We can get it out of the way – I think Hoshiai no Sora is pretty great.  I was expecting it to be really good, but it’s really good.  There’s a quality to anime that have truly inspired storytellers behind them – creators who have something substantial to say and the talent to say it eloquently – that just can’t be matched through marketing savvy and opportunism.  We see it in the likes of something such as Planet With and Mizukami Satoshi and we’re seeing it again here – there’s no substitute for inspiration and genius.

The thing with shows like Planet With and Hoshiai no Sora is that they – like Noein did – stand apart from any era.  There are no tropes or trends here, and apart from the production quality itself you’d have no way of guessing what year this show aired in if you didn’t know.  This is simply a story Akane Kazuki wants to tell (and has for over a decade, as it happens).  There’s an honesty and integrity to storytelling for its own sake (Tsuki ga Kirei would be another prime example of this) that gives these series a heft that most simply can’t measure up to.  And thank goodness they exist.

As is my wont with shows with massive casts like this, I think it’s best to credit them individually as their arcs take center stage rather than infodump a list here (there’s always Google for that anyway).  Suffice to say the boys’ soft tennis club has a variety of personalities, though none of them (apart from their captain) seem especially concerned with actually getting good at the sport itself.  Of note this week is a boy who’s not a member of the club in fact – Asuka Yuuta (Yamaya Yoshitaka).  As we meet him he’s in the process of being bullied with some fairly standard middle-school gay-bashing, and Touma comes to his rescue.  Touma scolds Yuuta that he should fight back – but Yuuta declares that he doesn’t believe in that sort of thing.

There’s an awful lot going on in this episode, as the story advances on several fronts without ever seeming to be trying too hard.  Maki proves himself to be a rather keen observer of people, and it’s he who takes it on himself to invite Yuuta into the club as a manager (he begs off actually playing) after noticing him hanging about.  In fact he cuts right to the point and assesses what’s really going on here – Yuuta has a crush on Touma – and scores major points by declaring that he doesn’t give a toss who anybody likes.  Would that all 14 year-old boys were as tolerant as Maki, but there are a few of them out there.

Meanwhile Mitsue continues to hover in the background as a sort of one-girl Greek chorus, providing a snarky commentary on the inanities of middle school life as she keeps an ever-vigilant watch on Maki.  Mitsue is an interesting one – a budding mangaka apparently, a bit of a social outcast – but it’s hard to take her interest in Maki as anything but, well… interest.  My read is that she’s a loner and saw Maki as a kindred spirit – which would explain her disquiet that he seems to be blending in with the soft tennis club (albeit in a somewhat rocky fashion).

As for the soft tennis itself, it gets anything but the short shrift here.  This is where Takanashi Yuuichi really shines – the look of Hoshiai no Sora isn’t flashy, but the movements as Touma tutors Maki on the fundamentals of the sport are beautifully dynamic and fluid.  Natural.  And a natural is just what Maki is, too.  He may not have played a sport at his old school but he’s an athlete just the same, one of those kids whose body seems to instinctively know what to do when they pick up a sport.  He’s also possessed of a bulldog mentality and fierce competitive drive, something most of the club (again, excepting Touma) is severely lacking.

The dynamics of the club here are really interesting.  This is a pretty laid-back group on the whole (though a varied mix still exists, as I noted) but they’re still boys.  When Maki pushes and prods them, they respond – which of course is exactly what the savvy little provocateur was intending all along.  They’re second-class citizens in the school, forever in the shadow of the girls’ team, stuck with the leftover tennis balls and the odd days on the courts.  They’ve accepted this for so long that it’s second nature to them, but it’s not first or second or any part of Maki’s nature – he’s a contrarian and a combative kid, and their comfort zone is something he wants nothing to do with.

I love all the little details Akane introduces here – the sensei’s love of candy, Maki’s decision to wear a visor (which sums up his defiant personality perfectly), the little gestures of support between the boys when they come under attack from the tactless Maki.  It adds color and realism to the story in a big way – and of course the elephant in the room here is what’s going on at home for Maki (and maybe Touma too).  Maki’s aggressively blunt personality surely formed in part as a reaction to the abuse he received from his father – a father who Maki’s mother is still very much convinced (to the tune of a restraining order) is a threat to her son.  None of these story elements exist in a vacuum – they all impact each other.  And that so much has been introduced already suggests that Akane (as usual) is planning to tell a story of considerable ambition and depth.

ED: “Kago no Naka no Bokura wa (籠の中の僕らは)” by AIKI