anderson.rhoda - 2016-05-08 19:55:48

Everything was fine in this anime but it was pretty tiring in some point because nothing was happening, i almost fell asleep while watching this, but overall it was fine

abbie.gottlieb - 2016-04-16 15:02:46

Very boring in terms of survival game animes. The animation and overall sound (music, acting, etc) was pretty standard, nothing amazing or ground breaking. There was no real story that I could find even by episode 5, and it was too linear to be a real slice of life genre. Characters were bland and forgettable. 

crist.travon - 2013-10-01 00:37:51

As always, my reviews are spoiler free.

Note: This review contains plot summaries to a certain degree, but does not include actual spoilers or specifics towards the story. If you want to be totally surprised by the plot, skip over the story section or skip this review. Thanks!

What did you want to be when you were five years old? An astronaut? A construction worker? Maybe a turtle? It’s normal to be confused about what you want to be when you are this young. What is a little less normal is a 13 episode anime taking 13 episodes to decide what it wants to be. From beginning to end, Stella will take you on a journey involving cute girls doing survival things, suffering, healing, charactHAIR development, fanservice, plot twists, and pretty much every other plot device known to all genres of anime. Up until the minute the final credits roll, it never quite stops changing, and that may be where it falls short.

But then I remembered that Gainax made it. Suddenly, I was overcome with feelings about how deep the plot actually was. The character decline shown in Yura was heartbreaking and touching, and the anime was simply overflowing with dark symbolism (such as the cast's lack of development representing Yura's neglect of them) that made me wonder if there was some more serious message being given than just these girls playing airsoft. Could this be the next Evangelion, assuming you analyze it closely enough? Is this the next hidden gem that Gainax has descended from the heavens to bestow on our undeserving souls?

Of course not; they just screwed the pooch hard on this one.

Story - 4/10

There isn’t really “a” story for Stella. Rather, it has been split (perhaps unintentionally) into a number of different arcs. Episodes 1-3 are a pretty standard affair; Yura is forcibly recruited onto her all-girls-school’s airsoft team after a misunderstanding that she’s a “weirdo”. She has no idea what is going on, but quickly learns the basics of airsoft under her senpai and roommate Sonora. At this point, it is a Cute Girls Doing cu- COMMANDO Things/Slice of Life (CGDCT/SOL). Yura was searching for “her airsoft,” which is some concept involving balancing the fun of the game with the desire to win. To show her dedication, she receives charactHAIR development and improves her skills.

It was basic, standard, and predictable. Then I watched episode four.

In what can only be described as a drive-by shooting through ancient Japan while on an acid trip, Yura fights beside the God of War with her airsoft gun. “As expected of Gainax,” I thought to myself as I listened to advanced airsoft techniques such as “aim without aiming.” Eventually, when Yura could shoot a BB into the hole in a coin from a field’s length, Yura had “found her airsoft” and the schizophrenic story continues.

Episodes 5-11 is where Gainax begins to “deconstruct” fun. These episodes chronicle Yura’s decline into pseudo-insanity due to her obsession with improving her airsoft. These episodes focus almost completely on her character development (as well as can be done in an anime about airsoft). Her shooting skills go through the roof, but she also becomes airsoft’s version of a bloodthirsty psychopath out for blood. As she realizes that she missed the easy-going Stella airsoft club and having fun, the story rapidly turns to a healing tale.

Once we get 2 episodes of Yura’s redemption, it seems that Gainax forgot somewhere along the way that there was supposed to be a 13^th episode. So, despite episode 12 having wrapped up the story as well as could possibly be done, a totally out of place OVA-like episode is taped onto the end, completely throwing off any sense of closure.

It is as if Gainax was making this up as they went along. The stark differences between episodes, forced character development, and the occasional “dark twist” makes for a pretty poor story, and the premise of girls playing airsoft was kind of shaky in the first place.

Yura: Dark Descent.

Animation - 7/10

The animation here is above average to be sure, but not as good as I was expecting from a big name studio. That aside, we are graced with consistently fluid animation, good character designs, and well-drawn environments. The only shaky points are the out-of-focus characters, which are often pretty bad. Almost every studio is guilty of this, however, so it would be unfair to dock too many points.

I was still a bit underwhelmed by the whole thing. The action scenes are often quite conservative, with minimal character movement in locations that are not as detailed as I would like to see. However, it was still an above average display.

Good enough, Gainax, good enough.

Sound - 5/10

I have a lot of mixed opinions here, but one thing I should mention immediately is the good voice acting. Every character was hit perfectly.

The ambient music and sound effects were sometimes poor. There is a lot of silence with no music at all, and when there is I wasn’t impressed. I hope you like birds chirping, because you hear it a lot. The same one on repeat. Over and over. The airsoft guns did sound good, if not quite accurate to real life.

I liked the OP, but the ED really grated on my ears. Your opinions may vary.

Characters - 6/10

In this section, I could point out how the vast majority of the characters have no development at all and are utterly uninteresting to me. I could say that they often reacted irrationally to the tiniest stimuli. I could say that they often totally failed to deliver the joke. But I won’t mention them, because that would be depressing and repetitive.

Instead, I’m going to talk about drop-dead hilarious Yura’s development is.

In the hundreds of series I have seen, I have never seen such a comical display of “growth” in a character over this short series. This is a CGDCT/SOL anime as well, not in any way known for developing their characters. But Yura is developed. Oh, is she developed.

Her “growth” begins when she is frightened of airsoft, and surrenders to avoid being shot. She is torn apart by her precious Sonora-senpai for this, so she decides to improve herself. Her descent into a bloodthirsty killer is moderately paced but very obvious, and by the end even the most hardcore teams won’t take her. She is reduced to a broken mess playing arcade games and crying the rain. Every single second of it is so absurd and over the top that you can’t stop smiling and wondering what she will do next, how far she will fall. It is truly a wonder to behold.

Another highlight is the reoccurring character Rin. She is Sonora’s old training partner (which is also a hilarious story, full of darkness and suffering in the name of airsoft) who will tell you that airsoft is SERIOUS FUCKING BUSINESS. She trains a squad of girls harder than the Spetsnaz and spends her time at a range shooting targets with airsoft guns for hours a day. Her character takes airsoft so seriously that you forget that they are playing a game with plastic guns. She has some great moments, like telling Yura she doesn’t have the right to play airsoft after surrendering. While she adds nowhere near as much comedy to the story as Yura, she is a consistent source of absurd laughs.

So, 3/10 for most of the cast, 9/10 for Yura and Rin being unintentional comedians.

Enjoyment - 7/10

That’s where the enjoyment of Stella is: the absurdity. The wall running, “aiming without aiming,” training for hours a day in Special Forces outfits, the fall of Yura due to what amounts almost entirely to a juvenile game… every minute of it made me smile. I was looking forward to that next great line, that next dark twist, all in the name of pink BBs.

Perhaps Gainax did fail in creating a decent CGDCT/SOL, but they made one hell of a comedy.