Rather than reviewing anime series episode by episode, tackling them one season at a time will be the new approach on the blog. So please bear with me, since this is something I’ve only attempted once before and the review will be a little rough around the edges.
First off, I need to present a disclaimer.
I really don’t like the cute girls doing nothing subgenre of anime. Aimed at otakus without social lives, the rise of these moe dominated series are my bane along with jiggly T&A ecchi fests. Mindless and irritating, I can’t stand them. This will color my review.
So why am I reviewing a cute girls show, you wonder?
Well, I’m gun owner and enthusiast, so giving the first episode a shot was mandatory, if distasteful. To my astonishment, the show was funny and hinted at hidden depth which made me stick around for the next episode. Before I knew it, the emerging serious themes in the storyline combined with well written characters to hook both me and my senior citizen father.
Stella Women’s Academy C3 (for brevity) begins with a girl traveling to a ritzy high school her parents have ponied the money up for. Grateful for the opportunity given her, Yura is hoping to change her life in her high school debut. Fairy tale fantasies fill her daydreams along the way, but when she arrives at the beautiful campus the teen’s imagination goes into overdrive.
It’s all fluff and cuteness, though her inability to reply to another freshman betrays just how shy she is.
Alone in her dorm room shared with an absent older roommate, the teen chooses a bed only to be startled by finding a handgun under the pillow. Not sure what to make of it, her rummaging around uncovers more firearms and military fatigues. Shocked, Yura finds herself oddly interested in them…
Discovered acting out a war movie by another girl looking for her roomie, she’s accused of being a freak. However, Rento is not disapproving, but excited since the school’s airsoft club is desperate for new members. After many comedic recruitment attempts, Yura is persuaded to try out playing a survival game.
In way over her head, the timid girl watches in amazement as the other girls compete against the best player on the team, Kurila. That feisty blue eyed blonde is a maniac with a machine gun so tactics are employed to flank her. Reduced to little more than a spectator by here inexperience, Yura sees Rento sparkling as she throws herself completely into the game.
The fantasy view in Yura’s mind quickly turns Kurila into a teen Rambo and the other girls into the sheriff’s deputies from the movie of the same name. It’s a cute gimmick displaying her vivid imagination adding to the fun.
Or is there more to it?
So begins Yura’s introduction into a new world of airsoft guns, survival games, and competitions.
As the series progresses, two more important characters join the story. Former friends and now arch rivals, Sonora and Rin lead the airsoft teams of Stella Women’s Academy and Meisei Women’s Academy respectively. Rounding out the cast is Hachi, the girl with glasses, and Yachiyo the sniper who is quite a little fireball. However this is Yura’s story, with Sonora, Rento, and Rin having the biggest impact on her new start in life.
Featuring a lot of flashy action that’s over the top, the series always slows down enough to provide explanations of tactics. Usually that’s done with a cutesy paper cutout animation detailing the rules of the current match, so the audience always knows what is going on. That’s needed since most people have never played in paintball or airsoft games.
What could have been a frivolous lark of a story betrays a darker and more serious undercurrent right from the first episode, though many an online commenter missed all the foreshadowing and were blindsided by the later turn the series takes. Yura is shown to be a troubled girl, having been ostracized due to her extreme shyness and poor social skills. Presented in muted colors, flashbacks of middle school haunt her while revealing just how deep her insecurity goes.
A total novice at dealing with others, Yura begins to hero worship her older roommate Sonora. Desperate to change herself, her sensitivity is her own worst enemy so everything said by Sonora is taken to heart – even if misinterpreted to mean the opposite of what was intended. Eagerness to prove her worth turns Yura into a very aggressive player with high potential.
The slide into a darker story is gradual with plenty of comedy and amusing movie tributes peppered throughout. Gentle whimsy alternates with slapstick, providing laughs and situations that will make you smile. Yet there is always that undercurrent of something more serious surfacing from time to time.
I’d be remiss if I don’t single out the stellar fourth episode which takes a dramatic turn toward the spiritual and sets up later events. A training trip to a local shrine to a fox god who was once a teen samurai warrior is beautiful to look at while raising questions about the nature of Yura’s fantasies. Both Shinto and Zen beliefs are contribute to the plot, something you wouldn’t expect about a simple tale about girls who like to shoot guns.
As I understand it, quite a bit was added by the production team that didn’t exist in the manga Stella was adapted from. Having seen a sample of the original material, this is a rare case where changing things enriched the story considerably in my opinion.
Like all stories about sports, the main plot builds up to a large match with C3’s arch enemies, in this case a national competition. What’s unusual is when this occurs and what the fallout is. Dancing to the beat of its own drummer, Stella Women’s Academy subtly subverts tropes in its aims.
Harsh lessons in life are learned by Yura in the latter episodes as she makes almost every mistake a shy person can when trying to crawl out of their shell. Raging insecurity and a need to find her place drive the girl to places unexpected. Will the power of friendship save all? Or will it require something more profound?
Thoughts
The more times I watch this series, the fonder I grow of it. It was something of surprise to me when I instantly pulled the trigger on a discount preorder of the DVD through Crunchyroll. By the way, it is still available to stream there at the time of writing this review.
Hidden depth and excellent life lessons make Stella Women’s Academy a show worth seeing, though these qualities ruined the series for some viewers.
Of course, it if hadn’t been for the guns, I wouldn’t have checked out the anime and would have missed out on the delightful surprise of finding a wonderful story about a shy girl changing her world. A more realistic girl than Sawako in Kimi ni Todoke, the feelings and actions of Yura rang true with me. They were all too familiar to my experiences.
Well written characters are a real strength of the show too:
Yura is an appealing lead character you can root for, which makes for painful viewing when she messes up. All too human, her mistakes carry that extreme twinge of pain found during adolescent trials.
Sonora is obviously the second main character mainly defined by her being a tomboy and leader. Hinted at being of mixed parentage with an American father and Japanese mother, she’s also a rock of stability. However, her attempts at being the wise older mentor reveal that she is still only a teenage girl.
Rento is the compassionate beating heart of the cast. A sweet, graceful girl, she is observant and proactive in trying to diffuse problems. She’s quietly endearing while also being the one you’d want keeping your back in combat. Remove her from the story and it would fall apart.
Rin is the antagonist and villain for much of the series. Far from being two dimensional, the elegant and cold princess shares much in common with her former friend. Her way of handling things is off putting, yet there is much more to her that I won’t spoil.
The rest of the cast get small moments and adequately fill their stereotypical roles for comedic purposes.
The spiritual aspects involving the local deity are used sparingly, but pivotally in the story. What starts as the equivalent of Zen archery becomes far more profound and delivers a great message to teens trying to find their place in the world. It’s a shame this was a series airing late at night aimed at older otakus for it would be one I wouldn’t hesitate to loan out to that age group.
For that matter, it would be acceptable for some younger kids, with a few caveats. For a Gainax production, there is surprisingly little in the way of sexy fan service with their famous “bounce” only being seen twice in very restrained fashion. Nary a panty flash can be seen despite all the gymnastics in combat. Tomboy Sonora shows up naked twice with a strategically draped towel with nothing actually exposed in a reflection of her laid back temperament. Even the squirt gun contest, beach match, and hot springs scene are tastefully executed – that’s shocking given the studio.
However… the thirteenth episode which was originally meant to be a bonus for Blu-ray is complete trash. Stupid, unfunny, and filled with gratuitous T&A, it was aired when it became clear the series wasn’t going to sell well in Japan. Fortunately, it is completely outside of the continuity of the story and can be skipped. In fact, you should pretend it doesn’t even exist.
I know I do.
The animation is average and a lack of budget shows from time to time with static montages being used in some episodes. Action sequences are properly kinetic and along with Yura’s fantasies are where the money was well spent. Character design is typical moe of the time, but not excessively so. At least that’s what I tell myself.
Officially, it is rated TV14 for violence and language. I assume the first label is simply due to anti-gun bias and the latter simply made up. There is no offensive language in the series, not even in the awful bonus episode. The rating is rubbish and this series would barely be PG if it were a theatrical release.
I highly recommend Stella Women’s Academy, High School Class C3 for those who like some poignancy with their comedy, good life lessons, and guns.
Technical
Sentai Filmworks DVD edition was announced and put out for preorder before the Blu-ray edition so that’s what I’ve got. Normally, Blu-ray is a must, but my suspicion is that they tested the waters with the DVD to see if BDs would sell. So to all the BD purchasers out there: you owe me one!
Sometimes you have to take a hit for the team.
Packaging is a simple case with a hinged leaf insert to hold the first two discs of the three enclosed. Featuring a rather joyous picture of the girls firing into the air, the design of the cover is colorful and cute. The back is even more so, using chibi versions of the characters from the end credits and emblazoned with “GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE GUNS!” The synopsis gives absolutely no clue that the series is anything more than a silly comedy.
In a way, that’s almost false advertising.
Thirteen episodes are split over the three DVDs which have very nice and different color prints of the girls together. Once again, it is very cheerful imagery.
The 16:9 ratio video is good quality, in fact about as good as DVD gets for anime. A nice surprise was discovering the encoding to be 480p, not 480i. That means it will look good on any progressive scan DVD or Blu-ray player outputting to an HDTV.
As for audio, the pristine Japanese only Dolby Digital 2.0 does a good job replicating every shot, cry of “Hit-to..”, and the score. I forgot to mention the eclectic score, which varies between typical anime synth pop, to jazz, to traditional Japanese influences. It’s subtle and well placed music that always fits the mood on screen.
Subtitle are English only and include the opening and end themes.
Extras only include the two variations of the opening and closing themes without text. I liked how the opening changed to reflect Yura’s changing victim to instigator.
BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!
That moment when Rin told Yura they were alike in wanting to win at all costs. Thanks to Sonora’s mishandling of Yura earlier and her current absence, the move to another role model was inevitable.
Having a talent and wanting to realize one’s full potential is a good thing. But when messages are misunderstood, sensitive souls take things much harder and over compensate in an effort to make up for their failures. Driving herself to physical ruin was Yura simply trying to gain approval while finding her place, not seeking attention and ego stroking like Rin believed. It is devastating to be accused of that kind of arrogance when that is simply impossible for you to do.
The reconciliation between Sonora and Rin being brought about by their screwing up in handling Yura was a nice touch. Yura wasn’t the only one being handed some hard lessons.
Oh that fantasy power of Yura’s. Apparently only daydreaming, the fourth episode saw Rento accidentally running into the spirit world where Chojiro had pulled Yura, hinting that the girl really had supernatural powers. Not until episode eleven did the concept return and it was fundamental to the resolution.
Alone and despairing that there is no place for her anywhere in the world, Yura finds a trail of BBs leading her up the shrine steps. There Chojiro waits for her, being both the local deity and the spirit of the Skorpion pistol (how Japanese is that concept!) that once was owned by Sonora’s master. There she finally saves him from his endless battle after he makes her face herself and embrace the entire world as hers.
More than that, she can control the ability and bring others into her fantasy, which she does with C3 in the finale. Truly a sublime moment seeing the shocked team coming to grips with reality altering around them. Not just a gimmick, the fantasy power is a metaphor for taking control of one's life and sharing it with others.
Sonora may be gone to never return, but the club continues. Still needing members, the story comes full circle when Yura passes by the two girls she failed to talk to when first arriving at the academy. Overhearing their conversation about how their expectations of a new life in high school had been dashed, she stops, steels her courage, then runs back to them. After inviting them to the club, she smiles with her entire being for the last shot.
Since the two girls were only seen once in silhouette, I had to compare episodes to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was and not being pulled into a fantasy too. Sure enough, it was and Yura had gained a second chance with them as well as her friends.
Friendship conquering all in manga and anime has turned into a really worn out trope. While friendships helped save her, especially that of Rento, in the end Yura had to take charge of her life and truly be herself rather than what she thought others wanted her to be. Again, a surprising turn in the story that made me really like it.
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