Stars Align Review

Why Did I Choose To Watch This:

Sports anime have always been my favorite genre in anime and Stars Align is one that I briefly noticed and decided to give it a shot. The cover art looked simple but also attractive, enough to give it a click. To my surprise it’s an anime about soft tennis, a sport that’s like a cousin to pickleball, and a sport that I’ve been getting into recently in real life. The last deciding factor was that this anime was an original anime created by Kakuzi Akane. With all those elements, I decided to serve myself with Stars Align and hope that it could be another hidden gem.

Plot Mechanics:

Quick Summary:

Stars Align follows an underperforming boy’s soft tennis team that’s on the verge of being disbanded unless they start winning. That’s when in typical main character fashion the protagonist, Maki Katsuragi, a transfer student joins the club at the request of his childhood friend, Touma Shinjou. Maki is athletically gifted with an insane feel for the game as well as catlike reflexes. To top things off he has hidden leadership qualities that might rally his friends and might just keep the team’s club alive.

As the team competes to keep their club alive, the story focuses heavily on the personal struggles that each boy faces. The anime uses the team sport aspect as a way to connect all the characters together as they navigate through their own individual problems.

Themes:

Stars Align is so much more deeper than what seems. The series fundamentally is about heavy themes such as abuse, identity, mental health, emotional honesty, financial hardship, and the complexities of adolescence. Going into it, I thought it would be similar to other sports anime that celebrate grit and hardwork, but this one highlights the emotional struggles any given teenager can have. As the story progresses you can really see the growth and bonding that is formed through the club. There were times where the problems that the characters had felt a bit forced as if it was trauma dumping but that’s me nitpicking.

Although the story focuses primarily on those themes, it still manages to keep sports fans hyped through the matches the characters play in. Despite not being as built up, the matches are still really entertaining and worthwhile.

Plot Mechanics: 9.5/10

Characters:

Maki Katsuragi is a unique protagonist. He typically keeps to himself, is mature, but still demonstrates leadership qualities. He’s also of course the star in his team with all his physical gifts and his ability to adapt on the fly. The best part of Maki as a character is watching how he handles his own problems versus others.

Touma Shinjou on the other hand is quite the opposite. The series starts off with him seeming to be the cool, calm, and collected character but he can be an emotional roller coaster. He’s extremely passionate, earnest, and always willing to carry more than he should.

Both characters have their own internal struggles and fight it through their own means. They also have a great dynamic with each other, especially seeing that they are paired as duos. The rest of the team each gets meaningful development with their own problems including gender identity, family pressure, sibling dynamics, or self-worth. Overall the characters all fill a role in the story and each represent a different problem that teens could go through. The only nitpick I would have is the character designs were pretty boring and generic.

Characters: 9.5/10

Aesthetics/Vibes:

The vibes were different at different points of the series, but each time it needed a specific feeling it delivered. Times of sadness and desperation were well delivered. Times of triumphance met the same delivery. Overall the series was perfect in terms of delivering the right vibes at the right time and really making me the viewer really locked in to what I was watching. If I had to use one word to describe the vibe the word is bittersweet.

Aesthetics/Vibes: 9/10

Art/Animation/Direction:

The visuals of Stars Align are deceptively simple but incredibly expressive. The character designs were really simple but the expressions the characters had showed depth. What surprised me was the fluidity of the animation. I was really shocked during the soft tennis scenes, which rely on motion capture to create natural movement. It looks less like an action highlight reel and more like actual kids playing a sport. I came in thinking it would be alright at best but the animation’s fluidity got me going.

Direction-wise, the show excelled at visual storytelling. Things like the muted color palettes and subtle facial expressions really added to the flair in this anime. Sure, it’s not super flashy but I was genuinely pleased with the direction and how it added to the story.

Art/Animation/Direction: 9/10

Overall Rating/Recommendation:

Stars Align isn’t your typical sports anime. It’s got elements that are usually rare for this type of genre. It’s for sure a heavy hitter in the emotional trauma section. As I mentioned earlier, there were times where it felt way too forced but the anime did a great job of blending the concept of sports and the emotional trauma into an anime.

After doing some research this anime was supposed to get more episodes, which you can tell by how it ended, but it never got them. Honestly hope we get more because this anime was great and we never got to experience a proper ending.

Overall I recommend this anime to anyone that loves sports anime but wants a different twist on them. Even if you don’t like sports anime but you enjoy watching characters overcome personal struggles this anime is for you. If you like character driven story plots this anime is a must watch. If any of those seem like something you can get behind, don’t hesitate, add Stars Align to your list now!

Overall Rating/Recommendation: 9.5/10