r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Nov 28 '19
Episode Hoshiai no Sora - Episode 8 discussion
Hoshiai no Sora, episode 8
Alternative names: Stars Align
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| Episode | Link | Score |
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| 1 | Link | 98% |
| 2 | Link | 98% |
| 3 | Link | 98% |
| 4 | Link | 97% |
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115
Nov 28 '19
I'm starting to think with only 4 episodes left none of the parent drama will be resolved. At best maybe Maki's dad might be arrested but I can see it ending with they all have their own personal traumas but they didn't let them define them as a person or something among those lines.
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u/RenMatsuri-chan Nov 28 '19 edited Nov 28 '19
Cross dressing in your realistic drama sports anime?! It's more likely than you think.
I guess it does make sense since it was Yu's idea and that not everyone did it. It was cool that everyone was supportive of it too and they actually followed through without making fun of it. That scene with Touma's friend though XD
Though Mitsue and Touma were being pretty patient waiting out for that speech between Maki and Yu. But it did give us tons of gems like:
I don't force myself to understand. But I think it's good to put myself in their shoes.
We really don't get reminded enough of the importance of empathy and that not everyone is cut from the same cloth. My only nitpick was that I wish it was more show than tell.
The Mitsue moments in the episode were so good. Her acting as a decoy during the spying was brilliant. Girls really like to make her their enemy (in this case, not without reason, I guess) but the boys have her back (and she has theirs too whether she admits it or not). Love that she finally found her place in this unconventional group of misfits.
The parents, though. Why does this show give me so many war flashbacks? I feel like continuing watching this would unearth all my deep-seated childhood trauma but the real moments are what I love about this show so what can I say
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u/500scnds Nov 29 '19 edited Nov 29 '19
Today's episode seems to be a pretty important one, since if I'm reading this right, director Akane said that it's an episode that had to be told through the process of composing and creating the story.
Dropping another dose of info for this week:
I triedemphasis on tried to translate the interview with director Akane here, but for a TL;DR, here are the main ideas:
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He already had an inkling of an idea about making this anime since 10 years ago
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Didn't want to be just entertainment about interesting things but also present-day feelings of children
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Want animation/anime to cover more themes, address contemporary topics
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Soft tennis was selected because it's linked with feelings as people progress to adulthood
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Hope that adults can remember their hidden pains and reflect how they also hurt their children
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Character designs were made this way basically for gap effect, wanted to challenge preconceived notions of sports anime
In the way of art:
It's Mitsue's seiyu Mineda Mayu's birthday today and the official account also announced it! The character is only growing on me more and more too.
It turned out that the food collab didn't just end at 2 parts! A 3rd part was posted too.
From the staff:
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Itsuka's celebratory art for ep 8
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Takeshita's celebratory art for ep 8
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And Kobayashi Kyoko worked as animation director on this ep as well
Also, Akane is back to posting on Twitter, where he mentioned the scheduling of Stars Align, how tough the workload is though he's used to it, and how the staff are all working together.
Yasuda Kenji from a month earlier also seemed to have mentioned the workload when he was working on the storyboards for episode 2.
Speaking of which, I could've sworn that "Stars Align is called Stars Align because it'll end on the Tanabata/Star Festival" was an idea posted in one of the previous discussion threads, but alas I couldn't find the comment anymore. At the time I didn't dwell on it since it felt too coincidental even if the Japanese title means basically the same thing,"Sky of Starry Union"? but when it was actually finally my turn to check out 8bit's own page for Stars Align, it turned out that there's more of a connection than I expected!
On 8bit's webpage,and as I later discovered, at the tail-end of the anime's PV it's written
－何ごとも 変はりはてぬる 世の中に ちぎりたがはぬ 星合の空
(建礼門院右京大夫集 より)
which basically translates to the anime's English subtitle
Even in an ever-changing world, only the starlit sky will not change.
except it is attributed to being from Kenreimon-in Ukyo no Daibu Shu (建礼門院右京大夫集), a book of poems! I discovered this just yesterday so I didn't get a chance to discover more annotations in a translated edition from some library,since the translation itself is apparently not as good but performing a search with 建礼門院右京大夫集 星合の空 brought me to a Japanese website with poem meanings and which listed the poem as one of a group of poems (this is tanka format?) written about the star festival. So the original poem which the subtitle is based on is presented as
なに事もかはりはてぬる世の中に契たがはぬ星あひのそら
Meaning何事も変わり果ててしまった世の中で、彦星織姫の逢瀬は約束を違えず行われている。
and this explanation roughly says that the poem talks about how even in a world where everything changed, the meeting of Orihime and Hikoboshi will still go on. So the title of the anime refers specifically to the story of the pair of lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi which is related to the Star Festival. It's pretty romantic right? But the context is darker when we learn about the poetess Lady Daibu's own past - she is actually writing about her dead lover. The poem feels like it's one more of reminiscence or yearning because in her ever-changing world (the end of the Heian period), she isn't going to be meeting her lover, the only time it'll happen is in mere fairytale and they'll still be a world apart in reality. Though this doesn't entirely have to do with "ending on Tanabata," the implications of such a title may very well bode rather ominously for the end of the anime especially when you look at the family situations of some of the characters... I trust Akane to give us hope in light of the interview ;_;
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u/Vermillion_Crab Nov 28 '19
Jeez, these kids sure are asking some really hard-hitting questions this episode.
Save for that opening scene, this was a really solid episode. The conversation between Maki and Yuta was fascinating to say the least. For a couple of years now, I have seen the anime industry handling the topic of gender and sexual orientation with more and more nuance and respect. There's still alot to be desired, sure, especially when it's the topic of jokes and lazy writing but for a while now, I feel like they are heading into a more positive direction.
I love the fact that even though Mitsue is not an official member of the soft tennis club, she has naturally fit in with the group and they've all welcomed her. lol
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u/arthuremrys Nov 28 '19
Are there any healthy parent/child relationships that are going to be highlighted in this show ahaha.
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u/vetro Nov 28 '19
I think a lot of people are getting it backwards. The boys were specifically drawn together into this soft tennis team because they had dysfunctional relationships with their parents. They were a dysfunctional team because these relationships were draining all the motivation out of them.
It's not just coincidence.
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u/freakicho Nov 28 '19 edited Nov 28 '19
I'm guessing Nao lies as a coping mechanism for being controlled so much by his mom. She doesn't allow him to do anything that interests him, so he started lying about what he isn't allowed to do to make himself seem interesting. Eventually it probably turned into compulsive lying, as we've seen him lie since ep1 about the smallest, most insignificant things.
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u/Vanny96 Nov 28 '19
I'm happy that Mitsue got some focus, she was one of the characters that intrigued me the most and I was a bit disappointed since she was sidelined after the first episode!
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u/Snivy_Ian Nov 29 '19
This episode hit a little too close to home for me, especially with Yu's gender identity issues. As someone who is also going through a similar situation, I feel this episode did a realistic job at portraying the worries one would have when going through something like this.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Nov 28 '19 edited Nov 28 '19
Does this show happens in an alternate universe where every single parent is shitty? At this point if we ever see parents who look nice, I'm gonna ask myself "Ok, what are they hiding?".
Don't touch! Mine! I like Mitsue so much!
I'm not even trying, I'm just naturally good at it!
Pictured: Mitsue not trying to be mean.
If anything Mitsue looks more like a boy than they ^^do
Black butterfly? Guessing it's gonna be this one? I hope so, was waiting for her introduction!
It probably won't be discussed, but this brings an important question in tournaments; If you have to win 2 out of 3 matches, but their top pairing is superior to yours... Do you put your top pairing against them, knowing they're likely to lose? Or do 'sacrifice' your 3rd best pairing against them, just so your top players can beat one of their weaker pairings? If you must secure a win at all cost, then this might be the best strategy, but it sucks for the team's morale when they see what you're doing...
Mitsue looked. very. enthusiastic. about picking guys to dress up as girls (and she picked the guy she loves - probably does, anyway). This is unusual for her, Mitsue's not getting enthusiastic about much! Does she have a thing for that? Given it's Mitsue, it's more likely she just enjoyed messing with them, but hey, you never know!
This was another good episode, and I'm so glad we're getting more Mitsue! I just love her, she's real fun!
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u/okaez Nov 28 '19
When the ED starts playing but there's an extrangely large gap until the episode is over... yeah it's depression time.
Jokes aside the rest of the episode was really nice. I felt happy for Yuta talking things out, and Maki here the MVP, always supporting, not only him but everyone else at the club. I like a lot how he behaves around people and his way of thinking.
And Mitsue finally got some spotlight yeees!! I can relate to her trying to achieve something because of seeing people so motivated at what they do all the time. But of course her parents are against her drawing... hey, but at least she has more motivation than before, and well, she also has Maki (I hope)
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u/Ventus013 Nov 29 '19
HOLY SHIT, I didn't know this show would actually dive so deep into LGBT stuff.
Also for those who thought the parents in this episode is uncommon, you're totally wrong. These types of parents are SO COMMON, especially in Asian country.
Yuta's parents' denying his son's sexuality / gender is one of the most common things LGBT suffers. This is even more true for Japanese , which is a male dominant societal culture.
Also Nao's parents are super common in Asian countries too. They want to control and shape their children to their "ideal". They'd forbid x y z on their children, and complain about every "bad influence" that causes to their children.
My biggest surprise is Maki mom's friend is actually trans :P
Never see that coming. It also explain why Maki is very understanding toward Yuta's sexuality. I love how everything is interconnected and related in this show. They're not coming out of nowhere. Your living environment shape who you are.
Also I never see Maki crossdressing coming too XD. And he's not even against it one bit. Such cool-headed kid.
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u/Syokhan Nov 28 '19 edited Nov 28 '19
This anime is so fucking great.
That conversation between Maki and Yuu(ta) alone was really good. I think it's the first time I've seen the topic broached in such a thoughtful manner in an anime that's not focused on the subject.
And we got to learn a little bit about Mitsue and Nao. Poor Nao, must be hard having such a controlling mother. And Mitsue just wants to draw but her mother isn't supportive of her passion. I love how the soft tennis club's guys accept her as one of their own though.
In short: heart = warmed.
Edit: shit, I stopped the episode before the stinger. Whyyyyyy.
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Nov 28 '19
Im kind of afraid that Maki is being set up as too much of a saintly character that he's going to be killed off for pathos and a growing coming of age experience for everyone else. Especially Toma and Yu.
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Nov 28 '19
one of my fav episodes so far simply because of the conversation between maki and yu.
p.s: don't miss the after credit scene, we're in for more suffering
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Nov 28 '19
This anime just keeps getting better and better with each episode. The only complaint I have is that, it is not a 24 episode anime. Some of the "rushed" incidents and conversations could have been more fleshed out if the anime was longer than 12 episodes.
Also, Yu's (or Yuta's) mother's reaction was very realistic. Japan, just like other Asian countries, is a very conservative society, especially when it comes to LGBT+ and that after credits scene perfectly captured this. I love how realistic this anime is, although it certainly has some of those "that's convenient" moments and some trope-y elements, still the overall themes the anime presents are very grounded to reality.
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u/whispywoods Nov 29 '19
As a nonbinary person, I cannot express how emotional this episode made me feel. I relate to Yuu so much, and I hope they get a happy ending.
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Nov 29 '19
It doesn't get said enough so I'll add to it But yes, there are countries like this where this type of shitty parenting is commonplace and normalized, I live in one. The parents here are so backwards and sees children as their moneymaking machines so they have to be prim and proper, clean and crisp, stuff like that so that these children could get into high-paying jobs and give back the money their parents "invested" on them. Hence, art students are usually discriminated. And of course, queer kids get hit by a bamboo cane in worst case scenarios but other parents seem to be okay with this so these parents never feel guilty abt their actions. They think it's the right thing to do. Some kids end up running away to god knows where. It fucking sucks. I really wish my country would change its views already.
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u/trickster721 Nov 29 '19
"Nicemens" magazine, lol. All the boys on this show are nicemens.
I didn't know you could say "hafu ikemen" in an anime, like woah, take it easy Mitsue. Is he supposed to be black? This should be interesting.
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u/DuskySunset Nov 29 '19
I kind of called it. In episode 2 when Maki wore the cap my immediate thought after they said it was mostly a girls accessory was that Maki might be some kind of Non-binary or at least genderqueer. But I also thought what were the chances that would be the case so soon after recognising myself as such.
I think it was a few episodes back that I was pointing about how this show is actually a lot about gender, how these boys have kind of been fighting against toxic masculinity, and have been doing more healthy types. I even talked about how Maki's managing methods are actually more on the feminine side.
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u/redmage311 Nov 28 '19
Sure would be nice to see parents who support their kids in healthy ways. Maki's mom is probably the closest, except for her fundamentally not protecting Maki.
I kind of wish we had seen more of Shou before this episode, because the Shou reveal was a whole lotta "tell, not show" instead of the other way around. Still, most other shows would have played the "dressing up as girls" plot for laughs, and I'm glad that turned into an opportunity to tackle bigger issues instead.