In the year 2356, man is no longer a stranger in space. Humans have constructed six massive colony ports that orbit the Earth nearly 200 years after a supernova's energy bombarded the surface of the planet causing a lot of chaos and destruction. Just a little more than two months before a second impact is expected to occur, young teenager Shima Katase is starting space academy on the colony called Stellvia. What follows is a tale of Shima and her friends' daily life as they attend high school thousands of miles above the Earth.

Written by xenocrisis0153.

Story & Characters

Uchuu no Stellvia (Stellvia of the Universe) is yet another entry into the relatively popular "teenagers in space" genre, which in this case refers to a group of high schoolers. However, whereas many series in this realm seem focused on action (usually involving lots of spaceships and/or mecha duking it out in politically-charged wars, complete with many, many explosions), Stellvia is more focused on character interaction and character development. Instead of a being a "space story which happens to involve high schoolers" type of story, it's much more of a "high schoolers who happen to be in space." This is because the story is rooted on a space station near earth called the Stellvia (based off the Latin words 'stella' and 'via', or road of stars), which is also used as a training academy for many of Earth's brightest students with high reaching dreams. There are two major story arcs that eventually involve lots of action and space ships and mecha (and a few explosions), but in between these times of flurried activities, we see a group of high schoolers growing up, adjusting to a life away from home and parents, and discovering where their true potential lies.
The first major story arc, occurring after the typical introduction to the characters/setting episodes, focuses on the "Great Mission" that has been Earth's major reason for space exploration. Over a hundred years ago, a great "wave" hit the Earth, causing major damage to the planet. People survived and nations united, and humanity has spent the intervening years developing a way to prevent the "Second Wave," which scientists discovered was traveling towards Earth in much the same way as the first, from being a major catastrophe. The second major story arc concerns the "Genesis Mission," and takes place after scientists discovered that the cause of the First and Second Waves was a giant cosmic disruption (called a "string" because of its shape) and follows how humanity hastily prepares to counter this new threat.
However, these missions mostly concern the adults and Stellvia is mostly focused on the teenagers. Katase Shima is the story's female protagonist, a bit of a whiny, timid girl who clumsily gets herself into all sorts of minor troubles. Despite this, she has a big heart and attracts the friendship of an assortment of others, which are a typical set of character-types for a high school story (the antagonistic perfectionist, the hyperactive and optimistic best friend, the over-the-top playboy, the happy-go-lucky kid with a devil-may-care attitude, the quiet genius, etc.) Together, they work through the busy times (exams), the fun times (an inter-station competition), the rough times (dealing with loss, jealousy, and all those teenage hormones), the tough times (making mistakes, and learning from them) the trying times (as the students get increasingly involved with the Missions,) and everything else. As the story progresses, Katase learns that her greatest liability at the beginning (her clever programming skills gets her into a whole wealth of detentions) becomes her greatest asset as she and fellow student Kouta (whom she develops a crush on) discover their talents may be just what humanity needs in order to survive the Missions.
The timing of the story is not very consistent, as the pacing seems to lounge about in the character development episodes and race through the action-packed Mission episodes, leaving one wondering why humanity can save itself in one episode yet an inter-station sports competition takes three, and opens the door to a few too many convenient coincidences. However, this does give the plot ample time to run through the gamut of teenage emotions. If you watch this show for space action, you'll probably be disappointed, but if you're more interested in high school drama, this one at least has the benefit of a quirky setting.

Rating: 8

Art

Done in 2002, Stellvia has clean art and pleasing visuals in a vibrant color palette. After all, Stellvia's female uniforms are bright orange while the male ones are bright blue. The station itself has a well-lit and colorful interior with lots of greenery, garish shops, and park areas with mimicked sky and clouds, providing a varied backdrop for most of the story's events.
As a space show, Stellvia has lots of fancy technology that varies from the station itself to the various space craft that travel around it. Much of these craft are computer generated 3D graphics, which in general look fairly convincing as long as any 2d characters in the same screen aren't too obvious. Unfortunately, the humanoid mecha, Infinity and Halcyon, look far too oversized (the "head" of the Infinity is easily the size of the training Bianca ships) and ungainly (they have a humongous round-barrel chest, but everything else about the mecha is thin and flimsy looking) to really be practical (or aesthetically pleasing.)
There are also a lot of interfaces, which are generally pretty cool, like the paper-thin computer screens that you can fold out to expand, or the "Tetris" mode of visual programming that just looks fun to do. However, the direct-link system (DLS) that characters use to directly sync with their space craft looks like a kaleidoscope on acid.
The opening and ending sequence art is nothing more than recycled footage from the series, and doesn't really deserve further discussion.
In the end, the art is nice and serves its purpose, but there's nothing special or really exciting about it. It just is, and sometimes that's all that you need.

Rating: 6

Sound

I must admit I'm rather fond of Stellvia's opening and ending songs which are a bit of pop and rock and a lot of synth (appropriate for a technologically based space series, I suppose.) The opening (Asu e no Brilliant Road/The Brilliant Road to Tomorrow) is peppy and quite lively, setting the stage for the rest of the show. The first ending (Kirei na Yozora/The Beautiful Night Sky) is similarly happy and optimistic. However, the second ending (The End of the World) is much more somber in tone. I found it a nice touch that Kirei na Yozora would be used to end episodes that were light and fun, while The End of the World would finish episodes that were serious and somber. The second version of Asu e no Brilliant Road is in the same tone as The End of the World (somber, downbeat) and is used several times during the series in very serious moments.
The background music for Stellvia is for the most part piano-based, especially those used for the everyday type of scenes as discussions over lunch, or cramming for a midterm. There are also a lot of synth music mostly used in scenes involving space, such as training in the Biancas. There isn't a lot that distinguishes the background music, but like the art, it serves its purpose and doesn't distract one from the story at hand.

Rating: 7

Presentation

Stellvia was one of my favorite series from 2002, and I think it was mostly because I, like Katase, liked programming a lot. Katase's propensity towards crying when she can't solve an issue (which happens rather a lot, especially in the beginning of the show) puts off a lot of folks who can't stand a whiny, crybaby type. Indeed, I found that to be quite annoying, but I enjoyed watching her and the others around her grow and have to deal with growing up into adults. Katase and her friends were able to mature past many of their early character faults, in many cases forced to due to extenuating circumstances. I found most of the interactions between people felt real and genuine despite the fact I was watching celluloid (or computer-generated pixels). It takes a while to get into the story (and get used to the rather random pacing) but I found in the end I was concerned for the characters and hoping that everything would turn out all right in the end.
Stellvia is no classic of a series (a label I would put on shows like Escaflowne or The Rose of Versailles) but it is a fun show to watch. It is entertainment, and it entertains just fine. It's not something I'd rewatch over and over (although once in a while it might be fun) but I enjoyed watching it once through, and I probably will enjoy watching it again. If I find time. And am in the mood for a high school drama that happens to take place in space.

Rating: 7

Final Verdict

7.17 (above average)

Reviewed by Tama-Neko, Dec 04, 2005

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