Crest of the Stars

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Seikai no Monshō

星界の紋章 (Crest of the Stars)
Genre	Space opera
Novel
Authored by	Hiroyuki Morioka
Publisher	Hayakawa Publishing, Inc. Tokyopop HarperCollins Canada
Publish date	April, 1996 September 5, 2006 August 24, 2006
No. of volumes	3
TV anime
Directed by	Yasuchika Nagaoka
Studio	Sunrise
Network	WOWOW
Original run	2 January 1999 – 27 March 1999
No. of episodes	13
OVA: Seikai no Danshō
Directed by	Osamu Nabeshima Yasushi Nagaoka
Studio	Sunrise
No. of episodes	1
Released	April, 2000
Runtime	25 minutes
Related
Seikai no Senki - 2000 Seikai no Senki II - 2001 Seikai no Senki III (OAV) - 2005

Crest of the Stars (Japanese: 星界の紋章 Seikai no Monshō) is a trilogy of space opera (some parts could classify as military science fiction/military space opera) science fiction novels written by Morioka Hiroyuki. Beginning in 1999, the novels were adapted into anime series, the first of which ran for 13 episodes on WOWOW. There are three sequel series to the anime -- Banner of the Stars (13 episodes, aka Seikai no Senki), Banner of the Stars II (10 episodes, aka Seikai no Senki II) and both adapting the second novel, two recap movies -- Crest of the Stars Special Edition and Banner of the Stars Special Edition, and an OVA Crest of the Stars Lost Chapter (aka Seikai no Danshō). The fourth anime series, adapting the third novel, Banner of the Stars III (aka Seikai no Senki III) is an OVA released in Japan in 2005.

1 Novels
2 Plot
- 2.1 Characters
3 Anime Episode List
4 Reception
5 See also
6 External links
- 6.1 Reviews

[edit] Novels

The Trilogy is composed of the following books:

Seikai no Monshō I "Teikoku no Ōjo" (星界の紋章I　帝国の王女) (Crest of the Stars I "The Imperial Princess") (Released September 6 2006 in U.S. by Tokopop)
Seikai no Monshō II "Sasayaka na Tatakai" (星界の紋章II 　ささやかな戦い) (Crest of the Stars II "A Modest War")
Seikai no Monshō III "Ikyō e no Kikan" (星界の紋章III 　異郷への帰還) (Crest of the Stars III "Returning to a World Unfamiliar")

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars (series I and II) follow Ghintec Linn (aka Jinto Lynn), a young prince whose world is taken over by the space-dwelling race of the Abh. When Ghintec was a young boy, his father, Rock Lynn, under threat of invasion, handed over their world, Martine, to the Abh in exchange for a position within Abh society. Young Ghintec is sent off to school to learn the ways of Abh nobility and the story of Crest of the Stars picks up as he meets the young Abh princess, Lamhirh (aka Lafiel) as they are about to travel to military school for Ghintec's further training.

However, in the midst of their travels, Lamhirh and Ghintec (along with the Abh ship Gothlauth, aka Gosroth) find themselves at the very beginnings of a war between the Abh Empire and the Four Nations Alliance of humankind, a conflict with strong overtones of the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens.

Four human nations, fearful of the Humankind Abh Empire's growing power signed the Nova Sicily Treaty to combine their forces to defeat the Empire and free humanity from its control. Members of the Alliance, ranked according to power are the United Mankind - the leading force of the Alliance, the Federation of Hania, the Republic of Greater Alcont, and the People's Sovereign Union of Planets. The Alliance, (particularly the United Mankind) believes that the Abh should be serving humans instead (since it was their ancestors' original function), and to forcefully impose their culture on other worlds through heavy trade.

In Crest of the Stars, the Four Nations Alliance plotted against the Humankind Empire Abh that culminates in the events in Crest of the Stars. The Alliance had hoped to use an attack they had staged to trick the Empire. However, the Empress declared war instead. The war between the Abh and the Alliance entered a stalemate. It would be three years (the time of Banner of the Stars) until both sides would be ready to fight and the stalemate ends.

By Banner of the Stars, the Federation of Hania did not declare war on the Abh, despite being a member of the Nova Sicily Treaty. While the anime did not provide an explanation, the manga does state that Hania did not join the war because of their ethical views. Without Hania, the Four Nations Alliance became known as the Triple Alliance.

The series -- both the anime and novels -- are particularly notable for the fact that Morioka created for them an entire language, Baronh (and an accompanying alphabet, Ath), which the Abh speak, read, and write. Almost all written text in the anime is in Baronh, with occasional text in other (invented) languages; at least one planet is shown to have adopted Ath to write their own language (although this is not a plot point, and easily missed).

Crest of the Stars was released in Japan in 1999 and in the United States by Bandai in 2001. At the end of 2002, TechTV announced that Crest of the Stars was to be one of the initial titles as part of their new Anime Unleashed programming and began broadcast at the end of 2002 and through 2003.

[edit] Characters

Main article: Characters in Crest of the Stars

The main protagonists of Seikai series of novels and anime are Ghintec (Jint), a genetically "Terran" Abh nobleman, and Lamhirh (Lafiel), a princess of the empire. The story generally revolves around their evolving relationship. Other characters also give color to the story, the importance of whom underscore the rather difficult and extraordinary circumstances the relationship of the two main characters have to develop under. There of course is their fellow bridge crew on the attack ship Basroil- Sobach, Aicryac, and Samsonn. From the empress on the top to the lowly "grounder" subject, from the Commander-in-Chief of the Rüé Spainec (Imperial Armed Forces) to the ordinary fectodaic (Wing Flyer), from the Ambassadors of foreign states to their forces in the battlefield, the characters of the Seikai series give depth to its story.