Review of Stars Align

Stars Align was a breath of fresh air in sports anime in my opinion. It was able to balance the sports aspect as well as the drama very well. All the characters in the main cast were well fleshed out and developed. Overall it is a very solid show but my main criticism revolves around the drama aspect of the show Now the drama is one of the main aspects of the show which is more focused on the sport in the overall narrative. Each character in the main cast have some issue/drama in their personal life which most likely involves their family. The show introducesthese issues but neither develops them further or concludes them and because of the large cast it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Only both the main duo Maki & Toma see some development but could've handled better. If the show had a longer episode count I'm sure all of the drama would've been fleshed out and better paced. Now if the show didn't introduce drama for each character the supporting cast would not have been interesting the slightest.

On a positive note the characters. Each character in the soft tennis club exclusively feels very realistic and their dynamic is very entertaining to watch and that is where I found most of my enjoyment of the show. Sure I did find the drama each character dwelled in interesting which did service the narrative in some way but the soft tennis aspect was what told the story. Seeing a cast of characters progressively give a shit and learn the values of sport was so wholesome.

Quick note the ed was banging.

Animation wise. The animation is simplistic in design but with this simplicity, we have more fluid animation and this can be seen with the soft tennis matches. Each soft tennis pulled out a moment of sakuga but ironically wasn't distracting and blended well due to its simplicity.

Overall a solid show but that ending was very distracting as it could've ended on a high note with a simple message of enjoying what you do but we are given the unessecary drama. SPOILER WARNING HERE.

**I didn't mind the thing with reveal of Toma's mum's divorce as something was hinted at in the previous episode but the Maki thing was a bit confusing but very distracting. This really did a number on its overall rating as I like seasonal anime to have at least a servicable ending.**