| | Alternate title : Uchuu no Stellvia
Studio : XEBEC
Licenced by : Geneon Entertainment (USA)
Length : 26 Episodes
Year : 2003
Genre : Adventure - Comedy - Drama - Mecha - Romance - Science-Fiction
Synopsis :
In the future, the Earth is blasted by the supernova of Hydrus Beta, a star 20 light years away from the Earth. This explosion causes massive damage on Earth while filling the heavens (space) with a green colored gas. Now, it is 2356 A.D. and the Earth has been steadily recovering from the colossal damage it occurred earlier. The Space Station Stellvia is a training ground for students to help advance civilization into space. Flying ships, and living in space, while studying with their classmates to help prevent damage from the next super nova wave. Katase Shima is departing for Stellvia to start her first year of school training at the station, leaving her siblings on earth. What mysteries does the vastness of space hold for the Orbiting Station Stellvia and its crew?
Added : 2005-10-30
Synopsis by : Specky
Last update : 2008-04-22
Last update details : Modify info
Score : 8.08
Number of reviews : 12
Song(s) :
Opening #1 : Angela - brilliant road / Ashita e no brilliant road / Brilliant Road to Tomo
Ending #1 : Angela - Beautiful Night Sky
Ending #2 : Angela - The End of the World
Ending #3 : Angela - Dear my Best Friend
Release(s) :
2004-10-01 -- Episode(s) 2 by OmegAnime. BT Link
2004-08-04 -- Episode(s) 7 by Moebius. BT Link
2003-09-28 -- Episode(s) 26 by Rice-Box. BT Link
Found 10 releases. Click here to [ Find them! ]
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Posted by : xenocrisis0153 
Posted on : 2006-11-07  
Review based on all 26 English-dubbed episodes...
Animation: Xebec did a fabulous job with the artwork on this series. Especially considering that Stellvia is a few years old, the animation is just stunning. Colors are various and vibrant, crisp and cool, sharp and detailed. Objects and backgrounds are drawn with great care and detail, though characters have a slightly lower line-count which makes them stand out a bit more. Also accounting for the amount of action this series has, the animation is truly groundbreaking for the genre. (10/10)
Characters: My website colleague here, Kaiser, said in another review that the supporting cast does an excellent, if not better, job of carrying the series, and I agree wholeheartedly with him. The cast for Stellvia isn't huge... it's gigantic. We follow about a dozen students and another half-dozen faculty and administrators, plus a couple family members, and they all have an equally important role in progressing the story. No one slows the pace down and no one really takes absolute center stage. A perfect blend for everyone involved. (9/10)
Music: The opening theme, "Brillant Road to Tomorrow" is lively and catchy, and kinda has that whole epic sci-fi air about it, which makes it perfect to get you in the mood for each episode. But that's not the best part; Stellvia has done something interesting in handling
its closing themes. At the end of happy episodes, they play a happy song, "Beautiful Night Sky" and at the end of sad/dramatic episodes, they play "The End of the World." So no matter how each episode ends, you're going to get a song that compliments the mood. I wish more anime would do this. (10/10)
Story: The story of this anime is pretty much the standard "kids-in-space-have-to-become-adults-fast-so-they-can-save-the-galaxy" plotline, but what sets this one apart from those other typical series is that this is done so well. Yeah, there are plenty of times when I roll my eyes or kinda dose off during lengthy "super-scientific" explanations (those computer graphic-programs of how to pilot the craft or mold some kind of program using virtual building blocks is just plain dumb, sorry), but there are plenty of other elements that really push this series ahead of the rest. Pacing is by far the best thing it has going for it. Never does the story feel rushed and never does it seem to be dragging on. I wasn't a fan of the double story-arc planning, but I think that's becoming the standard in anime today. The ending could have come quicker, but I am still satisfied overall. (9/10)
Overall: Stellvia of the Universe is a great epic science-fiction anime. It has its moments of drama, comedy, school-life/slice-of-life, etc... but it NEVER FORGETS that it IS above-all a science-fiction anime. Too many times we see anime series try to be the "ultimate encompassment" of all the genres and as I've said countless times before, when that happens, more often than not, the series totally misses the mark. Stellvia does a superb job at maintaining itself and of course, presenting an interesting and compelling story. (9/10... 4 and a half stars)
You'll Like This if You Liked: Xenosaga (PS2 and/or anime), Infinite Ryvius, Martian Successor Nadesico, Starship Operators
Posted by : peewee211
Posted on : 2005-09-19
Nothing really spectacular about this show. The plot is actually pretty lame since earth and its technology manages to become so far advanced that it's able to create force fields that can protect the entire planet. DUHHHhh..
The show follows the path of a young girl who decides to attend space academy despite her mum's disapproval, and this young girl turns out to be quite a genius. Although her initial experiences were pretty funny, she turns out pretty well in the end.
The space academy for some reason decides to use noobies to protect the earth (DUHHH), and one thing I didn't like about this series was the fact that the story should have ended after their initial victory and not continued onwards (I don't want to spoil it for you). However, being an anime geek, I still enjoyed it enough to finish watching it.
Despite my complaints, I still wish there was a part two to this anime. Haha...
Posted by : kaiser
Posted on : 2005-06-22
Wow,
I can't believe I put off watching Stellvia for such a long time. Stellvia is one excellent piece of story telling of the future Earth and what looks like the end of the world with the arrival of the Second Wave.
Humanity comes together to prevent the disaster and have been sending up generations of students to space to study and train for the 'Great Mission'. We follow a group of these new students and their instructions through one of the emotional stories I've seen lately in anime.
The animation is superb, CG is mixed with normal animation but does not look out of place due to the way it is stylized in the anime. The music is also a huge point for the anime, with music by angela, the soundtrack is a great one that fits the theme perfectly with "Brilliant Road" and "End of the World". One of the few series you watch without skipping the OP/ED songs.
The characters are all unique and have their own share of problems. Shima the lead characters has some real difficulties and may drive viewers away by her constant whining later on. Although I was annoyed, I felt it portrayed the characters realistically. I mean, they are young kids put with saving the world as their responsibility. Breaking down stress makes perfect sense then.
But the greatest part of this anime is what I mentioned before, the story. There are a few twists in the anime and it keeps us intrigued. The story is a powerful and emotional one, what would the world look like if we knew that we had 1 year to prepare for what could be the end of our existance?
Quite an entertaining series and I'm glad I watched it. Highly recommended and now on my personal 'to buy' list. 9/10.
Posted by : PolyGuru
Posted on : 2005-06-10 
An all time favorite of mine. I would have finished watching this in one sitting had I not have to go to work the next day.
The story is rather simple and straight forward as it is fashioned from save all of mankind theme, nothing new and not original.
Stellvia has a rather large cast and hence not everyone gets the screen time needed in order to be well a developed character. For example there is an alien character that is never really explained. You are left wondering about the truth of him, his history, his culture and why he is where he is. However I came to care for the whole cast of varied and distinct personalities.
The relationship of the two main characters Shima and Arisa support the story throughout and Shima's self development is what propels the story ahead into space and beyond though she has an annoying tendency to cry a bit too much.
The first half of the series has a good dose of comedy but after that it becomes more serious and a bit more action orientated.
The soundtrack is simply awesome throughout. The opening song, Brilliant Road To Tomorrow is simply incredible. It soars! When played throughout the anime especially when to highlight the sad moments, the contrast it gives off is superb. This is one of the few series where I watched each episode without skipping the opening theme.
The animation is good. I especially like how the biancas were animated.
What can I say except that come my next off day, I'm going to sit down and watch this for a second time in one go. It's that good.
Posted by : Himitsu
Posted on : 2004-12-29
The reason I started to watch Stellvia was because I thoroughly enjoyed one episode in Yami no Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, which takes place in outer space, a bunch of children trying to find a home planet. Uchuu no Stellvia seemed to have the same elements and didn't seem too far into complex science-fiction stuff. Also, it has the romance aspect to keep me entertained.
I'm surprised at how colourful this anime came out to be, even though majority of the scenes were in outer space. The characters were not-so-colourful, but not too simple either. There was an attempt to make them unique. But I think there were too much characters to keep up with, some were left alone such as the guys and the Big Four.
About the characters, I found that the personality or even the status of some characters didn't fit in with the character design. I felt that Arisa shouldn't have been so tall having her cheerful character (when her hair is down then it's okay). Aki being the stern-strong, introvert type should have been taller. Unless the producers of Stellvia were trying to be rebellious, it just didn't work.
What bothered me most was Shima's character, at the beginning she didn't annoy me, her modesty was rather cute. But proceeding through the anime, I found her extremely annoying. She cries all the time and can be so self-centred. She is overly dramatic when it comes to her feelings. About Kouta-kun, they described him being the type not to express his feelings well, but I still felt that his actions did not reflect the character he presents.
Stellvia did not have a solid plot, but it separated into smaller plots. They seemed to have trouble on what to focus on, the romance themes or the science-fiction problems. They did half-half, it worked pretty well but not the best. Perhaps that's why the ending was mediocre but at the same time different. I did like the ending for Stellvia, it did give the feel of a "conclusion".
The opening theme is just a summary of the first episode, they didn't even tie it in with the song that well. The ending is just clips from the episode previously watched, but I liked both ending songs nontheless. I wouldn't recommend watching the end teaser (preview for the next episode), it might spoil things for you even though it's just one episode more. It sure spoiled things for me.
I loved how the opening song "Brilliant Road" was played through the tragic times of Stellvia, it really connected well. And the song "End of the World" really did give an ending feel for each episode. So, Stellvia is not a personal favourite, but is still good. It has a solid story and lovable characters (except Shima). It was fun to listen to the theories of "cosmic fracture", "second wave", etc...
I did hesitate to watching each episode of Stellvia, the plot did entertain me throughout the episode, but it did not leave me wanting to watch more. This anime is quite new to my eyes, so I didn't have any expectations for it - high or low. The most interesting part of the anime was not the romance (surprisingly) but the use of Biancas. The animation was really presented well, I didn't find any problems with it. The value of Stellvia is worth much more than what I personally think. Each aspect of Stellvia is grand, the animation being the best. I just didn't find Uchuu no Stellvia extremely enjoyable.
Posted by : atikiN
Posted on : 2004-10-21
Ehh, I
Posted by : KenshinHimura
Posted on : 2004-06-09
OMG.. Uchuu No Stellvia is good.. At first sight, on all accounts of my friends reactions, all of them thought it was gonna become one of those star wars,space wars kind of thing.. But it's not, it's a drama/comedy and well, futuristic kind of series.. Very very nice and it's good to watch.. Like .. easy watching, just to kick back and watch everything but close to the end, it puts you on the edge of your sit wondering what's gonna happen..
Posted by : jongu
Posted on : 2004-05-04
A mildcore anime for XEBEC. Straightforward and perpetuating. With a double climax I think this anime is very leasure for people to watch. Overall the anime tries to hook up some emotional state and revealing themes for the intended audience. The chroma gradient espect of the universe is somewhat a new concept besides all these oldly/previously defined. Last but not least( overused phrase -_-; ), Angela's music is pretty much too l33t compare to the anime, and I think it brings up the level of this anime.
Posted by : pboy2k5
Posted on : 2003-11-17
Stellvia of the Universe is a work of a genius because of the fact that the audience is actually watching two different shows that seamlessly weaved together into a season long series. The entire series pretty much tells the story of a group of outerspace pilots who are trying to safe the earth from total desctruction while at the same time mix it with romance and comedy. The audience will find the first ten episodes to be very cuddly that it might not sound as if the end of the world is going to happen. After that the pace of the story picks up and it gets intense and deep. The emotions of the characters begin to shift to the extend that everything feels chaotic. The characters suddenly have to question their relationship and friendship with their peers. The whole process is crafted so well that you might find yourself so attached to maybe one or two of the characters. It feels as if you are becoming them, and at the same time observing all the adversity that they have to go through. Overall their is nothing short of excitement and tears for me to describe it. The story does have a very touchy feeling in it. For those people with weak spots on some of the dramatic moment in Stellvia, I suggest that you get a handful of Kleenex ready. I was in such an awe after finishing the last episode.
A personal annotation that I just can't resist to write: I personally felt angry at XEBEC when they decided to release Nadesico - Prince of Darkness. Even though I was not a huge fan of Nadesico TV series, I still considered it to be a very enjoyable show. Personally I felt that the Prince of Darkness put the entire genre of Nadesico six feet under even though XEBEC could choose not to take that path. I guess after watching Stellvia and DNAngel (both released by XEBEC) I could forgive them for the flaw that they made.
Posted by : ProfRed
Posted on : 2003-08-19
Stellvia of the Universe is a recent sci fi anime taking place on a space station called Stellvia. The anime starts with Katase Shima leaving her home on Earth and heading to Stellvia to start as a prep student on the space station. The earth was badly damaged by a wave caused by a supernova and a second wave is approaching, although at 1/10th the speed and around 7 generations of humanity have been anticipating the second wave.
Katase starts off seeming like an average student, a poor pilot, but an excellent programmer. She makes friends quickly and before long all of her talents start to come out. She ends up receiving some of the top marks at the school and she is only a prep student.
It should be noted she does not have big breasts, she isn't gonna show you her panties, and she is not a typical anime superhuman genius, she is a pretty normal girl. That aside she is one of my favorite anime heroines of all time..
Stellvia of the Universe is very much like a highschool/romance anime with some comedy and some pretty heavy stuff thrown in the background. It might seem weird that with a possible apocalypse coming they can get along cheerfully but with 7 generations of humanity anticipating the second wave it makes perfect sense that they have confidence in their plans, and that they would not panic or start to doubt themselves after evolving and knowing what was to come.
The coming of the second wave is not the whole story of the anime, it is just the begining, and it is more of a background plot from the start. The show is more about Katase going through life as a student and how she adapts and gets along with the friends she makes.
**Mini Spoilers**
There is a good bit of mystery throughout the series as well, mostly in a student that Katase gets close to who might be the only one that can pilot a massive weapon(gundam? xephon? eva?... nah he is just a side character in this one).
**End Spoiler**
Overall Stellvia of the Universe is a very good anime in my opinion. It's not for everyone I guess, but the style of the show, the music, and the execution is excellent. I recommend this one to everyone.
Posted by : Xess
Posted on : 2003-06-14
Set in the far future, Stellvia of the Universe has a good setting and a compelling story. Unfortunately, I feel that that is all it has going for it as the story is fleshed out rather poorly. Everyone just seems too happy and carefree even though the premise of an apocalypse and total destruction of humankind lay before them.
I didn't really like the main character, Shippon very much either. For a person gifted with genius level intelligence, Shippon just seems too normal and lacks any interesting attributes or quirks, which makes her plain boring. The other antagonists seem to lack likable and memorable qualities too.
I've only watched the first 10 episodes, so I can't give an unbiased review. But since they found a new 'Toy' to play with, hopefully it will get a little more interesting from here.
Posted by : zeLeris
Posted on : 2003-05-14
I must say sometimes when i watch an anime, i pay a lot of attention to the openings coz it sorta reviews something about the anime. Prolly something like a visual summary. When i watched the opening of Stellvia, i was disappointed coz it didn't seem to be something that would interest me. Gee... was i wrong to make that comment!! I am addicted to it and can't wait for each episode to be out ASAP!!
Katase Shima or Shipon (as she is affectionately called by her friends), the lead character is a klutz when it comes to piloting the bianca, but she's a genius when it comes to programming. Her flying sensei is totally disappointed in her and lost hope that she'd ever fly the bianca. However, one day, after rewriting the flying program for her bianca, she was flying like anyone else, not fantastic but good enough to earn herself a place as one of the player for the Astroball (something like Quidditch played in space) contest, together with the Big Four (4 students who are considered very capable in the academy and one of them, Shoujin, looks like Kakashi-sensei in Naruto!!)
I think the story starts from there. There's a lot of humour and it's very fun to watch! Animation is good, opening theme song also not bad. I look forward to more adventures of Katase Shima and her friends. So far it's only until episode 6 but i am looking forward for more!! ;)
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