Review of Stars Align

"Hoshiai no Sora" is an experience I can't easily describe. It's incredibly easy to ignore as "just another sports anime," but it'd be incorrect to call it as much. The story involved is how they are connected through the sport rather than the sport itself. It's a driving point and a reason each of the different characters has breakthroughs for their characters, including in Yu and Mitsue. The story suffers somewhat from pacing issues in a few episodes, largely the last ones, but it has been revealed since that the series was initially meant to be 24 episodes and the studio cut mid-production. This issue makesme feel it's not the masterpiece it could have been and I hope we get to see the rest in the coming seasons.

Hoshiai takes a different approach to the overall sports genre in a way I can appreciate— The story was easy to get invested in and it's one of the few, rare animes I was capable of getting multiple people to binge watch and become attached to. I think that speaks volumes for the character development and story it wanted to give us despite its downsides.

This was also the first time I truly saw myself in a character. It's corny, sure, but Hoshiai captivated the fleeting image of youth and the darker side's of family dynamics/growing up quite well— What it wants to express about a character and their story does well, even if we never get to fully see the resolutions (Thanks 8bits).

...But actually, there's a nice realism in that fact as well. Life is messy, there is no perfect resolutions, and not everything will be tied up. So even if Hoshiai doesn't get its second cour, I still believe it delivered the idea it wanted to as best it could. Certainly, however, it is a story that suffers based on a forced lack of time.

Despite this, it's still a story that will remain close to my heart for a long time to come.