Welcome to the war son Banner of the Stars BotS is oddly enough a sequel to Crest of the Stars CotS but I am lying because this is the way I am. If youd ask the author of the original story Hiroyuki Morioka its actually the other way around Crest is the prequel to Banner and Banner is actually the main story while Crest is there to be an extended prologue. Note 1: this review inevitably spoils Crest of the Stars so please do watch it before reading okaythanks. Note 2: This review might reference my Crest of the Stars review. It is fat enough already so I will not repeat certain fundamental stuff though I might elaborate on some. While Crest is a smallscale story about two people trying to survive while the war starts to rage on Banner is actually the story of that war. Misunderstanding this is probably the reason why so many people feel weird dissonance between Crest and Banner. The central character of the story is now Lafiel. Jinto is a supporting character who loses his importance as the story goes on. At this point he still is an important narrative anchor and still has a character arc to complete but structurally hes here to provide a comfortable viewpoint for the reader this approach migrated to the anime version but now the original main duo is no longer the main focus. This is the story of two major... lets say processes. First this is the story of the Humankind Empire of Abh going through their greatest war in order to achieve their eternal goal. In this war the fundamental principles of the philosophy the Empire proclaims are constantly tested on multiple levels and this is why we barely see anything of the opposing factions at this point of the war they are unimportant and their approach to internal policies was shown in Crest well enough for those who forgot Ill remind: United Mankind the major force in Four Nations Alliance is a monolithic entity which forces its planets into their cultural paradigm streams nonstop propaganda and builds its war effort morale on brutal dehumanisation of the enemy. Further down the line well see that everything is not that simple too but fundamentals are there and will remain unchanged. Second is a personal story of Lafiels ascension to power. It was explained in Crest but was really cut down from the books so Ill more or less fill in the basics here: the Emperor is not a title that is inherited. Due to the nature of the Imperial order there are many founding families in the Empire who were founded even before the Empire came to be when the Abh were wandering through the stars on their cityship. Professions were taught by a parent to the child forming tightly related specialized clans. The most powerful clan the Abriels were responsible for navigation and command duty as this is what their originator was literally breeded to be. Now Abriels form 8 royal families each of which nominally rules over 8 kingdoms of the Empire. Abriel family is symbolic to the Empire the star they rule is named after them and this symbolism lies within the concept that Abriels are the empire they exist to be the cogs who run it not to rule it from above. Basically Abriels are the most dutybound family in the Empire and they strictly oversee this order of things from within. The Imperial Elder Counsil consisting of exemperors and kings oversees careers of young Abriels and the Emperor himself and has the power to eliminate any of them at any point. Each Abriel is bound to aspire to become the Emperor. They compete by military advancement the Abriel who reaches the rank of Imperial Marshal of the Fleet Rue Spen the highest rank in Star Forces is declared to be the crown prince and when the other Abriel from next generation reaches the same rank current Emperor resigns crown prince becomes the Emperor and the new Marshal becomes the crown prince. Now the important part: Lafiel at this moment is the leader in her generation. Dusanyu king of Barker is the current crown prince. He is not related to the ruling Empress Ramaj as she belongs to the Kryb branch as well as Lafiel. Lafiel is currently a decacommander a rank allowing her to captain a ligth ship. She is assigned to a Roilclass destroyer Basroil. She drags in Jinto who just has finished the Academy as an administrative officer and the rest of her crew is assigned by the crew commission and the picks were clearly dictated by the Elder Counsil but shhhhhh. So who is in the crew? First Mate Sobaash and old and skilled officer who just no so long ago rejoined the Star Forces as he spent most his life as a captain of a trade ship and an owner of a trading company. Smart decisive pragmatic and stoic hes the perfect foil to impulsive Lafiel. His function on the ship planar navigation consulting of the captain secondary command duties. In the books he sports a moustache :D Chief Engineer Samsonn the only crew member who was in actual battle an optimistic mans man who likes booze girls and preferably at the same time. Hes responsible for machinery and equipment on the ship. Officernavigator Ekurya a menacingly calm girl with empty look who hates cats but likes Jinto in her own odd way. She manages 3d navigation and secondary armaments of the ship. Officeradministrator Linn also known as Jinto or more commonly baka is obviously the administrator. He oversees supplies and staff on the ship cargo medical section life support etcetera. Makes clumsy attempts to hide his friendship with Lafiel but discovered immediatley the crew gives no damns on the subject though. Chief manager of catness Diaho the ruling ruler of the ship Jintos cat whom Lafiel gifted to Jinto at the end of Crest. Was not supposed to be on board as cats are traditionally not allowed on ships during the war per tradition the order No cats allowed its book stuff ignored in the anime but Jinto is Jinto and Diaho ends up on Basroil despite all. Captain decacommander Abriel Lafiel the hero of the story to some extent. She is doubly burdened in Banner I on one side whe kinda lives in the future when shes the admiral of the fleet giving orders to the entire armadas but heh the reality is here and she commands a destroyer responsible for the lives of 20something crewmembers while being a subordinate to an unexpected commander who probably has the most negative opinion of her and to the Admiral who is well known to be insane. Good stuff. For her this is the main test of her ability to continue the Emperor contest if she will be able to command this ship properly and survive she might be considered a worthwhile investment as the Emperor material. The war got stagnant after the events of Crest. Invasion of Clasbul system and annexation of significant part of the Iriish kingdom was a side maneuver while the main assult fleet was headed straight to the Imperial Capital of Lakfakalle. Prince Dusanyu managed to fend Lakfakalle off but both fleets were barely capable of any further expansion Three yeras later the Empire is finally ready to start pushing back against the Alliance. A large assault force is formed ready to push into the territory of United Mankind and to create the connection between separated kingdoms of the Empire operation Renibu Phantom Flame begins. MAin force of the United Mankind is immediately pulled to the invasion area ready to stop the progress of Imperial forces and they are armed with some new interesting weaponry. With Banner it is important to understand that the scale of events is much smaller than it seems. i saw complaints that the Empire is just winning all the time but it is deeply wrong. For example the success of Operation Renibu allows the Empire to chip off a small chunk of the territory of the United Mankind barely damaging either their economy or their productive potential. All they would achieve by this success is securing direct supply routes between separated territories of the Empire and gaining momentum to retake what they lost in the first act of war. All sides of the conflict are straining their economies to supply the war effort the fleets brought in are the attacking arms of the general forces the part of the fleet considered extreme for the defence efforts and able to operate without creating risks for the main territories. This is classic warfare in which the military forces are an expendable resource which is hard to recover. Loss of a fleet leads to several years of initiative provided to the enemy. Admirals of the fleet played high role in Crest already but now we see a large war effort to be performed. The logistics manoeuvrers and decision making process are brilliantly shown depicting the strategic side of warfare which is almost often omitted or outright ignored in space operas even as significant as the Legend of Galactic Heroes where the war is mostly a foil for character progression. In Banner the war is the centrepiece and it is flawlessly knitted into character stories and the rules of the setting. Character interactions and writing are still superb in this season with highlights except for Basroil crew being Prince Dusanyu and his chief of staff archduchess Kenesh who oversee the operation the brilliantly insane Bebaus brothers and returning from Crest admiral Spaurh and her chief of staff Kufadiss in all their glory. large emphasis is made on tactical level as well the battles are structured in a realistic manner with sides trying to utilize their forces to their best and utilizing ship classes to their proper function. We can see layered defences mass artillery attacks the doctrine of defensive supremacy in action as well as smart usage of invented physics to amplify the way the battles are played out. In this one I can criticize only small things final acts are a bit rushed at certain points and the nonlinear structure strikes again a little bit. Jintos narration in early episodes is equally unbearable to Crest but is shortened. The scene with dresses which I mentioned in CotS review breaks the canon for no reason as it could equally smexy with traditional Abh garments. Overall I can absolutely recommend the series yet again as the quality on the technical side only grows from here while writing and narrative structure never fails. If you want a deep and realistic depiction of warfare with equally deep and realistic character interactions please do watch this. Or better read the books.