This is not enough, they can’t end it like this. The anime began with an amazing and passionate match which really engaged us in that moment and unbelievable cliffhanger with no progression report updated. I have no comments to be honest. This episode was really breathtaking and they really made us feel that moment, but it makes me sad knowing that this was the last episode… and I just… can’t admit this fact.
I’ll be giving my thought and mainly focus on the first half of the episode – in the second half you will be finding remaining of the impressions if you’re mainly interested in that. And with that let’s jump right into the contest between the brothers. This episode proves that the term ‘sports anime’ is an overstatement, true they are playing a sport, but mainly sport is just a tool that pulls all the character towards each other. In most sport genre anime, the tense moments are created due to the heat of the contest. In Hoshiai no Sora, if anything, it’s something that relieve or delay the suspense for our character (don’t get the wrong idea, Nao and Touma had to struggle a lot due to this sport). Due to this reason, this anime is in contrast with the other anime with the sport genre. Don’t misunderstand me, it still does have old school sort anime concept to it. I genuinely enjoy the contest between Touma, Maki and the itsuse brothers. It was the defining moment of the anime and showed how hard they worked to put up a show like this. It was very interesting, due to the fact they were so indulge in playing that sport and not only that but also we did get a plot and character development on each side.
Once Touma and Maki were successfully able to find their trench and eventually accept their love for the game, it was such a happy moment to watch them perform. This made them stress out Itsuse brothers, and not to mention when Maki informed that he only entered this sport 3 months ago and just the fact that he is taking pleasure was the moment that pleased my heart. Especially! Because it was accepted by Touma! And actually smile and laugh. Touma! The player who constantly had the depressing face, actually laughed and smiled while playing an official match! And that fun and enjoyment also made the Itsuse brother to give their all, who basically didn’t go lightly even slightly during the match and eventually making every second of this match worth watching! Because at the start they told him that as a brother he was such a letdown, gladly he didn’t listened to them because he wasn’t paying attention, but to watch them perform at their fullest, with the mindset of gaining victory. It was awesome! I definitely would be really satisfied if they continued the episode a little longer after the match…
And still! They deceived us. (Basically, to be more precise, they deceived us not once but twice because both the opening and ending were brief. Was this to create suspense? Or was it to give the episode a little extra time? Nobody knows?) Then up next is the drama, and to be honest that moment was really sentimental when Touma called his mother but who listened to his call was his mother. Unbelievable moment? All the happiness Touma collected was shattered once his mother told him, firstly she is getting divorce and secondly he, her younger son is the one who makes her suffer the most? And the scene doesn’t end there, Ryouma appears in front of him afterwards? It pains my heart, but this drama is the heart of the show, I really want to find out how Touma eventually responds to the phone call, I want to know how much does it affects him. What is Ryouma’s reaction? How does the rest of the team respond? Touma, I really feel you bro, I didn’t want this to happen to you
BUT! It is completely ignored due to the fact Maki’s back home. I can’t even start to think what exactly occurred to Maki’s mother in this condition, but it was enough prove to have that murderous intent at this point. And this is where it concludes. Awful ending, a cliffhanger that gets me curious and impatient!!! And with that ending which makes you more engaged to the anime, you can’t be satisfied with just that.
Final Thought
It is that one of the very few anime that shows some the hard and painful experiences of the young kids. They have done it in the perfect way. Many people say that the things were sometimes over-dramatized. But it’s a slice of life anime so it fits the anime. The background music was on point as it really made us feel what the characters went through in the anime. There have been some criticism but the way they have depicted the sufferings of these kids, those bad points can be ignored. One thing that people criticize about this show is that all parents are bad in this show. Those who have been watching this anime from the start will know that it’s not really a bad thing. Here is a brief summary.
In my opinion this is an anima bout some kids who have been through same parental issues and get closer to each other in a friendly environment. We feel closer to the person who have been facing same issues as that person can understand us better. In this anime they all are brought together in the Soft Tennis Club. There are many issues that have been shown in this anime like the parents who do not support their kids’ decisions, abusive parents, parents who never give their kids freedom. The intention of this anime was to show how these characters support each other to heal each other’s scars and the anime did pretty well in this 12 episodes in depicting that idea in a perfect way. Having said that, I don’t think that showing all parents bad is a fault in this show, when I see these dark issues pointed out in this anime in a great way.
The anime was really good with a good plot. The things that were to be more focused were overshadowed by the bigger plot. They couldn’t so what they could have done with it. I think this anime was going really good but they didn’t get enough time to show everything in this 12 episode. It was a motivating anime but unfortunately there were only 12 episodes. There were many characters and we wish that we could explore them with depth but due to short time we couldn’t explore more. That’s the biggest fault of this anime.
The director Kazuki Akane ssaid that this anime was initially supposed to consist of 24 episodes but they change that decision at the very last moments and they didn’t make any changes in the content and kept it the way it was done. It made us want more.
If I have to rate this show having no idea about the continuation of this anime then I would go with 6 out of 10 as the story seems incomplete and left me with many question in my mind. The songs and the music was incredible and some moments are unforgettable and I would probably watch this anime again.
But due to its story ant the way it has been conveyed I will give the series 8/10. I loved many things in this anime and there are many moments that is going to be in my mind for a long time. But it is not the show for all as there is a lot of drama in this anime and those who don’t prefer that might not like that. It is not just a sports anime. It shows more than that and is darker than it seems. It shows middle school students who can’t live without their parents and so have to endure the torture both mentally and physically. There are many things in this anime that can be traumatizing to watch and if you can’t handle that much pain then you should skip this show. It shows some really hard core issues like rejection of parents and that could be hard to watch for some people. But honestly, there are many characters that you can relate to and I know many people who have actually gone through these situation in real life. This show has its good and bad points but I would say that I loved it.
This anime is highly recommended to those who finds it interesting.
