I love the Seikai series (Crest/Banner of the Stars)

[greg]

As far as I am aware of, the Seikai series was the last true space opera to hit the anime medium since Legend of the Galactic Heroes. A cross between Star Trek and Babylon 5, Hiroyuki Morioka not only created an intriguing universe in which the humans are the aggressors, but a fascinating concept of space travel, an enthralling alien culture, and even an intricate language to go along with it. Like LOGH, this series was originally a series of SF novels before it became an anime and manga. Tokyo Pop released the three books of Crest of the Stars novel series in English. I'm glad that they did so, but unfortunately they never went beyond that.

Most Western fans were introduced to the series when Crest of the Stars was aired on Tech TV (before it became G4 TV and more successful by appealing more towards the lower common denominator). I don't know if Banner of the Stars was aired as well or not. I discovered the series through the manga. About 7 years ago, I was going through the manga section at a used bookstore called Bookmans in Phoenix, AZ and I noticed it was a science fiction manga. I didn't care for the cover art, but once I opened it up, my interest was piqued with the grand visuals, the great spaceship designs, and the charming DFC heroine, Lafiel. I bought it, took it home to read it, and soon went back to buy the other manga in the series. Once I realized that the series was released domestically by Bandai, I soon bought the DVD sets as well. This show is just really cool, but it's unfortunate that Banner of the Stars III was never released in North America. I watched the fansub and would buy it immediately if it were to be released in English, but I don't know what Bandai is up to anymore these days.

I have collected the Lafiel figure by Yujin as well as the Playstation and Playstation II games. I love this series.

[Heibi]

This is one of my favorites.

[greg]

Actually, I've never seen Ideon. But that falls under the giant robot category, right? Seikai is space opera through and through, just like LOGH. The series really captures the impression of the simultaneous horror and beauty of space warfare. My favorite is Banner of the Stars I. The Abh had secured a planet in the Aptic system, yet they had yet to subdue the human population. Then a confrontation ensues between the occupying Abh fleet and the Human League fleet. The Human League ships launch a huge barrage of missiles from planar space (like hyperspace) through the star gate at the Abh fleet. An entire episode is devoted the intense action of the protagonists' gunship confronting the missiles and trying to protect the capital ships. Explosions are everywhere, and the entire episode is very intense. All of this happens, and the Human fleet has yet to emerge from the gate. Similar to LOGH, an episode can be mostly dialogue, and other episodes can be nothing but action. Another great scene is in Crest of the Stars when Lafiel steps onto a planet for the first time in her life, and sees the stars twinkling under an atmosphere for the first time.

Peter, since you're in Japan, check out Seikai no Monshou (星界の紋章)　then Seikai No Senki (星界の戦記) I, II, and III. I bet you can rent it from your local Tsutaya or Geo.