Anime Legends — Seikai no Monshō pt. 3

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 II

The series makes the jump to widescreen format this season. Also, the lines appear to be thicker and the colors are more saturated. This should make for better screencaps for you, the reader!

I try to avoid spoilers at all costs while sharing my thoughts in these anime reviews. As some of the tension one might feel toward the peril our heroes get themselves into now and then might be lessened by the fact that there’s another season or book taking place afterward, I try to avoid specific descriptions of peril, lest I invoke Betteridge’s Law of Headlines. But, Hell with it. Let’s start this review the way Banner of the Stars II begins its first episode.

Well, that’s foreboding.

It also doesn’t help that the name of the ending theme song is “Farewell, My Love.”

This dreadful scene is a classic anime flash-forward. It seems as though they wanted to establish just what the stakes were right off the bat, and this flash-forward is revisited several times to keep you anxious until the real action of the season begins.

This next chapter of Seikai REALLY begins with an apparently common problem experienced by the Basroil during the offense-driven Operation Hunter: Every solar system newly conquered from the Triple Alliance needs a temporary ambassador, and the ship has Lafiel and Jinto, two members of the aristocracy.

This irritates Lafiel to no end, as she wishes to remain in action and make her mark as a capable commander. However, lander Jinto seems to relish the opportunities to get back on solid ground. The lander members of the crew agree, treating them like bonus shore leaves.

While Lafiel is the de facto ruler of the planet, she remains on board the Basroil to remain in contact with the Empire, sending Jinto to the planet to be the go between for her and the “territorial representative” — the person who was in charge of the planet before it was conquered.

The complication? Four people lay claim to that title. Jinto must sort the situation out, and deal with requests by the planets people for evacuation as a Triple Alliance fleet is spotted making a beeline for the system, presumably to reclaim its subspace gate.

As the evacuation starts, the infighting between the leaders intensifies to the point where one faction takes up arms and begins a savage ground battle. The Basroil, even with the help of a passing Admiral, cannot hold the system on her own when the enemy fleet arrives. The leader who instigated the conflict on the ground captures Jinto before he can return to space, and the crew of the Basroil must leave him behind, hoping they will be able to rescue him when the Abh return to the system.

If you thought the away mission-centric plot meant there wouldn’t be pretty ship shots and a showpiece space battle, you were mistaken. I promised you some Admiral Spoor in every season, and she’s here to lead a dramatic defensive battle.

Previous battles in the series tended to be tense, but inevitably one-sided. This one features more even odds that try Admiral Spoor’s ingenuity and tactics. In her opinion, losses in this fight could very well be heavy and unavoidable.

This season also shows us the very different ways Lafiel, Samson and Ekuryua deal with grief (Sobach is generally too busy managing Lafiel’s grief to express any of his or her own).

Lafiel, as we’ve seen her do before, pours herself into her work. As a member of the ruling family, the Abriel’s are not allowed to cry as it shows favoritism to one subject over another. So she sits on the edge of her seat, awaiting any opportunity to make a command decision, to take any action available to her. More than once, Sobach has to ask Lafiel’s to reconsider her choices by brining missed details to her attention.

Ekuryua, continuing her role as the red herring, is melancholy but also genuinely curious about death. We learn more about the aging process of the Abh through her introspection, as she wonders how landers (and cats) compare.

Samson, of course, is a rock (not THE rock, as Sobach proves). I’m not talking about the engineer’s roles as a bodyguard and as the leader of the ground forces. It’s his attitude. When there is nothing to do but wait, he chooses to do so in the way of his culture: By preparing a grand feast for the person who isn’t there. Samson is able to remain almost chipper until there is a substantial reason for him not to be.

Anime Legends will take a short break. In the meantime, we’ll continue our look at Seikai no Monshō with the not-for-North America Banner of the Stars III and Crest of the Stars: Birth. Anime Legends will return afterward.