Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Stars Align [2019-10-26]
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aaa1e2r3
Posts: 102 |
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Regarding the controversy about the ending you brought up in the review, were you talking about the Plagiarism allegations, or was there something else that happened with the ending?
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NeedMoreCats
 Subscriber Posts: 333 Location: Westchester, NY |
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So far, this is the most intriguing new show of the season for me. There’s just so much going on under the surface in the lives of these kids. I really like this kind of messy, emotional show.
But still, I was shocked when Itsuki hit a classmate over the head so hard he dented the racquet. I mean, I played tennis for years, it takes a lot of force to do that. Also, I can’t believe that Maki didn’t tell his mom that his dad knew their new address. I could see that maybe he didn’t want to have to move again, but yikes. Hope that restraining order comes thru ASAP. Trying to watch ep 4 but the subtitles are out of sync with the audio. Anybody else having the same problem? Hope Funi can fix that. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11616 |
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That's really been bugging me too. And that she didn't notice he'd been beaten up again. I don't think she'd be blind enough to buy his "fell out of bed" excuse, given what she knows. I wish they didn't give everyone the same rectangular glasses. It took me a while to realize that Shou wasn't Toma, despite the difference in hair. Is he the mom's brother? Friend? Boyfriend? I find it hilarious that Takahiro Sakurai is playing Takayuki Sakurai and the kids call him Taky. That must feel really weird during recording sessions. 
These are just a bunch of really great characters. So loving every minute of this. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2657 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I had the same issue, which is why there's no review yet. Hopefully it's fixed by the time I get to sit back down and watch it! @aaa1e2r3 Just the plagiarism; as far as I know there's nothing else wrong on that front! |
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NeedMoreCats
Subscriber Posts: 333 Location: Westchester, NY |
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I submitted a ticket and Fumi sent an actual response saying it was forwarded to their digital department. Said they’d email me when it’s fixed (not that they ever do, just close the ticket a month later). Fingers crossed. |
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rizuchan
 Posts: 980 Location: Kansas |
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Are we sure that Maki's mom doesn't know that his father has been around? Between Maki getting beat up and all that money going missing, I kind of assumed she had to know but just felt powerless to do anything, and that's why it had her explicitly mentioning the restraining order.
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Violet Park
Posts: 115 |
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Back in episode 2 Maki's mom was going to tell something to Shun and then the scene got cut. Wonder if that means that she knows about the dad and plans to do something about it.
Touma's relationship with his mom is puzzling. In ep 3 she is disdainful and passive aggressive but in ep 1 she seemed legitimately afraid of being alone with him. Also, Touma has shown he can be manipulative (asking Yuta to stalk Maki, lying Maki about his brother wanting him in the club...) and is hinted to have a violent streak. It's not clear if he knows about Maki's family problems but he better starts changing before he pushes Maki away. |
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DerekL1963
Subscriber Posts: 1122 Location: Puget Sound |
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If you have access, you can watch it on Hulu, which doesn't have timing issues. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11616 |
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I'm starting to suspect that either Maki has played before, or he's watched his father play a lot. Because his father seems to be a failed athlete, maybe even a tennis player, who's blaming his failure on his family and an unfair world. I think he uses the idea that he's teaching Maki lessons about how harsh life is on your dreams in order to justify his abuse, and the money he takes is just what they owe him for somehow ruining his sportsball career.
No clue what's up with Touma's household. Mom seems kinda dysfunctional even when fawning over the older brother. Where's their father? The other thing that's interested me is how Mitsue has latched on to the team. She started out watching from the window, then moved to the steps to snark on them from the sidelines, and this week she was right in the middle of them when Maki handed out the new pairings. Did I miss her becoming a team manager like Yuta, or is she just quietly erasing the borders to mingle among her subjects like Jane Goodall and the Gombe chimps? 
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rahzel rose
Subscriber Posts: 834 |
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My theory about the money is that the mom gives Maki money to spend on food and apartment supplies, etc., but that Maki bargain hunts when he’s shopping. So he saves the extra money and hides it away because as his dad said, his mom wouldn’t think to do that. |
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KitKat1721
 Posts: 976 |
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Sometimes weird subtitle stuff happens (I remember when a Jojo episode and Fruits Basket subtitles got mixed up), but yeah, in this case it definitely took a bit longer to fix.
The subs worked fine on Hulu so I didn't notice at the time. |
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nemuyoake
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I don't think it's Touma's mother and brother. He doesn't call him oniisan, aniki etc but by his first name. And the Japanese they use between them is more like they're his step mother and step brother. Maybe. Or an illegimate child? Who knows?
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15579 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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My thought in episode 4 was along the lines of how this show may be kind of going against the grain of general sports shows, especially with boys, for how Maki's touch has been softer and less masculine. I don't know if intended theme, but maybe against more toxic masculine elements that Touma might have with his anger and how he did not seem to understand the idea of holding back to boost everyone's confidence, rather than more competitive.
Even the female coach seems to kind of explain them away as just a bunch of grasshoppers jumping around, as if the boys are all so simple. Their advisor seemed to internalize that to some degree and may have jumped the gun a bit by organizing a game with a very tough school, that already seemed to risk ruining their fragile confidence before Maki seemed to frame in a more positive way. It was not yet shown as being a negative path, but I wonder if we are meant to think that it is not really a good thing how the boys get treated like being simple yet excited insects, while they are clearly they are all complicated people that should be treated with respect. I even think along the terms of the social Darwinism traits of the student president, whether she would have had the same thoughts if the genders were reversed with the teams. If her looking down on the boys, seeing them as a waste of space, is a kind of toxic view that is a real problem for sending people down the wrong path, more than they think is fixing. Maki's father might be a victim to that sort of thing, as may their advisor, who may not be angry and violent, but clearly something wrong. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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I still can't believe that Funi's quality-control department didn't notice the subtitling problem and fix it before release. Or at least within a couple hours of release. I turned to "other means" to watch this episode.
Maki needs to enlist the police on his family's side, so that a couple of burly officers are there when the father returns tomorrow. I doubt that will happen though. |
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Panino Manino
 Posts: 752 |
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#1-3
At first I disliked a bit how almost all characters are mean, but in the end this is a good thing. They talk what they think, they challenged each other, eventually they got to a solution for their differences. Very nice to see this in an anime. So in the end the anime isn't just trying to make the characters mean, an example of this is how in the third episode Touma's older brother talks with him very openly about his relationship with their mother. Nice. And it's amazing how a history with so much DRAMA can work really well when there's isn't a "Mari Okada" involved with the script. The bit about Itsuki family took my by surprise, not about what happened, but by the way it is being used by the story. Stunning anime. #4 This is good, but still... Maki's father is looking a bit too much exaggerated. This makes me remember Hanebado, with the difference that instead of complaining are more praising. |
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