Crest of the Stars

Crest of the Stars (星界の紋章) is a trilogy of space opera science fiction novels written by Hiroyuki Morioka with cover illustrations by Toshihiro Ono. Beginning in 1999, the novels were adapted into anime series, the first of which ran for 13 episodes on WOWOW. The initial trilogy was followed by a second, ongoing novels series, Banner of the Stars (currently 4 volumes, aka Seikai no Senki), which was adapted into three sequel series to the anime—Banner of the Stars (13 episodes, aka Seikai no Senki), Banner of the Stars II (10 episodes, aka Seikai no Senki II) and both adapting the second novel, two recap movies—Crest of the Stars Special Edition and Banner of the Stars Special Edition, and an OVA Crest of the Stars Lost Chapter (aka Seikai no Danshō). The fourth anime series, adapting the third novel, Banner of the Stars III (aka Seikai no Senki III) is an OVA released in Japan in 2005.

Plot
Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars (series I and II) follow Jinto Lynn, a young count whose world is taken over by the space-dwelling race of the Abh. When Jinto was a young boy, his father, Rock Lynn, under threat of invasion, handed over their world, Martine, to the Abh in exchange for a position within Abh society. Young Jinto is sent off to school to learn the ways of Abh nobility and the story of Crest of the Stars picks up as he meets the young Abh princess, Lafiel as they are about to travel to military school for Jinto's further training.

However, in the midst of their travels, Lafiel and Jinto (along with the Abh ship Gothlauth, aka Gosroth) find themselves at the very beginnings of a war between the Abh Empire and the Four Nations Alliance of humankind—an anti-Abh alliance of the democratic nations of the United Mankind, the Federation of Hania, the Republic of Greater Alcont, and the People's Sovereign Union of Planets.

Development
The series—both the anime and novels—are particularly notable for the fact that Morioka created for them an entire language, Baronh (and an accompanying alphabet, Ath), which the Abh speak, read, and write. Almost all written text in the anime is in Baronh, with occasional text in other (invented) languages; at least one planet is shown to have adopted Ath to write their own language (although this is not a plot point, and easily missed).

Novels
The Trilogy is composed of the following books, which were translated and released in English by Tokyopop in 2006 and 2007:
 * Seikai no Monshō I "Teikoku no Ōjo" (星界の紋章I　 帝国の王女) (Crest of the Stars I "Princess of the Empire") (Released September 6, 2006 in U.S. by Tokyopop)
 * Seikai no Monshō II "Sasayaka na Tatakai" (星界の紋章II 　ささやかな戦い) (Crest of the Stars II "A Modest War") (Released January 9, 2007 in U.S. by Tokyopop)
 * Seikai no Monshō III "Ikyō e no Kikan" (星界の紋章III 　異郷への帰還) (Crest of the Stars III "Return to a Strange World") (Released May 8, 2007 in U.S. by Tokyopop)

Manga
Tokyopop also released a manga adaptation of the trilogy by Aya Yoshinaga. The manga was illustrated by Toshihiro Ono and Aya Yoshinaga. Hiroyuki Morioka is also credited on the cover as the original creator.

Much like the anime series, it covers all three novels. Dubbed the first part of the Seikai Trilogy, since two other companion manga were also released, adapting Banner of the Stars and Banner of the Stars II:
 * Seikai Trilogy, Vol. 1: Crest of the Stars

Anime
Crest of the Stars was released in Japan in 1999 and in the United States by Bandai in 2001. At the end of 2002, TechTV announced that Crest of the Stars was to be one of the initial titles as part of their new Anime Unleashed programming and began broadcast at the end of 2002 and through 2003.

Reviews

 * Seikai no Monshou – the review of original Japanese version (or Seikai no Monsho)
 * Crest of Stars – The overview of Crest of the Stars with excerpted scenes
 * Review of Crest... on THEM Anime
 * Asian-Stuff.com - Crest of the Stars Review
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20040407171929/www.animerica-mag.com/features/10.07/crestofthestars.html

Seikai no Monshō Crest of the Stars 성계의 문장 Seikai no monshō 星界の紋章 Crest of the Stars Crest of the Stars 星界的纹章