LogFAQs > #979705421

I'm really trying to clear out my backlog, so I finally completed Stellvia, an older mecha anime. I thought it was pretty good in the first half. The premise is that a distant star exploded and nearly destroyed Earth with its energy shockwave, but humanity rebuilt in order to defend against a second wave of physical debris coming two hundred years later. So, although it was a mecha anime, it wasn't the kind to have flashy robot battles or anything like that. Mostly it was about a group of students getting to know each other and training so that they could defend Earth when the time came. It was an interesting sci-fi premise, and that first half of the show was neat.

Sadly, the second half of Stellvia really dragged it down. It went from being hyperfocused on a cool idea and instead got bogged down in a bunch of melodrama. I liked the main girl Shima overall, but her emotions kept hitting rock bottom over and over and it got really annoying. At one point she gave up and sobbed for six hours straight and it took several episodes for her friends to even begin getting her back on her feet. I'm fine with characters having to overcome adversity and whatnot, just not in this way or to this extent. I wanted them to focus more on the sci-fi stuff in that second half rather than Shima's self-inflicted relationship woes.

I was still glad I watched this, though! It was recommended to me a few months ago when I asked about mecha anime. On paper that feels like a genre I should enjoy, but quite a few mecha shows have found their way into the bottom of my ranking instead. I was beginning to wonder if the genre just wasn't for me. If nothing else, Stellvia showed me that this genre has more diversity than just the "defend against waves of monsters" plot in shows like Evangelion or Franxx. It has convinced me to give the mecha genre more chances in the future, and hopefully I'll find ones I love.