#hoshiai no sora blog

[otakuapproved]

Stars Align

Alternatively

Hoshiai no Sora

Synopsis

The story centres around the boy’s soft tennis club at Shiratori middle school. Constantly outperformed by the girl’s soft tennis team, the boy’s team have lost all motivation to seriously commit to soft tennis. Their lax existence comes to an end, however, when a new rule requires every club to present some accomplishment in their field or face disbandment. This forces the boys to recruit more fresh talent to join their club.

When the clubs very passionate captain, Toma Shinjou, sees the newly transferred student, Maki Katsuragi’s, great reflexes, he immediately attempts to recruit him. Maki’s innate talent and great game sense rekindles the clubs team spirit and love for the sport.

The story essentially follows a group of young boys as they navigate through the difficulties of life as a middle schooler all while discovering their own potential, capabilities and interests. It brings to light their interactions with adults to show how those experiences shape the boy’s young minds and spirits.

Rating

5/5

Genres

Slice of life, Sports, Drama, LGBTQ+

Status

Complete

Episodes

12

Type

Anime

Trigger Warning

Abuse (Physical and Verbal)

Notes

This is such a beautiful anime! It handles very serious topics like abuse and abandonment extremely well. It encourages emotions in boys which is always appreciated (cause the patriarchy sucks). And openly discusses things like gender identity and being gay in such a normalised manner! There is seriously so much, so many people can learn from this anime!

The characters are all very well fleshed out and dynamic. You learn more about each boy through the series and there is not one person who is uninteresting or just there to fill space.

The content is also presented in a very palatable way, as the seriousness of the problems each boy is facing is juxtapositioned with wins and losses at various soft tennis games. It adds some respite to the intensity which keeps you hooked throughout!

Now, I can go on and on about this anime but I’ll stop here I think XP

Bonus

1. The ending song is super fun! (This anime does this fun thing where the fast song is at the end and the slow emotional song is at the beginning)

2. Stay tuned for post credit scenes

3. It ends on an insane cliff-hanger that strangely doesn’t make you feel agitated? Just excited for what’s to come!

[best-underrated-anime]

Tentative List of Submissions

Until the list of submissions is finalized, I will be accepting appeals for/against any of the shows on this list. SEND YOUR APPEALS THROUGH THIS BLOG’S SUBMIT PAGE. Appeals left in the replies or sent to my asks/DM’s will now be ignored.

By the way, I don’t follow a set standard in determining whether a show is underrated or not. I may keep in mind MyAnimeList ratings, but ratings are not absolute.

Some shows may have low stats on MAL, yet have strong voting power on Tumblr. Some may be popular in their home country but are not so well-known in English fandoms. (Tumblr is a site where most users are USAmericans, so the voting power is mainly with them. I have to consider this.)

Red - at risk of being removed

Blue - formerly accepted, but changed to pending/rejected upon an appeal/further review

Violet - formerly under rejected/pending, but now accepted

Green - newly-added

Orange - Triggers not stated. If you’re the submitter, please edit your submission in the form. Alternatively, you can add them to the Triggers Sheet (non-submitters can also help). If the show has no triggers, please still edit the form/sheet and check the “None” option so that I’ll know that you didn’t just forget. Thank you!

Updated: Oct. 20, 2023 08:00pm EST

Accepted

86 (Eighty-Six)

91 Days

Acca-13 Territory Inspection Department

After the Rain

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

Akiba Maid War

Akudama Drive

A Place Further than the Universe

Are You Ok (You Yao)

Asobi Asobase

Beryl and Sapphire

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story

BNA: Brand New Animal

Charlotte

Do It Yourself!!

Flip Flappers

Flowering Heart

Fukigen na Mononokean

Gakkougurashi!

Gakuen Babysitters

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

Gatchaman Crowds

Girl's Last Tour (Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou)

God Troubles Me

Gurazeni

Hakumei and Mikochi

Hanasaku Iroha: Blossoms for Tomorrow

Happy Sugar Life

Heike Monogatari

Hinamatsuri

HitoriBocchi no MaruMaru Seikatsu

Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align)

Inuyashiki

Iroduku: The World in Colors

Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

Joshiraku

Kageki Shoujo!!

Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko

Karneval

Katana Maidens: Toji no Miko

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Kemurikusa - Propaganda may contain spoilers (To submitter: the last part about Earth seems spoilery). Propaganda will be edited by admin.

Kiznaiver

Kyoukai no Rinne

Laughing under the clouds

Legend of Luo Xiaohei (series)

Link Click

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

Mawaru Penguindrum

Megalo Box

Mignon

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

No.6

No Doubt in Us

Non Non Biyori

Orient

Ping Pong the Animation

Plastic Memories - I won’t mark this as red because there is enough propaganda for it to be included. But I’m still waiting for someone to submit something more substantial about it. Also lacks triggers.

Please tell me! Galko-chan

Pretty Rhythm: Rainbow Live - Submitter might’ve shared too much about the drama in the show, spoiling it for others. Propaganda will be edited by admin.

Radiant

Requiem of the Rose King

Rokuhoudou Yostuiro Boyori

Run with the Wind

Sangatsu no Lion

Senki Zesshou Symphogear

Servamp

Shadows House

Shiki

Shinsekai Yori

Silver Spoon

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle

Sonny Boy

Space Brothers (Uchuu Kyoudai)

Talentless Nana

Tamayura: Hitotose

The Executioner and Her Way of Life

The Royal Tutor

Tonari no Seki-kun

To Your Eternity

Trese

Tsuritama

Urusei Yatsura

Usagi Drop

Vampire in the Garden

Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song

Wasteful Days of High School Girls

Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun

White Cat Legend 2020 (Dali si Rizhi/The Journal of Dali Court)

Wo Jia Dashixiong Naozi You Keng

Yurei Deco

Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero

Yuukoku no Moriarty

Zankyou no Terror

Zombieland Saga

Pending

If no reason is stated, then that submission simply had insufficient/unconvincing propaganda. Those with a (???) next to the title are shows I’m not sure are considered underrated. Anybody may submit an appeal on whether or not I should keep it.

Propaganda that needs revision can be edited by the submitter on the GForm. Others may also make a new submission with their own propaganda for it to be accepted.

If, for some reason, the original submitter cannot edit the GForm, then the updated propaganda may be sent to me here via ask or DM.

All shows that didn’t remove their pending status before Oct. 20, 8pm EST have been moved to Rejected.

Rejected

If no reason is stated, then that show has been rejected simply because it’s not considered underrated.

Angel Beats

Assassination Classroom

Astra: Lost in Space - insufficient/unconvincing propaganda

Buddy Daddies - one of the popular recent anime. Also has 390k tag followers on Tumblr

Cap Kakumei Bottleman DX - Propaganda contains too many spoilers. Also lacks triggers

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card - Cardcaptor Sakura is one of the most popular shoujo. And since anime with multiple seasons are counted as one, the year the first season was released is what will be checked. Season 1 of CCS was released in 1998, so it’s disqualified from this tournament.

Death Parade

Delicious Party Precure - This show is apparently part of an extremely popular franchise. The propaganda for it was also not enough.

Dr. Stone - One of the recent mainstream anime. Ranked #54 on MAL for popularity with over 1 million members.

Inazuma Eleven GO

Kyoukai no Kanata - Has over a million members on MAL, rated by over 500k people, and is ranked #122 in terms of popularity. Also has 9.7k tag followers on Tumblr, which is very high compared to the other accepted shows

Kyousou Giga - insufficient/unconvincing propaganda and lacks triggers

Mekakucity Actors - the anime itself isn’t popular, but Kagerou Project, the Vocaloid music video series which it is based on, is extremely popular. #kagerou project has 14k tag followers.

Meganebu - insufficient/unconvincing propaganda and lacks triggers

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun

Noragami - Ranked #47 in Tumblr’s Top AniManga Fandoms in 2021

Odd Taxi - won several awards during the 6th Crunchyroll Anime Awards as well as won against the iconic The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in this poll with over 3k votes.

Planetarian - insufficient/unconvincing propaganda. Also lacks triggers.

Kekkai Sensen

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - Doesn’t have that many fics on AO3, but it ranks #52 on MAL in terms of popularity and has over 1M in both MAL users and members. Also has 1.4k tag followers on Tumblr—not a big number but still indicates an active fandom.

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight - Although it’s rated low on MAL, it’s apparently quite popular on Tumblr. It won against the very popular Sailor Moon in another poll tournament with over 9k votes.

Tai Chi Chasers - Submitter either made a mistake or outright lied about the year this show was released. They stated 2011, but the actual year is 2007. That’s before 2010, which disqualifies it from this tournament.

Tian Guan Ci Fu/Heaven Official’s Blessing - made it to Tumblr’s top AniManga fandoms. It was ranked #14 in 2021 and #16 in 2022.

Vatican Miracle Examiner - insufficient/unconvincing propaganda

Violet Evergarden

[x0401x]

What are some of your favorite shows? Ships? What kind of present would you like to see? I have some ideas from your blog, but! I want your input as well! - Animanga secret santa

Oh, gosh, I have lots of faves. I can’t really place them in any particular order (except the number 1’s, haha), but here are my top 20 shows:

Fullmetal Alchemist

Inuyasha

Card Captor Sakura

Rurouni Kenshin

Yuu Yuu Hakusho

Nana

Heike Monogatari

Macross Frontier

Soul Eater

Monster

Haikyuu!!

Yuri!!! on Ice

Death Note

Mononoke

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso

Hoshiai no Sora

Mushishi

Shingeki no Kyojin

Gakkou no Kaidan

Full Metal Panic!

and my top 10 ships:

Nura Rikuo/Oikawa Tsurara

Saotome Alto/Sheryl Nome

Violet Evergarden/Gilbert Bougainvillea

Kurosaki Ichigo/Kuchiki Rukia

Ogino Chihiro/Haku

Kinomoto Sakura/Li Shaoran

Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji

Maka Albarn/Soul Eater

Inuyasha/Kagome

Victor Nikiforov/Katsuki Yuuri

I can also list my anime movies and light novels if you want! Favorite mangas, though... that would be too many. ^^’

[makimakikun]

Hey!! Do you have HNS blogs you could recommend? I need more HNS on my dash honestly!

heya!!! welcome to my page. 💖💖💖of course!! i’m always down to talk about my hns blog friends!! i hold all these users in my arms once more. my children,, 💖💖💖@katsuragimaki (jana; another awesome hns blogger that makes a LOT of fun hns content and aus!! i love their content sm!!!)@toma-shinjo (lance; another amazing hns blogger!! they make fun posts, esp about touma, tsubasa, and the english dub!!)@stardoop (doop; another fantastic hns blogger!! they’re the one that made the vine compilation, which is hilarious.)@arashiouji (raf; another wonderful hns blogger!! this is their side blog; they also have a main blog where they post hns content.) @zzamaamiro (zzamaamiro is an actual animator on the show hns!! they post a lot about the show, and have given insight to many scenes, characters, & words/phrases said in it!!)@mlskb (zzamaamiro’s art account!! they make beautiful hns art. check them out!!)@megacarapa (peter; another beautiful hns blogger!! they make a lot of hns memes!! i nearly died when i saw some of them.@animetrashbin37 (kay; another fun hns and more blogger!! they make a lot of gifs and are working on videos, i believe! i love their content.)@futsurintarou (d; another lovely hns blogger!! i love seeing them on my dash!! they also have a main blog.)@hoshiaino-sora (THE OFFICIAL HNS blog!! for all ur hns needs. most of their stuff if in japanese, so if you’re translating, take what it says with a grain of salt, because things can be translated incorrectly often.)@tsukinose-nao (yoma; another hns and more blogger!! they post both hns and non-hns content.)@hoshiai-no-sora-blog (another cool hns blogger!! i enjoy their blog. it’s lovely.)@moontheoretist (another spectacular hns and more blogger that i recently discovered!! they write some in-depth posts regarding episodes & characters!! i haven’t finished reading most of them bc i’ve been busy, but from what i’ve seen, they’re v interesting!!)@itsukiamenos (finn; another nice hns blog!! i see them on my dash sometimes; it’s v nice!!)@cyuutieasuka (lyth; another stunning hns blogger!! i love their content & their blog name? the cutest.)@cute666cheeks (another funny hns bloger!! they make some of the meme posts that i’ve reblogged.) my wrists are starting to hurt, but here’s some of them! i love them, and i love the rest that i didn’t add yet, as well!!! i’ll add more later.i hope you follow them all!! 💕💕💕

[cains-marking]

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　NEW BLOG!　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Hello everyone! I wanted to let my followers (and the HNS/SA fandom) that I made a Hoshiai no Sora/Stars Align blog!  @alcremiekun wasn’t meant to be cluttered with my chats and theories, so I figured it would be best to have a blog specifically for this anime. I don’t want to show spoilers all the time to the friends that follow me here who haven’t watch it. 

My new blog is @makimakikun / https://makimakikun.tumblr.com/

[stardustintheabyss]

hey so I recommend stars align if you're into hurting your own feelings like I am 🥲 (and into cliffhangers that don't even have a manga for you to read about what happens next) take these memes as a warning

[thejolteonmastertj]

Stars Align And The Importance Of Compassion In Social Justice

You may or may not have heard about this anime, but if you had it was likely from Anifem’s glowing reviews of the series, Fanbyte, or perhaps the viral clip of two characters discussing gender norms and a father-figure who is transgender.  There’s also a very relevant post by The Afictionato on how it compares to other underdog stories in sports due to the fact that it comes “directly from minorities.”  To put it succinctly, Stars Align has been sold as Fall 2019’s progressive darling…

… which is initially part of what drew me in to give it a shot.  Representation is cool, and well written representation is awesome has always been my viewpoint. 

Don’t forget which blog you are reading.

Okay so maybe Haikyuu also got me interested in sports anime in general recently but I digress, the point is for the reasons described I ended up watching a few episodes every time I went to my grandma’s house (she had the Funi subscription, I was stuck with CR at the time). Despite the plot being somewhat cliché here and there I enjoyed it, a lot actually. 

The emotional core is more than strong enough to activate your suspension of disbelief like any good vanilla Shonen or Isekai flick.  But this is not what I’m talking about today, today I’m asking you to humor me for a bit on something else.

Continue Reading...

[phantom-dare]

Speaking of amazing display of body language, Maki is such a good kid. The first few episodes had him showing a very tough attitude towards the team, and to Touma, he tries to be nonchalant like he’s only in this for the money, but he genuinely loves being on the team.

Did I mention how much I adore Maki?

[nhkamira]

Toma cares so much about Maki. I felt how strong their friendship is becoming. It’s really sad to see Maki being so scared and fragile. This story is becoming more powerful in each episode, it’s more than a sport anime. Highlight recommended if you still don’t know what anime to watch of this Fall 2019.

[hazmutt-class-seven]

listen. id die for the soft tennis club

[tmk2005]

So I finally finished my review for the first episode of Hoshiai no Sora! Check it out if you want to read my rambling thoughts on this exciting new sports anime.

https://canadianreviewsanime.com/2020/01/06/hoshiai-no-sora-stars-align-episode-1-review/

[kanakomitsue]

i know youre a hoshiai no sora blog (thank you for that theres not enough of you) but what are your other interests

i love other sports anime + video games. i also really love horror movies and any gay media ngl

[makimakikun]

We celebrating tonight, fellas!!!

this is a milestone. i’m so glad you’re all here!! now we can all vibe together, and more can vibe with us.  while i’m here, i’ll give you some updates (on me & the lack of long posts)!! i’m sorry for the lack of posts that i promised! i’ll be writing more soon. keep an eye out! > to give some short reasons for convenience sake: i had a gas leak in my house (fixed two days ago, dw) so i had a harder time for the past few weeks focusing, writing, and seeing for long periods. i also hadn’t seen a doctor in a while (6 months), just got an appointment the other day! last reason is my wrists have been hurting a lot. if i write too much, they start to act up. complain-y stuff aside, i hope to keep you all entertained and happy!!  thank you all!!! 

[hoshiainosoraasks]

⚝Read Before Requesting!⚝

↠ This blog is NOT spoiler-free!

↠ Please be sure to include the character’s name(s) in the ask!

↠ Whether drawing requests are open or not will be noted in the bio!

↠ Off-limit topics: Incest, abuse, pedophilia, everything past what is mentioned in the show.

↠ NSFW asks will not be accepted, as all of the main characters are underage.

[apompkwrites]

hello!!! this is my first time requesting omg this is so exciting- anyways i really really love your blog it's just so comforting tysm for starting this series <33 can i please request a xiao, albedo, childe, scaramouche, aether (you can remove some if these are too many) where reader is a villain and then there's a scene where reader kicks them or smth (kinda like signora to venti but this time to the traveler) and then they just short circuit bc of ((their masochistic asses)) ur hot :)

reader impact || maso-kick

series masterlist characters: aether, albedo, childe, scaramouche, xiao genre: fluff contains: streamer's traveler gets kicked, la signora type kick summary: (name) just kicks our streamers and they freak out. notes: for the sake of this ask, we'll change up the au for aether so that you aren't the traveler :) also kinda changed it from less of a villain type thing i hope that's okay! also kinda wanna write replaced! au because om! angst fics have been a jam recently also unrelated but i just finished stars align/hoshiai no sora and i was not prepared at all :))

aether -

please he actually can't say anything because lumine will laugh at him.

correction: lumine is laughing at him.

she's his twin so she has a basic gist of how he feels during this scene.

he will basically melt into his seat upon seeing you kick his traveler character.

he's definitely hiding his face in his sweater and whining.

great, now his chat is laughing at him too.

"so, this is famed outlander who is in search of the gods."

"please... mmmhmh..."

albedo -

the calmest out of the five, for sure. he won't let anyone catch onto how affected he is right now.

now, that's not to say that he isn't affected by the cutscene, oh no no no.

in fact, that's all he'll be thinking about for... probably a few months.

ha artist brain go brrr part (i've lost count at this point).

he's for sure expecting a bunch of people to ask him to draw you and the traveler.

and he will.

but he'll save his favorite ones for himself :)

bonus: if this takes place around the same time as the shadows amongst snowstorms event and it's the imposter who's doing it, he's going to be thanking them under his breath because gODS THEY'RE FEEDING HIM CONTENT

"let's try a new experiment, shall we?"

"oh, what kind?"

childe -

oh he's in too deep now.

not only do you call him (or more accurately, his traveler) sweetheart, but you also kick him to the ground??

please, he's actually in love.

his chat is also making fun of him.

but then he'll switch it up and call out his chat on having the same thoughts as him :)

"aw, sweetheart. we haven't even started and you're already out of commission? such a shame..."

"who says we were done? ...CHAT YOU WERE THINKING THE SAME THING SHUT--"

scaramouche -

he barely manages to keep it together.

and by that, i mean he keeps it up and abruptly ends to stream to freak out in privacy.

look, he has to keep up his angry image somehow.

(although, most of his chat already knows why he ended stream seeing as how he literally left in the middle of the quest)

he's not that slick...

"oh, don't look at me like that, traveler. haven't we had fun?"

"yeah, for sure..."

xiao -

HELP HE'S NOT USED TO KARMIC DEBT CORRUPTED YOU

like he actually malfunctions on stream.

he's stuck on the screen that followed the cutscene and is just.

shaking.

you've broken him, are you proud of yourself?

oh, you bet he's gonna be searching the internet for fics inspired by this one cutscene.

"what a pathetic little mortal. this is who saved liyue and begs for my respect?"

"hhh... m... mhm..."

[y0uc4n7kn0w]

When the Stars don't align - Hoshiai no Sora & The Anime Industry

When the Stars don't align - My rant about Hoshiai no Sora and the beauty that never was

Wow. I am so mad. But not at Hoshiai no Sora—just to get that out of the way. No, Hoshiai no Sora did nothing wrong to me—it was the fucking studio. But I’ll get more into that in a moment. But first. My God. Why was I sleeping on this anime? Why did I save it until the very end of the season thinking “eh it’s just a sports anime”. It was more than that—so much more than that. It was everything I…