Crest of the Stars
Crest of the Stars (1999, Seikai no Monsho) is an anime science fiction (space opera (some parts could classify as military science fiction/military space opera)) series based on the same title Japanese science fiction novel published in 1996 written by Morioka Hiroyuki. It ran for 13 episodes on WOWOW. There have been several sequel series - Banner of the Stars (13 episodes, aka Seikai no Senki), Banner of the Stars II (10 episodes, aka Seikai no Senki II), an OVA Crest of the Stars Lost Chapter (aka Seikai no Danshou), and Kin of the Stars.
Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars (series I and II) follow Jinto Lin, a young prince whose world is taken over by the space-dwelling race of the Abh. When Jinto was a young boy, his father, Rock Lin, under threat of invasion, handed over their world, Martine, to the Abh in exchange for a position within Abh society. Young Jinto is sent off to school to learn the ways of Abh nobility and the story of Crest of the Stars picks up as he meets the young Abh princess, Lafiel as they are about to travel to military school for Jinto's further training.
However, in the midst of their travels, Lafiel and Jinto (along with the Abh ship Gosroth) find themselves at the very beginnings of a war between the Abh Empire and the nations of humankind.
The series -- both the anime and novels -- are particularly notable for the fact that Morioka created for them an entire language, Baronh (and an accompanying alphabet, Ath), which the Abh speak, read, and write. Almost all written text in the anime is in Baronh, with occasional text in other (invented) languages; at least one planet is shown to have adopted Ath to write their own language (although this is not a plot point, and easily missed).
Crest of the Stars was released in Japan in 1999 and in the United States by Bandai in 2001. At the end of 2002, TechTV announced that Crest of the Stars was to be one of the initial titles as part of their new Anime Unleashed programming and began broadcast at the end of 2002 and through 2003.
Characters
- Viscountess Paryunu Abriel Nei Dobrusk Lafiel - The strong-willed Abh princess (granddaughter of the Abh empress) who has a steely exterior, but ends up befriending Jinto Lin. Like all Abh, she has beautiful, blue hair and silver eyes and will live for well over 200 years.
- Jinto Lin - Born on the world of Martine, Jinto is very practical and sensible and is very unsure of himself, being suddenly thrown into the life of Abh nobility. He acts as a moderate counterweight to Lafiel's stubbornness.
- Lexshue - Captain of the Gosroth who is every bit as smart, beautiful, dedicated and stubborn as Lafiel is, but older and wiser.
See also
