Hoshiai no Sora

"Hoshiai no Sora is not your average sports anime" its worst. In short it lacks depth in the sports part and animation, the drama part lacks how to do drama properly and feels like a soap opera instead like "que estas haciendo con la liciada" levels. Trying to address modern day problems won't make your show better or more competent at all, and its not a new concept, nothing presented in this show other than the soft tennis club kids having drama its a new concept, but this show has the problem of trying to bite more than what it can eat ending up with a bunch of sub stories that don't progress, lack depth and are ridiculous at a point that i was just laughing at the whole thing on how unbelievable it was, I know fiction is built upon things that are rare which makes the interesting for the most part in this case 8 punching bags who have bad parents, but this show its too much, it treats its problems in a unrealistic way, it just treats its problems like a caricature of reality, if you want to address real problems address them well or at last give more time for shit to progress, there is no need to have 8 punching bags that one of the has its own episode, this is not gumball, you don't have to do that, instead try to make a smaller thing with the time you have if you know what you are doing, i know this was supposed to be 25 eps but its just 12 but i don't thing even with more 13 episodes this thing could be better, maybe it could, maybe when the producers see it made profit which i do not know if it did want to let the director do the second part and i end up amazed with the show, but for what he have now this show is a joke for the drama genre, and i say that being one of the persons who gave Pancreas a good grade when that shit is generic as fuck because i had some kind of enjoyment out of it. This show has nothing special to offer other than a good idea and terrible execution that got me exited at first but fucked up by the end of it.

This anime was so outside of my expectations that I couldn't help but get hooked on it, and yet, I still have no idea how to review it. Starting with the art style, I thought it was quite eloquent and a bit unique. It was able to use a lot of softer tones while still keeping a rich palate overall. The character designs were charming as well, and I thought it fit the anime very nicely. All of that sounded really boring, so I'll get to the good stuff now. I think the thing that drew me to this anime more than anything were the characters. Their stories individually were so, so interesting. I thought the structure of focusing on each character's personal lives at some point or another was fascinating because it made it all feel authentic to how it can feel to be in middle school and the effects that has on you and your family. I did think that maybe it was a bit much to have each character experiencing a problematic home situation, but at the same time, it does carry its own type of realism in it. The story as well as everything else in this anime was a bit weird to watch, but not at all terrible. I enjoyed that sports anime side of things because the plot used those situations very well to contrast the darker themes that can be found elsewhere in the anime. That being said, it was difficult to figure out where the focus was supposed to be for the story. Don't get me wrong, the idea of focusing so heavily on the characters individually while also bringing them together through a collective activity like soft tennis was really interesting to watch. However, it could've been done a lot better. The season could've been extended to really pay the proper attention to each element rather than giving many of them an episode or two each. As I said, the sport aspect did provide light moments, but it also wasn't balanced all that well within the rest of the plot. I felt like I could understand the weight of these boys' home lives and how difficult some of them were, and I was hoping that I could also find importance in soft tennis as well. Typically, sports anime will do a really good job of making the sport feel like it has stakes and weight so that it's more tense and ultimately fun to watch, but Hoshiai no Sora didn't quite hit that mark. Despite those issues that I had with the anime, I still truly enjoyed watching it, and I love the characters. It wasn't afraid to bring up heavy topics and discuss them, it didn't shy away from the darker parts of parenting, and it showcased strong friendships really well. It didn't develop itself as well as it could've, but it's still really fun and heartwarming to hang out with these guys. I'd definitely recommend this if you're interested because it didn't disappoint me.

The producers who decided to axe this series should be punished, made known and be publicly ashamed I love the story and I would do everything to watch season two. Unfortunately the producers do not share my viewpoints All the characters have interesting backstories Which would greatly benefit from new seasons The animation is quite unique, it's a blend of 2D and 3D animation but it fits the story quite well You should definitely watch this series, I really love how they tackle LGBT+ issues. I'm really glad this series came to fruition ins spite of it all I'm usually not into sports animes, but this one really took the crown

For starters, this is NOT a sports anime. This is an abused - kid anime masquerading as a sports anime. I'm not sure why the sports aspect is even in it unless its creator threw that in in hopes of getting more viewers due to how popular sports animes are, because the sports aspect is cursory at best. They cover forehand and backhand strokes and follow - through and ... that's pretty much it?? And though a couple of the characters make the expected declaration about how they love "soft tennis" (regular tennis except played with a soft, squishy ball) more than anything, the amount of time spent on actual games is far less than most sports animes. But the lazily covered sports stuff takes time away from fully exploring the abused - kid aspect of the show, which seems to be what the creator really wanted to cover. Aside from the 2 main characters, each member of the team's abusive family situation is introduced sufficient to get the gist and that's it; nothing is ever resolved ... and it ends on a quite shocking related cliff - hanger. There will be no more of the show; it didn't get a second season, although the creator said he would like to put online what he planned to have happen in season two. So if you do decide to watch, be aware there will be no resolution whatsoever for any of the upsetting abusive situations any of the characters find themselves in. The creator of this show also made Noein, of which I am a huge fan, and though Noein has lots going for it, the main descriptor I've always used for it is "deep." It's metaphorical, it works on multiple levels, it beautifully and thoroughly explores many themes. And ... the same cannot be said for Stars Align. It is not deep. What you see is what you get. There is no deeper meaning to anything that happens; they play tennis, they hang out together, and they get abused. That's it. Yet despite all of that, I kept watching, and I missed getting to watch it when it was over. It's not a show I would recommend to anyone since nothing happens and nothing is resolved, so what was it that kept me coming back? The main thing is the characters, particularly the main character, Maki. He seems like a jerk when you first meet him, and then when you see what his home life is like, he suddenly makes perfect sense. I still take inspiration from the main character in Noein, Haruka, who - faced with an impossible situation and almost certain death - nevertheless bravely does what can be done, keeps on going, and never lets her heart grow cold; she feels fully and loves freely. Well, Maki is pretty inspiring, too. Despite his own impossible situation, he pours energy into everything he can affect. He thinks outside the box. He has many skills, which he fully utilizes. He is undeterred by rejection and hatred. He is not susceptible to the kind of us vs them thinking that limits others. It is always interesting watching him interact with others. Most of the other characters are fairly one - dimensional, but he is fascinating and unexpected. There are a few other interesting characters, too, especially a rival from another team whom Maki befriends, and their only fan, a tsundere girl. The animation is ugly and uninspiring. The games played are unrealistic and predictable, such as a new player miraculously winning every point right up until the final point of the game; it feels like it was taken right out of the boilerplate sports anime playbook. This is no Haikyuu, making you vitally interested in the minutiae of a sport you don't care about through its creators' obvious passion for the sport; even the characters that make up the soft tennis team hardly seem to care about soft tennis. (The initial premise is that they're an embarrassingly bad team who don't seem to care at all about improving.) The whole show seems to be a clumsy mishmash of vague concepts tossed together randomly, like a bad fanfic by someone who romanticizes child abuse and just keeps adding abused characters without any plot or resolution. (There is definitely a LOT of shipping baked in.) But you know, I kinda enjoyed watching it, so I'll give it 6 stars.

I watched this a bit ago, but I always see this on people's top anime lists and I wanted to give my thoughts on it. I'll start with the thing I liked the most. I really enjoyed that the anime brought up societal issues like domestic violence, transgender and non-binary identities, etc. I think that is difficult to find and the execution was very respectful. Now onto the trainwreck of literally everything else. The characters were cute, yes. But there were too many introduced and yet none of them were developed. There was absolutely no character development and that is what really made this anime boring. The plot was weak and there were numerous times when watching that I just wanted the episode/anime to end. The only real action was in the last 6 min of the finale and it came out of literally nowhere. It wasn't realistic and honestly ruined the rest of the anime, not that it had much going for itself. It's not very memorable either.] If you want to watch this anime for a discussion about social issues, then go ahead. But otherwise, I would not recommend this.

Hoshiai no Sora starts off seemingly as a light sports anime focused on soft tennis with the generic "save our club from disbanding" trope and the one MC who becomes the key to saving the club. It is exactly that, but the sports part of the story acts as a complement to the unique family problems that ALL the members of the club face at home which is obviously unrealistic (abuse is real, but happy parents are too), but since that's literally the theme of the anime so you just have to roll with it. While the main theme are the social issues underlying each member in the soft tennis club, they don't gloss over the sport itself with more emphasis on strategy and tactics, instead of brute force (think One Outs). Taking a look at the main character, Katsuragi, he reveals to be talented at soft tennis despite never playing before and is an incredibly perceptive person. Not to mention he can cook, do chores (because his mum has to work) and is very close to being a Gary Stu EXCEPT that he knows this and isn't modest about his skills at all. Contrary to most sport MCs he is clever, manipulative, has a terrible personality, but is also a great leader. He uses this to his advantage throughout the anime to get his way partly for comedic purposes and mainly as the key strengthen the club effectively through planning and strategy. What I love most about him is how by using his brain a little more than others, he can identify the strengths and weaknesses of his team, his opponents and most importantly himself. He takes action on his own instead of waiting for a sign from God/before its too late, and is the main instigator for moving the story forward. Now he isn't omnipotent with this wisdom (its mostly that the people around him are kinda dumb), and it is very clear that he lacks experience in soft tennis; nevertheless, sports isn't about winning or losing for them and I loved watching the matches because it was very clear that each of the four pairs of characters had their own distinct style of play. I admit, I was only able to define the character by their type of abuse at home. Aside from the 8 club members, there is also the male manager and a girl who hangs around for no reason at all (recurring joke) with their own problems. In regards to these domestic issues, there are several problems with the way they were presented because it seems like they attempt to have you sympathise with them even though the person themselves aren't great to begin with and pretty much get away with almost anything just because they're abused (like the girl who started a fight then got comforted for being "bullied"). That's only the worst problem and there were very little instances worth complaining about but I'll list the good things that came out of it: - when friends in each pair help each other with personal problems it strengthens their teamwork, and highlights the importance of being partners/working together - gives you a realistic insight on several kinds of domestic abuse, each of them are unique situations with some more severe than others - how the characters DON'T deal with this problem. You might relate to the characters a whole lot, but that's why you don't feel sorry for them because each conflict only furthers the impact on the characters negatively and promotes their bad points/ugly side (feelings of helplessness, mental issues etc.). I'm sure there are correct ways of resolving these issues but in reality, people don't (notice I mentioned realistic insight). Of course the characters don't do nothing at all, but sometimes certain problems have no (ideal) resolutions and you endure them until you become an adult which leaves one question: Is there a resolution? No. Not at all. The sports aspect finishes nicely but no one's personal problems reaches a 'real' ending. Some characters have their own inner resolves though. Personally I don't like anime without resolutions and I especially don't like anime which end on a cliffhanger but it really works with this one (in fact it was a very satisfying cliffhanger). Now I don't mind a 2nd season but I am already quite content with what I've seen so far. We've seen several instances of complications and I would be surprised if any of them got resolved in 12 episodes. But like I said, sometimes there are problems with no resolutions and there are people that will never change. Rather than a romanticised ending where family talks and then make up (obviously talking about the less severe cases), Hoshiai no Sora only demonstrates the reality and difficulty of feeling "out of place", how you should act in these situations, (there is one scene in episode 8 which describes perfectly what I'm talking about) and it applies to just about all the characters. About the art and sound, both are great. I love the animation, especially together with the ending song which is the main reason why I started the anime. Its not groundbreaking music but decent enough. The art style is also very light and fluffy in a calming way. The best part about Hoshiai no Sora is the unpredictability. I binged watched this anime and was kept at the edge of my seat the entire time. Despite each character having unfortunate backgrounds, it is for the most part a happy anime that involves themes relating to friendship, teamwork etc. and the synergy between the members of the club who share similar concerns and accept each other may be of inspiration.

I started watching the show when it was over halfway into it's runtime. I knew what I was going into, I knew this wasn't going to be just any sports anime. However, I didn't think I'd get this attached to this show this quickly. I'm very biased of course, I'm a sucker for drama, and I find a strange sense of comfort in crying over shows, so it's no wonder this kind of show would be right up my alley. The story premise is very simple: There's a failing club who needs to stop being a failure ASAP, there's a new kid in school with a skillset very fitting for this club, and with enough begging and money from the captain, the kid joins the club and helps them improve their game. In these 12 episodes, we got to see the team improve, we got to see them prepare and strategize and we got to see how far they've come when we see them actually play. Of course, there's the side stories, there's the personal character arcs, but I will discuss them more when talking about characters, as I feel that "story" refers to the main plot. Despite only accounting for half of the story planned for the series, it manages to be self-contained and get through all the important plot points between the start of the episode and the end of the tournament arc without feeling rushed. I feel like the simple story compliments the complex characters quite well. 10/10 Not gonna lie, what sold me on watching the show was the art. The artstyle, the character designs, the animation, it was all so pretty to look at, it just hooked me right in. I like the pastel colors the art usually has, which turns into much harsher tones with much more dramatic contrast in more serious scenes. I also love how depending on the scene, the transition between scenes can be either extremely smooth or very drastic, and it just adds so much to said scenes. The art in this show is just flawless, what can I say. 10/10 The soundtrack is amazing, there isn't much to say here, but the sound design in this show is hands down the best I've seen ever. The way the music can suddenly stop to create this tense feeling, the way the OST just enters into a scene perfectly. Each sound effect, each stop, every action is just complimented by the perfect sound. If I could, I'd give the sound 11/10, but that's not an option, 10/10 it is. Before I discuss the characters, I will say something which I took into heavy consideration when evaluating the character writing: as of now, the show is only halfway done. It was planned for 24 episodes, but because it was cut to 12 late into production, the team working on it decided to release half of the story they intended while planning on a sequel in the future. As such, it makes sense for there to be many unfinished character arcs, along with it feeling like there were too many backstories for a 12-episode series. Because it wasn't intended for 12 episodes. I love all the kids on the team, I love the team's coach, I love Maki's mom, I love Mitsue and I like the president of the student council. One thing that many shows lack is realistic characters, but this show is one of the rare few that has very real characters. I know a Touma in real life, I know a Yuuta in real life, I know a Joy and a Taiyou, and I don't mean that as in I know people with these names, I know people whose personality is very close to one or more of the characters. The show introduces us to the main casts's personalities within the first 2 episodes subtly yet in a way most people can understand. You can basically break down every member of the team into one word. However, as the show goes on, and we learn more about the characters, we explore their different sides and learn about why they're even in this club. And that's where the problem begins. Remember how I said the show wa cut in half? This is the part where it's most prevalent. There simply wasn't enough time to go through everyone. The first 5 or so episodes had a major focus on Maki, our main character, and had we not been hinted with greater arcs for the other characters, you could've convinced me that it was supposed to be this open-ended 12-episode series. But there was focus on other characters. Nao had the majority of his arc covered from what I can tell, but Touma's and Tsubasa's arc barely even started, with Taiyou and Mitsue only getting hints of future character stories, and that's not even talking about other characters who had established their stories! Had this been a stand alone series with no indication or hopes for a second season, I'd give a 7 at best for the amazing writing but the lack of closure, and a 5 at worst. However, taking into account that there will be a sequel, and the characters will most likely get their closure, I'm rating the characters as 8/10. The biggest issue this show has (other than the character problem caused by the current lack of sequel) is that it's extremely depressing. Many people claim the show to be overly dramatic to the point of it feeling unrealistic, mostly because it appears as though basically every character has trouble at home and it's very unlikely for there to be this many kids with issues gathered in one place. This section is basically where my bias for drama and sad stuff comes in, because I personally enjoy it quite a bit for different reasons. To me, having this many nutcases gathered in one area is normal. Anime conventions exist. Now seriously, people with similar traits simply attract. They all have different reasons for joining the soft tennis club, and I think they have such good chemistry because they understand each other's circumstances so well. One character is insecure about a certain aspect of themselves? The team makes sure they feel valid and safe. A character is put in an uncomfortable situation because someone doesn't really understand that they're making them uncomfortable? The team will call out the guy and fend him off. I feel like this wouldn't be possible had they not had that unity over their personal hardships, and their character dynamics are also amazing to watch as a result, adding to my enjoyment. I will say that sometimes this show can get TOO real. At certain points, I could relate with a certain character to an uncomfortable degree, and I had something resembling a panic attack for two minutes. I would definitely put some trigger warnings on this show, but I think a viewer can tell for themselves whether or not this show is for them after the first episode. 9/10 Overall? This show is amazing, has great potential, will solve most of it's problems simply by having those other 12 episodes Studio 8bit planned on released eventually, Maki said trans rights, 10/10 for me

Stars Align was a breath of fresh air in sports anime in my opinion. It was able to balance the sports aspect as well as the drama very well. All the characters in the main cast were well fleshed out and developed. Overall it is a very solid show but my main criticism revolves around the drama aspect of the show Now the drama is one of the main aspects of the show which is more focused on the sport in the overall narrative. Each character in the main cast have some issue/drama in their personal life which most likely involves their family. The show introduces these issues but neither develops them further or concludes them and because of the large cast it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Only both the main duo Maki & Toma see some development but could've handled better. If the show had a longer episode count I'm sure all of the drama would've been fleshed out and better paced. Now if the show didn't introduce drama for each character the supporting cast would not have been interesting the slightest. On a positive note the characters. Each character in the soft tennis club exclusively feels very realistic and their dynamic is very entertaining to watch and that is where I found most of my enjoyment of the show. Sure I did find the drama each character dwelled in interesting which did service the narrative in some way but the soft tennis aspect was what told the story. Seeing a cast of characters progressively give a shit and learn the values of sport was so wholesome. Quick note the ed was banging. Animation wise. The animation is simplistic in design but with this simplicity, we have more fluid animation and this can be seen with the soft tennis matches. Each soft tennis pulled out a moment of sakuga but ironically wasn't distracting and blended well due to its simplicity. Overall a solid show but that ending was very distracting as it could've ended on a high note with a simple message of enjoying what you do but we are given the unessecary drama. SPOILER WARNING HERE. **I didn't mind the thing with reveal of Toma's mum's divorce as something was hinted at in the previous episode but the Maki thing was a bit confusing but very distracting. This really did a number on its overall rating as I like seasonal anime to have at least a servicable ending.**

Stars Align focuses on the male members of a junior high soft tennis club who discover they will be disbanded unless they seriously improve in their performances within the sport. The team's captain, Toma Shinjo, recruits a new student named Maki Katsuragi to join the club under condition of paying him. As all the members of the soft tennis club improve their skills and learn more about each other, all of them have their own family problems that affect them in various ways. Stars Align is a bit of a mixed bag in trying to be both a sports anime and family drama that delves into a variety of issues that effects the boys of the soft tennis club. But before dabbling into the rather divisive latter element of the series, let's get into the sports element of the series as that is actually pretty straightforward to dabble into. Like many sports anime of its ilk, Stars Align is focused on the improvements of the performance of the soft tennis team. At the start of the series, the majority of the team doesn't take participating in the sport seriously and this negatively affects their reputation among the school. This greatly frustrates Toma, who is determined to do his best in playing the sport and recruits Maki to help him get the rest of the team to take practicing more seriously and develop the confidence to improve themselves. The improvements of the other team members are gradual throughout the anime's run and Stars Align does a solid job at showing off the soft tennis team's efforts start to pay off by later in the series. Now onto the family drama element. To attempt sticking out from other sports anime, Stars Align explores the family lives of each of the members of the soft tennis club and all of them have their personal issues with family affecting them in some form. Attempting to mix this focus in with a sports anime is a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the series believably explores a variety of issues that affect teens in some form within Japanese culture. Issues such as family abuse, adoption, divorce, parental pressure, and gender identity are explored within the series and each member is affected by one of these issues in some form when the series explores their family lives. On the other hand, the family drama has a bad habit of getting in the way of the developments of the soft tennis team, as it often felt added in just for the sake of drama. It seems a bit too convenient that all the team members happen to have their own family issues affecting them. The attempt at trying to blend Stars Align's focus on both slice-of-life sports and family drama causes the story direction to get quite muddled at points, most notably in the show's second half when more of the soft tennis club member's family lives get explored within the series. For a 12-episode TV anime, trying to focus on so many characters within such a short episode length doesn't work too well within this series and it especially doesn't help that the series doesn't have the time to resolve the personal family issues that it chose to focus on. The final episode of Stars Align features a rather dark twist in its ending that leaves things inconclusive following the light-hearted mood shown with the soft tennis team participating in a tournament. This sudden twist feels quite anti-climactic and clashes badly with the more somber and dramatic moods depicted from earlier episodes. To my understanding from some recent news I've heard, Stars Align was originally planned to be a 24-episode series, but the production committee of the series chose to cut the series length in half. Because this news got to animation studio 8 Bit well into their production of the series, they didn't have the time to restructure the anime's plot into a 12-episode format thus having to leave the series as it was up to that point. What makes this behind-the-scenes issue especially bad is that Stars Align is an original series and not based on any ongoing source material thus there's no way for fans of it to be able to see what happens with it beyond the anime, regardless of their thoughts on its premise. Whether or not a second season comes along to continue Stars Align's plot will likely come down to the show's popularity with fans and developments in the production of a possible follow-up. Overall, I suppose my thoughts of Stars Align is quite mixed. The developments of the soft tennis club are solid to see unfold. But while the attempt to explore personal issues with the family lives of th the club members is an admirable one, it often gets in the way of the team's developments feeling added on just for the sake of drama and the show's 12-episode length was just not enough to devote focus on the personal issues of so many characters, even with the recent news that came out with the anime's production issues. Setting aside the messy behind-the-scenes situation and the inconclusive ending, your mileage will likely vary with how well you warm up to the mix of slice-of-life sports and family drama offered with Stars Align.

As someone who loves sports anime and has seen many series, I thought that Stars Align was a refreshing take on the sports anime genre. It had everything that you love in a sports anime, the friendship, the shared dedication, the excitement. But it also took a surprising approach when it came to depicting interpersonal relationships and family life that shocked me in a good way. It told the story of real life circumstances that children face each day on top of just showing up to their sports club. I think it did a great job depicting the different ways that kids learn to cope under stress, and shows the resilience of children living in the face of struggle. It may have felt weird switching between the shining joy of the games and the stark reality of the players, but as someone who experienced adverse childhood experiences, that's what reality was like. You would have these pockets of joy in between the suffering of your home life. I loved how this gave the series a chance to show the players building trust in each other in a deeper way than just having a shared goal and burning youthful spirits. Especially the lgbt+ storyline. It is so rare to see it spoken about candidly in anime. That kind of representation matters to the kids growing up in Japan who rarely ever get to see themselves on screen as anything other than a slapstick joke. To those who use their anime as an escape from reality, I understand why you may be disappointed. But I think this is a series that everyone should watch. ぜひぜひみてくでさい!

When I first started watching this, I thought of it as the usual sports anime. That is until I watched further. Hoshiai no Sora isn't just a regular sports anime; it touches on many topics such as identity, family abuse, or the enjoyment of the sport for the players. The animation is really good and makes each strike dynamic. Seeing the main character, Maki, grow over time and learn to have fun was enjoyable. Seeing the team also grow from disorganized and unfocused to understanding their strengths and faults and playing their duos better. Give the show a try as there's a lot to enjoy from the plot.

I have mixed feelings about this show. The focus on tennis is fun and what makes this anime worth watching, but the fact that every other character in the story has some family trauma is unrealistic and takes you out of the show as well. What are the odds that out of 10 friends 9 of them have some crazy (and I mean abuse levels through the roof) family/life issues going on? Art is average, same goes for audio. Don't expect anything interesting from any character that doesn't involve family trauma. Anyone other than the boys might as well not exist. Doesn't look like this will ever get a season 2 as well and it ends on a (terrible) cliffhanger, so don't get your hopes up.

I don't want to write a long review, but I wanted to mention that a lot of the lower scoring reviews for this show all seem to rag on it's 'lack of realism' or 'melodrama', with some going so far as to call it a train wreck. It is not a train wreck. It isn't realistic and it is very dramatic. All things I would argue were intential and are strengths of the show. The sports anime can either be funny, realistic, serious or very dramatic. This show is definitely more serious and dramatic but the way they play the game, the ambitions of the team and achievements they make in the time the anime covers are much more realistic than many of the shows peers. Stars Align focuses on misfits who find respite in a dysfunction club that mirrors their dysfunctional home lives. The show takes a unique approach to the training and tournament arcs of traditional sports anime and splices the fun, colourful coming of age sports scenes with the dark gritty reality of their selfish and depressed parents. How the two overlap is interesting to watch and the main team cast are flawed while maintaining a likeable humanity. The downsides to the show are it's edge-lord open ending and the lack of development for the home-life scenarious as dividing screen time between both the home, school and soft-tennis courts for a whole sports team was definitely a push for 12 episodes. That said, the character development is meaningful and the show leaves me with a weighted sense of awareness that what can seem simple on the serface isn't always what it seems and life gets really complicated, really fast, especially when you're just a kid. I recommend this anime if you like teen drama and sports anime. The art style is also beautiful and the whole execution of the show; sound design, VA, pacing (except for noted issues), artistic direction, are all of a very high standard.

Happy 2021 everyone! I started my year off with this 12-episode anime series about the sport of Soft Tennis, popular in East Asia but virtually unknown elsewhere. I'm not really one for sports series because they tend to follow the exact same structure almost universally, but this one's really interesting because it basically takes the entire team of middle schoolers and peels back the layers to show the quite broken or complicated family lives each one of them has. There are some really mean parents in this show! It covers all sorts of topics like depression, neglect, abuse, poverty, and all that stuff that Japanese dramas often handle really poorly... and I won't say it did an amazing job here, but it was sometimes so over the top that it sort of worked. Unlike certain other shows I wasn't ever actively put off by it, at least, so it's no Angel Beats or anything. Much more interesting to me was the fact that the story features, with great care in every case, character types that are often completely ignored in Japanese animation (or animation in general): an overweight character (not maligned in any way), half-Japanese character (which you almost never see in anime), and even a nonbinary character (which you NEVER see in anime). Just representing these types of people in a story that has nothing to do with them... it really, really leaves a positive mark even if it doesn't affect the quality of the show in any way. And unfortunately it's just a sports anime so it's not exactly anything groundbreaking. And worst off, it leaves on a completely unresolved note; the show was apparently split in half mid-production, with the second season not currently in production. Until that comes out, this thing is too incomplete to feel like a very memorable piece of work. It has a lot to like, but not enough to love to overcome the fact that it's just not finished.

Hoshiai no Sora is definitely a gem in disguise. But still most people see it as a rushed story, which in some parts it is. But what makes Hoshiai no Sora so great is that the focus is not only on tennis but problems that the watcher can relate to, or sympathize with. I would have to give the story a 6 because its not finished, this anime was supposed to run for 24 episodes but it only ran for 12 so the story is not finished, and all these 12 episodes did was open up new plot points without solving them. The entire dynamic felt rushed and there were some points where I felt like this was a waste of time watching. But the story while being rushed and confusing at some points keep you entertained, it doesn't only focus on how the boys team is a laughing stock compared to the girls team, but highlights a problem that each of the members of the boy's team has to deal with in their home life. I give the sound a art a 10 because oh my god the art and the music more specifically added to all the moments of the story and made them better. The music reminded me of Haikyu in a way that the music helped strengthen the story and the viewers enjoyment. Overall I would say this anime is a must watch, I just hope it gets another season.

Story: 10 (SPOILER WARNING) I didn't have any expectations coming into this other than, oh its a sports anime, maybe we'll get the usual fanservice and some nice friendship story. But oh BOY this anime proved real quick it wasn't your usual sports anime. If anything, them being in a soft tennis team was just what brought those kids together and gave us the sad stories revolving around them. We've got a bunch of kids, all struggling and having problems on their own. And as this is in Japan, Asia, we all know that school and parenting over there is different than our typical western parenting. The school system itself is much tougher and if you're bad at school, you're automatically a bad person. I loved that all these kids who got parents you'd wish no one to have found their way into soft tennis. Even if at home life sucks, even if your parents straight up hate you and your hobby, once you're together with your friends and play this game, for these moments, all is well. There's different types of problems at home portrayed. We've got the crazy mom who only cares about good grades, the abusive father who compares you to the "better" brothers, the mom who regrets having had another son. There's also the poor mother and kid who does everything at home, the adopted kid, there's also a very nice representation of lgbtq! As an lgbtq member and ftm myself, the episode where Maki suddenly talked about Shou and how he's also ftm, the way they handled this talk and mentioned that it's okay to be who you are? I teared up. Yu, poor guy/person, isn't sure if he's really non-binary, but he doesn't think he could live as a girl, nor keep on living for the rest of his live as a boy. But Mami is most supportive towards him the whole show and keeps saying that he's got time to figure it out. The show handles all these topics in such a mature manner, but still in a way kids their age would act. It was very refreshing. If there's just one negative thing I can mention, it's that it was cut short to 12 episodes from 24. The last episode was..very dramatic. Almost too dramatic all of a sudden, but they did plan for 24 episodes so it will get cleared up eventually. He did say he's definitely going to finish this anime!! Animation: 8 For the art style itself, I liked it. It's got almost a minimalistic feel to it. It's not very vibrant, but rather soft colors. They did think about making characters eyes blink even when they're not the one talking, and that's something I always look out for because it's a nice feature for me~ The only thing that was a bit sad where when they were in a tennis match. Compared to other sports anime, where the sport is the main focus, it is clearly lacking ad not that well animated. It's a bit boring to watch almost, but since that's not the main focus of the show, it's fine. Sound: 8 The opening was a bit boring, I kept skipping it. A nice song and all, but visually it didn't give that much, so to me it felt like a wasted minute. The ending though, I loved it so much, even know I keep looking it up on youtube! The song is great, very fitting with the show, and the animation gets a solid 10/10, very fun! For the rest of the soundtrack, I never felt that anything wasn't fitting, but I also can't recall anything specifically, nothing got stuck in my head. Went well with the show, but nothing extraordinary. Character: 9 Thetes quite a lot the 12 episodes didn't mention yet. There's still a lot to unpack which I'm hoping for the next 12 episodes to tackle! There's also the school council president who keeps appearing every now and then, and she seems to have a very interesting story from the little glimpse one episode showed, but there wasn't mentioned anything further. There's also a few others of the boys from the soft tennis team where I'd like to know more about. But from the things we DID get to know until now, I'm not disappointed in any way. Enjoyment: 10 I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't the end, the anime was being made thinking that 24 episodes were in the making. Then it was cut short. It was a good decision that they didn't rush it and squeezed all ideas into the 12 episodes. And I did read online interviews that we really are going to get the rest, it's just not sure when yet. This anime wasn't your usual crazy rollercoaster that makes you scream from beginning till end, but a great ride you wanna go on and invite friends to enjoy together. I teared up, I laughed, I had my shocked moments. I'll definitly re-watch this one soon and I hope more people will give it a try!

*A review that will slightly go into character flaws/plot issues. (Tldr; I think it's worth watching but I hope there is a continuation of the anime) I'd like to make three points before giving my opinion of this anime. 1. I went into this completely blind with a vague sense that it has something remotely to do with tennis. 2. I have dabbled in and enjoyed various sports anime as well as dramatic anime. 3. I will be giving my honest opinion of the story regardless of the positive/negative traction this anime initially received when it was still airing. Personally, I feel as though Hoshiai no Sora was received far too harshly. It can be argued that this anime was not so much a sports anime but more so a drama that hid behind the guise of youths doing their best to achieve their goals. Contrary to what some may say, I personally enjoyed each character introduced. However, because there were so many characters it was easy for the story to feel as though it was neglecting resolutions. In some ways, the anime did fail to truly conclude any sort of conflicts introduced in the story. Still, I found this anime to have done its job properly. I'd also like to give props for this anime for doing something different. I won't jump on the whole LGBTQ+ or raising awareness of abuse bandwagons because, from what I've seen, the anime has been praised enough for its attempts to introduce such topics without feeling too forced. Though the dark aspects of the anime may seem random or like hidden Easter eggs, still I felt that the inclusion of such topics to raise awareness was done as harmlessly as it could (though it still seemed to have fallen short of some people's expectations, I felt that it was done in a way that made it have a closer sense of what it would feel like to be in such hopeless situations). The anime's portrayal left various conflicts unresolved, but with that I hope that there is some sort of OVA or second season to round out the conflicts. I felt that the anime overall did a good job at introducing things, but surely with the amount of time and expenses needed to maintain anime it was only a matter of time until it felt rushed or for the low budget to show. People were clearly unhappy with two major factors with this anime: the unresolved conflicts and the Kirito-like (Sword Art Online) main character of tennis. Again, this anime felt more like a drama than a sports anime and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is unfair for a new person to suddenly be good at something, but I do think it is realistic to say that there are some people who simply have good sense in certain things. Of course, it wasn't entirely realistic, but I do think it was needed for a seemingly mature and empathetic character like Maki to appear as the fixer upper or else there would be no catalyst for the rest of the cast to deal with their own problems. This anime is dark, but it does its best to find the light in things by having tennis as an outlet. It isn't until the characters are so heavily motivated by something that they start to face their personal problems at home. I would love to see the resolutions to these abusive conflicts that very much exist in real life and were captured in this anime. You may ask yourself "why is this happening" at times, but I think it's a unique characteristic of Hoshiai no Sora that exposes that these issues very much exist. They are personal problems that a lot more people deal with than what we think. I believe the lighthearted message the anime was trying to express by focusing on the doubles of tennis is that you don't and shouldn't have to do things alone. Though there were many cliffhangers left, I do think Hoshiai no Sora was worth watching.

The boys soft tennis club of Shijo Minami middle school is, in a word, hopeless. in a set of practice matches against the successful and popular girls soft tennis club at the school, the boys fail to win a single point. Faced with a laughing stock club with a dwindling set of members, trying to balance the books and ashamed of how this 'sore thumb' club sticks out compared to the girls soft tennis club, the student council gives them an ultimatum - win a match at regionals in the summer or the club gets disbanded for good. Toma Shinjo is the president of the club, and despite his own potential and work ethic he can't get anything to work. Until he meets a new transfer student he knew back in junior school who he finds, when he manages to catch a stray cat dashing around the class, has outstanding reflexes. As what he sees to be the only way out for the club, he begs this boy, Maki, to join. With no intent on joining (and living in a single parent household where his mum works long hours, he has to dedicate a lot of time to helping with the chores, shopping etc.) he jokingly suggests Toma pay him and he'll join. To his surprise Toma accepts. Somewhat hesitantly, Maki joins the soft tennis club and from then on its the long journey of kicking the club into shape in the space of a few months in the hopes of saving it from the brink of death. We quickly find it's less so about tennis, and more so a character study about fraught family relationships and the impact that can have on vulnerable adolescent boys. Toma has a rocky relationship with his mum, who seemingly no matter what he does sees him as a disappointment compared to his older brother, who used to compete in tennis nationally. Tennis isn't about fun for him- it's about winning and being someone to be proud of when expectations on him are stacked up to the ceiling. Maki, who becomes Toma's pair, gets the most focus - at the end of episode one we find that him and his mum are plagued by his physically abusive and now divorced father for money every few weeks. The mum works long hours for little money- with the father muscling in to skim away money they dont have, the family lives in borderline poverty. As they move house semi-regularly to try and avoid the father (all spoiled due to Japanese laws that allow biological parents to legally apply to find the residence of their children even if they do not have custody), Maki learns to build a front that everything's ok. He's cocky and confident but reserved and detached, and very good at acting like everything's ok, but it's a story of that front cracking open and opening up about his traumatic past and difficult life, and also finding an actual hobby in tennis that makes life something other than work/schoolwork/chores/sleep. The supporting cast, bar practically none, have some sort of unhealthy relationship with at least one of their parents. In the interest of dodging spoilers, i'll go over some of the most interesting ones and err towards ones covered earliest in the show. One boy is trying to come to terms that he's adopted, as he reevaluates his relationship with his parents after he finds they aren't his biological family. Another is protective to the point of abusive, attempting to domineer and keep control of her only child in any way she can even to the point of trying to bully him away from the tennis club he grows more and more to love. One of my favourite characters in the show is an aspiring artist that secretly has a moderate following of fans online, as they sort of put on a brave face in real life while they have to navigate the toxicity of an unsupportive mum and of their own fanbase, responding cruelly as their interests and style changes drastically to what these fans first followed their page for. One of the worst things about the show is that it tries to juggle a character arc for all of these characters and more and leaves development for each lacking. As these stories tangle and trip over eachother, nothing gets concluded satisfactorily. In addition to Maki and Toma, it's trying to give a character arc and develop each member of the entire club (at least 8 people), along with two non-players in its orbit, certain key family members important to them, and establishing personalities for key rivals in other schools' clubs. If that wasn't enough, it attempts to resolve all these plot threads simultaneously rather than giving you the time to digest a few at a time. All this in a one cour show. It's a Herculean task, to say the least. It pays a price on the telling of practically each of these character stories. A plotline about an lgbt character gets promptly forgotten completely after the episode it briefly features in. Whilst Maki is compelling and believable and is given enough screentime and development to be satisfying, its hard to say that for any other characters unless their arc is intentionally brief and succinct for example with Itsuki (whose arc is centralised into a chunk in a single episode, and feels finished).The show was planned to run two cour and, supposedly, relatively late in the game was only given clearance for a single cour, so that helps explain the situation somewhat. But for most of the characters I felt attached to their situation and invested in their story only for it to develop only part way, and that feels quite disappointing when, for a few of the reasons listed below and its uncomfortable and non-prime-time TV friendly forefronting of domestic violence its quite unlikely it will ever get a continuation to resolve things. In the sections it does actually focus on tennis, there's plenty to criticise. For an anime about a tennis club playing, it doesnt actually explain much in terms of the intricacies of the game. Though i learned a lot about some aspects of the game - strong servers are scary, stamina pays off in the ends of longer games, in doubles pairings are hugely important (in terms of being on the same wavelength and communicating, but also accommodating the other players' playstyle and personality and playing to their strengths, and you can abuse the weaker link even if one player seems indomitable a team's only as strong as its weakest link etc), the importance of the mental game and how you can throw even a challenging opponent off-balance by nudging them in the right way (and how gimmicks can gain real results by catching an opponent unprepared and putting them on tilt) - these points are the sole things it ever communicates about the games that get played, and it breezes past everything else in between. Whilst it's good at expanding upon that chosen handful of the intricacies to higher-level play and at explaining the absolute basics, it forgets to establish much of the inbetween. Beyond brief platitudes to the roles of the front and back player and a repeated emphasis on smashes and volleys as confirmed ways to win points capitalising off of errors, as a complete novice to doubles tennis coming into the show i still come out not much wiser on the in and out rhythms, win conditions, roles, movements and shape of a point, a game, and a match of doubles should look like at the show's close. While part of that blame can surely he pointed towards the animation problems i'll detail in the following paragraphs, its also a problem with the show's understanding or at least conveyance of how the game is played to an audience that doesnt have at least some experience in doubles tennis prior. For a sports anime, it's also quite a confusing how its animation is such a weak point. This is usually the easy bit, and something you'd expect to see down pat, particularly in a shorter runtime than your average sports-shonen. It's difficult to find the tennis compelling when the animation looks so shoddy. Though a handful of shots look great, theres a lot of shots that blatantly gets reused, uses very limited animation or just looks lazily made. It infringes on the pacing of the games as it can make…

*** SPOILERS *** FOR WHO TO START WATCHING: This anime era has 24 episodes, but for lack of budget or the director had to do that for 12 episodes. Justifying what is possible OVA or Webanime, to close the story. About the anime: Hoshiai no Sora, is an anime that brings a very interesting premise, it is not just a soft tennis anime, but it has a plot for each character. Toma Shinjo is a member of a high school soft tennis team that is about to be extinguished, but with the arrival of Maki Katsuragi, the paths completely change, as hope begins to rise among the team members. Each character has a drama, for example Maki, his mother got divorced because of the alcoholism of her ex-husband and Maki's father, but he often shows up to take money and assault both Maki and his mother. It is not just a soft tennis anime but it brings the drama of each character, what saddens the most is to know that this story was destroyed because in the end, after Maki and Toma show everyone that they can compete as good players, Toma receives the news that her mother will divorce and that she simply hates her own son The anime ends with Maki taking a knife out of his bag to kill his father. This was simply ridiculous as it does not correspond with the anime's proposal.

If there is one anime that will condition you to fear the end of every episode with the sound of a very cheerful ED, then Hoshiai no Sora is THAT anime. One of the main reasons why I've rated this anime a [7] is mainly because I feel like 12 episodes was not enough to truly encompass the story to its potential. I've heard that Hoshiai was originally supposed to have 24 episodes, but was cut down to 12, and you can definitely tell that the story is meant for a much longer anime. It's one of those where, the more episodes you watch little by little you learn more and more about each and every character. But because the anime was so short, some of the things that were briefly addressed about certain characters over the course of 12 episodes had been left hanging at the end. Plus, the fact that the ending is an open ending just left me with further questions. As a sports anime, I think this was okay. Soft tennis (to me at the very least) doesn't sound like a very exciting sport, and if it was any other circumstance I probably wouldn't have watched this, but because there were implications of a much darker (and sometimes almost sinister) theme to the story I was able to stick around. I found it wholesome and heartwarming seeing the boys grow into better and more motivated players who work together with one another. When watching sports animes I typically always find myself getting attached because of the growth of a certain or multiple characters,and this anime was not different in this aspect. I still got attached and enjoyed seeing the boys become better friends and teammates, and then on more than one occasion felt fear and concern for them. I really loved Maki as a character. He is just great. If anything, I think this is a great Season 1 to Hoshiai with a heck ton of potential, that is if it gets continued which I really really hope it does. Whether that be through anime, or manga, or a light novel, there are so many things I would love to know about the story and the backgrounds of the characters that the anime does not cover. Overall, I would recommend this. It's nice to see more sports anime that tackles heavier themes while still getting its audience excited about a certain sport.