Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars

Warning: the following review may contain spoiler. Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars was surprising in a good way, however that doesn't really change it from what it is, although it does make it more tolerable. Regalia is a show about aliens who come to earth but they look exactly like humans and then some of these aliens can transform into mechas and be piloted by another alien that they are paired with except for the protagonists which are a pair of an alien mecha and a human pilot. Now Regelia sounds like a generic mecha anime, it even takes place in a monarchy like a lot ofmechs tend to. However the aliens and pilots are all girls and they're also all moe which makes for a rather interesting combo of genres here. Now the story goes that currently a new empire is ruling but there use to be an old empire, the remains of the old empire are its old queen, the queens little sister, the butler of the house and a mysterious young person, I say person because even now I have no idea what gender this person is, I'll just go with boy for simplicity sake but note that I can not confirm ‘his’ gender. Now early on we learn that member of the old empire like the mysterious boy named Johann and the butler like dude Jonathan Marshall use a small sphere object in order to summon a mecha for them to pilot without the need of an alien to do it for them. The old empire starts its attack on the new empire with the goal of reclaiming what they lost and so the queen finds out that her big sister has actually been an alien this whole time and can turn into a mecha and the two fight back against the old empire. We also meet other aliens who are there to help and support our protagonist and also those aliens that are there to work against them. The story is about as generic as you can get for a mecha but the cute girls do help it a lot in terms of enjoyment, it's easy to just look at all the cute girls and be happy with that. Which brings me to a common criticism I see towards Regalia which is that the fights in it aren't very good, now first of all most of the people I saw with this complaint were not very far in and I'd say the last few fights are actually really solid but even without that it all has to do with expectations. Most people who watch mecha anime are expected there to be some cool fight scenes, because mecha. However I feel like while this is an anime with mechs in it and a generic mech like story set up it it doesn't do very many mecha things aside from the set up and of course having fights. It's main draw is the cute girls and at times I feel like I'm watching a more generic moe show, it's very rare that it actually goes full slice of life nothing happens kinda stuff, but it defiantly has a weird blend of that with mecha that causes it to just kinda be cute girls doing cute things and for some reason mechas are there. Overall though I like this, if you've read some of my reviews namely the New Game! review then you would know that I like cute girls doing cute things so this was able to make me actually enjoy a mech anime since more often than not I dislike them with this and Evangelion being the exceptions to that. (Note: I’m not comparing this to Evangelion, those two are so far apart from each other in so many ways, it's just that both are different enough for normal mechas to make me enjoy them, but for very different reasons) The shows animation is nothing special, it's about what I expected and doesn't really do anything neat or cool looking, the transformations into mechs happen within a sphere so you don't actually see it happen they just go from alien loli to alien mech in an instant. Oh yer all the ones who can become mechs are Lolis minus one who's a dude and even then his stuck in his mech state and also can't move, so he's basically dead but not really. The voice acting is actually really good and that's cause this shows got a lot of talent behind it with people like Sakura Ayane, Touyama Nao, and Yurika Kubo. The others are also great but I'm just giving you an example of what kinda talent we got here and also my super bias comes into play because Yurika Kubo. But despite the great voice acting it's not exactly memorable or special, none of the characters have voice tweaks or anything super interesting to say, I don't remember how anyone sounded and that's at no vault of the voice actors it's just how it is. Which is a flaw of the show as a whole though. The opening and ending theme are also super forgettable so I can't even talk about them since I don't remember them at all. The background music is also a mess of stuff I don't really remember. Yuinshiel Astoria, or just Yui is the protagonist and queen of the new empire despite still being a school girl. Also despite being a schoolgirl someone ask for her measurements while she's giving a briefing to the nations and guess what, she actually says them, however we as the audience doesn't get to hear what they are. Yui is a human girl and she has one of the loli aliens living with her, she however thinks that Rena, the loli alien, is her older sister. Older sister because Rena being the alien that she is was born looking like a loli and thus stays that way for her entire life, it seems to be that the aliens are just born at whatever age and keep that body appearance and size for there entire lives. So when Rena come down to earth and Yui's mum took her in and made the two sisters she didn't know that Rena would not physically grow in any way and she died before finding this out. This leads to the classic Rena is the older sister but she's small and Yui is the older looking and much more mature and dependable but younger sister that a lot of anime likes to do since K-On did it and that was popular. I have no gripes with K-On but seriously guys it's over done now and it doesn't even change anything, like in this its just a throw away thing they do once and then it never really matters again if she's younger or older. In K-On it had reason and purpose and actually affected events and how things played out, okay, enough ranting. Overall I actually like Yui enough, she's nothing special really. She looks nice but her voice acting isn't anything special and overall she doesn't do much, at multiple points in the show she fails to be able to do anything without Rena. At one point when Rena has to go away she basically is forced to do nothing but hide and whenever Rena loses control (because she's bonding with a human and not another alien) Yui is never able to regain control of the mecha or stop herself from the danger she's in from being stuck inside, instead Rena will either wake back up or the alternate Rena with red hair will come in and deus ex it. Funny thing she's actually called deus ex, or was it just deus, either way it's funny. Tia and Sara Kleis are two aliens that are bonded, Tia is the loli who becomes a mech and Sara is the pilot. Sara is also the best because Yurika Kubo. I really enjoy Sara and Tia for one very obvious reason, they're freaking adorable. The two work off each other very well which makes sense since they're actually sisters and look very similar, they do have a third I sister however she was captured and put under the control of Johann. Tia and Sara came to earth in search of Rena and Kei (the other loli alien) they find Rena rather early and once they meet up then Tia/Sara and Rena/Yui always fight together as a team. Pretty obvious at this point that the three loli aliens are the three sacred stars mentioned in the title of the show, for a majority of the show Rena and Tia have no idea about this power and even if they did they wouldn't be able to activate it without Kei. Tia and Sara are a little bit of comedic value, they of course have there importance and when they need to they can fight just as well as the others but they have the most silly moments, some slapstick and are just off in the background messing around sometimes. Like when everyone finds the alien dude who is stuck as a mech and can't move, Yui and Rena are off talking to his wife who is explaining how he ended up like that and then as we hear her explain we get a shot of Tia and Sara playing around on the mech and Tia sliding down one of the arms. Either way these two are cute and when they need to they can defiantly fight along with the rest of them, I like them a lot. So who is this Kei, well she's the third alien loli that's also a mech. She's actually under control of Johann but in a different way to Tia and Sara's sister, Kei is under his control without having to be chained into her mech form without a pilot. It's not fully explained what it is that caused this we just know that Kei is hooked up to a machine and Johann runs an experiment on her in order to gain control of her, he goes directly against what anyone thought he was going to do in order to do this and as a result Kei’s older sister (who I think is also a human pilot) Ingrid is forced to follow Johanns orders. For a majority of the first half of the show Kei doesn't say much as she's actually just a lifeless shell of her former self, during this time Ingrid also doesn't say much but she definitely does more talking then Kei who might as well not be there for how little she does in some episodes. However after a battle of Johann and Kei/Ingrid vs. Tia/Sara and Yui/Rena which is one of the best fights in the series spanning quite a few episodes, Ingrid is able to get Tia and Rena to enter some kind of separate realm and then due to there connection to Kei. Them being the three sacred stars and all, allows them to break her out of the mind control right before she's about to shoot Ingrid. Which by the way was actually an extremely powerful moment, I almost cried during it because Kei hold the gun at Ingrid and before she's about to do it a tear rolls down her check because the real Kei trapped inside doesn't want to do this, a very powerful moment. I will say it would of been more powerful if she had actually done it and then had to spend the rest of the series dealing with that fact but I digress. Once broken out of Johann's control and it coming to light that he was the real mastermind the whole time and despite Ingrid being the queen of the old empire she never actually wanted to overthrow Yui and was fine to just find a new role in society as it was. Ingrid is actually a really deep and a cool character, she has so much guilt and responsibility on her shoulders and with the help from the others and the real Kei she finally starts to try and be happy again. Also this is a good to mention that a side character named Retsu has her very faith in a god restored at the sight of Kei. It's a really weird but funny scene and I like the idea of Kei being so adorable that Retsu goes from being an atheist to a believer in some god. Either way Ingrid looks way older than Sara or Yui so she actually almost looks like a mum to Kei, these two are really cute together regardless and have some of the most powerful moments together, plus with the three alien Lolis assembled they get to all form together like the power rangers and form a mega mech which they use to win the final battle, but that also involved some confusing BS with deus. Then we have Johann, who at the start doesn't seem like the main villain. Marshall clearly seems to be in a higher position and we know Ingrid is the queen of the old republic, it's really not right until Kei is freed that we fully learn what has been going on this whole time. It's actually a pretty good twist and later on there's like multiple Johann that show up, like one dies and then another shows up and he jumps off and a cliff but then there are like 10 of him. Me and my friend who I watched this with has a series “ahhhhh” twist reaction and I liked that it was able to that, as I said this show was really surprising it's defiantly exceeded my reputation. So at first we think the enemy is the old republic but it's really just a cover up that Johann is using in order to be able to act out his schemes in the background without seeming like the main leader and also hide behind the idea that it's just the old empire wanting its power back. I gotta say I do feel bad for Marshal, he died pretty early on being killed in his fight with Rena/Yui however he made it clear that he died happy cause he was helping Ingrid and the old empire with its ultimate goal however in the end he was only following Johann’s orders just though Ingrid since he had absolute control of her. He died fighting for what he believed in which was whatever Ingrid wanted, however he just needed up being a pawn in Johann’s game and overall didn't really do anything for either side. Although I will note that Johann has a weird mech, in the final battle when he enters his final form the mech has a very long and phallic object in a very specific place and it's also what the girls hit and destroy in order to defeat, just gonna say… It's weird. Overall despite Regalia being a mess in its genre and kinda shooting itself in the foot by being a mecha anime that panders to a very different kind of audience I actually enjoyed it a lot. The story is extremely generic and the presentation is nothing special outside of the voice acting but the characters are fun and I enjoyed my time with the show. When it comes down to it, if I'm able to enjoy a show and have a good time watching it despite it flaws then that's pretty good. After all I sat through the whole show and for the most part had a good time, I watched it with a friend which may of made it more fun and thus is adding some extra bias but overall I don't think it's affecting the score too much since I did actually enjoy watching it and not just the events surrounding the watching of it. Plus my real bias comes from Yurika Kubo being in the cast. Overall a 7/10 mainly for the hella good time I had while watching despite its flaws.

This show wanted to be everything, and failed at all fronts. This show wanted to be a mecha anime, wanted to be cute, wanted to be """"""""political"""""""", wanted to be SoL, wanted to introduce some mythical """"""""lore"""""""". Unfortunately, it failed at all of these (except for being cute, thanks QP-Flapper). The premise seems to be good in paper. Unfortunately, the execution is terrible, the plot development is terrible, the script is terrible and the characters are underdeveloped. Aside from Yui, Rena, and Ingrid, I barely knew any of the other characters, and they barely made an impact on the show. The worst offender of which areTia and Sara, which have no personality beyond some assembly of tropes whatsoever. At points during the final confrontation with the villain, the protagonists are spewing cringe-worthy shit, whatever the villain is saying stopped making sense and the I stopped caring about the whole thing. Since the name of this show is "Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars", I'm going to give this show a 3 stars out of 10.

LA had ALOT of questions after finishing off Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars, like "What are the Regalia's really?, are they humans manufactured to transform into mechs? (or vice-versa)", "Why is Rena and Yuinshiel so special?", "Why is Yuinshiel the only person defending her own country?" and "What WAS Sara and Tia's deal in all this?", some are explained...most not so much. Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars right off the bat, LA might as well get to what was wrong with Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars in the first place. If LA would frame Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars' development across the board, from character development,relational and world building, it's either "not much explained or put into immediate context because of it" or "fragile". Character development wise besides the main characters of Rena voiced by Ayane Sakura and Yuinshiel Asteria voiced by Kaede Hondo and their relationship together, along with maybe Ingrid and Kei Tiesto voiced by Asami Seto and Nao Touyama respectively, the character development is extremely flimsy and your just expected that something is making them develop. Rena and Yui's (Yuinshiel's nickname which LA will stick to for the rest of this review) development has strands from both world building of the Regalia as well as their own incest-not incestuous yuri relationship, but even then it wasn't enough for LA to get invested into both of these characters and mind you their the central focus main PROTAGONISTS of this anime. Ingrid and Kei does have their own arc and development to them in some respects but that's rushed and they too become similar to Rena and Yui's relationship. World building in Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars at best will throw a bone in maybe 3 episodes tops but the world building executed can't even explain the SIMPLEST of matters...like ohh LA doesn't know the MECHA'S THEMSELVES, it's a mecha anime and they don't explain ANY OF IT (Ok, maybe LA is over-exaggerating but telling us the backstory of a HUGE Regalia war is fine, not telling us how these mecha's function with the human "avatars" is just basically ignored or are there different vers. of the Regalia, because some of the "mech of the week" shows up and they don't have ANY human avatars...these are NEVER EXPLAINED). There is also political tension between the two countries of Rimguard and Enastria Empire but besides the few first episodes, this plotline gets quickly dismissed as it leads into Ingrid and Kei's arc. Really LA's irritation from Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars comes from how vague it all is without a semblance of focus and for what LA has explained quite clearly is a major problem in the anime. The next problem comes in form of the blatant obvious villain of Johann voiced by Megumi Ogata, he is OBVIOUS from the outset of his intentions during Ingrid and Kei's arc and he just gets hammier from there, his "major evil plan" later on is just soo god damn cliche a la "world domination" it's laughable LA couldn't take him seriously, mind you HE'S the one moving the plot forward the majority of the anime. Johann is also the one character that kinda knows the lore LA wanted to know about the Regalia, but him being such a vague smug bastard he is about it that it just felt like it was a way to piss LA off even further with his blatant villainous intent, ohh and his resolution is utmost unsatisfying by the end of it as his "true intentions comes into play" and his motivations to all becomes cheesy and cliche. Finally how about we get to the least developed, underwhelming characters in the entire series, Sara and Tia Kleis voiced by Yurika Kubo and Yui Ogura respectively, they are essentially cheerleaders towards Rena and Yui but aside from being "backup" they really have no impact or development to them until the final 3 episodes but that once again like Ingrid and Kei's arc...is rushed or once it's over merely forgotten about. Seriously LA kinda sees the opposite problem with Sara and Tia towards Rena and Yui all things considered, as they have personality, but have no backstory or impact to the anime where Rena and Yui have almost bland to no personality outside the defining trait and have involvement in the plot. Really with the major hero duos of this anime, individually, they have really bland stereotypical archetypes we've seen before, but together they have some semblance of development but just not enough for LA to care about ANY of the main cast, heck LA's favourite character was Yui's friend Retsu Narumi voiced by Hisako Kanemoto, because at least she had constant personality in which she didn't need character development anyways because she's a minor character. Holy crap, LA talked lots about the character and narrative problems.......one last grip though, because of how much of a hodgepodge of elements Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars has, LA also needs to take a flaw to the battles, yes due to the amazingly shiny and detailed animation by Actas, the mech fights are probably one of it's biggest strengths, but because Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars tends to emphasis more on fighting than developing ANYTHING besides whatever it can pander to the audience (yuri undertoned context on characters, cute characters etc.) and it just feels like almost HALF of the anime is nothing but mindless mech battles. At the very least mecha fights in other mecha animes such as Code Geass and heck VALVRAVE THE LIBERATOR had the common decency to explain how the mecha's were manufactured or functions or found and the fights DEVELOP the characters on both sides to both develop the world or political problems at the same time if need be, Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars?...doesn't do EITHER of these well. Ok, besides LA aforementioned brilliant animation, is there ANYTHING else that could be counted as a strength?. The character designs by QP;Flapper who did Gi(a)rlish Number's character designs were pleasing to the eye and because of that the characters themselves were all distinct because of that. The voice acting was decent overall though there are some squeakers (in the form of Yui Ogura's Tia and Yurika Kubo's Sara), though LA at one point thought that Yurika Kubo's Sara sounded much like Yukari Tamura at one point...so that was a plus?. The OP and ED were actually caught LA's fancy and were catchy to say the least. The mecha designs were slightly off to LA but yeah along with the great character designs, the mecha designs were "exotic" to say the least and at the very least the mecha designs didn't clash with one another as was easy to notice who was who, though LA would just commend the color palette for that one as they are all color-coded. For as much bitching about the characters LA said above, LA WILL have to say that at least Rena and Yui's relationship and even a bit on Yui's mother was welcoming exposition LA wanted, so some backstory or character development from the both of them was a good bonus to it all. Finally LA would say that anytime there actually WERE Regalia lore thrown out here and there was a bit satisfying. LA really is grasping at straws to find anything good about the anime but this however. Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars' multiple plotlines, with it's elements of mecha, yuri undertones, slice of life, political struggles and stopping a psychopathic villain, Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars feels like a bloated yet lacking mess of ideas and elements that went in and for an original anime, there's no one to blame but the anime itself. LA could see the potential here ONLY if Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars could throw us a bone into getting us into this world of mecha's and it's political problems and it's character motivations, but Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars seems to care more about it's mindless but fluid mecha fights and pandering to it's yuri fan demographic than it does wanting to build the world and bring focus to it's characters that they created which could easily be resolved or at least "helped" by GOD DAMN EXPLAINING THINGS TO US . LA felt like knew what Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars' intentions were and it really could have been a good decent mecha anime but failed in execution to it's bloated multiple plotlines that go nowhere and lacking in areas of character and world building it could have done to make it better. LA can quite honestly say that "context matters" and quite clearly Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars didn't get the message, as if the audience can't fully understand the basic machinations of the world this anime is in and how it functions and how it works into the story or characters, what makes you think the audience will start to care about any of it?.