Stardust Telepath is the story of a girl with social anxiety, a slight speech impediment, and a fierce love of space and rockets. Her life begins to change for the better when she meets Yu Akeuchi, a transfer student and self-proclaimed alien with telepathic abilities. Sounds fun, right? But sadly, we’ve come to the end of this anime.
The show didn’t go in the direction I was hoping for and expecting. Maybe there will be a second season, especially since so much potential drama and character development was left untouched. Nevertheless, Stardust Telepath is still an enjoyable anime, especially if you like a little bit of shoujo ai (Girl’s Love).
I’ll try to write a series review as soon as possible. In the meantime, here are my responses to the last three episodes of the anime.
Episode 10: Crybaby Restart
This episode showed us the personal progress that Umika has accomplished so far. She can speak much more than before with less of a stutter. Additionally, she’s much stronger emotionally, having experienced failure at a major competition into which she put her whole heart. But as for my thoughts on this episode, I’m more interested in Haruno and Matataki than Umika. So let’s talk about Haruno.
This girl with a nun-like aesthetic struck me at first as a shallower character compared to the main two girls. As far as I can tell, this was intentional. Haruno is constantly masking her feelings, going along with everything, and trying way too hard to be okay with everything. As Matataki pointed out, it’s like she doesn’t want to commit to loving anything. She’d rather be cheerful but ultimately casual – uninvested in experiences or hobbies. This episode showed us why Haruno thinks in such a way.
During an important part of childhood, she and another girl her age learned and practiced piano together. They seemed close. The other girl had a dream of becoming a great pianist, but she gave it up after seeing that Haruno was better at it than her. Haruno, who loved the experience of practicing more than any kind of success, was left alone. She felt extremely guilty, as if she had destroyed her best friend’s dream. Haruno was now disillusioned and disinterested in the very idea of dreams.
Haruno’s kindly old grandfather comforted her. He told her that if she didn’t want any dreams of her own, perhaps she could become the kind of person who encourages and helps along the dreams of others. Though Haruno found this inspiring, she never felt as if she accomplished it. In order to help someone live a dream, you must share in the dream to some extent, and she was always too afraid to commit.
The visuals in this episode suggest that the long ribbon around Haruno’s neck symbolizes her past hurt and her reluctance to truly love or enjoy anything. But now, thanks to the friendship of Umika and Yu, Haruno is becoming more honest. The ribbon is fading off her neck, letting her be free. She admits that she truly wants to be involved in the rocket club, win contests, and share in Umika’s inspiring dream.
With the courage she got from her two friends, Haruno goes to confront Matataki. The stubborn mechanic had stopped coming to school and quit the rocket research club. In response to Matataki’s harsh words, Haruno got angry – and rightfully so. She stormed away after telling Matataki that she hates seeing her be a loser. I’m not sure why Mataki is so hopeless. She’s clearly incredibly down on herself. Lashing out at Haruno was just a symptom of her self-loathing. I guess we’ll find out more in the next episode.
Episode 11: Rematching Seaside
In order to get Raimon back, Umika decides to challenge her to another rocket contest. But first, she contacts Kei, the champion of the rocket tournament. Kei and the two other girls in her club invite Umika, Yu, and Haruno to come visit their school after class. With their superior experience, Kei and her friends can be mentors for Umika. Even one day with Kei’s group was a great learning experience. Umika’s rocket skills improved.
Matataki accepted the challenge from Umika, but her attitude was still awful. Then, after two weeks of practicing and experimenting, Umika and company went to the seaside to start the contest. They decided to judge the winner based on altitude. Umika’s rocket won by a large margin. Matataki said that’s proof that she isn’t needed. This angers Haruno, especially after confirming that Matataki used a weaker engine on purpose.
Just when it looks like a fight might start, Umika embraces Matataki. She tearfully apologizes for not realizing before how badly Matataki wanted to fit in. Just like Umika herself, Matataki wanted a place to belong. That’s why losing was so painful. Umika was under the impression that Matataki was super tough, letting nothing affect her. In reality, however, she is a very emotional person who can’t stand losing.
With help from Haruno and Yu, Umika breaks through Matataki’s cold defenses. Eventually, the stubborn mechanic apologizes for her harshness and says she wants to make rockets with everyone again. This is all well and good, but I don’t exactly understand why Matataki is so deeply obstinate and bitter. There was something of an explanation, but it didn’t feel like enough to justify the level of Matataki’s aloof behavior.
The narrative suggested she has a history of ruining relationships with harsh, impulsive words. Since nobody gave her a second chance after these incidences, Matataki stopped trying to form relationships. She pretended not to care anymore. She became afraid of getting close to others, since they were all going to leave her anyway. I mean, that makes sense to me because I have a history with Borderline Personality Disorder. But it still seemed like a really vague reason for why Matataki has these fears and flaws.
Regardless, it was great to see Matataki rejoin the team. With that, only one episode remains in Stardust Telepath.
Episode 12: Stardust Telepath
The last episode of Stardust Telepath was a bit of a drag, to be honest. Nothing in this episode felt essential to the continued journeys of the characters. Then again, I could just be bitter because the show didn’t go in the direction I wanted it to. Even though there was only episode left, I kept hoping it would focus on what I wanted, which was to hear the truth about Yu Akeuchi and where she came from. But this topic was never touched even tangentially.
Putting aside my disappointment for now, let’s run through what actually happened in this episode. Umika got sick with a cold. Her fever was very high for a while. Haruno, Yu, and Matataki came to visit Umika and met her cute little sister, Honami. When Yu came into Umika’s room to change the cooling pad on her head, Umika was having some kind of fever-dream. In that state, she reached out to Akeuchi and whispered in her ear something along the lines of, “I want your forehead telepathy … for me only.”
Although this would have made any normal person start laughing, it was extremely disconcerting for Yu, who clearly “likes” Umika. The way she said it was very sexual, resulting in Yu’s continued awkwardness and embarrassment even after Umika got well. Eventually, Umika realized something was off, so she spoke with Yu alone at the lighthouse. There, the two girls shared their feelings, touched their heads together, and resolved any awkwardness. Under the night sky, they once again vowed to go to space.
I’m bummed out about the wasted opportunity for a truly emotional ending episode. It would have been super dramatic and cool if Umika discovered that Yu is just a runaway and not an alien. Then they would have to repair their relationship and deal with whatever family issues Yu is running from.
Despite feeling very let-down by this anime, I still liked it overall. So, let’s end on a positive note. Stardust Telepath was a fun little drama about some weird girls who make rockets. It was mostly cute and wholesome, so I’m glad I watched it! Thank you for reading my work today.
~Yonde kurete arigatou gozaimasu~
Anime Rants 