Hoshiai no Sora

This show truly has the definition of "don't judge a book by its cover", because it ain't just a sports anime, but one that is rife with the daily affluences of family drama and matters that's spread all over it. And knowing director Kazuki Akane on this show's influence taken mostly from his creation of "Noein" and planning this original story for over a decade, I'd say that while this has caused A HELL LOT of backlash, like Satoshi Mizukani's Planet With, the end result is truly the icing on the cake, whether you'd decide to take it literally or not, I believe that what Akane-san wanted out of it, he truly accomplished it to its feet with his unorthodox method of storytelling. You must be wondering why the title literally says "Stars Align", but it's Kazuki Akane's way of foreshadowing that no human is ever perfect, and we're like the stars of the sky, when life beats us down harsh, the common interest in question (soft tennis) aligns us in the thread of fate, that is adolescent trauma (which happens to be his favourite theme). Being grown-ups, the world that they know is never a bed of roses, so the harsh reality of families growing through the different pangs and uncertainties must know how to counteract on their very own. While the school/soft tennis club part is there to help expose and alleviate their true natures of the sufferings going through with parental disabilities, or expectations as simply you would call it, all kinds of nature are laid in bare sight. What these adolescent teens (i.e. Maki, Toma and the others) must do is not to take that emotional attachment and let it be the ridiculing point of their lives, but rather, no matter how much understanding others may have on their struggles, it's the reconciliation that leads to the amalgation of their feelings and work it out to experience their joy (which again, is in the soft tennis club) as an output. And to this point, all the dysfunctional boys in the Shijo Minami Boy's soft tennis team, budding artist but introverted and bullied Kanako Mitsue, and Kinuyo Kasuga the student council president, all face different but similar parental dysfunctions that affect them both physically and mentally, but not without some help from the same outside community that was once split but now bonded with understanding and acceptance, to push past their fears and limitations to be the best they could be. Even the worst of issues have a silver lining that despite how much relentlessness was given, any amount of joy would overcome the overglaringly terror and rebuild it into something special. All were alone, but the least of forgivings were not enough to separate each and every single member to reunite and conquer these harsh battles together. Studio 8-bit's visuals have never looked so better, especially with the soft tennis matches that seem to glide by every so often with the amount of exceptional precision and realism. While the overall stance is decent, the character designs are one that pops out in the slew of recognizing who's who and what's what, being that informative for reasons I cannot fathom, but with the puzzle pieces put together, paints a canvas that excels better than my initial thoughts about what this could be. Light-hearted visuals but not without the more serious moments (a.k.a parent-child arguments) make this one of those shows that stand out for reasons. And speaking of the music, I do enjoy the music and sounds of the show, with some realistic voice acting in the parental issues and OP and ED (of which the former comes VERY often), playing into sound design of the show that's just well done IMO. Always been a fan of Megumi Nakajima's music and this OP shows, while the ED's music is also good, and the dance...let's just say that copyrighted material needs to be attended to foremost. More than just a realistic drama-ified anime, Kazuki Akane's Hoshiai no Sora brings one important point to start and end its story: "Wherever you are in life, everyone goes through thick and thin, and it takes two hands to clap, so grab a partner that can help spur each other's life forward and achieve things you couldn't have imagined you'd accomplish." Love it or hate it, Stars Align truly will forever be misunderstood under Akane-san's direction, but for those who got the gist of it, make your life count, and keep moving forward.

Well, First Of all The Anime was Axed At 12 episodes by the production company even though the director wanted 24 episodes to Completely Tell the Story. So when he was given opportunity to choose either one from fast pace of story or Leave it at half he chose to keep at decent page and leave it Half. Now coming To the Anime Review, If you are suggested to watch the anime based on Sports Genre what you found was Half Correct. Coz this Anime is 50% Sports 50% Drama. But This anime is Off the chart with mind blowing character Development and surrounding coverage. Don't listen to anyone else if you have time for 12 episodes watch This anime and give me Like If you Found my review Helpful

[REUPLOAD] EVERY SHIT TIME There are two ways to build stories within a sport, or they are stories about the sport, serving as an introduction and basis of study, bringing a plot that interconnects them and establishes characters, called '' sports '', or they treat sport as something secondary they focus on building the characters, causing atmosphere and exploring any kind of conflict, we can usually call it '' escape sports '' if it's not quite clear, I'll give you examples: Hajime no ippo is a sports anime, while Ashita no joe is a sports anime escape, Slam dunk is a sports manga, Real is a sports escape, well ... You got the idea, and it's up to them all to fulfill their duties, in Hoshiai no sora, nothing is fulfilled. We are embarking on a journey with dramas, which is a subject that should be a fair approach to the theme, starting with introductions, building and finally ending, even a drama without ending it can still be considered fair enough, because it had its introduction and its exploration, is a way of balancing delicate subjects that in fiction, an introduction drama and an ending can be unsatisfactory for some, but it has a way of balancing, but take all the things I've introduced so far, throw them in the pan and wait for the damn script to be done, because that's what this anime does. Hoshiai no sora is a story of forced drama and completely irresponsible for what it introduces, it begins as a stage preparation to then present its characters and its damn drama, I defend to some extent as a first episode that has the right to be impactful and show what will be dealt with, but the rest after that is the same sensation of throwing a bucket of cold water every 5 minutes, because this anime has no consistency what it wants to address, just pushes scenes that only serve as cheap shock value in every episode, and sustains it as a way of feeding the viewer, God ... That's no way to make a drama. Dramas are meant to be impactful to the characters and the viewer, and they need considerable screen time for the viewer to absorb the situation, think about it and conclude their perspective, but before episode 2, without any hesitation we are already introduced to a conflict in the first seconds, completely forced and without any context of the character and situation, there is no usual construction of the character for us we care enough about him, the director delivers and says you need empathy, otherwise the anime introduced stupid dramas like Mitsue's being bullied (wow ... Two bully in the same episode just to recreate a scenario of both characters alone ... Not a little forced, is it?). I wish this was the last complaint if the crap in the next episode didn't introduce me A THIRD BULLY, which only served to irritate the soft tennis todoroki and show how sad its past is, and all done with 0 harmony, just inserting at the last second, and after yet another episode shock value we are presented with a horrible development, living proof of how victimistic this anime is in a supposed "fight" situation that should result in both sides, it completely ignores Itsuki's side, just to emphasize a hasty development of the person he is ... Completely ignoring any act of consequence that should have here. The next episode of continuity in the training plot and characters, introducing some and ending an episode with the same cliffhanger crap, can't this anime make an episode solid? It seems that everything needs to end in horrible things or injustices, which most of the time are not explored, and this is used over and over again in several episodes in a row, usually cliffhangers being the outcome of several episodes would be understandable if this series were mystery or some police plot, but it is not, she uses a script trick several times and this is all lazy and predictable. Not even the soft tennis aspect is addressed here, this story doesn't decide whether to be a sports anime or escape sports, introduces basic things about soft tennis and then focuses on dramatic episodes or screen times that contain it, it's an inconsistency that disrespects any objective means directed at a sports media product, it develops nothing, much less its message, primarily to whom is that message? What kind of dad will watch this anime and change its behavior? None because they don't have to stay up late watching a flawed soft tennis drama looking for a job. The protagonist of this anime is just Gary stu's tenth definition of the sports we're already used to, we might call him soft tennis Superman, it's stupid to see that he always has an answer to everything, making a character collision inconsistent Often, as always, it saves the team from decay, any sort of problem it solves, and its narrative function is that, while Toma is meant to be another child suffering from an incomplete drama. All the characters here are artificial and have an introduction of dramas and lousy characters, you are nothing at all here, there is no harmony, they introduce me to a fucking pair of soft tennis twins that we later found out to be the typical shounen opponents, and of course all of them are a blockade for the protagonists being tall, all the characters sink deeper into the narrative, it seems the script begs you to always care about them, I can't see any passion between the creator for his own project here, he just throws a lot of random problems at his characters and does nothing to make it happen, and when he has an outcome they are forced, only to watch Nao genuinely happy after ignoring his mother, dealt with in a way. simplistic way that the whole drama journey was useless and unconvincing. useless presentation of secondary characters who take too much screen time, all that class president building is minimally unnecessary and useless, I don't care about this character, so why should I see more of her without her having about 5/5 time in 5 episodes? We could explore some drama here ... But no, let's work on this girl that we can only sum up in aristocrat. This anime's matches are disgusting to watch, man this is one of the worst camera jobs I've ever seen, not only that as lighting, it seems like I'm in the same fucking day when I see a match and the camera in return for it makes you want to throw up every time they get the ball, Hanebado could be bad but the camera movement was good, here it looks like a guy stuck the camera to a soft tennis ball and decided that they should act that way. But returning to the expected drama in one episode we have a consequence being completely ignored from the previous episode, a drama being inserted, AGAIN BY ABUSIVE PARENTS, this shit is getting me tired, it seems like every week they want to introduce me to a new one and all of them being artificial, and what does anime do to exploit it or solve it? Nothing, the director is unaware of the word "family dialogue" that if possible could already progress the plot in such a way that you could observe an overview of the situation. Still about the episode he introduces me to a conflict between Mitsue, a characterization of Touma's friend, a characterization of Mitsue herself and ends the episode making a cliffhanger... I don't know how anyone looks at this script and says that he is solid, so many things being introduced and pacing does not contribute to any of this, this anime does not need so much stupid drama, I think even the worst romance this year did not have such a ridiculous pacing like this. I want to make room for this paragraph to talk about how bad episode 9 of this anime is, introduced Shingo's sister who conveniently gets lost because the characters are dumb and instead of making Mitsue follow the girl, they give the excuse for most useless character having to do the work and bear the consequence, if Mitsue feared the child would go to the roof, why the hell did she run to warn everyone? Consistency of character, you know, and with the unfolding Nao that was totally shaken by h…

Anime originals are rare; stellar ones even rarer. In today's anime industry, much like it is in Hollywood, we are bombarded by endless numbers of adaptations of already popular franchises as they help to guarantee a level of financial success. Hoshiai no Sora is a 12 episode passion project written and directed by Kazuki Akane which was originally produced for 24 episodes before it was then told it could only air 12. This is incredibly clear from the phenomenal production values, and its unique approach to the sports drama genre but also in that the show does not end at episode 12. Traditionally in sports anime, the sport in question is the centrepiece of the characters' lives. Even in Run with the Wind, it is not long before running becomes the most important thing in the character's lives. Sports anime in general are no different than shounen anime in that they act as fantasy escapism for viewers to vicariously live beautiful, youth-energetic, rose-coloured high school lives with action, adventure, and camaraderie. In many sports anime, we never even see the parents of these children let alone be involved in their children's lives. Hoshiai no Sora is unique in that it portrays a group of young middle-schoolers whose life situations are what is being explored and the relationship between these characters in the sport are a consequence of this. This is a mature show that seeks to show what real friendship and camaraderie is and how school and sports can be the refuge from the domestic situations at home. What is most impressive about the show is the dialogue - it is not cheesy, it is not contrived, it is not overly-laden with shounen tropes of eyerolling-inducing cheers of "With the power of friendship, we can literally do anything", it is an accurate portrayal of how children may react and respond to tough situations and how friends can truly help each other. The themes explored in this show are wide and also mature - not seen in most anime in this genre. It would be a spoiler to discuss any of these further but it is worth noting that a sequel is in the works and that this show was made to be 24 episodes long (and indeed they had already produced an ep 13)! Some may find the lack of conclusion to be unsatisfying but personally for me, the pacing of this show was perfect and any attempt to rush a conclusion would be ill-fated. The animation is brimming with attention to detail. The way each character is animated shows their own unique quirks and personality traits and right from the beginning, we can see differences in the way characters play soft tennis. Even, the ED oozes more passion and animation than some entire anime. But it is the cinematography and camera work that makes this show stand out. This show does not rely on stills and Powerpoint-esque presentations to show its action. We see action, impact, and reaction and the camera angles are readily used to amply the excitement and dynamism of the action in a way that regular TV cannot. Hoshiai no Sora takes advantage of the anime medium and takes no shortcuts. The soundtrack by jizue is one of the best OSTs of 2019 not least because it captures and amplifies the emotions in the scenes, in the way drama and sports OSTs should, but also because the sound is different enough such that it is attributable to Hoshiai no Sora. To design and tailor a soundtrack to as show means the audience should be able to associate it with the specific scenes in this specific show where it is played and jizue nails it. When Fall 2019 started airing, I surely did not believe that I would be blessed with another character-driven realistic sports drama so soon after Run with the Wind. However, I was blessed with something greater. An anime original that is brimming with confidence in its approach, its production values, and its willingness to explore adolescence in a genre that is oversaturated with what are nothing more than battle shounen wearing the disguise of a sports jersey. And for that I am grateful, and I truly recommend this to any fans of authentic character dramas, and hope the stars align once more to provide us with the sequel we deserve.

If there’s two people I know who don’t need to be told or shown more than they already have seen for themselves how rotten parentage can be, its me and my poor older sister who got the worst of it. Parentage, and especially motherhood, is often portrayed as a thing of love, and care, and protection, all of which are qualities understood to be innate, healthy, and of course, natural. This is not the case. Well, most of the time it is, because, as they say, stereotypes come from somewhere, but nevertheless, such is not the always the case. Sometimes parentage can be malicious, dangerous, and scary, and it can ruin people’s lives before they’ve even begun. Hoshiai no Sora, despite its outward appearance as a benign sports anime, is a show about the deep seated psychological atrophies and torsions which cause the innocent love of parents to go sour, and more importantly, it is also the first show I’ve seen with this subject matter which manages to portray such a delicate issue in a way which isn’t so misguided as to be offensive, so if not for the hours of soft tennis it unapologetically wasted my time and its own time with, I sincerely thank this show for being able to depict something none other in its genre has been able to correctly, nor this cathartically. Our hero Maki Katsuragi is a no-bullshit little nihilist who joins his school’s soft-tennis club—a notoriously negligent and satirically self-aware club—not for precious middle school memories, but for cold hard cash. Like a badass. But in actuality, Maki is only requesting to join the team under these conditions as a front. Knowing his Gary Stu, god-like, anime self-insert protagonist abilities in soft-tennis are indispensable to the dramatically hopeless team and doubly knowing the desperate team captain, Touma Shinjou, will do anything to get his hands on such a valuable player to revive his long-dead team, he exploits the situation to get the income under the guise he doesn’t care and will only participate for money, when in reality, the poor kid is really just desperate himself to secure any money he can to help his single working mother make ends meet. It’s a pretty real setup, but it gets really real when you learn the principle reason his mother’s own salary is insufficient is Maki’s father, his mother’s abusive ex-husband, is making routine visits to their apartment when only Maki is home to steal whatever of their money he can, because despite his dastardly attitude, Maki’s history of being beaten by this guy for as long as he can remember has him totally shut down whenever he’s present. Seeing Maki so pitiable is a poignantly stark contrast to the snarky bastard he is at school, and it so perfectly illustrates just how fundamentally abuse can permanently eat its way into its victims psyches, especially when they are young and dangerously impressionable. Seeing Maki, the nonsensically overpowered isekai protagonist who one day found himself in a show about soft-tennis, crumble like a house of cards at the mere sight of this scumbag really sells the implications of what he’s done to him to the viewers, and more importantly, what people in real life actually have to go through. However, what makes it truly well written and worthy of praise is how much it does NOT do what every other psychological horror-comedy anime does and actually portrays this terribly serious relationship as one made up of reality. The scenes are only after a lull in the action; should you catch on, there’s this absolutely chilling break in dialogue; the color palette layers itself with this oh-so-subtle drab overtone you don’t even notice until it’s too late; and right as it happens the camera shudders—and, oh—the cinematography! The cinematography is brilliant! The sudden shaking slams on the breaks, and the camera grinds its movements to a halt as if it’s just as horrified as the poor child cowering in the corner, cutting only to show flash-cuts infused so ingeniously with panic or perspective shots so ruthlessly ratcheting up the already towering levels of immersion present in these glorious scenes by literally putting us in his shoes. And you see him hit ‘em, and kick ‘em, and berate ‘em, and tear the apartment apart to steal what little they have to take, and he’s crying, and trembling, and cowering and—uuuuhh—it’s just the BEST! Seriously, though, it’s the manner in which the damage is so correctly ingrained into Maki’s personality in a way with speaks to real life—much unlike most shows incorporating the likes of abusive parents who’re merely out to pander to the edge-fandom as painstakingly bluntly as they can—is what makes it so affecting, convincing, and tactful. That said, Maki is by no means alone. The team captain I mentioned, Touma, lives in a household wherein his father avoids his mother out of reticence, and his mother avoids him out fear all the while unfairly pampering his other brother. Their transgendered team manager, Yuuta—on top of being relentlessly bullied at school for being outwardly gay—lives in a household wherein he has to work with his sister to hide his crossdressing from his mother, whom is of the belief once she dramatically discovers his habit that he’s a freak and she’s a failure as a mother by way of his development. Their team member, Itsuki, was born to a Mother who poured boiling water on him as a crying baby, leaving him with a horrific scar spanning his entire backside and a dangerously volatile trigger for violence. Their other team member, Nao, lives in a household under strict control by a world-class helicopter parent whose crushed him under so much stress he’s become a pathological liar. Getting ridiculous yet? Because I could go on, wether it be the adopted Rintaro or the destructively spoiled Taiyou, apparently any character they bothered naming in this show has some degree of unhealthy parentage under their belts, and in retrospect, only so many of these cases actually got it right—and that’s only if you can buy into the fact such an abundance of said cases could even occur under such a massively coincidental set of circumstances in the first place. Simply put, Hoshiai no Sora is, as a whole, what I would call bluffing. I devoted a paragraph to praising the directorial deftness on display in scenes depicting Maki’s abuse, because not everyone gets that degree of harsh and intricate realism and is thereby nowhere near as believable or smartly written from a critical standpoint. I can’t really speak to Yuuta’s portrayal, because while I suffer from as much body dysmorphia as any other clinically depressed autist, I’ve never actually had gender identity issues. But I’ve been screamed at, slapped at, struck at, and everything in between which these poor kids have to no end, and frankly, I don’t think they’re developed in a way someone with my experience can really believe in in good faith. Itsuki is violent, because he was abused. Okay, my sister turned violent too, and she fell out of relationship after relationship because her and her men always seemed to be in a rush to hit one another. But despite getting the same treatment she did, I didn’t turn violent, and no matter how many years those bitches throughout school would gang up on me, I never once even thought to strike back. Clearly, it takes more to go violent then to simply have been hurt by your guardians in the past. Nao is a pathological liar, because he was put under pressure. Okay, I devolve into a pathological liar whenever a conversational partner decides to pry into my personal life, and I often even suffer from cognitive dissonance having built year long personas with different colleagues and family members all based on lies which don’t align as they were fabricated in the moment on nothing but panic. But despite getting the same treatment I did, my sister didn’t go crazy, and no matter the fact she went to a private school which placed its own extra dosage of pressure onto her separate from my mot…

The reason I decided to watch HnS is because I've heard it's LGBTQ+ friendly (and I'm always looking for that, especially in anime/manga), and the clips from the show that I've seen involving the protag supporting a non-binary character to be who they are, and talking about a transwoman who he sees as family were very inspiring. So I sat down, watched it, aaaand... it's melodramatic as heck. I expected a show that focused more on the drama than the sports which I wanted, because I'm not exactly crazy about sports in general, but... I didn't think the (melo)drama would be so bad. Actually no, the stuff with Maki and how his abusive father affects him is fine, but when almost all the kids have parents that are abusive or twisted in some way, it becomes ridiculous. It's not even handled well. The stuff with Nao was especially bad because he decided to have a change of heart out of nowhere. Most of the characters had weak arcs, like Rintaro's arc that led nowhere as far as his selfesteem issues goes. I liked how they handled Yu, they are probably the best character in the show other than Maki. The problem with Maki is that he's a bit of a super human who can do almost anything and everyone are amazed by him, which isn't the case with Yu, so in the end, I would say they are probably the best and most realistic character in the show. The biggest offender is that ending. Like, I get it, sometimes life isn't sushine and rainbows, and sometimes one can have a great day only to have found out that they lost their job or someone they knew suddenly died... life sucks like that. But this isn't life, but a STORY, and a story needs a conclusion. You can't end the story this way and expect that anyone would be satisfied with it. If it was based on a manga or if it was getting another season then fine, but it's an anime original and no s2 in sight, so why not end it properly when they had a chance? Even a happy, cheesy ending would work better than what we actually got. If this show did get a s2, or an ova, or a movie, I would watch it, but only because the ending left me frustrated, not because I'm excited for more. I don't feel like I could recomend this show. The drama isn't well written enough, the sports stuff isn't that exciting and the main characters keeps abusing the same trick to try to win, and while the art style is cute, the animation isn't that great. As far as a drama focused sports series goes, Ping Pong is WAY better and more memorable, so I recomend that one instead.

The promotional poster of Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align) caught my eye even before the show began airing. “Even in an ever-changing world, only the starlit sky will not change”. As a coming of age story, Hoshiai Sora teaches an important lesson about how we humans change, how we evolve, and how we grow up in an ever changing life. We live in a society dubbed as a modern era of controversy, where we communicate through our feelings but often causing trouble unknowingly. It’s part of growing up. Everyone makes mistakes in some way or another. It’s what makes us human. In this original anime, you can say that making mistakes is part of the common norm, a very common fact that needs to be accepted. We all have to start off somewhere. Rome wasn’t built in a day after all and for someone like Maki Katsuragi, he enters the show as a transfer student and tennis beginner. Transferring to a school presents challenge on its own as he is the new kid in the neighborhood. Shijou Minami is a school where there’s a population of complex teenagers, driven by social anxiety while trying to forge a future for themselves. Maki faces a similar situation as he tries to build a future for himself in a seemingly stressful life. After reuniting with his childhood friend Touma Shinjou, he joins his school’s soft tennis club. This is where his daily adventure begins. But before we look into his school life, one shouldn’t forget about how he lives at home. Hoshiai no Sora may be a coming of age story but it adamantly adds a bold amount of drama. The first few episodes tells a harsh reality as we see the behavior of abusive parents. It’s actually a common norm in this show, so much that you’d think adults in their world are socially incapable of building a lasting relationship with their children. Watching this show tells how harsh reality can really be, especially for those who suffered physical or mental abuse. It’s a sensible subject that makes Hoshiai no Sora feel so real. But back to Maki’s situation, he faces abuse from his own father. An early example includes his father taking his savings while inflicting abuse on him. Maki’s fear is evident as he doesn’t report his situation to authorities but actually resorts to lies. By showing such a reality, we can definitely feel sympathetic. No one should have to come home and fear their own father. Abuse also extends to other characters such as Itsuki Ameno. The physical burn scar is a symbol of abuse by his own mother when he was an infant. Life is really tough when reality hits such way, isn’t it? Luckily, characters in the show are able to get back up when life knocks them down. The soft tennis club serves as a way for them to escape reality and build their character. Maki and Touma grows as part of their daily life activities and begins to show more signs of confidence. United by their common goal to win, the soft tennis club serves also serves a social hub for our characters. Daily issues may be common but they strive to resolve them together. At first, trouble seems difficult but as time goes on, the club becomes a unity of trust, commitment, and value. It’s so important to see how characters connects with each other in order to accomplish goals. As the captain, Toma leads the team with his commanding presence and takes soft tennis seriously, more than anyone else. It’s a difficult task for him as many of the other members slacks off that puts the club into tight budget. But on their way of success, the members begins to show more commitment. Watching this group grow will feel stressful at first because of how imperfect they are. But the more I watched the club, the more I realize how relatable these characters are. Hoshiai no Sora has characters fall into life stressful quagmires, but the soft tennis club serves as a beacon of light. And thanks to the soft tennis club, you can bet that characters begins to grow out of their shells. Maki is the most evident example as he finds the courage to stand up against his abusive father when Touma is threatened by him. It’s a powerful example of a boy who is able to overcome his personal demons to protect what he treasures, the important relationship he has built with his friend. Touma’s own problem at home traces its roots to his mother, a person who seems emotionally abusive towards his son. It’s like a stomping on his confidence until he begins to prove himself as a capable captain of the tennis club. However, not everyone suffers from parental abuse. Rintarou Futsu is a rare case of having loving parents despite being adopted. In sharp contrast compared to the main characters, he lives a happy life with them. And because of this, Rintarou is fundamentally a nice person and serves as someone who others can easily trust in. When you see the anime showcase characters this way, it’s also easy to tell how parents can have influence on their kids. By the time you’ve watched a decent portion of the show, it’s easy to see the amount of sensible subjects. The anime explores issues dealing with adult fear, parental abuse, and even sexual orientation. Yu, the manager of the club, is the most prominent example. Because he is homosexual, Yu attracts bullies and abuse, even from his own mother. It’s situations in the show that can be hard to watch if you find his circumstances relatable. And as I’ve said before, this anime isn’t shy about being controversial. But despite all this drama, we do have light comedy that has shifts its mood tone. A few examples includes Maki’s brutal honesty who sometimes says things that can be unintentionally ludicrious. There are also running gags about how certain characters looks feminine, so much that there’s even an episode with crossdressing. On the tennis field, competition may be tense but some of the strategies employed by the club are laughable. When you add more of the cherry character personalities of other club members, it can be quite a lighthearted anime. And the more you watch Hoshiai no Sora, the more you’ll realize that the show isn’t truly about sports competition. It’s about characters growing up. Director Kazuki Akane’s early work has little to no similarities with this anime so it’s rather refreshing to see him take on this project with his tone of storytelling. The character designs takes on a soft touch with simple art style. Most noticeably however, it’s the character expressions that stands out the most. Between the main characters and various abusive parents, it show how real the anime can really get. Watching the characters' speech mannerism is important as it allows us to judge on their character personalities. Finally, I do want to mention that this show has one of the most catchiest and stylish ED theme song of the year. The dance movements and choreography is exceptionally eye catchy despite some characters out of synch. It’s hard not to dance with them. At a pace of 12 episodes, this show dealt with drama on a level that I wasn’t prepared for. I came to watch this show for soft tennis but got treated with doses of drama in an emotional coming age of life. But that’s what makes this anime stand out so much. The daily adventures of the soft tennis club reminds us the reality of life, where we all have to face problems at one way or another.

Tired of watching all those isekai or comedy anime? Wanna actually watch an anime that’s close to real life? Then Hoshiai no Sora is that anime for you! But please let me tell you this. Don’t view it as an anime. Don’t just look at it as a fictional story. This isn’t for people who only watch anime to “escape” from real life. Watch it as if it’s actually happening in front of you, as if it’s happening in reality, as if the characters are people you know, as if you’re a third party observing what they are going through. If you can do that, then watching this will be very worth it. Before I begin, I’d like to point out that this review will focus on what happened in the anime rather than how it happened. What I mean is that I won’t focus on things like character development or story pacing or stuff like that, since I’m not good with those aspects of stories. I’ll be talking about what they said and what they went through. This also may contain some spoilers. When I first saw a PV for this show, I thought that maybe this would be like other sports anime. Almost all the sports anime I’ve seen has had drama in its run, and Hoshiai no Sora is no exception. But when I watched it; boy, was I wrong. What makes this anime different from other sports anime is that the drama is a more realistic reflection of the problems that happen in real life, and the sport the characters play isn’t the main focus of the anime, rather, it is a catalyst for the characters to help one another with their problems as they go through life. The first episode already had something major happen, which made me instantly love the anime (Don’t get me wrong, though. I hated what happened.). Basically, the anime is about a soft tennis club on the verge of disbanding, until a new member shows up and helps make the club better than it was before. But don’t let the cute and clean art style fool you, as there are deep themes involved in the characters’ lives, and the characters try to go through them with the help of one another while at the same time trying to win a competition to save their club. The different problems that each character has are what make the show realistic. One of the major themes that is seen in the anime are family problems. Almost everyone in the team has a problem with their parents, and there’s a whole episode that focuses on families. First, we have Maki, and from the very first episode, we can see that he has a major problem with his father, who was very abusive since he was born. Then we have Nao, who has what we can call a “helicopter parent,” as we can see that she doesn’t support what he likes and makes decisions for him thinking that it is for his own good. Basically, almost all of them have family problems, and the tennis club is there to bring them together for each other’s support. Another theme the show tackled, which was something I liked, was sexuality and gender identity. In the second episode, one of the characters, Yuuta (a guy), was discovered by Maki to have liked another guy. This scene made me like the show even more, as this gives us some LGBT+ representation in anime where the supporting character isn’t judged or made a big deal out of, or used as a major plot point. In another episode, due to some circumstances, Yuuta and Maki end up talking about gender identity, and it is revealed that someone Maki knows is actually transgender, which gives us good trans representation in anime. This scene is probably one of my favorites in the series, as Yuuta mentions that he doesn’t know what he identifies as, and Maki says he doesn’t have to rush. It’s okay to take time to figure yourself out. What matters the most is being able to discover who you are and what you want to be, and it doesn’t matter how long it takes to do so. This really hit close to home, as I am also part of the LGBT+. Some of the characters of the show that I think are worth mentioning are Maki, Yuuta, and Mitsue. I have already talked Yuuta before, so I will be talking about Maki. He’s a 14 year-old middle school student who just moved back to his hometown and started studying in the school where the story takes place. We see that he is very active, he uses the stairs instead of the elevator, and he also does basically all of the chores. We then also notice that he has insane reflexes, and Toma (his classmate) also notices this and asks him to join the tennis club. After certain conditions, he accepts and that moves the story forward. What I like about Maki is that he’s one of the mature ones in the group. Because of what happened in his youth, he’s able to see the important things in life, and he’s able to talk about it with his friends. I think it’s even better given how young he is, because a lot of us when we were his age didn’t really care much about doing good things or not, we just did what we wanted to do. Maki does things his way, but with a goal in mind. Him being there helps improve the tennis club, and in a way, slowly helps relieving his friends’ emotions from all of their problems. Next, I’ll be talking about Mitsue’s character. When we first see her, the first thing we might think is that she’s a cynical jerk. I thought that way as well. But as the time passed by, I realized why she became that way. Her parents are unsupportive of her dream, and people online diss her for it, so who wouldn’t be cynical? While some of her actions aren’t good, they are understandable. The reason she was a jerk to the tennis club was because they were enjoying what they liked when the people around them don’t support them, when she was also going through the same thing. While she was a jerk, she still supported them, as she still went to some of their activities even if she said that she didn’t want to. And by the end of the anime, we can see that she really is to start rooting for them; she is more supportive to them and actually starts drawing soft tennis drawings, and she starts to ignore all the hateful comments thrown at her from art, which I think is a good development for her. Another thing I liked about the show was how they implemented some things that a lot of people worry about, but for others it doesn’t seem like a big deal. An example is when the club was in one of their activities and everyone was talking to each other and having fun except for Toma. Yuuta noticed this and asked Toma about it, and Toma replied that he isn’t good at slipping into groups and having fun. I also felt this, since I’m not that much of a social person as well. At the end of the day, even if there were tons of drama, it’s still a sports anime, and the sports did not disappoint. Even if the sports weren’t the focus of the anime, the show was properly able to explain the techniques and rules soft tennis has. The animations of the sports scenes were fluid, and it was really exciting to watch. The closest I have with playing soft tennis is badminton (the players have to use rackets), but I think I can say that everything here related to the sport is pretty spot-on. The sports peaked at the final episodes, and they were amazing as well. All in all, I think that was an amazing anime, especially with it being an original. They were able to talk and discuss about different problems that people go through in real life, and they were also able to execute the drama with the sports perfectly. I’ve noticed that people think it’s weird that they just placed some drama here and there without any build-up. But that’s how one would see it if they just viewed it as an anime. If one were to view it as a reflection of real life, however, not just a normal show, they’d be able to better understand why. You don’t just know someone in real life then they’ll slowly gives hints about their problems and then BOOM, that’s when you feel some emotion for them. In real life, you wouldn’t be able to know who has what kind of problems, and people you know that don’t seem to have any problems with their lives might end…

Fascinating for all the wrong reasons From everything i'd heard about this show i expected there to be great depth in character exploration as they face the many tough themes that are presented, and it did have the potential to be all that, had the execution not been so utterly atrocious I swear i have never come across such a deplorable depiction of the human psyche There is not one instant with a trace of developement, analysis, or critical thinking, all we get is a constant bombardment of the most repulsive conduct parents can possibly have as that and their kids trauma and psychological turmoil is used all for the sake of melodrama, and the disgraceful portrayal of human behaviour does not end there *light ep. 3 spoilers ahead (no plot detail spoilers) In this scene one of the soft tennis club kids is getting taunted by a school bully, the lil a-hole says a bunch of vile stuff, and so tennis kid proceeds to smash the other kid's head open with his tennis racket, simply put because of some very mean words Now credit where credit is due, most of the team's reaction to this insanity is "what the f*** are you doing??" as they immediately start first aid, but not only does the MC side with his teammate (and is somehow more concerend of a broken tennis racket than someone's broken head), but their teacher, the person who's suppost to be responsible for them, educate them, protect them, is brushing off PHYSICAL ASSAULT like "well you were wrong to crack his head open, but he's at fault too for insulting you, so here's some candy", no suspension, no detention, barely a lecture and this teacher offers candy to the kid who just sent another kid to the ER... what... WHAT... WTF did i just watch??? This isn't just a normal school yard fight with a couple of scratches and bruises where you can say "you were wrong but i get why you lost your cool", there comes a time when you have to draw a firm line and whenever it's crossed it's unacceptable and that's it! I don't care how much mom traumatized you, you don't get to use that as an excuse to harm others, and you certainly don't get to claim self defence against words And no, this is not the only time this series uses mental health as an excuse to enable bad behaviour Like i said at the beginning of this review, it's deplorable This anime is a masterclass on how not to write complex psychological issues and is infantile at best disturbing at worst

This was the best anime I have seen all year. Everything in it made me feel happy. From the drawing of characters to the Tiktok dancing at the ending animation, I loved every bit of it - except for the cliffhanger ending because, unlike most anime, Hoshiai no Sora is not based on a manga - it is an anime original series. Now, basically, it is a sports anime and it focuses on the developments of a boys' soft-tennis team and how their lives change when a new member called Maki Katsuragi joins them. If you only look at it as a sports anime, I believe it is up there with my previous personal best sports anime, Tsurune. However, as some other commentator here also says, it goes beyond being sports anime. I have watched countless slice of life anime and Hoshiai no Sora/The Stars Align was the first one to include so many society-level and family-level everyday problems in it. Through the 12 episodes of the show, we see divorced couples, a father who extorts money from his ex-wife and kid, an overbearing mother, helicopter parents, a father who hurts his child and doesn't even consider what he has done, a mother who actually hates one of her children, an adopted child, a young man confused about his gender preferences - and all these in a very believable, very real-life-like storytelling. It shows how following a sport may make kids feel better, more confident, and how it canalizes them to establish good, solid friendships. I recommend this anime series with all my heart.

The only reason I kept up with this show on a week to week basis as it was airing was because the shows art-style had a certain nostalgic feeling to it, but I could never figure out why though. Going through most of the staff who worked on the character designs, art direction, and also the director just in case revealed very little to what I was feeling. I could see some semblance in some of their other works, but those are the ones I have yet to watch. While the ones I have watched from some of them look far different than this show. The closest comparison that I can think of is that it kind of looks kind of like Mamoru Hosoda’s work. I guess it’s mostly for the simple but appealing character designs, but it kind of can also be seen the background designs, color pallet, and the animation. I would even say that it has a very movie quality to it, but obviously downgraded enough so that it’s more suitable for tv. But outside of my nostalgia senses I would still consider the visuals to be overall good and appealing to everyone, the story on the other hand… As in the synopsis, Stars Align starts off as a story about a new Student being recruited into the Soft Tennis Club. Soft being the keyword as there’s not much hard on attention placed on the sport compared to other shows with sports in them as well. The sport and the matches do take a considerable chunk of time from the show, but they are not the central focus. There’s no hot blooded matches, no intense rivalries, no amazing techniques(maybe strategies,but not that much), and no grand competitions. The highest stake that the sport has is that the club might close due to the student council not wishing to put a budget into a club that does very little. Even then it’s not much of a looming threat, and more so something that is stated a few times just to acknowledge that it’s still a thing. What the show is more focused on is the personal and at times interpersonal circumstances that this group goes through. The most noticeable ones are the club members relationships with their parents. The two that are presented the earliest are of the main duo, Maki and Toma. Maki, the new student, lives with just his mother. As it turns out the father is abusive and extorts money from them via Maki when the mom is away at her job. On the other hand Toma, the leader of the tennis club has a strained relationship with his mother. This leads to Toma not believing he is as good as his brother, who also played tennis, and also leads him to have a sort of complex that leads to him having fits of anger. The other club members also have their own child-parental conflicts from controlling parents, passive aggressive parents, being adopted and so on. I would go into more detail with them but there isn’t much which leads to the core problem with the show. This shows has an abundance of things it wants to do and has only so little time to do them. It wants to go into the lives of all the club members and what they’re going through, it also wants to focus on some non-club members as well, and it also wants to have some tennis matches have some sort of substance to them. This leads to the show only being able to not really go that far with any of them. It really touches the surface on almost all of the subjects that it brings up. The example I will bring up is the kid who becomes the manager for the club, forgot his name. The reason he becomes the manager is that he is gay and has a crush on Toma, and by being the manager he is able to support him. It’s obvious he won’t confess his feeling because Toma is seemingly not gay. Then it goes more into it by having the kid being maybe into cross-dressing and having a conversation with Maki about transgender-ism. Later on the Kids mother kind of finds out about him cross-dressing in a disapproving manner and that’s it. It never goes into depth with any of it which leads to much of it feeling vapid and forgettable, which in turn affects the characters in the same way. I really do believe that this show had what it took to be a really good show. However it’s stopped by having a mean case of window dressing. You can see the components at play at many moments in the show, but they are also so far removed that they aren't able to play a crucial part in the big picture, and end up being redundant. At most, I thought this show would only be average at best, but at every turn more stuff was added to a show without resolving what was already there. With so much feeling underdeveloped, I can only think of this show as a sad disappointment.

Before chose to watch that anime must to warned you, it is create by Kathleen Kennedy. Be ready for LGBTQ content. The main story is good but is kinda like Disney too much darkness on every single character in the show. Make them all suffer is potential bad idea even if you tried to express the feelings about how good it is to doing a sport. No matter how bad is in home you gone be always safe on playground... okay... but in the macro view it is bad because it is not possible to everyone have the same issue... bad parents. The art is 5/10 but normally I don't care about the art style. I care more about the story. I want to recommended to you for the sport content because is good, but other stuff is meh.

*SPOILER FREE* Hoshiai no Sora is by and large a drama anime that has the sport of soft tennis mixed in to act as a catalyst for bringing together the main characters and showing growth. For those who are looking for a shonen sports anime with your typical summer camps and special moves and growing the team and lots of matches against strong teams and rising to the top, this isn't really a show for you. The story itself is something that captivated me from the get-go. It was something different, and something very captivating as slice of life animes are typically very appealing to me. The characters are all very unique and have their own dramas going on with their lives, each of them having very upbringings and lots of problems going on in their respective houses, hence drama. The way the characters have grown from the beginning of the show through the main character, Maki, has been very enjoyable to watch. The way it explored psychological aspects of school students and the understanding it takes to see why the kids act the way they do blew me away. Unfortunately due to issues with the production studio, this anime currently remains half finished, as what was initially supposed to be a 24 episode anime got cut in half, and the director decided instead of rushing to finish, they would play out their story and finish whatever they could by their story. The music and artwork in the anime is very good in my opinion. I loved their choices for opening and ending songs, and the art really captured what was happening in each scene, with each scene exhibiting very normal stuff and drawn so well that you could easily absorb yourself in their world. Overall, enjoyment of this anime was very high. As I said at the beginning, this is a drama anime with sports mixed in, not the other way around. Many people might be left disappointed by the fact sports is its hook, but not me. I thoroughly enjoyed this anime and would recommend it easily for someone looking for a school drama anime. The way it is able to capture the drama in the families of kids in school is quite incredible and still progress forward, juxtaposing fun moments with sad and tense moments, is quite incredible. A very well written story that I pray will get a season 2 to finish off.

Soft tennis is not a game of luck and pure talent, and so is life itself. Hoshiai no Sora can focus solely on taking the competitive spirit and building up the enthusiasm for soft tennis from the start. An ensemble characters that are unworthy and lazy, trained and motivated themselves to be better to an extent that none of them would have expected. Adding some preliminary matches, hardships, friendships and loses then we would have another exciting sports anime to look forward to. But, no. The story diverges from the main training and shounen plot into tackling issues that are actually happening but no one is comfortable enough to address them. Especially not in this kind of trope, as the situations involving the relatively darker side of other’s childhood is too real for us to be bothered with. The feeling of watching as a bystander and not being able to do anything is simply too infuriating and to be frank, it just shows us how helpless they are, we are. And, I’ve never been so amazed by how well this is all executed. Rather than playing some sad backstory over slow piano sounds, it directly brings us closer to the characters through the way they see the world, how they have lived their entire life completely different than others and how they try to emerge from it. Overprotective parents, supportive parents, ignorant parents, aggressive parents and more are laid bare for us to see. To build that emotional attachment to each of the characters that can only be felt by truly understanding their life and witnessing their struggle. Then, the story further advances by adding in passion into the mix. Their hard work, their laughter and their frustrations are blended into the chance they have all created together. To make that ridiculed boy soft tennis club surpass all understatement thrown at it. To acknowledge their rivals and improve even beyond their limits. To accept themselves as who they really are. And evoking one of the most common emotion we all have, happiness. Because even in the gravest situation, they were never alone, as cliche as that be. The art and animation is by 8bit which is decent with the flow of matches involving tense situations handled smoothly. The songs, especially the ending is quite delightful with a relaxing pace to it. Overall, Hoshiai no Sora is like a dreamy story that has the burning fire a sports anime excels in creating, with a twist of realistic drama that keep you on the edge of the seat. It only marks the start of their journey, because as they struggle more and overcome challenges, amazing things will happen. As the Stars Align together.

I'm usually the one that only reads reviews but I felt like I had to write something about this show. Why ? Because I felt kinda disappointed at the end. I've watched the firsts 7 episodes straights because the show had a good rythm, but it lost it during the last episodes, that are either too slow or too rushed (especially the ending) I am somewhat frustrated because it began really nicely and thought there was finally a show that deals about serious subjects such as abuse, bullying and LGBTQ+ characters but is also "plot focused" (on sport events). I think this show had some good ideas but in the end they were poorly executed. I read somewhere that there had to be 24 episodes at first but then they decided to make only 12 so it can explain this brutal ending. Maybe it lacks of "normal" supports characters (who have no tragic background or shitty parents to deal with) So, I'm not gonna blame the story writters for daring to make something new, but I hope there will be more slice of life animes which deals with serious issues and with more character development. Also, I am sorry if my review is hard to read but english is not my mother tongue. I hope it is still understadable for yall,

tl;dr: HnS is about how everyone is sort of fucked up from childhood and being there for your bro isn't really gonna fix a decade of mental torture but that's all you have to give. That and sports. It's sad in a good way, a bit melodramatic, pretty cute at others. The Bluerays are gonna look awesome, the tv version has small botches in a style that lends itself to sakuga and tons of emotion. ------ Fans of sport anime are a weird beast.I'm not saying they're stupid but it usually takes a few years for them to realize how things are. Remember how Kuroko no Basket was considered identical to Haikyuu even though one just makes up superpowers on the spot while the other one has long slow arcs building tiny victories based on flawed characters. You can also look at Prince of Tenis' dominance over the genre for almost a decade, the love for Tsubasa's remake even though everything it does has been abandoned as the genre progressed, or the common idea that the genre is a shonen when most of its tropes come from shojo. As you can see, I'm extremely pedantic about this topic and I'll remain that way for the rest of the review. Hoshiai no Sora uses the sport as a comparison point with the drama. I feel that even mentioning that there's drama is a big spoiler, the first time we jumped from happy boys being sort of cringey in a good way to violent parental abuse it felt like the most beautiful kick to the face I took since Sangatsu no Lion. But every review mentions it so there's no point in hiding it. Those reviews have this weird idea that sport anime has to be this math problem that can be done a single way, usually with an underdog, a training camp, senpai's sacrifice, one big loss, side characters explaining basic rules for the millionth time (what is this "goal" event you speak of? are you telling me points are tracked? how uncool is to punch the other player in the nuts? what is this "passing the ball" sorcery you speak of? and so on). I'm sorry to say that Hoshiai no Sora follows another sport anime style and that's a good thing you should learn to enjoy for your own good in life. If you think this isn't a proper sport anime then I guess Ashita no Joe, Ace wo Nerae o Big Windup aren't either. And now you're the elitist, but a really weird one. In a spokon sport is an end in itself. Ippo is happy because he has boxing, boxing is good because it makes him happy, sometimes sad but that's part of being happy. In an otome sport anime sports are a medium for pretty boys to be pretty, the way sweat falls is more important that how did he move 30 feet in half a second. In a sport drama sports are a tiny spider thread that buda sent to save you from hell, it will break at the slightest mistake and best case scenario Joe is gonna get a warm meal this week but probably just alcoholic rants. Some reviews say that sports are secondary to the plot. That's like saying firefighters are secondary to arson, I'd say they're pretty important but I get your point. You won't get anything epic out of this anime, no one is gonna get metaphorical ghosts holding them up or a single instant of victory changing their lives forever. You're gonna get sad kids being justified in their sadness, trying to do something about it, maybe getting a tiny bit ahead in life, trying to help each other and clearly failing to solve the underlying issue because they're kids and not even adults can actually do that much. Complaining that this isn't doing a genre the way that you decided on your own it has to be isn't a critique, it's a really bizarre form of schizophrenia.

Just to make one thing clear for viewers: The anime was axed from 24 episodes to 12 episodes that's why the ending was never complete, the director worked on it for 2 years to be complete but suddenly before release last spring, they cut him short and forced the team to reconstruct the whole thing in 12 episodes. It is really sad not to get the full potential of the anime but it's still amazing that despite being axed it was one of my favorite anime this season. In a nutshell: not your typical sports anime, it's much deeper, shedding light on individual struggles and how the cast deal with each other to hide their abusive lives and try to believe that they are fine and happy. The anime is actually dark ad saddening, although the art style is very warm and happy. Overall, I really enjoyed it and I wish someday it continues

So I have read some honest reviews, but something about this anime hit home for me. I understand its not directed toward the sport and the sport is kind of a side note. However, these background stories hit right on the target of a huge issue students and families face. There were several aspects that this story could have absolutely taken a focus to and this leaves a lot of open ended question to the actual audience. Yet, in the end this also leaves it up to the audience to use their own head to get the picture of what's going on. I personally got super close to this anime due to the fact me and several of my other athletic friends went through similar instances that this anime is portraying and it took what's just an anime into a realistic image of what is actually happening in reality. Either way the characters in this anime hits the dark side of families hard on the head and in the end it really portrays a good image of the worst that can really happen in a family. I really liked that aspect and it always gave me shivers of the times things like this happened to myself or my friends. People can think what they want, but I have to say this is a great twist to the normal sports genre and really adds a little spice to the mix. Thanks for listening and I would love to hear your thoughts to this pushing issue as well. The DM's are always open for talk!

I gave this a high score because it´s one of the most realistic anime I have seen. The fact that the team behind this show got backstabbed explains why the series ended in such a dark note. But to be honest I completely love that dark ending. It´s the perfect display that there are not "Happy endings" in real life. You can have the happiest day, week or year in your life but there is always a tomorrow in which everything is possible. (Spoilers ahead) The premise is simple "A soft tennis club is facing dissolution because of the lack of results". In contrast with shows such as "The prince of tennis" or "Captain Tsubasa", the main characters do not care about this sport or even the club. But at the story progress, we realized the students use this club as a way to be far away from their families. Physical, verbal and mental abuse, traumas, scars, overprotection and a contender for the worse mother in any show are part of the daily lives of these students. What people completely ignore is the fact that these students are teenagers, maybe 14 or 15 years old, they are in the worse period of life with their families making them feel miserable at any point, bad moments can happen at any time and no one can predict them. The team, at first, lack of talent is impossible to ignore. The club starts to work harder after the arrival of the main character who constantly call each member out. What makes this more real is the fact that, even after working so hard, they still lose, all of them, each one of them got better, but weren´t able to win. The arts and sound are 10, and that is not enough. The opening is so calm, with some hidden hints, while the ending is so funny and impossible to avoid. I can say without a doubt that I completely enjoy this anime, and it´s really sad how underrated it is. I said this before, but the fact that a lot of people complain about the drama shows how ignorant they are about real life. Family abuse is very common, it happens, just pay close attention to what your friends or classmates say and you will realize it. Bullying is also very common, and the producers know this, they know that no one came through this world without no harm. Finally, I have three things to say: 1) Sorry for my English. 2) If you want to watch an anime with displays of how sad and difficult life can be, this is your show, a show where anyone can relate to the characters and their problems. 3) Ignore the comments, this show is worth watching. Thanks for reading until here.

At first, Stars Align seems to be a particularly well-told version of a pretty standard sports story. The underdog team of kids who just want to have fun playing tennis together! The one kid who could be the savior of the team and make them actually competitive! Camaraderie! Friendship! It works out especially well because of the lovely character design, animation, and musical score all coming together. It’s fairly slow and gentle, but the animation absolutely brims with life. The characters speak and move with their whole bodies, not just their mouths or limbs as needed. Their body language communicates their comfort with each other, giving the impression that the team is a cozy way for them to spend time together, even if they’re not particularly fussed about competing. And that’s fine! Stars Align already looks to be the best series of the season.