Stars Align is one of the best animes and I'll stand by that. From the start you're led to believe it's a soft styled sports anime about a boy's tennis team who is trying to get back up on its feet so the club doesn't get disbanded. You're led to believe this simple anime is nothing more than tennis but oh how incorrect you were. By the end of episode one you're practically being stabbing in the back with heavy topics and forced to continue watching by curiosity, by episode two is where you're truly hooked and somehow you end up binge watching it until early morning.

Moving aside from how well they hook the watchers, let's talk about the more drama side of this anime. Yes, there's drama and it's heavy. Now, in recent shows that are popular they tend to glamorize many heavy topics or do a terrible job in representing it. Obviously so has the media now adays, yet with this show it's different. Stars Align shows a more raw version of many topics and gives the watchers awareness of them. With it's wide variety of showing the after affects of kids who have been in abusive households to questioning kids about who they are and what they want to be; Stars Align shows many of these topics without glorifying it. They show the many emotions and circumstances kids can go through without sugarcoating anything giving you the full detail on their thoughts.

Stars Align doesn't queerbait or give fa nservice either. The thing with anime that you can't get around is the obvious fan service. Seeing girls with obvious big boobs and big butts and moaning for no reason despite them being underage is something every anime watcher has seen. With Stars Align the setting is in middle school, so it includes underage kids or minors. I noticed the no fan service my second time watching it though and I'll be honest I was impressed. It's not everyday you see an anime that doesn't show off busty girls moaning. Not to mention making you extremely uncomfortable. Another thing anime and popular shows seem to do is queerbait. Star Align doesn't do this, nor does it fetishize the LGBTQ+. That being said there is LGBTQ+ representation! Which I was overjoyed about! There are trans characters, and a gay character. Something I see a lot of is that if there is a LGBTQ+ character they get 5 minutes of screen time and or unimportant to the story. That or their only personality is being LGBTQ+. With Stars Align is doesn't do that. There are characters who are important or the main character's story and they hold so much more personality. It's pretty good representation in my opinion. They handled a scene where a character was questioning their gender and was supported by the main character after feeling discouraged about their questioning. We also later see the hardships they, and many LGBTQ+ kids in real life, have to go through.

Stars Align also has different sizes. By this I mean with one of the female characters. I got way too overly excited seeing it the first episode she was show. There is a female plus size character. Usually with plus sized characters I see a lot of them are made fun of, always eating, overly exaggerated double chin or looks gross, etc. Yet one of the characters, Kinuyo Kasuga, is important to the plot of the show. She is a girl who holds a lot power too. She's one of my favorite characters, and they give her personality unlike other plus size characters are like in anime.

Along with going on personality, the show gives us a very diverse group of personalities. Nobody is the same and nobody is bland. This show really is the saying, "Everyone has their own problems." They give each person in the team a chance to shine which I find truly amazing because not many animes do this. They don't explain everyone's story making you miss out on the possibilities or story to your favorite side characters.