To be honest the only reason Im writing this review is because somehow no one has written one for Five Star Stories on AniList yet. Im sure other people more wellversed in the mecha genre or the manga version of this film have some more interesting or more accurate things to say about it but I will do my best. 220https://i.ur.com/6FTVScH.jpg The Five Star Storieshttps://anilist.co/manga/31659/TheFiveStarStories/ is a manga by Mamoru Nagano known for his work as mecha designer on Heavy Metal LGaimhttps://anilist.co/anime/2598/JuusenkiLGaim/. The manga has been publishing on and off since the 80s but in 1989 parts of the first volume were adapted into this hourlong film. Now I have not read the manga so I cant say exactly what it is that is missing from this movie or what sort of larger story this leads towards but even as someone with no knowledge of the source material its clear that this is nowhere near a completed story. Its also clear that its not intended to be completed in any way. The best way to describe Five Star Stories is as Episode 0 of an anime that was never made or simply an animated trailer for the manga. The base for a really fascinating and captivating story is here but an hour is simply not long enough to explain everything about this wide wide world and the many characters pulling its story in different directions. 400https://i.ur.com/ZJu5OiQ.png This is not to say though that this movie is bad in any way. If you take it for what it is its actually really engaging. As to be expected from Sunrise in the 80s the animation is incredible. Despite the truncated story you can tell that the staff really poured their hearts into making it look as good as possible. It helps that the character and mecha designs are so unique I really dont think Ive seen another mecha like the Knight of Gold. Complimenting the animation is the soundtrack which I must say might be one of the best anime OSTs Ive ever heard. The orchestral sound of the film really adds to the epic feel of the story and the grand fantastical worldbuilding that it tries to establish. To summarize the movie without giving too much away Five Star Stories takes place in the Joker Star Cluster in what seems to be sprawling mass of warring interstellar empires and kingdoms where there are mechas called Mortarr Heads and genetically engineered female humanoids called Fatimas who help to pilot them. The story of this movie is about man named Ladios Sopp who is as the AniList description will tell you actually the god of light Amaterasu trying to save two Fatimas created by Dr. Balanche Lachesis and Clotho. Along the way were introduced to an interesting cast of side characters including a slick Han Soloish man named Viewlard the villainous Lord Juba Coluss a king from another land and another Emperor Amaterasu all of whom really help flesh out the political side of the world. There is of course a mecha fight near the end and I appreciate how the Knight of Gold is presented as an incredible largerthanlife beast of a machine it reminds me a bit of Gunbuster in this way. 400https://i.ur.com/a0ErPul.jpg Again without reading the manga its hard to say how good of a job the film does at laying the foundation of the rest of the story. Other than some comments from the narrator at the beginning and end of the movie we really arent given much to go on. All we have are the interactions between the characters that drop little hints about how this universe and its science fiction/fantasy elements operate how the Mortarr Heads and the Fatimas work how the politics of the Joker Star System function. For some this might be frustrating if not outright annoying but I actually liked it. I appreciate how the film just drops you into the middle of a fullydeveloped world and just lets you go. Despite being unclear at points by the end of it I was still pretty invested in Ladios and Lachesis and the broader story that they are surely a part of in the manga. It might not work for you and I can definitely see how a manga reader might be put off if there is some crucial information or story beats missing that someone who just watched the movie wouldnt be aware of. Nevertheless I thought it was pretty enjoyable. I wont lie and say it was some masterpiece but the movie feels like the basis for a really fascinating story and I think Ill definitely be checking out the manga at some point to see what else can be done with this world. At the end of the day Five Star Stories isnt really going to scratch your itch for a grand epic space opera of cosmic proportions though the pieces for one are all here. The real story the internet tells me is in the manga which is apparently getting an English rerelease next yearhttps://www.comicsbeat.com/breakingax2025titanmangareleasethefivestarstoriesenglishmarch2026/. Still this movie is pretty cool if only for the stellar animation and soundtrack or if you want to know where the sample from the new ILLIT song came fromhttps://www..com/watch?v=zrIYFdCEDJI. 250https://i.ur.com/MEAyPYK.jpg