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Imagine being served a beautiful birthday cake, your favorite kind, whatever that might be, but it's topped with regurgitated pickles instead of a cherry. It would almost be exactly what you want, but that ONE detail would render it inedible.

That sums up how this show makes me feel.

The synopsis sounds absolutely thrilling, if fairly expected of a UC Gundam show: "After the One Year War, an Anaheim Electronics-designed Suit with nuclear capabilities is stolen by Zeon soldiers trying to revive the regime. Our Feddie protagonist has to get it, tragedy ensues".

It also looks and sounds amazing, my eyes were never bored from start to finish. ... The animation is as fluid and detailed as you'd expect a late 80's-early 90's OVA to be, and every Mobile Suit battle is a delightful spectacle of mechanical gore.

It's also the exact kind of plot-bridge that makes Zeta Gundam understandable (quite a task cause that show is often a mess). The political theater is so much clearer having watched Stardust; The motivations of each faction are consistent with their ideals, this is a critical moment for the development of the in-universe history for the UC timeline so it is worthy of being told. At a macro-level, this is exactly what a middling show like Zeta needed to be easier to follow, but that's the good part, the problem is the characters.

The chemistry between the main character and his love interest is bafflingly superficial and I struggle to believe either of them would truly have any romantic feelings, she acts like a gullible and stupid woman around him, which is not consistent with how the rest of the show tries to portray her. The main focus is on characters whose motivations and personalities are so shallow and hard to buy into that they immediately break my suspension of disbelief.

It's truly, truly disappointing execution in storytelling, in the most heart-breaking way. Stardust Memory is like being told, in detail, about the development of the Second World War through the lens of a cartoonishly fake soldier written by a sheltered teen who's never fought anyone or been in love.

As it stands, I would have much rather watched the supporting cast focused on since they're actually likeable and act like believeable humans rather than caricatures of dysfunctional people with unclear, unresolved issues. That way you'd still get supremely executed animation and the suspense of the overarching political situation, without the camera being focused on a gutless idiot and his spineless girlfriend, both of whom would feel at home in a bland throwaway romance show made for teens who'd rather mope than face their problems.

I'm absolutely torn. At a technical level this show is impeccable, from sound to animation everything is just right for me. The problem is only who the camera is focused on most of the time.