It was not recent that I finished watching Crest of the Stars and it was like a sneak preview of many promises. That is why I had no doubts in moving onto Banner of the Stars, unlike my initial scepticism towards Nanoha A’s due to an average predecessor.
Crest of the Stars was the calm before the storm, as I sensed it to be, the build up for something grander in scale. No doubt about it, the normal humans do not like the Abhs so there will be war.
So what do I hope to expect from Banner of the Stars? Lots of explosions (doh), intensive conversations about military strategies that I probably will not understand due to my poor intellect or may not know whether they are feasible according to common sense and soldiers making reports like ‘WE ARE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!’.
Just three episodes into the start of Banner of the Stars and I am captivated by the dynamics of the interactions between the characters. I mean, we will get to hear Jhinto rant a thousand times about how he wants to be there for Lafiel for all eternity but I was not expecting side characters to be so involved. It feels as if Jhinto and Lafiel are merely narrators of the story and the others are the true stars of the story. But I have only started so we shall see.
To support my claim that my memory is horrible, allow me to present with the fact that I cannot remember in which episode, 1 2 or 3 in this case, did the conversation between Spoor and her chief-of-star occurred. It was the one where our feisty lady lamented on how her deputy was not concise in his reports and teased him for his practices. That really made me laugh as it reminded me of my days as a conscripted loyal soldier of the Singapore Army. Although I was trained to fight, somehow I ended up being a personnel in the headquarters of an Army division. That means I am quite like a bridge bunny, except that I do not have boobs and I do not squeal with a cute voice. So whenever I was told to give a status report during a military exercise, my Officer in Command would demand something detailed while my Commanding Officer was more interested in replies like ‘Okay’ or ‘No problem, sir’. They tried to inoculate their various practices into me and it sort of made me a schizophrenic.
Looking at shows like Banner of the Stars and Escaflowne, I realise Sunrise has come a long way since. Sunrise was awesome and she is still in present times, just that there is a feel in its older works that is not present in current ones. Oh well. Sunrise still rocks my soul.
This picture of Lafiel sums up how I was feeling at that moment as I began my journey with Banner of the Stars.
Damn, haven’t started on Banner yet, but Crest really exceeded my (admittedly low, not into the space opera thing) expectations when I initially watched just to satiate my Kawasumi Ayako fix
The Abhs have the best lines ever, they’re so full of themselves it’s just win!
I’m also guilty of watching Crest/Banner/Banner II just for Ayako. And for good reason. She kicked all kinds of ass as Lafiel.
Not exactly one of my favorite animu series of all time, but it was definitely, as you put it, “riveting.”
While Lafiel is great, I am starting to develop fondness for the side characters as well. They seem to be the ones who really bring Banner of the Stars to life.
I watched this stuff a damn long time ago, so most of the minor characters have all but vanished from my memory…
…but Admiral Spoor is hard to forget.