Crest of the Stars. V.1, To the Stars. V.2, The Politics of War. V.3, Wayward Soldiers. V.4, Into the Unknown.
TV series (13 episodes), 1999. Director: Yasuchika Nagaoka. V.1, 4 episodes/100 minutes; V.2 — V.4, 3 episodes/75 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: Bandai Entertainment.

© Hiroyuki Morioka/Hayakawa Publishing, Inc. © SUNRISE. All rights reserved.

This interstellar sci-fi TV serial, animated by the Sunrise studio, is an adaptation of a popular novel by Hiroyuki Morioka; the first of three (so far). Judging from English-language reviews (the novels have not been published in English), most of the praise is going toward the in-depth background that Morioka has created for his Abh galactic empire. Both the animation and the DVD emphasize this, with many signs and captions (including the DVD menu) in the Abh alphabet. The DVD extras include a brief history of the Abh empire, a genealogy of its royal dynasty, the technology of its spaceships' faster-than-light drive, etc.

Without these, and without an American familiarity with the novel, Crest of the Stars seems like a pleasant but unexceptional Young Adult space opera. In the distant future the galaxy has been settled by humanity. There were originally many independent stellar nations, but these are being absorbed into five superpowers. The Hyde System republic has just been forcibly annexed by the Abh Empire, a race of genetically improved humans (they live over 200 years) with an elf-like appearance. The Abh agree, in exchange for a peaceful surrender, to leave Hyde's President Lin as a figurehead royal governor. His teen son, Jinto, is made a minor noble and summoned to the Abh capital to learn their ways of government. Jinto, an intellectual youth, can see both merits and flaws in both Abh and normal humans. The Abh are patronizing but content to control space travel and allow the planets they rule almost complete autonomy. The humans lose their freedom, but the only power they actually surrender is the ability to wage interstellar war against each other. Abh's annexation of Hyde occurs just as the other four major human space governments decide to band together and declare war on the "inhuman monsters." The war starts with a sneak attack on the Star Forces cruiser carrying Jinto to Abh's capital. Jinto, as a civilian, is evacuated in a shuttle with Lafiel, a Princess of the Abh in training as a military cadet. The 13 episodes (January 3 through March 28, 1999) tell the adventures of Jinto and Lafiel as they try to reach the distant Abh capital in a tiny spaceship with war on all sides of them, and theoretically friendly or neutral worlds trying to capture and use them as political pawns.

It is difficult to avoid seeing this as a sci-fi replay of World War II, with the Abh as a possibly haughty but basically well-meaning blend of the Germans and Japanese; a Master Race benevolently governing a Co-Prosperity Empire. Although the translation for the American market is Mankind Empire Abh, an English-language sign in the animation art reads Mankind Reich Abh. Their joint enemies (United Mankind, the Republic of Greater Alcont, the People's Sovereign Union of Planets, etc.) show parallels to one or another of the Allies. How many of today's mostly young anime buyers are likely to catch the references? The story ends extremely abruptly. It resumed in a sequel, Battle Flag of the Stars, which began on TV almost exactly a year later (April 13, 2000) and will doubtlessly also get an American video release soon.