Seikai no Senki I/Battle Banner of the Stars I (2000)

Story

These 13 episodes are continuation of Morioka’s universe established in 1999 anime series, Seikai no Monshou or Crest of the Stars. This time, the war is on between United Mankind and Abh Imperial Empire; the decisive battle will be fought in Planar Gate of Apptiku. The United Mankind sent their best fleet and their best weapon in all or nothing offensive while the Abh Space Force concentrate their fleet to stop off the massive attack. The rest of Imperial empire has yet to mobilize their entire fleet so if the offensive is successful, the United Mankind will penetrate and cause havoc in Imperial domain unchecked.

3 years after the end of first series, love pair Jinto/Ghintec and Lafiel/Lamhirh serving on a assault boat, participating in the Apptiku campaign. She resented that her beloved treated her like a needy person, whereas Jinto/Ghintec was torn between duty and relationship since she is his nominal superior in the assault gunboat. Viewers will be treated 13 episodes of non-stop space combat (yes, 13 episodes non stop) while the bond between 2 principle characters grew as being tested in danger again.

New characters will introduced in this series, mainly the twin brothers who commanded the Abh fleet in the Apptiku campaign.


Art

Well, the art this time has notched up little bit and since there is massive battles, some stock animation was used briefly. However it is not really distracting and majority of art is face shots of characters in dialogue exchanges in the story. The main strength of the anime is again, not art so there is nothing really special here to shout about.

Some CGs was used but not on massive scale like GONZO works.

Sound

The series BGM is follow on of the previous series and there is nothing really unique soundtrack pieces in this one compared to the first series. As usual, the Japanese voice acting are very competent in their respective roles, Lafiel/Lamhirh carries the series again with her commanding presence thanks to her stellar VA, Kawasumi Ayako.

Presentation

Now, some people complained that this series focused too much on the twin brothers who commanded the Abh fleet in the Apptiku campaign. Some dialogue exchanges can be tedious but not overwhelmingly so. The discourse between Bilbos brothers who formed the top command of Abh Space Navy in Apptiku campaign has been characterized by some people as self indulgent. I believe this is to show the peculiarity of their lineage as contrast to Abriel stoic front which worked well. The creator intend to show that Abhs are unique individuals despite being depicted as homogeneous race bent to making other humans in known galaxy same as them.

Battle is epic but however did not show enough 4 dimensional aspect of space combat. Most of the engagement was in traditional form of naval warfare, not really a progression of 4 D space battles which beautifully shown in Starship Operators (2005). That in my opinion is great flaw in technical aspect of the story. This series intend to show the relationship between prinicipal characters become stronger especially after this campaign where there is saying where death brushes tend to brings out the best or worst emotions out of a person.