History Anime / StarDriver

''Star Driver'' is an eclectic combination of HumongousMecha, high school, {{shonen}}, and MagicalGirl tropes that brings together ''SoulEater'' director Takuya Igarashi and ''RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' writer Yoji Enokido for their first joint project since ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub.'' It's notable for its beautiful animation, bizarre JigsawPuzzlePlot, [[MemeticMutation FAAAABULOUSness]], eclectic cast of characters, love of GenreBusting, and numerous {{Shout Out}}s to popular anime shows.

* RecycledINSPACE!: ''RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' [[AC:with HumongousMecha]].

** [[RevolutionaryGirlUtena "I think playing the piano suits you more than carrying a kendo stick."]]

** It's also been described as [(''CodeGeass'' + ''RevolutionaryGirlUtena'') - ''Manga/DeathNote'') x ''Manga/LuckyStar'')]. Make of that what you will.
** Or as ''RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' meets ''Anime/RahXephon''.

** [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Eva]] uses Christianity, RahXephon uses Mayan...Star Driver uses Phoenician. Pretty much every Star Driver's name has a connection to the Phoenician letter their Cybody is named after. ''Tsunashi'' can be written as 十 (he wears a Tau, hence Tauburn, which means "mark"), ''Sugata'' can be written as 丰, and ''Agemaki'' can be written as 丫. Sakana-chan (Fish-girl in the translation) is so named because her mark, "Nun", means "fish." [[spoiler: Yet another clue before the reveal of Keito as the East Maiden was that ''Nichi'' is written as 日, which looks just like the Phoenician letter ''heth'' (meaning "wall" in Phoenician).]]

** Or as ''RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' meets ''RahXephon''.

** The drama club's play (and by extension its sequel, the North Maiden's Sam the Squid-Piercer story) seems to parallel whatever conflict occurred between Samekh and Ayingott that resulted in Ayingott being crushed in Samekh's hand, but this is never told to the audience with full disclosure either.

** [[spoiler: Wako's Cybody, [[http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/7983/stardrivercuresunshine.jpg Waw]], bears a striking resemblance to Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure's [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100718182018/prettycure/images/2/29/Heartcatch_Pretty_Cure!_23_-_Cure_Sunshine.jpg Cure Sunshine]].]]

*** Hell, the series' premise itself has many parallels with ''Utena'', as does the antagonist. This makes a lot of sense when you realize that Star Driver's writer, Creator/YojiEnokido, also wrote a large portion of ''Utena''.

** The boxing ring that forms during Takuto and Kanako's fight looks conspicuously similar to the one from GGundam's second OP.

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/star-driver-poster-1_5939.png]]

** [[spoiler: Wako's Cybody, [[http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/7983/stardrivercuresunshine.jpg Waw]], bears a striking resemblance to {{Heartcatch Pretty Cure}}'s [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100718182018/prettycure/images/2/29/Heartcatch_Pretty_Cure!_23_-_Cure_Sunshine.jpg Cure Sunshine]].]]

** The [[GunBuster eyecatch]]. (Star Drivaaaaaaaa!)

** The "STAR DRIVAAAAAAAAAAAA" {{Eyecatch}} is likely a reference to the eyecatch from ''{{Gunbuster}}''.

** [[spoiler: Sugata's]] King's Pillar looks a lot like [[EurekaSeven the Seven Swell]], only the former is blue while the latter is the entire rainbow.

!!''StarDriver'' provides examples of:

* [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sister Instinct]]: Marino to Mizuno.

** Not entirely true. Glittering Crux members approach each other out of costume on a couple occasions, but feel the need to confirm they have the right person with their organization's secret handshake the first time they do so. There's no sign the costumes fool anyone (if they've met in-costume, they can recognize each other out-of-costume and vice-versa), so much as everyone puts some effort into pretending to be OrdinaryHighSchool students when not fighting each other in Zero Time.

* MaySeptemberRomance: Okamoto and [[spoiler:Tsubasa]] are in a relationship.

** Madoka and Kou. Let's see, two girls, one is blonde, the other turquoise-haired, they're a couple ... [[SailorMoon Hmmm...]]

* {{Troperiffic}}: Practically everything in this series has been done before. However, instead of being a ClicheStorm, this series seems to enjoy playing with and parodying various tropes found in other anime such as Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann, CodeGeass, and the writer's previous works (Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena, OuranHighSchoolHostClub, and Anime/{{FLCL}}). There's even a bit of Manga/SailorMoon since the same scriptwriter worked on both. It {{lampshade|Hanging}}s these tropes (or at least makes them ''very'' obvious) rather frequently, so much so that it could develop into a blatant {{Deconstruction}}. For some bizarre reason, this all works to make the series almost scarily entertaining.

* {{Troperiffic}}: Practically everything in this series has been done before. However, instead of being a ClicheStorm, this series seems to enjoy playing with and parodying various tropes found in other anime such as TengenToppaGurrenLagann, CodeGeass, and the writer's previous works (Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ouran High School Host Club, and FoolyCooly). There's even a bit of SailorMoon since the same scriptwriter worked on both. It [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] these tropes (or at least makes them ''very'' obvious) rather frequently, so much so that it could develop into a blatant {{Deconstruction}}. For some bizarre reason, this all works to make the series almost scarily entertaining.

This page has a [[Characters/StarDriver character sheet]], as well as [[Awesome/StarDriver Crowning Moment of Awesome]], [[Funny/StarDriver Funny]], [[Heartwarming/StarDriver Heartwarming]], and [[TearJerker/StarDriver Tear Jerker]] pages. They all desperately [[NeedsMoreLove need more love]].

TheMovie was released on February 9th 2013.

* HotDad: [[spoiler: Head for Takuto.]]

* TheReveal: Episode 17 finally confirmed what most viewers had already figured out. [[spoiler:That Keito is the east maiden.]]
** Episode 20 reveals that [[spoiler:yes, Head is Takuto's father.]]
* TheUnreveal: We never do get told Takuto's First Phase, though [[spoiler: rather large hints are thrown around in the last episode that it is somethng to do with his sight. Exactly what he can "still see" is left a mystery though.]]
--> '''Takuto''': [[spoiler: I can still see it!]]
* [[spoiler: TheWorldIsNotReady: During the finale, the leaders of the Glittering Crux wonder if the Cybodies were something humans were never meant to have, but the cybody Daletos "tells" Simone that the Cybodies were something that humans were supposed to aspire for.]]

* FanNickname: Lady Sugaga for Sugata, [[spoiler:due to the AbsoluteCleavage and peacock feathers of his Crux outfit.]]

* ActorAllusion:
** Katashiro smokes, has an eyepatch and brown hair... sounds like a fusion of [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 two roles]] Creator/ShinichiroMiki played a while ago. In fact, when we see his younger self in episode 20, even accounting for art style differences, he looked ''exactly'' like Lockon.
** [[spoiler: Takuto and his childhood friend Natsuo are voiced by MamoruMiyano and MiyuIrino respectively. This is not the [[KingdomHearts first]] [[MobileSuitGundam00 time]] they have been together.]]

** Katashiro smokes, has an eyepatch and brown hair... sounds like a fusion of [[MobileSuitGundam00 two roles]] ShinichiroMiki played a while ago. In fact, when we see his younger self in episode 20, even accounting for art style differences, he looked ''exactly'' like Lockon.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Not the world's deepest symbolism, but every Cybody is named after a letter of the Phoenician alphabet, and each letter of the Phoenician alphabet has a name whose meaning informs the abilities of the Cybody and its controller. Alf is "ox" (piloted by Raging Bull), tet is "wheel" (Speed Kid), pe is "mouth" (Scarlet Kiss), nun is "fish" (as in "Little Fish"), samekh is "pillar," ayin is "eye," etc. etc. You could figure out who will control what based on their codename (rosh means "Head," gee, I wonder who will pilot that?), as well as how many Cybodies there will likely be (22), which was confirmed in series.
** Matthew 19:24 "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God". Now who was it who stopped '''Camel''' Star from advancing to the fourth phase?

** Really? You can't forget about Camel Star, Stick Star, and Sword Star with this trope.