SEMI-SPOILERS HERE

This covers 3 stories.

1. Seikai no Monshou¹
2. Seikai no Senki I²
3. Seikai no Senki II

Seikai no Monshou

This is where the whole story is first esablished. If you miss this series then you’re prolly gonna have a headache putting the pieces together in the others that follow (though I think it’s still possible as there are flashbacks of some sort)

There are a lot of characters here like in Infinite Ryvius – but I think it would be ok to just concentrate on the 2 main protagonsists since SNM does not suffer from the lack of (or volatile) character focus as Ryvius did.

The story takes place in the future (or probably different universes altogether to make explaining simpler) where there is a strict social system among the galaxies where different races have their alliances and enemies etc. etc. I dare not go into details because it’s complicated and will spoil the story and besides, I don’t remember the details.

There is a lot of government stuff going on. A whole lot of politics and your share of violence. Still, it’s a very… how should i say… normal setting, in terms of negotiations to deter or avoid war, etc. etc. get the picture? just imagine politics of the world today applied intergalactically… that should do it.

Story starts with a boy who’s suddenly included into nobility (yes as in royalty that meant something and not just fancy puppet titles) as a condition of his father surrendering the planet, which the latter governs, to the Abh empire.

Now the Abh are really not popular as they are seen as cold hearted conquerors who just want to dominate the worlds. This is partly true, but they have different motives which I will not say.

Anyways, since he is now Abh royalty (an Earl) he will have to be educated in the ways of the Abh in the academy. The story kicks off when he meets his escort (who is also Abh royalty). So here they are in a ship which suddenly is attacked and they escape and end up hopping from one place to another, all which aren’t Abh territory – talk about being “behind enemy lines.” That’s basically it. along the way, there’s enough conflict, politics and revelation of the nuances of the Abh race. And of course the development of a relationship with his Abh escort.

I would really recommend this as I did Ryvius but not because of the lessons to be learned (I don’t think there are any), but the sheer detail of politics and the world created is similar to how Tolkein created middle earth (but of course this is a far cry from the latter), there’s a lot of detail in culture and politics (mainly of the Abh race) which are all interesting.

The animation is excellent! I love the soundtrack – very grandiose and full of feeling. It really suited the mood of everything.

Seikai no Senki I

A continuation of Monshou I guess, our two protagonists meet again but now they are in charge of their own space battleship. I guess this is where you really get to experience how Abhs… er… kill time. Seriously The Abhs consider space as their home. As they are all genetically constructed for space (makes you wonder why the docs didn’t make them breathe in the vacuum of space). I think the plot here is about war (Abh style) So there’s not much to say but spoilers. So just watch it.

Again the animation is excellent. The soundtrack is still the same as the first giving it a good gel with all the seasons as a whole.

Seikai no Senki II

This was a little disappointing. Though it was the same interesting characters, same politics, etc. etc.., it think the setting was lousy. The Earl is held hostage in a prison after a failed talk or negotiation. And what happens when you put your Abh girl to deal with that situation? Then the conflict ensues. As stated before Abhs are cold blooded… well more of very practical and logical but the thing is, our girl is special (as are all protagonists) since she has a special relationship (which is never resolved) with our guy so she is torn between acting like an Abh or not, which is a big deal to their race mind you. That’s prolly the only interesting part.

I watched the last one first. which is why I kinda dug it cuz of the lack of info (and thus the mystery). But if you watched it in the right order, I’m sure it’s the worst of the lot. But that’s not to say it was dreadful.

The animation here is rather different, little nuances that stray from the original art style but not that big a deal, though they look much better in the previous seasons.