Review of Stars Align

This anime is very 50/50 when it comes to my feelings about it. I am disappointed it was cut off early, since I am sure it could have blossomed in a beautiful way had it been given the chance to really delve into the story, but unfortunately we have to work with what we have. On one hand, I really enjoyed this show. I am a sucker for slice-of-life, as well as dark and real topics, and this anime artfully combined both of those areas. The juxtaposition of the soft tennis club and what they had to deal with at home was really entertaining towatch, as well as all the drama that occurred over the 12 episodes the anime ran for, however that isn't to say it is a beautiful masterpiece. In fact, I think Hoshiai no Sora is far from a masterpiece. A lot of the writing is sloppy and rushed (granted, the show ran for half the time it was planned to, so we have to take that into account), and it felt like every episode something else was thrown in just for drama's sake. Which is alright when you're looking for a show to watch just for drama, but I was hoping for something a bit more planned out.

possible spoilers ahead !!

My favorite aspect of this show has to be, by far, the intentional and unintentional representation this anime gave. Of course, there is Yuu, who is one of the most accurate nonbinary representations I have personally seen in anime personally. As a nonbinary person myself, hearing them say the word 'nonbinary' gave me such glee that I haven't had the joy of feeling much when watching anime. It felt so honest and real. In addition, there is the case of the LGBT-coding that the other characters have (such as Maki, Toma and Rintaro) that myself as a queer personally really appreciated. I do not know if it was on purpose from the original writer of the show, but as someone who projects my own identities onto the characters of whatever media I am into at the moment, it felt incredibly easy to see myself in the aspects of these characters.

Overall, this anime isn't perfect. But it's honest, and true, and dark, and by God is it entertaining.

If only we didn't get that cliffhanger T__T