Uchuu no Stellvia

In the year 2167, a wave of radiation released by the supernova of the nearby star Hydrus Beta caused cataclysmic damage on Earth, leaving millions dead. Now, it is the year 2356. United to rebuild Earth, humanity prepares for the supernova's second wave of destruction.

In order to protect the planet from future harm, massive space colonies called "Foundations" have been built throughout the Solar System. Acting as centers for both knowledge and exploration, it is at one of these Foundations—the Stellvia—that Shima Katase applies to be a preparatory student against her mother's wishes, aspiring to see space directly with her own eyes.

At the Stellvia, Katase trains to become a pilot and hopes to be selected for the "Great Mission" to shield Earth from the second wave. While she struggles with both her pilot classes and her tumultuous social life, she slowly grows into someone who might just be able to protect humanity.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Katase, Shima Main

Nonaka, Ai Japanese

Otoyama, Kouta Main

Mizushima, Daichuu Japanese

Glennorth, Arisa Main

Matsuoka, Yuki Japanese

Fujisawa, Yayoi Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Machida, Ayaka Supporting

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Kazamatsuri, Rinna Supporting

Hirohashi, Ryou Japanese

Barthes, Leila Supporting

Shindo, Naomi Japanese

Carlos, Enrique Supporting

Kazama, Yuuto Japanese

Omaezaki, Tony Supporting

Takahashi, Yugo Japanese

Mills, Akiko Supporting

Takahashi, Mayuko Japanese

Nakanishi, Go Producer

Chino, Takatoshi Producer

Ikeda, Shinichi Producer

Yamanaka, Takahiro Assistant Producer

Reviews

Apr 22, 2007

NaughtyCalibur

Recommended

After reading the synopsis for Stellvia of the Universe (Uchuu no Stellvia in Japanese) I immediately had to find and watch it. I love storylines about mankind being brought to near extinction by something that could realistically happen, which in the case of Stellvia is a gamma ray burst from a nearby star going supernova. Surprisingly however, the plot premise was the last thing that drew me into Stellvia while I watched it. At first glance Stellvia doesn't look anything like the post apocalyptic anime it advertises itself as, in fact the Earth and the people on it all look pretty damn good considering 99% ... of the population was wiped out less than two hundred years ago. So, I instinctively thought that I became a victim of false advertisement once again--or rather a victim of my own assumptions--but as Stellvia progressed and characters became more developed I realized that there was a lot more to enjoy about this anime than its primary story arc.

Stellvia of the Universe reminds me of several different animes. The school life portion of the series gave me some serious Azumanga Daioh vibes. There is actually a lot of charm and humor that comes with watching Shima Katase and Arisa Glennorth bounce comments back and forth, and when you throw in a bunch of other interesting students and instructors it only adds to the fun. The serious portion of the series, which involves space training and combat, reminds me quite a lot of series' like Vandread. While the outer space scenes don't pack nearly as much action as fans of the genre would expect, they aren't boring to watch either. Stellvia is more of a psychological anime than it is an all-out sci-fi action one. Even though there are a few tense and exciting moments of high speed space action, the majority of the series takes place inside of the cockpit where we get to see the emotions of the individual pilots. This was an interesting route to take, and it works greatly to Stellvia's advantage. As the series goes on emotions begin to flare, so unlike Azumanga Daioh, Stellvia of the Universe does get serious, and tears are shed on more than one occasion.

Speaking of tears, Shima Katase wins my vote for 'Biggest Drama Queen in the History of Anime.' Shipon (the nickname Shima respectively earns early on in the series) manages to cry more times in the course of Stellvia than I care to count. To be completely honest, I can't remember a single episode where she didn't have tears running down her face at least once, including the very first episode. At first I was able to sympathize with her, but after seeing her pouty face a dozen or more times I felt the urge to leap into my television and repeatedly punch her in the face. While the entire human race is facing the biggest threat they've ever encountered this girl bitches and moans over the littlest of things, which includes not being as good of a pilot as her boyfriend (boo-friggin-hoo). While this sort of angst-ridden lead character is what helped ruin Neon Genesis Evangelion for me, Stellvia of the Universe provides the audience with plenty of characters to fall in love with and enough plot developments to keep the focus off the annoying drama queen. Although it is worth mentioning that the Shipon character does redeem herself towards the very end of the series, thankfully.

Stellvia of the Universe is a very character driven series, with well over a dozen different characters all with distinct personalities and agendas. If you don't like one character, there is a good chance you'll like somebody else. This is what made Stellvia so enjoyable to me, that I was able to attach myself onto several different characters in very different ways. Stellvia also doesn't have any true villains, a void that is filled mostly by fierce rivalries between some of the students. I guess it can be said that the real villain of the story is the cosmic disaster mankind is pitted up against; a faceless, mindless, merciless monster that will eradicate the entire solar system without a second's thought unless the genius preparatory students (Shima Katase and her boyfriend Kouta Otoyama) do something about it.

Stellvia of the Universe does get a little carried away later on in the series, and goes in a direction I least expected--aliens. Yes, during the latter half of the series aliens are introduced into the storyline. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your outlook) these aliens remain mostly hidden in the background of things, although there is one major character revealed to have connections with the aliens later on. As some of you may know, I'm a big fan of aliens and alien/human conflict, but the introduction of aliens in the story of Stellvia felt rather unnecessary to me. I guess if we're ever going to see aliens in real life it would be during a time of galactic crisis like the one presented in Stellvia, but going so far as having an alien masquerade as a high ranking human official is stretching things a bit too much for my comfort. In an anime that is otherwise pretty grounded, the aliens of Stellvia might manage to make a few eyes roll.

If you're a real die hard science geek you may also find it hard to swallow the plot that Stellvia of the Universe revolves around. The idea that mankind can survive a gamma ray burst from a nearby star is certainly a romantic one, but not very likely. With the ozone layer destroyed it would take many years before people could just walk around the planet as if it were a normal day, and the radiation levels would be so high that even people hiding in shelters would be swiftly killed. Also, a gamma ray isn't going to act like a nuclear bomb and blow buildings down as if they were made of straw. And don't even get me started on the 'cosmic fracture' introduced later in the series. But, they don't call it science FICTION for nothing.

I simply loved the audio in Stellvia of the Universe. The OP song, Asu e no Brilliant Road (Brilliant Road to Tomorrow), is one of the best OP songs I've heard in quite some time, and I had trouble bringing myself to skip the opening scene during the start of each episode because of it. The various ED songs, Kirei na Yozora (Beautiful Night Sky), The End of the World, and Dear my best friend are all pretty good as well, with my favorite being Kirei na Yozora; it has that really catchy J-Pop factor, which resulted in me struggling to stop myself from humming it while in the shower. All of the theme music is done by Angela, so I'll be sure to check out her work from now on. The voiceovers in Stellvia are quite good as well, but I can't comment too much on the Japanese audio since I didn't listen to much of it. The English audio is nice though, with all of the voice actors playing their roles respectively. If I decide to ever watch this series again I'll consider watching it in the Japanese audio, since I hear the Japanese voice actors did a truly superb job.

The animation in Stellvia is a nice blend of traditional drawings and computer graphics, and it's pleasant to see that an anime like Stellvia can pull off CG without looking too dated or generally awkward. Character and scenery designs are all great, with each character animated to perfection with their corresponding personality traits, and with each location looking distinct from each other. I actually felt like I was aboard the Stellvia myself while watching, as the anime takes you everywhere from the dorms to the air ducts. The only way to see more of the fantasy space station would be to obtain the blueprints. There is a few recycled sequences here and there, but not really enough to take your attention away from the good stuff.

Stellvia of the Universe is what I would consider a hidden gem. It's not the kind of anime I would expect my friends to bring up during a conversation, and when asking people online for their opinions on it I constantly got the same reply: 'I've never heard of Stellvia.' This is a real shame, because Stellvia is exactly the kind of anime there isn't enough of. Where are all the sci-fi animes that take themselves seriously without being dull, or having a dull cast of characters? Or for that matter, how many animes have you seen where literally dozens of characters are properly developed, and who are each likable or unlikable for their own reasons? In my experience an anime with such qualities is rare. Stellvia of the Universe isn't perfect by any means, but if I said it wasn't one of the best anime experiences I've had in a while I'd be lying. Overall, Stellvia of the Universe is a well crafted piece of entertainment, one that you shouldn't avoid.

My Score: 9.5

Version Watched: English Dub

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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May 25, 2011

XDysphoria

Recommended

I LOVED this anime. It had a very unique storyline that kept me interested until the end. There was very few fillers, and the characters are realistic (being that they don't have out of proportion body parts, random personalities).

It has romance, action, unexpected twists, I think it is definitely worth watching but the first episode explains everything so it might be a little boring for some people.

And for those who love space, pretty images of the universe, you'll get a huge dose of it :)

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Nov 13, 2019

PixelB

Not Recommended

Preliminary (2/26 eps)

Actually, Stellvia had a pretty decent start, if anything else. That was surprising. I was more expectant of a mediocre show through and through.
That's about as much as I can give in terms of positive feedback of the show, though.
I really only watched the first few episodes, but I got enough of a feel of the anime in those few episodes that it really wasn't worth watching at all. This show definitely is one of those classic "prestigious school" animes. I'm not going to lie, there are indeed more than a few anime that have been able to pull this sort of setting off. However, ... Stellvia sure as hell was not one of them. Faced with characters that I knew I was going to hate in the very beginning, it isn't hard to see why I dropped this show so early. Many of the characters that get acquainted with the MC are very "unique." and not in a good way. They don't make a lot of sense, and don't fit well with the plot and story this anime was going for. You'd think they'd at least be good at comedic relief, but no comedic segments showed up. I could also tell that this show was going to be "slice of life" sort of style until the last 3 episodes, where a bunch of plot is crammed into the end. So, if you don't like the "slice of life" part of the show, which to me, was very painful to watch, then you surely will not like it.
In conclusion, the characters are bad, story is run of the mill, and animation definitely is not great.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Uchuu no Stellvia Episode 26 Discussion jacobpaige - May 3, 2008	23 replies	by Jigoku-Master1 »» Aug 1, 8:16 AM
	Poll: Uchuu no Stellvia Episode 20 Discussion jacobpaige - May 3, 2008	5 replies	by CardcaptorTohru »» Jun 6, 6:34 PM
	Poll: Uchuu no Stellvia Episode 21 Discussion jacobpaige - May 3, 2008	5 replies	by el_morris »» Aug 13, 2023 3:15 PM
	Poll: Uchuu no Stellvia Episode 18 Discussion Pirating_Ninja - Feb 21, 2014	3 replies	by el_morris »» Aug 13, 2023 2:00 PM
	Poll: Uchuu no Stellvia Episode 16 Discussion kisami - May 12, 2010	7 replies	by el_morris »» Aug 13, 2023 1:09 PM