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Seikai Trilogy [Manga] #1
Crest of the Stars
After his home is captured, a boy named Jinto begins a journey that he will never forget.
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 23, 2016
Huh. It was a good story. It was funny & cute with nice artwork. Very cartoony artwork, but nice. jinto & lafiel were cute together. But for a story line about a super human race conquering thousands of other planets & another group trying to stop them it was a little TO cute.myou know what I mean?
Something that should be some dramatic, gorey sci-fly awesomeness turned into a kiddish joke.
A kiddish joke that was honestly kinda hard to follow and understand. & if a 20 year old, well read, lover of manga & sci-fy & fantasy is struggling to understand the book, hoe can you expect the target age of 13+ to get it?
& It wasn't terrible. Really.
it just could have been so much more.
Plus all these crazy made up words! A few are ok, it helps without the world building. But there is a point were it becomes to much. This went past that point. If I have to keep going back to the glossary to understand what's being said for half the book, it's not ok.
All in all, it was kinda cute & funny but left me with a very conflicted reaction. I'll be finishing the rest of the series, since I picked up all 3 volumes already from the used bookstore. But I can't say if I would actually recommend it yet. Maybe if your really in 2 more goofy mangas & space based sci-ft?
Something that should be some dramatic, gorey sci-fly awesomeness turned into a kiddish joke.
A kiddish joke that was honestly kinda hard to follow and understand. & if a 20 year old, well read, lover of manga & sci-fy & fantasy is struggling to understand the book, hoe can you expect the target age of 13+ to get it?
& It wasn't terrible. Really.
it just could have been so much more.
Plus all these crazy made up words! A few are ok, it helps without the world building. But there is a point were it becomes to much. This went past that point. If I have to keep going back to the glossary to understand what's being said for half the book, it's not ok.
All in all, it was kinda cute & funny but left me with a very conflicted reaction. I'll be finishing the rest of the series, since I picked up all 3 volumes already from the used bookstore. But I can't say if I would actually recommend it yet. Maybe if your really in 2 more goofy mangas & space based sci-ft?
August 13, 2017
The premise of the story was really interesting...a space-faring humanoid people who conquers worlds but don't live on these worlds, they live entirely on space-ships and space stations instead. How they relate with the normal humans who do live on the worlds the Abh conquer is a large part of this story, but this story was really hard to read because of all the made up words that I had to constantly go to the back of the manga to look up and that really interrupted the story. The action scenes were also hard to follow. I didn't even know that certain characters had died until much later. I still don't know how one particular character died and I've looked at those pages several times trying to figure it out. This volume is also a prequel, so it explains some things and not others.
October 7, 2018
Jinto’s father makes an agreement with the space-faring Abh race to accept their rule on their planet, thus making Jinto a noble in Abh society. One day, when it is time for him to be sent off for schooling with the Abh, a small contingent including a princess of the Abh, Lafiel, comes to escort him across space to the new school.
The political situation surrounding the Abh and the war that begins during this journey between the Abh nation and a federation of four independent peoples comes across to me as half-baked – I can see how it could be convincing for the parties involved, but it also seems blown a bit out of proportion so that it can provide a suitable backdrop for the story of Jinto and Lafiel. We get a lot of information about it, but it seems like the key elements which would make it come across as important, as convincing, are not quite fully there. Probably playing in to this is how little we actually get of the down-on-the-ground aspects of it.
A further difficulty I had was just how much Abh language was used throughout the book – especially since I didn’t notice the glossary until the very end. It is clear that there is a whole set of vocabulary for the hierarchy, and another for the space travel. The thing is, the hierarchy vocabulary never seemed quite clear; it didn’t stand well on its own. As for the space travel, while a good portion of the words were convenient to create a special language all of its own (like for the terms to enter the worm-hole like intergalactic superhighway portals), it often went overboard in their usage. It would have helped drastically if one of two things happened: one, that the first foreign Abh word had a note saying what it meant, and that there was a dictionary in the back, or two, that each Abh word had an asterisk to bring your attention to the definition located somewhere on the page. Overall, I feel like this manga was written as a companion to a book or anime series where these terms would be clearer on their own, and the manga was an afterthought where the writer wanted to splice in as much of that vocabulary as possible.
The relationship between Lafiel and Jinto, however, is convincing, how they get to know each other, how they interact, and how this trial by fire for them begins a deeper friendship that will carry through this series. After all, despite the politics and the kidnapping and the intergalactic events, Crest of the Stars is really the story of Lafiel and Jinto, at least to me. The intergalactic war which begins in this book is just a backdrop and source of inciting events by which Lafiel and Jinto can learn and grow as individuals and in their relationship with each other.
The political situation surrounding the Abh and the war that begins during this journey between the Abh nation and a federation of four independent peoples comes across to me as half-baked – I can see how it could be convincing for the parties involved, but it also seems blown a bit out of proportion so that it can provide a suitable backdrop for the story of Jinto and Lafiel. We get a lot of information about it, but it seems like the key elements which would make it come across as important, as convincing, are not quite fully there. Probably playing in to this is how little we actually get of the down-on-the-ground aspects of it.
A further difficulty I had was just how much Abh language was used throughout the book – especially since I didn’t notice the glossary until the very end. It is clear that there is a whole set of vocabulary for the hierarchy, and another for the space travel. The thing is, the hierarchy vocabulary never seemed quite clear; it didn’t stand well on its own. As for the space travel, while a good portion of the words were convenient to create a special language all of its own (like for the terms to enter the worm-hole like intergalactic superhighway portals), it often went overboard in their usage. It would have helped drastically if one of two things happened: one, that the first foreign Abh word had a note saying what it meant, and that there was a dictionary in the back, or two, that each Abh word had an asterisk to bring your attention to the definition located somewhere on the page. Overall, I feel like this manga was written as a companion to a book or anime series where these terms would be clearer on their own, and the manga was an afterthought where the writer wanted to splice in as much of that vocabulary as possible.
The relationship between Lafiel and Jinto, however, is convincing, how they get to know each other, how they interact, and how this trial by fire for them begins a deeper friendship that will carry through this series. After all, despite the politics and the kidnapping and the intergalactic events, Crest of the Stars is really the story of Lafiel and Jinto, at least to me. The intergalactic war which begins in this book is just a backdrop and source of inciting events by which Lafiel and Jinto can learn and grow as individuals and in their relationship with each other.
October 21, 2020
Found this at my Little Free Library. This book was alright. The story was interesting and the characters had fun interactions, and there was good world building. The Art was good and fun too.
I didn’t like that there were a lot of terms in one of the alien language that were not defined until the very end of the book so it was a little confusing. The book also read like I was supposed to know some back story but I was missing it, even though this was the first book in the series.
I enjoyed the time I spent reading this book but I’m glad I found this book for free as I would be a little let down if I had to spend money on it. I plan on returning it for others to enjoy.
I didn’t like that there were a lot of terms in one of the alien language that were not defined until the very end of the book so it was a little confusing. The book also read like I was supposed to know some back story but I was missing it, even though this was the first book in the series.
I enjoyed the time I spent reading this book but I’m glad I found this book for free as I would be a little let down if I had to spend money on it. I plan on returning it for others to enjoy.
February 26, 2021
I really liked the story Of this manga and some characters the manga ended where I can leave off with out wanted more. The main goal at the beginning of the story was met and the end. It was good.
June 23, 2015
I'll have a review of this going on Bureau 42 in July. In short, the manga is a good adaptation of the light novel (and anime), though the manga uses more super-deformed character designs in comedic moments than the show did. Generally, the manga feels like it plays up the comedy a little bit more than the show, though the dramatic beats *are* there.
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August 20, 2009Crest of the Stars (Seikai Trilogy, Vol. 1) by Aya Yoshinaga (2004)
January 13, 2011
Once I found the glossary, my understanding of what was going on and being said became MUCH clearer. It was an alright storyline. If you're into the sci-fi, space travel stuff, then you'll like this.
August 8, 2010
A bit rushed, but on the whole a good adaptation of the story.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews