Anime Starship Operators

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"][B]Title[/B]: Starship Operators
[B]Genre[/B]: Military Action, Space Drama
[B]For Fans of[/B]: Macross
[B]Length[/B]: 13 episodes
[B]Availability[/B]: 3 DVDs released by Geneon

[CENTER][img]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b269/MetalSonic700/01.jpg[/img][/CENTER]

So, another series finished in a short period of time - Starship Operators. Aside from having one of the coolest first episodes I've ever seen in an anime and some of the greatest battle scenes, this show earns the spot as my favorit space/military show since Robotech.

[B]Episode 2[/B]
Oi. 2 episodes into Starship Operators - this show is insane and I love it. The first episode easily ranks in my top 5 favorite first episodes of an anime - it doesn't **** around at all. Brass-tax, non-stop tension, and if you don't pay close attention to what's going on, you'll surely get lost. The concept is original and presented beautifully.

But best of all comes down to the battles. Not much in the way of visual fights, but my god the tension is heavier than any swordfight I've ever seen and pulls off some of the coolest space stuff I've ever seen (I'm usually not a big fan of space anime, but this one turns that all around) plus as a huge tactics nerd, I find the intelligent battles to be totally fun and cool.

[B]Episode 3[/B]
No battle, but the same no-nonsense attitude that keeps me on the edge of my seat throughout. Gotta say, the producer guy is probably my favorite character so far - he's practically evil, lol. I also find it interesting how many secrets seem to be touched opun in each episode. I get the feeling we're looking at massive plot twists to come.

[B]Episode 6[/B]
Episodes 5-6 of Starship Operators were absolutely brilliant, also, unexpected boob shot!!! [spoiler]Though it sucks that it had to be as Rena was dying, since she was probably my favorite of the girls, but still, bewb shot >_>;[/spoiler] I gotta say I'm imperessed, this is pretty much the second military show I've ever liked (the other being Macross)

(I watched the rest all at once so I didn't have time for individual reviews)

Anywho, the most important thing about this show from beginning to end was that it was fast-paced and exciting every minute and moved so quickly that each episode felt half it's length. Episode 8 and I believe it was either 10 or 11 (the one where they fight 5 ships at once) were not only the wo coolest space battles of all time, but simply two of the greatest battles ever.

The series wasn't completely without flaws, mind you. The biggest one I saw was that in the last 4-5 episodes it seems like they gave up on character development. Throughout the early episodes there was always romantic stuff on the side and little excerpts of the characters lives, but after [spoiler]Shinon's boyfriend died (relatively quickly, I might add) [/spoiler]the characters seemed to fall back and the est of the story concentrated on the plot strictly. My best guess is that this was because of only having 13 episodes to work with. Not that the series should have necessarily been longer - I think if they had spanned it out more it mght have lost that constant tension and energy that was almost ever-present throughout. Still, I definitely would have liked to look more into some of the more interesting characters' lives.

Looking at the series in review, I think the highlights would have been the 6th and 8th episodes. The episode with the 5-on-one fight may have been the coolest battle in the series, but it was at the point when the story had become a little too political for me - not that I didn't still enjoy it. The ending was effected by this as well. I think that the series ended the way it should have, but it ended too soon. If I had been more intimate with the characters sooner to the end, it would have been more impactful, and utterly perfect.

Still, despite these flaws, it was an excellent series that I might like to see redone with a higher budget and maybe more episodes, if it could be done right. After all, I think the flaws were completely with circumstance rather than writing issues. On that note, I notice that it is in fact based on an ongoing series of novels which I'd love the chance to read, though I will likely never get it, lol.

Anywho, my favorite characters from this show were Shinon, Rena (boob shot!), and the ever-awesome Peter. If he wasn't enough of a badass already, his part at the end of the series makes him the true best dude evar. [/COLOR]

[Dagger]

I'm not sure I felt it to be particularly fast-paced and exciting, haha, but it's fairly unique in its serious, realistic (well, more or less) approach to strategy-driven space battles. I don't mean to rewatch it anytime soon... I don't regret having bought it, though.

Love the OP & ED.

~Dagger~

[2010DigitalBoy]

[quote name='Dagger']Love the OP & ED.

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]I skipped the ED eqch episode out of impatience, but couldn't bring myself to jump past "radiance." Love that techno-pop sound. [/COLOR]

[Vigilance]

So what is Starship Operator about? is it one of the best anime I can watch? So please explain the detail for me.

[2010DigitalBoy]

[quote name='Blitz_Kid']So what is Starship Operator about? is it one of the best anime I can watch? So please explain the detail for me.[/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Well, it's about a group of university students who are onboard a battleship coming home from it's maiden voyage. It's almost gotten home whe they find out that the galactic force known as the kingdom has just taken over their planet. Since the planet's new prime minister believes in peace he surrenders and tells everyone on the ship to come back to the planet in shuttles. The officers all leave immediately, but the cadets decide rather than returning home to try and buy the ship from whoever the planet is fixing to sell it to and start a one-ship (30 cadets) rebellion against the empire.

The question is, of course, how they'll aford supplies and stuff ad buy the ship. So the guy who came up with the plan decides to use the Galaxy Network - a news broadcast channel, as sponsors in return for filming their escapades.

The series is usually serious and tense with some highly tactical military battles. It's not about being flashy, but about being smart. It's also really, really fun for the most part.[/COLOR]