English Dub Review: A Star Brighter Than the Sun “A Star Without a Constellation”

“Don’t be a Coward!”

Overview

Worried about Subaru, Sae visits the nurse’s office. There, Kamishiro notices Subaru trying to act fine and offers to help during the school festival. Sae feels a twinge of loneliness, as she had planned to confess her feelings to him then. However, Kamishiro makes it clear that he will not be available during his reception desk shift with Sae.


Our Take

Picking up from the previous episode, Sae continues navigating her growing feelings for Kouki during the school festival, trying to balance her hopes with the insecurities that keep resurfacing. Her moments with him carry a mix of warmth and tension, especially as misunderstandings involving Subaru and Kamishiro quietly shape her perspective.

Surrounding characters like Subaru, Sui, Mio, and Ayukawa add layers of support, humor, and gentle pressure as the festival unfolds, each contributing to Sae’s emotional journey without crossing into spoiler territory. Small interactions—whether encouraging words from friends or fleeting glances with Kouki build a steady rhythm of anticipation. The direction leans into youthful vulnerability, especially with that damn cliffhanger, which leaves me to wonder if they’ll drag this longer than the average unrequited romance in a Black Clover episode…

Overall, this episode serves as a heartfelt buildup to a romantic turning point, emphasizing courage, misunderstanding, and the difficulty of voicing your true emotions while still highlighting the emotional stakes for Sae, Kouki, and those watching from the sidelines, capturing the messy sincerity of young love through Sae’s wavering confidence and well-intentioned confusion, and using each character’s presence to reinforce just how earnest, tangled, and relatable teenage feelings can be all while setting up a finale that promises clarity, resolution, and the emotional payoff the story has been steadily moving toward.