The Fall Anime 2025 Preview Guide - A Star Brighter Than the Sun

Sae and Koki have been friends since childhood. One fateful day at the end of middle school, she has a revelation: Koki has grown up. Now they're in high school, and she has another revelation: she has feelings for Koki. But Sae isn't the only girl who does.

A Star Brighter Than the Sun is based on the manga series by Kazune Kawahara. The anime series is streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Thursdays.

Aside from literally the last minute, this premiere felt like I was watching a short film. I feel that it's very rare nowadays to get a premiere episode that tells its own story with a clear beginning, middle, and end, while also properly setting things up for an ongoing narrative that can last an entire season. This is a straightforward story about an insecure girl reconnecting with a first love, but now it feels like that love is far more out of reach than it initially seemed. The analogy that our protagonist, Sae Iwata, comes up with when comparing the object of her affection to something that has suddenly gained popularity proves true. Sometimes, we let the perceptions that other people have of something inflate our already high opinion of it to a point where it feels wrong to look at it in the same way. But when we're talking about romance, that gets even harder because the whole idea of pursuing somebody in a monogamous romantic way is that you want them all for yourself.

I like that Sae is a perfect blend of cute and capable. The premiere does an excellent job of getting us into her mindset. She's not passive to the point where people walk all over her, and her insecurities feel extremely real. I love how the directing and art style change to reflect her mindset properly. Literally every time she looks at Koki, he is glowing on screen. When she recounts their experiences as kids, everything is rendered in this pastel art style, and every time she feels neutral, she adopts a comedic, flat disposition. Everything, from the backstory to the rekindling of this friendship and the two leads' entrance into high school, felt like a solid three-act structure. If it wasn't for the fact that the episode is clearly setting up another romantic rival with that girl who fell down the stairs, then I genuinely think this would be a perfect first episode. It has everything I think I'm looking for so far in a well-presented, feel-good slice-of-life anime.

Not to malign the lovely and talented Kazune Kawahara, but A Star Brighter Than the Sun feels like Kimi ni Todoke with some factors shifted around. Instead of Sawako's unintentionally spooky atmosphere, Sae sticks out because she's tall and stocky. Kamishiro is as bright-tempered and sweet as Kazehaya, but he's broad-shouldered and blond instead of slight and dark-haired. In both cases, the protagonist has a hard time fitting in, let alone conceiving of the handsome, popular boy liking her.

By the end of the episode, I wanted to grab Sae by the shoulders and yell, “Girl! The boy is obviously smitten with you! Also, take pride in your athletic build!” However, middle schoolers are notoriously dense about these things, especially those who are self-conscious about not fitting in, so it's not a knock against the series; if anything, it's a point in its favor. As much as I wish we lived in a world where a tall, muscular 14-year-old girl was regarded the same as a tall, muscular 14-year-old boy, that's not how things are. Life in Japan can be especially difficult for those outside of a narrow body type, as I learned firsthand while living there with broad shoulders of my own. Moreover, it becomes apparent that the problems with Sae's build stem from societal expectations and her own attitude, and there are real advantages to being tall. Kamishiro is a total golden retriever of a boy, flaxen locks and fangs included, so it's easy for Sae to convince herself that he's just nice to everyone, even when his crush is so, so, so apparent to outside observers.

While this adaptation didn't seem to have much in the way of resources, smart direction by Sayaka Kobayashi makes up for it. This is Kobayashi's first time helming a series on her own, but she's long since proven herself as an episode director, including two of the most memorable Mayonaka Punch episodes and the renowned rap battle episode of Ya Boy Kongming! Here, she incorporates some clever artistic touches, such as presenting Sae's internal monologue as she watches her memories play out on a projector screen. After an exhausting run of artless shoujo adaptations, I'm overjoyed to have one that approaches the format with creativity.

This creativity made it much easier for me to sympathize with the characters and become absorbed in their emotions without my critic brain constantly harping on how bad it looked. When it comes to the awkward pangs of adolescence, A Star Brighter Than the Sun shines.