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Revue Starlight (TV)




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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 1:50 pm Reply with quote


Revue Starlight (TV)

Genres: drama, psychological
Themes: duels, school, swordplay, yuri

Plot Summary: [quote]"Starlight" is the song and dance revue troupe loved throughout the world. Karen and Hikari make a promise with each other when they're young that one day they'll stand on that stage together. Time passes, and now the girls are 16 years old. Karen is very enthusiastic about the lessons she takes every day, holding her promise close to her heart. Hikari has transferred schools and is now away from Karen. But the cogs of fate turn, and the two are destined to meet again. The girls and other "Stage Girls" will compete in a mysterious audition process to gain acceptance into the revue.
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I wasn't too sure about this show at first but wow, after seeing the performance in the second half, it blew me away.

Incredible animation and chereography. I loved the style of the performance in general with its own unique storytelling. The character outfits looked fabulous too and made an impression that I really thought stood out by itself.

"We aill all be Starlight!"

I have a feeling this is just a tip of the iceberg and we'll see even more surprises. Great start.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15462
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 10:09 pm Reply with quote
Shocked
What?

It can take a lot to really surprise me, this is anime after all, but talking giraffe got me. It was like they thought what the most awkward animal would be.

I was already interested by the standard drama stuff, that is drama as in their performance arts, but their personal drama also had me interested, a good yuri aspects can do that. But the magic, or whatever it was when they boosted up the action, now that was intriguing.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15462
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 4:21 am Reply with quote
Episode 2

Had a thought, that this show is kind of like Symphogear. There are song battles, the main character is a sort of airhead who is about friendship, who goes to a music/drama/arts academy and the main character's roommate is totally in love with her. There is also secret things hidden underneath the school.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5827
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 2:46 pm Reply with quote
I first thought this would be like an idol show, but you are right; it is more like Symphogear, with a bit of Utena in it.

So far it has got my attention and I will be watching.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15462
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 12:56 am Reply with quote
Episode 12 (finale)

The show was not bad, but a comment I have is that it is far too indirect. I can't quite tell where symbolism starts and ends in this show, for what are actual events, because the characters often don't react to things in a way that seems reasonable if it is literal. I did find early on from a YouTuber a key to figuring out major imagery, which was of a spotlight, which is what was significant to the shape of the giraffe and of Tokyo tower, that a lot could be deciphered as battle for the spotlight. But including with its resolution, it is hard to understand what the solution was, for all the talk about sharing it, and what changed for Hikari. Maybe the rewrote the ending, but that hardly uniquely interesting for how much energy it seemed to put into it all. It did seem to maybe come from Karen affecting the stage to create stairs, but I don't think it is as well put across as it should.

It was kind of explained that the winners of the battles should be the girl who is able to take command of the stage, able to turn it to their ends. And while many of the girls, especially noticeable in battles that Karen had against them, showed such elements, Karen never really seemed to do such, she just seemed to swing her sword without really changing the environment. Up until the end where she somehow reverses her button breaking, and creating another giant platform to join together, along with the Tokyo Tower, which in terms of elements of her character up until this point, seem out of nowhere. I am no expert on thing, but I kind of feel like there was a bit of laziness in terms of showing Karen's, I guess I would say side. Kind of feels like the best element to show Karen's plight in the battles, along with what the other girls did, Karen should have influenced the environment, maybe with it kind of showing a way she would put spotlight on both of them, and something like it blinds the opponent due to surprise, and she wins.

Which goes to say that I started off saying that it was too indirect, but I think it could have leaned harder into metaphors for the narrative. Maybe a little bit more to feel like there was a flow between the battles, and the everyday stuff. I know from watching some reviews, that the show was pretty smart, and I don't want to not acknowledge that, but a number of ways it did things in actin just left me kind of losing interest. Some story elements were pretty good, like Mahiru's dependence fed on low self confidence, and Banana's extreme nostalgia. Banana was kind of the more interesting character, that it kind of feels like she was thrown to the side towards the end, for the conflict that I am not really sure about. I kind of want to know what could be the deal with Banana winning so much in the battle of spotlights, that was the revues, with how the part she plays is kind of out of the spotlight, and how that might contras in battle to Karen's philosophy. If it was displayed, I don't think it was effective enough.

Don't want to be too down on the show, I did like the times that it could be really cool, such as the transformation sequence, and when characters could create a big presence. In a way, it makes me think of Kill la Kill could play with things in creating a big presence to a character, along with the sort of masculine/feminine magical girl/swordswoman thing. I give Revue Starlight a rating of Good (7/10), it is worth seeing, and I am interested if something could be ironed out a bit better. Which makes me think back on how I thought earlier on that this was reminding me of Symphogear, and that show already had its work in multiple seasons in getting the battle performance thing done.
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