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A "Cosmonaut" is what Russia calls those who go to space to carry out professional work. In the west, they are called "astronauts."

The story is historical fiction, based loosely on the events of the cold war. You have two superpowers in the 1960s- the UZSR (Soviet Union equivalent) and the UK (basically a combination of the US and UK) competing in a space race; to be the first to land a man on the moon. You have *mostly* real technology with *mostly* real scenarios based on history, but this is still fiction, at the end of the day- enter Irina Luminesk, a vampire living in ... the UZSR. In a desperate bid to reach the stars, she agrees to become a test subject for the UZSR, to make sure the spacecraft is safe for humans. Because she is a vampire, which the world considers to be an inferior "cursed species," using her as a test subject to send to space is viewed as OK. Thus, Irina becomes the world's first cosmonaut.

Let me just start off by saying Irina is a wonderful character. She comes across as just a tsundere at first but manages to be much more than that. Headstrong, brave, strong, a bit bashful with at times, but with her own insecurities and worries, there are a lot of reasons to root for her. As you might expect from a series that takes place in the '60s, the world is rife with discrimination (both from humans and vampires alike), and you can't help but pump your fist cheering for her to succeed.

The characters as a whole are standouts. Lev Leps is Irina's mentor, and the chemistry between him and Irina is great, as is their slowly growing romantic bond. Lev's sense of righteousness clashes with Irina's blunt, determined nature, yet the duo are always there to reassure and help one another. Then you have Bart and Kaye, the nerdy computer engineers in the UK and the bond they share, and even the side characters like the scientist Korovin, cosmonauts Roza and Mikhail, division chief Damon, astronaut Nathan, data analyst Anya...talking about them all in detail would take several paragraphs, but make no mistake, the sympathetic and realistic characters this story presents, paired with the historical setting, are what make the series shine.

The setting itself as well as the circumstances are surprisingly accurate to what actually happened in the 50s-60s space race between the US and the Soviet Union, even with regards to domestic affairs such as civil rights marches in the US. Of course, the author takes liberties too and changes things up for the sake of additional stakes and drama (see: vampires existing and going to space), but if a historical cold war space setting sounds appealing, this'll be right up your ally.

That said, there's a lot of technical jargon covering large sections of the books. If you don't like reading about the science behind early computers and spacecraft, your eyes may go cloudy at these sections of the books. I think the series would have been better served to cut some of that down in favor of more character interactions and drama, which were the highlight of the series. I would have also liked an epilogue of some kind in the final novel to tie up some minor loose ends...but the ending does manage to instill a warm feeling in your chest nonetheless.

Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut is overall an excellent historical fiction title that is well worth your time. Some issues with pacing and heavy science exposition can be mundane at times, but it's overshadowed by the strong interpersonal relationships between characters, a setting and circumstances that are easy to sympathize with, and a satisfying, slow-burn romance. It doesn't overstay it's welcome either, telling a complete story in just 7 volumes. Above all, it's got a ton of heart.

Thanks Irina. Enjoy the stars.

"The first to fall in love loses!"

"If I go out with him, I'll probably fall in love!"

Never before have such pretentious phrases been uttered unironically...wait, this is anime. Never mind, happens all the time.

This season was by and large a massive disappointment. I have always believed 'Love is War' to be an overrated romcom, but nevertheless found the first two seasons serviceably decent. You can check my profile, if you don't believe me: I gave the first two seasons a 6/10. Although drenched in romantic tropes I despise, the comedy was consistent and the execution was at a very high level.

And yet this season falls ... flat on it's face, because it focuses on what has long been the weakest part of the series: it's drama.

Now granted, I have not read the manga (nor will I ever). But why does Kaguya/Shirogane's romance need to be dragged out so incessantly? Three seasons in (that's nearly 15 hours of your life, folks) and it takes until the very end for just the smallest amount of progress in that department. Why drag it out? The drama? The tension? Sorry, but who in their right mind thought these two were never going to get together? There is no tension. For the laughs maybe? The pair's tsundere schtick stopped being funny by the end of season 1. There are literally hundreds of tsundere couples in anime. That is not unique in the slightest.

Then there's this new Tsubame/Ishigami love thing going on. Now again, I have not read the manga. But the instant this Tsubame girl was introduced, I thought "There's no way this is going to work out." And yet that plot element gets dragged on, episode after episode. Just axe it already and stop wasting my time.

These are just a couple examples. When you have these tropey dramatic elements, they better conclude quickly, or I get bored and irritated. The older I get, the more these parts of anime have rubbed me the wrong way.

One of the stronger parts of this series is it's comedy and it's side-characters. The "Shirogane likes Herthaka, but Chika thinks Herthaka is a dude who likes other dudes and thus gives Chika a horny nosebleed" was one that genuinely made me laugh hard. It was a misunderstanding piled on top of another misunderstanding in a creative way that made sense.

But overall there is less comedy in this season, and for the first time I found some of it rather stale. Comedy in this series could be nonsensical at times, but it seems this season double-downed on it. For example, the coin game they play in one of the earlier episodes.

To summarize the coin game bluntly: group is putting coins under a sheet, using heads and tails to answer various questions truthfully ("Do you have a crush?" etc). No one knows who puts what coin under the sheet, and a lie detector is there in case anyone decides to lie.

Shirogane and Kaguya are both intimidated by the lie detector, so they tell the truth with their answers...why? They're both supposed to be super smart, so they should realize how incredibly unreliable those things are right? There's a reason lie detectors aren't generally admissible as evidence in court- they're notoriously unreliable.

Then Shirogane gets out of it anyway, by switching his coin with a 1981 coin in his pocket (because Kaguya was looking at the years of the coins to know who was answering)...how? How did he switch coins without Kaguya noticing? Why does he carry around a 1981 coin so conveniently? The suspension of belief is just too high for it to be either funny or dramatic.

The other part of this show that is one of it's stronger suits are it's side characters. Shirogane/Kaguya are a typical tsundere duo whom I've never much cared for, but I do have a soft spot for some of the others.

Ishigami's dramatic parts are the only good dramatic parts of the series. Even if it is tropey and predictable, I sympathize with his lack of confidence affecting aspects of his life. Just wish the romantic part of this was less predictable and less drawn-out. His comedic bits are on the weaker side too, but that's fine I suppose.

Chika is the show's most consistent comedy, but she's also the only one compeletely lacking in meaningful character development. One of the earlier seasons mentioned she has a family with a political background, which opens the door for soooo many possibilities given her personality. And yet nothing has come of it. Ditto for her younger sister, who was around for a short comedic part.

Hayasaka finally gets some decent character development here. She's cute and funny in a deadpan sort of way. But like Chika, I really wish there was something of more substance; give her a boy to pursue, or a hobby, or important friends...She needs something, anything. The entire point of her short arc at the beginning of this season was that she wanted to live her teenage life, instead of just being relegated to being Kaguya's maid...but then there's nothing. Some may say "wait until season 5" or something. Well, 3 seasons should be plenty. That's nearly 15 hours of show. Pick up the pace.

The art is colorful and gorgeous. The sound is...decent. I think that one track that reminds me of "You spin me round" by Dead or Alive was the best one. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but it got a chuckle out of me every time I heard it. The sub is great, although the english dub is kind of underwhelming unfortunately.

Given how season 3 ends, I'm guessing it's going to double down on the tsundere romantic parts, which is absolutely the weakest part of this show. Thus I'm undecided if I want to continue after this. I can understand why there are so many fans of this- even if it is a tropey romcom, the ideas are executed very well.

Bottom line, if you watched this show's first two seasons primarily for laughs, you may be disappointed with this one like I was. However if you want more ham-handed drama and tsundere, "misunderstanding" romance, you'll probably like this season more.

This review is based on J-Novel Club's Collector's edition.

Crest of the Stars is a classic space-opera. It acts as a prelude to it's sequel, 'Banner of the Stars.' And it's one of the best light novel science fiction stories out there.

The main reason to love this story is the carefully crafted world and it's characters. The protagonists are Lafier (Lafiel in the anime) and Jint (Jinto in the anime). Lafier is an Abh, part of a genetically advanced race. This race controls most of the galaxy as a major empire. As a whole, the Abh are intriguing as an ideal, yet still a flawed existence.

Jint ... on the other hand is a 'landworlder,' someone who is born on one of the many worlds as a regular human. But through luck and circumstance, he becomes an Abh noble and meets Lafier.

Jint and Lafier are great characters, and they have a lot of fun banter. Jint offers a human perspective that the reader can sympathize with and understand easily, while Lafier offers a fantastical and wondrous perspective from her heritage and way of thinking. It makes her character perspective fascinating. However both Jint and Lafier are at their best as characters when they are a pair.

As for the other characters, the Abh as a whole have a lot of colorful personalities that make them fun and engaging. I think my only complaint in this department is that the antagonists felt a bit over the top- the corny 'muhahaha I'm so evil' types.

The story acts essentially as a prologue to an epic space opera. I think the biggest weakness here is the massive load of vocabulary jargon the story throws at you. I have to give the translator (Giuseppe di Martino) a lot of credit here for making these terms easier to digest. However it was still a slog to get through all the technical terminology in places, and it does make the reading slower than I'd like at times. Regardless, the story was fun to read. I was excited to learn how Lafier and Jint's circumstances would affect the situations they ended up in.

There isn't much art to speak of, sadly. The only art to be found is at the beginning of the book, which has illustrations of the original novel covers. It's nice art, but there's hardly any here.

Overall Crest of the Stars is a great science-fiction story, highlighted by it's fun characters and epic scale. The lack of art is somewhat disappointing though, and the technical terminology reads stiff at times. Still, if you like space operas this is a must buy series. Onward to the sequel- Banner of the Stars.

8/10

The only reason to get this instead of the Light Novel is for the nice artwork. Otherwise, you should stick to where the story originated from in the Light Novel, which is by far the superior version. For several reasons:

A) The manga version cuts some minor scenes, particularly some banter. The banter is the best part about this series, so you don't want to miss out on that. There are also some altered scenes from the LN/anime (such as Mai's blushing)

B) The manga version is more expensive. $24 retail, versus the Light Novel which is $15 retail.

C) The Light Novel is significantly farther ahead in ... the story. The manga version only goes up to the Futaba arc currently (3 volumes).

D) And finally the manga has waaaaaay too much fan service (Mai image in shower, Futaba's exaggerated breasts, Tomoe panty shot, Mai's bunny suit is exceedingly tight around her body, etc). That really hurts what is otherwise a fantastic story. I have heard that the next arc has a lot less fan service. But this is a review of the first manga volume that I read- Mai's arc.

The art is pretty good. But otherwise, the only reason to get this is if you want a fan-service version of Bunny Girl Senpai.

Watch the anime and read the light novels. This series has a lot of great characters, wholesome and heartwarming romance, realistic drama, and comedy. Highly recommended series to all fans of those things...for the Light Novel and anime versions, anyway.

Banner of the Stars III is a two episode OVA from 2005. It is the conclusion for the anime that began with Crest of the Stars in 1999. To this day, the novels are still ongoing, now up to Volume 6 of Banner of the Stars (9 including Crest). This OVA concludes Volume 3 of Banner of the Stars.

Crest/Banner of the Stars was a classic space opera series for it's time, and it's easy to see why. The world building is well above average, the OST is good for it's time, and the cast of characters are colorfully interesting.

The focus is mostly on the Abh. ... They're a peculiar race with a lot of positive and negative quirks. By and large, they make for interesting characters. Despite being intelligent, attractive, and long-lived, all of them have noteworthy character flaws, whether it be brashness, pride, narcissim, or arrogance. It's great having a cast of characters who are flawed, yet still unique and different from what you typically get.

The best characters however are the two leads, Jinto and Lafiel. Jinto offers perspective from someone who is with a human background (and now affiliated with the Abh empire). Lafiel grants a typical Abh perspective. That said, the two are at their best when they are together. The chemistry between the two is fantastic, as is their small, natural romantic progression. Every moment they are together is enjoyable.

Of course, this OVA is also lacking in some categories.

While the Abh are interesting enough as characters and we have two great leads, the series could benefit a lot if it gave us additional perspective from the Human Alliance. I like rooting for the Abh because of how unique and interesting they are, but the story would be more intriguing if we got to know the important Alliance characters more. Additional perspective would make the story more interesting and suspenseful.

The pacing and plot isn't as good as it was in previous seasons. It rushes through an entire novel in about 70 minutes, a stark contrast to the last seasons 200+ minutes for one novel. As a result, the OVA isn't paced or organized the best, and rushes through some scenes that needed time to breathe. There is almost no action to speak of either, which is hard to believe for a series that has some in every other season (in some respects this may be a positive though, since earlier seasons are brought down by poorly executed action sequences).

The animation and OST were solid for their time. This is an original, classic space opera story filled with interesting characters. Only a few mild complaints in pacing, structure, and the lack of characterization of the Alliance characters hold back this OVA.

If you are a fan of Sci-Fi, classic space operas, and a colorful cast of characters, I can heartily recommend the series, starting with the first season (Crest of the Stars). As for me, I'm ready to dive into the novels.

I have read through volume 3, and this review will be based on that.

The basic premise of the series is straightforward. A guy goes around solving supernatural problems, which always involves a girl. At first glance, this may strike you as nothing but ecchi fan service and harem trash. Reading the clickbait title and synopsis made me believe the same thing, at first.

Thankfully, it's anything but.

Combining relatable character drama, numerous heartwarming and wholesome character moments, along with the colorfully witty banter, this series was an unexpected gem. It does it's romance and drama better than most.

The drama is easy to sympathize with on many levels. ... Everyone is familiar with someone (or yourself) having a sibling complex- living up to the standards of your more successful sibling. Or anxiety problems stemming from failure and/or bullying- everyone gets bullied at some point in their life. Or wanting to do something unpopular- and yet you don't want to risk being cast aside by your social group. The list goes on. This series is filled with people with these relatable problems, and how they overcome it.

Additionally, despite there being a lot of girls, somehow this series manages to avoid turning into harem. Before the end of Volume 1, the protagonist Sakuta is already committed romantically to one girl. None of the other women introduced have romantic interest in him (one other does at first, but that disappears by the conclusion of the same chapter. It is never brought up or mentioned again).

But the biggest reason is the dialogue and banter between the characters. You'll laugh a lot, and it will remind you of all the things you and your friends from high school and college used to talk and tease each other about. This is especially true with the female lead and the male lead. I can't stress this enough.

Mai, the female lead, guards most of what she really thinks and can be off-putting at times. This is because she's a child actress who is used to people only being nice to her because they want something. Sakuta, on the other hand, is a crass and blunt lech who says whatever's on his mind with no filter whatsoever. And yet these two characters who are almost complete opposites of each other have fantastic chemistry. Their banter is clever and real. It makes every moment that they're together a pure joy.

Of course, it's not without it's flaws. There is no overarching plot, which may bother some. Rather, the series is very interpersonal, making each book primarily a character driven experience instead of a plot driven one. 'Quantum mechanics' as an explanation for the supernatural stuff is usually just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo (thankfully, the supernatural elements exist mostly as a backdrop reason to bring the characters together). The art is merely okay; it could definitely be better.

Overall however, this is a great series. It's one of my favorites, which I think says a lot, as someone who does not like much of what he reads. It's heartwarming and wholesome, the drama is relatable, the romance is sweet and endearing, and the witty banter is realistic. You'll laugh, shed a tear, and your heart will grow several sizes from all of the touching moments.

Highly recommended to all fans of romance and character drama.

The series thus far can be summed up as a lot of good ideas that are bogged down with a lot of bad ideas.

The plot has a great premise. There is a flash of green light and everyone is turned to stone. Roughly 3700 years pass before some of them wake up, and now they're living in a stone age. It's up to our characters to survive in this new world.They accomplish this with scientific advancements. Still, the series is at it's best during specific flashbacks, which has some nice world-building and lore.

The protagonist is intelligent, unlike the majority of shonen protagonists who are usually ... morons (incidentally, kudos to the series for initially fooling me on who the protagonist was). It's great to see a protagonist who handles conflicts using his brain. As a result we often get satisfying climaxes.

However, it becomes apparent that he is too smart. He can make and do just about anything possible in the stone age, despite being a high school student. Why wasn't he a billionaire scientist somewhere? Oh who cares, this is shonen. Logic need not apply. Add in a stupid hair style that would make even Yugi Motto jealous and you've got your shonen recipe. I also wish he had more character depth other than "super smart guy." No romantic/sexual interest, no character motivations beyond helping everyone...he doesn't have a lot to him right now.

The antagonist is another young man who can punch lions to death, crush statues with his bare hands, and catch crossbow bolts out of the air....because shonen I guess.

Scientific explanations and project building can drag on and on, making large sections of the series boring. Some of these are not realistic anyway, particularly given some of the time constraints. Even a dozen Einsteins wouldn't be able to manage some of these feats...Oh who am I kidding? This is Senkuu. He's smarter than at least 20 Einsteins.

The problem with all of this shonen nonsense is that it doesn't fit with the premise of the plot. The story should be a gritty, "overcome the stone age using my brain" story. Not a borderline super power fantasy which has no relation to the rules of the everyday-normal Japan universe it has.

As a whole though, the characters are definitely interesting. I like most of them. But like Senkuu, they lack character depth at the moment. Here's hoping for that in future seasons.

The art is fine, as are most character designs (Senkuu's hairstyle is still really dumb though). But the OST is bland and forgettable.

Many anime would be so much better if they understood the artistic value of subtly. Dr. Stone is a prime example of this. It has a great premise and solid characters, but the story is marred with dumb shounen bullcrap, the 'science building' has a tendency to drag for several episodes too long, and a forgettable OST does it no favors.

Hopefully future seasons are better, because this series has a lot of promise despite the problems.

Story- 8/10

It's a series of short stories about teenagers who suffer from "Puberty Syndrome." Essentially, it is just a form of mental illness with varied effects depending on the person and circumstance. It also has some supernatural elements to it, such as switching body appearances and parallel world lines. Every 3 episodes is about a different teenager who is having a different supernatural problem.

I will say the plot's biggest weakness is it's supernatural elements. Some of it wasn't as fleshed out as it needed to be, making some scenarios either confusing or a tad hard to believe and understand. In the first arc, a girl ... is slowly unable to be seen by other people, until only one person can see her. This problem is solved eventually by "changing the atmosphere-" that is, forcing that existence into the mind of others. If that sounds vague, that's because it was in the anime too. It is a cool concept though, as are most of the situations. Just not enough answered questions as to how these supernatural elements work. We the viewer are just forced to accept it as something normal for the world (Incidentally, that's one thing that's turned me off from supernatural shows in general).

I do think that in a metaphorical sense, the supernatural stuff resonates strongly with the problem each teenager is facing. Each problem symbolized the supernatural elements nicely.

At it's worst, I was never bored. At it's best, the cleverly written dialogue was either entertaining or heartwarming. Many of the "problems" these teenagers endure are relatable on many levels, from family issues to anxiety disorders, among others. As another plus, rarely does the story adhere to cliches. At times, it even pokes fun at some of them.

As a minor complaint, I'll point out that the ending could have been devised better. It's rather abrupt and disappoints in some ways.

Art- 8/10

Overall it's quite good. Nothing "bad" stood out here, and it's definitely well above average with mostly consistent quality throughout the 13 episodes.

Sound- 8/10

The OST has one track in particular that I'm partial to, and the rest is okay. The OP and Ending are okay. The voice acting was solid all around. There isn't a dub out right now, sadly. Good overall.

Character- 10/10

The real gem to this series are the characters and their interactions. Dialogue is rarely cliche. Which is amazing considering it features a romance. No accidental boob grabs or "she totally doesn't like me" from the protagonist when it's obvious. In one scene, a girl fell onto the guy by accident. The guy's girlfriend walks in on this and promptly leaves the room. He expects the worst....we've all seen this before, right? Well, later on she just shows up to his house and asks him calmly why he didn't bother coming over to her house and explain. She knew it was nothing serious, and merely wanted some attention. It's refreshing to see a girl not go nuts over a "fall on top of guy scene" and take it the wrong way.

It is for that reason I'm particularly fond of the primary "bunny" girl, Mai. She's more of a calm tsundere. Combined with the protagonists sarcastic, deadpan humor, it made all of their interactions downright charming. One of the better written romances you'll find in an anime.

Even the side characters were interesting. They are all dealing with their own "puberty syndrome," and as I've stated earlier, a lot of their problems are easy to relate to. It makes them sympathetic and easy to root for.

The dialogue is clever and a true treat. You'll get some of the best character interactions from this series.

Enjoyment- 9/10

Overall I liked this anime far more than I thought I would. Clever, realistic dialogue with superb lead characters will entertain you throughout. Tough, relatable circumstances that teenagers have to endure in high school will melt your heart. The lack of detail on the supernatural parts to the story isn't nearly enough to sour the experience. Overall, this is the best title to come out in 2018.

Overall-9/10

Pros:
+Fantastic, unique lead characters
+Dialogue is often clever and feels natural
+Well-written romance
+Relatable themes

Cons:
-Some supernatural parts lack detail
-Ending could have been better
-Currently no dub

This novel is a must have if you're a Final Fantasy VII fan.

The novel is comprised of short stories involving FFVII characters. It takes place either prior to FFVII: Advent Children (the sequel movie which released some time ago) or after it, depending on the story. Although the movie nor this novel are quite as good as the original game that released on the PSOne in 1997, both are still respectable in their own right. Again, this is a must-read if you love Final Fantasy VII. The characters are that endearing.

The quality of the stories themselves is a mixed bag. Episode Tifa is easily the ... best one, depicting her and Cloud's relationship, as well as her insecurities and his lingering guilt leading up to the events of Advent Children. Episode Barret and Yuffie are also good. Nanaki's is so-so, with Shinra and Lifestream Black/White running a bit stale.

There isn't any art, other than on the cover. That makes it hard to grade. The cover does look nice.

Overall this is a nice little novel. If you loved FFVII, you MUST buy this book. If you haven't, go play the game on PSOne/PC/PS3/PS4. You're doing yourself a disservice by not.

Honestly, this is the best Dragonball movie out there.

Story:
The story itself is nothing to write home about. It does have the problem of characters not fully powering up at the start of a fight, in order to create some artificial drama. But all of the dragon ball movies have that problem. I kind of like the flow of this movie better than a lot of them though. Starts off with a tournament that eventually goes awry because some villains show up. A lot of the comedy here works surprisingly well, better than most of the movies.

Art & Sound:
The art is fantastic for something from 1993. ... Period.

The sound is good, but I prefer the Falconer replacement, and unfortunately this movie has very little (none?) of that. Regardless, I still enjoyed what it had, especially the climax.

Characters:
And now the characters, which are the best part. The villains for this one are great, among the series best. Their designs are fantastic. The second biggest thing is Gohan is the protagonist in this one. I love Gohan and that's a big part of that. However even if you prefer Goku as a character, at the very least Gohan being the main character makes for a different change of pace. Literally every other villain and movie as well as later entries GT and Super and the prequel Dragonball have Goku defeating the main villain. It's so cool seeing someone else- someone far more interesting at that- take down the main villain for a change. This movie is a good throwback to the Cell saga of the series, which is the best arc.

Enjoyment & Overall:
This is my favorite DBZ movie, and it's not hard to see why.
A lot of the comedy works surprising well, the art is fantastic for something that aired in 1993, the villains are among the best the series has to offer, and Gohan rightfully gets the spotlight as the protagonist.

Overall: 8/10