Seikai no senki

In my opinion, this is one of those truly special anime that only come along every so often. I had the pleasure of first being exposed to it during a late night movie room screening at Animazement 2003, in Durham, North Carolina. This series is almost sort of comparable Star Trek, but the Abh are far more visually appealing than the Klingons. OK, all joking aside, it's honestly much more than a relatively simplistic Star Trek could ever hope to be, IMHO. The meticulous creator Hiroyuki Morioka even went as far as to create an entire Abh language complete with its own esoteric set of characters(As a linguist I can tell you that the study of this language is far more rewarding than Klingon; joking again =).

As for my serious take on the actual series itself, it's definitely sci-fi inspired, but has much more depth than the typically nerdy, emotionless, and one dimensional movies or series of similar genre. You'll enjoy the action as the battles and various intricate strategies that are mapped out before your eyes are tactically interesting and visually entertaining as well, however, you'll most likely find yourself entirely enraptured by the softer down time moments of heart-tugging interaction between the protagonist Jinto and his ship captain and heiress to the Abh throne, Lafiel. The music is absolutely superb and flows with the various emotional directions the series takes quite well. I especially loved the hauntingly longing and beautiful ending theme song PINK by Yuamu. In fact, the series could really be summed up very well by that heartfelt score itself. If you are more so interested in finding something a bit more action-laden, then you should probably look elsewhere as this series has plenty of slower more philosophically and emotionally charged moments. Seikai no Senki is indeed an epic journey, not merely in terms of intergalactic conquest but more poignantly in terms of displaying the various threads that constitute the elaborate human tapestry and the complex difficulties in understanding it. I personally related very well to the meek, kindhearted Jinto and his earnest internal struggle in regards to finding a place in which to belong and people he truly belongs with. This series really does a splendid job at portraying all the fears, hopes, joys and despair that comprise the uniquely human experience on this earth, or in the case of Seikai no Senki...the romantically vast and seemingly endless cosmos.

Banner to the Stars begins with a reunion of Lafiel and Jinto after three years of separation. They are aboard a warship and a nasty war is on. There is interesting crew to interact with. There's even a cat. As with nearly all wonderful love stories a war constantly intrudes into their yet to be consummated intimate relationship.

Lafiel is in command of the ship but she doesn't possess all the skills necessary to make a great captain. So there's lots of training going on initially. That allows the crew to get accustomed to each other. Lafiel starts out a bit on the cranky side because of her lack of skills. The crew is basically terrified of her because when the Imperial Princess is cranky another location would be nice to go to but their aboard a space ship so.... Don't miss this wonderful saga.

While not as strong as Legend of the Galactic heroes, this is certainly a good watch. It borrows from LOTGH while also managing to include clear nods to Star Trek II (bits of the theme are mighty close to James Horner's score and the main character is very similar to Lt. Saavik. Even the key situation for the first episode is similar).

Production quality is good, although sound design could have used a bit more work. Animation style is nice as well.

One fault would be that this series is just too short. It really could use more time. Fortunately there's a second part, although I didn't find the second installment to be as strong.

For the person who checks this review, it's worth noting that this is mis-named on IMDB. This is not part II; it's part one. The series listed on IMDB as part III is actually part II.