Review of Stars Align
I am writing this review after completing all 12 episodes, watching one per day. ### Story ### (5.0) It becomes clear throughout this series that (soft) tennis is only the background context. It's a somewhat twisted drama. I'm sure many like me have started this show with the wrong expectations. There are two distinct universes in this show: school and not school. When the protagonists are at school, the show is about what you'd expect from a typical slice of life with a bit of stuff you'd see from full-on sports anime. It's cheerful, silly, and inspiring, save for that one bullying scene. When the protagonists arenot at school, however, it's the polar opposite. Especially when each character has to come face to face with a parent that doesn't seem to love them. There's disagreements, abuse, even some blood.
I can't really comment on how realistic or exaggerated these bad parent-child relationship conflicts are compared to real life, but seeing nearly all of these characters being driven to a corner was beyond the line for me. The dark parts of this story weigh heavier than the light parts. I can certainly understand mentioning societal issues like non-binary gender and LGBT+, but overall I found the message of the show to be confusing.
I had hoped that the show wouldn't end on a bad note. The last few episodes, where the group really gets to play tennis, got my hopes up, but the very last sequence of scenes was like a stab at the heart. Need I say more?
### Art: Animation ### (7.0)
The animation is average all around, be it dialogue or action. I wish there was more action when the protagonists are playing in a match; we are just shown a few transition frames with score counts in most cases. I'm guessing it wasn't the focus though.
### Art: Design and Quality ### (7.5)
The artwork here focuses less on details and more on color palette. The light scenes are pretty much all sunny with a blue sky. The dark scenes are pretty much a grim atmosphere. Considering the story, I'd say it works well in their favour.
### Sound: Music ### (6.7)
Not much to note here. Much of the same soundtrack plays throughout the show. It's light and fluffy, not really dramatic at all.
### Sound: Opening and Ending Songs ### (7.0)
The show maintains one opening and one ending song as expected. Both songs are decent, playing at crucial or pivotal times in the show. The accompanying animation for the ending song represents each character's personality in a dance-off, kinda amusing to watch.
### Sound: Voice Acting ### (7.0)
The voice acting is pretty good, if not a bit stiff. Each voice actor suited their respective character nicely, with tame levels of shyness, fear, arrogance, and happiness.
### Character: Development ### (7.0)
From the beginning, the protagonists have distinctive personalities that have yet to escape the bubble of shyness and reluctance. Their changes in self esteem and having fun throughout the show is realistic and better than average I would say. Unfortunately, there are bad relationships between our protagonists and their parent(s): being the unfavored child compared to the siblings, being too distant, or a case of conflicting ideals. What's more unfortunate is that those parents do not change as much as our fellow protagonists.
### Enjoyment ### (4.0)
As the show went on I found it harder to look forward to watching the next episode, mostly because of my concerns with the story.
### Overall: Final Thoughts ### (6.0)
Stars Align seems to be an experimental show with two unlike themes mixing together to make a somewhat watchable slice of life drama with a sports context. It's an original anime with no sign of a continued story. The positives of this show are no match for its negatives, but however threatening it may seem, it has allowed me to appreciate the healthy relationship I have with my family and my friends.