cokesque

Synopsis

180 years ago, the Earth was ravaged by the shockwave from a faraway supernova. A second, more dangerous shockwave is due to hit very soon. In preparation for the Great Mission to protect the solar system from this danger, the Foundation was formed with great space stations throughout the system.

15-year-old Katase Shima (nicknamed Shipon) flies off to pilot training school on space station Stellvia, where she meets new friends—like her spikey-haired roomate Arisa who nicknames her “Shipon”—and discovers hidden talents. Wacky adventures ensue almost immediately.

Impressions

Ostensibly another “school in space” anime, it would be a mistake to judge Stellvia on that basis. The uptempo and powerful but sugar-free OP, Asu e no Brilliant Road, lays down the tone and themes of the series, which never wavers or loses focus of this brilliant road to tomorrow. It is an endearing show, simply told, with a seamless blend of comedy, drama, and action remeniscent of other crossover works like Angelic Layer.

The character designs have a very shiny and overall plastic-like look with color-coded hairstyles—all very cute in a sort of sharp-haired pokemonic manner. The simplicity of both character art and the plot is deceptive, though, because Stellvia’s characters are entirely capable of drawing you in and making you care for them whether they are flitting around in zippy CG-rendered starships or simply sitting on the floor having a good “let it all out” cry.

Musically, Stellvia is once again fairly simple. I’ve already mentioned the powerful and catchy opening song. The background music is mostly composed of variations of the OP and two EDs (the EDs, both nice, are rotated according to the overall tone of that episode) but is no less effective for it.

If I have a complaint it is that certain secondary characters, namely three of the so-called Big Four and a few of Shipon’s classmates, are very distinct in appearance and mannerisms, but we are never allowed to get to know them beyond a surface level.

Nevertheless, Stellvia is a wonderful effort from XEBEC (Love Hina, Bakuretsu Hunters, Nadesico, Zoids, D.N. Angel), one that is very welcome in a year like 2003 where there have been so few truly good anime series. With its CLAMP-like qualities, I wouldn’t hesitate recommending it for fans of Angelic Layer, Card Captor Sakura, or Magic Knight Rayearth.

Random Thoughts

Stellvia is from the Latin stella and via—so it means something like “path to the stars.”

Since I’ve heard the word uchuu used mostly in a context analagous with the English word “space,” it seems to me that Space Stellvia would be a better translation of Uchuu no Stellvia than Stellvia of the Universe, which was chosen by the Rice-Box fansubbers.

Boggle: In spite of hundreds of years of technological advancement, the best voice the Foundation can come up with for Shima’s training starship is the same one used by Stephen Hawking. Go figure.

Seiyuu of note:
Arisu = Matsuoka Yuki (Osaka in Azamanga Daioh)
Aki = Tanaka Rie (Yomi in Azumanga Daioh, Chii in Chobits)

Stellvia Engrish:
After recieving a video message from her parents, Rinna is presented with the following text:
Does it make answer?
It records. After a dialtone please message.

- 2003-10-10 19:14 -