Final Impression
It was super nice to finally see Koki’s point of view, and THANK GOD he was the one to find her! We’ve known for a while that he has always been in love with Sae. He’s been dropping very discreet hints early on, but once they got into high-school, it quickly became more and more obvious. It’s actually crazy and adorable how these two share the same brain cell when it comes to their feelings for each other ever since they were little! It does make them quite special, something that’s hard to find, let alone replace.
When Koki was little, he was very upset with how small and weak her was. He always wanted to be helpful to Sae, and it frustrated him that he couldn’t keep up with her both in elementary and a period of time during middle school. It also didn’t help that when he got into middle school, the guys made fun of him for calling Sae by her first name. Considering he still had a baby face back then, being teased for acting like an elementary kid was a sore spot for him, that’s why he switched to referring her to Iwata instead.
At some point in middle school, he finally had his growth spurt that he finally reach’s Sae’s height and eventually became taller than her. He always had eyes for her, quietly supported her whenever he got a chance to, and that’s why he worked so freaking hard to stay close to her. Heck his grades were abysmal in middle school (D), but he surpassed the expectations and the challenge by successfully passing the entrance exam. Now that’s commitment!
But since the two are so in sync with each other, that also meant they shared the exact same insecurities and subjected themselves to misunderstandings. This was particularly the case whenever they were being dodgy about who they had feelings for, or whenever they both emphasized to each other that they are friends out of fear that the other liked someone else. It was just their way of hiding their feelings because they were afraid of ruining that if their love was not reciprocated, their life long friendship would be spoiled. And this is especially difficult after being in love for so long, so it’s understandable why both were hesitating for the same reason.
That said, I found it quite funny how Subaru was convinced that it would be Koki who’d confess first. But in the end, it was Sae who beat him to the punch by confessing far ahead of schedule. Interestingly it has always been Sae leading the way, be it intentionally or not. In some ways, she’s certainly braver than Koki as she confessed on the spot the moment he made it known that he was going to confess to the girl he likes.
However Koki did eventually get his turn to “confess first” during the fireworks, where there he ‘formally’ asked Sae if she’d like to date him. At this point they already knew each other’s feelings, but it really was just a way of signalling their relationship changing from platonic to mutual romance.
But man I feel bad for Youta. It sure looks like he might feel like he had been misled a bit in terms of reading how Koki feelings about Sae. He has been testing him lately, but while Koki’s stinginess and subtle jealousy been slipping out, it seems he did initially believe that Koki did only think Sae as a friend. He was quite shocked when he angrily went up to him seemingly ready to pounce of him for making Sae cry. But Koki didn’t give him a chance to give him shit about it. He shot him down immediately, vowing he’ll never make Sae cry again. We could really see that he was quiet upset during the festival’s closing ceremony. One has to wonder if maybe he was actually contemplating on planning to confess to Sae then. Hard to say though.
As for the girls, Sui and Mio weren’t fully sure what was going on when they noticed Sae was totally in dazed. She didn’t tell them that she confessed, but Sui misinterpreted her behaviour as a signal that she had been rejected. Mio on the other-hand, she was concerned, but recently she became aware of the fact that Koki seemed to like Sae too. This was when he had quietly asked Mio in advance to let him know whenever people load the heavy-lifting tasks onto Sae so he could do it for her. Just like Sae drinking the milk Koki hated when he was little, this is Koki doing the heavy tasks to alleviate the burden off of Sae without drawing attention to it.
I do have one one character I’d like to talk about, and that’s Takuya. First of all, oh my god, I just realized for some reason back in episode 1, I THOUGHT HE WAS A TEACHER! So when he had apologized to Sae for calling her ‘Tall’ in that moment, and spilling the beans about what was actually on the card “Find someone you love”, I was like: I’M SO SORRY DUDE. (I’m going to go back to that entry and fix it accordingly once I finish this post!) But man, I’m glad we finally got the truth out of that card. Freaking Koki covering it up with “find someone cute” over admitting “find someone you love”. That sure would’ve been a crazy time to confess, neither of them would’ve had it in them to do it. (Also side note, Takuya has long known that Koki has been in love with Sae!)
Actually now that I think about it, didn’t Sae also get a card that said “find someone you love”? (But she used Sui for cover!) Oh my gosh, the author really is putting them in sync to the point they are in the same orbit, but they just kept missing each other! That’s so funny!!!!
Final Verdict
8/10
I really enjoyed A Star Brighter Than the Sun! Although I had some gripes with heavy bloom/shoujo filters (thankfully they DID eventually tone it down a bit), and how often Sae would reminisce about her elementary days with Koki, I eventually got used to it and it stopped bothering me along the lines. It did help that they eventually did dial back on it a bit, but I’m glad they kind of found the page to make it feel somewhat less repetitive as the show went on. Sae is such a sweet and likeable protagonist who I really admire for finding the courage in her to take the next steps. What is there not to love about her? Sure some might get tired real fast about her insecurities about her height and weight, but these things do happen to people. And it certainly doesn’t help that her peers, (particularly her classmates) are always either taking advantage of her strength, or outright making fun of her for her height. It’s terrible really, and that’s why we’ve seen Koki stand up for her a number of times. From putting Yushin in his place to doing what he can to remove the burdens that contribute to eating her up inside, Koki will not put up with Sae being slandered in any shape or form, as he should!
Koki’s a very sweet boy, and I do think he makes an endearing pair with Sae. With the way these two are totally in sync with each other, they do make a perfect pair. The whole set up was pretty basic, but it was so sweetly done it’s something I appreciated. Some may find it a bit shallow since this was pretty much entirely shown from Sae’s point of view, but I’m curious to see if the manga goes into a bit more depth on Koki’s side of things as it’s still-going.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this series though was the lack of drama. The misunderstandings were mostly limited to Koki’s and Sae’s (deliberate) miscommunications with each other, and anything else outside of that was kept to the bare minimum and resolved very quickly. For that reason, I also really enjoyed Sae’s friends Mio and Sui. They both have their own distinct character, but they managed to blend together exceptionally well. Mio’s the grounded one so to speak, while Sui’s the dreamy one. They both did such a good job of looking out for Sae and just being awesome friends all around.
I think it’d be fair to say this is probably not the type of show that’s not super amazing, but it was charming enough that I looked forward to watching it and enjoyed covering it. So I’ll give this a solid 8/10!
I’m sort of curious about the manga now, so maybe I’ll dive into that and take a look how things are there. I’m curious to see the differences and what’s been left out!
…Actually, oh my– just as I’m writing this, I discovered the second season has already been announced! Honestly that comes as a surprise for me, especially coming off of Kakuriyo’s abrupt season finale with no announcement when the sequel will be released (I’m fine… RIP Kakuriyo Fans ; ^ ;), but I digress. This will be very interesting to see how it will unfold. Well I’ll be looking forward to it!
If you’re looking for a cute and sweet romance, try giving this one a whirl!
And with that we’re done! I’ll be back covering shows from Winter 2026 Season! There’s one thing I need to get done before I release to Winter Anime 2026 Preview post, in the mean time have a Happy Holiday everyone!
