Seikai Trilogy, The Volume 3: Banner Of The Stars II: Banner of the Stars II v. 3 [Paperback]

I'll admit it, I was waiting for this Magna to come out. I first found this series about 2 months ago, I saw the cover and though it looked good. Since then I've bought Banner of the Stars I as well as the complete first season of Crest of the Stars on DVD.

Well now this wonderful Magna is out, it carries on the story of Lafiel and Jinto and their "adventures" as Abh Terratorial Ambassadors. The story overall is very well written. t does deeper into the unique relationship between the 2 main characters. There was some minor profanity in the book, which did catch my eye as the previous magna didn't have any (unless you consider Mud-Turtles as profanity).

The biggest difference in this novel is the artwork. It seems the previous artists wereunavaliabe for this book and it shows. Some examples of differences was the fact that the hair of the characters was more drawn out, the artist went through great lengths to show off detailed "wiffs" of hair, while this is appreciated it does differ from the shaded "blotches" of hair from the previous 2 books where it was ust an outline of hair and was shaded in. The eyes and lips were far more defined, but at times I thought "too" defined. But art aside, the book looks greatand the story is solid.

Speaking of the story here were, at least im my opinion, 2 huge story gaps.

***Spoiler Alert***

First is the relationship between Eureka and Jinto, I had hoped to see moe into this but just like the preious magna was denied. :(

The second is the month long gap that Jinto was down on the surface on the planet. Just what happened down here, frst we see him in his uniform looking at the Abh transport fly off, and the next it saids 1 month later and he's in a cave half starved. I mean what happened!!! What happened to Lafiel? Did she try to rescue him? What abour Spoor, what happened to her? Geeze louiose, one would think to explain these things.

This I hope will be covered when the novels are (hopefuelly) translated into english. These are the stories and sub-plots that I would very much like explained.

Overall I enjoyed this story, and I am crossing my fingers that this Magna contunies beyond the "Trilogy". I admit it, I'm hooked, and I need my fix of this great Magna/Anime.

Having seen the animation version of this story first, I was eager to see the manga version of it, to see if it was as good as the anime version. It sure was!
The artwork in this Volume 3 (or Part 3) manga book (about 192 pages each volume,or so) varies a lot from the manga-style set in the first two volumes. But it's well-drawn, and tells a great story.

The Adventures of Jinto and Lafiel continue, and wrap up in this Volume 3 book. Jinto has to represent the Abh Empire during the acquistion of a planet, that they find is actually a politcial penal colony. About 100,000 prisoners are on a large island (size like Hawaii). The Abh Empire abolishes the political dissidents' sentences, and the women prisoners (20,000 of them) ask to be transported back to their home planets or anywhere away from the men. The newly-freed male prisoners won't settle for a planet without women, and move to stop the Abh Fleet from giving the newly-freed females an evacuation lift, off-world. Jinto, Lafiel, and their Abh ships are caught in the middle of this civil war between the citizens. It's a great story, whether as a manga or as anime. Don't miss it!