The first episodes started alright enough. It’s the typical under-dog story, nothing special, nothing new and it was entertaining enough with its little spouts of gunplay.
I should mention that gunfights in Stella C3-Bu are certainly far less entertaining than old-school Gainax, lacking the brilliant execution and delightful animation of an episode like Brittle Bullets from FLCL. The editing tends to be clumsy. Girls jumping and barreling from one spot to another can feel choppy and jumpy and it doesn’t help when obvious shortcuts are taken due to a lack of budget. Camera angles close up and remain positioned on the face or on a gun firing so we never actually see the results of the action.
But while gunfights are visually lacking, they’re made up for fun, genuinely clever tactics and a good amount of charm. Sure, there are girls running off the walls and shooting machine guns upside whilst in mid-air, but fights are well thought out unlike something, like say, Jormungand where fights are played out like they came from the mind of a 5th grader.
But even with its entertaining action, Stella C3-Bu was losing my interest fast. A lot of screen time was given to the cast, but Sono was the only character remotely interesting while everyone else felt like they were just there to fill some space and honestly our female lead, Yura, was grazing on my nerves with her wimpy “ERMAGERD! AIRSUFT GUNS!” attitude.
It was episode four when Stella C3-Bu finally showed its real color. In just that one episode, Yura, was both well fleshed out and we got strong personal development as she became a whiny girl afraid of guns, to finally manning up and begin her journey with finding her true self. Unfortunately, I had fooled myself into thinking that this episode would be the game-changing episode when in reality the next two episodes were so below par that I had dropped the series.
Bear with them though, after the hump, Stella C3-Bu is a fantastic watch the rest of the way through.
The series takes Yura’s development farther than I initially thought it would. One second, she’s this wimpy girl and then she’s the cold bad-ass Omega wolf of the pack. Her development is handled flawlessly and her change in character never feels inconsistent or altered on a whim just for the sake of the story. Everything comes gradually and naturally.
We’re given a character who just wants to fit in but is soon corrupted by power and a need for vengeance, and the series carefully places each event that lead up to her ultimate downfall with firm direction, interspersing everything with small segments of the female lead’s own “delusions” and conflictions, all free of any plot devices.
While heavily revolving around Yura, she brings out the best of the rest of cast finally giving us a feel for the rest of the characters. We get to see clashing and drama, and in the final two episodes, we see sincere reconciliation and touching heartfelt mends.
The second half was so good. Seriously, what was up the first half?
Final Verdict:
Story – Starts off with a rock first half, but becomes a simple, but very well told, coming of age story in the second half
Characters – Yura is fantastic female lead. Side characters take a while before we finally get some characterization. Chemistry is well handled and even touching at some points
Setting – Typical high school for girls, but the “battle fields” and gun fights are creative
Production Values – Artwork looks good, but the animation is lacking in a lot of areas. The jazzy soundtrack is simple but effective and catchy
Do I recommend?: Stella C3-Bu doesn’t have a stellar start, but there’s just enough hints of brilliance and charm, so stick with the series and you’re in for a fantastic second half. Just don’t except this to be up with Gainax’s classics.
Rating: 7/10 (Good)
