History Literature / CrestOfTheStars

One of the most interesting conceits of the franchise is that, in basically ''any'' other kind of space opera, the imperialistic, militaristic Abh would be the ''unquestionable'' villains; and, indeed, at times when the bigger picture is put on prominent display it can be a bit uncomfortable to realize just what Jinto and Lafiel are a part of. In the latter ''Banner'' series, even the residents of Jinto's home planet [[WhatTheHellHero want to know just why the hell he's loyal to the all-conquering Abh at all]]. A large part of the point of the show is a refusal to fall into easy stereotypes, however, and no side of the great conflict is black-and-white pantomime evil.

* ApatheticCitizens: presented in Clasbull population, who at first take occupation as some kind of mild annoyance, being used to Imperial treatment. Seems to be common among Imperial worlds, as the Empire does not bother to inspire patriotic feelings even in those with Imperial citizenship.

''Crest of the Stars'' follows the story of the two protagonists - ''Jinto'' (''Jint'' in modern adaptations) and ''Lafiel'' (''Lafier''), as they get themselves involved in a war between two galactic superpowers - Abh Empire and the United Humankind. Jinto Linn is a young boy living on the planet Martine when one day his planet is visited by a massive fleet of the Humankind Empire of Abh. The Abh announce that they are annexing the system and demand the planet's immediate and unconditional surrender. After anxious deliberation Martine's president Rock Linn, Jinto's father, surrenders the planet without firing a shot. In exchange for their surrender Rock Linn is accepted into Abh society as a noble and his son is sent off to an Abh integration academy to learn the ways of the Abh.

Additionally, there are two runs of ''Crest'' manga - three one-volume mangas by Toshihiro Ono (first two) and Wasoh Miyakoshi, released in English by Tokyopop as ''Seikai Trilogy'', adapting ''Crest'', ''Banner I'' and ''Banner II'', and an eight-volume long-runner by Yonemura Koichirou adapting ''Crest'' over 2012 - 2021 (via [=FlexComix=]). Tokyopop-translated manga is linled to 1999 Sunrise anime and shares designs and overall approach to narrative (unsurprising, given that in ''Crest'' case they share a writer, Aya Yoshinaga), though English release is more careful with maintaining the original baronh terms, providing a glossary at the end, and Koichirou going after entirely different, over-the top detailed, art style, and is not officially localized.

* EagleLand: United Mankind are a deliberately unflattering invocation of Type II drawn from World War II propaganda, arrogantly and judgmentally looking down their noses at other cultures and demanding they assimilate into a democratic means of government and banning certain cultural practices arbitrarily, while dehumanizing their Imperial enemies with racist propaganda about Abh inhumanity and occasionally indulging in the odd war crime based on the fact their Abh enemies [[JustAMachine are bioroids rather than people]].

* EagleLand: The Alliance are a deliberately unflattering invocation of Type II drawn from World War II propaganda, arrogantly and judgmentally looking down their noses at other cultures and demanding they assimilate into a democratic means of government and banning certain cultural practices arbitrarily, while dehumanizing their Imperial enemies with racist propaganda about Abh inhumanity.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Spoor's first bored appearance is carefully carried through the entore series. Bebaus' nonstop bickering is also established from their first appearance.

%%* {{Bishonen}}: Every Abh male.

** Although neither side can truly be said to represent classical 'good' or 'evil' achetypes, it's somewhat difficult to see The Alliance as anything but the bad guys once you understand their stated goal is either the eradication or re-enslavement of the Abh as a species. As The Alliance have publicly claimed the Abh to be 'rogue biological machines,' this doesn't count as an act of genocide or slavery in their eyes, merely the removal of a threat to human civilization. Still, it's up for debate on how much of The Alliance actually believe that and how many are using it as an excuse to seize Abh resources/territory/etc...

''Crest of the Stars'' (aka ''Seikai no Monshou'') is a novel written by Hiroyuki Morioka as a prologue to his later ''Banner of the Stars'' (''Seikai no Senki'') series. It was later adapted into a twelve episode anime by Creator/{{Sunrise}} in 1999. Anime adaptions of the first three ''Banner of the Stars'' novels (also by Sunrise) have followed and a prologue to ''Crest of the Stars'' was produced titled ''Passage of the Stars – Birth'' (''Seikai no Danshou - Tanjo''), based on a short story later included in his ''Seikai no Danshou'' collections.

* TheBridge: Crest Of The Stars partially goes for the standard aversion, making the bridges of its ships cramped and flight deck like... but only for the lighter units. Capital ships feature standard elevated platforms for the captain (with enough room to swing the ceremonial sword-slash-screen controller), loads of [[BridgeBunny Bridge Bunnies]] etc. Although both the capital ships and the lighter elements have their bridges in the heart of the ship and not exposed. this comes as a major plot point in one series when [[spoiler: Lamhirh's friend and mentor dies in a doomed destroyer's bridge]].

* InstrumentalThemeTune: Crest Of The Stars and its sequels use a brass-heavy symphonic theme.

The novels were translated by Tokyopop (2006-2007) and J-Novel Club (2019-2022), with the latter including all main novels in the series (''Crest'' I-III and ''Banner'' I - VI) with certain differences in approach to translation and overall tone of adaptation.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: Antimatter is what allows for interstellar travel.

Finally, there is a Japan-only [=PlayStation=] videogame released in the year 2000, set around the events of ''Banner I'', which combines tactical ship-to-ship combat and a visual novel. It has a 2003 Windows sequel based on ''Banner''.