星界の紋章(Crest of the Stars)
Creator: 森岡浩之 (Morioka Hiroyuki)
In the future, when mankind discovered a new way to travel the space, the age of emigration to the stars had begun. After a long period of time, mankind had spread all over the galaxy, and a new era for space empires was born.
The planet Martin in the Hyde system, once isolated from the rest of the galaxy, would face the harsh reality of their place in space. The Abh (pronounce "abu" in Japanese) Empire had come to conquer the system, and in the end, the head of the government, Rock Lin, surrendered to the Abh. In return, the Abu made Lin an Abh nobility, as the rightful ruler of the Hyde system and planer Martin.
7 years have passed since then, Jinto, the son of Rock Lin, prepare to travel to the capital of the Abu Empire to continue his education. Here he will meet Lafiel, the royal princess of Abu. Together, Jinto's adventure to the stars begin...
Crest of the Stars was first written in 1996 by Morioka Hiroyuki, who was then an newbie in the Japanese sci-fi novel arena. Since then, he has completed 3 novels under the title "星界の紋章" (Crest of the Stars), and the subsequent 3 sequels under the title "星界の戦旗" (Banner of the Stars). In 1999, Sunrise released "星界の紋章" as a 13-episode TV series being aired on WOWOW (a satellite channel in Japan). Following the success of the series, Sunrise released the sequels "星界の戦旗" in 2000 and "星界の戦旗 II" in 2001. The latest sequel, "星界の戦旗 III" was released as a 2-episode OVA in August and September 2005.
In total, there are 7 novels (so far...), 3 TV series and 1 OVA.
Links:
Crest of the Stars Offical Website
(Maintained by Bandai Entertainment)
Senkai Web (in Japanese)
Note: The novels are in Japanese, but luckily a Taiwanese publisher obtain the rights to publish a Chinese version, and I have all 6 volumes. Currently there are no plans by anyone to publish an English version, although there is a "manga' version being published by TokyoPop in 2004.
Crest of the Stars (1999)
13 episodes TV series
The first time I am aware of this series, was sometime after I came to Canada. While looking through the old Sunrise website, I noticed one of the shows had a really lovely girl on it, and that, of course, caught my attention. A few years later, while browsing at a local DVD store, I noticed they have one with that lovely girl on the cover. So I bought a copy and since then, it is one of the most enjoyable shows ever for me.
Not only the story is great (it is about a boy and a girl, afterall), the characters look superb. I always like characters who are "out of place" and it cannot get any better than this. Good space battle sequences won't hurt either. But the most important thing is, there are substance in the story. As our boy Jinto needs to learn how to be a "Abh", he and Lafiel must help each other in order to survive in a war.
Plenty of fun moments and actions, highly recommended!
Dino's Rating: 10
Will Girls Like It: Possible
Crest of the Stars Special Edition(1999)
2-hour TV special
What you get with this one, is by compressing 13 30-minutes episodes into a 2 hour special version, with new scenes unseen in the original TV series, some of which are omitted from the novels. A must watch if you love the TV series!
Note: Bandai Entertainment did not release this one in North America, for whatever reasons. However, if you are lucky, you can find a "all region" copy. I have one myself.
Dino's Rating: 10
Will Girls Like It: Possible
星界の斷章 - 誕生 / Passage of the Stars - Birth (2000)
25-minute OVA
This is based on an original short story written by the author as a background story for Crest of the Stars, and it was included in the 3rd DVD of Banner of the Stars II.
Dino's Rating: 8
Will Girls Like It: Possible
Banner of the Stars (2000)
13 episodes TV series
It is now 3 years later since the end of "Crest of the Stars". The war between the Abu Empire and the rest of the galaxy is in a deadlock. Both sides are now rebuilding their forces and wait for the right moment to strike the deadly blow.
The Abh Assult class vessel Basroil may just look like other Assult vessels in the growing Abh fleet, but it has become quite famous, as there are 2 famous people sevring on board. One of them is Jinto, now the Count of the Hyde system, after his father was killed 3 years ago. The other is Lafiel, the princess. Now, as the Basroil is assigned to the front lines, can Jinto and Lafiel survive through this war? And how come there is a cat on board a warship??
As the sequel to the first series, this time we get to see more space battles, and they are quite spectacular. Of course, there will be fun moments among the crews of the Basroil, and unexpected people from the past will sure make things interesting along the way for both Lafiel and Jinto.
The most memorable scene in this series is the one in which Jinto wonders who will remember him long after he passed away. Given his circumstances and with the on going war, it is quite moving. I particularly enjoy the way Lafiel reacts to Jinto's comment. Of course, that will lead to the key scene in the series, when Lafiel pops a very important question to Jinto in the most unusual circumstances. And what will be Jinto's respond?? (Watch the show to find out HA HA!)
Interestingly, there is one episode that is not originally in the novel. So if you want to know which one it is, go get a copy!
To sum it up, I just love it!
Dino's Rating: 10
Will Girls Like It: Possible
Banner of the Stars Special Edition (2000)
2-hour TV special
Similar to the "Crest of the Stars Special Edition", this one is also a compressed version of the Banner of the Stars TV series.
There are of course new scenes, but there are some changes to the original presentation, you have to look at both versions to understand what I mean.
Note: Again, Bandai Entertainment did not release this one in North America, and sadly, there are not even a "all region" version available, as far as I know. So I ordered one from Japan. Of course, there will be no subtitles on that one.
Dino's Rating: 10
Will Girls Like It: Possible
Banner of the Stars II (2001)
10 episodes TV series
A year after the end of Banner of the Stars. The Abu was victorious in the battle of Aptic, and is now expanding into enemy territory and hunting down enemy fleet. Soon the Abh will retake what they have lost 4 years ago.
Meanwhile, the Abh Assult class vessel Basroil, commanded by Lafiel, was assigned to the Lobnas system, with Lafiel and Jinto acting as the Emperor's representatives. They have no idea what awaits for them on Lobnas II, a former enemy prison planet. The situation will turn from bad to worse, with an enemy fleet fast approaching Lobnas system. As a rebellion breaks out on the planet, and Jinto being trapped right in the thick of it, Lafiel will have to make a decision she may regret for the rest of her life...
As the final series, this time it was a bit shorter with only 10 episodes, but it stays true to the novel. This time, we finally get to see how much Jinto means to Lafiel. The climax to a great romantic story.
I just love it even more!!
Dino's Rating: 10
Will Girls Like It: Possible
Banner of the Stars III (2005)
2 episodes OVA series
After Jinto survived his ordeal on Lobnas II, Lafiel took a temporary leave from the military to join Jinto to his new battlefound: the planet Martin. Once it was Jinto's home, now that the Abh has reconqured the Hyde system, it is time for Jinto to face his destiny... should he pick his home planet or his new live as an Abh?
The decision to put the 3rd novel into OVA is brilliant! Animation quality is off the charts when compare to the previous works, and I do miss it so much... Some parts of the story got the chop in order to be packed into a 30-minute production, but it will not hamper my enjoyment.
Note: since it is not licensed in North America yet, I only watch the fansubs version, and the small screen version I downloaded is the only complaint I have...
Dino's Rating: 9
Will Girls Like It: Maybe
The Novels
First of all, I did not buy them sequentially, as I bought the latest one (星界の戦旗 III) on YesAsia.com, and the rest from Taiwan online. I have to wait until I have all six of them. There are currenly no one planning to publish an English version for the novels, and very doubtful for that to happen in the future, so to enjoy this you better learn some Taiwanese Chinese or Japanese.
星界の紋章 I -帝国の王女-
(Crest of the Stars I -The Princess of the Empire-)
星界の紋章 II -ささやかな戦い-
(Crest of the Stars II -A Small War-)
星界の紋章 III -異郷への帰還-
(Crest of the Stars III -Return to a Foreign Place-)
First of all, this is a sci-fi novel, so you better expect there will be some "techno- babble". However, once you get through them, it is pretty easy to read. (In Chinese of course). I recommend you watch the anime first and then try the novels.
星界の戦旗 I -絆のかたさ-
(Banner of the Stars I -The Shape of Bonds-)
星界の戦旗 II -守るべたきもの-
(Banner of the Stars II -The Person to be Protected-)
星界の戦旗 III -家族の食卓- (Banner of
the Stars III -The Family's Dinning Table-)
The first two novels, as the name suggested, are used to make Banner of the Stars I and II respectively. The third novel is the latest one, which continues from the end of Banner of the Stars II. No anime was made from it yet.
In the third novel, as Jinto, accompanied by lafiel, prepares to go back to Hyde system, where the Abh Empire has once again take over the system from the enemy. However, the local governement on planet Martin remains defiant on rejecting the Empire's rule, can Jinto convince his home planet to rejoin the empire, and accept him as their ruler without any bloodshed?
Meanwhile, the Abh Empire developed a new class of warship, and twelve of the new prototypes will begin a trial run with a simulated war game at the Hyde system. When both the planetary government and the Abh Empire Star Fleet do not have neough information on each others' intentions, disasters bound to happen to planet martin. Can Jinto arrive in time to prevent that from happening?
Note: For the English translations here for the titles, only the first one is the "semi-official" version, as it was also the title for the last episode in Banner of the Stars I TV series. The other two are made up by me, as close to the Chinese version as I can.
Overall, 6 good sci-fi novels with romance and comedy to spend time reading.
星界の戦旗 IV (Banner of the Stars IV)
Now this is just released in Japan in late December 2004, which means that the translated Taiwan version will not be out at least for a year. I am really looking forward to read one when the Chinese version comes out...