Well how should I begin this…
It’s kind of hard to write a review for this anime and to that I’ve never done it before. You can’t put one animation into simple words everyone understands without spoiling anything but at the same time rate what’s actually happened in the series.
This time to put it frankly, my expectations were too high. I always loved Utena and I always will, this'll never change. I already knew that Star Driver would probably not be able to play in the same league as Utena, because there are just 25 Episodes and Utena still sparkles with 52 + 1 OVA.
...
Maybe Star Driver would have gotten there somehow but as it is now it feels kind of loose and unfinished. Now for the reason why I think so, I beg your pardon, but this will take a while. ^^’’
Introduction:
In the first Episode some girl named Wako, a Miko and a guy named Sugata were introduced, both seem to share a connection, he wanted to do something to protect her, something that would seemingly cost his very own life. Wako on the other hand did not even want to think about that fact, she begged him not to.
It really felt like there was something bigger behind this, not just a bond they were sharing, something in Sugata must have trigger that feeling to do the ultimate sacrifice.
Then someone gets washed ashore, an unconscious boy, red hair, red shirt, white trousers. Wako who seemingly is a lovely and caring person rushes to the boy, because she sensed something near them. Quickly applied first aid saves the boy from death and we get introduced to Takuto the next day in the Animation.
Sugata, Wako and Takuto quickly become friends, and most of the time in the animation you’ll here why. “Because he can put a smile to everyone’s face”.
An organization named Kiraboshi is introduced as well or as the subs call them, “glittering crux”, seemingly evil, dark clothing, masks. An organization where no one knows who the other person is, they even have a special greeting, which is still nice and cool after I watched the 25 Episodes. Anyway, they explain that they are here because they want to bring there Cybodies to the outer World.
Cybodies are machines or rather mind and motion controlled metallic Golems, each of them has a different ability. Other than in Gundam a Cybody is directly linked with the human mind and soul, if the Cybody gets hit, driver inside will be hurt as well. Glittering crux wants to use those giant metallic things to change the world and/ or be the strongest military might. But there’s a catch, they are only able to ride one within something called “Zero Time”.
The Mikos/Maidens of this island (the only one who’s known from the start is Wako) keep this “Zero Time” intact, so that no Cybody is able to enter the outside world. So Kiraboshi has to destroy every Maidens Seal to set their war machines free.
That’s a nice reason, everythings good, we learn that Wako and Sugata are engaged, we have some evil plot mostly about changing/ revolutionizing the world or destroying it, but sadly this is where things start to fall apart.
Major problems:
Takuto, the hero of the series and Sugata seem to be the only interesting guys on the whole island, so everyone female (even the members of Kiraboshi,) is interested in either Sugata OR Takuto. There are lots of episodes where interesting character development is abandoned in favor of mindless swooning. But that is not the main problem.
Evil guys are not evil or rather never were from the start, some interesting parts and story strings are quickly tossed aside with some halfhearted explanations through either Takuto or the guy called “Head”.
The head/captain of the theatrical club is the only really mysterious person including the pet "vice" Fukuboncho from the start, but after Episode 23, after she said something that really stirred something in me, she is never seen again, as are many other good characters.
Takuto on the other hand, who’s always in the spotlight, has to fight one or sometimes more members of the evil Crux organization. I will not say why, or explain everything because this is basically a spoiler which will turn out to be the main reason for the story to progress, if you can even call it a story.
So the red haired boy, who only got here to this Island to “search for his father and to live out his youth” ends up in fighting with his own cybody, which he inherited from his grandfather, to protect the Mikos/Maidens of this Island. And every Member of the Crux seems to fall prey to his “Tauburn” with simply ONE Attack.
Even though the boy stated his grandfather did not teach him anything about Tauburn, he is able to come up with every attack the robot can do in an instant. If he’s in a pinch, fear not after 3 or 4 Episodes it is rather clear how this Animation will progress.
Those “fights” are not really impressive or surprising, no matter how strong the opposing Cybody seems, Takuto has, in the end, by no means any problem in defeating the thread before him with one single attack.
This is the basic flaw this animation has, and it sadly will drain your patience and your liking to Takuto very quickly (except you are into that stuff ofcourse).
Throughout the series are many things which you will never recieve a proper answer to and it is much like the storywriter is saying “Well it’s like that, live with it” to everyone who has actually watched it.
The Ending of Star Driver “Kagayake no Takuto” will leave you at awe, not because it is intensely good or bad, but because it feels like you just started it. There was not much progress throughout the series and you could explain everything in Star Driver with just 3 to 4 sentences.
Soundtrack and voice acting:
The voice acting was great, as always, the watcher is immediately able to feel something from the characters, they are funny when they have to be, sad, angry or secretive. They did a really good job, the best they could to put more feeling into everyone. Sometimes it’s a bit over dramatized but that’s okay, it’s an animation, better that, than nothing. It was great to hear and see the emotions from the characters from the beginning to the end and the charactersongs really warmed my heart.
The Soundtrack itself was good, really good, there are a few songs, especially the songs of the maidens which will never be erased from my MP3 player. Sadly those where only distributed through the Blu-Ray limited Edition in Japan. Monochrome alone was so beautiful, soothing and powerful at the same time that I want to see the first ten episodes just because of that one character (Sakana-sama) and her specific song. If you have the chance to buy it, do so, you will probably never regret it.
Animation:
The Animation of StarDriver was rather well made, it was nothing epic, some poses and expressions appeared to be a bit clumsy, but that’s okay, Anime would not be such fun if it was perfect. Everything looked like it should, there were no harsh differences like in some other animations (Angel Beats for example). Sometimes the Cybodies would get another dark inked shadowing or rather gloss effect, and sometimes not, which is sad, because it looked really nice in the last episode. The clothing of every character was nice, the movements were not overdone, and the movement sequences were okay as well.
The “fights” seemed to be flashy and well done at first but the animation lost a bit of its charm because of the story progression and pattern. No matter how good a Crux Cybody including how threatening all attacks looked Takuto would ultimately turn it into a scrapheap with one measly hit, nothing more would it take to make it explode like all others before.
Overall I’d state the following, if you are too bored by my writing or do not have anough time to read through it.
It’s not that Star driver doesn’t try to be good, it’s fun to watch, but overall it fails to deliver a plot that will keep you going and it even fails to satisfy the viewer in the end. If you expect nothing more than a fun animation, without deep conspiracies or really good and believable villains or reasons to fight, than this is your animation. Likeable, heart-warming characters and a really good OST with some very memorable tracks make it worth watching, but they will not make a few basic mistakes, like major plot holes or the lack of excitement in battle disappear in thin air. It's a fun to watch animation but still nothing you want to keep for years to come.
To put it bluntly, if they want to explain everything, there will definitely be a season 2 or a movie which ties in. If not this will be my final review for the series.
Thank you for reading.
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Apr 3, 2011
Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto
(Anime)
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Well how should I begin this…
It’s kind of hard to write a review for this anime and to that I’ve never done it before. You can’t put one animation into simple words everyone understands without spoiling anything but at the same time rate what’s actually happened in the series. This time to put it frankly, my expectations were too high. I always loved Utena and I always will, this'll never change. I already knew that Star Driver would probably not be able to play in the same league as Utena, because there are just 25 Episodes and Utena still sparkles with 52 + 1 OVA. ... |
