Anime Review: Regalia - The Three Sacred Stars

Girl’s Love has never been this badass!

All-girls animes tend to go into 2 extreme directions: the all-moe way or the super depressing way with some serious trauma for the viewers. Studio Actas play the half-and-half game and mix the rest with some chair-gripping hair-raising mecha combat. Regalia – The Three Sacred Stars is a series that doesn’t make much sense, but it sure is entertaining to watch giant robot pulling moves like action shounen series. Sometimes the best way to enjoy a mecha anime is admiring the fireworks on the screen.

Regalia is a 13-episode series that follow two “sisters” who are reigning over a country. Suddenly a giant mecha attack their country of Enastria. The incident stir up the vortex of fate from the past – where a similar incident happened that placed a curse on the girls. Rena – the little sister of the pair revealed to the princess of the country – her big sister Yuinshiel Asteria – that she can summon a black mecha cladded in crimson flames. Strange challengers that control mechas of their own appear and challenge the pair. And they respond in kind with their Magna Alecto, but little did Yuinshiel know that the more she pilot it, the more Rena suffers.

Throughout 13-episode, the actual main conflict of the series is quite vague, and when the final call was made, it turns out the villain and his actual motive is quite generic and well, naive. A misguided god-like being who wasn’t loved just want to watch the world burn – not the most original idea in the shred. We even got the smoke-and-mirror mid-season villain who turned out to be good characters. Of course, every one with a loli (or a loli themselves) can’t be villain in this series. The overall plot can be split into two part – the discovery phase and the “fight god” phase. The discovery phase is mixed with your usual all-girls-anime moe slice-of-life stuff like hanging out together, enjoying food together and all that. But after each activity, an explosive and painful battle always occur. And little by little, the truth is revealed.

With that said, you don’t need to think too hard about the story – or the characters much, because it is very generic and not really well thought-out. The details didn’t really mesh well together and not much is explained. Best to just take it at face value and enjoy the animation.

The series feature three main pairs of girl. The first is our heroine Yuinshel and Rena, who control the red-and-black mecha Magna Alecto. Next is Ingrid and Kei Tiesto, who control the black-and-green Xeno Megaera. Lastly the sisters Tia and Sara Kleis who controll the blue-and-white Aurea Tisis. The common theme between these pairings is they are extremely caring towards each other, but in different ways.

Yuinshel appears older than Rena, but Rena is actually quite mature for her age, although she is prone to overthinking for Yuinshel’s sake. Of course, while Yuinshel treasures Rena immensely, she still has her duty to run the entire Empire, so she has to find a way to balance the two. When Rena insist on protecting Yuinshel at the cost of herself, Yuinshel of course got angry and insist that they shouldn’t sacrifice themselves for each other, and that happiness only hold meaning if they can be together. It is quite a common trope but it is to be expected in this kind of development. While they aren’t “technically” blood-related sisters, their bond can make you feel warm-hearted and inspired.

Ingrid and Kei’s bond is one of regret and unconditional loyalty. Ingrid felt remorseful for the past and is trying to “make things right” in her own way. Of course, she soon get the reckoning call and switch sides as soon as Kei and Rena seems to agree on things. Ingrid is your typical cold-faced but kind-hearted woman who would leave you to the wolves but pamper Kei like her own flesh and blood. It’s a common contrast that makes her a popular archetype in anime.

The Kleis sisters are pretty much the moe mascots of the series. They are twins that love each other, and their love for everything peaceful and justice help them fight together. They are experienced fighter that really look out for others – including Yuinshel and Rena. Overall the good girls of the series, deserve unlimited headpats and ice cream.

Now let’s get to the best part of the series: the mecha fights. Whoo boy I haven’t felt this excited since Majestic Prince, Gravion or Getter Armageddon. Yes it’s that good! And all of it’s 2D too! The mechs are very humanoid in both design and motion, as they move quite agile and humanlike. The animation is impactful and felt like supernatural MMA with lots of magic mixed in. The main mecha – Magna Alecto – is a close combat savage type that emphasize on literal ‘fire’power, and boy does he(or she?) burns hot. The blazing punches, the flaming kicks, and the special finishing moves look badass as hell. We just need some dynamic camera position and we got a UFOtable killer right here.

The series follow a half-ep-setup-half-ep-fight format for the most part, and more action towards the end. So there’s plenty of eye-candy for mecha fans to enjoy. And of course the “ridonkulousness” just keeps coming with ZERO explanation. There are tons of cool and edgy sense that will spring your chuunibyou into heaven. The magic attacks are similar to shounen stuff like Negima, Fairy Tail, Naruto etc… but they never tell you how or why the mech can do it – which is a very extremely Super Robot stuff to do. But hey, we’re here to see cute girls in a giant robot beating the shit out of other giant robots, and that’s what we get!

Great mecha fights come with great designs! And Regalia has basically the edgiest and most badass Super Robot design that we’ve seen. It definitely appeal more to the teenage audience where a sleek humanoid form with cool ornaments is considered badass. The main mecha – Magna Alecto – resembles an armored tokusatsu hero. The Alecto even comes with a cape and 2 flowing scarves. It also has many elements of a classic Super Robot such as a gem in the chest, armored forearms and lower legs. The head is very demon-like with pupiled eyes and a head gem. And when the Alecto “flame up”, the clear parts on his body lit up and that looks amazing. It definitely is very over-the-top and silly, but if it looks cool, then it does its job.

The Aurea Tisis resembles an elegant knight with a trench coat. Sorta like Vergil if he’s a cute girl. It’s blue and white color-scheme is a direct contrast to the Alecto and the fighting style is too. It uses elegant weapons – swords and ice magic to fight. If Alecto is Dante, then Aurea is his twin brother.

The Xeno Megaera is the only “distinct” member of the Regalia trio. It is an aerial unit that take on the silhouette of a winged demon. The green color really emphasizes the “villain” part of the design, down to the fighting style. The Xeno focuses on keeping its distance and using long-range beams to attack. The distinct color and design really set the Xeno aside from the other 2. While the other 2 are definitely heroic-looking, the Xeno is more demonic and intimidating, makes sense since the pilot is the oldest of the girls and is after vengeance.

The music of the anime is decent. The opening while sung by a female singer, is very powerful and the beat is pretty bombastic. The BGM also fit the atmosphere of the scene since the series has a lot of ups and down in terms of emotion. But while the scene by itself is emotional, the road that led to them isn’t very well-paved. At least, the OST department did a great job.

Overall, there’s not much to talk about Regalia other than it is very pretty and badass to look at. The action in the series make it worth sitting through the Slice of life and unexplained stuff (which there are a lot). The series’s high point make the series very hype during those moments. If you want to check out some amazing mecha beatdown, then Regalia is the regalia you’re looking for!

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