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Crest of the Stars - To the Stars (Vol. 1)

Crest of the Stars - To the Stars (Vol. 1)

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $26.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Nice
Review: I ordered this DVD not knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. The setting is far into the future mankind having spread out across the universe. The story starts with the main character (well, the story seems to be from his point of view) waiting in a spaceport for a pickup reminescing about how he ended up in his current situation. Not to give too much a way, his home world was conquered by the empire of the Abh, which is a race of humans that migrated to space many generations ago and aim to control space in an attempt to prevent interstellar war. Of course that is their point of view. Many worlds under their control look at them as imperialistic villans. Because of his father's actions the main character became nobility, and he will be travelling to the Abh capital to military school. The episodes on this DVD cover his trip to the Abh ship that will transport him to the capital, the friendship he makes with a cute Abh military trainee, and their trip being interrupted by an attack on the ship by one of the other major empires in the universe that is likely the start of a war.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow. I am Stunned
Review: I picked up this anime on a lark. I had never heard of it before, and had expected it to be only average. Boy was I wrong. I own over dozens of anime series, and this instantly became my all-time favorite. The video is top notch, and both the Japanese and English voices are good.

When Jinto's planet is conquered by the Abh Empire, Jinto is made an Abh nobleman. The series chronicles his and a noblewoman's travels together. This anime is based on a book rather than a manga, and that influence is obvious. The characters spend quite a bit of time talking about their lives and experiences. Moreover, each episode is like a chapter in a book, rather than a complete story. This means that the story progresses pretty slowly. I like this, but some people may not. If you're new to anime, you may wish to check out more popular shows like Tenchi Muyo! or Ranma 1/2. If you're tired of all the comedies and mecca shows, give this disc a try. It's worth the price of admission.

The only problem I have with this show is that only 4 DVDs have been released so far. I've heard that two more series exist in Japan, and I'm breathlessly awaiting them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great potential!
Review: I would really recommend this one. For the first volume, anyone looking for action would certainly find it wanting (although it might pick up on Vol 2). But anime is also about story telling, and I consider this one of the good ones. I especially like how they really go into detail to explain the technology and the political system inherent in their universe. Might not be for the kids though, since the genetic manipulation of the Abh might be a bit ... unconservative.

Basically, the story is about galaxy wide power struggle and the elf and boy that are caught in the center of it. It promises a romantic, and yet intriguing relationship between them. And I can't wait to see what comes out of it (elf and human, 250 against maybe 75 years, if he's lucky ^_^)

If you want a good story and doesn't mind to wait for the action to start (I think it would have some in the future), get this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: :)
Review: Jinto and Leifel's story of a developing love amoung war is great. It is completely chaste. There is a wonderful tension between them, yet they never fully express their feelings to each other. It is totally a pure love between the two of them.

Granted we don't totally get into their story in the first volume, its still good.

I'm not sure whether or not I like how it was drawn. There are some scenes where all you get is an image that is being scanned over, without much movement at all. The panning is very slow, but through a second watch of the series, it doesn't bother you.

However, because of my feelings toward cloning and so forth, I can't say that I got completely on the Abh's side with the battle, but nor was I on the side of the United Mankind. It also made me sad that the Abh's have no marriage. Now I'm typically one who can't stand cheesy romance stories, but the tension eventually makes you want them to be together....to start a family...and it can't because the Abh's would never have that. It seems that they could later deside to combine their genes to produce a child but the child would only be with one parent without the knowledge of who the other parent is. That tension is good. In fact, I don't plan on kissing anyone again until I am at the ulter with my husband. I believe in a total chaste relationship....more than friends, less than lovers. But I also believe that relationship should have a purpose...to decide whether or not marriage is possible in the future. If not, there is no reason to be exclusive with that person.

Knowing that Leifel and Jinto can only really work together with no real future together kind of just leaves you with this "aw shucks" feeling.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: :)
Review: Jinto and Leifel's story of a developing love amoung war is great. It is completely chaste. There is a wonderful tension between them, yet they never fully express their feelings to each other. It is totally a pure love between the two of them.

Granted we don't totally get into their story in the first volume, its still good.

I'm not sure whether or not I like how it was drawn. There are some scenes where all you get is an image that is being scanned over, without much movement at all. The panning is very slow, but through a second watch of the series, it doesn't bother you.

However, because of my feelings toward cloning and so forth, I can't say that I got completely on the Abh's side with the battle, but nor was I on the side of the United Mankind. It also made me sad that the Abh's have no marriage. Now I'm typically one who can't stand cheesy romance stories, but the tension eventually makes you want them to be together....to start a family...and it can't because the Abh's would never have that. It seems that they could later deside to combine their genes to produce a child but the child would only be with one parent without the knowledge of who the other parent is. That tension is good. In fact, I don't plan on kissing anyone again until I am at the ulter with my husband. I believe in a total chaste relationship....more than friends, less than lovers. But I also believe that relationship should have a purpose...to decide whether or not marriage is possible in the future. If not, there is no reason to be exclusive with that person.

Knowing that Leifel and Jinto can only really work together with no real future together kind of just leaves you with this "aw shucks" feeling.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: very good!
Review: so far i have watched vol. 1 to 3 of the dvds and i like what i see. previous poster questioned that there are a lot of flash back scenes, and yes there are. (also to mention that some of teh first release of the dvds have video problems. bandai later changed teh authoring house and all later release of the vol 1 discs are all corrected.) the space battle is kind of liek an intro on what the viewer will see later on as teh story progress. these previews also served as intro information to viewers on abh society and culture. the flash back and fore between time should had been done on many live action films but here is done even better as we can see how jinto felt when his father surrendered their home world to abh and what he had been through and now how regular human sees him as he dressed differently.

the nuclear scene and destruction was a propaganda tape that a group of people were watching at the end of that chapter. remember the old woman whom jinto and lafiel helped when one of the little thief stole her baggage? that old woman was carrying some anti-abh propaganta material. one of the tape contains what kind of destruction abh would bring and what abh do to the world that refused to surrender.

some compare this to star trek. but i think this is better since the whole story is focus on two characters, their emotion, experience as well as the people around them. very character and story oriented. but with nice touch of action. if you keep follwoing into the next vols, you will be hooked. you don't see anime, or better yet any films, live or anime, that are so focus on character and story development.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Nice Start
Review: The First volume can't really set the tone for the entire series, but it is a nice start. It ready reminds me of Record of Lodoss War in Space, a young man with a elf in space(Maybe that's why they also call it "Elf in space" ^_^)

I enjoy it, I hope you do too

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great scifi/fantasy
Review: This is a nice blend of western mythology and scifi. Genetically engineered space elves rule the universe with an iron fist and a beautiful, ever young face. Lovely animation, well developed characters - a great watch whether you are a Cowboy Bebop newbie or a die-hard Macross otaku.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great scifi/fantasy
Review: This is a nice blend of western mythology and scifi. Genetically engineered space elves rule the universe with an iron fist and a beautiful, ever young face. Lovely animation, well developed characters - a great watch whether you are a Cowboy Bebop newbie or a die-hard Macross otaku.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful, excellent space opera!
Review: This is a very beautiful series, thought out to the smallest detail and elegantly depicted. It may move too slowly for some people, as it is based on a novel series and very much shows its roots. The art design is wonderful, from the ship designs to the characters, even the small details like a salute. My major complaint deals with the romanization of names--the novel series included a new language which is an alphabetic system, so a name could be directly spelled in roman characters. The translators chose to ignore this and used questionable romanizations of the names. This series shows great promise, though the first DVD left the viewers in a bit of a cliffhanger (possibly intentionally). If you can deal with a slower pace than most anime, this is a first-class story, very well realized. I eagerly await the next volume!


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