A Star Brighter Than the Sun (Japanese: 太陽よりも眩しい星, Hepburn: Taiyō Yori mo Mabushii Hoshi) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazune Kawahara. It began serialization in Shueisha's shōjo manga magazine Bessatsu Margaret in June 2021. An anime television series adaptation produced by Studio Kai aired from October to December 2025. A second season has been announced.
Contents
Plot
Sae Iwata and Koki Kamishiro are two teenagers who are childhood friends. One day, Sae, who has had a crush on Koki since they were young, discovers that he has become tall and popular just before their upcoming middle school graduation. Afterward, they attend the same high school as classmates. As such, Sae tries to navigate her feelings for Koki.
Characters
Sae Iwata (岩田 朔英, Iwata Sae)
Voiced by: Sayumi Suzushiro (PV), Minori Fujidera (anime) (Japanese); Isabella Crovetti (English)
Koki Kamishiro (神城 光輝, Kamishiro Kōki)
Voiced by: Shunsuke Takeuchi (PV), Yūki Ono (anime) (Japanese); Maxwell Donovan, Anjali Kunapaneni (young) (English)
Hisui Onodera (小野寺 翡翠, Onodera Hisui)
Voiced by: Hina Yōmiya (Japanese); Yuuki Luna (English)
Yota Ayukawa (鮎川 陽太, Ayukawa Yōta)
Voiced by: Taito Ban (Japanese); Stephen Fu (English)
Mio Kagawa (香川 美織, Kagawa Mio)
Voiced by: Mutsumi Tamura (Japanese); Anjali Kunapaneni (English)
Yushin Izawa (井沢 優心, Izawa Yūshin)
Voiced by: Ryōta Ōsaka (Japanese); Caleb Yen (English)
Subaru Kamishiro (神城 昴, Kamishiro Subaru)
Voiced by: Haruka Shiraishi (Japanese); Cherami Leigh (English)
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Kazune Kawahara, A Star Brighter Than the Sun began serialization in Shueisha's shōjo manga magazine Bessatsu Margaret on June 11, 2021. The series' chapters have been collected into fourteen tankōbon volumes as of May 2026. In May 2024, Viz Media announced that they licensed the series for English publication.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on February 10, 2025. It was produced by Studio Kai and directed by Sayaka Kobayashi, with series composition by Yasuhiro Nakanishi, characters designed by Jinfeng Zeng, and music composed by Natsumi Tabuchi and Miki Sakurai. The series aired from October 2 to December 18, 2025, on TBS and its affiliates. The opening theme song is "Stellar Days", performed by Motohiro Hata, while the ending theme song is "Saishin-wa" (最新話; 'Latest Episode'), performed by Wanuka. Amazon Prime Video is streaming the series worldwide. Following the airing of the final episode, a second season was announced.
Reception
The series was nominated for the 12th An An Manga Award in 2021. It later won the 14th edition in 2023. The series was also ranked eighth in the 2023 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook for the best manga for female readers. The series was nominated for the 50th Kodansha Manga Award in the shōjo category in 2026.