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Five Star Stories
The Five Star Stories, Vol. 1
Sbarca finalmente in Europa The Five Star Stories, lo straordinario kolossal a fumetti creato dal geniale ed eccentrico Nagano Mamoru, il “Grande Assente” fra i classici del fumetto giapponese moderno pubblicati in Occidente.
The Five Star Stories è un’opera monumentale che unisce le più classiche tematiche della fantascienza e della space opera ad atmosfere e suggestioni proprie della letteratura fantasy. Ambientata in un complesso sistema stellare costituito da quattro soli e una cometa, il suo svolgimento abbraccia svariati pianeti e si dipana attraverso diversi millenni. Grazie alla sua particolare struttura narrativa ad archi, l’autore può espandere periodicamente la sua opera, arricchendola di nuovi capitoli e nuove sottosaghe, senza correre il rischio di lasciarla “incompleta”.
The Five Star Stories è un’opera monumentale che unisce le più classiche tematiche della fantascienza e della space opera ad atmosfere e suggestioni proprie della letteratura fantasy. Ambientata in un complesso sistema stellare costituito da quattro soli e una cometa, il suo svolgimento abbraccia svariati pianeti e si dipana attraverso diversi millenni. Grazie alla sua particolare struttura narrativa ad archi, l’autore può espandere periodicamente la sua opera, arricchendola di nuovi capitoli e nuove sottosaghe, senza correre il rischio di lasciarla “incompleta”.
199 pages
First published January 1, 1986
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88 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 31, 2024
Premise: In a galaxy far, far away, there is a Joker Star Cluster with four planets inhabited by humans, after countless generations of development, warfare among kingdoms and states is determined by the use of gigantic combat robots (called MH or later, GothicMade, GTM for short), MHs are piloted by a race of special humans called 'chivalry/knight' (usually male with super strength and speed, and a rare ability to control the MHs) and the Fatima, humanoid A.I or supercomputer (mostly in the form of a young woman) designed to be weapons on the battlefield.
The year is the year 2988 of the Joker Calendar, an engineer traveled to his old friend's manor only to be entrusted by said friend (a well known talented creator for Fatimas) a mission to safeguard his latest Fatimas: a pair of sisters named Lachesis and Clotho, from a greedy Lord who wants to keep the beautiful sisters to himself as his playthings; and there are even bigger secrets hidden in this incident...
One thing, I really like how Fatima Est and Lachesis makes their first appearances in this volume.
To tell the truth, the first two stories for the FSS series: Destiny Three Fates: Lachesis (book 1) and Destiny Three Fates: Clotho (book 2 and 3) are pretty conservative in the reformat of a traditional ' chivalries and maidens' kind of way. But if you don't mind the dated plots and the stereotyped male and female gender roles, you might well enjoy it. I'm glad in the latter part of the series, the authors became a lot more critical about the inequality between humans and Fatimas, and the Fatiams' lack of rights.
Review for vol. 12: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The year is the year 2988 of the Joker Calendar, an engineer traveled to his old friend's manor only to be entrusted by said friend (a well known talented creator for Fatimas) a mission to safeguard his latest Fatimas: a pair of sisters named Lachesis and Clotho, from a greedy Lord who wants to keep the beautiful sisters to himself as his playthings; and there are even bigger secrets hidden in this incident...
One thing, I really like how Fatima Est and Lachesis makes their first appearances in this volume.
To tell the truth, the first two stories for the FSS series: Destiny Three Fates: Lachesis (book 1) and Destiny Three Fates: Clotho (book 2 and 3) are pretty conservative in the reformat of a traditional ' chivalries and maidens' kind of way. But if you don't mind the dated plots and the stereotyped male and female gender roles, you might well enjoy it. I'm glad in the latter part of the series, the authors became a lot more critical about the inequality between humans and Fatimas, and the Fatiams' lack of rights.
Review for vol. 12: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
August 31, 2024
I first read The first volume of The Five Star Stories as a little girl. The elegant artwork REALLY sucked me in. Although the plot of The Five Star Stories 1 is VERY traditional, conservative and even a bit soap operatic comparing with the crazy, mind-blowing, out of control plots which Mr. Mamoru Nagano had offered in the latter parts of the series. Still, first love is still the most special for an addicted reader. LOL
Review for vol. 4 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review for vol. 12: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review for vol. 13 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review for vol. 4 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review for vol. 12: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review for vol. 13 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
June 29, 2016
The Five Star Stories has always been a series I have been curious about reading. The unusual character designs, attractive art and frankly baffling descriptions of the work drew me in, even if I finally only read the first volume today.
So, how can this work be described? It is unconventional, and yet another unique approach to the space opera genre to come from Japan (alongside the operatic/romantic Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Vol. 1: Dawn). In this case, the author is creating a cultural-historical mashup formatted like a future mythic history, and told entirely non-linearly. It didn't really make sense yet, but The Five Star Stories brings to mind Saxo Grammaticus: The History of the Danes, Books I-IX: I. English Text; II. Commentary. If one were to imagine the Joker Galaxy was real, this manga would exactly resemble the myths and legends and amateur historiography of some future scholar examining that period of time.
The alternative view works just as well, that this comic is just a mash up of everything Mamoru Nagano wants to see from the medium. Androgyne gods fighting chivalrous battles in a space opera setting; mutants and psychics and aliens; Organic computers that have the physiology and appearance of beautiful women; a decadent future that was fraying from its very inception. It is a tantalizing mixture of ingredients.
So, how can this work be described? It is unconventional, and yet another unique approach to the space opera genre to come from Japan (alongside the operatic/romantic Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Vol. 1: Dawn). In this case, the author is creating a cultural-historical mashup formatted like a future mythic history, and told entirely non-linearly. It didn't really make sense yet, but The Five Star Stories brings to mind Saxo Grammaticus: The History of the Danes, Books I-IX: I. English Text; II. Commentary. If one were to imagine the Joker Galaxy was real, this manga would exactly resemble the myths and legends and amateur historiography of some future scholar examining that period of time.
The alternative view works just as well, that this comic is just a mash up of everything Mamoru Nagano wants to see from the medium. Androgyne gods fighting chivalrous battles in a space opera setting; mutants and psychics and aliens; Organic computers that have the physiology and appearance of beautiful women; a decadent future that was fraying from its very inception. It is a tantalizing mixture of ingredients.
January 1, 2021
Just a good ol' epic, aristocratic, genderfluid, and high fashion influenced mecha yarn. So much to absorb just in this first book.
January 16, 2023
Very 80's it's all about the hair. I guess this is one of the early mech series.
July 24, 2022
I have owned this apparently insanely rare manga volume for like twenty years, and for whatever reason, I have yet to ever read it. I re-discovered it in a stack of Dungeons and Dragons books I once bought on discount at my old job (like fifteen years ago!), and somehow this stayed sealed away. This is a shame because I love old manga, and especially old mecha-related manga from the 80’s and 90’s, glad I can read it now. Fans of things like Escaflowne, Legend of the Galactic Heroes or even Dragon’s Heaven (which I previously reviewed on here) would absolutely love this.
I won’t pretend I’m totally unaware of this comic, because as a fan of scale modeling, and especially Gunpla kits. Various FFS scale model kits were all over message boards at the time, and as a mere novice, just seeing them was intimidating. I’m fairly certain I bought this because it was in the discount bin, and I wanted to see where that stuff came from. It’s a shame I won’t be able to get more volumes of this as volume one, for example, is listed on Amazon for like 400 dollars! I’m sure I will easily be able to find the rest “by other means”, but the large format, almost magazine styled, book is gorgeous. This was published by a company called Toyspress in 2002, and it must have not done well because I don’t see anything else from this company online. It’s a true shame because if released today, this would likely do well on a publisher like Vertical or another prestige format importer. Classic manga is en vogue now, and this was released like ten years too early.
This is a VERY short book, only around 79 pages with a portion being an index that shows how much crazy world-building Mamoru Nagano did before publishing this. That said, the manga is still a real treat – a fest for the eyes in almost every way, an interesting setting, and beautiful mechanical and character designs. They definitely don’t make manga like this anymore, and it’s a hell of a shame. The plot can be confusing as the narrative jumps around on a fairly huge timeline, but the majority of this volume is the beginning of the adventures of Ladios Sopp, a very feminine-looking young man that appears to be investigating the Fatimas – artificial women that help pilot huge mechs called Mortar Heads. This book doesn’t go into great detail here, but he’s actually basically the Emperor of a whole star system in disguise, so I wonder how that plays out!?
My goal is to find a way to read more of this, and encourage any of you that are into mecha manga to seek this out. This is a nigh forgotten treasure that needs a new generation of eyes on it, because it’s solid quality-wise. I’m just sad I came to this so late, but as the old adage says – it’s better late than never!
I won’t pretend I’m totally unaware of this comic, because as a fan of scale modeling, and especially Gunpla kits. Various FFS scale model kits were all over message boards at the time, and as a mere novice, just seeing them was intimidating. I’m fairly certain I bought this because it was in the discount bin, and I wanted to see where that stuff came from. It’s a shame I won’t be able to get more volumes of this as volume one, for example, is listed on Amazon for like 400 dollars! I’m sure I will easily be able to find the rest “by other means”, but the large format, almost magazine styled, book is gorgeous. This was published by a company called Toyspress in 2002, and it must have not done well because I don’t see anything else from this company online. It’s a true shame because if released today, this would likely do well on a publisher like Vertical or another prestige format importer. Classic manga is en vogue now, and this was released like ten years too early.
This is a VERY short book, only around 79 pages with a portion being an index that shows how much crazy world-building Mamoru Nagano did before publishing this. That said, the manga is still a real treat – a fest for the eyes in almost every way, an interesting setting, and beautiful mechanical and character designs. They definitely don’t make manga like this anymore, and it’s a hell of a shame. The plot can be confusing as the narrative jumps around on a fairly huge timeline, but the majority of this volume is the beginning of the adventures of Ladios Sopp, a very feminine-looking young man that appears to be investigating the Fatimas – artificial women that help pilot huge mechs called Mortar Heads. This book doesn’t go into great detail here, but he’s actually basically the Emperor of a whole star system in disguise, so I wonder how that plays out!?
My goal is to find a way to read more of this, and encourage any of you that are into mecha manga to seek this out. This is a nigh forgotten treasure that needs a new generation of eyes on it, because it’s solid quality-wise. I’m just sad I came to this so late, but as the old adage says – it’s better late than never!
February 15, 2023
Read Volumes 1-11. Can't say I really followed what was going on all the time (many characters look similar and the story jumps around centuries), but there seems to be an interesting plot going on where the ancient world has managed to communicate with the future. Also this one character basically lives forever or reincarnates? Basically this is proto-Xenogears lol (really! if you're a fan of that series you should read this manga) it's funny how many plot points were borrowed or took influence from this so far. I'm curious to see where Five Star Stories goes with its ridiculous bombast and hard-to-parse but exciting mecha fight scenes.
Read
August 31, 2025The story takes places in a spatial and temporally vast world. It starts with the end of the war that the winner mourns by remembering those who have passed away instead of celebrating. Then it goes almost 1,000 years back. I am guessing the author intends to tell us what happens in between. I think the setup makes readers the story's inevitability. The author tells the intimate relationships between the characters in a romantic way. So the story's futility stood out even more.
There are the fascinating mecha, mysterious Fatima and the author explains how mecha and other things work in detail. It doesn't shy away from queer elements.
There are the fascinating mecha, mysterious Fatima and the author explains how mecha and other things work in detail. It doesn't shy away from queer elements.
March 17, 2024
Not sure about the story yet but I'm digging the style.
November 23, 2022
Questo manga è stato a lungo il sogno proibito di noi ragazzini anni 80 che guardavano i kanji su Model Graphix e NewType. I disegni sono praticamente shojo anni 80 (coi loro pro e i loro contro) e ci sono dei robottoni favolosi.
La trama in questo numero da solo un assaggio del suo respiro cosmico, con principesse multiplanetarie, casati, guardi mistiche, piloti di mecha il tutto in un racconto corale in cui ancora non è uscito il personaggio principale, o addirittura
Leggendo il primo numero sono stato rapito dalla storia, che promette molto anche se -per ora - è classica nella stesura. Perché quindi solo 4 stelle?
- I personaggi sono tantissimi e sono tutti uguali e hanno nomi complessi senza logica apparente (alcuni inglesi, altri tedeschi, altri giapponesi, altri semplicemente senza senso)
- I font dell'edizione italiana sono molto poco piacevoli da leggere.
- Il finale che non spoilero mostra una cosa e poi nelle didascalie ne dice un'altra lasciandomi perplesso.
mi prenderò il volume II perchè credo che ci siano pochi manga che trasudano anni 80 come questo, e se siete fan di Robotech, gundam e dei vari mecha è per voi. Se siete più indirizzati agli shonen dove il personaggio principale è uno forse non fa per voi.
La trama in questo numero da solo un assaggio del suo respiro cosmico, con principesse multiplanetarie, casati, guardi mistiche, piloti di mecha il tutto in un racconto corale in cui ancora non è uscito il personaggio principale, o addirittura
Leggendo il primo numero sono stato rapito dalla storia, che promette molto anche se -per ora - è classica nella stesura. Perché quindi solo 4 stelle?
- I personaggi sono tantissimi e sono tutti uguali e hanno nomi complessi senza logica apparente (alcuni inglesi, altri tedeschi, altri giapponesi, altri semplicemente senza senso)
- I font dell'edizione italiana sono molto poco piacevoli da leggere.
- Il finale che non spoilero mostra una cosa e poi nelle didascalie ne dice un'altra lasciandomi perplesso.
mi prenderò il volume II perchè credo che ci siano pochi manga che trasudano anni 80 come questo, e se siete fan di Robotech, gundam e dei vari mecha è per voi. Se siete più indirizzati agli shonen dove il personaggio principale è uno forse non fa per voi.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews