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.It is the year 2167. The world is going about its normal life when BAM!! A huge electrostatic shock wave comes barreling into the solar system from Hydrus Beta and seriously messes up Earth. There's worldwide damage, but we pull together as a human race and make it through the tragedy. But it's not over. So humanity prepares for the Second Wave (a much more dangerous wave than the first, combining the electrostatic shock wave with chunks from the star). We build space stations around the solar system that will create barriers to protect the planets from the impending destruction. 189 years later, the Second Wave is almost at hand...
And thus begins the story of Stellvia. What first attracted me to this series long ago (not THAT long ago) was this story. It was refreshing to see a sci-fi series not about aliens fighting humans, or mecha fighting mecha in space. It reminded me of a disaster flick. Some "plausible" event occurs that threatens to wipe out humanity, and you watch how they try to stop it. And in Stellvia's case you get to see them try to stop it with all the advanced technology and form-fitting space suits you'd find in a futuristic sci-fi anime.
But Stellvia's story really isn't about this. It's like the movie Titanic: there's a sinking ship, historically accurate people and events, but the "story" is about Leo and Kate's love *shudders*. Anyway, Stellvia's story revolves around a girl named Katase Shima; a shy, soft-spoken girl who happens to be a whiz at programming. All of her life she's dreamed of going out into space, and her dream comes true when she is accepted into one of the space academies, Stellvia. The series chronicles the life of her and her friends aboard the Stellvia.
Not to give too much of the story away, Stellvia is basically a slice-of-life anime series. You get the wacky friends, teachers, and rivals you would normally find in a series of the same genre except this takes place in space. I've always wondered what "normal" people do in sci-fi movies and anime. This quenches my curiosity. They created an amazing world in Stellvia, and just taking in the atmosphere is quite satisfying. The story is also better than I first expected. Average slice-of-life anime only gives you a string of mostly unconnected glimpses into the main character's lives. Stellvia manages to create an "original" (what's 100% original these days?) and entertaining sci-fi story and shows it through the eyes of Shima and her friends, along with all the normal obstacles in a student's life: friendships, love, schoolwork, upperclassmen, and competition.
I was also surprised to see the character's development portrayed so well, especially in a 26 episode series. They still follow an archetype of sorts: Shima-shy but brilliant, Arisa-loud and energetic, and the list goes on, but each character develops nicely with their own strengths and weaknesses, and they discover themselves throughout the series. Although done subtly, its refreshing to see this happen, instead of staying the same predictable archetype throughout the series. It also gives the story a familiarity; you feel as if you were going through everything with them. By the end you will think back on when you first "met" them and realize how much they have all grown, and it will give you a nostalgic feeling you get when you think of your own school life.
The story, as I said before, was amazing. There's an epic event developing and you get to see it through these young character's eyes. You watch the them take classes on piloting and programming, figure out what they want to do with themselves, realizing their potential (or lack of it), and forging friendships and rivalries along the way to defending the Solar System from a horrible disaster. About half way through, the plot takes another turn, but it keeps with the "plausible" events from the first half. The different Foundations (space stations) all share an uneasy peace on the surface, while secretly wondering about and planning for a post-Second Wave existence. This gives the humanity-coming-together-for-a-singular-goal more of a real world feel, since its hard to believe that so many different people can suddenly get along perfectly and keep it that way. The history of humanity was forged with conflict, and although we can put aside our differences to overcome something of this nature (a la 9/11), I unfortunately can't imagine everyone staying that way for too long. It ultimately gives more depth to the series without taking away too much time from the student's story.
Rating:
The animation is fluid and crisp. The character design was great. I was happy to see the variety back in the characters. Lately characters in anime have pretty "normal" hair styles/colors. Like Gundam SEED Destiny; I can hardly tell Athrun and Shin apart; same goes for Cagali and Stella. But in Stellvia, each character is unique. Someone from The Simpsons said (loosely quoted.) "If you can tell what character you are looking at from their silhouette, you know you have a good character design." Well that's not a problem with Stellvia. Hair is one of the most important things in an anime character (to me at least) and I was happy to see the great and varied designs. I especially liked Arisa and Yayoi's. The outfits, from the school uniforms and form-fitting space suits to the average everyday clothes were functional and stylish, not to mention pretty hot (did I just say that?) I had no problem believing they were the clothes people would wear in the future. The space stations and spacecraft are all computer generated. CG in anime usually clashes with the cel animation, and it gives it a disconnected feeling. But the ships and stations are well designed and rendered in a way that looks and fits well with the rest of the series. You hardly notice. There ARE aliens and mecha in this anime, but they are implemented in a way that doesn't cast the series into any all-to-familiar sci-fi plotlines. I've heard people complain that the mecha is too generic/boring, but I think its design and function fits well with the story. Its no Gundam, and I don't think it should be.
Rating:
The opening theme sounds a little like something out of a video game, but it works well for the series. I would've liked an updated opening sequence about half way through since most of it is clips from the first episode, but it's still pretty good. The ending sequence shows clips from the episode, sort of a snapshot of what you just saw. It adds to the nostalgic feel, and is quite nice. The ending songs alternate back and forth depending on what mood the episode ended.
The Japanese voices were fitting but, as in most young characters in anime, they sounded a bit like little children. The English voice cast was also cast well, but they tended to get a little annoying when there were 3 or more girls talking at the same time. But thatâ??s to be expected in this type of anime and it didn't bother me that much. I think the English actors did a good job, and they stuck pretty close to the original "script." Overall both language tracks are well voiced, and conveyed the character's emotions and situation nicely. I watched it in English this time around, and I picked up everything I remember from when I saw the fansubbed version.
The sound effects to the various ships, mecha, space stations, and the like were all fitting. It wasn't spectacular or groundbreaking, but I had no trouble believing the sounds were made by their respective craft. One sound I particularly enjoyed was the sound of the candy when they first bit into it. It was very distinct and always caught my attention. That worked out well, since it played a semi-important role in the series.
Rating:
Overall, Stellvia is a first rate anime that's definitely one of my favorites. From the animation, to the character
design, to the story, Stellvia excels in portraying a great sci-fi slice-of-life story.
Rating:
8.3333 (good)
Reviewed by NovaProspekt, Dec 28, 2005
This is a very well-written review. Your analysis of the story in particular is excellent, and you did not fall into the trap of merely giving a plot synopsis. Your assigned scores also seem fair and complement your written analysis well.
All in all, good job!
Nice review, very detailed and would definitely help someone that's somewhat interested in watching this series.
I also enjoyed this series because it didn't have the traditional mecha or alien battles in space, but rather focuses more on the characters and the character relationships.
"If you can tell what character you are looking at from their silhouette, you know you have a good character design." -> could be said of Pokemon.
But I don't think this quote could be quite true... that can also depend on the type of drawing, I guess that more realistic chara could be harder to differenciate that way.
That's a nice review, I like how you described things I didn't really noticed (... well most exactly that I didn't really try to find an explanation).
Review well written. Really enjoyed the way you make the story sound very interesting and not spoil the whole series. Thanks to you, I am going to get my hands on Stellvia to watch it for myself...
Nice review, nicely written and plenty of details. Great job.
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