When Jinto Lin was just ten years old, the Humankind Empire Abh invaded his home world of Martine and conquered it without a even entering into battle.  Martine had no chance of winning, the Abhs were too powerful, so Jinto's father, the president of Martine negotiated a peaceful surrender.  In exchange for the deactivation codes to their security satellites, Martine would become part of the Abh Empire and Jinto's father would continue to rule it.

This treaty had drastic implications for you Jinto.  His father being the governor of a planet in the Abh Empire made him royalty.  He was sent off to learn the Abh language and customs and prepare for the life of a nobleman.  Seven years later he's finished his studies and is going for special training when he meets his first Abh; Lafiel, a young pilot trainee who also happens to be an Abh princess.

While traveling to his destination aboard a military vessel, the four other empires in the galaxy form an alliance and declare war on the Humankind Empire Abh.  Jinto, being a civilian, is put in Lafiel's care and the pair flee the battle zone in a small communications vessel.   Together the two strangers have to work together to get through enemy lines to the capital, something that won't be easy.

This is a wonderful series that plays out very well.  It's short, only 13 episodes long, but it's packed with an interesting story.  This is a show dealing with war, but Jinto and Lafiel don't participate in the battles.  They are just trying to reach their destination alive, and learn a lot about each other on the way.

This is a character driven show, and that may be why the series isn't better known.  This isn't about space battles and explosions, though there is some of that, it concerns two young people under pressure.  The story is largely told through their conversations, and viewers learn about the Abh and their civilization the same time that Jinto does.  These two characters are what draw the viewer in, and you're soon caught up in their predicaments and troubles.   The series just seems to zoom along, and before you know it that story wraps up.

If there is one complaint I have, it's that the show is too short.  The program just scratches the surface of what the Abh universe is like by the end of the series.  The story is very rich and detailed, with the origins and stories surrounding the various empires only hinted at, and leaving plenty of room for more.  I would have appreciated the show if they had taken the time to flesh out the background a little more.  I guess that's why they made a sequel.  (Banner of the Stars)

While the story is very good and easy to become involved with it, the animation is only average.  The character designs are nothing special, the Abh basically look like elves with blue hair, and the animation is only mediocre.  While people do move smoothly and everyday scenes are rendered nicely, the space battles are not nearly as exciting as they could be, and move rather slowly.  Much of the lead up, and some of the actual fighting, is shown on scanner screens where the ships are represented as triangles.   I was hoping for a little more eye candy, but the lack of thrilling images doesn't take away from this fun and enjoyable series.

This set released under the 'Anime Legends' banner contains the entire 13 episode series on four DVDs that come in a double width keepcase.  These discs seem to be the same as the earlier individual releases down to the 2001 copyright on the discs themselves.

Audio:

This series has the original Japanese sound track and an English dub, both in stereo.  I preferred the Japanese track, though there wasn't anything particularly wrong with the English dub.  The sound on both tracks was clean and clear.  There were no dropouts, distortion or other audio defects.

Video:

The full frame video is fine, but does have some slight defects.   The image is a bit soft, with the lines not being as tight as I was expecting and things being just the slightest bit indistinct.  There's a little bit of macroblocking present in the clouds of space gas, and the image seems to have a slight amount of edge enhancement applied to it.  This causes a very slight white outline of the main figures which may be distracting on larger displays.  Even added together though, these defects don't ruin the image.  Aside from that, the picture is fine, with good colors and nice black levels.

Extras:

There aren't really a lot of extras included with this set. There is a clean opening and two clean closings along with four text pieces on the history of the Ahb which make nice reading.  That's all.

Final Thoughts:

Crest of the Stars is one of those series that's easy to pass up based on the write up on the back cover.  It doesn't sound exciting or action packed.  It is an excellent show however and one that deserves a lot more attention.  An enjoyable story of two people from different races who have to rely on each other to survive in a time of war, this show is easy to get into and well worth watching.  Now that the whole series can be had for the price of a single volume when it was first released, there's no reason to pass up this wonderful show.  Highly Recommended.