NoaIzumiAnime Review: Starship Operators
April 27th 2009 22:03
The starship Amaterasu is headed home to the planet Kibi, with a crew of soon-to-be-graduating Space Force cadets. When their world is conquered by a nearby superpower, the Kingdom, they decide to continue the fight on their own. To fund their operations, they contract with the Galaxy Network for exclusive broadcasting rights. Welcome to the universe’s most dangerous reality TV program!
Starship Operators first caught my eye because of its unusual premise, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this series to be much more than an innovative idea. One of the main dangers of a story like this is that it can easily become too dense. Starship Operators combines a war movie with a media satire with a teen drama with sci fi, on top of having about fifteen different characters to develop, all in a thirteen episode series. But, it pulls it off.
Not perfectly, of course. Some of the crew members wind up being little more than names and faces, and even some of the more prominent people, such as Miyuri and Renna, are not used to their full potential. And except for a few characters, backgrounds are almost non-existent. For example, we know very little about Sinon’s life before the first episode, and she’s the focus of the series. However, there are about eleven or twelve characters, including Sinon, who are fairly well fleshed out by the last episode.
Plotwise, the story is divided into three roughly equal sections, which correspond to the DVDs. The first four episodes are basically in a “threat of the week” format, while the next four form the Shu story arc, and the series wraps up with a multi-episode finale that combines military action and political drama. This is a good organization. Threat of the week episodes are fun, and make sense in the initial stages when the Kingdom dismisses the Amaraterasu as unimportant, but you can only do so many before it gets silly. The Shu arc shows the Kingdom’s military getting more serious, and starting to use political weapons as well, giving the series an extra dimension. In addition, it provides a nail-biting story as various crew-members are trapped on a formerly friendly planet and have to make their way back to the ship, and then fight their way out of a Kingdom trap. The third DVD chronicles the conclusion, with the behind-the-scenes political machinations becoming a greater threat to the Amaterasu than the fleet of ships sent against them.
The battles of Starship Operators are nicely done, and usually involve intricate tactical plans (Sinon’s specialty). They don’t just have spaceships rushing at each other firing lasers until one blows up; there’s some real thought behind them. They’re well-drawn as well, using mostly CGI, and I rather enjoyed the different ship designs.
The reality show aspect is more subdued than you’d think. This could have easily turned into a satire on the increasing infotainment nature of news and media, but it doesn’t. The reporter is a constant presence, but never very intrusive, and has a good amount of character development as she starts to identify with the crew she’s covering. The crew’s actions being broadcast makes for a very interesting military situation, because while the show provides their lifeline, it also acts as a constant source of military intelligence to the enemy, since the show is broadcast all over the galaxy, including the Kingdom. Eventually, the crew is able to use this to their advantage by using the broadcast to mislead the enemy (which comes off a little far-fetched, but is still cool to see.). What satire there is is mostly seen in the person of the producer, who is stereotypically driven to get higher ratings, no matter what the cost. He makes many demands on the cadets, such as dictating crew positions so that more photogenic people play leading roles, and suggesting changes in battle strategy so that they can get more exciting visuals. He also withholds vital information from his stars in order to raise the show’s excitement level (which results in the death of a crew member). His attitude toward the crew of the Amaterasu is perfectly expressed in a single line, “You’re cast members first and soldiers second.” He strikes this note throughout the series, although he does come through for his cast members in a critical moment at the end.
One very intriguing side-effect of the crew’s TV contract is that, thanks to the show, the Amaraterasu crew have become celebrities everywhere the Galaxy Network airs. They have speaking engagements when they go planet-side, are asked for autographs, and even endorse products (it’s in the contract). Speaking as a citizen of a country where more people can name three American Idol contestants than can name even one Medal of Honor winner, this was both unexpected and refreshing.
The elements of teen soap opera may seem a little out of place here, but the crew are a bunch of young cadets, after all. There are three shipboard romances in the series, two are which are welcome additions. They aren’t as developed as I’d like, but the creators make good use of the time they have, and both are headed in a definite direction by the last episode. The third romance, however, is honestly my only real complaint about the series. It should be the most important of the three, as involves the main character Shinon, but it’s sudden and happens late in the series. It frankly smacks of a cheap emotional stunt, like the creators wanted to give her a boyfriend just to have her be in a relationship. Through some very fine voice work, the actors are able to sell it and make it almost believable, but it ends as quickly as it came up, and doesn’t add much to the show. Given the quality of the rest of the story, the only thing I can think of is that maybe the romance was present in the light novels that the series is based on, and the anime creators wanted to put it in, but didn’t have enough time in a thirteen episode series to make it really work.
Finally, the political element makes Starship Operators another entry in the sub-category of Cold War anime (in spite of being made fifteen years after the Soviet Union fell). The Kingdom isn’t the only super-power in the galaxy; its rival is the Earth Alliance and, as the series progresses, the Amaterasu becomes a pawn in a much larger game, much like Japan was (as least as many Japanese saw it) between the USSR and the United States.
The combination of different genres can be a little dicey, but it can work, and does here. The series is first and foremost a military drama, and never forgets it.
Geeking out: Starship Operators has several elements in common with Full Metal Panic (in fact, the director of SO was the music producer for FMP). There’s also a small homage to the opening motorcycle scene in Akira in Ep. 6
Great moments: When some of the crew, including Sinon, find out that their likenesses are being used to advertise exercise equipment. “I use it every day.” “No, I don’t!”
Extras: Clean open and close, music videos, promos, mini-pencil board inserts
Summary: An excellent sci-fi military drama that skillfully integrates several different plot and tone elements. Grade: A minus
Age rating: 14 and up. Some fan service, one nude shot, military violence and character deaths
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