Believe it or not, Nana is the most supportive member of the group. However, there is something about her that she is not hiding. I’ll give you one hint. It’s something like “Endless Eight,” but with “Starlight.”
It’s obvious that Nana has fond memories of performing on stage with her friends in the 99th Seisho festival. She holds the performance of “Starlight” close to her heart that she is afraid to let it go. She took a lot of photos during the 99th festival after performance party. Of course, this of course comes to an end since the new school year is about to start. Still, I like how Junna make sure she doesn’t embarrass herself as the new class representative. She does this by cleaning her classes.
After the new year started, she noticed that some students didn’t show up. Believe it or not, they called it quits because they either lost interest in or not cut out for it. Sadly, this upsets Nana since this means that the performance of “Starlight” that she holds dear will become different. Not only that, Maya calls Nana out for not trying to aim for the leading role. After all, each performance can’t be the same. I guess Maya sees potential in Nana, but she is disappointed in her for not putting in the effort.
Nana believes that nothing can top the performance of “Starlight” from the 99th Seisho Festival. She receives the call from the giraffe. It’s for an audition. After finding out about revues and the role of being top star from the giraffe on the bright stage, he asks her what stage she desires to be on. Yep, the light bulb inside her head lit up. She wants to be on the stage of “Starlight” from the 99th Seisho Festival.
Believe it or not, she ends up defeating Maya in the revues after deciding to participate. Maya becomes surprised that Nana became so serious all the sudden. Before she could ask her a question, the curtains fall, making Nana the victor. She uses the powers of being top star to create a ground hog day loop. Yes, she wants a repeat performance of “Starlight” at the 99th Seisho Festival.
I have to admit that this is starting to sound like “Endless Eight.” To me, this feels more like “Endless Starlight.” It’s obvious that Nana wants to protect her friends by repeating the same performance over and over again. She gets her wish as we see two loops in the 7th episode. In reality, there are many more loops. However, something changed before the next loop after so many passed by. She sees a dagger on the stage.
This time, her plan of having eternal repeat performances of “Starlight” might be coming to an end. Yes, it’s because Hikari showing up in the next timeline. Still, Nana is confident she can do another repeat performance. Still, I am not so sure about that. Even if you have the same crew, cast and story, the performances won’t be exactly the same. As they say, nothing in life stays the same. Nana should realize that by now, but she is afraid of change. The fear of losing her friends, especially when they eventually graduate. She finds that out the hard way sooner or later.
In the next episode, we find out more about Hikari’s back story. Sure, Karen and Hikari share the same dream of performing “Starlight” together. In other to get there, Hikari believes that she needs to go separate ways and study abroad in London.
Yes, Karen seems upset that Hikari is leaving her behind. She is only doing this because Karen relies on her too much. She eventually allows her to write letters without replying to them. With that, Hikari made the promise with Karen on that slide near the tower. Of course, the gift shop at the tower is where they got the hairclips as gifts for each other.
While Hikari worked hard at the academy, she couldn’t the first leading role. Hikari receives a call for an audition, where she learns about them from the giraffe. She participated in them, but she couldn’t beat Judy. It’s kind of sad that Hikari can’t even win first place in the auditions nor get the leading role. Of course, Hikari didn’t realize that she lost all her shine after losing the auditions against her.
Yes, Hikari started to feel melancholic as she wondered around London. She asked herself why she went to that school. After remembering Karen and the promise she made, she realizes that the auditions caused her to lose her shine.
However, she learns from the giraffe the truth of what happened. Of course, the birth of becoming the top star requires a measure of fuel, hence that shine. Yes, it’s starting to sound like Madoka Magica with the whole Soul Gem and entropy thing. Thankfully, Hikari has another chance to become the top star in Japan.
With that, she faces off against no other than Nana. While this revue seems challenging for Hikari, she defied all odds against her. After all, she realized that without Karen jumping in to protect her, she wouldn’t have made it far. During this battle, it’s when her dagger finally gets the powerup it needs to defeat Nana. Also, during that time, Karen defeats Claudine. Of course, Nana warns her that Hikari will eventually have to face off Karen. Still, I believe that there might still be a way that this won’t be the case.
Now that Hikari defeated Nana, Nana is well, upset. Her dream of having another repeat performance of Starlight from the 99th Seisho Festival is diminishing. With the girls working hard to make an even better performance of Starlight, Nana breaks down.
After standing there in the classroom filled with props, Junna finally comes. This is when Nana breaks down after she wants to protect what is precious to her. Yes, it’s her friends that she built the stage with together for the performance of “Starlight” she holds dear. Junna eventually mentions the giraffe while Nana talks about her desires of having repeat performances.
Now that Hikari transferred, Nana believes that what she worked so hard for is falling apart. Not only that, she doesn’t like how others call Junna Jun-Jun. As a result, Nana believes that the next version of Starlight won’t be her “Starlight” as she becomes upset at Junna.
I can understand that she wants the same performance to protect what is dear to her. She realizes that it’s not Hikari that changed her performances, but actually Karen. Nana starts questioning Karen during the performance. But yes, I was wrong all along. The person that resembles more of Homura is actually Nana all long and not Hikari. It always has been as she wants to protect Karen from performing “Starlight” with Hikari from the tradgic ending during her repeat performances. If Nana doesn’t win, she can’t protect Karen and her friends.
However, Karen thinks differently. She believes that stage girls become better every day. As a result, performances will never be the same. In a way, Nana is afraid of the future and too focused on the past. Eventually, Karen manages to defeat Nana. With that, the Endless “Starlight” of the 99th Seisho Festival finally comes to an end.
It’s obvious that Nana feels a bit down after her defeat. Junna tries to cheer her up after realizing that Nana protected her and her friends a long time. After reciting several quotes including her own, Nana started to laugh. She never saw Junna so happy. She realizes that change is not so bad after all. Junna also mentions the same things that Karen mentioned during her Revue. With that, Nana finally apologizes as she cries. Either way, I have to admit that this was a nice moment with Nana and Junna.
With that, I wonder how the auditions will end up. Also, I wonder how will Hikari and Karen rewrite the ending so that they can become top stars together. After all, “Starlight” has a tragic ending. We’ll find out soon enough with the final three episodes and a final review.
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