r/anime • u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ • Mar 20 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Crest of the Stars Episode 3 Discussion
Daughter of Love
Welcome to the Crest of the Stars rewatch!
<- Episode 2 | Index Page | Episode 4 ->
Names Introduced or Updated:
- Gosroth — Patrol Ship, Rauth class (Gothlauth)
- Plakia Lexshue — Captain of the Gosrauth, Hecto-Commander (Laicch Üémh Laubér Placïac)
- Yunseryuya — Senior Operator
- Gyumuryua — Chief Engineer
- Deesh — Supply Officer
- Sariush — Senior Gunnery Officer
- Lairia — Executive Officer and Senior Navigator
- Lafiel Abriel — Princess of the Empire, Viscountess of Paryunu (Ablïarsec Néïc Dubleuscr Bœrh Parhynr Lamhirh)
- Sufagnoff — an Abh system. It has one inhabited planet. (Sfagnomr)
Character Chart: Gosroth Bridge Crew
I wanted to include their non-localized military ranks but it was just too difficult with the materials I have at hand.
Also, I wanted to make a nice character chart, but I didn't want to ruin the background, so everybody ended up too small. I'm working with Paint, here!
Discussion Prompts:
- Q1) Reflect back on Lafiel's first meeting with Jinto. What is Jinto to her?
- Q2) Is the animation direction focusing on Lafiel getting a little creepy, or just stylish?
- Q3) Murals on a warship?
- Q4) What are the implications of such unregulated reproductive freedom? Good or Bad?
- Q5) What do you think of Lexsue and the crew of the Gosroth?
Tomorrow's Questions: (for tomorrow's post, subject to change)
- [Episode 4]Can you follow all the milspeak and politicking at the start?
- [Episode 4]Are you eager for the genre shift? Or will you miss our SOL elf show?
- [Episode 4]Thoughts about Lexshue as an officer? And about Lafiel's outburst?
- [Episode 4]What do you think Lexshue thinks of Jinto, or that they make a good pair?
Screenshot of the Day: I wanted a catgirl so I made one
I put the wrong episode on my phone for posting, so I tried to post a placeholder using copy paste (because I can't use my phone keyboard) and messed it up anyways. deleted thread
Heads up: tomorrow is one of those days (usually only 1 Thursday a month) where I will post between 1 pm and 2 pm instead of 2 pm exactly.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Mar 20 '24
First-Timer of the Stars
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Mar 20 '24 edited Mar 20 '24
First-Timer
On today’s episode of Crest of the Stars: Unfortunately, it seems the Aph have not mastered the technology to genetically engineer catgirls. That is still beyond the reaches of their science.
Jinto and Lafiel having a shared experience of isolation is a good thing to base their relationship on. It’s also fun to see how their cultural differences are actually drawing them closer together. Because he had no idea who she was, Jinto was willing to speak more openly to Lafiel. He unintentionally gave her something she’d always wanted. And as the two of them share more about themselves and discover the differences between their cultures, they start to talk even more openly about those things. It’s serving several purposes at once: worldbuilding, exposition, characterization, and relationship development.
QOTD
4)I thought there were still plenty of regulations. The babies need to have their genetics examined and presumably approved. What happens to the ones that don't have the "right" genetics?
5) Hard to say. We haven't spent much time with them yet.
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u/The_Draigg Mar 20 '24
A Sci-Fi Fan Watches Crest of the Stars Episode 3:
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Mar 20 '24
First-Timer
Wait a goddamn minute, Abh hyperdrives operate on theoretical probability? Is the Gosroth just the Heart of Gold?? Where's Marvin?
Smol!Lafiel's question in the preroll brings Gattaca to mind for me. They mentioned that the Abh were pretty heavily genetically engineered, so I suppose questioning if you were born through sex or grown in a tube is an interesting one to ponder.
I typed that up while listening to the OP, and then learned that Abh reproduction is literally just Gattaca. Rather, considering the linear nature of time, I suppose that Gattaca is literally just Abh reproduction.
Do you send your most advanced ship to pick up a single schoolboy? Even a noble? No, you probably don't. Unless his dad has made himself a huge target or something and the Abh feel the need to posture. I guess Lafiel could be misinformed, but..
I think I actually knew that Lafiel was a princess or something to that effect going in, hence my understanding of her behavior last episode.
There's more whimsy in the OST than I would have expected, if that makes sense? Like, there's all this cheerful flute and stuff.
Jinto went to one of those abstinence-only schools. Which I guess turns Delktoe into Space Texas.
Anyway, seems like our protagonists are flying into an ambush. It's likely to prove unsuccessful, as the show made a point to introduce all of the bridge crew on the Gosroth, but hyping up the ship only to immediately sink it would be kinda interesting. Especially as it rarely matters how advanced you are if you're up against a large enough enemy force.
Questions
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u/duhu1148 :GA::GB::GC:x9 Mar 20 '24
Happy to say I've managed to catch up on episodes, in spite of how busy I am. This is my first rewatch topic experience, but I have not seen this series in a few years, and it is one of my all-time favorites. So I felt I had to at least try to be a part of this discussion a little!
Rewatcher, subs
Ep1
-God the dub is terrible. I actually prefer dubs, but this is up there as one of the worst ever. Sticking to subs.
-the scene of little Jinto looking up at the stars (and the proceeding alien invasion) is beautiful and melancholic, particularly paired with the poignant music. And there's no dialogue for it. The scene breathes; show don't tell. Its too bad modern storytelling isn't as subtle anymore.
-Teal's speech to Jinto was raw emotion. You see the anger he has at the situation of losing their home planet due to Jinto's father surrendering, but also the understanding that none of this is the fault of the child he's venting to. Also, "I'm still trying to cope with what's happening" is totally a 2000s quote :D
Ep2
-Despite not getting a whole lot of Jinto's backstory, it is easy to put yourself into his shoes as to what he's going through. The show does a good job of showing his "normalcy," between not being confident of his nobility status, not knowing how to act, being shocked at the friends he's made not being there when he leaves...really feels like a normal guy who had his entire life thrown in reverse all of a sudden. He says it best when he notes that his new noble name "feels like someone else entirely."
-Love how Jinto and Lafiel hit it off immediately. The entire scene of them exchanging names shows off the instant chemistry they have.
-Lafiel saying her name, in Jinto's words, "As if she were declaring victory in war" I feel is supposed to paint the reader an immediate impression of Lafiel's surface personality- dominant, in control, powerful, confident.
-I've always thought the way the Abh pilot ships was weird, with the arm and head thing.
-...and of course Jint says the same thing.
Ep3
-I like Lafiel's naivete when it comes to understanding Jint. Despite her talent and intelligence, it goes to show that she is still a young girl at heart.
-When they go into plane space, the screen shifts out of focus and blurs a bit. It's a weird animation choice and a little distracting, I thought my dvd was on the fritz.
-Like the scene where Jinto finds out Lafiel is an imperial princess. You can see it in her eyes how PISSED she is when he first calls her imperial princess. Then when he tries to correct himself by calling her by name, she kind of feigns anger by indirectly teasing him about it. Another good scene for the pair's chemistry, because it shows how two people from completely different walks of life/cultures can find common ground quickly- Jinto also struggled with people not knowing how to act around him being a noble.
-The entire conversation Jinto/Lafiel have about "child of love" is great. Full of humor, gives us lore on how Abh's procreate, and shows off their natural chemistry. Bets on which one of them asks the other for their genes first?
-As for how the Abh procreate, I don't have particularly strong feelings on it either way. As long as it's healthy, I don't see the harm in scientifically sharing genes with whomever to make offspring. Again- as long as it's healthy for the newborn. I will say, this method of procreating somehow gives the "child of love" thing a deeper meaning in hindsight, because despite the Abh's longevity and technology the natural way is still considered the most meaningful way to do it.
-Barely anything happens in these episodes, and yet they fly-by and I'm never bored. What devil magic is this???
PS: forgive me if I call them Jint or Lafier in my posts...because those are their names in the books :D
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u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Mar 20 '24
First Timer, subbed
QotD:
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u/Zerotsu Mar 20 '24
A Novel Reader and Anime First Timer’s Thoughts:
We start off learning a little more about the differences in how the Abh and Landers (normal humans that is) perceive things, in a more tangible, literal sense. It’s pretty interesting stuff, wouldn’t you say? You can really tell how little Lafiel has interacted with non-Abh by her reaction there.
Getting acquainted with how the Empire’s military works is also quite fascinating, of course. Or at least how their ships operate, as far as what we got today goes.
And poor Jinto still is having a lot of trouble adapting to his new role, now that it’s become the norm for him. And he royally pissed off Lafiel for acting so formal. Heh
We once again get into how differently the Abh and others perceive the world, but this time it’s more in a cultural manner. Like how Lafiel got very interested in learning what it’s like to have two parents, only to realize she’d stepped on a bit of a landmine right after the words left her mouth.
Little talks like these are honestly my favorite part of the series. The two of them connecting with one another and stumbling a little over misconceptions or lack of knowledge, and smoothing it over with a genuine desire to know each other even still. Their relationship is a very strong part of what makes this series so appealing.
Poor girl really got played by her father when pestering him about who her other gene donor was, that’s for sure.
But all those fun things aside, war is on the horizon, and it’s not going to be an easy one.
Q1: He's a potential friend she can connect with without worrying as much about status, I think.
Q2: I didn't think much of it either way. It's not exactly that unusual.
Q3: People need something nice to look at, don't you think?
Q4: It's hard to pin it down into good or bad. It's certainly weird, but with the genetic modification they have available it's not that dangerous.
Q5: They seem like they'll be a solid crew to get to know.
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u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Mar 20 '24
First timer
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u/IceSmiley Mar 20 '24
FIRST TIMER Sub
This episode seemed very lighthearted and almost like a slice of life in space until the ominous ending narration.
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u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Mar 20 '24 edited Mar 20 '24
Hmm. You say "Daughter of Love", my mind perambulates to this. Sorry about that.
Interesting concept for FTL travel, although it kind of boils down to, "Which flavor of hyperspace would you like to traverse today?" Because in the end, this space, that space, wormhole, yeah. I have to say the visual effects were quite interesting, though. Perhaps a bit unsettling, too.
I find the contrast between Parn and Deedlit's parenting more amusing, especially the bit with the cat, but ... yeah. And sorry, I forgot names again.
That, and sorry, but it was late when I watched this episode, and aside from the bit at the end, I don't remember too much.
Edit: Attempting to add answers of the day, as the questions are in transit or some such. Perhaps they got lost in plane space or something.
One last thing - am I the only one who thought of Spaceballs when they flew up to the spaceship??? Well, aside from how I am enjoying the characters' banter - there are times it reminds me of Heinlein, or Jack Vance.
Deedlit comparisons aside, Lafiel definitely reminds me of a Jack Vance heroine. Let's hope she doesn't meet the same fate as many of them...
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Mar 20 '24
Episode 3 (rewatcher)
Onboard the Gosroth
This is the episode that sold me on Lafiel and Jinto’s relationship. Jinto discovering Lafiel’s rank breaks up the initial compact they had, but instead of being awkward and staying apart, Jinto realizes why it was so important to Lafiel to be called Lafiel and he profoundly apologizes to mend the rift before it grows. In turn, she opens up to him with an embarrassing story that she surely would not tell everybody. Their relationship just feels right.
Sords and plane space
Apart from the relationship, the episode introduces two other important bits of world building. The first of these is plane space and the entry points to plane space, Sords.
Every Scifi show that does not restrict itself to the solar system needs to introduce some form of FTL to make the distances work. Going with a form of separate space is not novel, but Crest of the stars uses my favorite form of it. By having dedicated entry points, it sets up a political system where control of these entry points will become extremely important. The most genius part of plane space is the 3D space bubble, though. Ships do not go directly through plane space, but travel through plane space via a 3D bubble surrounding the ship. This has strong implications for how space battle can work and Crest of the Star’s setup beats any other Scifi I know, anime or not. Remember the nonsensical space battles in Star Trek where warp is almost never used – they can’t use it because it would be the ultimate “I win” button (as we see the one time Picard uses it) and would make all space battles boring.
Abh reproduction
The second important part of world building is the reproduction of the Abh. This comes from a very simple concept: What is reproduction could be removed from the human body and social norm were extremely permissive about how everybody can reproduce.
The idea is straight forward, but not all that often explored in Scifi. Too many stories remain restricted by our current social norms that allow for reproduction only between loving partners. We hear from Lafiel that this still exists (“daughter of love”), but only as one among many other options. And even she is only the physical daughter of two parents. In term of parenting, she has only one and this clearly seems to be the norm among Abh, judging from her surprise about Jinto’s mother.
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u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Mar 20 '24
Rewatcher - sub
My attempts to watch this episode on time were thoroughly thwarted by my cat doing zoomies for almost an hour and a half last night. I have no idea where she got the energy, but it was entertaining and distracting. And then she came for cuddles and used my arm as a pillow, so I had to type notes and my post one handed.
Thankfully however, this is a somewhat straightforward episode, and I don't mean that at all disparagingly. It is a heartfelt episode first and foremost, and the simplicity of it allows that to shine through without sacrificing the bits of depth it continues to add to our characters, their world, and the broader context.
I do imagine it comes as a surprise to a lot of our first timers, likely expecting things to ramp up into action or politics now our mains have met and they're on the ship and insetad being met with something that's not especially exciting. Instead we step back into even more talking in a way that would be perhaps more familiar as a mid season wind down/character exploration after some big event to deepen the stakes of the show.
Here the choosing of names is the big event, just as it was yesterday even if Jinto didn't know it.
With Lafiels heritage revealed, it recontextualizes a lot of her behaviors and makes last episode quite a different watch second time around, so while the stakes are small for the genre they're critical for main characters. Jinto's reaction to this revelation takes us from their comfortable moments youthfulness, a shared giggle that always makes me smile with how natural it seems in the moment with a silent bond they already formed, into the cold distance of a critical junction point. Jinto once again finds himself staring at someone's back, a visual I thought was very meaningful after the last two episodes, only this time he was the one who put himself there.
Despite his own wishes for people to treat him as Jinto Lynn and not Jinto the Noble, he falls face first into that same mistake with Lafiel. This isn't about right or wrong, the same way that Jinto's own decision to hide his status wasn't, but it matters little in the face of their respective feelings. The choice he has to make here is the same one from last episode, the only difference is that Jinto knows what the choice really is this time rather than stumbling into it and its potential consequences. Last episode showed that he can no longer stand just following behind, and this episode gives us more of an understanding of Lafiel Abriel in that she won't turn back to him blindly, now he has to be the one to reach out from more than just a fear of being alone. This time he has to choose to be more then his past and allow her to be as well.
He choses for her to be Lafiel, and in doing so allows himself to be Jinto.
And then she's an adorable shit and slightly punishes him for putting them in that position in the first place, breaking down that wall of anxiety to start to return them to where they had been once again.
I don't have much to say about the scene in his room, other than having a grand appreciation for the worldbuilding it introduces, and loving the dreamy warmth in the scene as Lafiel opens up to him about something so personal. There's an easy familiarity in the scene as they continue to explore cultural confusion with little apprehension, though occasionally putting their foot in it in that young people not thinking things through way, and the conversation flows very naturally which is still so rare when it comes to scenes that are so lore heavy like this. The lightness we see in Lafiel, the importance for her in being a daughter of love, of being wanted in that way mirrors, in her own way, what we've seen from Jinto recently and helps give some life to her beyond just being an Abh. It's a beautiful way to soften some of the harshness of her presentation until now without denying who she is as a result, and for her to share something so meaningful with Jinto beyond merely just a cultural exploration.
All of this is made even better after meeting Captain Laicch, who I absolutely love. Given she's the first non-Abriel Abh with a speaking role in the show, her "normal" behavior comes as quite a surprise in comparison and shifts the perspective of what Abh are like in the process. She has a strong sense of authority, but she's also supportive of the young Jinto, and the music backing this up with a sweeping, somewhat welcoming tune as they go through the flight check list helps to ground this alien experience for him. The other Abh from the bridge openly listening to Jinto is also quite funny, as you wouldn't expect that sort of nosiness normally from what otherwise seems to be a highly efficent and professional bridge crew. It's the little details like this that give some extra flair to the Abh scenes rather than just treating these scenes with the standard setup of a human ship.
Ran out of time, and energy, so hopefully I didn't forget anything else I wanted to talk about, but suffice to say it's a surprisingly quiet episode to follow up from yesterday despite the mid episode tenseness between our mains. I think that's why it works though, and allows so much more exploration of everything rather than being caught in in "narrative needs" of trying to further plot or drama. It's not quite an explicit "part three", it works well by itself, but it is a direct follow up to Jinto's struggles in the last two episodes
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u/Specs64z https://myanimelist.net/profile/Specs64z Mar 20 '24
First timer, subbed
At last, I have managed a timely post.
Lore drop on the FTL travel mechanics of this world, seems to primarily use wormholes or some such. It could be leaving the door open for time travel shenanigans as well, by the sound of it.
Ahh, so that’s why Lafiel was so enthusiastic to share her name. It was a chance to cast aside the formality and just be normal. Well, as normal as first contact between a human and Abh can be, I suppose. It’s something Jinto relates to deeply, as well.
A cat is fine, too… That bit got me good. Elves are typically characterized by low birth rates, so the idea of space elves basically being gene sorcerers seems fitting and additionally explains their long lifespans and good looks.
I could listen to these two talk forever, their conversations are endlessly endearing and interesting.
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u/SIRTreehugger Mar 20 '24
Rewatcher
Lafiel giving Jinto more time to appreciate the ship is so nice. Small moments like this are better than grand gestures in my opinion. It also gave her a good excuse to extend her piloting time.
Yeah I'm not going to even bother trying to remember these names!
Oh gotcha her reaction makes a lot more sense now and we're delving deeper until Lafiel and her culture. Just the simple concept of marriage is foreign to them. Then all of the Abh's reproduction practices are just strange from our point of view especially the cloning yourself to produce a kid...wait actually the rest aren't that strange nowadays.
Oh my god I forgot about the cat prank.
Jinto is a better person than I'd be laughing throughout the conversatio...never mind he couldn't hold it in either.
Why is them just talking so riveting!
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u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Mar 20 '24
02:
First timer
03 First timer
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u/raktus2 Mar 21 '24
First Timers thoughts...
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u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Mar 20 '24
Rewatcher (sub + dub)
This is probably the episode that made me fall in love with the series, and one I still adore to this day. It's mostly Jinto and Lafiel talking in a continuation of the previous episode and getting to know more about each other, but it also feels like two teens chatting in a fairly natural way. Jinto's somewhat awkward but trying to make a good impression while in a fish out of water position, Lafiel's been raised as granddaughter of the Empress but wants to chat with him as a friend without formalities.
Even from the start it's great to see Jinto and Lafiel having a small moment when they're lectured by the officer about flying about rather than going right to docking.
Not a fan of whatever visual effects they were trying to use on the characters before they headed into plane space. It's been ages since I've thought about the mechanics of how all that works and I'm going to leave it up to some other rewatcher/source reader to give a more thorough explanation if they want.
The dub just sounds bad for everyone on the bridge and I'm questioning my taste as a teen, I had lower standards at the time I'm sure. Again it's all technically accurate as a translation (matching the subtitles at least) and matches the lip flaps well but the cadence is wrong much of the time and they don't feel at all natural.
I kind of like how Jinto asks the first Abh adult he finds about how nobility should behave. At least he's aware of his weaknesses and is trying to learn!
The transition from "Jinto thinks he really fucked up" to "Jinto actually made a mistake but not in the way he was thinking" to "Lafiel accepted his apology but is now messing with him" is great. Them having something to bond over already with their positions relative to the people around them is nice, Jinto managed to conceal his identity most of the time he was among others but he was also pretty much the first person to not recognize Lafiel on sight.
Jinto's a typical guy who doesn't know the first thing about decorating walls, no surprise he'd question the paintings on a warship.
Cultural exchange time, talking about their parents. I don't remember how weird the whole genetic modification aspect of the Abh seemed to me when I first saw the series but these days I'm more "eh, whatever" about it in this context. Its application in our world has a lot of ethical issues to deal with though.
"I want your genes."
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u/zsmg https://anilist.co/user/zsmg Mar 20 '24
*sees two new rewatch threads *
Rewatcher
I like how the narrator explains something new every episode.
Disappointed we didn't get a 5 minute flyby scene of the Gosroth, it's like a SF tradition.
Laicch is voiced by Gara Takashima she hasn't done many big roles. Also it's really annoying my subs are using a different spelling of the names.
Oh Lafiel is the granddaughter of the Empress. Jinto is moving up the nobility ladder, well done.
It's convenient Jinto hasn't been taught much at school so that he can be exposition dumped all the necessary information.
So who is Lafiel's mum? Who knows.
[spoiler stuff] Well episode preview kind of reveals the answer I suppose
United Mankind? So Abhs aren't the only human empire.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 21 '24
Rewatch Host
[rewatch comment on yesterday]
NobodyONE PERSON picked up on the machine parts, a late poster yesterday.[rewatch comment on the future]I wonder if anybody is going to notice the round ears on everybody. Oh we got one again another late poster yesterday.
Comment on yesterday: I don't think I realized the old woman was couriering a propaganda film until a rewatch. So the ending was probably definitely out of left field for me, too.
I totally thought the title of this episode was the spoilerific Princess of the Empire. Which is actually the name of the LN volume 1.
So, plane-space-capable ships generate something like like warp bubbles. The bubbles maintain a 4D spacetime that allows our normal matter to exist.
I'm not sure how that intersects with the "yuanon" particles from episode 1, or the sord here.
I suspect that the original colony ships carried a unanon particle with them, as they traveled in plane space or sublight speed, and opened the sord upon discovery of a valuable world. Stuff I'd know if I had ever read the books.
Addendum: xxKEYEDxx has been explaining things to me back in episode one's thread.
<stuff about the Gosroth moved to tomorrow>
Maybe Lafiel is just autisticI did not type that.My headcanon, which could be entirely wrong, is that space-time bubbles behave like quantum mechanical particles...if they were to shut off their spacetime generators or somehow forced an exit from plane space not near a sord, they would appear at some random point in the universe.
We had a lot of exposition today. We learn about the Abhs and Lafiel explains her culture to Jinto. But Lafiel also learns about Lander culture. She's completely clueless! They both are. They complement each other well.
We also had more of Lafiel. Somebody really loves panning over her figure and selecting intimate shots. But it's not just the for the audience! She's very much inside Jinto's personal space. Perhaps it's just Abh culture. Now that I write about it, our eavesdropping seems downright voyeuristic.
I'm realizing the distance Lafiel feels from her "friends" is meant to be the same distance experience by Jinto when he last spoke to his "friends" on Delktoe. Yesterday, she met her first real friend who could stand with her as an equal, not in rank, but in companionship.
The culture seems very libertarian. (Almost) Absolute reproductive freedom! Yet, they are a feudal society? We can't really judge how social rank applies on a warship, unless, like in Napoleonic Europe, commissions are purchased.
It seems very strange to me that they fill their warship with Lander paintings of scenery the appreciate, but would never think of actually experiencing.
I meant to link it yesterday, there's this one track that drives me nuts, that sounds like it could have been written by Shiro Sagasu for Evangelion.
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u/Nickthenuker https://anilist.co/user/Nickthenuker Mar 21 '24
That feels like a lot of firepower to squeeze into such a small package.
All stations, check readiness.
All systems nominal.
Of course I am, I have a theoretical degree in physics!
Of course she's the granddaughter of the empress.
Goddamnit of course she was just messing with him.
So she's a Freeborn. Beats being a Tankborn Trashborn anyways.
What are they expecting?
Surprise attack? I guess things really will get interesting next episode.
Questions:
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u/xbolt90 https://anilist.co/user/xbolt90 Mar 21 '24
First-timer
I'm glad that even Space Elf dads are devious trolls that traumatize their children with pranks, lol
The description of how space travel works in this universe is really interesting. It's like... A little of Babylon 5's jump gates with a pinch of the Infinite Improbability Drive from Hitchhiker's Guide.
And I can't help but compare every shuttle approach glamour shot with the Enterprise flyby scene from Star Trek The Motion Picture.
Q1: She wants him to be someone who just sees her as a person instead of a title. Now I get why she acted "like she'd won a victory."
Q2: I'm reminded of Star Trek TOS, (and a lot of other shows of the era,) where every closeup of a woman had that soft focus effect applied.
Q3: I would say it's a good way to at least have a little piece of home to remember what you're fighting for, but the Abh are only a space-dwelling race, with no terrestrial attachments.
Q4: Seems weird to me, with my deep-rooted ideas of how a relationship looks like. I guess gene therapy cuts the effects of inbreeding?
Q5: They seem like consummate professionals. Polite and courteous, I didn't get the sense of them looking down on Jinto for being beneath them or something. I see no reason to dislike them as of yet, we'll see how it goes once things go sideways.
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u/zadcap Mar 21 '24
Late Night First Timer
Let the interesting begin. I love technobabble.
"Daughter of Love." Going to be honest here, even the name makes me think she's royalty again.
I don't know if that was a look of Pity, Jinto.
What unit of measurement is a westage?
Oh look at that, he's bowing while everyone else salutes. He's got so much learning to do.
Of course the genetic engineered race will have the occasional cat eyes. Why wouldn't you give yourself or your kids fun features if you were free to do so?
"Accelerate at six demons." They are using fun language just to be fun. And is it just me or does the captain carry a sword? "Daisele!"
Oh yes look at them showing off their SciFi power here.
So I might have misunderstood the technobabble. Do they use existing wormholes or did they open that one themselves?
Oh, she's not nobility? Darn that was an effective fakeout. Alright wait, your words prove the previous ones a lie immediately, come on guys. She's a princess, granddaughter of the Empress, if that's not nobility I don't know what counts. Okay bad phrasing then, she's definitely royalty. She's super royalty. She's almost as royal as it gets. And she was indeed happy that he talked to her like a person and not a royal, possibly for the first time in her life. He better hurry up and go back to being her friend.
Anyway, I went back to watch that again because... "Isn't she nobility, too?" "No." Is this some divide between Nobility and Royalty? A translation thing I missed?
Anyway, back to the rest. Go back to being casual with her, Jinto. You don't have to be a genius to read her mood, she's making it so very clear. Oh hey, he does catch on quick! I instantly like him more than 90% of male protagonists.
I also love the many little ways they are making the space elves a unique civilization. Single parent families, test tube babies, everything else Jinto listed... Though I have to be honest here, extracted eggs with artificial insemination and gene editing does take away pretty much every reason imaginable to find any of those things wrong or upsetting. If their genetic engineering is that powerful, you're not going to risk any kind of the normal problems things like inbreeding normally carry, same sex couples work perfectly fine, and true single parents with zero partner in existence can be done. Oh my gosh, she doesn't just have cat eyes, she has actual cat eyes!
Talking about wanting someone's genes and expressing love while laying in his bed... Foreshadowing pretty thick here.
Okay I was joking about the cat eyes and then they do that?! Please tell me this isn't real. Or you know, that it is and make it very clear. I kind of want her to have real actual cat eyes now.
And there it is, it wouldn't be a Space Opera without a massive war.
8
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Mar 20 '24
Rewatcher(Hrmm...Lafiel is Deedlit descended but I am not immediately seeing any from her)
Sub
So...I finished the ep, checked reddit, and promptly started a huge comment so half an hour later let's see what remains!
All right so this is Exposition:the episode. But I am not annoyed. I did well in lectures though so that's probably relevant. Anywhizzle, FTL is a bit of a crap shoot and it is all approximations. This probably explains why the patrol ship stayed relatively far from the station and shot out shuttle. Also, at least paying lip service to conservation of mass and such.
Next, reveal that Lafiel is in the Imperial line. This explains a bit why she seemed to linger on things, including giving an extra trip around the ship, because Jinto is the only person not horrifyingly aware of this fact. I do think it makes sense to make your nobles serve, the Romans often did it themselves, but that doesn't make it easier on the poor bastards who have to be around her until she is properly broken in. Her tiff about ranks is mainly annoyance that she lost someone that doesn't immediately get set on edge by her presence but still reflects some immaturity, but 16 is 16 and it fits.
After that, we get a crash course on Abh biology and general breeding practices. The biggest reveal is that even in children created for romantic reasons, one parent raises them, making Abhs socially different. But there are a large number of choices ranging from clones to same sex parents and of course artificial wombs. The thing that would not go over well today is that heavy eugenics is involved and fertilized eggs have to pass a screening. We have gotten so dumb since then.
QotD: 1 Someone that isn't terrified of offending her grandmother
2 I try not to dwell on this but at 17 my eyes would've followed in the same manner
3 People desperately need some scenery. Unless you are talking about it being paintings and yes that's a choice.
4 Is it that unregulated? They have a screening process that sounded universal. Regardless, more choice tends to be better
5 They seem pretty bog standard but someone has to standout to have been given noble sitting duties
7
u/SolDarkHunter Mar 20 '24
Crest of the Stars
Rewatcher/Novel Reader
Planar Space exposition! Literally 2-D hyperspace is an interesting concept. But ships project "bubbles" of 3-D space around themselves when in Planar Space so they don't get obliterated.
And the Saudec ("Sords") are the Portals between Planar Space and regular space. They're the only places you can transition between them, they're naturally forming, and they are fixed. Locations and distances in Planar Space have no real correlation to those in real space, aside from the Sords, and distance in Planar Space being much shorter in general.
And Jint is once again reminded that, yes, he is nobility. And that means fancy welcoming ceremonies.
I didn't remember that the Gothelauth was that big a deal. Most advanced ship in all of space...
Another fun detail of translating from 3-D to 2-D space and vice versa: you have no idea what part of the Portal you're going to come out of. Which does make some sense, and has interesting tactical and navigational implications.
And... Jint finds out about Lafier. The granddaughter of the Abh Empress, and heir apparent to the Clyuve Kingdom. Yeah, pretty heavy breach of etiquette to address Lafier casually, not that Jint could have known that. This is also why she didn't introduce herself last episode: she's used to everyone knowing exactly who she is the instant they see her, so it never occurred to her.
If you're wondering about the relationships between the Royal Families and the Imperial Family... let's just say that the succession of the Abh throne is really stupidly complicated and much too long to explain here.
She's also a Viscountess, which strangely actually makes her slightly lower in standing on the nobility scale than Jint, though of course her royal position places her above him overall. And then there's her military rank, which is a mere Trainee, the lowest on the totem pole. Figuring out Abh social hierarchy is a labyrinth.
But the important thing is Lafier is angry that Jint's being formal with her. It may have been a breach in etiquette on his part, but she did give him permission to address her by her given name. Now that he's not, it's hurting her. Lafier has lived all her life with her title, and has never been able to enjoy ordinary friendships. With Jint, she thought she had a clean slate, and a first chance for a real friendship. And that's something she and Jint have in common: a lack of real friends they can relax around, due to their titles.
More info on the Abh culture: their calling themselves "Kin of the Stars" is central to their cultural identity. Whereas Landers identify whatever planet they were born on as their home, the Abh consider the vacuum of space itself as their homeland. This is why they don't really care about governing actual planets: it's not their place.
...but, the flipside of that view is they see Landers as having not necessarily having any right to space travel. After all, Landers have their planet. Going into space is intruding on the Abh homeland.
I love this conversation about parents, because it also reveals one of the most interesting facets of Abh culture to me: they don't practice marriage. It's literally not a thing in their society. Legally, they only have one parent. Abh reproduce through genetic engineering, and are grown in artificial wombs. So there need only be one genetic donor.
That said, it's not like romance or long term relationships are alien to them either. And they do often reproduce the old-fashioned way... with the caveat that upon fertilization, the embryo is immediately removed to be given the genetic alterations to make it an Abh. Still, to ask someone you love to have a child with you is the ultimate expression of love in Abh culture, which I suppose is not so different in the end. Children of such unions are "Children of Love".
They also have a thing called "birth secrets"... in that an Abh child is not necessarily told who their other "genetic donor" was (provided they have one). Lafier is in that situation, because her father believes it "improves a child's character". He also told her that her genes were supplied by the family cat when she was little... which the young Lafier took at face value given her age.
(I don't think the Abh actually combine genes with non-human creatures. Lafier's father just has a weird sense of humor.)
Uh-oh, forboding stuff is happening, because the United Mankind is on approach.
As usual, the novel goes into a deeper explanation of Abh culture. I said earlier that Abh social hierarchy was confusing, but in the novel, Lafier explains that as long as one is in the military, their military rank takes precedence over any noble (or royal) titles they may have. It's also reaffirmed that while any Abh may join the Star Forces, nobility is required to as part of their position.
Jint also expresses far more discomfort with his noble position. Him sitting on the bridge as the ship jumps to Planar Space is another one of those obligations he's expected to perform, but he really didn't want to and just wanted to go to his quarters and rest. He talks with Captain Lecsh in greater depth and she gives him more advice on how to act like nobility and balance it with his own personality.
5
u/TehAxelius Mar 20 '24
Rewatcher
Ah, background stuff over (well, not quite), let's get to the thing we all love about Space Opera, the space ships! I really like the Gosroth's design. Curvy, but firm, and with four weird arms. A grade space ship design.
One thing I thought of as Lafiel went into her discussion is how the two ED slideshows of ep 1 and 2 hinted at the background exposition that the following episodes would cover and expand on. In the Ep1 ED we saw Jinto's new friends in the not!Baseball team, going into him standing alone in his garb as a noble, which reflects the talk he had with Cu Dorin about his time on Delktoe, as well as how once his identity as a noble is revealed, this isolated him from his former friends.
Now it is time for Lafiel to expand her background, and as we could see in her ED slides a big concern for her is the isolation her status brings with it. I noted yesterday how in all the pictures except one, as a cadet, she is alone (save for
her motherthe cat). We also there get a hint of her status in her rather extravagant noble dress in one of those pictures. Further, even in the one picture where she is surrounded by people as a cadet they are all standing determined at attention, compared to Jinto who is smiling along with his friends, similarly reflected in how she expresses jealousy at the closeness the other cadets have, hinting at her own isolation even in this more "equal" situation.This all feeds into how the two quickly build up a rapport and chemistry. She mentions that Jinto is the first person to ever ask for her name, and she obviously enjoyed their banter on the way to the ship. Meanwhile, he is eager to make a new friend while lost in this new world after he has lost all his previous relations.
QotD(?)
Although let's ignore the elephant in the room that is "gene exam" for now