Banner of the Stars III

[VivisQueen]

Banner of the Stars III
(a.k.a. Seikai no Senki III)

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Eps 1&2:

So.... that was tedious. Like I said to a friend:

I'm trying to get through Banner III and I keep distracting myself by doing ANYTHING else. So what should have been a pleasant one-hour sojourn through the world of the Abh has become a painful crawl through the tedious catch-up problems of two lovers I know will never even have sex.

Generally just too many random characters popping up that I didn't care about e.g. that maid, no real story due to any lack of meaningful conflict, and the Lafiel/Jinto pairing, which should be full of subtle but poignant tensions, just goes to waste. Ah well.

Overall, I did enjoy this entire journey and am glad I watched it, but it has some significantly boring points that I wasn't prepared for. Definitely the best parts were the humorous discussions of Admiral Abriel, Spoor, and the Neires/Nefee twins. Crest stood out above all the other seasons for having a distinctive plot and some original characters e.g. Febdash.

[alexander]

Originally Posted by VivisQueen

two lovers I know will never even have sex.

For all the audience knows they might do it every night. It's not something the camera would show in this franchise.

Generally just too many random characters popping up that I didn't care about

The OVA is more bonus material for the books than meant to stand on its own.

[Sheex]

You've got to be kidding me. The ending is bad because Jinto and Lafiel didn't have sex on screen? For crying out loud...

[VivisQueen]

:/ Dude, why do you take the specific sarcastic jokes so seriously? Chill out, man. Chill!

[leaded]

sex in space... mmmmmm

[Funkgun]

Well, it would appear a thread has been made for the whole ball of wax.
So, here goes.
Ep1-2

Lots of people from Crest reappear in this one. And it looks as if Jinto is full fledged ambassodor material. (well except for an awkward bridge announcement to his ship.
So did I read that right...

is daddy funding the ship that he is in? And are they trying to get funds to repay through that fuel platform?
I did not like that they tricked the audience that they kissed at one point.

So we know they are a pair, much like Lafiel's parents were at one time. But I am gathering from the conversation with Jinto's Jack ass friend that Jinto and Lafiel might be having kids one day. And from that friends comments, he sounded completely predudicial. First insulting the blue hair, then saying that they can not stand up for themselves.
Sorry, I realize his friend just dislikes the Ahb, but it is not any different than them being in charge about 10 years previous, or being under the rule of the United mankind. Anyhow, i found him to be a dick.
Till on the other hand

I am not sure what to make of the fact that it was somehow politically bad for him to take one step on the planet. Also, what good is it going to be, if someone (who is not even from Hyde) takes over as the territorial watcher from the Ahb, and does not put up with their antics?
it was cool that they seemed to come up with a peaceful way to come to an agreement.

Wrap up episodes, did seem to do their job. I still feel there is so much more that could have been done with this series, with the set up of interesting characters. However, I guess something could be said for, not over staying it's welcome. Or fumbling over a previous storyline.
I found it refreshing that the individual seasons, are all different.And this last 2 is no exception. An adventure on the run, first part. A Horatio Hornblower type young crew in war second part, A negotiations gone bad 3rd part, and a lull in wartime exercises, showing after war politics, while wrapping up the story in the final 2.

I enjoyed it, as I would any final movie made for a series.
3.5/5

[MugiwaraMarius]

I don't have much to add about the individual episodes. They were okay but not really anything special. So I'll just give my overall impression.

Banner III is completely different from its predecessors. It’s much lighter, the conflict is much simpler, and there’s a lot more emphasis on random conversations than ever. It’s about Jinto, as he returns to his home planet after having been gone for years. At an hour’s length, I at first believed that this was going to be another one of those unimportant side-stories that you often see in DVD-specials nowadays, but Jinto really develops throughout this OVA.

But yeah, one hour is still way too short, and it also doesn’t help that the creators try to do way too many things at the same time. It could have worked if the creators only focused on Jinto’s development, but for some reason they wanted just about every character to some kind of cameo here. There’s just too much time wasted on pointless banter between these side-character, including a rather strangely out of place mock-battle of which I still nave no idea what point it tried to make.

The strangest thing about this OVA though, is one particular side-character: Ekuryua. Do not ask me why, but this girl completely changes character, beyond anything that was established about her in the previous series. It’s especially grating because the creators keep using this as some kind of quirky gimmick, but those attempts at comedy never really work. Ekuryua is probably the worst squandered opportunity in the whole series. She should’ve been used to externalize some of Jinto’s doubts about his relationship with Lafiel.

So overall this OVA definitely had the right intentions, and Jinto’s development is as good as ever, but unfortunately it overall was poorly balanced and needed a lot more episodes to really shine like its predecessors. 3- out of 5

[Funkgun]

Originally Posted by DrOrpheus

The strangest thing about this OVA though, is one particular side-character: Ekuryua. Do not ask me why, but this girl completely changes character, beyond anything that was established about her in the previous series. It’s especially grating because the creators keep using this as some kind of quirky gimmick, but those attempts at comedy never really work. Ekuryua is probably the worst squandered opportunity in the whole series. She should’ve been used to externalize some of Jinto’s doubts about his relationship with Lafiel.

So overall this OVA definitely had the right intentions, and Jinto’s development is as good as ever, but unfortunately it overall was poorly balanced and needed a lot more episodes to really shine like its predecessors. 3- out of 5

I thought it was odd that she is a nutcase when she is a pilot. That did sort of came out of left field. I think it is odd that she is so transparent in her intentions toward Jinto.

Dr Orph? what the heck? You crazy son.

[valondar]

This entire OVA did feel semi-superfluous, really. Like it's spinning its wheels a little between the events of the last series and setting up events for another series (the creation of this new fleet) that never happened. I can only assume there are other novels in this series that were never animated or the series was incomplete.

But yeah, as always, you don't come for the story, one comes for Jinto and Lafiel, who... well, itting the superfluousness nature of this two-episode bit - basically remain in the same static will-they/won't-they/they'll-just-snipe-at-each-other-for-two-episodes dynamic that they already had.