Little girls and the women who pilot them.
Twelve years ago, a mysterious cataclysm befell the nation of Rimguard. Nobody knows what or how it happened, except that it revolved around mysterious weapons known as "Regalia," and that whatever happened, every last person in Rimguard disappeared without a trace.
In the present day, the young Empress Yuinshiel Asteria (Yui to her friends) rules the peaceful Enastoria Empire. Kind, optimistic and hardworking, Yui is loved by her people, and especially by her sister Rena. However, their peaceful life is shattered when Yui witnesses Rena transforming into a giant robot calling itself the Regalia Magna Alecto, and to protect her Yui becomes Rena's pilot. Now Yui and Rena must fight off a mysterious organization of robot pilots trying to use Rena for their own ends, but can Yui protect both her nation and the person that she loves the most?
Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars is an original Super Robot anime produced by Actas and directed by Susumu Tosaka, who also directed the second season of Infinite Stratos. It is currently licensed by Funimation and can be watched on their site.
This show provides exmples of:
- Actually a Doombot: Johann is seemingly defeated in episode 8, only for him to turn out to have several clones.
- Aerith and Bob: Lots of perfectly reasonable Japanese and Western European names... and Yuinshiel Asteria.
- Animation Bump: Very good animation in the fight scenes. Less so during the rest of it.
- Artificial Human: As he dies, Johann states that he was created by someone.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Magna Alecto conspicuously fights with punches and kicks, while everyone else has some sort of weapon.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Yui is a Nice Girl, but she is willing to kill to protect her family and/or her country.
- Big Bad: Everything that has happened in the series can be traced back to Johann, as shown in Episode 8.
- Big Eater: Sara and Tia are shown eating several bowls at Retsu's restaurant. They also apparently tried running out on that same order, leading to them having to do some "forced labor" for her during the festival.
- Big Little Sister: Rena is older than her sister Yui, but looks a decade younger than her little sister.
- Chick Magnet: Yui. Aside from her relationship with Rena, Aoi and Retsu have shown interest in her as well.
- Combining Mecha: In episode 13, Ruks allows the three Regalia to combine
- Dark Is Not Evil: Magna Alecto certainly looks sinister, with Rena's transformation showing it emerging from a chained mass of darkness and its red and black color scheme. Rena is nothing but kind and loving, though, if a bit stoic.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Ingrid and Abel are creeped out by Johann's sadistic behavior, even if they're working with him to capture Rena.
- Faux Affably Evil: Johann and Johnny are polite and jovial towards others, but they're so creepy about it that they end up being Obviously Evil as well. In episode 12, Johann eventually drops the act and starts acting like a Royal Brat.
- First-Episode Twist: Rena is an immortal being capable of summoning/becoming a Humongous Mecha and Yui is the empress.
- Gasp!: Yui's cabinet is very surprised by Rena's declaration that she was once called a Regalia.
- Genki Girl: Both Sara and Tia.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Zigzagged. Yui accuses Johann of being jealous of humanity's ability to form bonds. He denies it, but at the same time, he claims Yui "has everything." As he dies, he finally lets go of his hatred and accepts Yui's sympathy.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Yui, of course.
- Heroic Willpower: Sara and Tia's sister, Noa, is initially mind-controlled by Johann to pilot one of his oversized mechas, but she eventually breaks free and uses the mecha to fight against him.
- Hope Spot: After Johann is defeated in Episode 8, he turns out to still be alive in the next episode and kidnaps the Regalia and pilots except for Yui.
- Humongous Mecha: Both Rena and Tia are Regalia, young-looking girls who transform into robots, and Regalia Gear, non-sentient robots who have human pilots fused with them. Johann has even bigger ones on his side, including one that's piloted by Sara and Tia's sister.
- Instant Runes: Magic circles show up when Regalia or Regalia Gear are being summoned.
- Invocation: Rena does this a lot. It's not clear if it's actually necessary, given that she was able to transform fine without it the second time.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Johann inflicts it on the whole world in Episode 10, causing everyone to forget about Yui and Rena.
- Magicians Are Wizards: Johnny Mabett has a stage magician theme and appears to be capable of teleportation even outside his Regalia Gear (inside it...).
- Me's a Crowd: Johann is revealed to have multiple clones of himself.
- Meta Mecha: In episode 12, the heroines fight a gigantic face mecha, which is piloted by a humanoid mecha, which is piloted by Johann.
- Modest Royalty: Yui lives like a normal person.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: After Kei is finally awakened, Yui, Rena, Sara, Tia, Ingrid, and Kei waste no time in beating down Johann.
- Not Blood Siblings: Yui and Rena aren't related.
- Older Than They Look: Regalia and their pilots don't seem to age. Rena is bit older than Yui, but looks a decade younger.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Magna Alecto's eyes turning red means it's gone berserk, which is bad for everyone involved.
- Red Is Heroic: The main characters are/pilot a red mecha.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Yui strives to be this, and is both the empress and the pilot of a giant robot.
- Scarf of Asskicking: On Magna Alecto. Unlike the cape, it sticks around
- Scary Black Man: The unnamed pilot of the Regalia Gear in the first episode.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Johann. Other than a few chuckles and Slasher Smiles here and there, he barely raises his voice in spite of his cruelty. In his Villainous Breakdown, he talks with soft rage in his final attempt to kill Yui.
- Slasher Smile: Common on villains.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: Yui shows some signs of this, despite trying her best to avert it. For example, she didn't realize that telling a shady reporter her three sizes (on live television!) may not have been the best idea.
- Stealth Mentor: Doubles with Sink or Swim Mentor. Abel challenged Yui and Rena in order to make them "bound" to each other, which would allow them to awaken Kei.
- Super Robot: The laws of physics have nothing to do with what's going on.
- Sympathy for the Devil:
- Yui thinks Johann is trying to steal everyone's souls because he knows no other way to make "friends" and escape from loneliness. Not that it stops her from giving him a much-deserved beatdown.
- Ruks gives him Yui's ring and comforts him as he dies.
- Tears of Blood: The eyes on the... chain-thingy that appears when Magna Alecto goes berserk do this. It's all kind of trippy and more than a bit creepy.
- Teleport Spam: Abel's main tactic, though it's ambiguous if he's actually using Flash Step.
- Tranquil Fury: Johann, in his Villainous Breakdown.
- Universally Beloved Leader: The people of Enastoria adore Yui, as seen in Episode 3.
- Villainous Breakdown: Johann starts losing it against Yui and Rena in Episode 12. Even more so in Episode 13 when Ruks gives them her power.
- Yuri: While notionally subtext, it becomes difficult to argue that Yui and Rena's relationship is platonic within the first episode— They go on a date, have matching rings, and there's even a declaration of love.
