Stars Align

Final thoughts:
Well, that ending was a big change in tone. There isn't really a lot of detail explaining why Maki would go that far in his intent to kill his dad. Maybe the creator will get enough support to continue with another season. It seems unfair to do that to a studio in the middle of production, but it wouldn't be the first. I really liked the idea of a tennis anime that was short and new and showed all the characters fighting to overcome their problems.

The creator was definitely eager to cover a lot of subjects in the anime too. For now, at least till the anime is continued, a 3/5.
 
2ZPEN.jpg

These crowd shots are amazing.

That's too bad about this getting axed, although that sort of explains the weird way they cut off the OP and ED right before they hit their ending notes. Anyone else notice that or was that just me? They were trying to go for the drama there, I guess, but with the axing thing, maybe they could have wanted to send a different message by axing their songs, know what I mean? Don't mind me, I'm just stoking the flames unnecessarily here.

Those brothers are a hoot. So villain-y, I was thinking they'd start saying some other bad guy stuff mid-game, like, "oh well, time to break out the other brother." And then it turns out they run a factory of villain soft tennis brothers ala The Prestige, where they just swap each other out for more replacements when they start to suck. They're really particular about soft tennis being their domain, huh? Maybe they're not very good students in school, if all they have to their names is soft tennis. Really, that's all you want to be known for? It's not even real tennis, man, come on!

The ending came out of nowhere, but with this news about the axing, I guess I can't knock the show too hard for it. These kids are fucked up and they have so much baggage in their lives, but at least they'll always have soft tennis, huh?

The show was very different from the average sports show and I appreciate the effort. I'm thinking of Hanebado, which tried to do the edgy sports thing but absolutely failed at it, because it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Stars Align, at least, knows what it wants and how to get there - the real problem for me was it laid on the angst really thickly, and it had such bad habits of being incredibly and unnecessarily melodramatic. Just playing on the edge, somewhat, but never really crossed the line. Until that last episode, that is.

Everyone in the club's got issues, and it got too much for me after a while, but then they showed that last shot of them celebrating as a club and I started re-thinking my stance a little bit. The image of the club now is so different from the way it was before, and if that isn't heartwarming enough for me, then I don't know what is.

I hope we get a second season, if only for closure's sake, but I'm not holding my breath.

3.5/5
 
Well, I sure am glad I heard about the show getting cut short before I watched the last episode. That certainly does explain the pacing.

I don't think Maki would've ended up going through with killing his dad. Or will end up going through with it if by some miracle they do get more episodes. Though something awfully serious must've happened with his mom or maybe Shou to set him off like that and I'd like to know what is was. It can't just be the money.

And Toma's mom is a stone cold bitch. He's better off without her having custody of him but jesus, what a thing to say to a kid, especially when he's finally opening up a bit. (Has she maybe done this before and the brother mentioned last week is with his dad? Is there any point in speculating?)

I liked this show and I'm really sad that its full potential will probably never be realized now. It was definitely more than a bit on the melodramatic side and I don't think I could give it full marks even if it had wrapped up as planned, but I appreciate the ambition in what they were going for.
 
1) I absolutely think the op cutting at the climax of the opening is a reference to the show cutting short at its climax lol.
2) Saw some theories about the letter:
There's the obvious 'dad visited and was shitty' possibility, but it seems mom has been giving him money so there's other theories.

Someone guessed the restraining order may have been denied, some other shocking news that made the glass drop, and gone to contact people or deal with it emotionally. Who knows if that's the case, but it's an interesting thought.
 
Overall series thoughts
Anime industry, why? Why do you test us like this? Situations like this just shouldn't happen, especially to shows this good. I am grateful that at least Akane went ahead and publicly informed everyone about what actually happened. Imagine the complete fallout that would've occurred if people didn't know about the axing... I can't help but wonder though if that's gonna earn him a spot on some production committee's blacklists, since I doubt they're pleased with all the anger directed towards them right now.

As for the show itself, I still love it despite the incompleteness. I enjoyed almost every second watching it, and it absolutely surpassed even my highest expectations for it (in just one example, I had hoped for a potential gay character before it started airing, but nothing could have prepared me for episode 8. Talk about raising the bar for rep in TV anime). Stars Align also appealed to me in a lot of strangely specific ways; the tennis, the characters, the relationships, and the designs--for me it ended up being that one show that you can't help but feel as if it was personally made for *you*.

Unfortunately, Stars Align is never gonna fulfill its potential. I loved everything it gave me, but I wanted more. Touma's my favorite character but he straight up got shafted for most of the second half. We NEVER got to learn the full picture with his family life. The show literally cuts off right as we finally start digging into Touma, and that honestly stings. Even more than Maki's last second murder scheme.

Part of me wishes that they'd cut down the number of characters, or just not gone into as much depth with some of them in order to give Touma, Yuu, Kanako, and Maki more screentime+development, but at the same time it's because Stars Align put so much care into the -whole- cast that I love the show as much as I do. Usually in sports anime I only latch onto a couple characters per team, but this was the first time that I was actually invested in every single member of the team. Because of that, it made even small scenes like classroom shenanigans enjoyable since I loved watching everyone interact with each other.

Unfortunately, I still can't ignore how incomplete everything is. Stars Align had the potential to be a full 10/10, but for now it's a 9/10 until the story (hopefully) continues.
 
Cherstal said:
Part of me wishes that they'd cut down the number of characters, or just not gone into as much depth with some of them
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I'm fairly confident they would have been able to pull off giving everyone a sad backstory if they had 24 episodes to work with. At the same time, I do wish there would have been at least one happy member on that soft tennis team. Their laidback club moderator doesn't count.
 
Late to the party, but I finally got it over with.
Ep 8-12

I was hoping for Nao to bite the dust, but I guess he wasn't prominent enough for that type of climax. I was very disappointed to see that he not only remained alive after having essentially performed a low stakes kidnapping of his teammate's little sister, but was somehow also still on the team. How the fuck did that happen?

Also, "Overprotection is legit abuse"? Sure, might be, I don't really care. I'm not interested in seeing some dude getting too many texts from his mom, when the other kids are being beaten, thrown down stairs, and having boiling water poured on them.

Overall, VERY good intensity when intense, but that was not quite often enough. Soft tennis was surprisingly good, but not fantastic.

A very solid 7/10, good show.
 
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lupita said:
YOO HOLD ON I KNOW THIS SEASON DID NOT JUST END LIKE THAT
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Oh, but it did. It got cut down to 12 episodes at the last minute and the director chose to not compress the story, but leave it as if it would continue on. It was originally supposed to be 24 episodes. There is some hope for a sequel- the creator really wanted to continue it. I saw something on the web about a potential film or two to wrap it up.
 
g3data said:
I would've rather stuck with my headcanon that the asshole dad got shanked in the end. Thanks for nothing.
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I mean, it's
possible he did get stabbed or have something happen to him. we certainly don't see the conclusion. maybe maki just got out of juvie and that's why they haven't talked in years

I get why the film does this, since it's probably a tester to see how much interest it generates because they're hoping to get a sequel and are in a tight spot. But it is, also, regardless of if you understand WHY super fucking frustrating.

I actually got really invested in Nao in particular, so this bummed me out on a day where I was already bummed out in quarantine.
 
I truly didn't think that this would be a show that I would enjoy. I am 7 eps in and I am loving it. I think that this show is showing extremely strong progress. Everyone has their strengths, but this show makes it obvious that we do not know every side of someone. They may be holding back something dark. I like that our characters are growing and starting to believe in themselves more!
 
NNNOOOOOOOO I'M SO UPSET I NEED A SEASON 2 RIGHT NOW

I am PRAYING we get another season someday!!! You cannot imagine the despair I felt when I finished this show and checked to see where to read the manga and THERE IS NO MANGA!! AAAAHHH!!!!!

I will go cry now. ...And then get over it but still cry when this show is brought up to me. I enjoyed it through and through!!
 
sooooo no season 2 and no manga:pokerface:
but apart from that it's amazing I cried so much, I love each of them and hate every parent of this show apart from Maki's mother.
It's realistically painful but also so cute.
 
Soooo, I just watched the 2nd episode, and I do really like Maki, but I really don't like his attitude... I get that he has a hard time at home, but calling them sore losers, and one starts crying, that was rude, I think. I just don't think he should take out his anger on them, even though some of his statement was true, it was really a dick move to phrase it that way. Just IMO:) But I will be watching it till the end, let's see what happens!
 
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