Hiroyuki Morioka

This is hte part of the story that really cranks out the whole tsundere princess needs a man to teach her the ways of the world and she needs to "be a woman" and wear a dress and garbage that really kills any kind of seriousness that the character has. Morioka talks about how Lafiel came to him as a muse and what we get is a stereotype of a person than an actual person.
I will say however that Lafiel is smart and is ready to shoot people when she needs to so it's not totally ruined by her always being in distress and needing Jinto to save her. Jinto of course treats her as if she is always going to be falling into distress and it's rather painful to watch.

We also get to know the Abh origin story that the anime doesn't quite relate clearly (if at all?) and we also have a dump truck load of Baronh to learn as well... joy. Mixed in with TokyoPop's need to take the easy way out, well, I hope you memoried all that.… (más)

Crest of the Stars 1: Princess of the Empire If you've seen the anime, then this only fills in some tiny gaps with regard to history and some other things the characters were thinking of.Overall the story is good. I don't quite like how we need a male vessel to tour the story with, but Lafiel is strong in her own right and Jinto just looks like an ass.Honestly I don't see how this is really "Space Opera" as it really only focuses on a small group of people, and to me a Space Opera, like a Soap Opera, focuses on groups of people.This book only covers up to about the middle of the Lyuf Klowal part, around episode 6~7.The only thing I find majorly wrong with this book is the use of Baronh all the time. It's like that one image:Only the TL note is brief and then you have to glossary hop.… (más)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com by express permission of this reviewer Title: Banner of the Stars: The Shape of Bonds Series: Seikai Trilogy Author & Artist: Hiroyuki Morioka, Toshihiro Ono Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Manga Pages: 200 Synopsis: 3 years after Crest of the Stars, Lafiel has command of her first ship and Jinto is the Abh equivalent of First Mate. The United Mankind is still kicking so the War Machines of both nations gear up and things start to heat up. It is testing time for Lafiel and Jinto, to see if the years of training have paid off. My Thoughts: I enjoyed this volume a little bit more than the previous book, but I suspect that is because it was shorter and didn't have as much ground to cover as the first volume. I think there was more Abh talk/terms than in the previous one, but since they were referring to military ranks, ships, missiles, etc, it really didn't matter to me because something is either a person, a ship, a missile or a laser to me. I wouldn't recommend this except to die hard fans because so much that makes Banner of the Stars an exceptionable anime is cut out here to make things fit. I don't regret buying this,not at all and I did enjoy it, but it is more for Completeness's sake than anything else. From a librarian standpoint, it was interesting to discover that there are two 'potential' covers. This one you see and then another with Admiral Spoor naked on the cover. I suspect though that the cover of Spoor was something put out by Tokyopop before the actual release and it never made it to paper. One little stone in the avalanche that brought them down. And just for completist's sake, here's the alternate cover, that I can't find verification of on paper, only digitally. You can see why Tokyopop might not have released this, as this series was aimed at teens [and their parents who did the actual buying]. This picture IS the front page of the volume I have, but in black and white. And that folks, is what is called gratuitous fan-service.

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This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: Banner of the Stars II: Protecting the Precious Series: Seikai Trilogy Author & Artist: Hiroyuki Morioka & Wasoh Miyakoshi Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Manga Pages: 248 Synopsis: Jinto and Lafiel are working on the new Basroil and their assignment takes them to the fringes of the continued war with the United Mankind. They are to evacuate a planet, only it turns out it is a prison planet and various factions are claiming to be in charge. Jinto must therefore head planet side to sort everything out. And nothing goes right. Eventually Lafiel must choose between her duty and her feelings. My Thoughts: The artist changed, so the artwork was different and I have to say, I was not a fan of that change. Also, there were a couple of instance of fan service that just didn't need to be there. Storywise, I didn't feel like things really took off until Jinto and Lafiel got to Lobnos II, which was quite a ways into the book. All the other stuff dealing with Lafiel's brother and other Abh felt extremely extraneous and superfluous. It was fluff. But, when things went South and Lafiel had to make the tough decisions, it was well done. Also, things didn't end as I was expecting since this was a manga and my recollections of the anime were pretty fuzzy, but it was a good ending and I enjoyed it. I really wish more of the anime existed, so I could watch it, but such is life. "… (más)