So I started watching Stars Align (Hoshiai no Sora) today, because of Roropii's recommendation (thank you so much for getting me to watch that), and I'm absolutely loving it so far. I'll edit this post as I finish each episode and say which parts I loved, so beware of potential spoilers.
Episode 1: The ending made me almost cry. From all the art that Avogado6 has made, I've become very familiar with the subject of child abuse, so when the scene at the end of this episode happened, that made me sad.
Episode 2: This episode made me seriously feel things. First off, with the start of the episode, there were students bullying a gay kid, whose name is Yuta, and that stabbed me right in the heart. Then, later int he episode, the protagonist, Maki, asked Yuta if he liked Touma (the second protaganist; male) and then said, "It's fine. Like whoever you want." That seriously made me want to cry of happiness SO bad and I was smiling SO much. Yuta is best boy now.
Episode 3: It seems like every episode has something extremely depressing happen. I thought at least 1 episode would give me a break from making me want to cry, but I guess I was wrong. This episode, we learned that Itsuki's mother poured boiling water on him when he was a baby, so that's depressing (I still got much sadder over episode 2, though. Probably because I relate to Yuta).
Episode 4: I was so sure I was gonna be able to say nothing bad happened this episode, but I was wrong. Right at the end, there was another scene of Maki's father being abusive. This time there was no hitting though, he just broke Maki's tennis racket. Still really sad, though.
Edit: I'm gonna put the questionable tag on this now, just because of how sensitive these topics can be.
Episode 5: Yuta is being cute again, as always. I love the part of the ED so much, where Yuta is dancing all energetically while Kanako is just drawing in her notebook. It's so adorable. But anyway, Maki and Touma were being cute also in this episode. Touma helped Maki stand up for himself to his father, and then Maki and Touma hugged at the end of the scene. That was so cute (I still will always ship Yuta and Touma though, because Yuta has said that he likes Touma, and I want the best for him. Wow, I act like these characters are real. I just relate to Yuta so much and I love it).
Episode 6: Okay, finally a break. This episode was just them playing tennis.
Episode 7: Another break. This episode was just cute.
Yuta was obviously the cutest, though.
Episode 8: So Yuta's non-binary now. I can't really relate to them as much now, though, since I'm very comfortable as a male. I do think it's a little stereotypical to make a gay character trans or NB. I am happy to see that an anime is representing groups like that, but I can't deny that I wanted a male gay character to fully relate to. I guess I can still relate to the Yuta at the beginning, before we knew that he was indecisive about gender.
Edit: Oh no, I got to the end of the episode. Now I feel bad for saying I wanted a male gay character to relate to, because Yuta's mother just started yelling at them saying that they have to stay a boy.
Episode 9: Chottttttto matte, I just started the next episode, and there just getting straight into the sad. Nao's mother told him to use his right hand to eat and then started saying that he shouldn't be hanging around with the tennis club. Tbh, this didn't make me that sad. I just got surprised when she told him to use his right hand.
Edit: I finished that episode. That was sad. Tsubasa's father pushed him down the stairs and he broke his wrist, so now he can't play tennis for two months. Is every family in this anime abusive or something?
Episode 10: Just another normal episode. I feel like I'm losing interest in Yuta's character, which I feel really bad for, and knowing my anxiety, that guilt is gonna stay with me for a while. I really want Yuta to stay my favorite character, even if I can't relate to them as much anymore, because they're adorable.
Episode 11: Okay, I love Yuta again. Nothing really happened with them this episode, but I realized that I can still relate to a character even if I don't relate to them completely. Also, I've had a friend that's had to deal with parents not supporting their transition, so I'm able to understand Yuta's situation better. Also, I'm now actually interested in the tennis aspect of the show, which is extremely weird because I hate tennis.
Episode 12: Cho cho cho chottto chotto ma cho-chotto matte. Maki's about to commit a murder. WHAT KIND OF SPORTS ANIME IS THIS??!?!?! That's the last episode, too. I know it's because they were forced to cut it off early, but that was way too much of a cliffhanger. I really hope we get a second season.
