Banner of the Stars II

BANNER OF THE STARS II (2002)

Format: 10 24-minute episodes on 3 DVDs

Rating: PG-13 (AC, V)

Type: Sci-Fi Drama

American Production: Bandai Entertainment

Japanese Production: Sunrise

Grading
Premise:	C+
Story:	B
Writing:	C
Character Design:	B
Animation:	B
Artistic Merits:	B
English Dub:	C+
Musical Score:	B+
Opener:	C
Closer:	B-

Humor Content:	C
Action Content:	B-
Drama Content:	B+

DVD Presentation:	B-
DVD Extras:	B

OVERALL:	B

Synopsis

NOTE: This series is a sequel to Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars. Familiarity with both is assumed.

Operation Phantom Flame has proved a success. In the next year, 956 by the Imperial Calendar, the Humankind Empire Abh’s Space Forces undertake a new operation – dubbed Operation Hunter – to reclaim additional lost territories and clean up remaining forces of the United Mankind. As part of the process the Basroil is sent to escort transport ships to the planet Lobnos II, where Lafiel has also been assigned as the temporary Territorial Ambassador and Jinto has been assigned as the Deputy Territorial Ambassador. Lobnos II is a prison planet, however, one on the verge of great strife, since the guards and administrators remaining on the planet on insufficient to keep the prisoners in line. Jinto gets caught in the middle on the ground when a prison revolt breaks out over the emigration of guards and some of the prisoners, while Lafiel faces difficult decisions of her own, for a force from the United Mankind is headed in their direction. What will happen to Jinto if she must leave him behind?

The Long View

More a continuation of the previous series than a sequel, Banner II gives the feel that it’s not the end of the story even though it does come to a satisfying resolution and no further series have yet been scheduled. All of the strengths and flaws that marked the previous series continue to hold true in Banner II; though excelling in character development and possessing good technical merits, it’s still too “talky” and gets too easily distracted by lengthy side stories concerning Lafiel’s younger brother, the twins Nerees and Nefee, and Admiral Spoor and her aide. Although these side stories are sometimes interesting and occasionally quite snappy, they frequently outstay their welcome. The overall storyline practically drowns in these diversions when it could be swimming much more freely by concentrating more on the main characters. (Admittedly, though, there isn’t enough plot concerning the main characters to fill out ten episodes.) In a particularly clever touch, the prologue of the first episode is identical to one of the last scenes in the last episode, but the first time around it’s dubbed solely in the Abh language (without subtitles!) and the second time around it’s translated.

Although Crest/Banner has always been more a drama series than an action series, the story here focuses much more heavily on the drama than in the previous two series; the action sequences are such a minor part of the story that they probably wouldn’t total much more than one full episode if strung together. The story does serve well in furthering the relationship of Lafiel and Jinto and gives us additional doses of Abh culture, including descriptions of the Abh Hell (they made one specifically to make people suffer in this life rather than the next!) and the way the Abh age and die naturally. Nearly every prominent character from the first Banner is back, but none of the new additions particularly sparkle.

The character design for Banner II takes a hit compared to earlier series because it loses its way a bit with the new characters; what were they thinking with the design of Shangal? Other technical merits are at least equal to the earlier series, however, and the English dub made another slight improvement. The opener, although somewhat modified, is still the same old thing, but the bittersweet new closing song is a distinct improvement that fits the tone of the series well.

The violence in Banner II is relatively mild and the “adult content” rating mostly refers to regular panning shots of female characters. Even so, Banner II could probably pass muster as a stiff PG rating. Younger viewers would probably find the series boring, however.

If you liked Crest and Banner, then you will almost certainly like Banner II as well. If you have never seen either then this is not a good starting point.

DVD Extras

· Production Art Gallery

· Newsletter of the Stars – mostly contains commentary by the original author about the adaptation of the series to anime.

· Company Trailers

· Passage of the Stars: Birth – A 25-minute bonus episode on the last volume focusing exclusively on the relationship between Lafiel’s genetic parents as they investigate a derelict ship in space. It ends with Lafiel’s birth and a sequence where her parents discuss what she’s going to grow up to be, which ties in to the first meeting between Lafiel and Jinto in the early stages of Crest of the Stars. It also provides some insight into the significance of the way Jinto addresses Lafiel when they are reunited near the end of Banner II. This is a wonderful complement to the main story that is tailor-made for the conversational style of the Crest/Banner series. It is solely responsible for this series’ higher Extras rating compared to the previous two.

Principle English Voice Actors

Role	Voice Actor
Lafiel	Jessica Yow
Jinto	Matthew Erickson
Samson	Keith Hamill
Ekuryua	Maizun Jayoussi
Sobaash	Elinor Holt
Admiral Spoor	Mariette Sluyter
Kufadis, Meideen	Paul Hunter
Dusanyu Abriel	Ethan Cole
Kenesh (aide to Dusanyu)	Meridith Taylor-Parry
Nerees, Nefee	Jonathon Love
Dubus, Trife	Roger Rhodes
Angus	Noah Umholtz
Dokufu	Dean Galloway
Shangal	Lana Harwood
Gabort	Kevin Buchanan