It can be hard to open yourself up to other people. We all have an inner voice, and some people can project that voice better than others. Sometimes, it's easier to think that no one in the world will be able to understand us, so why don't we look up to the stars and the great unknown instead? Sometimes, it's easier to think we're better off trying to find an alien to get along with than a fellow kid in our classroom. This whole idea of communication lies at the heart of Stardust Telepath. This is a story about a young girl who realizes that, ironically, it takes meeting an alien to discover that she arguably has everything she needs right in her backyard.

Stardust Telepath is the embodiment of a gorgeous-looking, feel-good anime. There technically is an overarching story about a young girl discovering an alien and promising to return said alien to her home planet, but that's more of a setup meant to act as the show's inciting incident. The series is about smaller events strung together by thoughtful character interactions. The setups are meant to expand upon this idea of characters learning to communicate with each other. One funny thing about the show is how it's very vague about the overall science-fiction/supernatural elements. Please don't go into this thinking that any of the questions about Yu, our aforementioned alien, will be answered. If it wasn't established that she could sense other people's feelings through touching foreheads together, she just came off as an overly eccentric girl, and I think the show works better by taking this approach.

If Stardust Telepath leaned too much into the science-fiction angle, it would undermine the overall message about how people are much more similar than we give them credit for. Our main cast comes from different walks of life, with the shy, quiet one, the eccentric oddball, the kind-hearted, supportive one, and the one that's a bit rough around the edges. It starts very trope-y in that regard, but I like how the story expands upon these archetypes to show that everyone has different issues communicating their real feelings to another person. We all have the anxiety of trying to make friends and make sure people hear what we say. It's a very relatable subject matter, and I think the show handles that setup exceptionally well outside of a little bit of lopsidedness.

The show favors Umika more, giving her the spotlight and highlighting those communicative issues. However, the show would've been stronger if it had pulled back a little bit and instead drew out other characters' communication issues. Matataki is handled well enough, with her rough exterior being a shield from hurting herself, but Yu and Haruno fall too much into the background until some of the final episodes of the season. Given the time the main cast spends with each other, there were ample opportunities to give other characters more of the spotlight.

Yu probably suffered the worst of this because although her presence moves the plot forward, she doesn't get that much focus as a character. In many ways, she's more of the group's mascot, and that's a shame because an episode or two focusing on what she might also be insecure about would have benefitted the series. There are hints of it, and you feel it, but you don't see it. Still, I think I only noticed that towards the end because the presentation and writing for the show were that strong. I found a lot of relatability in almost all of the girls, whether it was Umika's shyness or Haruno's insecurity about finding her dream. I didn't find as much relatability in the actual alien, and I'm debating whether that was supposed to be the point.

From a presentation standpoint, the show looks gorgeous. I love the gradient color palette of all the characters. While some designs, like Haruno's, are too simple for my taste, everyone else has something distinguishable about their character designs. The animation excels when it comes to the use of character expressions. Almost every episode has a different array of faces and reactions. None of it feels stuck, which is refreshing, and while the comedy didn't make me burst out laughing, I was smiling rather consistently from beginning to end.

The music is fine, but it falls a bit more into generic territory, with triumphant anthems when the girls are working on building their rockets and slow piano when the characters are feeling insecure. I think the opening theme had a good idea going for it, where the leitmotif sounded almost like Morse code, as if the song was trying to communicate with somebody in outer space. It's a great idea, and I think the Stardust Telepath would have benefited from carrying some of that over into the actual show. I will praise the voice acting, particularly from Yurie Funato as Umika. Her constant stuttering and changing inflections when talking nervously were believable. It's a strong display of vocal control that I can appreciate.

Slice-of-life anime are good when they hit that sense of relatability, even if you can't empathize with the situation's specifics. I've never met a girl claiming to be an alien, but I know what it feels like to be scared of interacting with others. I can also see the appeal in thinking that it would be easier to talk with an alien or, at the very least, glamorize that idea to the point where a person overlooks some of the obvious things around them. There is a sense of beautiful irony in a show about how sometimes it takes a random outside force for you to find a connection with others, and I think Stardust Telepath encapsulates that perfectly. It might not be a 10 out of 10, but an 8 out of 10 is still a good score. If you're a fan of beautiful-looking slice-of-life anime, I think this will be right up your alley.