In many ways Star Driver could be called repetition: the anime. This ended up being my main gripe with the series. In approximately 22 of the 25 episodes there are fights. A majority of these begin with a song from one of the series 4 Shrine Maidens. Baddie of the week declares one on one combat against the main character. Main character summons his mecha they fight a bit MC uses one of his like 4 special attacks fights over. The summon/transformation sequence of the MC is reused for every single episode except the final one and his special attacks are all reused footage every single time theyre used. The baddies themselves arent super great either. Theres a varied cast of characters all belong to one central evil order so to speak. However their motivations for being a part of it as well as their own personal character arcs are all fairly weak. Besides the main baddie theres hardly a compelling villain in the cast which makes it really difficult to get invested into them or their fights. Its all incredibly superficial with even the main villain not having much exposition until the final few episodes. That being said its not all bad. While there is a lot of stock footage used that particular stock footage is relatively cool. I never did get tired of the aforementioned MCs transformation sequencehttps://www..com/watch?v=B5NTMFraP2Y and it made me relatively hype every time it was used. The fights themselves all end up being pretty cool and the final episodes fight which lasts almost its entire runtime is magnificent. Theres definitely a lingering feeling of what could have been after how good episode 25 was but its still good enough. The main cast is pretty great in their own right with some great voice actors behind them. There were a lot of episodes that didnt help further the plot but that instead gave us great moments between the main trio that were easy to appreciate. Takuto the main character the Galactic Pretty Boy is great. His comedic moments are hilarious his serious moments have gravitas and everything in between just makes him a genuinely enjoyable character. He looks good he sounds good and I think most importantly hes competent in a fight. Theres no awkward growing pains throughout the series where he sucks and then has to get better. Hes good from the start. He hits this perfect middle ground where he doesnt lose because hes worthless but he doesnt necessarily win because hes stupidly overpowered either. Overall I dont want this to be a scathing review. The things that I disliked about this series were things that ended up lending themselves to its mediocrity rather than making it bad. It was an enjoyable experience throughout. It lacked the kind of impact that makes me want to watch the next episode right this very moment but it also didnt have a level of boredom that made me drag my feet in watching it. The final episode is exceptional and I would say would deserve a 10/10 if it were a standalone. This is most certainly an anime where the destination is much more important than the journey.