Season aired: Fall 2025
Number of episodes: 12
Watched on: Amazon Prime
Translated by: Aki Tamaoka
Genres: Romance
Thoughts: I got a special sneak peek of A Star Brighter than The Sun at Anime Expo this year during a panel that showed the entire first episode and couldn’t have been more excited to watch the whole series. Led by a woman director, Sayaka Kobayashi, the first episode quickly sold to me its direction and commitment to the sweet childhood romance story.
Sae is an extremely tall girl that people around her love to comment on, but aside from her height, she is a normal girl with a good heart. She has a crush on her childhood friend, Kamishiro, who since their elementary school days had gotten very popular as a good-looking, considerate, athletically inclined teenager. Unlike other stories, Kamishiro had never stopped being good friends with Sae once his popularity grew – with the two often hanging out in after school activities and even testing for the same schools. When Kamishiro admits he has a crush on someone who is too unreachable, Sae immediately assumes her love life is lost and promises to support his love endeavors.
From a story perspective, A Star Brighter than The Sun is your run-of-the-mill shojo romance. We have two main characters who already like each other but misunderstand what each other says about their relationships, a seeming love rival who eventually becomes friends with the MC, love triangles, and ending on two characters getting together after lots of unintentional twists and turns.
I was disappointed by this. While the first episode hyped me up because of how well it set up the characters and their relationships, I initially still hoped that something in the story could make it stand out amongst the sea of romances I’d already read and consumed throughout the years, and there simply wasn’t. Sae’s a nice girl with understandable insecurities. Kamishiro is a great guy who made some assumptions that led to misunderstandings. They both share friends – some more annoying than others. There’s a school festival where everything finally happens. When it comes to the actual plot and characters, I can’t say any element was particularly unique.
What is unique, however, and what ultimately carried this show was the direction. At the AX panel, the director and producer talked about behind-the-scenes stories and thought processes – especially the effort they took in portraying the characters’ feelings through an animated medium, and the results really show. Whenever flashbacks happen, the texture and colors of the show grows more colorful and glittery, harking back to the title of the show and showcasing how meaningful those past memories of Kamishiro is to Sae.
It’s especially pleasing to the eye because past memories aren’t just another scene with a basic transition. Instead, the current, older Sae is standing in a memory bank, flipping through photos, and pulling one to relive it. When the memory begins replaying, she’s still present, in present day color and texture, while her memory with the different style plays out in front of her.
Outside of the direction, however, there’s little left for me to comment. The opening and ending theme songs are memorable with great sequences, but the actual soundtrack of the show left nothing in my memory. Because the plot is so predictable, the characters aren’t anything new, which doesn’t leave the voice actors a lot of opportunities to shine. In summary, the entire cast did a standardly good job with the materials they had, but not one of them had a performance that struck me.
Yet, despite all that, I am filled with hope. Because after so many years of barely any shojo adaptations, with the few adapted to be treated with nonexistent direction and awful animation, it’s heartwarming to see that the anime industry once again taking adaptations of shojo manga seriously – even if for stories that are standard and predictable. A Star Brighter Than The Sun works purely because of the good team they brought together, guided by a director with a vision and a passion to translate the work to the screen. I only wish it had more to offer.
Rating
Plot: 6 (Multiplier 3)
Characters: 7 (Multiplier 3)
Art/Animation: 8.5 (Multiplier 2)
Voice acting: 6
Soundtrack: 7
FINAL SCORE: 69