Shima has just started highschool, but she doesn't go to any ordinary school!  She is attending the academy on Stellvia, a space station orbiting the Earth.  Here she and he friends take a rigorous series of courses to train them to be space pilots, and possibly save the world.  But will Shima have what it takes to make it in this tough environment?  Find out in the first volume of Stellvia.

In the your 2167, the Earth was hit by a very powerful electromagnetic wave created by a supernova 20 light years away.  The wave had catastrophic effects, and life on Earth was almost extinguished.  But the survivors rebuilt civilization, and now, 189 year later, there is another threat; the second wave.  The same supernova produced a wave of particles traveling only 10% as fast as the first wave, but potentially much more dangerous and damaging.

To combat this threat, the Earth is developing a giant barrier of electromagnetic and gravity waves that should protect the planet when the wave hits.  It hasn't been implemented yet, and the wave will hit in only 7 short months.  To act as a point defense and shore up any weak parts of the barrier will be a series spaceships, Biancas, flown by the best pilots the Earth has to offer.

To accomplish all of this, a series of schools on orbiting space stations were created.  These competitive schools train the scientists and pilots who will erect and maintain the barrier.  Shima, a member of the newest class, arrives on the station Stellvia along with the newest class.  She's shy and a little insecure, but soon makes friends with her classmates.  Shima is a mixed bag.  A computer genius who manages to impress her programing instructor, she is also a horrible pilot.  Instead of just steering her craft, she rewrites the navigational program in realtime to avoid objects in her way.  This doesn't work of course, and she often ends up flying off on an undesirable trajectory.  Shima's goal is to be a pilot though.  With all the mistakes and errors she's been making in space though, she's having a hard time staying enrolled, much less earning her wings.

This is another show where kids have to save mankind.  Though the premise is kind of goofy if you think about it, these shows are often charming and fun.  Stellvia reminds me of Battle Athletes a bit.  They both are light dramas about young girls who have a vast untapped potential, and like Battle Athletes, Stellvia is an enjoyable, fun show.

This first volume starts things off well by setting up the problem and introducing the main characters.  Stellvia has a fairly typical (for anime) mix of character types that give the show a lot of potential for both humorous and dramatic moments.  Though there are a lot of light moments in the program, it's not primarily a comedy.  There is also a good mix of drama, such as when Shima says good-bye to her mother, only to be told that she won't be missed, and a little bit of action too.

The animation is very good, with a nice blend of CGI and traditional animation.  There are several scenes throughout the volume that are visually stunning, especially the welcome the shuttle from Earth gets when the new students arrive.

Stellvia is a nice, fun show that is worth checking out.

Audio:

The DVD includes stereo soundtracks in both English and Japanese.  Both tracks sounded very good, with a good amount of range and crisp sound.  I enjoyed the English dub just as well as the original soundtrack.  The English voice actors did a good job and didn't give the young girls high pitched voices.  Well, not all of them.  The soundstage was used effectively in both tracks, with some nice panning of the sound effects.  A nice solid sounding disc.

Video:

The full frame video looked very nice.  There is a lot of color in the show and they were reproduced very well.  The atmosphere of the Earth as seen from space looked great with no blocking in the clouds or haze, and no significant banding.  A very nice looking show.

Extras:

The only extras on this disc were a non-credit opening and previews for ROD the TV, Sakura Wars and MAO-chan

Final Thoughts:

This was an enjoyable show.  The visuals and animation are excellent, as are the character designs.  While the plot doesn't grab you right away, the show is fun to watch and the volume is over before you know it.  These four shows bode well for the rest of the series.  A high Recommendation.