A Star Brighter Than the Sun – Episode 1

What’s it about? Sae and Koki are childhood friends, and for their entire lives, that’s been okay. That is until Sae realizes that Koki has grown up, and so have her feelings toward him. But she’s not the only girl who likes him, leading to her having to figure out her own place in Koki’s irresistible orbit.

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Episode 1 starts off simply: Sae is a tall girl who, very literally, stands heads and shoulders above her middle school classmates. It sets her apart in a time where body consciousness is at its peak—and when her crush is starting to develop and grow, too.

Enter Koki, an equally tall boy that has been Sae’s lifelong childhood friend, but has gained popularity as Kamishiro. This split has forced Sae to realize that her feelings for her friend have shifted on top of her body growing taller and broader. Capable, cute, but relatably awkward, Sae orbits Koki, aching for the closeness they once had before middle school entered the equation.

What culminates is an opening that offers up a peek into the love story to come: tall girl and tall boy finding their tempo together again as they align like the planets while coming to understand her body and heart at the same time. 

I watched this dubbed and genuinely enjoyed it as I do 99.99% of all dubs; though as always, Amazon, a company worth nearly 2.4 trillion USD, completely bungled the subtitles, demonstrating an ongoing lack of care about accessibility on all levels. At times, they’re similar enough but mostly, they’re completely different from the ADR script–and that’s because they’re not captions at all, but the Japanese audio subtitles being slapped onto the English audio. I don’t blame this on the subtitlers who probably get scraps for payment: the trillion dollar company is absolutely on the hook for me. I’m all about that class consciousness and that means, as a former J-E freelancer who never made more than about $0.08/word, being aware of the circumstances surrounding translation.

Then again, I expect very little from Amazon: it’s why I basically only use them during premiere season and haven’t shopped from them since 2024 when I quit after they got rid of their DEI policy in America, and presumably, changed their global stance on anyone who isn’t rich and white.

Thankfully, A Star Brighter Than the Sun is charming enough to make up for Amazon’s abject lack of care around anime by offering up a sweet, everyday story about a tall girl and a tall boy whose friendship is slowly leaning toward blissfully complicated feelings as they grow up and try to orient themselves around one another and in their everyday lives. In many ways, this feels nostalgic, even though I didn’t date until college. In many ways, this is like a warm hug. I suppose it’s because of the solid execution in regard to introducing us to Sae and Koki, though I’ll also admit that this feels like the start and not necessarily a full-fledge premiere.

I say that because we leave with a lot of information and backstory, but there’s no inciting incident or progression. This is the prologue, not the opening act: I expect Episode 2 will actually move us into the story proper. Still, this is kind of premiere that offers up a reprieve: it’s clear A Star Brighter Than the Sun is willing to invest time in making me want to root for Sae and Koki, but also to root for the friends they’ll make along the way.

This is exactly my speed: a story about children coming into their own and figuring out who they are. Honey Lemon Soda demonstrated that this simple premise, when executed with intentionality, can reel anyone back into the joyful combination of a slice-of-life romance. 

While it’s early days yet, I really hope that this show grows into something bigger. Its premiere is satisfying as a sample of what’s to come: this is, ultimately, a straightforward romance about a girl dealing with her at-odds body paralleled against the love of a friend who’s still close, but has grown distant as their status in school changed. And while it’s clear to me that Koki likes Sae just as much as she likes him, there’s something enjoyable about witnessing the lead up to that moment of cohesion when crush becomes confirmed.

I’m easily along for the ride with this one: consider me a weekly watcher who is going to order in the manga at my day job. Truly, this premiere is a star that’s on par with the sun, shining bright in a season full of new series that might make viewers go supernova.