Back in 2018 when it aired, I haven’t had the chance to watch Revue Starlight. This is mostly because I didn’t have a Hidive subscription. However, I did play the mobile gacha game for at least for several months when it came out last year. That is without knowing what happened in the anime.
Since I have a good amount of free time before the onslaught of fall anime, I think it’s the best time to well, watch it.
The story focuses on a girl named Aijo Karen, who attends Seisho Music Academy learning theater. She apparently made a promise with her childhood friend Kagura Hikari to stand on stage of Starlight. Of course, the school has two groups, one that focuses on acting and the other on things like scripts, backstage, costumes, and the such.
If you can tell already, yes there are obvious pairings already. Mahiru is very close to Karen since she is her roommate. She is the one that looks after her. The funny thing is that when Hikari transfers to the school, Karen gets a bit excited that she wants to show her around. After all, during her childhood, they made a promise with each other.
The other notable pairings are Junna and Nana, and of course Maya and Caludine, which are more of rivals aiming to become the top star. This becomes very apparent in the third episode. Lastly, there is Futaba and Kaoruko, which is always together. Yes, Kaoruko rides on a motorcycle to school with Futaba in the second episode.
Sure, Mahiru gets a bit worried that Hikari decides to move in a separate room. The funny thing is that she changes her mind in the second episode. I guess this rivalry between Mihiru and Hikari to try to win Karen’s heart is eventually going to heat up. More on that later.
After school, Karen wondered where Hikari went off to. She eventually saw her going off somewhere and she followed her. She took an elevator that takes her to a strange place where she saw Hikari and Junna dueling in a revue on stage as stage girls while singing on stage using weapon of choice. Yes, they are basically auditioning to become the top star in a duel called a revue.
Karen with no idea what is happen decides to jump in to save her friend. She becomes a stage girl with an elaborate transformation scene. Believe it or not, she beats Junna with beginner’s luck. Of course, Hikari calls Karen an idiot for butting into her revue. Yep, it’s not the reaction that Karen is expecting. This can explain why Junna works even harder to prepare for a revenge match against Karen.
In the end, the talking giraffe now approves Karen’s participation in these auditions. Since they are secret, she can’t talk about them or she would receive a fine. Still, I wonder what kind of fine he is talking about. Not only that, what is the meaning behind these auditions besides finding out who will become the top star. Also, why is a talking giraffe judging these auditions. Yes, I guess a lot of viewers have these questions when a giraffe started to talk.
Moreover, it seems that Junna is not happy that Karen butted in. I guess this is a reason why Hikari changes her mind and move into Karen’s and Mihiru’s room. Basically, to look after her. Not only that, Karen can’t stop asking about the auditions. It’s not too surprising since Karen is still comprehending what happened yesterday. Even Junna warns her to not talk about it.
Obviously, Hikari doesn’t want Karen to participate in the auditions. She even asks the giraffe to take her out of the auditions. Of course, the giraffe refuses after playing a tape recording of Karen wanting to become stars with Hikari, together.
I guess at that point, Hikari is going to have to suck it up as Karen is not about to give up. Besides calling Karen an idiot again, Nana shows up with sweets made with Banana. I guess Karen and everyone else calling Nana “Banana” doesn’t come at a surprise because of this. Of course, Hikari turns it down.
Things gets very awkward when Junna pairs up with Karen. After Junna found out that Karen “crashed the gate”, she believes that Karen should receive the boot. Karen becoming able to participate without the giraffe selecting her upsets her. To make things worse, she accuses her for not taking it seriously. This happened before she collapsed. I guess she worked herself a bit too much trying to beat Karen. Then again, I would probably feel the same way if someone crashed in a competition and the referees allow them to participate without making the cut first.
From that, Hikari asks Karen after school to give up on these auditions. Of course, Karen isn’t giving up. Isn’t it obvious now? She wants to surpass everyone to make her promise a reality. I have a feeling that Hikari is starting to act like Homura to a certain extent trying to prevent Karen from participating in these revues. Unlike Madoka, Karen is already a stage girl. It’s already apparent that she is not going to listen to her. At some point, Hikari is going to have to accept it.
With that, a second round of auditions start. Junna faces a rematch against Karen again. While Karen faces some challenges, she manages to defat Junna again. I can understand why Junna is frustrated. No matter how studious she is, she could never break out. While she focuses on her studies, something sparks the desire to become a top star.
In the end, despite Junna’s determination, it seems that it’s not enough to beat Karen’s desire of being on the same stage with Hikari. Thankfully, Junna made up with Karen now that she beaten her fairly this time.
I guess this can explain why the graffe didn’t select Karen initially. I guess it’s because of that shared dream with Hikari. For Hikari, she feels a bit down for not being able to stop her.
Of course, Karen finds out the hard away that these auditions aren’t fun and games. As seen in the last scene in the second episode, Maya defeated her rival, Claudine for the top spot. Of course, Claudine becomes fustrated over being in second place. While Maya and Claudine like most rival pairings look like they make a good pairing, they obviously don’t get along.
The next day, it seems that Miharu is having trouble waking up Karen again. This is not too surprising given what happened yesterday. As expected, Junna chastises Karen for being late and Karen greeted her using her new nickname. I guess Miharu doesn’t know what happened to them, especially since Junna got a bit angry a few days before.
With that, it seems that the class received the proposal for next year’s Seisho festival. Yes, everyone becomes surprised that Nana is not performing on stage this time but working behind the scenes. It seems that she wants to change things up by working on the scripts. Sure, Karen seems disappointed, but I guess Nana wants to shake things up. Still, I find it funny how everyone started bribing her with candy.
As expected, Hikari acts cold towards Karen as she takes the banana muffin and walks away. The funny thing is that she locks Karen in an equipment shed tied up and she doesn’t know why. It’s obvious. It’s obvious that Hikari doesn’t want Karen to participate in the auditions. Still, I find it funny how Hikari left that banana muffin she took as Karen’s dinner. Sadly, Karen escaped while Hikari had a day off for auditions. Yep, she couldn’t even stop her. I guess she will find out the hard away that idealism is not enough to become the top star.
With that, on the third day of auditions, Karen faces of Maya. Maya had a nice entrance. To put things short, Maya essentially curb stomped Karen. It’s not too surprising since she is very talented. She even played the leading role in the last Seisho festival. Even to Claudine’s frustration, she can’t even defeat her.
Meanwhile, Hikari during that time tried to intervene, but she ended outside of the school. Shortly after, Karen walked out of the school after losing against Maya. Yep, Hikari wasn’t happy and slapped her in the face calling her an idiot again. Still, I wonder why she really doesn’t want her to participate in them. Is the reason of her suddenly returning to Japan after 12 years behind this? We’ll find out eventually.
Also, it seems that Claudine had an interesting moment with Futaba as she cleaned the training room. Futaba warns her that she will hurt herself if she doesn’t wipe the floor properly. Out of the blue after Futaba cleaned the floor a bit, she starts dancing with her after she asks her if Maya is her rival.
Eventually, we find out that Futaba looks up to Maya. Now, she wants to try to become the top star. The funny thing is that Claudine faces off Futaba in the third day of auditions. While Claudine beats Futaba despite giving her best, it seems that Futaba took the defeat well.
Even so, I still kind of feel bad for Miharu. It’s obvious that she wants Karen to have the leading role while she has a supporting role. She wants to get closer with Karen since she apparently has strong feelings for her.
Sadly, with Hikari in the picture and Karen trying to spend all her time with her, it’s obvious that at some point, the jealousy inside Miharu will build up. I won’t be surprised if Miharu faces off Hikari in a revue. I think that this is inevitable. Aside from that, the first three episodes are interesting, and I can’t wait to watch more.
So you finally decided to delve into the world of Stage Gays. #Wakarimasu.
Yes, it’s bound to happen, but it should be fun.