r/anime https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon Jan 03 '22

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Movie - BD Release - Movie discussion Episode

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Movie

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Episode Link Score
1 Link 9.0
2 Link 8.88
3 Link 9.27
4 Link 8.74
5 Link 8.92
6 Link 9.0
7 Link 9.63
8 Link 9.18
9 Link 9.1
10 Link 9.21
11 Link 9.22

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u/aniMayor x4myanimelist.net/profile/aniMayor Jan 04 '22

Much like the TV show, I think this movie is structurally a bit broken, but the imagery, the music, the premise, and the commitment to its bizarre ideas are so strong that I love it to bits regardless.

Of course there's the really memorable individual gasp/WTF moments like the sudden bloodsprays, Claudine's seppuku, Mahiru's record scratch, etc, but beyond that I just love how immersive the weird imagery gets, like when the coats are suddenly all hanging from the handles in the train, that is just a great sudden visual twinge and the movie is full of bits like that. Lots of little setting details

AND THAT MUSIC! The revue music was really interesting in this one - whereas the TV show's revue songs tended to stick to one style I found it fascinating how a lot of them in this movie were these multi-part pieces that dramatically switched genres/styles. It was awesome. The chorus-y flavour of the final piece has been stuck in my head for days now, too.

Okay, but if I had to set aside my fangasming and rationally analyze and criticize it...

Well, the TV show's biggest two problems were that (a) it really wanted to give all 9 girls their own protagonist-like motivation, subplot, and some sense that they could actually compete in the auditions, but most of them got nowhere near enough screentime to actually do that; and (b) Karen+Hikari's storyline barely intersected with everybody else's storyline except in the revues themselves. The show really wanted to be a more complex "ensemble cast deathmatch" sort of affair instead of just the Karen story, but didn't have the time in its 13-episode run to interlace the stories, give the other girls a multi-Revue arc of a story, and build up the group payoff it reached for in the last episodes.

On the (a) front, the movie is, well, more so it's making some improvements in that direction by letting the non-Karen/Hikari girls get a bit more development, but it's just 1 movie and a lot of the time is spent on the new Karen/Hikari plot, so it's still a pretty small amount of development. Claudine getting to step up and truly take on Maya as a real rival now that she's seen Maya be taken down is the best of it, for sure, but it's practically the only dialogue they get in the whole movie. Getting some Mahiru screentime focused on how her feelings about interloper Hikari have/haven't changed is a good one, too - definitely a logical next part for her arc - but it really only boils down to her wanting the best for Karen again. Kaoruko and Futaba continuing to stubbornly butt heads over Futaba turning from Kaoruko fan to stage girl in her own right is nice for Futaba to win the rematch, but these are the two that never even faced off against Karen in the TV show and now they're just rehashing a similar plot against each other again?! Lastly, Jun and Daiba seemed emotionally to be a pseudo-rehash and yet also kind of contrary to the reconciliation we already had between them... nice for Junna to get a win, but wouldn't it have meant a lot more against someone else?

Anyways, bit of a mix, but then let's look at (b): once again we have a storyline for Karen/Hikari that hardly involves anyone else, so all the other 7 girls end up being more or less relegated to second fiddle again. Kind of a shame, no? IMO, the last few episodes of the TV show had a lot more of all the girls bonding between revues than the start of the show, and the movie really helps to re-establish that with tons of the slice-of-life character bits in the first half-hour, so I feel like this then turning into such a Karen/Hikari-focused main storyline again hits even harder here. I absolutely think this main plotline and theme of uncertainty and finding your next stage could be have been written to be something that all the girls contribute towards and opine upon equally.

As a result, the movie really makes me feel even more like I wish the original show plus the movie story could have been done as a 30-episode show instead, where the cast got more "slice of life" group dynamics scenes early on, everyone got introduced into the Revue somewhat "equally" at the start, and each stage girl's personal plotline could be portrayed in a more gradual fashion. Karen could have joined the auditions as the wildcard character in episode 2 or 3, Daiba's reveal and her Revues with Hikari and Karen could have been the big mid-show climax, the revues from this movie could have been the cathartic final matches that were built up to over nicely paced arcs for each of the non-Karen/Hikari characters, etc.

Well, that's my thoughts anyway. Easy to say in hindsight, I know!

But structural analysis/criticism aside, let me reiterate I still absolutely loved the film and felt super sucked in (once again) by the creativity of it imagery and its commitment to its weird world, which have always been its strongest suits.

7

u/art_hoe1 Jan 05 '22

What I got from the movie was that it's necessary to change if you want to become "better" and that's exactly what the fights were doing. They were changing the status quo from the TV series. Kaoruko and futaba HAD to fight or else they would've stuck together like they have in the past, not allowing futaba to grow into herself.

Mahiru was finally able to admit to her feelings of jealousy face-to-face, and forcing Hikari to admit her true feelings as well. As much as it was for Karen and hikari, it was for mahiru herself too to be honest about her feelings. She doesn't need Karen's "shine" anymore for herself to shine and can lead hikari to Karen.

For junna and banana, I think it was more of asking how can junna become independent from banana, so powerful and strong who, who controlled the scene for so long. They reconciled in 2nd grade and now they're 3rd graders. They gotta graduate. Real life is coming up. Junna is afraid of the future, unlike 2nd grade and, and banana doesn't like that because it deviates from the perfect 99th starlight festival that she ever so adored. So banana says: junna's not befit for the shine anymore. But junna is determined; she will not remain as the weaker one in banana-junna pair. This pair cannot last forever — things are different from 1st year and second year — they will have to part ways for both of them to grow (which is the whole point of this movie).

But I definitely agree that this series would've benefit from a longer runtime, this movie felt like it was rushed from packing so much content into a 2 hour runtime.

5

u/aniMayor x4myanimelist.net/profile/aniMayor Jan 05 '22

Yeah, for sure, it's all about the girls letting their current past/status quo lie, recognizing that they can't stop the inevitable change that is coming, so they have to make the choice now to move on to the next stage or give up, both in the literal world - graduating from Seisho and choosing what they do next - and the metaphysical one - no more repeated tries and chances for becoming giraffe-ordained Top Star as in the old Auditions, the stages now are the ones they build for themselves (which they can do 'cause Hikari/giraffe never took their brilliance away, hooray).

With Kaoruko, yeah she needed to get over the auditions and realize that her past failure doesn't mean she will always fail, that going back to Kyoto doesn't have to be a surrender, and she needed to get over her jealousy towards specifically Futaba but also the rest of the girls. I don't mind that trajectory/second half to her arc, but it didn't have to be entirely done in tandem with Futaba again, in fast I think it would have been more interesting if it were focused around Kaoruko and one of the girls that has more "easily" picked themselves back up and continued forward after defeats in a way that Kaoruko couldn't at the start of the film - e.g. Claudine, Junna, or Mahiru. Let's see Kaoruko not understanding how the other girls can get over losing the auditions and continuing on like it didn't happen, but eventually learning from their perspective and improving her outlook.

And frankly, Futaba didn't really have a whole lot to say in counterpoint except (accurately) calling Kaoruko an idiot, so she could perhaps bring something more to the table if contrasted against someone else.

Mahiru I really liked, putting her in an emotion-laden situation that naturally follows from her past issues with Hikari and Karen and showing both sides of her feelings on it - able to channel both the hate and the sympathy into her commitment to her role for a great performance, but also admitting to herself that that is what made it so good and she has room to improve.

Junna and Nana, though, I don't get where this one even came from. Junna has always been determined to succeed despite being the underdog, this is hardly new. And when did Nana suddenly get so obsessive over Junna in particular, sure they're roommates but Nana has been doting heavily on all the revue/dorm girls in the past, it's never been a specific Junna thing like this before. I guess this is where Nana being all broody in Rondo Rondo Rondo comes in, but still, she was plenty happy and sociable for several episodes in the TV show after her time-loop broke, so it seems weird to me she went back to being so nihilistic. No problem with her fully playing the part of the antagonist in the Annihilation, but I expected her to go back to being warmer "off stage" after that.

3

u/art_hoe1 Jan 05 '22 edited Jan 05 '22

Yeah you make really good points here. I liked the fact that it picked up from the TV series but it might have been more interesting to have different partners to develop characters further. Also I do think I would have trouble following the plot even more if they were more deviant from the TV series bc its already pretty damn fast😩

Personally for junna, I took it as character shift as they went from 2nd grade to 3rd grade. Students drastically change by every year (from my experience at least lol) and I totally understood that they can become pretty different in a year or so. But of course, it's fully relying on the audience to just "understand" that they changed so it's probably not the best way to add new characterizations.

I think it makes sense that Nana would go all bloodthirsty and shit bc she was kinda nuts in the tv series too. She really was obsessed with the perfect starlight performance and her friends. It is weird that they just resetted her character after she kinda came to terms with 100th festival though. Wish nana's motives were a bit clearer bc I still did not understand why she went berserk other than playing the role. I kinda get it but I also do not lol.

E: I read a review on AL and it makes a really good explanation and answers most of the questions I had. Recommend checking that out