My late father was an animator, so he had plenty of animation books. Five Star Stories was one of them. I looked at the book religiously, without him knowing because his books were a sort of holy grail to him. I remember I always wanted to watch this, without him knowing. Unfortunately he passed away before I could ever watch it with him, and it's been THE staple anime I've ever seen. Despite him working on some big names like Nicolodeon movies, X Men, and other animations that was upcoming back in the 90s. I had love for my father deep down, but his interests in this anime is what got me to love him all throughout.
the mecha designs is so unique even to this day. I read in some forum this is like Japanese DUNE with mechas. I might wanna watch this anime after your impression video.
You should very much watch it and read what there is of the manga available, it is well worth it, like many others, I only wish their was more of the anime produced, but I'll take what we got for sure. Yeah like I said in Video, it reminded me of Dune. Thanks for watching! :)
I was browsing Gundam models on Pinterest and stumbled upon a custom job of one of the mechs from this Anime. Intrigued, I dug a little further trying to uncover what show the mech was from. Finally, after going through some foreign forums, I found the origin of the mech. Even more intrigued, I googled the anime, and now I'm here. Thank you for making such an in-depth review. I will definitely be checking it out, and you also have gained a new sub! Thanks for sharing your take on this, and helping me find a new anime!
Oh boy you went down almost the same rabbit hole as me, all be it I did it a few years back now, but it's amazing how one mech design can lead you on a trail of finding so much more. It's cool you eventually came across my video, ha I'm glad to spread the info about this great anime/manga, the more people that know the better, thanks for your kind words :)
Mamoru Nagano wasn't lying when he said FSS is his magnum opus. I won't even debate if someone said FSS is the holy grail of Mecha Anime. It is an Epic. A mythology. It's not about watching the story as it unfolds until it ends, it's about experiencing the events throughout the course of history. As Nagano provided it, the story of FSS is already concluded. We were told of the beginnings, the major events that occurred and then it's end. One read/watch and you'll never find anything like it.
It really is a shame that he found this anime "disappointing" As I too think it is a great anime. And in many ways has a far better (and more coherent) story than the current mecha anime leader, Evangelion. I really think it is a terrible waste that there isn't more FSS media. It really could be, and deserves to be so much bigger than it is.
@@newtypepunk9967 Ryo Horikawa also was still pretty young when he did Sopp. That was during 1989, which was the same year Dragonball Z first aired in Japan.
Five Star Stories movie adaptation feels like the pilot for the most epic mecha anime that should've been. It should have gotten at least another movie.
Yes I agree, I think they should have made at least 3 movies, I mean the story wouldn't have finished because the manga was still on going, but it would have felt more complete, oh well I guess we are lucky we got even one movie lol.
I love the design of the mechas. You're right, you can sense how heavy they are when they move. I also liked how unique all the characters were. It captured how big the 5 star Stories universe is. But my favorite part is the chivalry of the knights. They are loyal to their emperor without being over zealous. Also, while it seems the emperor has a friendly relationship with their captain it's not obvious that he has similar relations with the rest of his knights. It's exactly what you would expect of a relationship between a ruler and his retainers. He trusts them and they are loyal to him. I think this film captured that brilliantly.
Yes theirs a lot of attention to detail to be found in this, even when you watch repeat viewings you pick up on things you never noticed before, the creator Nagano is a very hands on guy, he is like the creator of Berserk, he does mostly everything, the only bad side like Berserk is that it means we get very little of high quality work, Nagano has another film like Five star stories but wont even let it be released on blu ray because that's too low quality for his work lol, its a shame because the stuff he does is clearly great.
I just saw today a gunpla of the golden one side by side to a gundam RX78, and its HUGE! And wonderful. From this review, it's definitely a must read/watch, and I love the 80s anime style.
Five Star Stories is without a doubt the GOAT mecha epic. It's right up there with Macross, Zeta Gundam, Gunbuster, Bubblegum Crisis and VOTOMS as the greatest 80s mecha anime.
Coming as a fan of the manga, I think the movie is decent. It looks gorgeous and generally is faithful to the manga, but it kinda falls short by the end. I do think FSS as a movie or OVA series would have been great, since that could bring out the life of the manga the best. I don’t think I told you this but nagano also is mostly known for his work on zeta gundam, mainly the qubeley and Hyaku shiki. He’s also done the designs for Brain powered and a novel series called shellbullet too. Nowadays, he’s still keeping FSS alive and got to direct a movie called gothicmade which is related to five star stories.
An OVA around 4-6 parts would have been amazing, kind of like Macross has done a few times, yeah too bad it never happened, but at least we have some form of a animated version, not every manga even gets that. I know about his work on zeta gundam, you will see something about this very soon : ) I knew he was still doing the manga as well, which is great only that it means I cant ever read the full thing, unfortunately this happens all the time with mecha manga, it's not popular enough to get translated, or people start and then give up, even Gundam has this problem, so theirs no hope for things even rarer. I didn't know he directed a movie though, related to FFS as well, thats cool, seems like it never got a home release? So theirs no way to see it, what a shame.
He's only released it to theaters and kinda wants to keep it that way. I understand why he does it cause it's sort of like a big passion project for him.
I can understand and respect that, but still, you make something awesome and don't want to share it, sounds kind of silly, I guess western fans are just not in his mind at all, its pretty sad to know any future FFS projects will never see the light of day outside of Japan.
I only found out about this anime tonight. I love mecha and have seen most of what the mainstream shows have to offer, so it's nice to find new stuff every once in a while.
I'm glad you found something new and cool, if you look to the past theirs loads of great mecha anime that doesn't get covered much, I'd recommend dougram if you haven't watched that either, it's a great mecha show as well, I've reviewed it in case you want an idea of what its like, but yeah it's always cool when you find new shows.
LOL it does feel like a tiny bit of a bigger story, too bad they couldn't have made it a 3 part ova or something. I'm still impressed with what we did get though.
NewtypePunk Oh for sure! Everything is so beautifully detailed, and the art style is so PRETTY. But then I couldn’t find anything else here in English so...Fork me!
Yeah theirs next to zero English stuff for TFSS, I think maybe the DVD of the film was released in France only not sure if any of the Manga was released there too, that's about it for western releases. It is a shame theirs not more easy access to the series, like you say it's very pretty and interesting.
@@YunierViada Book 1-11 have English translations but you'll need to know Japanese for anything after that. From the Forbes interview, Nagano said he was open to the idea but I doubt he would open that box again knowing how protective of his work he is. Remember the original manga was serialized in a magazine format magazine so he wanted to reprint them with full size art for the English release as well which made them huge and expensive at the time (early-mid 2000s).
Yeah It would have made a great series. I don't think the manga is finished though, its a bit like Berserk it takes long and we would probably just keep getting repeats of the story over and over in anime form like that series. It's also something that would need a big budget, I wouldn't want some cheap looking anime like some you get now a days.
Fun fact: in the manga, when someone said to sopp(I think that’s their name in the English translation???)”my beautiful lady” sopp would transform into a woman instantly
@@reifukaiyukikaze Yes more is revealed about the character Sopp the more times you re-watch the film, you notice more things. That's why watching it multiple times is actually a good thing.
FSS OVA is quite the lost media. There's probably a fansub somewhere on the internet. And the OVA only covers the first volume. The manga volumes are pretty much out of print for ages now.
My late father was an animator, so he had plenty of animation books. Five Star Stories was one of them. I looked at the book religiously, without him knowing because his books were a sort of holy grail to him. I remember I always wanted to watch this, without him knowing. Unfortunately he passed away before I could ever watch it with him, and it's been THE staple anime I've ever seen. Despite him working on some big names like Nicolodeon movies, X Men, and other animations that was upcoming back in the 90s. I had love for my father deep down, but his interests in this anime is what got me to love him all throughout.
REBOOT IT WITH BADASS STORY LOVE STORY
the mecha designs is so unique even to this day. I read in some forum this is like Japanese DUNE with mechas. I might wanna watch this anime after your impression video.
You should very much watch it and read what there is of the manga available, it is well worth it, like many others, I only wish their was more of the anime produced, but I'll take what we got for sure. Yeah like I said in Video, it reminded me of Dune. Thanks for watching! :)
I was browsing Gundam models on Pinterest and stumbled upon a custom job of one of the mechs from this Anime. Intrigued, I dug a little further trying to uncover what show the mech was from. Finally, after going through some foreign forums, I found the origin of the mech. Even more intrigued, I googled the anime, and now I'm here. Thank you for making such an in-depth review. I will definitely be checking it out, and you also have gained a new sub! Thanks for sharing your take on this, and helping me find a new anime!
Oh boy you went down almost the same rabbit hole as me, all be it I did it a few years back now, but it's amazing how one mech design can lead you on a trail of finding so much more. It's cool you eventually came across my video, ha I'm glad to spread the info about this great anime/manga, the more people that know the better, thanks for your kind words :)
on the same 🐰 🕳 cus im trying to find out where I can watch this😢...
***I just watched.. bruh🥲*** edited 😅
Mamoru Nagano wasn't lying when he said FSS is his magnum opus. I won't even debate if someone said FSS is the holy grail of Mecha Anime.
It is an Epic. A mythology. It's not about watching the story as it unfolds until it ends, it's about experiencing the events throughout the course of history.
As Nagano provided it, the story of FSS is already concluded. We were told of the beginnings, the major events that occurred and then it's end.
One read/watch and you'll never find anything like it.
It really is a shame that he found this anime "disappointing" As I too think it is a great anime. And in many ways has a far better (and more coherent) story than the current mecha anime leader, Evangelion. I really think it is a terrible waste that there isn't more FSS media. It really could be, and deserves to be so much bigger than it is.
What's even better is Sopp is voiced by freaking Vegeta. Would not have noticed that if I did not look up his voice actor.
wow if that's the case then it means that voice actor has great range, because Sopp and Vegeta are two very different characters.
@@newtypepunk9967 Ryo Horikawa also was still pretty young when he did Sopp. That was during 1989, which was the same year Dragonball Z first aired in Japan.
@@aetherdraw That surely does play a part, but he still has the talent and my god just thinking dbz started in 1989 is crazy, it's been a long road.
Five Star Stories movie adaptation feels like the pilot for the most epic mecha anime that should've been.
It should have gotten at least another movie.
Yes I agree, I think they should have made at least 3 movies, I mean the story wouldn't have finished because the manga was still on going, but it would have felt more complete, oh well I guess we are lucky we got even one movie lol.
I love the design of the mechas. You're right, you can sense how heavy they are when they move. I also liked how unique all the characters were. It captured how big the 5 star Stories universe is. But my favorite part is the chivalry of the knights. They are loyal to their emperor without being over zealous. Also, while it seems the emperor has a friendly relationship with their captain it's not obvious that he has similar relations with the rest of his knights. It's exactly what you would expect of a relationship between a ruler and his retainers. He trusts them and they are loyal to him. I think this film captured that brilliantly.
Yes theirs a lot of attention to detail to be found in this, even when you watch repeat viewings you pick up on things you never noticed before, the creator Nagano is a very hands on guy, he is like the creator of Berserk, he does mostly everything, the only bad side like Berserk is that it means we get very little of high quality work, Nagano has another film like Five star stories but wont even let it be released on blu ray because that's too low quality for his work lol, its a shame because the stuff he does is clearly great.
I just saw today a gunpla of the golden one side by side to a gundam RX78, and its HUGE! And wonderful.
From this review, it's definitely a must read/watch, and I love the 80s anime style.
I hope I get to see the completion of FSS before I die.
0:28 funny you mention Dune as the Baron of Rent is based off of Vladimir Harkonen and his "nephew" Fayde Routha.
Really, wow I didn't even catch that, thanks for pointing it out.
Five Star Stories is without a doubt the GOAT mecha epic. It's right up there with Macross, Zeta Gundam, Gunbuster, Bubblegum Crisis and VOTOMS as the greatest 80s mecha anime.
Coming as a fan of the manga, I think the movie is decent. It looks gorgeous and generally is faithful to the manga, but it kinda falls short by the end. I do think FSS as a movie or OVA series would have been great, since that could bring out the life of the manga the best.
I don’t think I told you this but nagano also is mostly known for his work on zeta gundam, mainly the qubeley and Hyaku shiki. He’s also done the designs for Brain powered and a novel series called shellbullet too. Nowadays, he’s still keeping FSS alive and got to direct a movie called gothicmade which is related to five star stories.
An OVA around 4-6 parts would have been amazing, kind of like Macross has done a few times, yeah too bad it never happened, but at least we have some form of a animated version, not every manga even gets that.
I know about his work on zeta gundam, you will see something about this very soon : ) I knew he was still doing the manga as well, which is great only that it means I cant ever read the full thing, unfortunately this happens all the time with mecha manga, it's not popular enough to get translated, or people start and then give up, even Gundam has this problem, so theirs no hope for things even rarer. I didn't know he directed a movie though, related to FFS as well, thats cool, seems like it never got a home release? So theirs no way to see it, what a shame.
He's only released it to theaters and kinda wants to keep it that way. I understand why he does it cause it's sort of like a big passion project for him.
I can understand and respect that, but still, you make something awesome and don't want to share it, sounds kind of silly, I guess western fans are just not in his mind at all, its pretty sad to know any future FFS projects will never see the light of day outside of Japan.
When I first watched it, I thought it was a series, and tried looking everywhere for either follow up episodes or past episodes. :)
@@Nomoreidsleft Ha that is an easy mistake to make, everything about it would make you think theirs more, it's shame that's all there is.
This is one of the best looking animes I've ever seen... Wow
F.S.S. Manga was amazing.
I only found out about this anime tonight. I love mecha and have seen most of what the mainstream shows have to offer, so it's nice to find new stuff every once in a while.
I'm glad you found something new and cool, if you look to the past theirs loads of great mecha anime that doesn't get covered much, I'd recommend dougram if you haven't watched that either, it's a great mecha show as well, I've reviewed it in case you want an idea of what its like, but yeah it's always cool when you find new shows.
I watched this and I loved it but it left me feeling like I only got ep 35 of a series 😂🤷♂️
LOL it does feel like a tiny bit of a bigger story, too bad they couldn't have made it a 3 part ova or something. I'm still impressed with what we did get though.
NewtypePunk Oh for sure! Everything is so beautifully detailed, and the art style is so PRETTY. But then I couldn’t find anything else here in English so...Fork me!
Yeah theirs next to zero English stuff for TFSS, I think maybe the DVD of the film was released in France only not sure if any of the Manga was released there too, that's about it for western releases. It is a shame theirs not more easy access to the series, like you say it's very pretty and interesting.
@@YunierViada Book 1-11 have English translations but you'll need to know Japanese for anything after that. From the Forbes interview, Nagano said he was open to the idea but I doubt he would open that box again knowing how protective of his work he is. Remember the original manga was serialized in a magazine format magazine so he wanted to reprint them with full size art for the English release as well which made them huge and expensive at the time (early-mid 2000s).
nyquilnu I saw this recently also but no clue if is related. It sure looks like it ruclips.net/video/QU5pMBLfobk/видео.html
I first saw a review of FSS in Animag and have looked for it since.
Unfortunately getting hold of FSS is very hard to do, which is a big shame it never got a re-release.
Crazy how I can swim in gundam all day. But FSS is so intimidating to me that’s the feel this film and universe holds in my taste for mechas.
Mix of Dune, Star Wars, and Anime.
Yeap, that sums it up well.
@@newtypepunk9967 Wish it would have been made into a series. There's so much more to the story that could be told.
Yeah It would have made a great series. I don't think the manga is finished though, its a bit like Berserk it takes long and we would probably just keep getting repeats of the story over and over in anime form like that series. It's also something that would need a big budget, I wouldn't want some cheap looking anime like some you get now a days.
Take away Star Wars and you get the jist.
You sold me when you mentioned the weight of the things. Like Big O.
Fun fact: in the manga, when someone said to sopp(I think that’s their name in the English translation???)”my beautiful lady” sopp would transform into a woman instantly
LOL and yes that's his name.
Well if you read further it's hilariously ironic.
Needs a Blu-ray release in North America.
Yeah it needs a full western release on Blu Ray, I'm surprised some company hasn't picked it up yet.
This movie is really damn amazing....it gives nostalgia just by watching it...
You're right, it is amazing in every way, just a wonderful piece of art is how I see it.
Kind to think, this anime gives soo many hints about Sopp throughout....I only manage to notice after second viewing of it
@@reifukaiyukikaze Yes more is revealed about the character Sopp the more times you re-watch the film, you notice more things. That's why watching it multiple times is actually a good thing.
I really need to see this again. I last saw it over 20 years ago.
Oh that's a big gap, it will be like watching it for the first time :D Yes, you certainly should watch it again.
最高だね！！！！！
this anime is my holy grail.
I can't any place to watch it.
where can I watch it?
FSS OVA is quite the lost media. There's probably a fansub somewhere on the internet. And the OVA only covers the first volume. The manga volumes are pretty much out of print for ages now.