Spotlight On: Starship Operators

This is the first of my ‘Spotlight On’ posts, in which I will give special attention to series I consider especially good. In this case, the series is the massively under-acclaimed Starship Operators, which is one of my top favourite animes.

The Amaterasu: one formidable warship.

Like all my favourite animes, Starship Operators (SSO) is what can be considered a flawed masterpiece. It’s not quite perfect, and in fact some of its flaws are pretty significant (like the super clunky first episode), but somehow it still manages to be great, at least in my eyes.

Before the Storm: Left in the dark by their superiors,
the cadets hold a discussion in the Amaterasu's mess hall...

The plot of Starship Operators is as follows: The 72nd Class of Cadets from Planet Kibi’s Defence University are on a pre-graduation practicum aboard the new, state of the art battleship Amaterasu. Shortly before they’re due to return, they get news that their home planet was attacked by an expansionist power (the Henrietta Alliance of Planetary Nations, derogatorily know as ‘The Kingdom’), and that their government has probably capitulated. While they’re kept largely out of the loop, the cadets deduce from what’s going on around them that the Amaterasu has been ordered to stand down. One of the more hot-blooded cadets is unhappy about this and wants to commandeer the Amaterasu, but is shot down due to the fact that the Amaterasu can’t fight for long without resupply. This doesn’t mean leveller heads have prevailed however. See, when the Kingdom conquers a planet, they cancel all contracts for military hardware, thus the Amaterasu’s ownership will revert back to its manufacturer, AGI. The intent of such a policy is to allow the Kingdom to expand its military by buying hardware at firesale prices, but technically, anyone can buy the Amaterasu –including the cadets. They just need the funds to do so. Thus, in order to buy the Amaterasu and the supplies that will be needed to maintain it, the cadets make a deal with a TV network called the Galaxy Network: they get the funds they need, and in exchange the Galaxy Network gets exclusive rights to the action.

This deadly Stealth Ship is one of the many threats the cadets
must determine how to counter in the course of the series...

At this point I’d like to take a moment to point out the fact that Starship Operators is not, for the most part, a comedy show. It has its occasional humorous moments, but for the most part it’s a very serious show, with a significant amount of politics and a heavy emphasis on tactics. Space battles in SSO are not ‘seat of your pants’ affairs, they involve strategizing and counter-strategizing. Oh, and as a note, the plan to buy the Amaterasu and use it in a rebellion is neither as simplistic nor as spontaneous as it may first appear to be…

This is only part of SSO's massive cast. This shot doesn't
even cover all the girls, never mind any of the guys...

Starship Operators has a very large cast, which is both a strength and a weakness of the show. Most of the characters are likeable, but are somewhat stereotypical, and while the series does a good job at using little things to drop hints about these characters… let’s face it, when you have fifteen plus characters and thirteen tightly focused episodes, some characters are going to be a bit neglected. Thankfully, the neglected group does not include Sinon Kouzuki, SSO’s series lead and one of the best things the show has going for it.

Sinon Kouzuki: Reluctant tactical genius.

Just as Starship Operators is not your typical, seat of your pants type of sci-fi action flick, Sinon isn’t your typical sci-fi heroine. Quietly reserved, but not emotionless (despite what some reviewers might have you believe), this intelligent beauty apparently joined the Defence University more for the opportunities it would provide then out of any desire to serve her planet in a war. Much more level-headed then most of her fellow cadets, she’s sceptical of her comrades’ plan to use the Amaterasu to fight the Kingdom, but gets caught up in the whirl of events and eventually finds her own cause to fight for: namely, keeping as many of her fellow cadets alive as possible, a goal she pursues with a combination of quiet determination and formidable intelligence. While she’s only the ship’s Deputy Captain (a position which seems to be somewhat akin to First Officer), it’s no exaggeration to say that the Amaterasu would have been blown to pieces several times over without her battle strategies.

Sinon's astronomer friend Miyuri. Who says cute and
geeky can't mix?
Thankfully, Cisca seems a little more competent later in
the series then he does in the first two episodes.

Other notable characters in SSO include Miyuri, Sinon’s cute, cheerful, and geeky best friend, Rio, the niece of the former Prime Minister the Amaterasu ends up taking aboard and a key player in the ship’s affairs, and Cisca, the cadet who is appointed as the Amaterasu’s Captain, and whom eventually proves to be a capable commander despite his initial tendency to crack under pressure (something that I feel was a little overdone early in the series). Interestingly enough, despite his higher rank, it actually seems like he’s part of a support network for Sinon rather then the other way around –his taking on the duties of Captain allows her to take on the ‘detached observer’ perspective she needs to properly analyse situations and formulate countermeasures.

A look at the inside of the Galaxy Network studio.

Of course, no description of Starship Operators would be complete without a discussion of its Reality TV aspect. This aspect of the show is more prominent during the first and last sets of episodes then it is during the middle set, but is present throughout the show, and plays a significant role, especially during Episode Three and the finale arc. This also means that the Galaxy Network characters –Dita Mirkob and Peter Spikes- have an important role to play in the show, and they prove to be more complex characters then their initial roles as ‘ditzy TV show host’ and ‘heartless bastard producer’ initially suggest. The reality TV aspect of the show also provides a significant amount of the show’s limited amount of humour, and is used to justify the rather unbalanced distribution of positions on the ship (most of the operators on the Amaterasu’s three bridges are attractive female cadets), though the fact that most of the characters seem to be competent at their assigned tasks suggests that the cadets did have some input.

The use of CGI for technical readouts leads to some slick visuals.

A fire control readout.

Production values in Starship Operators are somewhat inconsistent, (the animation often seems to be a little raw, and there's a few bits near the middle which look particularly bad) but when the series' visuals are their best, they work pretty well. Especially notable are the CGI technical displays on the Amaterasu’s bridge, which are very slick looking and look quite good when used as a background for the animated characters.

By Starship Operators standards, this is pretty fan-servicey.

Another commendable trait of Starship Operators is that it’s relatively low on fan service. Sure, the uniforms worn by the female cadets are tight fitting and include short skirts, but those tight fitting uniforms are about the only form of fan service the show has. There aren’t even any of the panty shots anime is infamous for, something I find quite noteworthy in a series that has a large number of girls wearing short skirts in low gravity environments (though I’ve got the impression that the SSO girls wear more then just panties under the skirts of their uniforms, a move which makes a heck of a lot of sense given the environment they work in).

The Amaterasu fires her main cannon.

Overall then, Starship Operators is an excellent show for those looking for good tactics and better then average realism (though people with solid scientific backgrounds can still shred this show without mercy if they wish to). It’s complex enough to take an active effort to follow, but can be quite rewarding for those who are willing to put that effort in. The first few episodes are rather weak, but once the show gets good, it get really good, and it’s concise thirteen episode length gives this show a tight focus that many others lack. Sure, it may have problems with things like it’s cast size, (hint: the character profiles on the DVD site aren’t great, but they’re useful until you get a grasp on who’s who) but overall, SSO is still a masterpiece, and deserves much more praise then it’s been given. Just make sure you watch it with subtitles, because the English dub really messes things up.

SSO's excellent finale episode wraps things up in a
manner that is well suited to this unique series.