The Five Star Stories Movie

In 1989 I was lucky enough to get my hands on a raw copy of Mamoru Nagano's "The Five Star Stories" (ファイブスター物語). At the time I was blown away by the detail and colors in the animation - not since Megazone23 Pt. II had I seen such care taken in rendering both the characters and Mortar Headds (Nagano's name for the mecha). 

The Five Star Stories  takes place in the Joker Star Cluster. The cluster contains four stars: Eastern, Western, Southern and Northern. The 5th is a large comet named Stant that passes through the cluster every 1,500 years bringing with it a collection of orbiting planets. 

According to the story in the distant past,  the Farus Di Kanon Empire, now commonly known as the "Super Empire", controlled all 4 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 Galaxy. 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 is common and genetically engineered "fatimas" are well established as necessary co-pilots of the fearsome mortar headds that dominate the battlefields. Warfare between nations is commonplace and few still hope for peace.

Mortar Headds are the combat mainstays of the Joker Universe. They are mecha which require superhuman reflexes and skill to control, and are therefore only utilized by headdliners with Fatima copilots. Fatimas are humanoid creatures genetically engineered for a life of service on the battlefield. Fatimas are necessary copilots for mortar headds 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.