SHOUJO☆KAGEKI REVUE STARLIGHT

DESCRIPTION

CAST

SPECIAL MusicShoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Specials
MANGA ComedyShoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight: The LIVE - SHOW MUST GO ON
ONA ComedyShoujo☆Conto All Starlight
MANGA MusicShoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Overture
MOVIE ActionShoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight: Rondo Rondo Rondo
MOVIE ActionShoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Movie
MANGA ComedyButai Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight: The LIVE Seiran - BLUE GLITTER
MANGA ComedyShoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Comic Anthology: Nine Stories
MUSIC DramaAfuregu!: Aufregendes leben
TV SHORT ComedyRebirth

REVIEWS

• 

  planetJane

  98/100
  And it will be bestowed upon you. The star you have longed for.

  This review extensively spoils the reviewed material. Familiarity is advised before reading further.

  ---

  I AM REBORN
  
  For about twelve minutes of its first episode, it seems like Revue Starlight will be a perhaps interesting, but fairly run-of-the-mill high school dramedy about the classes in a boarding theatre school. A somewhat novel premise to be sure, but not anything groundbreaking. Then, at the episode’s halfway mark, protagonist Karen presses the “down” button on an elevator she’s never seen before, and nothing is the same ever again. What follows is an incredibly exciting (and more than a bit surreal) sequence involving a massive secret stage underneath the academy, where a pair of Karen’s classmates duke it out as part of an “audition” process with what appear to be very real weapons, while singing, in a scene that will likely remind newcomers of Symphogear as much as anything else. Karen, alone in the “audience” for this performance, is lectured by a giraffe who pops out of nowhere and begins talking about the necessary sacrifices one makes to achieve stardom, and seemingly taunts our protagonist, who then climbs onto the giraffe’s neck, and launches herself into the fray below into what can only be described as an industrialized version of a magical girl transformation sequence, as her costume is built prop by prop, piece by piece, button by button. Then, we get this, in what became in mere hours the opening episode’s defining shot.

  

  It’s breathtaking. You do not get that kind of knock-you-on-your-ass punch very often, not from anime and not from anything. It’s a pretty bold display of directoral prowess, and what is perhaps most amazing is that it’s director Tomohiro Furukawa’s first series at the helm. What is less surprising is that Furukawa has an impressive non-directorial resume, spanning everything from the whacked-out Mawaru Penguindrum to standard shonen fare like Bleach and Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal. Even as its impacted is ever so slightly lessened by its repetition in later episodes (is it really a magical girl transformation sequence if it’s not later used to save time?), it remains a striking image.

  You could be forgiving for assuming that something like this simply must have sprung fully-formed from nowhere as a work of auteurship, that kind of narrative is still common, but the truth is that Revue Starlight the anime is only one facet of a surprisingly large franchise with roots in, in something likely quite foreign to western anime audiences, the country’s thriving live-action musical theatre scene. It’s sort of impossible then, to talk about Revue Starlight the anime without at least mentioning Revue Starlight the stage show, which it is an adaption of. To understand Revue, and developments over the rest of the series, you have to understand that first. It’s an intimidating proposition, Japanese theatre (specifically the Takarazuka Revue, whose academy the setting of Starlight is based on, and an alumnus of which is responsible for the Starlight stage play) has its own entirely separate fan culture and the scene itself dates back over a century, it’s a cultural wellspring that Utena director Kunihiko Ikuhara has drawn from, and given the aforementioned pedigree of this series’ director--Tomohiro Furukawa--it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it’s a heavy influence here too. Revue Starlight the anime revolves in part, itself, around the annual school production of an in-series play called simply Starlight. There’s a lot of theatre in here, for many viewers it is going to be their first window into this world.

  Take this as an admission then that you’re not going to get the full story here--you simply can’t. It's perhaps unusual to "break" a review in this manner, but, to get the full breadth of the Takarazuka-inspired thematics behind Revue Starlight, I strongly recommend Swedish youtuber Andrea Ritsu's youtube videos on the subject. Do be aware, some of the episodes delve into rather heavy subject matter.

  The Women Merely Players
  
  So that’s the cultural background, but what about the actual plot? Revue takes what is always a pretty big risk for single-cour shows, and is slow to reveal its hand. The first six episodes are primarily focused on single characters and explore the dynamics between them, every member of the primary cast gets a focus episode (though some split their episode with another, the show is not shy about pairing characters up) and for the most part the central question of just what, exactly, is going on with the underground stage is danced around or just flat-out ignored, in favor of getting us to care about the cast. These characters include, in brief:

  

  -Aijo Karen; the aforementioned protagonist. Plucky, childhood friends with Hikari who she made a promise to become a stage star with. Karen falls loosely within the storied “idiot hero” archetype, though she’s not nearly as dumb as you’d at first think. Utterly obsessed with the in-universe Starlight play.

  

  -Kagura Hikari; Karen’s childhood friend. Transfer student, very mysterious, and for the first half of the series the character elaborated upon the least.

  

  -Tsuyuzaki Mahiru; Karen’s roommate. A rural girl with a warm personality and an absolutely massive crush on Karen.

  

  -Daiba “Banana” Nana; A motherly sort of girl who oversees the production of the Starlight play. She has an interesting secret, too.

  

  -the class president, a studious sort who envies her more naturally-gifted classmates.

  

  -Hanayagi Kaoruko; A haughty rich girl who has trouble doing much for herself. Dating Futaba.

  

  -Isurugi Futaba; A rather butch motorcyclist who Kaoruko relies on heavily. Dating Kaoruko, also.

  

  -Saijou Claudine; Half-Japanese Half-French ojou type, perpetually frustrated at always playing second fiddle to Maya.

  

  -Tendo Maya; The ace of the 99th class. The Top Star-to-be by all reasonable metrics.

  

  -Finally, there is The Giraffe; the mysterious arbiter of the underground revues, about whom rather little is known.

  The first half of the show explores these characters in detail, as mentioned. Then, at the series’ halfway point, Episode 7 is very different, and it is here that the show begins to take a different turn.

  Unreachable & Dazzling
  
  It does begin as a character episode as well, focusing on Daiba “Banana” Nana, a member of the cast who, in what turns out to very much not be an accident, has largely played a supporting role up to this point. Banana is, for the cast’s first year at the academy, the stage director. As such, her primary job isn’t to act herself but to set the play up. She is the character easily most distanced from the fight for the top star at the beginning of the series, which makes her turn here all the more surprising.

  After the first part of the episode--which finds the class performing their version of Starlight much to her delight, and graduating from their first year at the academy--Banana ends up at the underground stage, where she is confronted by the Giraffe and talked into auditioning.

  

  It’s also worth noting that this is easily the most heartless and sinister the underground revue looks up until this point.

  She wins--easily, in fact--even trouncing Maya, who until now has been framed as untouchably above everyone else in the auditions. As the top star of the auditions, we learn that she is (effectively, though the series doesn’t put it in these words) entitled to a wish, and it is the wish she makes that effectively turns the series on its head. It’s the kind of shock moment that lent infamy to Madoka’s head chomp. Banana’s only wish is for her class to perform the play at the end of last year again. Her wish is granted, and she is sent back in time.

  It’s almost too classic, but the execution is too good to not give it the credit it deserves. Banana has spent the entire series being built up as a rather passive, supporting character, to learn that that was deliberate on her part is a wrench to the gut. Moreover, we find out that the loop we’ve been watching is not the first, and the final moments of the episode allude to the idea of Hikari as some kind of disrupting agent, a girl Banana doesn’t actually recognize from how many dozens of times she’s locked herself in this circuit. It’s really hard to pull off this kind of complete 180 reframing of a character, to take Banana from being one of the show’s most likable characters to the closest thing among the class to an actual villain (no matter that this doesn’t last, that’s honestly just not the point) isn’t just gutsy, it’s risky, the kind of twist that poorly pulled-off could completely tank the show. Here, that it works so well is a testament to the strength of Revue’s writing.

  

  But above all that, it ties the show’s thematics together nicely. The central struggle--for all of the girls at the academy--is to be the top star, but Revue seems to push us toward this idea being inherently flawed. The Giraffe speaks of an ultimate, blindingly brilliant stage that defies all expectation, and transcends into sublimeness. This is a struggle that ultimately pours out of Revue itself and indeed the entire medium altogether.

  All of that, though, is just part of Revue’s general critique of the Takarazuka system and competition in art in general. Something we’ve not mentioned thus far is that Revue treats stage glow--”radiance” or “glimmer” as its variously rendered in subtitles, star power as it’s probably more commonly known--as a literal, supernatural force.

  So a central question is raised then, if the Top Star system isn’t valid, what is? This struggle defines both Nana’s character arc, and, later, Hikari’s. The ninth episode gives us something of an answer, for Banana’s character arc is resolved there. If there’s no point in freezing a perfect “peak” in time forever, then, Revue postulates, maybe there is one in the simple act of change. This isn’t a new idea in anime--”the power of friendship” is kind of a cliche, in fact--but the specific execution here and the heavy ties to the theme of the rest of the series make it stand out nonetheless.

  Revue Starlight
  
  The rest of the series follows suit on that same note. The 8th episode gives us Hikari’s backstory. We learn that in her old school in London, there was another underground revue, which she lost, causing her to lose her “glimmer” (again, the series treating star power as a literal force), and contains some amazing visuals (including a fight with Banana), but it’s really the 10th and 11th that start to drive the series home. The 10th episode has a masterfully done two-on-two duel between the pairs of Karen and Hikari and Maya and Claudine, and ends with an apparent betrayal, as Karen and Hikari are forced to briefly “fight” each other, and Hikari cuts off Karen’s button in a single strike.

  Things aren’t as they seem of course. The 11th episode sees Hikari finally breaking the system by refusing the Giraffe’s offer of a stage of destiny. Unfortunately, what this seems to do is imprison her in the underground revue, as we learn at the episode’s end. As a side note, after the credits, we’re treated to the surreal image of Hikari, naked and trembling in a pink desert, with the Tokyo Tower toppled behind her.

  

  The final episode is hard to even talk about with objectively-minded, critical language. It is a poem, it is a play, it is a song, it a story. Cursed Hikari constructs candy stars of pink sand, stacking them to the sky, they are toppled by the two blood-red prop stars that hang from the Underground Revue’s ceiling. She repeats, chanting lines from Starlight itself, over and over, to see a character so strong rendered so weak by this Sisyphean task is heart-rending. Then, again, like she did in the first episode, Karen leaps in to save her. First failing, then again, and then….

  The Tokyo Tower itself rendered in miniature crashes through the stage, an endless cycle broken, the tragedy of Starlight straightened out, fixed, snapped by the sheer will and love of the redheaded stage girl. The Greek Chorus Giraffe screams in awe, maybe you scream in awe. I told you it was hard to talk about.

  If Revue Starlight is not, maybe, the best anime of 2018, it is the one with the best finale. The ending drives a stake through the heart of cheap melodrama. No stage girl, no girl, no girl who loves another girl, dies at the end of Revue Starlight. The Giraffe is shocked, as minutes before this he actually breaks the fourth wall (perhaps we can call this a stage whisper?) to point out that we, like him, are the audience, and all this reverie and tragedy is for our benefit. Leaving the show on that note would’ve been a very easy thing to do. Lesser series have done it and been praised for doing so. Here, Karen destroys the very possibility, demolishing the stage Hikari is trapped on with the Tokyo Tower, and lying to bed the idea that a story built around something like this has to end in tragedy.

  The very, very end promises a new beginning, directly from the characters’ mouths.

  Sure enough, to bring us back to reality, there are many plans for Revue Starlight. It was conceived as a multimedia franchise after all, a mobile phone game is on the way, multiple manga are currently running, more iterations of the live action show are in the works.

  Here is the secret, though.

  Even if none of that was so. Revue Starlight forces you by the simple sheer brilliance it shines with, that this is the new story now forever. The game has changed, there is before Starlight, and there is after Starlight. Tragedy for the sake of tragedy is dead.

  Is that actually true? Time will tell, but for a few moments at the end of the series, as the curtain literally drew closed on the 12-episode odyssey, I believed it. Those moments, in of themselves, are a testament to the fact that anime as a medium still has endless potential to awe, dazzle, and thrill.

  Does the show have flaws? Certainly, nothing is perfect--there are some dips in animation quality in non-action scenes, some reused cuts, it’s been poured over many times by the time this review will go up that the French in the series is pretty terrible, and so on, but these are not major issues. Certainly, series that are not nearly this ambitious have been given a pass for much less. Let the stage bring you some joy, it’s good for you.

  At the end of the day. We, just like the Giraffe, are the audience. The girls of Revue Starlight perform for us, and we should all be so lucky to have a front-row seat.

  ---

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• 

  Necokeniii

  79/100
  It's not just about the performance, it's about shining as bright as you can!

  I'm a simple man, I see anime about cute girls doing cute things, I'm sold. The trailer sold me, I was initially thinking is this victorious the anime, a performing arts series where the main character wants to be the best performer. I was half right, the series is about girls at a performing arts schools competing for the top spot, top star! The only downsides I can see to the show is the slow start and how certain characters just feel they exist just to fulfill a quota.Let's not forget how karen seems obsessed with hikari chan, if you take out hikari chan, it could be a TOTALLY DIFFERENT STORY.

  I like the characters' desire to be the top star and how each girl defined what being top star meant for them. The main character defines top star is being the best with her childhood friend, it was cliché yet cute. The show gave the impression early on, there can be ONLY ONE top star, meaning all the girls in class 99 must fight each other for the spot as top star. However karen seems set on changing this ideal, each girl fighting to prove their way of performing is superior. I initially thought what else is there to the show, then we were introduced to the revue, it's an audition battle royale type performance that decides the ranking of the girls. I really like how each girl could be a lesson or trope when it comes to be a performer, you got the person who is #1 but feels like they still haven't reach their peak or person who wants to prove her style is the best.

  This audition seems to happen in the basement of the school, it feels symbolic. The girls are in one way or another directly and indirectly competing with each other, in each episode we get a better understanding of each pairing.The girls live in a dorm where they learn how to be actors, singers and performers shining brighter and brighter. Karen changed when her best friend from childhood appears, reminding her of her promise to be top stars with her. I didn't like hikari because she acts like a tsundere for LITERALLY no reason and even when I saw the reason in the episode focused on the events that led to her transferring to karen's school, I liked her a little bit more. Even compared to the other duos, it felt forced and annoying for the sake of plot.At least Kaoruko and Futaba Isurugi made some change after their episodes concluded.

  This story was truly a one of a kind journey, each of the girls made me think about how it feels to be a creative. Even if you have talent, skills or motivation, you can still feel pressure from EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. I feel the revue is a social commentary for how talented people can get stuck in a loop or rut, they didn't plan for the situations they ended up in. However after fighting their best friends, they change and realize what they are missing or lacking as an performer. I really relate to the trials and tribulations of being a creative. All in all, it wasn't the best thing I saw but it was a fun experience watching week to week!

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• 

  byrne

  87/100
  A show which manages to be silly and dramatic, fantastical and heartfelt, without losing touch of what makes it fun

  __Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight__

  At first this show seems like an unholy mess staplered together into a cute-girls anime. Or is it a musical? There’s a transformation sequence? Wait, so they’re physically fighting? Huh, a giraffe? But beyond the original confusion, you’ll find an endearing story of growth which packs as much fun as it has emotional weight.

  

  The story centers around Karen, a student in a prestigious music academy. When a childhood friend transfers into the school, with whom she had made a childhood promise, her world is stirred to motion. Karen is brought into a musical (and possibly magical) audition called revue, vying for the position of top star through song and dance (and a bit of fighting). By its premise alone, it sounds like a wacky twist on the idol formula.

  As someone who generally dislikes idolesque male-targeted all-female shows, I expected to be put off, but boy was this show a complete surprise. For me, its success boils down to how it manages to appeal to various audiences without compromising the show as a whole. To those who simply want an all-girls anime will find plenty of shippable relationships. Those who crave action will find its revue fight scenes dynamic. There is plenty of drama featuring characters better developed than the show would lead you to believe. The show works in each of those layers. But what sets it apart, is how all those layers builds up on each other to form a fascinating narrative.

  We are introduced to the characters, their wishes, and see how their relationships are affected by pursuing their goals. We see them deal with problems of jealousy, the pressure of remaining ahead, the feeling of being left behind, the fear of moving forward. And the revue reflects all of that. The way each character fights shows their personality, each revue insert songs carries their character and struggles so well. It's something both set design and cinematography also conveys well.

  

  Oh, and did I forget to mention that they look gorgeous.

  The show invest needed time in showing how each individual characters progress, making each development believable while also sowing the seeds of future conflicts. When an arc reaches its climax, we understand why things go where they do. It doesn’t feel rushed. This respect for its characters is what makes the show stands out, and it does so without bogging down the narrative as a whole. So by the time the show nears its conclusion, we have a good understanding of why each character performs.

  The show treads a fine line between goofy day to day life, moments of serious character development, and the dramatic tone if its revues. It’s a balancing act that holds out well all the way to its final episodes.

  Here’s a pretty spoiler heavy look into one of many character arcs in revue starlight, and why it works

  One of the best example of the show’s structure is how they develop the character of Daiba Nana narratively and visually, while integrating her arc into the overall narrative.

  The first impression we’re left with of Nana is one of passivity, a support character if there ever was one. She doesn’t stand out among her peers, except to support others in time of need. To top it off she has decided to focus more in the production group, further removing herself from competition.

  During episode 5 where Karen and Mahiru duels, we are shown the rest of the cast, each engaged in their own revue. What’s important is that Nana is not shown. We’re meant to believe that she is harmless, that her very participation in the revue is to be ignored.

  But she is not harmless. In fact, compared to Karen’s measly ninth, she is third.

  

  Hints of her involvement are shown during Karen and Maya’s duel, a hilt of a sword, inconspicious enough, but upon closer inspection something we’ve yet to seen in any previous revues.

  

  If you’ve seen the opening then you’ll realize that the only one wielding that particular weapon is harmless, supportive Nana.

  

  This illusion of harmlessness is further put to question by the end of episode 6, where she engages in an ominous monologue regarding the course of the revue.

  Then we learn more. The next episode starts with the 99th starlight, the same one Mahiru and Maya recalls before, but this time from Nana’s perspective. It is now clear how precious this particular production of Starlight is to her. Next Nana is shown taking pictures of her environment and her friends. Innocent enough, until we learn later on the root desire behind these actions. She wants to preserve these moments. When she’s brought into the revue, she given the chance to grant her wish. To this end, she fights with a ruthlessness which stuns even Maya, whom we’ve ascertained to be the strongest competitor. In return for winning, Nana is allowed to relive the previous year.

  

  Right about here, we realize how terrifying she really is

  While the implication this has on the narrative is huge (we go from a surreal anime, to full-on magical show), what is also huge is the implication on Nana’s character. No longer the passive side character, she is someone who is willing to trap everyone in time in an attempt to preserve her starlight. With each repetitive victories, she shows what she is willing to do to keep her time on loop.

  

  In fact, she repeats time so much that this tree had the chance to grow AND wither

  Hints of this obsession manifests even in the very first episode. From a nostalgic remark to her opposition to the change in the 100th starlight. Moments like these are present in every episode. Offhand dialogues or visual cue that seem innocent enough, but in hindsight hints at an important character development. And this applies to all the major characters.

  In a show where everyone competes, Nana’s drive serves as the perfect antithesis of Hikari’s, and by extension Karen’s struggle to improve and advance. Let’s discuss episode 8, where her arc and Hikari’s merge. Here she is the antagonist, though by no means a villain. She opposes the protagonist, Hikari, but not due to malicious intent. In fact, through the preceeding episodes, we understand her frankly symphatethic reasoning. She’s unwilling to move on. She tells Hikari that what she’s doing is for their collective good, but we know there’s more to it. The 99th Starlight was the time of her life. Nothing in her life had shone as bright, and nothing, so she fears, will ever shine as bright. She fought to protect the certainty of her Starlight, and she will not let Hikari lead her into an uncertain future. This culminates in what is arguably the series’ best revue.

  

  “I’ll protect those important to me, no matter how many times…” –Nana, Re:create

  And this isn’t even Nana’s episode, it is Hikari’s. The episode serves to set up Hikari as a character of her own, and it does so while integrating Nana, about whom we learned in the previous episode, as the perfect opposition, the one hurdle Hikari must overcome in order to rediscover her passion.

  After her defeat, the revue slips further from Nana’s grasp. She becomes noticeably somber. Finally she snaps, openly voicing her fears, to the surprise of those who knew her only as the ever cheerful Banana.

  

  But this is much Karen’s episode as it is Nana’s. We are shown the story of Starlight, reaffirming Karen’s resolve to perform it with Hikari.

  In Nana and Karen’s revue she grows more desperate as the time she sought to preserve drifts further away, which is reflected in the tone of the insert song.

  “change brings about tragedy!” – Nana, Hoshiboshi no Kizuna

  Then comes the final confrontation. Karen arguing for progress, as Nana begs for things to stay the way they were. The insert song chimes in, echoing their respective voices.

  

  “I want to deliver you this newborn star.” –Karen
  “I just want to treasure and protect you.” –Nana, Hoshiboshi no Kizuna

  Following her defeat, Nana’s arc wraps up nicely with a dialogue with Junna, where she reconciles with her actions and accepts her past experiences, now truly in the past, as a part of her. After a good cry, she is ready move forward. 1 point for character arc, 1 point for the Junna-Nana ship.

  And mind you, all this for someone who is technically a side character.
  
  That’s not to say that the show is not without its faults. The few words of spoken french are jarring to hear. But then again so is most spoken english in any anime. While the show may seem too absurd at times, it never gets in the way of the overall narrative, as long as you don’t question the details. Things like..

  So are they, like, allowed to kill each other?

  Is the stage of fate a hidden part of the school, or does it materialize every time?

  Is the academy secretly aware of the revues? Are the teachers the previous victors?

  Are the revues actually battle duels, or only interpreted as such?

  Do Karen not take fall damage?

  How are you supposed to cut a rope with a mace?

  Which schools gets to have a revue? Does the giraffe select the school based on students, curriculum or accreditation?

  Are all giraffes sentient magical beings? Are all of them evil?

  If the tree is able to grow, does it mean the stage of fate exists in a separate time plane?

  How old is Banana?

  In summary, Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight is many things. A high school drama, an action musical, a cute-girls show, a story of growth. It does each of these things well. But most of all it manages to be ALL these things very well without seeming pretentious.

  Is this show a fun watch? Yes. Is this show good? More than it should be. Do I recommend this show? Absolutely.
  ``

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