ThatAnimeSnob

NOTICE: Consider this text an overview of the entire franchise.

When Legend of the Galactic Heroes ended in the late 90s, everybody was looking forward to another space opera that would take itself somewhat seriously and rival the aforementioned title as the best in the genre. Crest of the Stars came out soon afterwards and for awhile it was a fine replacement. Many were even praising it for doing a lot of things better than LOGH. The art is of course dated by now and the animation is stiff, yet most of the background art is great. There are not many episodes with action or fighting, but those which have them, do their job just fine. The opening theme is amazing and really helps to immerse you in the series.

The thing is, for a space opera, Crest of the Stars has more soap than space. It’s closer to a coming of age with some tragic romance mixed in, while a galactic war is at large in the background. To its credit, it does a pretty good job at making the characters likable by spending a lot of time in their everyday lives. The downside is, it hardly has any tension or closure. Despite including a few pretty well made battle scenes, as a whole, the alien side is simply more powerful than the human side. You are just waiting to see when they are going to take over the galaxy with nothing standing in their way. Warfare ends up not being a vital part of the storyline.

The kiddy romance between a human boy and an alien girl ends up being more prevalent. Their social status keeps them apart as she is an imperial princess and he is a commoner. Also, they age very differently, so it’s tragic to imagine one dying of old age while the other one is still young.

Other than that, there is a serious lack of counterforce to the presence of the Abh aliens, who can be described as biologically enhanced space Elves with a cat fetish. Their side is the only one you end up caring for, since the plot is constantly trying to present them as tragic figures. The human boy becomes a forgettable archetype next to the Abh who wish to bring order to their chaotic galaxy by conquering every sentient life form. They are not evil, they have a noble cause, they are victimized by technology, and on top of everything else they are boy scouts before the shithead humans who are constantly fighting amongst them. They are ridiculously idealized and overpowered to the point of becoming Gary Stus. There is close to no erotic fan service in the series, and yet they are still presented like ideal waifus and husbandos.

Still, they are still far more fleshed out and treated with far more respect than most anime characters out there. They are not ridiculed or oversexualized for the sake of selling more copies, it’s not about loli tsunderes and their beta male punching bags in some high school. This alone is what makes it worthwhile if you are not bothered by the lack of an interesting plot and a solid ending.