Review of Stars Align

*A review that will slightly go into character flaws/plot issues. (Tldr; I think it's worth watching but I hope there is a continuation of the anime) I'd like to make three points before giving my opinion of this anime. 1. I went into this completely blind with a vague sense that it has something remotely to do with tennis. 2. I have dabbled in and enjoyed various sports anime as well as dramatic anime. 3. I will be giving my honest opinion of the story regardless of the positive/negative traction this anime initially received when it was still airing. Personally, I feel as though Hoshiai no Sora was received fartoo harshly. It can be argued that this anime was not so much a sports anime but more so a drama that hid behind the guise of youths doing their best to achieve their goals. Contrary to what some may say, I personally enjoyed each character introduced. However, because there were so many characters it was easy for the story to feel as though it was neglecting resolutions. In some ways, the anime did fail to truly conclude any sort of conflicts introduced in the story. Still, I found this anime to have done its job properly. I'd also like to give props for this anime for doing something different. I won't jump on the whole LGBTQ+ or raising awareness of abuse bandwagons because, from what I've seen, the anime has been praised enough for its attempts to introduce such topics without feeling too forced. Though the dark aspects of the anime may seem random or like hidden Easter eggs, still I felt that the inclusion of such topics to raise awareness was done as harmlessly as it could (though it still seemed to have fallen short of some people's expectations, I felt that it was done in a way that made it have a closer sense of what it would feel like to be in such hopeless situations).

The anime's portrayal left various conflicts unresolved, but with that I hope that there is some sort of OVA or second season to round out the conflicts. I felt that the anime overall did a good job at introducing things, but surely with the amount of time and expenses needed to maintain anime it was only a matter of time until it felt rushed or for the low budget to show. People were clearly unhappy with two major factors with this anime: the unresolved conflicts and the Kirito-like (Sword Art Online) main character of tennis. Again, this anime felt more like a drama than a sports anime and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is unfair for a new person to suddenly be good at something, but I do think it is realistic to say that there are some people who simply have good sense in certain things. Of course, it wasn't entirely realistic, but I do think it was needed for a seemingly mature and empathetic character like Maki to appear as the fixer upper or else there would be no catalyst for the rest of the cast to deal with their own problems. This anime is dark, but it does its best to find the light in things by having tennis as an outlet. It isn't until the characters are so heavily motivated by something that they start to face their personal problems at home. I would love to see the resolutions to these abusive conflicts that very much exist in real life and were captured in this anime. You may ask yourself "why is this happening" at times, but I think it's a unique characteristic of Hoshiai no Sora that exposes that these issues very much exist. They are personal problems that a lot more people deal with than what we think. I believe the lighthearted message the anime was trying to express by focusing on the doubles of tennis is that you don't and shouldn't have to do things alone. Though there were many cliffhangers left, I do think Hoshiai no Sora was worth watching.