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SUMMARY

In the distant future, two gigantic space empires exist, The Abh and the Triple Alliance.  The Abh are led by genetically engineered humans, who prefer the comfort of space to terrestrial existence.  The Triple Alliance is made up of "Landers" the Abh term for non-space humans.

Jinto is a "Lander" from a planet conquered by the Abh.  In order to prevent bloodshed, Jinto's father surrenders, and sends his son off to school to become an Abh aristocrat.  He meets Lafiel, the princess of one of the Abh royal families.  Through a series of adventures, the two of them become the closest of friends.

Three years have passed.  Due to attacks by the Triple Alliance, the Abh have declared war on the "Landers".  However, both the Abh and the Triple Alliance have suffered massive casualties as a result. A cease fire has been reached, in order for both sides to rebuild their forces.

Now Lafeil and Jinto have been reunited on the attack ship Basroil.  Lin is the supply officer, and Lafeil is the captain. Assigned to Operation Phantom Flame, their mission is to provide interceptor support to the main fleet.  

The two of them, while still friends, are finding that life has taken a different turn.  Now, the two of them must fight not only for the empire, but to keep each other alive.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: The DVD quality is excellent. The CG elements move smoothly and are breathtaking. With a lot of dark blues, you would worry about pixels.  There are none to see.  This is a solid transfer.  

AUDIO: A bit of a shock.  The Japanese 2.0 audio is louder and clearer than the English track. The sound is crisp and rich. The English track still good, but it is a little softer and not as clear. The dialogue and music came from the front speakers of our Altec Lansing stereo system, with background sfx from the sides.

EDITS: No edits have been made.  This is clean and un-cut.  Even the open and close are the original.

EXTRAS: Text "newsletter" from the writer of the novels, Hiroyuki Morioka and a summary of the prequel series "Crest of the Stars" is it.  Oh, and a reversible cover!

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: Whoa.  Talk about your epics.  Based of the very popular novels Hiroyuki Morioka, Banner of the Stars is the "Legend of Galactic Heroes" for the 21st century.  Tsutomu Makiya and Yuchiro Takeda script is a story of love, friendship, drama, and action.  They also do a pretty good job of keeping those of us who have not seen the first series, in the know.  The dialogue does have a pretentiousness to it, but they don't overload it with hyperbole and rhetoric.  This is a "Space Opera" of the highest order.

ACTING: Again, another surprise, considering Bandai has some of the best dubs out there.  The Japanese cast is way better than the English cast.  The Japanese love "dorama", and some of the best performances come from these types of stories.  Ayoko Kawasumi spares us the "cutesy" voice for Lafiel, and instead, gives us a strong young woman. The rest of the cast is top notch, with the strong voice of Rika Fukami as the impassive Admiral Spoor.

On the flip side, I am not impressed with Jessica Yow's portrayal of Lafiel.  It comes of a little flat, and unemotional.  I do like Keith Hamil as Samson, and I prefer Matthew Erickson deeper voice for Lin.  

FAN SERVICE: Well, if you consider close shots of women in moderately tight uniforms fan service, well, you got it.

CONCLUSION

At first, I had mixed feelings about Banner of the Stars.  Despite the raves from publications like Newtype, I was not overly impressed with the character designs.  While I don't mind "old school" style, having been exposed to series like Nadesico really kind of soured me on the whole retro look.  Plus, I had a feeling that Lefiel would be the typical, high pitched, fickle, elf like girl that is the bane of anime.

So, when Bandai sent me this disc, I was tempted to put it at the bottom of my review pile.  However, after a Daiguard Marathon, I wanted something a little more adult.  Despite not having watched "Crest of the Stars" I put the disc in for a spin.

For the first five minutes, I was in awe of the magnificent space battle that unfolded before me.  The action was taught, the emotions were strong, and CG was smooth.  So in awe was I, that at first I didn't notice that they were weren't speaking in English.  It was only at the end of the open credits and I herd Jessica Yow's voice that I went back to figure out what was wrong.  Was their a glitch or something?

Turns out, the opening battle sequence was spoken in the Abh language, with no subtitles what so ever.  I was impressed that they had hooked me with just the animation, and not the dialogue.  I could not wait for the rest of the story, to see what would happen next.  

As stated earlier, this is a space opera. You have the two who should be together, but must remain apart.  There is the girl that will come between them.  You have the aid in love with her superior.  You have the military officer who has a connection with the past of the two main characters, and so on and so forth.  There are also plenty of sub plots, back room politics, and a pet cat.  If you love a good soap opera, you will love this.  Fortunately, it is all balanced out with way cool space battles.

I miss space battles in anime.  Over the years, there have been fewer and fewer "massive" fleets showing up in anime.  With the exception of "Nadesico" I can't think of any other anime made after 1990 that has space fleets in them.  Banner of the Stars brings them back with a flair that I enjoy.  Fortunately, CG makes this possible, and I hope that Banner of the Stars will inspire future writers to include a massive space fleet blowing the hell out of each other.

While the space ships looks awesome, the actual animation is a little on the simple side.  Not that it's bad, just plain.  Also, there is way too much blue for my taste.  I am sure that there is a meaning to using blue, but I could care less.  With blue characters, blue ships, blue space, It's just too much. 

While knowledge of the first series is not needed, reviewing the "Crest of the Stars" summary in the extras section first would not be a bad idea. Episode one does fill us in on some of the back story of Jinto and Lefiel, but it is mostly the old "I remember our adventures together when....." flashback.  You should also read the notes from the author.  I will help explain exactly what the war is about.    

One of the shining parts of this series is the musical score by Katsuhisa Hattori.  I love his opening theme, very reminiscent of the theme from "Star Trek Voyager".  I could listen to it for hours.  I like his use of electric guitars and keyboards to infuse a slight "rock" vibe into his majestic sound.  While not as prolific as Yoko Kanno, his score helps to get you into the mood of things.  I hope that I can get a copy of the soundtrack.

Despite its soap opera feel, "Banner of the Stars" is an interesting and captivating anime.  With it's interesting stories, great looking CG, and solid acting, you would be a foolish "lander" not to pick this one up.  

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