[DreamSword]

Episode 24: The East Maiden

Keito was always my favorite of the Maidens.

Her story technically isn't over yet, as, if memory serves, there's still a little bit more of her left in the final episode. But all the major bits have been covered.

And the way that story has been told has been in such a unique way when compared to literally every other character. All throughout Star Driver, she's been there, and we've been getting little bits of her tale the entire time.

So not only is it a gradual build up with an appropriately melodramatic payoff(heck, the whole episode is full of it), but now, on rewatch, it's been so great to see all of the foreshadowing and to be reminded of just how layered her personality actually is.

She too is a "lovesick girl" as she once called someone else. And her unrequited love is the catalyst for make her a foil to Takuto and Wako. Like Wako and Sugata, she desperately wants her freedom, and like Takuto, she felt outcast by the people she loved. But unlike the Trio, who all have eachother to bring out the best in them, Keito has no one. She's all alone.

It's made thinking about her actions all the more engaging for me on this rewatch, and if memory serves, it makes a bit of what happens next episode something I'm actually excited to re-examine all over again. As it made Keito a bit of a base breaking character for those who watched the show. Will she remain my favorite by end, or will the me that has nearly a decade and a half more life experience and insight do a total 180 on the tastes of my younger self? Either way:

[DreamSword]

Episode 25: Our Apprivoise

The explosive finale to everything, and looking back on it has been rather nice.

First and foremost, let's get what I assume will be the biggest highlight for many out of the way: Monochrome is back, but that's not all.

It transitions into Wako's' Maiden Song: "Contact with the Light Filtering Through the Trees" And it's very much the song that the showrunners were convinced would be the all time favorite, given how many versions of it exist.

But I think they might've also realized that first impressions mean alot, because again, Monochrome is back, which easily became the most popular song in the anime. And lucky for them, given the flow of the episode, it does very much work symbolically: Going from a dark hour to a triumphant one.

Beyond that, this episode is action ontop of action ontop of incredibly hype mecha action and never stops to breathe the moment it starts. Seriously helping with all of that is how the animation in very fluid and very stylized all throughout, thus making this mini action movie even more visually stimulating than it would've already been.

Now, what about the characters? I did mention Keito ending up a certain way last post, didn't I? Well, here's the thing: The reason Keito became a bit of a base breaker was the idea that viewers had that her intended goal was to "corrupt" Sugata in some way. And having now rewatched the show in its entirety, I can confidently say that that's not true. Keito was selfish in wanting her seal broken so she could leave the island, sure, but at the end of the day, she was ready to follow whatever choice Sugata himself made. She had no real say in that.

Sugata himself is revealed to have been willing to sacrifice himself to seal Samekh for good, and given what is revealed about the Cybody's' backstory throughout the show, it's easy to have sympathy for the island-sized mecha. It in itself isn't evil, it's just been misused and abused by so many of its users throughout history. Even the other Cybodies acknowledge this. And Head is the latest in those looking to take Samekh over for selfish gain.

Speaking of which, Head being trapped in how past while never fully understanding nor caring about the how or why he hurt others the way that he did? Not only does it fall in line with him being incredibly possessive, but it's a much better way to both literally and figuratively achieving the "trapped in the past" metaphor than what Kamen Rider Zi-O ever managed to do. Star Driver really has surprised me in how throughout it is, now that it's been years and I have alot more media under my belt. And it makes me appreciate most of the writing of the show all the more.

There is, however, one stipulation with this episode. And that is that, well, it just kinda stops? There's not really a proper ending or epilogue to the story or characters as a whole. Don't get me wrong, I'm still overall satisfied, but man, just one more episode to better wrap things up would've been wonderful to have.

Still, we're not totally done yet. There is but one more piece of Star Driver media for me to cover, and uh, let's just say it's something not too many fans were happy with.

[Name]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

There is, however, one stipulation with this episode. And that is that, well, it just kinda stops?

Takuto and Sugata now just live in space within a broken cybody, their triangle doesn't get resolved, and none of the crux members get to wrap up their business either. Except maybe prez, I guess. Nobody even does anything to Head once he gets clocked.

This show really could've used an extra episode.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Name

This show really could've used an extra episode.

Something something the adventure of life continues.

[Name]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamsword

something something the adventure of life continues.

But how!? Tell me where it leads and how they traverse this adventure! Two of them are trapped in space as far as we know.

[DreamSword]

Star Driver the Movie

Well, here we are. At the thing that sank Star Driver as a franchise.

See, when the movie was first announced, it was advertised as a follow up to the anime proper. Something many fans really wanted.

And so the movie opens with a five minute scene of Takuto fighting Cybodies in the real world. The animation, atmosphere, and action are all excellent. And it makes for a wonderful way to open the movie and get the audience pumped.

But then what the viewer proceeds to get is a two hour compilation movie that has maybe about ten minutes worth of new footage. With alot of that new footage consisting of both the opening that I just talked about as well as the credits showing the Maidens reuniting. It goes without saying that fans were upset.

The review could easily end right there, because afterall, that is essentially what this is: A compilation movie, with all the good and bad that comes with that. And I won't lie that getting denied a proper epilogue gets under my skin a bit too, but as I've said many times before, I personally try to observe a piece of media for what I believe it's actually trying to do, rather than trying to make it my own.

As such, I'm going to judge it solely by compilation movie standards because, believe it or not, compilation movies do serve a purpose, and they can infact be done well. I've seen many of them. Heck, I still plan to watch some others that are in my backlog. Mecha shows in general are no stranger to them. Most notable in this regard is the Gundam franchise, wherein every other entry of the franchise tends to get a compilation movie or two due to just how popular the original Mobile Suit Gundam trilogy ended up being.

Handling this sort of thing can be a tricky business, however. The aforementioned Trilogy, for example, worked so well because not only was it three whole 2+ hour movies dedicated to covering the entirety of the original anime, the structure of said anime resulted in alot of dry air, dead spots, and just plain unimportant scenes that made for easy cuts or edits. You can honestly watch the movies in place of the actual anime and miss close to nothing.

On the other hand is stuff like the Zeta Gundam: A New Translation trilogy of films, which not only cuts the run time of each movie down by alot compared to the original Gundam's' movies, but also cuts out alot of context from the original anime that will leave the viewer confused on alot of fronts if they haven't seen said anime. And that's not even getting into how the movie outright retcon the ending of Zeta Gundam proper. It makes watching the movies next to useless other than if you're someone who cares solely about key events in and of themselves rather than any sort of character context.

With all that said, I unfortunately must deliver the news that the Star Driver movies is alot closer to the Zeta movies in terms of execution rather than those of the OG Gundam ones. Now, that's not to say there was a complete total lack of effort here or anything like that. Like I said, the opening of the movie is rather well executed. There are some new scenes animated for the film to make the pacing of the plot flow a bit better as a movie, and there are even some brand new or otherwise edited lines of dialogue to help in that department too. But unfortunately, this sort of thing was somewhat doomed to fail from the start. Because summing up Star Driver in one movie just feels not possible.

Now, two movies that are both about two hours long? That I could've seen working. Because there are a small handful of episodes in the show that you could almost entirely cut and not missing much. But Star Driver's' plot, while not its most important aspect, well plotted out rather well throughout its 25 episode run. As-is, so much content and context is cut that despite the effort to make things flow better, alot of stuff just gets lost. The biggest thing being almost the entirety of the second half of the show. For example, Head's' coup to put Vanishing Age on top is entirely gone, which makes him keeping Keito's' identity a secret make to sense. Heck, almost all of Keito's' arc is cut out too, which means she barely qualifies as a character in the context of this movie.

It honestly made sitting through this movie really tough for me, because all it meant was that I was seeing a way lesser version of the anime that I just got done thoroughly enjoying. Analyzing it was a bit interesting I suppose, but just like, watching it? As a viewer? For entertainment? I feel bad for anyone who decided to see this movie first. I feel like it's an example of the exact sort of thing that the people who try to skip "filler" in shows don't realize that they're asking for. Heck, even as a standalone piece, there's so little in the ways of characterization and development that it made it tough to care about anything going on. And that's a major shame because the characters really are where Star Driver shines most other than debatablely its soundtrack. And it's not like alot of the mecha fights are maintained either.

So, yeah. I really can't recommend this movie on any level, unfortunately. Maybe if you're a fan and you're just really that curious about the new footage and what edits were made, but even then I'd say watch the movie at double speed. Such a shame that this was how this potential franchise had to go out.

But hey, atleast its theme song is nice.

[DreamSword]

FINAL THOUGHTS ON STAR DRIVER

As sad as it is to say, Star Driver is a shining example of a "fad anime."

What I mean by that is that while it was very popular for its time, as time went on, less and less people talked about it, and now the show is relatively obscure.

And really, I feel like that's a total shame because there's still so much great stuff to be found here. If you want the short version of this post, it's that if you're even remotely interested in this show, you should watch it.

Because really, where else are you gonna find a Magical Boy Slice of Life Romantic Comedy Mecha Tokusatsu anime? And not once does anything about it ever feel out of place, regardless of whatever inherent tropes that comes with so many genres are played straight or subverted.

I can't state enough just how much of a joy rewatching this actually was for me. Like Samurai Flamenco, Star Driver impressed with just how smart it actually was, despite on the surface appearing to be something rather outlandish and basic. And just like Flamenco, you absolutely can just turn your brain off when watching it, but looking deeper yields its own reward.

That was for sure my experience. When I first watched the show as it was airing, I was mainly captivated by the more flashy and comedic aspects of the show, while not really paying any mind to the finer details. And now here, on rewatch, I see just how much Star Driver actually respects that the viewer is paying attention. The amount of fore thought put into the plot and character arcs is actually really nice.

But as wonderful as most of the characters are, O can't help but think that the biggest plus in all of this is the soundtrack. As I've noted before, Star Driver has one of my favorite soundtracks in all of anime. Not only because the music itself is so good, because it is, but the way that it's utilized within the show itself really makes it feel as if the music itself is its own entity within the world that SD does its best to build. It's the sort of effort that you'd only see in shows like, say, Macross. And while I wouldn't doubt that that was an inspiration, Star Driver really does make the execution of the concept its own.

Adding to all of that, the atmosphere is always on point, the action sequences are stylish, and the animation, even now, is always wonderful to look at. That's not to say the show is perfect; There are definitely some missteps here and there in terms of the handling of certain characters and whatnot, but I can honestly say that I was never bored or outright dreading an experience I was having with any given episode. Every single time I was finding some new aspect or detail to appreciate that the me of over a decade ago totally missed.

In the end, Star Driver is a show that I definitely appreciate way more now than I did when it aired, and I think it's safe to say that it's now one of my favorite mecha anime. It's a show that I think deserved some runaway popularity far more than a few other shows of its era that ended up becoming regarded as classics as time went on. Yōji Enokido and Studio Bones really outdid themselves with this one, and I think from here on out I'll be adding SD to the list of the anime that I try to make it a point to revisit every few years. Something I usually only try to do for all of my most favorite shows.

I give Star Driver: Radiant Takuto a 5/6.

[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

[/CENTER]

This reminds me of the finale of Getter Robo Armageddon.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

This reminds me of the finale of Getter Robo Armageddon.

Given the show's' many inspirations, I wouldn't be surprised if that's where they got it from.

[goseigold]

**blows some dust off my account**

Okay wow I haven't commented here on Tokunation in a LONG time!
Nice to see this thread is still alive so much time later

AHH Star Driver what a ride that show was, it still blows me away that Star Driver, Captain Earth and Eureka Seven supposedly all take place in the same universe

Anyway, what's next?