“Suisō” (水槽; Aquarium) by Megumi Nakajima
Totting up the best series of this season isn’t going to be an easy task, though in effect I’ll need to do that at the end of the year (although with two-cour shows that gets complicated). Hi Score Girl II will be massive but it’s just gotten started. Kono Oto Tomare is staking a strong claim, and Chihayafuru has undeniably come out of the gate at full sprint – all this as BnHA sports a new sense of style and wit. But it’s going to be hard to top Hoshiai no Sora, I think. This is a show that seems to check an awful lot of boxes, and it’s free of the burden of trying to adapt manga material to the screen. With that kind of freedom Akane Kazuki can be a beast, and he is with Stars Align so far.
I’m returning to the same emotional place I was in watching Noein, which I still remember quite distinctly, as long ago as it was. One of Akane-sensei’s gifts is the ability to make us care deeply about the children in his stories, then rip our hearts out by doing terrible things to them. None of it is gratuitous (though Noein came close at times) – this is Akane depicting growth through the crucible of suffering. Noein was incredibly powerful but pretty deeply flawed, but my hope is that Hoshiai no Sora can avoid some of those pitfalls. Noein was too ambitious for its own good, probably, and stumbled by trying to do too much. Hoshiai seems like a series stripped of excess and focusing on the narrative essentials.
Like Ping Pong, this show is functioning as a sports series and a psychological drama at the same time. It does the sports very well, both in terms of animation (Takanashi Yuuichi is a special talent) and detail. Maki is a supremely confident boy, and his troubled personal history has taught him how to read people (not uncommon with kids from abusive homes, as it’s a survival mechanism). He’s divvied up the squad into pairs which don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense – guys playing with new partners and in new roles, the two passive shy boys together and the two arrogant blowhards as a pair.
But – it works. Maki, naturally, sandbags when he and Touma take on the three new pairs in order to give the new teams confidence. But he also recognizes the power of anger as a motivator (especially with the Tsubasa-Shingo team). One of the new teams finds the budding psycho Itsuki paired with the affable Futsu Rintarou (Sato Gen), and they do (with a little nudge from Maki) win their match. But Rintarou is clearly troubled by something here, though it’s not clear what just yet. His home life seems pleasant enough – his Mom is certainly affectionate, if perhaps a bit smothering.
Meanwhile Sakurai Takahiroyuki-sensei is feeling a little guilty about the boys’ renewed motivation, and puts in a call to a former kouhai to set up a practice match with his powerhouse school. There’s more to this story too – something happened 5 years in Sakurai’s past which he refers to as “the incident” (with everything but ominous music), and seems to involve pushing his club too hard. But his conversation with the girl’s coach Murou-sensei reveals that his desire to help his charges is genuine, if hesitant. She also hilariously refers to middle-school boys as “grasshoppers” – they just hop around without any thought (which while a bit of a generalization, is basically true in my experience).
Indeed, things seem to be progressing nicely on most fronts in a wave of seishun exuberance – although the seitokai does seem a bit alarmed that the boys’ club might not be disbanded after all, as the club budget assumed they would be. Touma, Yuuta and the ever-snarky Kanako have become a regular part of Maki’s household (and addicted to his cooking), and there’s definitely something in the air between Maki and Kanako, though it’s too early to say just what (or indeed in which direction Maki’s interests may fall). Maki even manages to convince the boys that getting slaughtered in the practice match can be a valuable experience (it can), the ED rolls, and everything is rosy. But this is Akane Kazuki…
One of the worst feelings for me as an anime viewer is the helpless urge to protect a character (the actual meaning of moe, which is a term we don’t hear as much as we used to) we know is about to be hurt. The agony of all this is that for all Maki very much needs to be protected – in the presence of his father all of his confidence and articulateness disappears and he becomes the same small, terrified child he was. His mother is obviously trying – a restraining order is not nothing – but she frankly seems pretty scatterbrained, and leaves Maki at risk almost all the time. Help is not coming from her, I don’t think – which means it’s going to have to come from his friends (most obviously Touma and especially Kanako, his neighbor), which would be consistent with thr way Noein was written. I hope it happens soon, because too many more epilogues like this are going to wipe me out.
aggies11
November 1, 2019 at 11:39 pmNever saw Noein, so I’m watching this one completely on your endorsement, and I have not been dissapointed. I agree with your sentiments 100%. I’m never watched anime as it airs before, but I am looking forward to each week, half in hope, and half in dread. (Dread immediately after the end of an episode, then 2-3days later, hopeful to see what comes next). While I have a bit of a soft spot for sports anime, I generally don’t stomach watching characters suffer too often (I”ll usually tap out of a show if that’s the trend). It’s a testament to these characterizations though, that I’m immediately fond enough of them, that I have to see what happens to them, for better or worse. It’s so hard when the fact that as a viewer you are a helpless passenger, is so blatantly thrown in your face. But it really does capture part the feeling of that part of being young. Happy-go-lucky grasshopers, are soften crushed underfoot, sadly.
Guardian Enzo
November 2, 2019 at 7:56 amA depressing but accurate analogy.
Snowball
November 2, 2019 at 6:26 amNow I know that epilogues are for bad things to happen. I pray the next few episodes play right to the end credits.
Nadavu
November 3, 2019 at 7:50 amMan, as soon as that song started playing, I knew dad was gonna show up…
This episode really impressed me with how well things have been built up so far. While I can’t name all the kids yet, I know them well enough for there to be payoff with the new pairings. Generally speaking, the pacing is hitting that sweet point where you don’t even feel it at work. And new plot lines are being seeded ever so gently into the mix. I just love it.
I do wonder about Maki and Kanako. He is being a bit mean to her, but I don’t think it’s the “I like you and I don’t know how to show it” kinda mean. It has more of an “Eww, you’re a girl, and you’re not even on the team, so why are you here?” vibe. Kanako reminds me a lot of Tomoko from WataMote, with her social anxiety and fake sense of superiority she wears like a shield. But of course she’s in a much better place, and I’m so happy to see her doggedly hang out at Maki’s after school, despite his lack of extended welcoming, even if she spends most of that time on her phone.
But that dad… I had this image in my head as he was creeping up on Maki, that somewhere down the line the entire softo tennisu club would have to confront him physically. But the way it played out in my mind, he just smacked all of them silly. I kinda hope that Itsuki will rise up to the occasion and stab dad in the balls with a broken piece of racket, but that would just make him into another monster (and get him in jail).
Romy
November 3, 2019 at 2:34 pmThe contrast with the first part of the episode, where everything seems to be building up to something really cool, a great team and friendship between the boys, is so harsh with what happens with Maki’s abusive parent. I don’t think at this point his mother knows that the father has found them….and I’m so frustrated he isn’t seeking out her help, cause this is definitely not a situation any child should handle! He’s probably trying to protect her or trying to preserve their new home. But it’s very painful to watch.
Simone
November 5, 2019 at 7:24 am“his troubled personal history has taught him how to read people (not uncommon with kids from abusive homes, as it’s a survival mechanism)”
Reminds me of Nagisa from Assassination Classroom. Same background (in his case it was his mother who was abusive), same instincts developed as a response to that.
Guardian Enzo
November 5, 2019 at 8:48 amI think I dropped AssClass before that was ever revealed – if not, I have no memory of it. I got the sense that the anime wasn’t doing the manga justice but I never got around to reading more than a chapter or two.
I’ve seen enough examples of this in real life (and have studied up on it enough) to know that this phenomenon is very real with abused kids, or kids from homes where the parents abuse each other.
kiwi
November 12, 2019 at 12:58 pmhow long is it going to be before Mr. Shit-Dad rumbles in while Maki’s friends are there… it’s going to get ugly :/
Also I can’t help but wonder how this dude keeps finding them. I wish Maki would tell someone but I know it’s not that easy to just “get over” abuse-induced fear and anxiety. Poor kid :/
Guardian Enzo
November 12, 2019 at 1:08 pmUntil the Mom successfully gets a court order, the rules here state that he can go to the city/prefecture and ask where his son is. Crazy I know, and I suspect there’s more going on with the mom dropping the ball than we’ve heard.