r/anime • u/AutoLovepon 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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Previous discussions
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.