Anime Legends — Seikai no Monshō pt. 2

After I heard about Bandai calling it quits on publishing anime in North America, I decided it was high time to make a push to watch a slew of Bandai-published series I did not get around to watching yet, while I could still find them.

The Seikai no Monshō collection of anime series (based on several books) consists of Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars, Banner of the Stars II and 3 OVA episodes which were never translated (Crest of the Stars: Birth, a prequel, and the two-part Banner of the Stars III).

Banner of the Stars

Set three years after the events in Crest of the Stars, the series begins with Jinto, freshly graduated from the Abh military academy, taking his place as a supply officer aboard Lafiel’s first command, the small assault ship Basroil. The surprise war started by the United Mankind triple alliance against the Humankind Empire of Abh resulted in loss of territory and the near-destruction of both sides’ fleets.

Jinto and Lafiel train to take part in their first mission, part of the larger Operation Phantom Flame, in which the Empire aims to reclaim their lost territory (and then some). The Abh believe they rebuilt their forces first, and plan to relentlessly press this advantage.

The series follows the Basriol and her crew as their fleet is assigned to defend a recently conquered key sub-space transportation hub. Naturally, the enemy counterattacks.

The many small battles in the first half of the series serve as a wonderful buildup to the multiple-episode final fight. We saw very little space combat in Crest of the Stars, and Banner wishes to make up for it. We are first introduced to new types of ships, and their role in the fleet. We observe how the assault ships fight in squadrons to take down larger prey. We see the diversity and limitations of the weapons. We see the new tactics the Triple Alliance has devised and their devastating effect. Each skirmish serves to introduce a new element, each leading to a payoff when the big showdown comes.

One of the strengths of the Seikai series is that it manages to talk about naval tactics and super-science in believable and approachable ways. The art direction and storyboarding never fail to pair up any explanation with a very easy to understand visual (be it the ships themselves, or the readout of a computer screen).

Another reason why that is a strength because these easy-to-digest bits are brief enough to not steal significant screen time away from the plot and the characters. Indeed, even when teasing and previewing more combat, the focus never strays for long from the main characters, or the grizzly effects of war on them and their squadmates. Several episodes focus on the “other war” that rages between battles.

New secondary characters include the rest of the Basroil‘s officers and others in their chain of comand:

Sobach, a staright-laced abh with an inconstantly referred to gender. He or she serves as Lifiel’s second-in-command and flight controller of the Basroil.

Samson, a middle-aged lander winding down his career as an engineer. In addition to his duties, he serves as a mentor to the younger officers who have never been in combat before. Despite his eating habits, he comes off as the most likable of the bunch.

Ekuryua, a young Abh weapons officer and pilot who is extremely curious about Jinto… and his cat Diaho. Ekuryua, along with the next character, are used to tease us with a potential genre shift to “Harem” which, fortunately, remains a tease.

Atosuryua Faibdach, the squadron commander with a disturbingly familiar name.

We also get to spend time with two new Admirals and their Cheifs of Staff (our running total is four each… with three more Admirals if you count the brief introduction to the Phantom Flame fleet preceding the credits. Some of them will get a line in the climactic battle, so make sure you watch that introduction which plays with Lodoss-like regularity.

I hope you like Spoor, because she’s the only Admiral seen in all three series.

One of the aspects of the Seikai no Monshō series I really like is how much time you spend with the top brass of the military. You, the viewer, rarely gets to know more than one ship’s crew, yet you address five admirals on a first-name basis.

It’s a handy device for exposition; you can learn about the enemy movements and the Abh fleet’s strategy by observing the decision-makers and their tactical briefings. It helps that all of the Admirals posses their own eccentricities to keep the scenes from becoming mere info-dumps.

Each Admiral comes with his or her own Chief of Staff, usually playing the straight-man role to their leader’s brand of spectacular insanity (or just trying to survive their job). The interactions provide some levity to the otherwise dark war stories, and each of these relationships seem to preview what seems inevitably to await Lafiel and Jinto’s future in the Star Forces.

We’ll continue both Anime Legends and Seikai no Monshō next week (for real this time) with Banner of the Stars II.