i'm way late to the party but i finally watched stars align and the yuu-mitsue bestieship extended my life by a decade

Stars Align (Hoshiai no Sora) has been trending for the past few hours (around 12 now! And it was above BTS for a while!!!). For those who don't watch it, it might be a new thing under their radar, one they haven't seen trending yet. I say, in my personal opinion, it's a must watch!

It's a sports anime, yes, but it's not really about the sport. On My Anime List, the synopsis goes like this:

"Constantly outperformed by the girls' club, the boys' soft tennis club faces disbandment due to their poor skills and lack of positive results in matches. In desperate need of members, Toma Shinjou is looking to recruit capable players, but he fails to scout anyone. Enter Maki Katsuragi, a new transfer student who demonstrates great reflexes when he catches a stray cat in his classroom, instantly capturing Toma's attention. With his interest piqued, Toma ambitiously asks Maki to join the boys' team but is quickly rejected, as Maki doesn't wish to join any clubs. Toma refuses to back down and ends up persuading Maki—only under the condition that Toma will pay him for his participation and cover other club expenses.

As Maki joins the team, his incredible form and quick learning allow him to immediately outshine the rest of the team. Although this gives rise to conflict among the boys, Maki challenges and pushes his fellow team members to not only keep up with his seemingly natural talent, but also drive them to devote themselves to the game they once neglected.

This story focuses on the potential of the boys' soft tennis club and their discovery of their own capability, while also enduring personal hardships and dealing with the darker side of growing up in middle school."

So, without going into spoiler territory, why should you watch it?

For one, the scenes are incredibly storyboarded and craftfully animated. While using standard 2D animation for the foreground characters,

they use 3D animation for the background characters and objects, keeping them moving despite their distance in the scene!

Not to mention the incredible scenery.

The characters are drawn and colored with care, the lines looking painter-ly with their fluidness, and the colors a pastel color, contrasting with the show's heavy themes.

Which brings me to the second point as to why you should watch this.

This show tackles many themes that have been relatively unexplored in anime. Without going into depth, they tackle themes such as child abuse and LGBTQ representation, and many more. It may appear to be a sports anime, but it does not focus on its sports, only in a handful of episodes does the soft tennis place forefront ahead of the issues the characters face.

Lastly, I beg you to watch it because of how it was treated. In short, the creator, Akane Kazuki, wanted to tell an unconventional story, and had originally planned for this anime to be 24 episodes. However, it was axed down to 12 episodes in the spring of last year, and therefore, they could only air the first half of the series. Akane wants to finish the story, but it's up to fans like us who are willing to go the extra mile to advertise it and buy merch to show the company that we want more. If you watch it on legal streaming sites (which it can be abundantly found on) the company will see interest, and want to televise it more!

So, you may be asking, where can I watch it? (Or not, that's fine too.)

Well, its available on Funimation (where there's a dub coming out of it, it's on episode 9 currently) and Hulu (where all the subbed episodes are located)! And, I believe you can find it on Amazon Instant Video as well.

Though, despite all I talk it up, I must issue some content warnings before it starts. This anime is very, very heavy thematically, and I don't want anyone to be surprised when they watch it.

-Child abuse is brought up time and time again throughout the show, with most of its cast having problematic parents who abuse their children, in many ways, not only physical.

-Bullying/cyberbullying is a major theme throughout the show as well, especially in episode three, and throughout one of the character's arcs.

-sadly, alongside the LGBTQ representation, there is transphobia/homophobia.

-furthermore, there are themes of violence, murder, and mild suicide implications sprinkled throughout the show.

EDIT: I've been informed to also include further cws, so these are a few I forgot in the original post!

-existentialism is talked about often throughout the show, by the main character and others!

-in the dub, funimation changed one of the lines to be fatphobic, likely by accident, but still a thing.

So despite the fact this is an incredible show which talks about tooics that deserve to be talked about in today's media, I do acknowledge it isn't for everyone. Which is okay! I just wish for everyone to promote the show as it deserves to be played out in its entirity, instead of being cut short.

Thank you for reading, if you made it this far! I hope you'll give this show a chance!

me, watching the finale of stars align: hm, i wonder if the OP and ED both suddenly cutting off in the middle is a thematic symbol of some kind

me, reading about the troubled production history afterwards: …oh

hey if you've been thinking about watching Stars Align and have been putting it off or waiting to watch it...

Now is the time to watch!

The series just ended with its 12 episode, however that's not where it was meant to end. The show was originally planned to have 24 episodes, but due to the idea that the show wouldn't make money it had to either be extremely condesned or cut in half (that matter occured, giving us an open ending)

The team behind Stars Align could really use alot of feedback on the show right now. Although a second season seems unlikely, there is a chance that the series may be able to continue through a book, manga or perhaps an OVA.

Please watch the show if you've been meaning to, especially on its legal streaming sites (Hulu, Funimation, Crunchyroll) in order to support the studio! Now is the time to watch!

Stars Align (Hoshiai no Sora) has been trending for the past few hours (around 12 now! And it was above BTS for a while!!!). For those who don't watch it, it might be a new thing under their radar, one they haven't seen trending yet. I say, in my personal opinion, it's a must watch!

It's a sports anime, yes, but it's not really about the sport. On My Anime List, the synopsis goes like this:

"Constantly outperformed by the girls' club, the boys' soft tennis club faces disbandment due to their poor skills and lack of positive results in matches. In desperate need of members, Toma Shinjou is looking to recruit capable players, but he fails to scout anyone. Enter Maki Katsuragi, a new transfer student who demonstrates great reflexes when he catches a stray cat in his classroom, instantly capturing Toma's attention. With his interest piqued, Toma ambitiously asks Maki to join the boys' team but is quickly rejected, as Maki doesn't wish to join any clubs. Toma refuses to back down and ends up persuading Maki—only under the condition that Toma will pay him for his participation and cover other club expenses.

As Maki joins the team, his incredible form and quick learning allow him to immediately outshine the rest of the team. Although this gives rise to conflict among the boys, Maki challenges and pushes his fellow team members to not only keep up with his seemingly natural talent, but also drive them to devote themselves to the game they once neglected.

This story focuses on the potential of the boys' soft tennis club and their discovery of their own capability, while also enduring personal hardships and dealing with the darker side of growing up in middle school."

So, without going into spoiler territory, why should you watch it?

For one, the scenes are incredibly storyboarded and craftfully animated. While using standard 2D animation for the foreground characters,

they use 3D animation for the background characters and objects, keeping them moving despite their distance in the scene!

Not to mention the incredible scenery.

The characters are drawn and colored with care, the lines looking painter-ly with their fluidness, and the colors a pastel color, contrasting with the show's heavy themes.

Which brings me to the second point as to why you should watch this.

This show tackles many themes that have been relatively unexplored in anime. Without going into depth, they tackle themes such as child abuse and LGBTQ representation, and many more. It may appear to be a sports anime, but it does not focus on its sports, only in a handful of episodes does the soft tennis place forefront ahead of the issues the characters face.

Lastly, I beg you to watch it because of how it was treated. In short, the creator, Akane Kazuki, wanted to tell an unconventional story, and had originally planned for this anime to be 24 episodes. However, it was axed down to 12 episodes in the spring of last year, and therefore, they could only air the first half of the series. Akane wants to finish the story, but it's up to fans like us who are willing to go the extra mile to advertise it and buy merch to show the company that we want more. If you watch it on legal streaming sites (which it can be abundantly found on) the company will see interest, and want to televise it more!

So, you may be asking, where can I watch it? (Or not, that's fine too.)

Well, its available on Funimation (where there's a dub coming out of it, it's on episode 9 currently) and Hulu (where all the subbed episodes are located)! And, I believe you can find it on Amazon Instant Video as well.

Though, despite all I talk it up, I must issue some content warnings before it starts. This anime is very, very heavy thematically, and I don't want anyone to be surprised when they watch it.

-Child abuse is brought up time and time again throughout the show, with most of its cast having problematic parents who abuse their children, in many ways, not only physical.

-Bullying/cyberbullying is a major theme throughout the show as well, especially in episode three, and throughout one of the character's arcs.

-sadly, alongside the LGBTQ representation, there is transphobia/homophobia.

-furthermore, there are themes of violence, murder, and mild suicide implications sprinkled throughout the show.

So despite the fact this is an incredible show which talks about tooics that deserve to be talked about in today's media, I do acknowledge it isn't for everyone. Which is okay! I just wish for everyone to promote the show as it deserves to be played out in its entirity, instead of being cut short.

Thank you for reading, if you made it this far! I hope you'll give this show a chance!

thinking back to the scene with Toma's mom is really funny because it was just like

Toma: mom i won except i didn't i lost.

His mom: I'm so proud of you and I hate you so much. lol bye.

HNS finale in three words

the real evil in hoshiai no sora isn’t the shitty parents, but rather the executives who forcibly made the staff cut this show in half

episode 5 ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎vs ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎episode 11

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎”thank you”

creators of hoshiai: what’s that? you like this character?

us: yeah

creators of hoshiai: yeah? well what if we just... introduce their parent(s)?

us: wHY WOULD YOU EVEN DO THA-

Rip to the rest of the parents in Hoshiai No Sora but Maki's mom, Shingo's dad, and Rintaro's parents are different.

Me @ almost every parent in Hoshiai no Sora:

Hoshiai no Sora and the focus on dysfunctional family relationships

One of the major complaints I’ve noticed that people have about this show is the heavy focus on the very unhealthy relationship the majority of our soft tennis boys has with their family, particularly their parents. People find that it’s either too dramatized, unrealistic or too heavy handed to be introduced to these issues in each episode. 

While I see some validity in the fact that many of us didn’t expect to have such heavy topics presented in our deceivingly chill sports anime about soft tennis, I think a lot of these complaints are shortsighted. After the first episode scene with Maki’s dad, it becomes very clear that this anime was gonna be tackling some very heavy subject matter. And as each eps goes by and we learn more about our characters, we’re introduced to such a variety of very real issues that affect so many people, maybe even ourselves. Abusive parents both physically and mentally, helicopter parenting, parents who don’t support their child’s dreams, kids struggling with their gender/sexual identity and parents being non-supportive of that, adopted kids insecurities and so on and so forth. 

Yes, that’s a lot. Yes it’s ambitious. Yes the sport is not the main focus. But that’s the story that the creators of the show are using this anime medium to tell. The story of these very real life familial problems that have drawn these characters together to find the comfort, companionship and support in each other that they so desperately lack at home. These are middle school aged kids and there are so many issues that kids this age deal with in all walks of life. And this story chooses to focus on family relationships. And they’ve been telling that story with so much care and nuance. Either it resonates with you or it doesn’t. Either way, that’s valid, but I think it’s important to acknowledge, that these are very real issues that they’re tackling and it’s not as simple as “why does every parent suck that’s so lazy and unrealistic”. I only wish they had more episodes to flesh out these stories but I am anxious to see how they choose to wrap everything up.

toma found out maki’s dad is an abusive piece of shit and went straight to suggesting murder and I can respect that