Search - Banner of the Stars - Complete Collection on DVD

Finally!!

J. D Naae | Neo-Tokyo | 09/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes!! Finally you can buy the complete Banner of the Stars season in a complete collection!! I can not begin to tell you how happy this is going to make alot of SiFi anime fans :)

Banner of the Stars is the second season of Crest of the Stars with more character development and better plots. If you havn't seen Crest of the Stars yet I would recomend you watch it first then watch this complete collection of Banner of the Stars. The third complete collection for Banner of the Stars II will be released later this year (2004)!!

Thank you Bandai Entertainment!! Anime fans everywhere will appriciate this series in complete collection format :)"

Banner of the Stars - Complete Collection

M_ | Alaska | 10/07/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Banner of the Stars continues with the development of the main characters from Crest of the Stars. There's Jinto, a human boy, who became a noble by way of his Father's decisions. And Lafiel, a young female Kin of the Stars, born of Abh nobility. They first met when Jinto was sent to be educated in the ways of the Abh. Several years have since passed, and their respective preparations and training are complete. Here, as young adults, they're no longer witnesses to war, but an active part of it.

Lafiel has succeeded in assuming her first command, and true to her word, she's arranged for Jinto's assignment to her Assault ship, The Basroil. He gladly serves as the Supply Officer, and her personal secretary. Their conversations and time together, is in my opinion, the strength of this show. If you didn't enjoy this aspect of Crest, then you may want to skip this altogether. Banner's not a hard edged, brutal type story by any stretch. You're just not gonna wanna see anything like these two get dismembered, undergo some radical shift in character, or anything like that. They are just more of what they were in Crest, two, very likable characters.

Unlike Crest, Banner does focus on the battles between the Humankind Empire of the Abh and the Triple Alliance (the humans who dare defy them). The Abh, a genetically engineered race, with a lifespan of some 200 years, are well adapted to space travel. Another distinct trait, and tactical advantage, is their innate ability to sense what's going on around them in outer space.

***
Banner, the animated, Japanese TV series, is a sci fi story adaptation. It's derived in part, from 4 novels written by Hiroyuki Morioka. An alien language was developed for the story, and it's also here. On the original audio track, when it can be heard, it doesn't always get subtitled. So don't think your dvds are messed up, or that something's amiss, it's not. At times, this dialog does get a hard subtitle treatment (in Kanji, for the Japanese audience) and then the english subtitles appear over these.

Most anime titles, not all, have a 90 second intro, and bam, you're into the show. Usually, it sets the tone of the series, and provides some kind of musical "image" that pertains to the content. This prologue & opening, with its sweeping orchestra, reminds me of a Star Wars type pic. And that's not a bad thing, but this is for over 4 minutes. Well, almost 5. For each episode. If someone had told me this is to indicate it's overly long and... uh, spaced out, I'd see their point.

Visually, there are only so many cartoon explosions that I'm gonna ooh and ah for. When it's done too much, well, then it becomes somethin' more akin to watchin' paint dry. If only they'd fire more for effect, instead of what appears at times to be a way of attaining the requisite episode length. Same goes for the little green, minimal detail, gridlike diagrams representing entire space fleets in action. I understand the difficulty of depicting something of this scale, and here it really shows. It's a visual weak point of this show.

If you're already a sci fi fan, and you like older Star Trek type stuff, then you won't be put off by all the space techno jargon, and pointy ears on the bridge of a ship scenes. Now, even with my picking at and fault finding, I still feel it's a solid effort, and a fairly good time. Say What? A good time? For Who? Just other fans of Crest, the ones willing to pay to see more of Jinto and Lafiel. Everyone else, if you're still reading, Crest is worth a rental, and it's the place to start. Or stop.

3 1/2 stars.

*There's a free preview at the animenewsnetwork site. It says more, in about one minute, than any million word review ever could."

Just gets better.

B. Smith | USA | 11/16/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Those who've fallen in love with Crest of the Stars will not be disappointed with Banner of the Stars. This series is an excellent gift for that anime fan in the family. Can't wait for more..."

"Greater Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere"

Orion | Riverside, CA USA | 05/15/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The title of this review is a play on the old "Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere" the Japanese tried to create between 1905 and 1945, with Japan as ruler over "lesser" nations surrounding her. The difference between this and what the Abh are trying to do is depressingly small and explains why everyone else in the galaxy declared war on them in "Crest of the Stars": The galaxy got tired of being gobbled up by the greedy space elves. BOS takes up 3 years after the war ground to a halt. The Abh have rebuilt their fleet and have launched a counteroffensive to regain contact with the other half of their empire.

BoS is a remarkably one-sided continuation of the story, with "United Mankind" being little more than crude icons moving across Abh battle screens. The enemy are depicted as largely cowardly, incompetent, venial, and prone to use dishonorable, sneaky tactics. I won't say the space battles are boring but during one an Abh fleet commander wanders off to take a bath. There's no real sense of danger to the main characters; they spend a lot of time sitting around drinking tea and discussing the upcoming battles. Character development seems remarkably lacking compared to the first installment Crest of the Stars. A major subplot running through the series is how long Jinto can keep his cat aboard before Lafiel orders him to ship it home.

As for Jinto himself I get the strong feeling that at some point after the Abh invaded his homeworld he had some major brainwashing performed to make him a dutiful and compliant subject of the Empire. There's no sense of resentment at being subjugatedd, he's an amiable, likeable fellow with no strong convictions or passions and sees his place in the universe as a doting servant of Lafiel serving her refreshments and giving encouraging words to her during battles. "supply Officer" seems a major demotion from his role in Crest of the Stars.

All in all I can't recommend the series to serious space-war junkies. It moves at a glacial pace, the characters aren't interesting, and it's an almost completely one-sided view of the war. The animation is good, the subbing excellent, and the figures are well-drawn. Aside from that I can't really recommend it.
"