What's It About?

In a world set in the future, children hold the authority to determine who may become parents. Having children is illegal―unless a couple first passes a strict examination, conducted by a child, that certifies them as capable providers. It is a veritable utopia with no child abuse…or at least, so it may seem. Hikari is one such examiner in this system, spending his days evaluating prospective parents. But one day, he comes across a couple that isn't quite like the others…

Stardust Family has art and story by Aki Poroyama. English translation is done by David Quina and lettering by Rachel J. Pierce. Published by Yen Press (May 27, 2025). Rated 13+.

CONTENT WARNING: Elements of child abuse, neglect, and implied sexual assault of a child

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Is It Worth Reading?

MrAJCosplay
Rating:

Being a parent is hard, and many societies judge you solely based on how well you perform your role. As someone who doesn't want any kids, I often felt like an outsider looking in at certain points, since the society I live in currently prides itself on a family's ability to raise and nurture children. What happens if we read a story that elevates that status to a logical extreme? What happens when a society judges you on how badly you desire kids and how well you can raise them?

These questions lie at the heart of this story, which ended up being one of the best things I read for this manga guide. It's a subtle sci-fi dystopian story told from the perspective of a found family. The story is told from the perspective of a young boy whose job is to act as a stand-in child for families to determine whether they deserve to have children. There's a lot of subtle foreshadowing about what it means to be a parent, the role that a child is supposed to have in a family, how society judges you based on your parents' actions, and what exactly it means to feel emotions for another human being. The first half of the book focuses on a specific couple who are an oddity in this society, while the second half focuses on our main character, who has his own baggage associated with his particular job.

There are moments in this book that are heart-wrenching, and even some of the subtler things shown in the background via the art direction left me feeling sick to my stomach. You see the characters go through various hardships in the story, and it makes you root for everyone to have their happy ending. While the ending itself feels a little bit convenient and probably could've used an extra chapter to flesh everything out fully, it did feel earned. There was a strong narrative conclusion that brought everything full circle, and I enjoyed the characters enough to want to see them reach that logical conclusion.

Maybe the story will make you think about what it means to be a parent, or perhaps it will help you reflect on what it was like to be a kid growing up in a tough family situation. This isn't the type of story you can pick up and read at any time. You need to be in a certain state of mind to absorb everything. But when you're ready, you'll be in for a very emotionally resonant story.

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Dee
Rating:

I had a very different experience reading Stardust Family than I did thinking about it afterwards. The well-crafted art, confident storytelling, and especially the focus on the characters' quiet tragedies and growing connections made it easy to get swept along. Even the late-game introduction of interstellar elements only gave me a brief pause. (Without giving too much away, that “stardust” in the title ain't just for show.)

It's a fast-paced read, and it certainly succeeded in getting me to care about its cast and root for their happiness. The playfully combative back-and-forth between Hikari and Daiki is a particularly strong point, creating a fond, imperfect familial bond that feels more sincere than if their relationships were all soft edges. Stardust Family is a strong character drama that sparked my interest in reading more of Poroyama's work.

But then I had to step away and think about its Big Ideas, because this is also a social sci-fi that wants to say something. I'm not sure it always knows what that “something” is.

At its most cohesive,Stardust Family is about who society deems “deserving” of personhood, and it handles that thread with a fair amount of success. It also works effectively as a smaller-scale social critique, discussing the pressures to have kids and the way communities judge someone's value based on their parents' (mis)deeds.

Where it struggles is handling its broader concepts. This is a eugenics-based society, where caregiver licenses determine who can raise children. Initially, it seems like the licenses are solely about preventing child abuse, but the narrative drops casually horrifying crumbs, such as the “academic” portion of the caregiver test, that suggest a much more discriminatory process.

Additionally, people with caregiver licenses aren't required to raise kids, but people without licenses are regarded as sub-human, ostracized by society, and often denied housing and jobs. So, the inspections tend to be more about who can lavish fake affection on an inspector for two weeks rather than the actual hard work of parenting. And that's not even getting into the mere existence of the child inspectors, who are purposefully placed in homes where they may be subjected to abuse.

It's compelling stuff! Too bad it mostly takes place in the story's margins. As much as I sympathized with our main couple, their conflict does little to challenge the caregiver system as a whole. The third act also drops most of the thematic threads in favor of a more, er, astronomical tale that drains much of the real-world resonance. All of which builds to an ending that's both beautifully bittersweet and also a bit of a copout.

I'd rather a story swing big and sometimes whiff than not try at all, so I'm not going to knock Stardust Family too hard for its attempts here. I think its heart is in the right place in terms of its thoughts on families and personal agency. It just bit off a few more ideas than it could chew.

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.