An Anime Review of 'Hoshiai no Sora'

Hoshiai no Sora was not the show I was expecting it to be. I went in thinking that it might be a show that is in the vein of Baby Steps, how I wish there were more Baby Steps to watch, though what I ended up getting was a coming of age drama that happens to have sports in it. While the tennis subplot is very much what drives the characters into action, it is the personal lives and the conflicts within that make up a majority of the show. This ended up being one of the surprise shows of last year for me, and I was glad I watched it.

The show starts off by introducing a soft tennis boys club that is struggling in the middle school level. Already, there is an aspect that helps this show stand out from much of the other anime. This show takes place in middle school rather than high school. The student council is making budget cuts for the year and any under performing clubs are going to be cancelled, this puts the boys soft tennis club on the chopping blocks. Before they are ruthlessly disbanded, they are given the chance to stay afloat, and this condition is to win a single match in the upcoming regional qualifier tournament. Thus our story begins.

While the sports journey that the characters take is nothing new when compared to the rest of what the sports genre has offered us, what is different are the characters and the personal troubles that they go through both individually and as a team. These character moments are intriguing as each member of the team has his or her own challenge to overcome. By the time the midpoint rolls around you start to wonder if any of the squad members has a somewhat positive family life. The idea of abusive households, overprotective parents, emotionally stunted familial relationships, and even character sexuality and gender are discussed throughout the show. There are times when tennis takes a complete back seat in favour of the character drama and we are all the better for it.

The art style in this show is, for lack of a better word soft. The colours are not overpowering, they are diluted, and pleasing to the eyes to behold. I had to check if this is in any way related to Battery The Animation, which is another story I enjoyed in a similar vein, only to find Hoshiai no Sora is an original work. This art style contrasts heavily with the subject material being covered in the narrative, there is a dissonance between the visuals and the narrative at times that it makes the scene all the more uncomfortable to watch. The actual tennis segments are not all too impressive as there are a lot of instances where shots are reused, or repurposed, and additional instances where we are up close to the character where we do not have a full scope of the court. The initial episodes also had an issue with the 3D animation standing out to the point it took me out of the show, however they were only on the wide shots and as the show progressed they used this technique very sparingly. The soundtrack was quite pleasing to listen as well.

As of the time of this writing a season two has not officially been announced. Despite the fact that this season ended on a massive cliffhanger for the characters and the director himself saying he has ideas as to where the story would go. As it stands while I enjoyed the show as a whole, the lack of resolution in the narrative left me quite unfulfilled when compared to my time investment. This is something I'm in two minds about. As such I will say this, if you are alright with unresolved narratives, I would still recommend this show. If you are like me and want a narrative catharsis I recommend waiting till a second season is announced. Either way the show is available to watch on Funimation.