CREST OF THE STARS
January 13th 2009 01:47
Category: Videos, Television
Based on the original work by: Hiroyuki Morioka
Director: Yasuchika Nagaoka
Screenplay by: Aya Yoshinaga
Producers: Maskai Kaifu (WOWOW), Mikihiro Iwata (Sunrise), Isutomu Sugita (Bandai Visual) & Korefumi Seki (BeStack).
Starring: Jessica Yow (Lafiel), Matthew Erickson (Jinto), Mariette Sluyter (Spoor), Alex Day, Andie Zack, Shaker Paleja.
Produced by: Sunrise, WOWOW & Bandai Visual.
English Language version by: Bandai Entertainment in association with the Ocean Group.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 325 minutes. Rating: PG
There are a few things about this particular series that irked me but I’ll get to them later on down the track, if you are a regular fan of the Green Lantern you may remember that I did a review of a manga called Banner of the Stars which was a sci fi manga written and illustrated by Toshiro Ono and based on an original story by Hiroyuki Morioka, this is an anime which is set in the same universe as Banner and is in effect focused around the events that occurred before those that take place in the Banner of the Stars. Now after having read Banner and coming across this particular series in anime format I had some high hopes, Banner was a very fast paced story which took me several reads to finally get the hang of but it eventually grew on me. Crest however didn’t quite achieve that same effect unfortunately, even after several viewings.
Stick any of the three discs that comprise this box set into your player and press play and the first thing that will happen is that you will literally be blasted away by the opening theme. This is classical music with some serious full on attitude, it is a score that has seriously overdosed on the whole histrionic vibe. You can almost imagine the cast and production team striking heroic poses as the music plays throughout the studio as they work on a particular episode of the series, it has the feel of either an old world national anthem or the signature tune of some kind of revolutionary movement striving towards a better future for all mankind.
So once you’ve sat down and taken your hand from your heart or else finally built that better future for us all just what is Crest all about? Who are the people involved? What is the story that is unfolding? Why is the story unfolding in this particular way? The first three questions I can probably answer with some degree of accuracy, the last one is a bit problematic as I have some vague ideas but nothing truly concrete. But once the orchestra has gotten over its frenzy of neo-classicism and settled down into a slightly more sedate mode the series finally begins, the drama unfolds and you the audience are at last within the universe of Crest of the Stars…
Now in any show after the opening credits have rolled and the theme music faded to black this is not the point where you want a glitch or hiccup to occur. The first few moments are a rather action packed sequence of a spaceship engaged in a battle with another vessel, it’s very much a do or die confrontation but the dialogue is in a language that I had no understanding of and their was no subtitles – so before the story has really gotten off the ground you have the sensation of wondering just what the heck is going on. Granted it is a battle but why is it taking place and how did it all start? From that point on things move to a narrated piece in a language that I had no idea what it was but at least this time around their were subtitles so I could get the gist of what was being said.
Now the two protagonists of this series are Jinto and Lafiel, Jinto is a young guy who suddenly through no fault of his own finds himself thrust into the world of high intergalactic politics after the Abh come across his home world of Martine. His father who is the current elected leader of Martine seeking to avoid bloodshed and knowing full well that the Abh are literally light years ahead of his own world in technology negotiates a deal. Martine will become part of the Abh Empire and his son, Jinto will be elevated to the ranks of Abh nobility as befits the leader of a domain within Abh territory. It’s all a bit convoluted but in the end it means that Jinto will leave behind his friends, family and home world to travel to the Abh capital and learn their ways and the responsibilities expected of an Abh noble. This is where Lafiel comes into the picture; she is a trainee pilot on the patrol ship Gosroth, and a member of the royal Abriel family who currently occupy the Jade Throne. She is the one assigned by the Gosroth’s captain to pick up Jinto from the Martine orbital facility.
Naturally from this point on Jinto does not simply find himself aboard an Abh military vessel and swiftly arriving at the Imperial Capital, no it’s a rather long and bumpy ride that he finds himself on, thrown in with Lafiel with whom he gradually begins to form a relationship of sorts as events unfold. If you had to compare the story in this series to anything it could be said to be a shorter version of Homer’s Odyssey, in time length, with the difference that the protagonist is not trying to return home per se but is instead heading towards his future and destiny as it were. It is also something of a romance what with Jinto finding himself strangely attracted to the young Abh girl Lafiel who looks very much like an elf than a human, but apparently that is one of the genetic characteristics of her particular family, the Abriels, they all have the pointed ears and slender build that are associated with elves.
Even though there is a fair few interesting ingredients in this story unfortunately, and it does pain me to say this, it just doesn’t work as well as I was expecting. Perhaps I was expecting too much but once I had finally watched the entire series which comes in at thirteen episodes on three discs I was in a state of, as Lister from Red Dwarf would say: ungripedness, I was extremely ungripped. The acting was very wooden and the drama when it occurred about as tense as a wet paper bag, perhaps it might work better with the original Japanese dub and English subtitles…who knows, but in English it was rather unconvincing for a science fiction drama. There were moments when it did pick up in tension and action but they were fleeting and dispersed too widely amongst the thirteen episodes for them to work as a whole. Actually you could almost see Crest being more a sort of chick flick sci fi series rather than one filled with high drama and planet busting devastation, which is not the impression you’d get after being exposed to that opening theme music…impressive, most impressive. It’s a real shame that the rest of the production doesn’t live up to the theme, oh well such is life…
Director: Yasuchika Nagaoka
Screenplay by: Aya Yoshinaga
Producers: Maskai Kaifu (WOWOW), Mikihiro Iwata (Sunrise), Isutomu Sugita (Bandai Visual) & Korefumi Seki (BeStack).
Starring: Jessica Yow (Lafiel), Matthew Erickson (Jinto), Mariette Sluyter (Spoor), Alex Day, Andie Zack, Shaker Paleja.
Produced by: Sunrise, WOWOW & Bandai Visual.
English Language version by: Bandai Entertainment in association with the Ocean Group.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 325 minutes. Rating: PG
There are a few things about this particular series that irked me but I’ll get to them later on down the track, if you are a regular fan of the Green Lantern you may remember that I did a review of a manga called Banner of the Stars which was a sci fi manga written and illustrated by Toshiro Ono and based on an original story by Hiroyuki Morioka, this is an anime which is set in the same universe as Banner and is in effect focused around the events that occurred before those that take place in the Banner of the Stars. Now after having read Banner and coming across this particular series in anime format I had some high hopes, Banner was a very fast paced story which took me several reads to finally get the hang of but it eventually grew on me. Crest however didn’t quite achieve that same effect unfortunately, even after several viewings.
Now in any show after the opening credits have rolled and the theme music faded to black this is not the point where you want a glitch or hiccup to occur. The first few moments are a rather action packed sequence of a spaceship engaged in a battle with another vessel, it’s very much a do or die confrontation but the dialogue is in a language that I had no understanding of and their was no subtitles – so before the story has really gotten off the ground you have the sensation of wondering just what the heck is going on. Granted it is a battle but why is it taking place and how did it all start? From that point on things move to a narrated piece in a language that I had no idea what it was but at least this time around their were subtitles so I could get the gist of what was being said.
Now the two protagonists of this series are Jinto and Lafiel, Jinto is a young guy who suddenly through no fault of his own finds himself thrust into the world of high intergalactic politics after the Abh come across his home world of Martine. His father who is the current elected leader of Martine seeking to avoid bloodshed and knowing full well that the Abh are literally light years ahead of his own world in technology negotiates a deal. Martine will become part of the Abh Empire and his son, Jinto will be elevated to the ranks of Abh nobility as befits the leader of a domain within Abh territory. It’s all a bit convoluted but in the end it means that Jinto will leave behind his friends, family and home world to travel to the Abh capital and learn their ways and the responsibilities expected of an Abh noble. This is where Lafiel comes into the picture; she is a trainee pilot on the patrol ship Gosroth, and a member of the royal Abriel family who currently occupy the Jade Throne. She is the one assigned by the Gosroth’s captain to pick up Jinto from the Martine orbital facility.
Naturally from this point on Jinto does not simply find himself aboard an Abh military vessel and swiftly arriving at the Imperial Capital, no it’s a rather long and bumpy ride that he finds himself on, thrown in with Lafiel with whom he gradually begins to form a relationship of sorts as events unfold. If you had to compare the story in this series to anything it could be said to be a shorter version of Homer’s Odyssey, in time length, with the difference that the protagonist is not trying to return home per se but is instead heading towards his future and destiny as it were. It is also something of a romance what with Jinto finding himself strangely attracted to the young Abh girl Lafiel who looks very much like an elf than a human, but apparently that is one of the genetic characteristics of her particular family, the Abriels, they all have the pointed ears and slender build that are associated with elves.
Even though there is a fair few interesting ingredients in this story unfortunately, and it does pain me to say this, it just doesn’t work as well as I was expecting. Perhaps I was expecting too much but once I had finally watched the entire series which comes in at thirteen episodes on three discs I was in a state of, as Lister from Red Dwarf would say: ungripedness, I was extremely ungripped. The acting was very wooden and the drama when it occurred about as tense as a wet paper bag, perhaps it might work better with the original Japanese dub and English subtitles…who knows, but in English it was rather unconvincing for a science fiction drama. There were moments when it did pick up in tension and action but they were fleeting and dispersed too widely amongst the thirteen episodes for them to work as a whole. Actually you could almost see Crest being more a sort of chick flick sci fi series rather than one filled with high drama and planet busting devastation, which is not the impression you’d get after being exposed to that opening theme music…impressive, most impressive. It’s a real shame that the rest of the production doesn’t live up to the theme, oh well such is life…
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