Deep beneath the surface of Southern Cross Isle, a mysterious organization known as the Glittering Crux Brigade frequently gathers in their underground fortress. The group is particularly interested in "Cybodies," stone giants which can transform into massive fighting humanoids but only in a realm known as "Zero Time." By finding and shattering the seals of the island's four seal maidens, Glittering Crux hopes to break free of Zero Time and use the Cybodies anywhere they please.
One night, a young man named Takuto Tsunashi washes up on the island's shore and is rescued by Sugata Shindou and his fiancée Wako Agemaki, one of the island's seal maidens. After he awakens, Takuto quickly befriends the two and proceeds to enroll at the local academy, where many of his fellow students are secretly members of Glittering Crux. However, Takuto holds a secret: when in Zero Time, he can utilize a Cybody of his own—the Tauburn. In the forthcoming battle, Takuto and the Tauburn will be the key to preventing Glittering Crux from shattering Wako's seal and realizing its nefarious ambitions.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Archaeon
Adaptations are becoming a bit of a thorny issue in anime these days, which is a bit odd considering how many are produced every year. The constant conversion of stories from other media is a pretty lucrative business as there's already an established market for the end product and its merchandise, regardless of how good the show actually is. Like anything in life though, there's a price to pay, and there are increasing concerns about the impact adaptations are having on original works. The resulting negative effect on script and screen writers is beginning to be felt throughout the industry as studios everywhere are findingthat their creative teams are slowly becoming unable to develop original concepts into viable storylines. The reason for this is purely because in comparative terms, it takes more effort, imagination and skill to make something original than it does to rework something that already exists, and if one doesn't regularly exercise their "mental muscles" in a substantial manner, then their creativity will begin to stagnate.
And that's the reason why we get anime like Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto (Takuto of the Radiance).
The series begins with Agemaki Wako and Shindo Sugata as the pair take a moonlit stroll along a beach on the fictional Southern Cross Island. Along the way Wako detects the scent of of someone she doesn't know, and following the trail, she and Sugata find a young man who has been washed ashore. He is Tsunashi Takuto, and his arrival on the island will awaken his destiny.
Well, that all sounds pretty heroic, but that's about as far as it goes. Star Driver may initially seem like an interesting proposition, but many of the plot themes are never fully realised, which only exacerbates the fact that there is simply too much going on in the storyline. The series makes some rather nice subtextual introductions at certain points, but no matter how important these may be to plot or character development, they're never fully utilised and thus become the equivalent of the human appendix (i.e. totally useless).
The storyline progression is handled in the standard "fight of the week" manner that is so prevalent in shounen anime and manga, but alongside that Enokido Yoji (series composition and script writer), and director Igarashi Takuya (Soul Eater, Ashita no Nadja, Doremi), have seen fit to add a number of themes that only serve to confuse the audience. In addition to this there are a number of questions that remain unanswered come the end of the series, which may hint at an attempt to have the viewer infer the relevant information rather than outright carelessness.
That doesn't mean the storyline is bad though. While there may be a degree of confusion, Star Driver does offer up some interesting ideas that could have taken the show in a new direction.
Visually the series is a bit of an odd blend as while the concept is predominantly shounen, several of the male characters have a decidedly bishounen look to them. Star Driver seems to play on this by naming Takuto's alter ego the Galactic Pretty Boy, but it's difficult to tell if this is an attempt to parody the character style. That said, there's a mundanity to the overall design that no amount of beautification can remove, partly because everyone is supposed to look good, but mainly because there seems to be a limited range of expressions.
While there are a few scenes that depict specific feelings rather well, the majority of the time the characters display very little emotion, and many of the more expressive moments can seem forced or contrived. In addition to this, the complicated and overly sexualised costumes of Glittering Star, the weird posturing, the rather odd mahou shoujo style transformation sequence when Takuto summons Tauburn, and even the design of Tauburn itself, all promote the idea that Star Driver is a parody anime, and this conflicts with the serious tone of the show.
Speaking of Tauburn ...
The conceptualisation of the cybodies is interesting in that it highlights a degree of innovation and originality, which is odd when one considers the slightly banal approach to character design. There's a novelty to the mechas that's nice to see, especially Tauburn's rather obvious court dandy/musketeer influenced look, so the obvious question is why the same innovative approach wasn't taken with the characters themselves. The backgrounds also suffer from a similar mundanity, which is a little disconcerting given the nicely surreal overtones of Zero Time.
As for the animation, the character movements are pretty standard, but the action sequences are often fluid and well choreographed. Unfortunately this is overshadowed by the the fact that specific scenes have simply been re-used to the point where viewers may find themselves skipping particular moments, and while this tends to be a fairly common practice in "fight of the week" shows, it still smacks of laziness.
Which neatly leads me on to the audio side of the series.
Star Driver initially seems to be well served in the acting department thanks to the experience of Miyano Mamoru (Takuto), Hayami Saori (Wako), Fukuyama Jun (Sugata), and the rest of the cast, so it's a bit strange that many of the roles seem shallow and forced. Part of the reason for this is the lack of facial response on the characters themselves as this gives the impression that the seiyuu are trying too hard, but the script is also to blame as much of the dialogue seems to have been written just to fill in the gaps. All of this makes the voice acting a much more difficult proposition as the seiyuu are often forced to compensate for poor writing.
On the other hand the effects are well timed and very clear, and one of the nice things about this show is how it doesn't use music, as background tracks are often reserved for occasions of emotive importance or action sequences. There are also two opening and ending themes for the series, and while they tend to have a slightly upbeat feel to them, they seem to work well with Star Driver's major theme.
Possibly the biggest issue though, is the lack of substantial development on the part of the characters, which could have been somewhat offset had they been clearly defined from the start. Unfortunately this is not the case, and while viewers are given the facade of progression through interactions, conversations, and even action sequences, in reality there is only one thing learned throughout the whole show, and this only occurs in the final episode. In addition to this there are few explanations forthcoming about why the members of Glittering Star are so determined to use the cybodies, and the only thing that seems to tie their actions into the story is something called The Departure (which is another thing that isn't properly explained).
But that's not the worst part.
In a nutshell, the characters are dumb, and leading the idiocy is Takuto. The very first episode has him entering the enemy base, but for some reason he "forgets" that he's been to the heart of Glittering Star's operation, and so the secret society is left to continue their work relatively unimpeded. This is possibly the biggest hole in the plot as at that point Takuto is aware of the enemy, knows where they and who their target is, and could very easily expedite a much simpler and shorter resolution. Because of this the so-called past traumas, the posturing, the banality of the high school setting, pretty much everything used to define the characters in some manner, all become slightly ridiculous.
So, where does that leave us? Well, on the surface this seems like a pretty solid proposition, especially with Enokido Yoji (who wrote the screenplay for Diebuster), taking part on the production side, and there are some enjoyable moments that occur throughout the series. Star Driver is nothing if not an interesting idea that tries to approach certain concepts from a different angle, and the little touches of innovation here and there add a pleasing quirkiness to proceedings.
Sadly, it's not enough as the series retains a ridiculous quality that isn't helped by a decidedly sub-par script, seemingly emotionless characters, and the lack of any substantial explanations. Star Driver tries to do too much with too little, and the apparent attempts at parodying certain themes only adds to the confusion and makes the plot more convoluted and overly complicated.
This may not be an adaptation of any sort, but that doesn't mean that it's automatically good, regardless of who worked on it. There are some positives within the series, but ultimately this is nothing more than mediocrity at its finest.
The fault lies solely with Bones, who in the last two years have produced one original anime franchise (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0). Everything else has been an extension of an existing title, or an adaptation from another medium. Unfortunately they're just one studio out of many that continue to try and cash in on the popularity of something else, with no regard for the effect this has on the viewer or the industry itself. After all, it's easier to blame things like fansubs for falling sales rather than admit that what you've produced is nothing more than average.
Cobbles
Star Driver has been one hell of a polarizing anime since day 1. Some people were initially on board because it looked like a throw-back to old school mecha. Some watched it because it looked like a full on parody of 90's anime with the ridiculous nature of the show combined with the over-the-top style. And even more watched it because it was penned by the same guy who did the composition for Revolutionary Girl Utena, Yoji Enokido. Yet when the credits rolled at the end of episode 25, it was obvious to me and to anyone who stuck with the show that Star Driverwas its own beast so to speak. It incorporated elements of the things I mentioned above yet it never really followed through with any one idea. Surely a mish-mash of these ideas would create schizophrenic anime which tries to do everything and succeeds at nothing, correct? Any other circumstance, I'd tell all of you yes, because there's absolutely no way an anime like that could ever be good. Yet against all odds, I found myself enjoying Star Driver more and more as the weeks went along until I reached the startling conclusion that hey, Star Driver was good! Not just good but pretty damn awesome and compelling! I wrapped my brain around why I was enjoying it so much, when virtually every aspect of the show was working against it. I mean what kind of anime has the audacity to take itself seriously when the main character's title is "Galactic Pretty Boy"? The answer is: Star Driver, an anime that somehow manages to pull it all off, and pulls it off with a healthy dosage of fabulousity.
SD's story isn't really something out of the ordinary. A secret organization made up of high schoolers are bent on taking over the world with giant robots that are sealed in a pocket of space/time while some random Mary Sue shows up to thwart them with his own ridiculous giant robot while sporting an equally ridiculous costume and Mahou Shoujo-esque transformation scene. While this is the basic premise of SD (and pretty much every episode), many people will think it gets repetitive pretty soon (and believe me, it does). So why would anyone like it? Well my answer is derived solely from one aspect of the show and that's primarily the subtlety of the execution. The subtle way exposition is fed to the audience, the subtle way characters are presented and written, it makes for a really compelling style. Its one of aspects that made Utena as good and popular as it was. Now I know BONES' anime have a notorious reputation of not holding the audience's hand at all when it comes to story-telling and much of it becomes read in-between the lines or not addressed at all. Star Driver also does this, but only to a degree. It's not so vague that it becomes frustrating but its mysterious enough to compel the audience to continue watching. It gives the audience a chance to think about the plot and characters by themselves and tactfully delivers the answers later at an appropriate time. This is a grand form of storytelling not because the story itself is good but mainly because of the way its presented. Unfortunately while the storytelling borders on masterful, there are some really annoying pacing problems with the whole package. Case in point, most people will drop this in the first 5 or so episodes. I wouldn't blame them because the show has very weak start, where characters are very slowly introduced and the show pretty much relies on the mecha fights to carry it for 20 minutes. Didn't help that the fights were usually only 1-2 minutes long. It slowly builds itself up and it really gets better after episode 7 but I can't really look favorably at the beginning since it could have played up the shows strength which is characterization instead of lolhijinks and boring-as-hell mecha fights. The show also drags towards the end which is honestly baffling to me since there was plenty of material they could have used to make things interesting. Yup, around the end it sort of reverts back to the formula used at the beginning, but thankfully gets its shit together and ends on a strong note.
Now like I said earlier, SD's characters are its strongest point. Even when nothing but high school antics are happening on the screen, there is a sense that everything that happens has some meaning behind it. So when characters often start talking about inane or seemingly pointless topics, it can turn out to be euphemism or a metaphor that has relevance to the plot. Now I don't mean all the antics and comedy have some ulterior theme to them, sometimes there really are comedy scenes to make the audience laugh but more often then not, you'll be thinking about some lines of dialogue long after they've been said. This brings me to another element that SD does really well and that's character interactions. Instead of long flashbacks about something or other, character's personalities are revealed through the way they act around each other, especially when the tone becomes serious. And these are probably the best parts of the show, Sugata's conflict with Takuto, Mizuno general interactions with her sister, Kanoko's demeanor and attitude towards the Glittering Crux and Wako's internal struggle between Takuto and Sugata are all great. Even more impressive is the fact that SD goes out of it's way to characterize minor characters as well as major characters. You can probably argue that Takuto himself is the Mary Sue and isn't characterized worth shit but at the same time you could probably write papers on how his real personality is implied in juxtaposition of the Mary Sue front he shows to all the characters and even the audience. Hell you could even write an essay on how his first phase ability makes him the main character of the show with his catch-phrase "Dazzling the stage" as proof of how meta things can appear. It doesn't go as far as Utena does but it certainly isn't a slouch slouch in that regard.
As per all BONES anime, the art and animation is done very well. There are loads of awesome sakuga cuts for all the animation fans out there. Generally the fights can be very repetitive with Takuto winning all the time but the animation can make them very exciting sometimes. It doesn't happen too often since I can count the number of times where everything aligns on one hand but when the art, animation, plot and music are all synched in excellence, it becomes very awesome. But be warned, this isn't really an anime where the mecha fights are the most important part of the show, most of the backlash towards the beginning happened because the mecha bits were actually the worst parts. Mostly because the fights are nothing more than a tool for characterization in the end and you're enjoyment of it will revolve around how much you care for the character that fights Takuto. I won't say the mecha aspect is downright terrible, but I honestly think they could have better implemented the Cybody fights to coincide more with the plot than the characters. Some of the best episodes in the show don't even have any fights in them. The sound on the other hand is really good and is strong throughout the show. SD has some of the best insert songs I've heard in quite a while (like Monochrome) and uses them very efficiently. The other tracks manage to keep up with the vocal ones as well, so its not like the rest of the OST is bleh in comparison. The voice work is also typically good, the best performances come from Jun Fukuyama as Sugata, Ayano Niina as Kanako and Akira Ishida as Head. Can't say I'm not sick of Mamoru Miyano after watching a lot of animu but he pulls off Takuto's happy-go-lucky attitude well enough and still manages to convey his more serious moments with the appropriate tension.
Star Driver really turned out to be that one show you liked but couldn't really point out why. Kudos to all those people who stuck with it through thick and thin, god knows it tried our patience many times. But for all its apparent shortcomings like derp pacing, flaky mecha moments and wasted potential, it still manged to be one hell of an anime, and a great ride. I'll definitely miss the Saturdays where I stayed up all night into the wee hours of Sunday morning discussing the newest episode and whatnot. If you haven't watched it, I recommend really pushing through those first couple episodes because they're not the best this anime has to offer. Star Driver offers a really unique experience that I haven't seen in much-if any anime, so I strongly recommend it.
oh and
(ﾉゝ∀･)~キラ☆ KIRABOSHI!
because it had to be done.
ggultra2764
This series was giving me a number of vibes connected to Code Geass and I don't mean that in a good way. Star Driver appeared to be trying to mix around the classic archetypes of super robot anime, slice-of-life high school comedy and the over-the-top elements of Code Geass. If the series ran for the most part as a comedy like Gurren Lagann where it didn't take itself seriously, then I would have found myself liking this series quite well. Instead the series tries to take itself seriously yet with the many eccentric traits of the characters, it comes across as rather awkward and hardto take seriously just like Code Geass and is bogged down by quite a good number of issues in its plotting. Many episodes tend to run in a similar setup:
1. Takuto is enjoying himself with Wako and Sugata.
2. Random member of Glittering Crux in the student body meets with him or tries causing mischief.
3. Member decides to challenge Takuto to Cybody battle.
4. Takuto overcomes foe.
5. Repeat for much of the show's run.
This was quite a repetitious setup for each episode and made things appear to be mostly episodic for the show. In addition, the show doesn't really bother going into great detail into its major elements such as what led to each of the students in Glittering Crux to join the group, how Cybodies came to be, how humanity came to discover them and why the Glittering Crux did not dispose of Takuto away from Cybody battles if they desired world domination so badly. The ending also came across as rather weak with a shallow baddie unveiling himself, elements of deus ex machina and failing to provide a proper resolution to the love triangle that later develops with Takuto, Wako and Sugata.
There are some elements to the plotting of Star Driver that did work well for me and kept me from dumping it much earlier on. The series does do well at fleshing out and developing the bond between Wako, Takuto and Sugata showing that the three come to greatly care for one another, even as they are aware of the complicated situation they have to overcome with the Glittering Crux and their love triangle. Marino's character arc even lays out some heart-wrenching and deep-seated issues with her that are not as apparent with her on the surface.
On the visual end, Star Driver does have clean artwork delivering a decent amount of detail on mecha, character and scenery designs; as well as having its moments of fluid animation during fights between Cybodies. There are some noticeable occasions where the visual quality can drop quite a bit, particularly in some scenes during the middle and last episodes.
If you could put up with and enjoy the bizarre and over-the-top developments of Code Geass, then you might be able to enjoy Star Driver more than I did. Otherwise, be prepared for a mostly mediocre romp that tries to blend together the elements I mentioned above yet comes across as hard to care for because it doesn't cover its major elements and is hard to take seriously when it tries to be so.
adeeda
Star Driver is a show about adolescence, and of course adolescents. They wander, get lost, make mistakes, try to find meaning in life, and try to do the right thing. Some of them fall in love, and others yearn to. There’s a pitiable few who get trapped there, and never learn to grow up. That’s Star Driver. There’s also a story, of course, and it does some cool things sometimes, but it’s not what’s ultimately important: the feelings, the friendships, and the adventures. If you just let go and let Star Driver carry you, it’s an incredible ride. Its biggest strengths are that it looks fabulousand has a strong, weird vibe. Its biggest weaknesses are its plot and repetitiveness.
Highly recommended.
Kiraboshi!
ItsSoPringles
im not gonna give some review breaking it down cause you know what theres no point, this show doesnt try to be anything, it rarley gets seirous, parodies itself almsot every second, and is just tries to do one thing and one thing only, be fun, and it succeeds, the show isnt gonna get you emmotionaly attached or make you laugh your ass off, its merly going to take you on a awsome trip of WTF moments, the shows over the top, has no plot, bt still has development in the charecters, the show is legitimently funney at times, but when it coems down toit this show is just fun
thats all you need to know, i know people are cautious about 10's given out like this that ignore obvious flaws but should it really matter, this is one of the most enjoyable shows ive ever seen, i just sit back anbd have fun with it, and really what more do you want, iude rather watch this show thats fully aware of all its flaws and laughed at them and just goes off to have a fun ride instead of watching a show that tries too hard to be gripping and ends up with just being a drag.
so ill just say this and end this review, if you want a fun show that laughs at its own flaws and has fun with it while still having some good serious moments when it needs to get serious, just kick back and watch one fabulous episode of star driver cause their wont ever be another show like this, enjoy it for what it is, not what it could have been,
Lt_Surge
WARNING SPOILERS OF A SHORT REVIEW (NOT REALLY JUST EXPRESSING MY OPINION) i mean seriously, i watched this off a hunch from a bit i saw on youutube, was expecting a parodic mecha anime of some sorts, but after ep 25 credits rolled i just stood up, turned 360 degrees and left. the characters, go literally nowhere, there is no backstory. the battle scenes are just the same thing. there is no implied shipping or room for any shipping, all the characters are petty and not to mention, the transformation scene, is the same EVERY SINGLE EPISODE.
Renagade4
What makes a show enjoyable? Obviously, the answer to this question will differ from person to person since not everyone has the same taste. That being said, Star Driver is easily one of the most enjoyable shows I've watched in recent years. It's just fun and so very very FABULOUS. This show really reminded me what it's like to truly enjoy a series despite its faults and plot holes. During every fight I was rooting for Takuto and often I was on the edge of my chair in excitement. Everything from the over-the-top battles and transformation sequences to the very likable and interesting characters madethis show a pleasure to behold.
I'd like to just leave it at that and hope that my genuine enthusiasm for the show will rub off on you, but obviously to give a fair analysis and better understanding of what you're getting into I'm going to break it down traditionally by story, art, sound, character, and my enjoyment.
Story: The general plot can be oversimplified down to there's people who have giant trans-dimensional robots who want to fight Takuto's robot so they do and get royally owned. This in its own right (coupled with the fantastic soundtrack) can be enjoyable on its own. However, the story goes much further in many unexpected ways as we learn more and more about this bizarre "Glittering Crux Brigade" and what they're trying to accomplish. The general tone of the story is quite varied in how it will switch from comedy, to mech battles, to romance, and suddenly to drama and back again.
Something that's very important to note about Star Driver's story is that it requires a good amount of suspension of disbelief. If you've watched anime long enough perhaps you've cultivated this skill. Otherwise, you might be turned off by the sheer absurdity of it. It's not the series' strong point, but if you can revel in its absurdity, overlook the plot holes, and embrace the ridiculous outfits: you'll find a good story with excellent pacing that is neither too slow or fast. (7/10)
Art: The art of Star Driver is beautiful, unique, and often fluid. This is what first grabbed my attention when I looked into this series. When they're not in "Zero Time" the background art of this island looks like paradise and is very pleasing to the eye. When they jump into "Zero Time" and start the mech battles, everything gets dialed up to 11. The Mechs look absolutely fantastic while also being hand-drawn. The scenery in "Zero Time" is space-themed and is so beautiful that it's hard not for it to take your breath away. Check out a battle on youtube if you're not convinced.
The character animation is done by Bones and as a fan of their previous works like Darker Than Black I was very pleased with the results. Putting a number rating on something so inherently subjective is rather pointless, but I thoroughly enjoyed the art and animation and thus I feel that it deserves special recognition. (9/10)
Sound: YOU ARE MY ONLY SHOOTING STAAAAAR!~
I feel that the soundtrack is easily the highlight of this show. I loved both OPs and both EDs and thought that every piece of the OST was used appropriately to enhance the intended mood. Each of the Four Maidens has her own theme that is played at the start of each battle and I thought that they were all catchy and a pleasure to hear. The songs "Cross Over" and "Shining Star" by 9nine were especially catchy and used as ED 1 and OP 2 respectively. It's a soundtrack that you will notice, but at the same time it doesn't detract from the scene it's supporting.
With regards to sound effects and voice acting, both are superb. The sound effects during the battles are cool and fit nicely, and the voice actors all fit their roles spot-on. Miyano Mamoru did an especially good job as Takuto with his hilarious engrish and epic battle cries.
Overall, the fact that I still listen to parts of the OST daily is a strong sign to me that this show has an outstanding sound. (10/10)
Character: The general impression I had of the cast was that they were all unique and likable with very few exceptions. Furthermore, all of the cast feels very real and human. Takuto's inspiring and bright personality is well contrasted with Sugata's more stoic yet kind demeanor. What was especially impressive is the attention the show gives to properly fleshing-out minor characters. I've always been impressed with shows that can manage a large cast of characters well, and Star Driver is certainly one of them.
I can't be too analytical of the characters without spoiling plot developments, but what I will say is that each character's personality is unique and their interactions are interesting to observe. (9/10)
Enjoyment: My personal opinion is that the most important part of any show is how much I enjoyed it. Honestly, Star Driver is one of those shows that you just really enjoy without knowing particularly why. Maybe it was how awesome Takuto was as he skillfully defeated his foes? Maybe it was his ridiculous transformation sequence and catch phrases? Maybe it was the Glittering Crux Brigade and how fabulous they were? Or maybe it was all of it?
As I've said before, I enjoyed the hell out of this show. It evoked excitement, put a smile on my face, and made me eager to watch more. (10/10)
So, overall, what do ratings mean anyway? Who cares about the plot holes? This is the kind of show that you should watch with a group of friends as you all get behind Takuto and his fabulous quest and do the KIRABOSHI!~ pose. Don't take it too seriously and enjoy the FABULOUS ride that is Star Driver.
End note: Please keep in mind that my rating system isn't the same as everyone else's and what is a 9 for me might not be a 9 for you.
darkkugan
In a boring world, there are youngsters who seek thrills while having their spirit be their guide. And what could be better than swimming to an Island infested with a evil organization destined to destroy the world, in order to find the fabulous school-life while being a "GINGA BISHOUNEN"? Welcome to the world of Star Driver: Takuto of Radiance, a glorious anime filled with thrills and school drama. But let's not forget the giant robots that fight for their goals, which will prevail, Good or Evil? Ladies and Gentlemen, let's not waste more time and jump right in! I will put my review into these categories;Overview, Story, Characters, Sound and Animation, and my overall enjoyment which serves as a conclusion!
The overview:
The Story takes place on a Island somewhere in Japan, location unknown, where we follow in the footsteps of our prettyboy and real main character Tsunashi Takuto, in his search for his father and nothing more than the thrill of being young and adventours. What seemed to be a regular Island contains a dark past, where an organization known as The Glittering Crux has evil plans to break an ancient seal, in order to bring the sealed Mechs called Cybodies into the realm of living. The seal is contained within four maidens of the Island chosen by bloodline in order to defend the seal and prevent it from breaking.
While the Glittering Crux is successful in breaking the first maidens seal, the others are well protected by our Hero, the one and only; Tsunashi Takuto and his newfound secret Cybody which he inherited; The Legendary Cybody, TAUBURN. Tsunashi is no one else than a "Ginga Bishounen", A Legendary Hero and savior. From this point we follow him through his school-life with his friends Wako, which is a maiden, and Sugata, where Takuto-kun from time to time, has to save Wako from her seal being broken by the evil organization in epic battles for survival.
The Story:
What's particularly interesting in this anime is the story, as it is really paper thin, but brings in alot of enjoyment and some big twists here and there to keep you seated and longing to watch more. The story is told in a beautiful way where we follow Takuto through his everyday life after coming to the Island where he meets different people and does a lot of things a normal, yet popular guy would do, like joining the drama club, yes popular kids in Japan do these things. But the story really takes on its climax where near the end of each episode, Takuto will have to fight different members of the Glittering Crux in order to defend the maids' seals, using different techniques and different abilities in order to prevail. The Story is quite linear and brings an interesting aspect of both school-life and what it would mean to be a Legendary Hero, "Ginga Bishounen"(Galactic Pretty boy). As mentioned before it is paper thin, as the real plot and real reason behind why Crux does what it does, will not be revealed until the end of the series. As the fights are astonishing, they are the only way to keep the plot developing further, where as the school-life is just kind of a filler for the relationship building between our three main characters. Which is sad, i wished that the significance of what happened at school would be well, more significant. But the Enjoyment is there, and the reason I keep coming back is because it manages to pull out the kind of two lives that Takuto live, the way the story goes from School to Mech epicness keeps you sitting in your seat wanting more for each episode. And this is the reason why the story is so great, it captivates you by being nearly invisible, the story is basically the life of a teenager gone Super Hero, and it fits this anime to the stone. 7/10
Characters:
The Characters on the other hand are not really that much developed. And are pretty much just regular teenagers, but with the exception of cool looking hairstyles. All of them have a back-story and a past which at some point get revealed and works as a reminder of why they are, who they are right now. But as the most fascinating thing in this story is how the characters interact with each other, which is basically 1/3 of what the anime is about. Not much of character development going on except for Takuto, which has to grow when he finds out that there are a lot more pressure and responsibility on his shoulders than he initially had thought. As far as the interaction between each character goes, each character has his/her own way of doing things and this kind of becomes a testament for how they are as people. Also on a side note many of the Glittering Crux members also have a past which you get to see, because there are a lot more to them than just evil villains, they have their own reasons for doing their deeds. The Characters have some love relations going on between them which also forces out some of the truth they are trying to conceal and not show to others, this brings in more aspects to what's fascinating about the animes characters. 8/10
Sound and Animation:
I am a man who is really concerned with the animation and soundtrack of an anime as it may make or break and anime for me. And let me tell you this straight out, bleh.... this anime hits STRAIGHT A'S IN BOTH CATEGORIES. Almost had you there! But dear reader, this anime excels in this category straight out. The wonderfully detailed characters and the use of bright colors, everything is just perfect, the way the robots/mechs fits the characters and how they also made them resemble their users is astonishing. The fights are amazing, the shading and the weaponry are also pretty darn cool. So animation is top notch, and the soundtrack really tingled my senses in a good way. The music fit the animation like no other, like the song "Monochrome" which is used right before the summoning of the mechs gives you straight out Goosebumps. The song when Takuto destroys and enemy mech, it gives you the sensation of being there and that you actually won something. The OST is filled with many songs like these and are exactly fit for the situations they are used in, and the beutiful orchestrated music is straight out godly! 10/10
Overall:
This Anime is not something you watch for the plot, so if you are looking for something really plot heavy and something that goes deeper than meets the eye, this is not exactly the anime to serve those needs. But this an anime you sit to on a Saturday just for satisfaction, it has cool characters and huge mech fights, what more could we need? What's interesting is that even if the plot is short to nonexistent it is still pleasant to watch the interactions between characters and how at night Takuto gets to fight big as mechs with his ultra overpowered legendary one. So the strong sides is the way story gets told, from a slice of life point and from the action superhero point. Unfortunately this seems to be good blend actually, it fits each other to some extent that it's actually becoming entertaining. And this show is all about flashy colors, big mechs and overall enjoyment with the removing of the heavy and deep plot. So overall, a great soundtrack, a story and animation which fits the genre, amazing fights and a really entertaining day- school life sets this anime at a strong 8/10 for pure enjoyment.
Hope you guys enjoyed this review, if you did please give at thumbs up, and enjoy your day!
orenjizero
At first, I thought Star Driver was going to be another run-of-the-mill mecha series that's been overdone. Boy was I wrong. Star Driver had extremely well done art, music, and plot to go with the mecha action. It went above and beyond my expectations and is now one of my favourite anime of all time. Most of the characters were a bit bland, but a few of them were quite intriguing, and the character designs were fairly nice. Definitely something for shonen lovers to see, but also a great series for a casual viewer to watch.
TwinbladeAlkaid
Well how should I begin this… It’s kind of hard to write a review for this anime and to that I’ve never done it before. You can’t put one animation into simple words everyone understands without spoiling anything but at the same time rate what’s actually happened in the series. This time to put it frankly, my expectations were too high. I always loved Utena and I always will, this'll never change. I already knew that Star Driver would probably not be able to play in the same league as Utena, because there are just 25 Episodes and Utena still sparkles with 52 + 1 OVA.Maybe Star Driver would have gotten there somehow but as it is now it feels kind of loose and unfinished. Now for the reason why I think so, I beg your pardon, but this will take a while. ^^’’
Introduction:
In the first Episode some girl named Wako, a Miko and a guy named Sugata were introduced, both seem to share a connection, he wanted to do something to protect her, something that would seemingly cost his very own life. Wako on the other hand did not even want to think about that fact, she begged him not to.
It really felt like there was something bigger behind this, not just a bond they were sharing, something in Sugata must have trigger that feeling to do the ultimate sacrifice.
Then someone gets washed ashore, an unconscious boy, red hair, red shirt, white trousers. Wako who seemingly is a lovely and caring person rushes to the boy, because she sensed something near them. Quickly applied first aid saves the boy from death and we get introduced to Takuto the next day in the Animation.
Sugata, Wako and Takuto quickly become friends, and most of the time in the animation you’ll here why. “Because he can put a smile to everyone’s face”.
An organization named Kiraboshi is introduced as well or as the subs call them, “glittering crux”, seemingly evil, dark clothing, masks. An organization where no one knows who the other person is, they even have a special greeting, which is still nice and cool after I watched the 25 Episodes. Anyway, they explain that they are here because they want to bring there Cybodies to the outer World.
Cybodies are machines or rather mind and motion controlled metallic Golems, each of them has a different ability. Other than in Gundam a Cybody is directly linked with the human mind and soul, if the Cybody gets hit, driver inside will be hurt as well. Glittering crux wants to use those giant metallic things to change the world and/ or be the strongest military might. But there’s a catch, they are only able to ride one within something called “Zero Time”.
The Mikos/Maidens of this island (the only one who’s known from the start is Wako) keep this “Zero Time” intact, so that no Cybody is able to enter the outside world. So Kiraboshi has to destroy every Maidens Seal to set their war machines free.
That’s a nice reason, everythings good, we learn that Wako and Sugata are engaged, we have some evil plot mostly about changing/ revolutionizing the world or destroying it, but sadly this is where things start to fall apart.
Major problems:
Takuto, the hero of the series and Sugata seem to be the only interesting guys on the whole island, so everyone female (even the members of Kiraboshi,) is interested in either Sugata OR Takuto. There are lots of episodes where interesting character development is abandoned in favor of mindless swooning. But that is not the main problem.
Evil guys are not evil or rather never were from the start, some interesting parts and story strings are quickly tossed aside with some halfhearted explanations through either Takuto or the guy called “Head”.
The head/captain of the theatrical club is the only really mysterious person including the pet "vice" Fukuboncho from the start, but after Episode 23, after she said something that really stirred something in me, she is never seen again, as are many other good characters.
Takuto on the other hand, who’s always in the spotlight, has to fight one or sometimes more members of the evil Crux organization. I will not say why, or explain everything because this is basically a spoiler which will turn out to be the main reason for the story to progress, if you can even call it a story.
So the red haired boy, who only got here to this Island to “search for his father and to live out his youth” ends up in fighting with his own cybody, which he inherited from his grandfather, to protect the Mikos/Maidens of this Island. And every Member of the Crux seems to fall prey to his “Tauburn” with simply ONE Attack.
Even though the boy stated his grandfather did not teach him anything about Tauburn, he is able to come up with every attack the robot can do in an instant. If he’s in a pinch, fear not after 3 or 4 Episodes it is rather clear how this Animation will progress.
Those “fights” are not really impressive or surprising, no matter how strong the opposing Cybody seems, Takuto has, in the end, by no means any problem in defeating the thread before him with one single attack.
This is the basic flaw this animation has, and it sadly will drain your patience and your liking to Takuto very quickly (except you are into that stuff ofcourse).
Throughout the series are many things which you will never recieve a proper answer to and it is much like the storywriter is saying “Well it’s like that, live with it” to everyone who has actually watched it.
The Ending of Star Driver “Kagayake no Takuto” will leave you at awe, not because it is intensely good or bad, but because it feels like you just started it. There was not much progress throughout the series and you could explain everything in Star Driver with just 3 to 4 sentences.
Soundtrack and voice acting:
The voice acting was great, as always, the watcher is immediately able to feel something from the characters, they are funny when they have to be, sad, angry or secretive. They did a really good job, the best they could to put more feeling into everyone. Sometimes it’s a bit over dramatized but that’s okay, it’s an animation, better that, than nothing. It was great to hear and see the emotions from the characters from the beginning to the end and the charactersongs really warmed my heart.
The Soundtrack itself was good, really good, there are a few songs, especially the songs of the maidens which will never be erased from my MP3 player. Sadly those where only distributed through the Blu-Ray limited Edition in Japan. Monochrome alone was so beautiful, soothing and powerful at the same time that I want to see the first ten episodes just because of that one character (Sakana-sama) and her specific song. If you have the chance to buy it, do so, you will probably never regret it.
Animation:
The Animation of StarDriver was rather well made, it was nothing epic, some poses and expressions appeared to be a bit clumsy, but that’s okay, Anime would not be such fun if it was perfect. Everything looked like it should, there were no harsh differences like in some other animations (Angel Beats for example). Sometimes the Cybodies would get another dark inked shadowing or rather gloss effect, and sometimes not, which is sad, because it looked really nice in the last episode. The clothing of every character was nice, the movements were not overdone, and the movement sequences were okay as well.
The “fights” seemed to be flashy and well done at first but the animation lost a bit of its charm because of the story progression and pattern. No matter how good a Crux Cybody including how threatening all attacks looked Takuto would ultimately turn it into a scrapheap with one measly hit, nothing more would it take to make it explode like all others before.
Overall I’d state the following, if you are too bored by my writing or do not have anough time to read through it.
It’s not that Star driver doesn’t try to be good, it’s fun to watch, but overall it fails to deliver a plot that will keep you going and it even fails to satisfy the viewer in the end. If you expect nothing more than a fun animation, without deep conspiracies or really good and believable villains or reasons to fight, than this is your animation. Likeable, heart-warming characters and a really good OST with some very memorable tracks make it worth watching, but they will not make a few basic mistakes, like major plot holes or the lack of excitement in battle disappear in thin air. It's a fun to watch animation but still nothing you want to keep for years to come.
To put it bluntly, if they want to explain everything, there will definitely be a season 2 or a movie which ties in. If not this will be my final review for the series.
Thank you for reading.
helur
Star Driver is a confusing story of a bunch of kids trying to take over the world. Well, in essence. This show literally can take anything and throw it at you. Sometimes this works, and sometimes… well it doesn’t. The less critical you are of every little detail the more and more enjoyable it can be. The story takes place on a small island with a big secret. There exist giant robots that are sealed away by the maidens of the island. The Glittering Crux desires to release these upon the world. As the seals are broken they come closer and closer to being released intothe real world. However, it is up to the Takuto to dazzle the stage and prevent them from breaking free from the dimension they inhabit! Again and again he fights them off like a true hero! While this is all fine and good and he is quite dazzling… the combat becomes quite repetitive. Sure each Cybody, robot, is unique and has its own gimmick but the fights all feel the same. There is no feeling of urgency as you see Takuto kick ass without any scratches every time. Thankfully if you brave it out the final battles are more unique, interesting, and well, closer to the quality of something that those people can say is “BONES quality action.” That said if I had to grade solely on the episodic action segment it would be pretty bad. However, the stuff taking place outside of Zero Time, the dimension cybodies are sealed in, is a lot more enjoyable.
The characters in Star Driver cover every archetype out there. We have the rich ojou who lives on a huge boat and has two servants one of the few I have ever liked, the studious serious mysterious class representative, and a free spirited girl who believes in magic. As a matter of fact, the female lead is one of the least interesting and unique one that comes to mind. She is, however, the maiden which Takuto and Sugata fight to protect. Takuto is very admirable, kind, and the way he enters the battle saying "Dazzling the stage, galactic pretty boy" pretty much sums up how he does everything. Sugata is very serious and always looking out for Wako. He is also very quiet and doesn't like to be upfront about what he does. Each and every one of the characters have something about them that will leave an impression on you at one point. If there is one thing Star Driver does right, it is weaving in episodes for each character. Unfortunately I will not elaborate on the characters more because the bulk of what is interesting about the show is finding out who they are.
Yes, through the first chunk of episodes they introduce all the characters of the story. Depending on if you like said character the episode can be a hit or miss. The ‘good guys’ consisting of the mains interact through these supporting roles in order to show us each side of the story. By each side I imply that these others are always somehow involved with the cybodies on the island. They don’t go to great lengths to hide their identities, at least to the viewers. The Glittering Crux only wear masks, and when you’re the only person with that hair color AND that seiyuu it is sort of hard to not make the connection.
The romance in this ends up sucking for something original and not ongoing. There is not much progress in this although Wako spends all of her time uselessly fawning over our male leads. There are a few good moments but in sort, do not hope for much here.
One of the interesting things is the parallelism they make between the story of the characters and the that of which is told behind the scenes by Sakana of "Sam the Squid Piercer." It tries to put an artistic or descriptive background on what I was watching and was just one of the many little things that I found interesting. Another little repetitive quirk: The animation scene is the same every time zero time is activated and people board their cybody. The sequence takes a good minute at least, and the same (awesome imo) insert is played for it, switching once half way through.
There is one thing that can't really be described - Star Driver somehow gets you pumped up. The battles aren't stunning, the story takes a while to kick in, but there is just something that makes you want to say 'this is pretty awesome!' every time you click the play button. So as a disclaimer; If you don't get pumped up at all in the first episode it definitely won't happen at all. If you lose this after episode one feeling by sticking it out a bit longer till episode 6 or 9 for two good arcs. From there it only gets better.
BlackBahamut
Everthing must come to an end, today it was Star Driver. While it was amazing at the beginning, it started slowly getting bad. Story: The setting itself is intruduced in a rather rushed way, but showed a lot of potential. Sadly, it went down to a "which boy will Wako choose?" and "Takuto beats down the Kiraboshi" without very much development. Art: I don´t have much to complain here. It was a bit too colorful in my opinion, but especially in the fighing scenes, you could see were all the graphic-work went. Sound: The soundtrack was maybe one of the most outstanding features of the anime; the tracks themselves felt good,and the insert songs were a great addition.
Characters:
Here it stars going downhill.
Most characters hardly change from your first impression. From my point of view, exept the love-triangle centering Wako, there is almost no character development at all. Most of the female characters even fell in love with Takuto or Sugata to a certain extent, at the very least they didn´t see them as enemies anymore.
Enjoyment:
Takuto comes. Takuto fights. Takuto saves the day.
That´s basicly what every episode was about.
With the sole exeption of Head, most of the Kiraboshi-members somehow didn´t take their goal serious, beeing all nice to Takuto or even becoming his friends outside of the fights. Until shortly before the end, no one got at least once the idea to fight him with more than one Cybody. It seems that defeating/killing him outside of a Cybody was never an option either as well, since nobody tried even once.
At the end of the story, you hardly feel like anything important happened since episode 2, because there is hardly any new plot-related information at all (ignoring a bunch of other love-relationships).
Overall:
I really liked Star Driver when it started, then it became a single sided "Takuto ownez them with some new/old technique or help from Sugata" - business with a featured "girl in love" theme. More background to everything Cybody-releated might have helped alot.
TevishSzat
Sometimes, you get a work that “doesn't know what it wants to be” – shows with a confused tone and jumbled presentation that tried to reach for too many different elements and couldn't grasp them all. Star Driver is different. In a weird way, it's a show that knows exactly what it wants to be... but somehow manages to be ignorant of what it is, leading to it rather shamefully squandering loads of potential. So what did Star Driver want to be? It wanted to be a teen drama/romance mecha fighting show with a 'surprising' emotional heart to it – a spectacle ofaction and young love with a zest for life. The problem is that most of these core elements are... kind of poorly handled.
Let's talk about the action. This is Star Driver's biggest, and probably most insulting problem. The animation for the action scenes (and the show in general) is gorgeous. It's bright, it's colorful, it's fast, it's flowing... every moment is easy to 'read' and carries a lot of meaning and impact when it wants to. The issue is that the fight choreography is terrible. Most of the mecha battles in the show have very few twists and turns, not a lot of action from either side, and are actually terribly short when you cut out all the long (if pretty) repeated or nearly repeated intro and outro animations. In fact, I'd say that for the first two thirds of the show, the average mecha battle has maybe thirty seconds of actual robots fighting. This would be bad on its own, but it's especially grating when the show spends several times as much time on the setup and wind down as it does on the actual meat of the action scenes. Repeated animation (especially when there is some variation) isn't bad on its own, but when it outweighs by far anything you do with said animation, you've got problems. I'd contrast this with a show like Kill la Kill, which clearly didn't have enough money to have constant, detailed, good-looking animation like Star Driver, but more than made up for it with excellent choreography and a good sense of what makes a fight scene engaging.
Because it isn't (just) how cool the fighters look. Star Driver has that down, but it fails on other elements. For instance, there needs to be an ebb and flow of combat. The best fight scenes, whether they're quick or long, do their best to have each side gain and lose the upper hand multiple times, or at least for good reasons why the tides turn. You want to see the heroes on the ropes and rally, and to believe in the threat of the villain you also want to see them rally and counter what the hero does now and then. In Star Driver, most fights start with the villian showing off, and then Takuto turns it around and wins in one hit before you can really appreciate the recovery, and there's never, at least until the final episodes that get this a little better, a fight where the villain can present a continuing threat and the hero's victory doesn't feel trivial or automatic.
Further, good fight scenes establish investment in what the fight is about. You can have two characters beating each other up, but viewers won't be invested unless they understand why these characters are beating each other up. Star Driver, for all that it actually gives a lot of focus to its villain of the week (too much, if you ask me) fails to establish the stakes that are why Takuto fights against the Kiraboshi Order of the Cross. OK, they were trying to... um... hurt a girl? Nullifying Wako's seal would seem to be something that would sting, and it's a pretty jerk thing to do, but beyond that? What they'd actually like to do with the cybodies once they're unleashed? It's marvelously unclear; we know that they would have power sufficient to be players on a global stage, but we don't know why they want that power as a group or what they intend to do with it. And, in fact, individual members of the Kiraboshi Order of Silly Costumes seem to have different opinions: One wants to make money, another wants outsiders off her darn island, another seems to want some kind of justice... they have too many individual goals to really mesh as a group. This means, as a weird conspiracy, they're too unfocused for us to really feel threatened by them: they could use those cybodies to burn nations and rule the world with an iron fist or they could use them to make shoes for orphans; the show doesn't really care. They're kind of jerks to Wako, and while that may be all the motivation Takuto needs, it's not all the motivation we need to be with him when he's putting his life on the line for it.
From all of this, we get the main weakness of the show: it spends way too much time and effort in singular areas, and fails to support them properly.
The cast is another example of this. The main characters are, oddly enough, some of the least interesting characters in the show. Takuto, Sugata, and Wako are (in that order) Bland, Blander, and Blandest. I can kind of forgive Takuto for this – being the male lead is never easy, and at least he has something of a personality but Sugata and Wako have the defining features of slightly broody cardboard and damp cardboard. The best thing I can really say about them is that the show does at least seem to know that they're deprived of characterization, and doesn't try to insultingly tell us facts that aren't shown. They have nothing, but that could and would be worse than nothing, and at least they're consistent in how blandly vaguely nice or so they are.
The weird thing is that the side characters are actually rounded and developed. Minor villains that are relevant for one or two episodes over the entire course of the show have hopes, dreams, and backstories that give them more personality and deeper characters than our leads pretend to have, while more significant side characters like Mizuno or Kate can do even more, and their struggles have the capacity to carry entire arcs that our leads couldn't support.
And as with the raw beauty of the animation, you might ask yourself: “Isn't that a good thing?”. But the problem is that it comes at the expense of things that are more important. The show, as a whole, could have been stronger if we spent less time with all the nobodies and also-rans in the Kiraboshi Order of Unclear Goals, and more time establishing our main characters as people, or building up some relevance to the battle over the cybodies. Maybe a couple of the villains could get full supporting character development, but only ones that could actually tie in, rather than distracting from what's actually important here.
I say this especially because, once the show actually gets around to giving answers and doing things that aren't just developing Kiraboshi Order of Angst mooks or giving us the 90% same fight every episode... it actually has good answers and good elements. The final arc's involvement with Sugata is a great turn of events, but it's squandered because he says probably half a dozen words after the turn. The villain's master plan is great, and in a better work with a better explored villain it could have been something amazing... but we only learn about it in the literally final episode, mere minutes before he's defeated for good. Other arcs, involving the Shrine Maidens and even the heroes would have had more of an impact if the show as a whole had been paced better, introducing topics, letting them sit with us, and developing them over the passage of time so they have some natural growth, rather than just throwing them at us and resolving them about as suddenly. The entire structure of Star Driver is like drive-by storytelling: Plots, and not ones that benefit from the element of surprise, appear out of nowhere, hit you, and then disappear as suddenly. On the whole, the last act of the show is, again, a bit better about this than the show as a whole, but by the time you get there the damage has already been done.
SCORE BREAKDOWN
Story: 4 (the pacing is wrong and it doesn't know what to focus on)
Art: 7 (It's very pretty, but poorly used)
Sound: 8 (This is strong; the Voice Acting is spot on and Monochrome is a beautiful song)
Character: 5 (There are good characters, but they're the wrong characters)
Enjoyment: 5
TOTAL: 5.8 (6)
Verdict: Some shows are vastly more than the sum of their parts, using elegant structures and moments of brilliance to spin straw into gold and make something amazing or impressive out of bits and pieces that wouldn't be that good on their own. Star Driver is the opposite: it takes a bunch of good pieces and proves, that with bad pieces placed in exactly the wrong places, all those good elements can fail to add up to anything worthwhile. It's not the worst show I've seen, not by a long shot. It isn't even particularly bad. But all the same, it's enough of a waste that I really couldn't and wouldn't recommend it.
spiderjerusalem
Star Driver is... an interesting experience. It's a formulaic "villain of the week" mech show, but also a very ambitious and unique one. Though it definitely had a set pattern to it, it tried to go somewhere different within that pattern. I went into the show expecting to be indifferent towards it, but that's not the effect I got. Star Driver is at the very least worth a glance; here's why. Story - 7/10 The story is pretty good. It's ambitious and certainly quirky. It starts off strong and gets weak nearer to the end, but the ending makes up for it. Admittedly, Star Driver's story hasdefinite flaws. In many instances, the viewer is left to figure things out on their own. We're never really told why many of the events in the show are happening, or even why they matter. As I said, it follows a "villain of the week" format; each week, the protagonist fights a new enemy and beats them (with a few episodes not fitting this pattern). The show is reminiscent of Revolutionary Girl Utena in this aspect. Many of the episodes have their own side plot, usually relating to the enemy for that week. We get a lot of info we don't need, but not a lot that we do. Even in the end there are a resounding number of questions left unanswered. If bones wanted to, they could probably make a season two. They don't need to, as the ending is a very good example of an ending that makes up for the flaws in a series.
Art - 10/10
The characters are drawn in a very fluid (if not anorexic) manner. The show's animation never looks bad. What stands out are the mech fights. The battles are GORGEOUS. No two ways about it. Part of me thinks that Star Driver was just made so that bones could show off their skill in the field of animation. If that's the case, well played. All the fights are a definite treat to watch. The mech designs are reminiscent of Mamoru Nagano's work (Five Star Stories, Heavy Metal L Gaim) and they ARE out there.
Sound - 7/10
The soundtrack is pretty nice and fits the general mood of the show. The insert songs playing during the battles is a very nice touch. The openings and endings are fine. Nothing too noteworthy, though check out the insert song "Monochrome". It's fantastic.
Character - 7/10
While Star Driver has issues with its story, character development is handled rather nicely in this show. If anything, it focuses so much on character development that it neglects the story. We know why each of the characters are motivated, from protagonist to antagonist. Though at first it leaves us in suspense, we gradually learn about each of the important characters, maybe more than we needed to. Still, there's a bit left out, likely for suspense. THAT BEING SAID; the cousins arc is one of the most pointless things ever. Why? This arc has characters that were literally brought in, given no backstory, and filled up space. This is the best example of bad character development in this show.
Enjoyment - 9/10
GINGA! BISHOUNEN! Star Driver is indeed a fun watch; it's humorous, intense, and witty. The fights are great and the jokes are pretty funny. For all its flaws I was anxious each week for what the next episode would have. Personally, I love Star Driver for what it is. Is it a masterpiece? No, but it's certainly a fun shonen series.
Overall - 8/10
Averaging all previous factors, the score is a decent 8, mostly due to enjoyment. It's hardly the best show in recent years (that would be Madoka Magica), but it's definitely an enjoyable one. Even with all it's problems I'd still recommend it as an enjoyable shonen mech series. Light to decent 8.
siutou
Horray for Maho Shou...nen! Complete with magical transformation sequences, swords emerging from bodies(1), Juri (2) and Sailor Uranus/Neptune (3) characters, and mechs with heels! XD The best part about this show is that it's done by Bones, so the art is consistently good. This is one of the shows I look forward to the most this season, and although the story isn't mind blowingly unique, it's still refreshing. And the fight scenes are like emo versions of Sengoku Basara (4). What more could you ask for? 1. See Revolutionary Girl Utena 2. See Revolutionary Girl Utena 3. See Sailor Moon S 4. See Sengoku Basara Updatesince seeing the ending: kind of a let down - and the last episode failed to conclude many of the story points, in addition to looking like Gurren Laggan... -1. What happened? ;_;
laketica
I'm a huge fan of the voices in this anime, which was my main reason for starting it. Now that I've completed it, I can officially say... what the hell? =( Where this anime loses points for me is all through the STORY... and that's pretty important. A lot of the episodes were spent doing nothing, when there was a lot to be done and a lot of unknowns to explore. I appreciated the karaoke with Keito (best scene EVER!) and the overall comedy, but I think that the writers could have tried a little harder instead of leaving a million loose ends. Don't get me wrong,I enjoyed the quirks they explored with each of the students, but felt that things could have moved a bit faster.
The ending was unsatisfying to me, personally, because I like to settle everything. Is it because there might be a second season? I'm not so sure about that, I think it's just because they simply shrugged off the details while they wrapped it up.
The drawing is adorable, especially Takuto and vice president, and I rather enjoyed the sparkly sparkle of each apprivoise and battle. I enjoyed listening to the beautiful voices of Miyano Mamoru and Jun Fukuyama.
Also, I can't believe the limited # of moves Takuto learned... still galactic cross slash, even in the last ep? -_- There's just so much potential that they didn't even touch, about Takuto and his dad, about Sugata and Wako and Takuto, about each of the characters... Why, why, why did it end like this?!
Kiraboshi.
StCrimson667
There was just something about this anime, I don't know what it was, which just kept drawing me in. I would have moments where I was hesitant to continue watching episodes, maybe looking at all the episodes I still have yet to watch and thinking about how they were going to fill them all, but, when I finally did decide to continue, there was just something that hooked me and made me fall in love with this anime all over again. This anime reminds me of Gundam Seed, except with less action and more character development. This anime has a pretty big cast of characters andwhile some didn't get the exploration I think they deserved (come on! George and Tetsuya are the hottest guys in the anime and they're barely in it! I feel ripped off! I need my eye candy! D:), this show just seems to have a way of making you fall in love with characters you never thought you would fall in love with and, in the end, I think that's something about the show that is simply amazing, it makes you love its characters so much.
A lot of people felt that the lore was really esoteric, but I followed it all pretty easily and it's certainly not any more out there than a lot of other animes I've watched. When it's at its worst, this anime is a simple, plain Mecha anime with a mystic twist, not bad, just a little plain, but, when it decides to get its act together, oh, can it ever be good! There are twists which I was amazed at and moments that tugged at my heartstrings. Mizuno, who I really didn't like at first as she seemed annoying and childish, has such an amazing arc that had me amazed when the big twist finally came and, in the end like every other character, I came to love her so much! This anime definitely gets better as it goes, building off of what the earlier episodes work hard to set down and make the audience comfortable with, until it becomes great. This is also an anime that, even though it's protagonist is male, is arguably a female-driven anime with the majority of characters being female and having the most time dedicated to them and their character developments. Overall, it's definitely not an anime for everyone and I think it may be better for some people to watch the movie instead as it works to streamline the story, but, overall, I definitely don't regret watching this anime. It's not good enough for me to consider watching it again, but it's definitely one I'm glad to have watched and to have in my completed collection.
Still, the extra content in the movie is so amazing, especially if you've watched the whole anime. If anything, those few extra minutes gives this anime a huge boost.
This is an anime that I find very hard to grade, there are things I adored, but also things that hold me back so, overall, I have to give it 7.5 cybodies out of 10, maybe a bare 8 with the extra movie content attached one.
And the adventures of life continue on.... :)
revolt01
Star Driver is a very cool anime. I found it really enjoying. If you want fan service, I think this got lots. At first, I was like 'another mecha' but no, it isn't just mecha. It is a mecha full of actions, comedies and dramas. This anime has one of the best combo. It didn't fail to amuse me. The art is very interesting. I found it much excellent by checking all of the robots/cybodies. The actions thrilled me much. It also makes me wanna punch my laptop sometimes. So if I were you, I'll watch this with a large bucket of popcorn and sit like a boss.
Cauthan
(This is a spoiler-free review adapted for this site) [Synopsis]: After swimming from the mainland, Takuto Tsunashi (Miyano, Mamoru) washes ashore on the Southern Cross Isle. After being revived and cared for by Wako Agemaki (Hayami, Saori) and Sugata Shindou (Fukuyama, Jun) Takuto decides to enroll at the local high school where he meets other students but all the while a mysterious organization has set its plans into motion on the island. The Glittering Crux Brigade, utilizing robot-like technology called ‘Cybodies’ which can only be piloted in a dimension called Zero Time, attempt to break the seals of the island’s designated maidens in order to loosetheir technology on the rest of the world. As a Galactic Pretty Boy, it is up to Takuto and his own cybody Tauburn to thwart them and their leader ‘Head’ (Ishida, Akira).
[Characters]:
There actually isn’t too much to say about the shows protagonist, Takuto Tsunashi. He’s not quite carefree but does exhibit a cheerful demeanor, especially around his friends and becomes serious enough when he needs to be. His cheeriness aside, Takuto doesn’t really have much to his name and without the aid of the famously eccentric Miyano Mamoru – would be a highly forgettable character as he lacks complexity even at a basic level. His desires are straightforward and he does not act proactively within the show so its hard to see if there is anything less than obvious going on beneath the surface with him. It is hard to characterize or describe Takuto outside of his enthusiasm which presents a problem for the show which he must act as the main character in.
Wako, the island’s southern maiden, is the one who finds Takuto unconscious on the beachhead and resuscitates him. She is engaged to Sugata however as the show quickly reveals – this arrangement holds about as much gravity to it as if they were distant neighbors. The reason this is bothersome is because Wako promptly finds herself in a love triangle between Takuto and Sugata as she is attracted to both of them – so why her marriage arrangement even exists in the first place is a bit of a conundrum. Wako herself is fairly simplistic like Takuto in that the only things of note within the show are her love interests and her identity as a maiden for this makes her a target of the Glittering Crux Brigade.
Of the three main characters, Sugata is the most calm and emotionally reserved. Despite being engaged to Wako he doesn't seem to mind her and Takuto hitting it off or even going on dates however he does appear to care deeply for Wako and subsequently Takuto who he befriends quickly after his arrival. While he is protective of Wako he is unable to do much when Takuto battles with the Glittering Crux Brigade in Zero Time which forces him into a position of inaction – Not the most exciting character trait.
Lastly, because the Glittering Crux Brigade and the school which Takuto attends have so many different members and students respectively, a great deal of the cast is given plenty of screen time. While they do not necessarily make up for the rather plain main cast of characters, they are greatly varied and provide a good measure of entertainment as they interact with each other and the protagonists – they display good individuality and at times can be the most interesting thing in the episode.
[Art/Animation]:
The art and animation is quite good with consistent detail throughout the 25 episodes. While there are no notable drops in quality, the approach to animation sometimes changed depending on the scene. Action scenes featuring the cybodies would sometimes take on a harsher level of shading and the frame rate might lower a by a few however the technique worked well for the action sequences and was even reminiscent of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann at times.
Takuto’s design is quite vibrant, primarily when he is in his transformed / piloting state of the ‘Galactic Pretty Boy. The Glittering Crux Brigade sport crude and revealing outfits which, while matching well with each other, do not really have anything tying them theme-wise to the show or setting itself.
[Story]:
The story has a good deal going on inside of it but not everything is immediately relevant to the primary plot – which is fine. Some of the more interesting character interactions and exchanges happen independently of the Glittering Crux Brigade’s episodic attempts to break the maiden’s seals and fulfill their goal.
The show starts in a “fight an episode” style formula however stays true to that form with only small variations for what I would consider far too long a time. With near comedic timing, the main cast will be enjoying themselves, the Crux Brigade will interrupt by initiating Zero Time by way of their Cybodies, Takuto and Tauburn defend Wako and defeat the enemy at hand, the day resumes. While there are other subplots and characters at play in the show alongside this conflict, the monotony of the presentation is quite memorable. Which brings me to my next point:
The characters in this show, for lack of a better phrase, are unrealistically stupid. Firstly, the members of the Glittering Crux Brigade, while expressing disdain for Takuto each time they are defeated and scheming on the sidelines all the while, never feel like they are truly trying to accomplish their objective. They wish for nothing more than to best Tauburn in Zero Time and break Wako’s maiden seal however their diversity of strategy is severely lacking among other things. The true problem with this is that the show gives specific insight into how dumb the characters are being. If they fail to defeat Takuto, why not send in multiple cybody pilots at once to defeat him you ask? Perhaps it because they can’t due to the rules of Zero Time… however this is not the case – they are perfectly capable of fighting in pairs as well as trios and so whatever reason that exists as to why they cannot all team up on him at once is completely lost to me. Furthermore, while one cybody will differ from the next in design and sometimes weapons, the strategies the drivers employ are almost always ‘attack head on and brute force a victory’. The fights themselves are quite nice and well choreographed but upon realizing what the Brigade should be capable of on paper, their actions are extremely underwhelming.
To capstone this last point concerning the unintelligent behavior of the characters – Takuto himself is quite frustrating in this regard. Despite the fact that he knows the Brigade is after Wako, he never takes steps to further protect her other then when he fights on her behalf in Zero Time. He is entirely aware of the danger to her on the island however at no point in the entire series does he do any more than wait for the next day to arrive before he is again launched into Zero Time to fight. He knows where the enemy’s headquarters is after episode one but fails to take advantage of this information in any way. It is this stagnation of action that further cripples him as a character for me.
Lastly, the show at times boasts what I would describe as ‘false depth. Over the course of the first few episodes we are told a story by the Northern maiden and later in the show are presented with a stage production of a related story. These scenes by themselves are actually quite good and are of my more favorite moments of the show however it is in their near-allegorical nature that they become problematic. The stories these scenes detail are at times quite referential to the plot of the show itself however these parallels don’t always make direct sense and sometimes could refer to multiple things within the plot. It is this lack of a decisive or clear feeling that cheapens what could have been very interesting story telling.
[Music]:
The music was what I thought was one of the more positive points of the show. Each maiden is attributed one song and these songs often play in correspondence with their character arcs. These songs usually show up come Zero Time and because there is a decent variety of them on top of the orchestral score – I think they keep what could be very monotonous and repetitive transformation sequences quite fresh and fun.
The score outside of these maiden songs is not as impressive to me as a listener however the orchestral themes go quite well with the mecha action of the show and lends itself well to the dramatic points of the show as well.
[Final Thoughts and Rating]:
The show is fun however has actively negative elements that impair it’s presentation overall. There are a great number of things, like Takuto’s outlandish title of Galactic Pretty Boy and the Glittering Crux Brigade’s outfit designs that might suggest the show is attempting to parody something however I saw no conclusive evidence on this note and therein I felt the crudeness of these things worked against what I would have thought was supposed to be a serious show outside of the school happenings and romantic exchanges.
Rating: 5
I gave the show a 5 because it failed in many aspects to become memorable to me. The primary cast lacked characterization and the side characters, while interesting, were put to such frustrating use within the plot of the show that they themselves became disappointing as well. The show doesn't quite answer all of the questions I wish it did and this is fine in some regards however there are few a spoiler-related questions that could have been given room for explanation that would have markedly improved the show’s plot. You will likely reach the end of the show and have a decent number of your questions answered however probably not the ones that you will have wanted to be explored.
[Recommendations]:
I would recommend Star Driver to people who enjoy the more hand-to-hand style of combat mecha as well as those who enjoy the episodic fight presentation as the major bulk of the show is spent in this way. The show doesn't sport much in the way of comedy but viewers who enjoy large casts of characters, each with their own thoughts and motivations, will be entertained by Star Driver however may be disappointed by the way in which the show utilizes these otherwise interesting characters.
