Name: Seikai no MonshouSeason 1: 13+1 Episodes, 1999, MALName: Seikai no SenkiSeason 1: 13 Episodes, 2000, MALSeason 2: 10 Episodes, 2001, MALSeason 3: 2 Episodes, 2005, MALSo what's with this catchphrase? Spice & Wolf in Space? Just without space wolf, space spice and space merchant? And no space economics or space nudity at all? Then how can I use this statement to attract all you people? The answer is simple: The "Seikai no ..."-series uses the same central theme!"Bringing them together may be my biggest accomplishment."The collision of two different worlds, two people with different backgrounds forced to live with each other, two people experiencing completely new philosophies of life. That theme is by no stretch a unique one, but it's one that can be rather intriguing if used right. But there are many other anime like Shakugan no Shana, Aldnoah.Zero, Zero no Tsukaima or the recent Gate, so why did I chose Spice & Wolf as catchphrase? For the clicks? Sure, but in the end, it's because they are using this theme in the same quiet way.Seikai no Monshou begins with the start of a giant space war between the Abh Empire and the human federation. A war so big, that it's expected to last for several hundred years and over the course of 38 episodes you'll experience the daily life of our two main characters, fighting on board of their little ship alongside their tiny crew. The interesting point and main difference to many other anime with the same theme is the fact, that these two don't make any difference. It's a small ship, fighting alongside many other small ships, under the protection of even more large ships on one single battlefield. There wouldn't be any change to the flow of the war if these two wouldn't exist. This isn't a story about saving the world, about fighting a war or saving the human race. It's a story about two people finding each other in their own small world, even if there's hell all around them."How typical of me. I try to act the hero but it's all in vain." - Linn ssynec Rocr Iarlucec Dreuc Haider Ghintec.The role of our main character plays Ghintec, the son of the prime minister of one of the many worlds the human race finally colonised. But his home planet gets - like many others - attacked and conquered by the Abh. An empire of genetically improved superhumans, ruling the space between the planets, trying to monopolise the technology for faster than light space travel. The Abh aren't interested in the world itself, so they just install a puppet regime under their supervision. Taking this chance Ghintecs father hands their world over in exchange for for a place in the Abhs nobility. And so - after going through special education - Ghintec finally heads for the military academy, meeting Lamhirh for the first time."You should call me Lamhirh!" - Abliarsec néic Dubreuscr Bærh Parhynr Lamhirh.Lamhirh herself is the granddaughter of the Abh empress and member of the royal family, a genetic Abh with a lifespan of two hundreds years, trained in combat and raised as the future leader. A girl raised to never show their tears, to never question the superior and - after all - quite lonely. Working as trainee in the military she still can't escape her position and is confronted with a wall of respect and distance by her fellow comrades. Until she meets the boy she is ordered to escort. A boy who never met an Abh before, doesn't know her name or title and just plainly starts an everyday life, she wasn't allowed to dream of before."When my body is gone my soul will leave the ground. It will reach for you in the stars. I will always, always reach for the stars."Starting with their first meeting, the four seasons show different phases in their relationship, different battlefields to fight on and different hardships to overcome. And with this the relationship between the two slowly changes from strangers who can't even understand each other to some of the most beautiful oaths of faithfulness and love without using the actual word "love". But all of that happens quietly, in dialogues, in monologues, in things that happens between the lines and only rarely in action and noise. The boy who never saw an Abh before and the girl who never set a foot on a planets surface. It's a romantic relationship, developing through the urge to understand each other better, just not on a carriage bench but in a tiny room on a little ship in the vastness of space.And with the developing understanding for each other both their affection and the weight of their questions grows. From a view, that could be easily used as Abh propaganda to the question, whether one can really be happy with a "fate-gene", that forces to obey. From the question, why the Abh can throw their life away so easily to the question, if one would really choose to become an Abh. Or from the simple question "What am I to you?" to the end of the series. And yeah, it happens! It's a series, that ends with an actual ending, no open story lines and even gives a cat more character development than some of today's source material commercial have. And ending as arbitrary as the start in the midst of war and still one that just feels right...As one of the idiots with a no-drop rule, I personally have a high threshold with old anime, not because today's anime are better, but today's shitty anime mostly still look good enough to be good popcorn entertainment. And one can see how old the "Seikai no"-series is and how much the technology has changed. The graphic, many reused scenes, perspective tricks instead of real animation, there isn't too much going for this series production value besides nostalgia. But in the end, that doesn't matter! The story lives through the characters, through their dialogues, through some great screenplay and little moments of joy. And after reluctantly starting this series and binge-watching it through the end, I'm just thinking that this series deserves its very own WT! http://ift.tt/1LIe0ao
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