Review of Stars Align

Story: 10 (SPOILER WARNING) I didn't have any expectations coming into this other than, oh its a sports anime, maybe we'll get the usual fanservice and some nice friendship story. But oh BOY this anime proved real quick it wasn't your usual sports anime. If anything, them being in a soft tennis team was just what brought those kids together and gave us the sad stories revolving around them. We've got a bunch of kids, all struggling and having problems on their own. And as this is in Japan, Asia, we all know that school and parenting over there is different than our typical western parenting.The school system itself is much tougher and if you're bad at school, you're automatically a bad person. I loved that all these kids who got parents you'd wish no one to have found their way into soft tennis. Even if at home life sucks, even if your parents straight up hate you and your hobby, once you're together with your friends and play this game, for these moments, all is well.

There's different types of problems at home portrayed. We've got the crazy mom who only cares about good grades, the abusive father who compares you to the "better" brothers, the mom who regrets having had another son. There's also the poor mother and kid who does everything at home, the adopted kid, there's also a very nice representation of lgbtq! As an lgbtq member and ftm myself, the episode where Maki suddenly talked about Shou and how he's also ftm, the way they handled this talk and mentioned that it's okay to be who you are? I teared up. Yu, poor guy/person, isn't sure if he's really non-binary, but he doesn't think he could live as a girl, nor keep on living for the rest of his live as a boy. But Mami is most supportive towards him the whole show and keeps saying that he's got time to figure it out.

The show handles all these topics in such a mature manner, but still in a way kids their age would act. It was very refreshing.

If there's just one negative thing I can mention, it's that it was cut short to 12 episodes from 24. The last episode was..very dramatic. Almost too dramatic all of a sudden, but they did plan for 24 episodes so it will get cleared up eventually. He did say he's definitely going to finish this anime!!

Animation: 8

For the art style itself, I liked it. It's got almost a minimalistic feel to it. It's not very vibrant, but rather soft colors. They did think about making characters eyes blink even when they're not the one talking, and that's something I always look out for because it's a nice feature for me~ The only thing that was a bit sad where when they were in a tennis match. Compared to other sports anime, where the sport is the main focus, it is clearly lacking ad not that well animated. It's a bit boring to watch almost, but since that's not the main focus of the show, it's fine.

Sound: 8

The opening was a bit boring, I kept skipping it. A nice song and all, but visually it didn't give that much, so to me it felt like a wasted minute. The ending though, I loved it so much, even know I keep looking it up on youtube! The song is great, very fitting with the show, and the animation gets a solid 10/10, very fun! For the rest of the soundtrack, I never felt that anything wasn't fitting, but I also can't recall anything specifically, nothing got stuck in my head. Went well with the show, but nothing extraordinary.

Character: 9

Thetes quite a lot the 12 episodes didn't mention yet. There's still a lot to unpack which I'm hoping for the next 12 episodes to tackle! There's also the school council president who keeps appearing every now and then, and she seems to have a very interesting story from the little glimpse one episode showed, but there wasn't mentioned anything further. There's also a few others of the boys from the soft tennis team where I'd like to know more about. But from the things we DID get to know until now, I'm not disappointed in any way.

Enjoyment: 10

I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't the end, the anime was being made thinking that 24 episodes were in the making. Then it was cut short. It was a good decision that they didn't rush it and squeezed all ideas into the 12 episodes. And I did read online interviews that we really are going to get the rest, it's just not sure when yet. This anime wasn't your usual crazy rollercoaster that makes you scream from beginning till end, but a great ride you wanna go on and invite friends to enjoy together. I teared up, I laughed, I had my shocked moments. I'll definitly re-watch this one soon and I hope more people will give it a try!