is a

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series created by

Mamoru Nagano is a Japanese manga artist, animator, and mecha and character designer. Born in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, he is noted for his work with anime studio Sunrise. He is married to voice actress Maria Kawamura. Career Mamoru Nagano made his profess ...

, building on his work on the

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series ''

Heavy Metal L-Gaim is a mecha anime television series, begun in 1984, which was directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino. Its characters and mecha were designed by Mamoru Nagano, who would later go on to create ''The Five Star Stories''. ''Heavy Metal L-Gaim'' takes place ...

''. The story takes place

cluster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Asteroid cluster, a small asteroid family * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study t ...

of four major

planetary system A planetary system is a set of gravitationally In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interacti ...

s. Amaterasu, the immortal emperor of the Grees Kingdom on the planet Delta Belune, is destined to rule the whole Joker System. He and Lachesis, his bride (and a ''fatima'', an artificial life-form), are the main characters of this epic story. An

film adaptation of the first volume, directed by Kazuo Yamazaki, was released in 1989.

Overview

''The Five Star Stories'' takes its name from the Joker Star Cluster where the stories take place. The

star cluster Star clusters are large groups of stars. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters are more loosely clust ...

is made up of four stars: Eastern, Western, Southern and Northern. The "fifth star" is a large

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

named Stant that passes through that sector of space every 1,500 years pulling with it its own collection of orbiting

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

s. In the distant past the Farus Di Kanon Empire, now commonly known as the "Super Empire", controlled all four solar systems of the Joker Cluster. They enjoyed a level of technology much higher than is currently known and sent explorers to the far reaches of the Joker Cluster. Around the year 9000 AD (Ammon Duul) the empire collapsed due to internal strife. The explorers were called home and what remained of civilization focused mainly on survival. Much technology and knowledge was lost by the time the imperial families of Amaterasu, Fillmore and Hathuha gathered and established the JC era. JC stands for "Joker Calendar" and was meant to give a common frame of reference to all nations to help foster a lasting peace. The JC calendar was adopted but the dream of peace was never realized. The first story of The Five Star Stories begins in JC 2988. At this time

interstellar travel Interstellar travel is the hypothetical travel of spacecraft from one star system, solitary star, or planetary system to another. Interstellar travel is expected to prove much more difficult than interplanetary spaceflight due to the vast dif ...

is common and genetically engineered "fatimas" are well established as necessary co-pilots of the fearsome mortar heads that dominate the battlefields. Warfare between nations is commonplace and few still hope for peace. Mortar heads are the combat mainstays of the Joker Universe. They are

which require superhuman reflexes and skill to control, and are therefore only utilized by headliners with Fatima copilots. Fatimas are humanoid creatures genetically engineered for a life of service on the battlefield. Fatimas are necessary copilots for mortar heads and mentally merge with the computer systems of these devastating machines to control weapons, communications and other vital processes. As such, Fatimas are designed to have computational skills rivaling any computer. As of the 2013 May issue of Newtype, the setting of FSS has changed to fit the lore of Mamoru Nagano's 2012 film

Gothicmade is a Japanese sci-fi/mecha anime film directed by Mamoru Nagano. The film debut in Japan on November 1, 2012. The lore of ''The Five Star Stories'' was retconned starting with volume 13 onwards to better match the movie lore. Plot Gothicma ...

. MH (Mortar Headd) has been renamed GTM (GothicMade), while Fatimas have been renamed AF (Automatic Flowers).

Media

Manga

Sixteen volumes''Five Star Stories vol.16'' — Kadokawa Shoten
/ref> of manga have been published beginning in 1986 and up until the present. An English translation was published by Toyspress, a company cofounded by the author. Each volume of the English version contained approximately of the equivalent Japanese volumes. To date, 26 volumes of the English version have been produced, covering Japanese volumes 1 through 10. Volumes 11 onwards have yet to be translated and the status of future English versions is currently unknown. The major story arcs of the manga are:

Film adapation

A film adaptation of ''The Five Star Stories'' covers the events in the first arc of the manga, ''Destiny Three Fates: Lachesis''. It was created by

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology Al ...

, directed by Kazuo Yamazaki, produced by

Haruki Kadokawa is a Japanese publisher, film producer, director and screenwriter. He was the son of Genyoshi Kadokawa and inherited the position of president of the publishing house Kadokawa Shoten in 1975. Under his guidance, the company soon branched into film ...

, and premiered in Japan on March 11, 1989. It was re-released in 2002 in DVD format. The licensing rights are currently owned by

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...

, and an English version was released in March 2005.

Reception

According to

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

, reboots of the first three volumes have all ranked within the top 30 best-selling manga of during their release week: Book I at number 11 selling 31,471 copies, book II at number 23 selling 30,958 copies, and book III at number 15 selling 38,437 copies. The manga had over 8.5 million copies in print as of January 2018.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Five Star Stories, The 1986 manga 1989 anime films ADV Films Animated films based on manga Japanese animated films Kadokawa Shoten manga Kadokawa Dwango franchises Manga adapted into films Science fiction anime and manga Sunrise (company) Extraterrestrials in anime and manga