Review of Stars Align

Hoshiai no Sora starts off seemingly as a light sports anime focused on soft tennis with the generic "save our club from disbanding" trope and the one MC who becomes the key to saving the club. It is exactly that, but the sports part of the story acts as a complement to the unique family problems that ALL the members of the club face at home which is obviously unrealistic (abuse is real, but happy parents are too), but since that's literally the theme of the anime so you just have to roll with it. While the main theme are the social issues underlying eachmember in the soft tennis club, they don't gloss over the sport itself with more emphasis on strategy and tactics, instead of brute force (think One Outs). Taking a look at the main character, Katsuragi, he reveals to be talented at soft tennis despite never playing before and is an incredibly perceptive person. Not to mention he can cook, do chores (because his mum has to work) and is very close to being a Gary Stu EXCEPT that he knows this and isn't modest about his skills at all. Contrary to most sport MCs he is clever, manipulative, has a terrible personality, but is also a great leader. He uses this to his advantage throughout the anime to get his way partly for comedic purposes and mainly as the key strengthen the club effectively through planning and strategy. What I love most about him is how by using his brain a little more than others, he can identify the strengths and weaknesses of his team, his opponents and most importantly himself. He takes action on his own instead of waiting for a sign from God/before its too late, and is the main instigator for moving the story forward. Now he isn't omnipotent with this wisdom (its mostly that the people around him are kinda dumb), and it is very clear that he lacks experience in soft tennis; nevertheless, sports isn't about winning or losing for them and I loved watching the matches because it was very clear that each of the four pairs of characters had their own distinct style of play.

I admit, I was only able to define the character by their type of abuse at home. Aside from the 8 club members, there is also the male manager and a girl who hangs around for no reason at all (recurring joke) with their own problems. In regards to these domestic issues, there are several problems with the way they were presented because it seems like they attempt to have you sympathise with them even though the person themselves aren't great to begin with and pretty much get away with almost anything just because they're abused (like the girl who started a fight then got comforted for being "bullied"). That's only the worst problem and there were very little instances worth complaining about but I'll list the good things that came out of it:
- when friends in each pair help each other with personal problems it strengthens their teamwork, and highlights the importance of being partners/working together
- gives you a realistic insight on several kinds of domestic abuse, each of them are unique situations with some more severe than others
- how the characters DON'T deal with this problem. You might relate to the characters a whole lot, but that's why you don't feel sorry for them because each conflict only furthers the impact on the characters negatively and promotes their bad points/ugly side (feelings of helplessness, mental issues etc.).

I'm sure there are correct ways of resolving these issues but in reality, people don't (notice I mentioned realistic insight). Of course the characters don't do nothing at all, but sometimes certain problems have no (ideal) resolutions and you endure them until you become an adult which leaves one question:

Is there a resolution?
No. Not at all. The sports aspect finishes nicely but no one's personal problems reaches a 'real' ending. Some characters have their own inner resolves though. Personally I don't like anime without resolutions and I especially don't like anime which end on a cliffhanger but it really works with this one (in fact it was a very satisfying cliffhanger). Now I don't mind a 2nd season but I am already quite content with what I've seen so far. We've seen several instances of complications and I would be surprised if any of them got resolved in 12 episodes. But like I said, sometimes there are problems with no resolutions and there are people that will never change. Rather than a romanticised ending where family talks and then make up (obviously talking about the less severe cases), Hoshiai no Sora only demonstrates the reality and difficulty of feeling "out of place", how you should act in these situations, (there is one scene in episode 8 which describes perfectly what I'm talking about) and it applies to just about all the characters.

About the art and sound, both are great. I love the animation, especially together with the ending song which is the main reason why I started the anime. Its not groundbreaking music but decent enough. The art style is also very light and fluffy in a calming way.

The best part about Hoshiai no Sora is the unpredictability. I binged watched this anime and was kept at the edge of my seat the entire time. Despite each character having unfortunate backgrounds, it is for the most part a happy anime that involves themes relating to friendship, teamwork etc. and the synergy between the members of the club who share similar concerns and accept each other may be of inspiration.