Review of Hoshi no Samidare

Note: This will cover both versions but focus mainly on the manga, with some spoilers ahead.

Hoshi no Samidare is an example of a cult classic manga doomed by a very bad adaptation. I had it on my list for years until I decided to read it just as I watched the anime two years ago but even if I didn’t do that I would have noticed the issues within the anime, as many anime-only people did during the episodic discussions.

Despite the infamous low budget that made most drop the anime series, truth is the manga isn’t that much better looking either. It doesn’t have the same issue of having character designs and backgrounds that don’t seem to fit in the same place, nor the horrible motions nor the pathetic special effects of the adaptation, but the drawings are still very basic and almost sketch-like, the backgrounds are very lacking and usually even absent, and the special effects are not very good either. Near the end the overall thing looks and flows much better than at the beginning, with even some quite epic scenes and moments in it, but as a whole the end result is nothing more than mediocre coming from a mediocre artist, and that is still way better than the awful visuals from the adaptation.

Obviously, the sound is only an issue present within the adaptation and man if it isn’t even worse than the visuals. The music was good but often misused and unfitting, the openings and endings were all extremely forgettable, the sound effects were pathetic for the time the series came out, to the point that you could find shows from 40 years earlier with better ones than the adaptation of this manga. And the voice acting is overall one of the worst I have heard in the medium, most voices don’t fit their characters, and the ones that do are seriously lackluster in their delivery, as if the seiyuus weren’t even trying to play their lines correctly. The only one which I remember being performed with some effort was Mikazuki and he had another problem which was being way overacted, easily the most I have heard in recent years after the cast, and more specifically, the protagonist, of Redo of Healer.

The actual plot begins with an interesting premise where seemingly villains will fight alongside heroes and against some other villains for conquering and eventually destroying the world and since the quantity of chapters is quite low, nothing is stretched out to last more than needed.

The issue with it is that at the beginning both protagonists come off as very edgy and immature with one of them also having a very edgy backdrop with a very in your face presentation, and the same bullshit Japanese handling of the clear victim having to understand and forgive the person that is clearly on the wrong, but at least here it leads to powerful character development for one of the main characters.

The plot structure is very simple as it plays out like a fighting shounen where the main group faces off against zero dimensional golems that are increasingly stronger each new time before fighting against the big bad guy, and eventually leading to a very basic and predictable finale with a sweet but very simply presented message of continuing to fight for your life and wish to live it and make the best of it even when it seems pointless and about to be over soon.

The credibility is also extremely low as the characters fight in open spaces and although it is established that common people can’t see the super powers and the golems, they should be able to see the main group jumping incredible heights or distances or being tossed around by some enemies, in what looks like an empty Japan.

Leaving that aside, the main girl of the show will come off as a self-absorbed, selfish and edgy brat for wanting to take the whole world with her, even more so because the series tries to present her as a poor victim when she is not. She is a tragic character alright but many would have it hard to find her sympathetic. To her defense I will say that her being that way is the whole point of the manga, as she begins to question herself throughout the story and, well, predictably, ends up being called out and given a new hopeful perspective and will to live in the last moments, so the manga becomes anti-edgy as it goes forward and leaves behind the juvenile teenager way of seeing life.

Despite that, the plot itself is not very good either because many aspects of it are a joke or quirky at best, since the spirits the characters fight alongside with are simple and plain looking and based around toys, their powers are basic, some upgrades come off suddenly when needed, and as a whole the story is basically two superhuman long-lived almost immortal psychic siblings playing to save or destroy the world for fun and resetting it every time until the happy outcomes happens and the bad one is defeated for good. Plus the finale becomes way too convenient and even convoluted with the use of time travel and time loops as a way to get power ups, and simple emotional motivational speeches, driven completely by ideals and emotions instead of any logic or plausibility. The outcome is also convenient, since it’s a happy ending after a time skip and the main issue was resolved and some character dynamics changed, both things out of screen.

As a partially romantic series I also want to point out that I find it creepy that the main couple has a dude in his twenties wanting to go out with a minor, and the harem aspect of the series can be annoying and unnecessary. To its credit though, the manga is clearly a support type of harem, since no other girl interested in the main guy actually tries to make a move, he is clear about who he loves from the very beginning, and the main couple doesn’t actually get together until they are both adults and their age gap is more reasonable.

Not everything in the plot is bad though, as there is a lot of downtime for the characters to actually train and get better at using their abilities and powers, so the power ups don’t come off as obvious ass-pulls, besides the final one in the story.

Not only that but it also allows for a lot of character immersion and interactions, with both their spirit companions and the other heroes, which also aided in getting the two edgy bratty protagonists to gain the more positive perspectives in life, so it also led to powerful character development for the main leads. Even that aside, despite moving as a group, no character is left as an archetype with no individuality, everyone is given a backdrop, motivation and daily life activities, and there are some interesting dynamics amongst them, whether as mentors, or partners in training, long-time friends, possible love interests, and more. Some of them even notice the hidden intentions of the two mains, so it’s not like the support cast is clueless about the whole thing.

Another positive is that at some point the author or some editor might have noticed how it didn’t make sense for the fights to take place in the open while having no one else around, so the battles move to some mountains where it makes sense to not have crowds witnessing everything and yet being able to see nothing.

Plus, aside of the subsequent golems becoming stronger, they also have some differences here and there, so they require some level of team strategy and fight choreography in order to be defeated.

And it’s not like the bad guy is fooling around doing nothing for the sake of the good guys being explored and bonding, it’s clear that he doesn’t have his full powers at the beginning, needs some time for preparation and making and upgrading his minions, and even if he did, it’s clear that the main girl is the strongest character in the series, so it’s not like he can just simply face them off without some kind of plan, thus the downtime doesn’t simply come from the ego of the villain being confident in his abilities, there is an in-story reason.

Likewise, although the main girl can simply one punch the earliest enemies, it’s not like she can do that every time for the particular characteristics of some of the later golems, and also because her powers are directly linked to the sister of the main bad guy and the actual hero of the story, thus, as the latter helps the support cast become stronger, the powers of the female protagonist are limited, and that affects her strength. Basically, the author put in some effort to excuse the action the way it is, and along the way corrected some of his mistakes present at the beginning of the manga.

There are also stakes, and I don’t mean that just for the whole world being at stake, but also because there are actual deaths amongst the good guys in here, without cheap ways for getting them back. The narrative regarding this point is not the best however, as some of them are dead from the beginning of the story, or die shortly after being fleshed out, making the red flags and pattern of deaths predictable and their exploration not very good either. At least, since every dead character had some personal connection and dynamic with another one from the group of heroes, every death leads to some impactful character development for the living.

Other things I want to count as a positive is that even though the connection between the two main characters seems kinda random at first, it’s eventually revealed that they are far more interconnected than they seemed initially, even if it’s done at a bit of the cost of their agency and free will.

Also, unlike other fighting series with similar elements having parents of the main characters being dead or clueless about the whole thing, here they exist, they are present, they notice the dynamics amongst the main ones, they serve as mentors or guides in life, the familial circumstances of each main is shown and given importance for their characterization, and the mother of the female lead is even given a very important role in solving the main issue in the story, even if it happens out of screen.

And finally, the last good aspect I want to talk about is a particular golem who is easily the best character amongst the bad guys. He is created with a humanoid form and the ability to mimic humans, and with the capability of evolve and learn, thus he is curious, yearns for knowledge, befriends an edgy boy amongst the heroes and even almost gets him to join the bad guys, and even gets an identity crisis at some point, he is easily one of the best characters of the whole manga, perhaps even the best.

The catharsis for every character is fine on paper, a good chunk of the support cast is given the proper immersion for that, it’s just that, like I said, the epilogue of the story happens after a time skip and out of screen, so you don’t get to see how their dynamics changed and thus how they achieved that catharsis in a way that feels organic.

The anime adaptation messed up the whole writing by rushing through the whole thing, something obvious to see even for anime only people, and also for changing the order of certain events, making some of the characters appear and disappear in awkward moments or having the main issues from the manga in a way that’s even more obvious, such as dying as soon as they are fleshed out, which also affects their exploration, since every moment they get to themselves is also rushed. Thus, even if the story and characters are there in the anime, the presentation was completely ruined and even the weakest aspects of the original are even way more prevalent. It’s not just the visuals in it that suck, even if those play a big part in also ruining the action and battle choreography.

Bottom line, despite being a cult classic, I found Hoshi no Samidare to be just on the same level as most barely worth reading one time action fantasy stories that’s barely worth consuming for its few positive aspects in its very flawed writing and theme exploration, for its main message and for its characters, but not exactly for the quality of its plot and story. Decent, but that’s it, and even that is way better than the mess that was the rushed and very poorly presented anime adaptation.

Anime 4/10 (and I feel generous)

Manga 6/10