Happy Pride Month, everyone! I don't think I can take pride in the fact that I watched the subject of today's review, though, especially not for a second time. Yes, I rewatched an anime for the sake of reviewing it. I don't remember exactly how I found out about this particular yuri OVA, but I did originally watch it back in 2014 and think it was so-so, apparently. However, I recently decided that it might be a good idea to re-evaluate some of the anime I gave an average score to in the past, and this OVA particularly stuck out in my mind; I didn't remember much about it, but something told me that I rated it too highly at the time, especially given the little bit of it I did remember. Unfortunately, I was proven correct; I don't see what it was that made my younger self see Kuttsukiboshi as anything more than....well, not good.

Kuttsukiboshi, or "Stars Intertwined" in English, follows the relationship between two high school girls named Kiiko Kawakami and Aya Saitou. After an accident a year prior, Kiiko gained the ability to move objects with her mind, and the new student Aya just so happened to find out her secret. This leads to them conducting daily experiments revolving around Kiiko's powers; all the while, Kiiko develops a crush on Aya. Aya ends up reciprocating Kiiko's feelings, and soon enough, they begin a sexual (and I guess romantic?) relationship. Things threaten to fall apart between the two of them, though, when Kiiko stumbles upon Aya's own secret.

This OVA series only has two episodes, and between the two, I'm not sure which is worse than the other. The first episode is mostly very boring, establishing a relationship between two characters I don't give two figs about; meanwhile, the second episode has a lot more going on yet is much more frustrating to watch due to the choices characters make and an ending that makes no sense. I will give the writers some props for attempting to foreshadow a certain aspect of the anime's ending in the first episode, but at the same time, that aspect felt very forced. To make up for this poorly-done plot, there is plenty of "plot" to go through (though it's not explicit enough to be a hentai), and.... Well, going into detail would lead to spoilers, but I will say that anyone who was aroused by certain "plot" scenes - specifically in episode 2 - should probably get their heads checked out.

Talking about each of the characters should be easy enough, considering there are only three "real" characters in Kuttsukiboshi. Kiiko is kind of a bland protagonist; aside from her having psychic powers and being in love with Aya, there is nothing to her character that could make her endearing to the audience. Aya is the more developed of the two, but the choices she makes and the way she treats Kiiko makes her very unlikable; the series tries to paint her as a sympathetic character in the end, but the damage is already done at that point. You can imagine just how unpleasant and uninteresting their relationship is when all of that is said. As for the third character, Kouta Saitou (Aya's older brother), his only purpose in the series is to cause drama between Kiiko and Aya; what becomes of him after he has served his purpose is almost laughable. Almost.

The animation in Kuttsukiboshi was done by Primastea, a studio whose only animation work seems to have been for the Issho ni Training OVA series (and even that's only in a producing role). This lack of experience from this studio really shows in aspects like the rough and off-model at times animation and the bland color grading. The sound of this anime doesn't fare much better. Asami Imai, the voice of Kiiko, has done some pretty decent voice acting work before and after this - Chihaya from "The iDOLM@STER" and Kurisu from "Steins;Gate", anyone? - but her performance here left much to be desired; the other two named characters are voiced by people with little to no other voice acting experience, and it shows in their weak performances. (Miku Isshiki sounded kind of cute as Aya, though, even if her voice acting was weak.) Each episode has its own ending theme, but neither are anything to write home about; "Hatsukoi Kasoku Kuukan", in particular, is probably one of Asami Imai's weaker songs.

Overall, Kuttsukiboshi is a bad anime, and I can't even recommend it to the biggest yuri fan out there. That said, if I had a gun pointed to my head and was forced to choose between this and Netsuzou Trap, I'd gladly watch this a third time; at least the yuri couple in Kuttsukiboshi doesn't ruin other romantic relationships (and Kuttsukiboshi doesn't have Fujiwara). In any case, may everyone in the LGBTQ+ community have a good Pride Month, and may I find something that's better than average in any other re-evaluation I do!