The Relationship I have with Stars Align can be compared to do that off a parent with a disappointing child. The parent loves his kid, but the parent also can't ignore the flaws the kid has. The same can be said for me. Me personally getting invested (emotionally) in a drama anime is rare. But this anime managed to do that, I picked this show because the promotional art of this show gave me a melancholic vibe, something I always appreciate. So I decided to watch it at night and OMG, what a night it was. I've never been so happy and pissed at the same time. Now the premise of this show is fairly simple, a group of soft tennis players, are on the verge of getting their club shut down since they are essentially losers. But the new transfer dude steps in and saves their arse while facing his own problems. Well, the 'problems' are what made me get myself invested in the show. The show is relatable and isn't painted like an optimistic shounen fantasy, which made me like it. So with that being said, let me get into the nitty-gritty stuff.

1. Characters- The characters in this show are commonly used archetypes, but enough characterization is given to them, so they grow past that and are really fun to watch. I like every single one of them. That's pretty much it.
2. Themes and Realism- The anime portrays a lot of themes, common in the Asian world. Tiger parenting is one of them. Now the parents in this show do seem to act like jerks/ hyper-aggressive and are hyper-exaggerated sometimes for the sake of drama and conflict, but since I have some friends whose parents act like control freaks, I can assure you that, the show hit me home and felt real. Also, the show subtly addressed issues of coming out of the closet, peer pressure, parental pressure to be an academic, etc. Which was kind of a breath of fresh air, since I was tired of shounen sports shows being all nice and games.
3. Story and Plot- Being a character-driven narrative centered around sports, there's not much of a story. But the way the plot progresses is just fantastic. I could see the characters grow and be better selves of themselves, and it just feels genuine and real.

The tone of this show is serious, that's what makes it so much better than other sports series in my opinion.

But then
came the last 5 minutes of this show.
The ending ruined it for me. I couldn't eyeball this anime then.
But a few months later, after watching this anime I started feeling nostalgic.. hence I'm writing the review.
To be frank, it would've been better off had the story been incomplete, rather than finishing the way it did. Because it didn't make any sense and was a huge f*ck off to all the viewers..
I hope something about this is done because this anime is just so good and was a breath of fresh air.
I'm just being optimistic here and hoping that whoever made this anime, just considers the ending as not being the cannonical and makes a proper ending to the series, via a second season or a feature-length film. Just do it.