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

Tsukinose, Nao Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuusuke Japanese

Ameno, Itsuki Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu 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

Kasai, Tsutomu Producer, Planning

Awaji, Tooru Producer

Reviews

Jan 7, 2026

lazybishounen

Recommended

As someone who loves sports anime and has seen many series, I thought that Stars Align was a refreshing take on the sports anime genre. It had everything that you love in a sports anime, the friendship, the shared dedication, the excitement. But it also took a surprising approach when it came to depicting interpersonal relationships and family life that shocked me in a good way.

It told the story of real life circumstances that children face each day on top of just showing up to their sports club. I think it did a great job depicting the different ways that kids learn to cope under ... stress, and shows the resilience of children living in the face of struggle. It may have felt weird switching between the shining joy of the games and the stark reality of the players, but as someone who experienced adverse childhood experiences, that's what reality was like. You would have these pockets of joy in between the suffering of your home life.

I loved how this gave the series a chance to show the players building trust in each other in a deeper way than just having a shared goal and burning youthful spirits. Especially the lgbt+ storyline. It is so rare to see it spoken about candidly in anime. That kind of representation matters to the kids growing up in Japan who rarely ever get to see themselves on screen as anything other than a slapstick joke.

To those who use their anime as an escape from reality, I understand why you may be disappointed. But I think this is a series that everyone should watch.

ぜひぜひみてくでさい!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 14, 2025

Bruce_lightener

Mixed Feelings

This is not your typical sports anime! In esscence it should be a mature family drama dressed up to fool the public as a sports drama. We start like a normal sports anime but then we reach to the point where we find that every single character's family is a dysfunctional one and it feels insanely real. And the characters are all children which makes it a rather educational take on a sports anime. This is for the parents who have just become parents and don't know how to deal with everything. It's a series about what not to do for all the young adults ... and it's good. A strange part is it's a sports anime but there's not a tot about the sports itself, even though soft tennis is a rather niche sport they don't explain too much about it. It's a heartbreaking show portraying the loss of innocence in children and the only coping they home is a sport they are engaged in with their friends. It's a good watch but it's bound to give mixed feelings to people who watch it as a sports anime, but if you're an adult it's going to touch your heart teach you about kids and about the world, family society. And it's fascinating how well the story has weaved two very different aspects of life into one.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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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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