Crest of the Stars (DVD)

This review is for Crest of the Stars, complete collection, from Bandai currently available on DVD at better retailers near you. The series follows the characters Jinto and Lafiel through 13 episodes of discovery and exploration, with one or two space battles thrown in for good measure.

Without giving away too much of the series plot the story begins with Jinto while he is still a young boy. A fleet from the Human Empire Abh encircles his home planet, Martine, which narrowly avoids destruction due to its president’s, who also happens to be Jinto’s father, astute diplomatic skills. A deal is brokered, a deal that establishes the President as the new Abh planetary ruler, and thus making Jinto a member of the Abh elite. From here the story fast-forwards seven years to Jinto as a young man waiting in spaceport for a vessel to take him to Abh military school, and the action quickly takes off from there.

Considering that the price for the complete collection is reasonable ($50.00 U.S. for the complete 4 DVD set) and the series makes a nice departure from the “alien menace threatens mankind” and “giant fighting robots” that seem to proliferate in so many Anime series Crest of the Stars is definitely worth a look.

And what do you get for your buck? The DVD features and extras include: Dolby Digital stereo, Japanese and English language audio, English language subtitles, Crest of the Stars History (Vols. I-IV), an alternate textless opening and a textless ending sequence, and each DVD has a selection of trailers for various Anime series. (Mostly Toonami type fare.) But what really recommends this series is the drama and meta-plot that could serve as the basis for a larger science fiction game setting, a setting that is on par with the universe of George Lucas’ Star Wars mixed with the intensity of David Weber’s Honor Harrington novels set against a richly developed background like the one presented in Frank Herbert’s Dune saga.

The Setting: A distant future in which mankind has explored and colonized the far distant stars. However not all is well and peaceful in space. The Abh, originally a race of genetically bred workers, a race who rebelled and destroyed their former creators, sit poised to take over and rule all of human occupied space. Seen as arrogant and condescending by the rest of humanity, perhaps because the Human Empire Abh controls access to most Sords (think slipstream portals or hyperspace gateways) leading into Plane Space (relatively equivalent to Hyperspace) and the fact Abh show little interest in the day-to-day affairs of the planets they annex. To the Abh this is how things should be, they were bred for life in space, and thus they leave the day-to-day affairs of planets to their Lords and people.

Abh society centers primarily on space and space exploration, thus leaving the solar systems they annex to the governance of what are essentially feudal Abh lords. If this sounds familiar it is because the Abh political/societal structure is somewhat reminiscent of the Imperial society found in Frank Herbert’s Dune saga. Not quite exact, but close enough to warrant mention. Thus the stage is set for intrigue and conflict, situations which Jinto and Lafiel must face and deal with from their first meeting.

The Story: The series follows Lafiel and Jinto’s journeys through various hardships and adventures while attempting to make it to the Abh capitol. It is seven years after the annexation of Martine by the Human Empire Abh. Lafiel, a pretty young pilot cadet in training, is assigned to transport Prince Jinto via shuttle to the Gosroth, a vessel that is assigned to take the young Prince to military school for further training. En route the Gosroth is attacked and the Captain gives Lafiel the Gosroth’s logbook and orders her to transport Jinto to safety. The couple departs in one of the Gosroth’s communications craft. Various problems ensue and they are eventually forced to make a crash landing on a planet within a system that an enemy fleet sets poised to occupy.

Game: None. This is an Anime series. However it is well worth watching for Game Masters considering running, or currently running, any futuristic Space Opera style campaign. Of course fans of Anime don’t need an excuse.

System: Players and Game Master alike will need to have a solid vision of the sort of universe in which they’d like to play. Obviously an adaptation of any series- novel, movie, or otherwise- will require a system capable of presenting at the very least the basic elements of the established universe. In this case Crest of the Stars presents a futuristic hard science fiction universe with a strong space opera element. That means any rules sought will have to be able to handle starships and space travel, and all the tropes and gimmicks that such a setting might entail. Style here will be everything so the less the Game Master has to tweak a rules system the better, but don’t expect to find a system that wont require at least some minor tweaking to fit the universe of the Abh.

Character Creation: There are actually a number of possibilities for adapting such a series for use as a role-playing setting. Of course one has to begin with a set of rules that is suited to the setting. Perhaps one of the more popular set of rules put out for this genre in recent memory is BESM (Big Eyes, Small Mouth), of which there are numerous reviews available in the review archives section of this site. But as character creation would merely be a function of the rule mechanics read on.

Mechanics: There are a lot of systems on the market today that could be suitable for use in adapting Crest of the Stars for use as the basis for a role-playing game. For instance a lot of supplementary material exists for the D20 product line- ranging from d20 versions of Star Wars and Traveller to totally original, sometimes generic, rule templates that may be suitable for creating a gaming universe with the feel of an Anime inspired Space Opera based campaign. However D20 is not for everyone nor is it the only established generic rule set worth considering. For instance there is GURPS, Alternity, or the Fuzion system; all of which have supplementary rules material that could be suitable for the stage dressing and backdrop for the style of play that a game of Crest of the Stars would require. Just be aware it may be more difficult to find supplements for certain older systems. Too, some other systems that sound promising include: Core Command, the Tri-Stat Core System, Spacemaster, or perhaps StarCluster. If you are pressed for money you may also try demo/free versions of systems like: Adventures in Space, Aurora, Future Shadows, or the classic Star Frontiers rule set. There are also lite fast play rule versions of Alternity, Light Speed, and Transhuman Space available for download. The morale here being it is best not to grab the first “science fiction” system that you find. There are more than enough game systems out there so shop around, read the rules, and be sure the system is capable of doing what you want it to do before purchasing it. Just be aware whatever system you decide upon is likely to require some tweaking.

Given that most Anime begins life with a Japanese language incarnation finding moments where character dialog sounds like it was translated using a bad phrase book written by someone with little grasp of English language colloquialisms is inevitable. Yet, given the popularity of Anime and the many years that it has been exported to the West, one would assume that such difficulties in translation would have long ago be rectified. Perhaps part of the problem herein is that the target audience for most Anime serials tend to be young adults, meaning teenagers, as is plainly stated on the DVD Crest of the Stars is intended for ages 13 and up. Which perhaps explains the elementary language and unrefined turn of phrase sometimes employed in this series. Then again if you don’t like the English language dub there are always the subtitles, which present a slightly different dialogue. Thus the positives and negatives here balance out.

Crest of the Stars is a first-rate and well fleshed out series destined to take a place on the shelves of Anime aficionados next to such classics as Tenchi Muyo, Outlanders, Starblazers, Robotech, and the Harlock Saga. Furthermore a quick search on Google for “Crest of the Stars” reveal some 12,000 hits, which is not surprising considering this series is based on a popular series of science fiction novels, beginning with Seikai no Monshou, by author Morioka Hiroyuki. This means reference material is only a search engine away. (To say nothing of the novels available to Japanese gamers.) Major plus.

Negatives: For all that this Anime is based on a popular series of Japanese novels this does not change the fact that the series runs a paltry 13 episodes. That’s hardly enough episodes to properly flesh out the background details and meta-plot for most hour long science fiction series, and these episodes barely approach 30 minutes apiece! Also undercutting the series luster is a lack of action, action that could have covered up the rather stilted sometimes-juvenile dialog. What this series needs is a feature length version, alas there appears to be no official word on whether any sort of feature length version- OAV, Manga, or otherwise- of the series may be in the works or whether such have already been done and may be released in future.

Positives: This is likely to be a sleeper classic, especially since it has been aired on Tech TV, and thus brought to the attention of a wider audience. Another major plus is the fact the follow-up series, Banner of the Stars, which views more like the next chapter continuation from the last episode of this series is also out on DVD. For role-players wishing to adapt this series for play the extras and liner notes contain enough thumbnail details so that a primer for the universe can be put together, though not without some work, but others have had far less to work with. So that’s a plus.

Closing Comments: This series has great potential, and not just as a gem mine of ideas for role-playing game scenarios. Of course time will only tell whether that potential sees full bloom or it fades into the gloom of anime obscurity. In the meantime there is the collectors edition DVD to enjoy.

Happy gaming!