This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering another excellent anime from the always awesome Studio Bones. It’s time to shine with the light of the stars with Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto, or Star Driver: Radiance of Takuto in English!
Plot Synopsis: Star Driver takes place on the fictional Southern Cross Isle. One night, a boy named Takuto washes up on shore swimming from the mainland. He later enrolls in Southern Cross High School as a freshman and makes new friends. However, beneath the school is a group of mysterious giants called Cybodies, which can be controlled by humans in an alternate dimension known as Zero Time. Takuto, The “Galactic Pretty Boy” (銀河美少年 Ginga Bishōnen), finds himself dragged into opposition with the “Glittering Crux Brigade” (綺羅星十字団Kiraboshi Juujidan, lit. Glittering Star Cruciform Group), a mysterious group that intends to take possession of the island’s Cybodies for their own purposes as well as break the seals of the island’s four Shrine Maidens, whose powers prevent the Cybodies from functioning outside of Zero Time.
Plot: The plot is at times comedy and at other times very serious, but despite all that it’s still a fun adventure to watch Takuto kick plenty of ass as the Ginga Bishonen, I can’t type Galactic Pretty Boy without howling with laughter for a few minutes. That said the plot is very similar to Captain Earth, another Studio Bones series, in that both of the evil groups want to steal energy from people’s libido.
Characters: Takuto can be a bit grating at times, at least in the beginning, but it’s still fun to watch. The rest of the main cast is pretty good, although I really want to strangle some of them at times. Wako in particular gets on my nerves just a bit too much. That isn’t to say that it detracts too much from the series, I’d still recommend watching this just for the ham fisted comedy.
Art: The art is standard Studio Bones work, which is to say fantastic and jaw dropping. I really enjoyed all the animation in this series.
Music: The music in this series is great, with each of the Shrine Maidens having an insert song that is amazing, and the soundtrack doesn’t disappoint. I also enjoyed the openings and endings to Star Driver quite a bit, which if you’ve been reading my posts is unusual. I usually like one or the other, but liking both is rather rare.
Overall: If you enjoy Studio Bones, or just a good Sci-Fi story with comedy and plenty of action, you’ll love watching Star Driver.
For those who like: Sci-Fi, Action, Comedy, Mecha, Studio Bones.
Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.