it is a sports anime and it focuses on the developments of a boys' soft-tennis team and how their lives change when a new member called Maki Katsuragi joins them. If you only look at it as a sports anime, I believe ... it is up there with my previous personal best sports anime, Tsurune. However, as some other commentator here also says, it goes beyond being sports anime.
I have watched countless slice of life anime and Hoshiai no Sora/The Stars Align was the first one to include so many society-level and family-level everyday problems in it. Through the 12 episodes of the show, we see divorced couples, a father who extorts money from his ex-wife and kid, an overbearing mother, helicopter parents, a father who hurts his child and doesn't even consider what he has done, a mother who actually hates one of her children, an adopted child, a young man confused about his gender preferences - and all these in a very believable, very real-life-like storytelling. It shows how following a sport may make kids feel better, more confident, and how it canalizes them to establish good, solid friendships.
I recommend this anime series with all my heart.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 27, 2024

Destron

Mixed Feelings

This anime was a nice change of pace. Nothing crazy, nothing over the top. It's just Tennis. However, as much as I enjoyed this show, I can't ignore it's flaws.

I'll start with the positives:
The art style was nice: Most animes nowadays are either way too colorful, flashy, over the top or just use an abundance of special effects that sometimes don't feel like it need to be there. However, the art style of this anime reminds me of something from the early 2010s or even pre 2010s. It has that feel to it.

The music: Pretty solid, can't complain
The story was good. Again... It's just ... Tennis but with a few side plots thrown in.

My main gripe with this show was with the side plots and stories and they often felt rushed or just thrown in and never fully elaborated on or fully explored. This is normal for a 12 episode anime as you need to waste no time due to a time crunch. However, less is more and the more they were throwing in, the less it felt like I was caring sometimes. Episode 1 we're introduced to an abusive Dad from the main character. However, as the show progressed pretty much all the students in the club had some sort of issue or demon they were fighting. It made me care a bit less because it was just adding too much.

The other gripe was the last 6 minutes of the final episode. Without any spoilers it was a pretty ok ending. Definitely a plot twist I wasn't expecting but I feel like it could have been executed a bit better as they tried to rush an ending for the 2 main characters. Ending 2 stories within 6 minutes and filling them with drama is pretty much impossible not to rush. I would have preferred if they focused on one ending rather than 2 at once.

Overall I really enjoyed this watch.
9/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 19, 2024

DigiCat

Not Recommended

Fascinating for all the wrong reasons

From everything i'd heard about this show i expected there to be great depth in character exploration as they face the many tough themes that are presented, and it did have the potential to be all that, had the execution not been so utterly atrocious

I swear i have never come across such a deplorable depiction of the human psyche

There is not one instant with a trace of developement, analysis, or critical thinking, all we get is a constant bombardment of the most repulsive conduct parents can possibly have as that and their kids trauma and psychological turmoil is used all ... for the sake of melodrama, and the disgraceful portrayal of human behaviour does not end there

*light ep. 3 spoilers ahead (no plot detail spoilers)

In this scene one of the soft tennis club kids is getting taunted by a school bully, the lil a-hole says a bunch of vile stuff, and so tennis kid proceeds to smash the other kid's head open with his tennis racket, simply put because of some very mean words
Now credit where credit is due, most of the team's reaction to this insanity is "what the f*** are you doing??" as they immediately start first aid, but not only does the MC side with his teammate (and is somehow more concerend of a broken tennis racket than someone's broken head), but their teacher, the person who's suppost to be responsible for them, educate them, protect them, is brushing off PHYSICAL ASSAULT like "well you were wrong to crack his head open, but he's at fault too for insulting you, so here's some candy", no suspension, no detention, barely a lecture and this teacher offers candy to the kid who just sent another kid to the ER... what... WHAT... WTF did i just watch???

This isn't just a normal school yard fight with a couple of scratches and bruises where you can say "you were wrong but i get why you lost your cool", there comes a time when you have to draw a firm line and whenever it's crossed it's unacceptable and that's it!
I don't care how much mom traumatized you, you don't get to use that as an excuse to harm others, and you certainly don't get to claim self defence against words

And no, this is not the only time this series uses mental health as an excuse to enable bad behaviour

Like i said at the beginning of this review, it's deplorable
This anime is a masterclass on how not to write complex psychological issues and is infantile at best disturbing at worst

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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