AKA: Seikai no Monshou
Type: TV series - 13 episodes.
Genre: Drama, Sci-fi, Romance (kinda)
Sequels: Banner of the Stars, Banner of the Stars II, Banner of the Stars III (I'm not 100% sure on this last one though, as I can't find it anywhere. Unless the subbing groups just haven't gotten around to it yet)

Plot synopsis
Based on a sci-fi novel series, Crest of the Stars is the first installment in this sci-fi saga. The story follows Jinto (or Gintec, depending on where you're getting your subs from), a young prince, whose world was taken over by the largest Empire in the Galaxy: The Abh. Jinto's father handed their world over to the Abh in exchange for a standing in the Abh Empire. As a result, Jinto became a prince and was shipped off for an Abh Education. Later he meets a princess of the Abh Empire, Lafiel (or Lamhirh, depending on where you're getting your subs from), whom he quickly befriends despite her cold exterior. The Abh empire is plunged into war and the story continues from there... Basically, imagine Babylon-5 in anime form.

Story (9/10)
I loved it. Simple enough.
Like the synopsis says, Jinto and Lafiel are good friends. They're always together, even though it's not really proper for a "noble" like Jinto to be best friends with the Princess of the Empire. Calamity enues, and they stick together through it all.

Characters (8/10)
There's a whole universe of characters (quite seriously), but the only ones that really matter are Jinto and Lafiel. Jinto grew up in an Abh eduaction system, and Lafiel grew up in the Empire's Royal Family, as well as in the military. She's often cold to everyone, but she opens up to Jinto.

Art/animation (9/10)
Despite it being 10 years old (originally aired in January-March of 1999), the art is still very pretty. I would compare it to Gundam Wing if I could, but less focus on huge epic space battles and meccas, more focus on characters and character interactions.

Voice acting, music (7/10)
This one is kind of hard for me to rate, because of Lafiel's personality. I'm not sure if the voice acting was done this way intentionally, but it seemed like her voice has hardly any emotion in it, unless Lafiel's angry or in danger. She's not monotonous, but just seems to lack warmth to her, if that makes any sense. But if you take into account the entire Abh culture, then I guess it would make sense.

Overall (9/10)
I was putting off watching this for months after I got it, and now I'm angry a myself for doing that. The show was awesome.


This same review can be used to describe the sequels as well, since they're just a continuation of the stroy.