Crest of the stars is grand scale Space Opera in the tradition of Asimov's 'Foundation'. The real focus of the series is the relationship between the two central characters though, so the political/military events are more of a backdrop. This isn't a good thing in this case, because what happens in the relationship between the two main characters you could write on the back of a matchbox.

Jinto is a human whose planet has been taken over by the Abh empire. He is sent to the Abh academy to become an Abh nobleman. Lafiel is an Abh-born Princess through and through. The two are thrown together when the ship they're on gets attacked by the human empire (whose name is so similar to the Abh empire that you tend to get a bit confused). They escape in a scout ship, and the rest of the series is about their adventures together while the grand political/military drama unfolds.

Made in the late 90's on what was obviously a low budget (there are lots of shots where the camera pans slowly over a character's body while they're speaking, so nothing has to be actually animated), 'Crest of the Stars' looks older than it is. Still it's adequate animation if you don't watch it back to back with 'Cowboy Bebop'.

Crest of the Stars is also the perfect antidote for anyone who dislikes rapid-paced shoot-em-up SF anime. Don't expect something of the pace of even 'Robotech'. CotS moves very slowly. Very, very slowly. I was warned about this before I watched it, and brushed it off, with a "Don't worry, I could do with something intelligent and political rather than just endless battle scenes." They weren't kidding, though. In the end CotS was just too slow even for me. To give you an idea just how slow, there is one episode where a ship's captain raises her hand and gives the order to fire - and the first shot comes about 20 minutes later. In another, I would say almost half the episode consists of two people sitting at opposite ends of a long table, talking. What's more this scene turns out to have little importance in the grand scheme of things. When the fighting does start, it sometimes seems ill-explained and confusing. Characters pop out of nowhere who you feel you ought to have been introduced to earlier. Finally I can't help but complain about the English voice cast, who were sometimes maddeningly wooden. Also I'm sure the main male character actor also plays several of the incidentals, which is very distracting as he uses exactly the same voice.

Still, if you can forgive this, and regard the thing as a sort of action-SF-romance, without a lot of action (or romance, come to think of it) it's still an alright series, and I had the feeling that with a little more care, money, or _something_ it may have been a very good one. The overall premise and setting is very interesting. I would like to have seen more of the emphasis on the political machinations of the various empires. Perhaps this happens in the two follow-up series, 'Banner of the Stars' I & II. I gather these are more action-oriented, too. I'm not sure that I'm quite stirred enough by the original to bother, though.

It's ok, but the promising aspects are hamstrung too much by the ponderous pacing and short episode count. If it had been twice as long, you might have got the sensation that something had actually happened by the end of it, and the slower pacing might have been more tolerable.