#i feel like the revue starlight girls could pull through

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

09/29/2024 – 10/05/2024

Sunday

Week 34 of missing Cipher Academy

UNDEAD UNLUCK WE ARE SOOOOOOOO BACKKKKKKKK LET’S GET THESE FIGHTS ROLLING

Today was the last day of the mobile game Revue Starlight Re LIVE. I’ve been working for the last two months to archive the game’s story, and I’d been working on the wiki for this game for almost three years before that. Revue Starlight is one of if not my favourite anime of all time, and everything about it has irrevocably changed my life. The game’s been with me for the past six years. It’s become an integral part of my life – not just playing it, but thinking about it and documenting it and talking about it with others. Getting excited over datamines and theorycrafting about what could be next. Planning out troupe strategies and coordinating with my teammates. Waking up every six hours to use up my stamina for events or tearing my hair out over difficult stages. Saving for months and months until I could pull for my favourite girls in the gacha. Logging in every day without fail, at night or in the morning or at noon or in the afternoon. Playing while I ate or watched YouTube or listened to music or updated the wiki. I literally scheduled my life around wiki updates like a rock embedded in a tree that learned to grow around it. Even when people complained about the gacha system or the events, I always loved it. I love everything about it, even now. My only regret is that I never really got to read any of the stories. I always thought I’d do it eventually…I always thought I’d have more time. Archives exist, of course, and there’s a private server in the works, but it won’t ever be the same as having the game on my phone or tablet and being able to carry it with me wherever I went. As having it in my life every single day. Hopefully I’ll still be able to carry it with me, but just in my heart from now on. I love Revue Starlight Re LIVE so so so so so much, and I’ll miss it every day.

Monday

Finished Makeine and it was a pretty fun show. I really liked the Cultural Festival arc, even if it ended a bit messily – Nukumizu forcibly taking over the President role for Komari even though it was entrusted to her was never going to go over well, and it almost comes off as forcing Komari to admit defeat that she’ll never be good enough to do it… But that scene where she bares her feelings through text was really well done, and I can accept some teenage drama messiness where there really wasn’t a winning solution to be found. I probably won’t read the manga (unless they never make more of the anime, in which case I’ll wait until the light novels end and then see if I feel like reading Nukumizu and Anna’s slow burn romance), but the anime was a great watch and a 8/10 for me.

Tuesday

Nothing

Wednesday

Nui ni Koishite mo Ii desu ka? updated with its last chapter and man…I really wish this series was given more time to grow and develop. I would’ve loved to see the main couple overcome various wacky scenarios together and grow closer as a result, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. I enjoyed my time with it, though, so I’ll give it a 6/10.

Watched harmoe’s 3rd tour,  “ii’m here,” and it’s so beautiful… harmoe are just on an entirely different level when it comes to music and choreography. I thought All of Me was a little goofy, but I do love the way that it looks like they’re an anime character slowly creeping closer towards you. And then HyperLoveSong just absolutely blew me away…everything about it makes me think of the journey they’ve had so far, and the love that they have for each other and us… It’s everything.

Thursday

Nothing

Friday

Nothing

Saturday

Watched Grand Theft Hamlet and it was…okay. I thought I’d love it because I love emergent narratives and pursuing “silly” things with sincerity but this just tonally fell flat for me. They tried too hard to fit it into a conventional documentary story mould: the staged arguments about how “GTA Hamlet is all I have” and “You hardly spend time with me anymore because you’re so caught up in this project” were so cringe and forced, and they don’t even really get resolved by the end other than the assumed happy ending that comes from pulling the production off and winning an award for it. This probably seems like a crazy stupid idea for normies, but as someone who grew up in the YouTube Let’s Play mines (Car Boys and PBG’s Minecraft Hardcore series and any number of Nuzlockes come to mind), the so-called monumental task they were attempting seemed laughably easy to me, especially since they got people from outside of GTA to act in it (the alternate universe version of this movie where they recruited entirely within GTA and got gamers to care about Shakespeare would’ve been peak). The real difficulty seemed to be scheduling issues and getting the audience from place to place within the game, and that wasn’t all that compelling. And I was annoyed that they showed so little of the actual production. I didn’t enjoy the journey all that much, so I was at least looking forward to the destination… The postulating about Hamlet was also annoying because the observations were all so surface-level lol I would’ve rather the themes come up naturally through the course of this documentary rather than monologued to me by the director and tied back into the themes of Hamlet like a high schooler having to write a comparative essay. If you want to ruminate on creating art in a violent video game world and what humans can accomplish with a shared but insignificant seeming goal, go watch Griffin McElroy’s Peacecraft instead. 4/10.

I made the mistake of bingereading all of Shounen no Abyss in a single night and it was also mid. The suffering vortex certainly drew me in (otherwise I wouldn’t’ve read it in one sitting), but the ending was so lackluster that it made the rest of the series feel meaningless. I thought the writing was fairly competent and considered, even if certain backstory elements/character motivations were dialled up to an eleven for the sake of drama. I was willing to buy into that campiness (and the fact that everyone wants to fuck/control/own Reiji lol), but it really just reached an unsatisfying head by the end. Nagi was definitely the weakest point – for being Reiji’s number one fixation and the catalyst to this entire mess unravelling, she never had enough focus in the story to warrant this idolization of her. (Also the writer meeting her by chance right after finding out that Reiji liked her was ridiculous). But still, I did like a lot of the writing – I clocked Gen’s whole deal pretty early on, but I’m still surprised that they went through with it, even if it was kind of just for shock factor. I would’ve liked to see their identity properly explored, but the final chapter left So Much to be desired that we don’t even have time to get into all that. I liked Chako’s realistic feelings and how her Tragic Backstory was realistically down-to-earth but still understandably upsetting. I was fairly ambivalent to the mom and the writer’s torrid romance, but I did like that Shino’oka makes the point of the writer romanticizing his image of Reiji’s mom as being an innocent victim in need of saving, when in reality she was as flawed and greedy as the rest of them and kicked her own boyfriend to his death. It’s believable that so many would be taken in by her charm and vortex of manipulation. The teacher had the most insane ups and downs in this series, but my favourite part of the whole thing was seeing her go toe-to-toe with Reiji’s mom in the gaslight gatekeep girlboss Olympics LOL the psychological and social manipulation on both sides was really like watching a Shounen battle arc. But then everything just devolved into absolute misery porn with Nagi’s super evil villain uncle and the teacher redirecting her terminal yandere syndrome towards him instead, and Nagi and Reiji’s suicide pact being resolved off-screen and mentioned offhandedly in a timeskip… That whole last chapter was really such a mess, and just illuminated how there was no real thesis for all this suffering – it was just suffering for suffering’s sake, or suffering for increased readership’s sake, I suppose. At this point, I’m just glad it’s over. I’ve escaped. I’ll give it a 6/10, because the writing for most of the series did really engage me, and I loved a lot of the visuals (that one panel of Chako and Reiji hugging/trapping Gen took my breath away when I saw it).

Oh! Just realized that this is the 52nd Week in Review!!!!! I didn’t know if I could keep this up for a whole year, but it’s been a great outlet for expelling all the thoughts I have about media that no one cares to hear. I’ve gotten so comfortable with writing these things that I almost hope that no one reads them lol but the best part is being able to Ctrl+F and find my previous writings and reflect on my opinions. My memory isn’t the best, so having this record of my life is fun… Here’s to another year.

[docholligay]

Da Capo Al Fine

This was sponsored by @phrdycg, who asked for Nana’s secret being revealed! I’m not 100% happy with it but I’m out of time to keep workshopping it, and maybe it’s jsut that I’ve looked at it too much. So I hope you enjoy! 

It was the same stage, over and over again. The same lines were said by the same girls, the same scenes moved through with the same comings and goings, and yet it was never quite the same play, was it? 

Such is the joy of the theater. It is a living thing. 

Every time, Junna struggled and lost, and rose to her feet again, and every time she quoted William Shakespeare anew, but sometimes the tie in her hair was different, and sometime she walked to the left rather than to the right, and sometimes Nana made muffins rather than cookies. You could say the same of every girl, leading to that same conclusion but with slight tweaks, the audience seeing a slightly different show, like tracings on paper--very nearly overlapping, but not quite. 

It was in this way that Nana told herself she had not doomed these girls to a life of boredom. The stage was always fresh, even when it was not. 

Besides, she was never bored, only safe and content, and wanted the same for them. Besides, they did not remember that they had creaked along these same floorboards before. Besides, she had won the revues fair and square. 

Besides. Besides. Besides. Rondo. Rondo. Rondo. 

It was her symphony, written note by note but fresh in each playing, her the composer keeping and marking time, listening to the voice tremolo of Kaoruko leaving for home, the forte of Maya’s commands, Claudine’s sharp sforzando as she cried out in the revues. It was her symphony and she never thought or dreamt of the coda. 

But still, a small guilt niggled at her. Nothing more annoying than a flickering bulb at the back of the house, but tiny and insistent enough to throw her. She was hiding the truth from them, that she was keeping them here, where the show was known, and safe, and everyone was happy. She was fighting them to protect them from that world, the one that would chew them up and spit them out friendless into the dirt. 

It was a kindness, yes. And the more she thought of it, as the revues went around and around in their endless completion, the more she realized that there was no cause for guilt here. She had done, was doing, the thing that was the kindest and best for all of them. Most of them wouldn’t even have thought of the solution she did, would they? 

They would thank her, if they knew. They wouldn’t fight at all, knowing the truth. It would be just another way that Banana had always taken care of them. 

Yes. This time, there would not only be the tweak of a line, a bit of improvisation, but a whole new scene, a whole new movement. It excited her, as she cooked away in the kitchen. 

Tonight. She would tell them tonight, as she once again laid out the buffet of potato dishes, freshly made from Mahiru’s family farm potatoes. They always loved this one, it was a favorite, and now she would get to tell them that they could all have this forever, over and over again. 

If she could have bought champagne, she would have. It seemed appropriate. 

The trouble, as they streamed in, telling her once again how good it smelled and how much they had been looking forward to all of this, was waiting. Even good news needs its perfect moment, for even the best actress requires a spotlight for the grand performance. 

“We can do this forever!” It slipped out, not as carefully chosen as she might have wanted, and there was a feeling, for a moment, as if she’s stepped on her own line. 

“Oh Nana,” Claudine gave a laugh, “even you can’t want to cook all this for us every night.” 

“No, not this,” she was full in the excitement of it now, the music a rushing crescendo in her mind, “I mean, yes we can do this again, because we can do all of this again! This whole year! Our great performance of Starlight! All of it can happen again and again, and we never need to worry about--” 

“I don’t get it,” Futaba’s mouth was full of potato, “What do you mean?”

They all looked at her expectantly, some more confused than others, and how could she expect them to know? If they had thought of it, they would have suggested it. 

“This is my stage!” 

A long silence permeated the room. Confusion. Concern. Disbelief. All wrapped up in that long tacet as Nana stood before the group, the group that was experiencing for the first time the potatoes she’d made them a dozen times before. 

“How can it be?” Maya spoke first. “It can’t be. The kitchen? The revues aren’t…” she trailed off, unable to make it work in her mind. 

Time was a confusing thing, and if Nana were to ever give herself the chance to grow up, she might discover that it continues to be a confusing thing even when you aren’t in a loop. Time has its own dance, and does not care to reveal the steps before taking the stage. 

“This year!” Nana pulled up a chair and sat across from all of them, excited, “Wasn’t this the most wonderful year? Didn’t we all become such good friends, and stay together? Didn’t we put on the most amazing Starlight? THIS is my stage!” 

“You won the revues.” Junna’s eyes were wide as she stared off out the window. “You won Top Star.” 

Nana nodded, a bright smile across her face. Of course Junna would think of it first, Junna is so smart and wonderful. 

Junna stood up, and pushed her glasses back onto her nose, then looked at Nana, staring. 

“Nana, what did you do?” 

Nana leaned back into her chair a little. Junna had not said it harshly, but there was the note of accusation in her voice, the sense that a step had gone just a bit wrong, the endless seconds of silence before a line is remembered. 

“This is my stage,” It was no longer the bold and joyous statement it had been, but instead a quiet sort of confession, “this is where I want to stand. WIth all of you.” 

Still more silence. No one knows the script from here, there is no one to call for a line, nothing but the wide open terrifying silence, as everyone casts about for understanding. 

Nana interrupts it. An improvisation. 

“This year is so good! We do such a good job with Starlight, and we all make friends, and...we can all keep doing it! As long as I keep winning, I can have us repeat this forever! Or!” she thought for a moment, “We can all wish for it, if you want to win, too!” 

“We’ve done this year before.” Junna looked over at Nana, saying it out loud as much for the group assembled as for herself, “You wished for us to do the same year again.” 

“Of course I did,” she said, unsure, “so we could be happy.” 

“How many times!?” Maya sprung to her feet. “How long?”

“I-I--twenty, maybe?”

Claudine recoiled. “Twenty years?” Her eyes grew wide, and she looked to the floor, mumbling something to herself in French as the color drained from her face. “Twenty?” 

“So we…” Futaba’s brows were furrowed, “We’ve just been doing the same--” 

Mahiru barely whispered it. “So long…” 

“Why?!” Maya walked up to Nana, pushing her back, “Why did you--” 

“But you all love this year!” Nana reached out her arms to them, “We all have such a wonderful time, and we learn so much about each other, and--” 

“You trapped us!” Maya did not even pause her fusillade, “You trapped us, with you, over and over again, and why?!” 

“You were happ--” 

“Was I!? Were we?!” Maya whirled around. “Are all of you happy enough to never leave here? To never do better than this? To be children forever, to never know the real thrill of the stage?” 

Junna shook her head. “Nana, I know you were trying to help--” 

“Was she?” Maya’s eyes narrowed and darkened, “Or was she only trying to help herself?” 

Nana balled her fists. “Of course not!” 

She blew past Maya, throwing herself on the kindness and mercy for the other girls, the girls who remembered they loved her, the girls who remembered they were happy.

“Hasn’t this been a wonderful year?” she looked at all of them, “Haven’t we become a family? Think of the people who left last year! They were our friends, and we’ll never see them again, but this way, we can always stay together, and we can always be happy and do Starlight! Can’t you see?” She heard the dramatic swell of strings in her heart as she tried to explain to all of them what she knew in her heart to be true, “I’m keeping us together. I’m saving us!” 

“No, Nana,” Junna said sadly, “you’re keeping us prisoner.” 

Theater is a living thing. No two performances are ever in the same. She had gone off script, and now it was coming back on her, the crowd not understanding that this was what the story needed. Not thinking that this was the happy ending. Nana looked at them and saw so much confusion and hurt, the inability to understand the gift she had given them all. 

“How dare you.” Claudine had found herself, and rose to her feet, growing as she prowled toward Nana, “How dare you decide our stage! Our lives!” 

“No!” Nana yelled back, “That’s not how it is!” 

But, just for a moment, she wasn’t sure she believe herself, the symphony that she had conducted so many times becoming more and more discordant as the girls, her girls, demanded answers, unable to accept the gift she had given them. 

Leaving Nana wondering if it was even a gift at all. 

No. This was a gift. They didn’t understand how lonely a human being could be, only Nana could understand it, and that was why she’d done it. Just because they didn’t understand that they were being protected did not make it a lie. 

She stood silent a moment, and then turned to go back to her room. This stage was a failure, but theater is a living thing, and she would take the stage again. She would ask the giraffe to wipe it all clean again, to take them all back to the original year. 

They were not like Nana. They did not understand that this was for the best. 

“Fine.” Nana’s eyes were downcast, her jaw in a firm line. “Hate me. Hate me for protecting you all.” 

She turned her back to them as she went back to her room, readying herself for the rest of the year, for their glowers and burning and fighting. It didn’t matter. Nana was the victor, because Nana was the one who wanted it worst of all, and she would triumph, and they would know peace, and they would never know her sacrifice. 

Someone caught her arm as she went to go. Maya. Angry, arrogant, beautiful Maya. 

“I will defeat you, in the revues.” 

She looked as if she believed it. More fool her. 

“No,” Nana’s eyes hardened, “no you won’t. You won’t even remember this conversation. You will love me. You’ll say how nice I am. You all will.”

And they would. 

Reset. Replay. Rondo.

[sailorportia]

Femslash February 2020, Day 1

Fandom: Revue Starlight Relive Pairing: Tomoe Tamao/Akikaze Rui Prompt: Meet Cute

approx. 1,800 words, rated T

also available on AO3

Summary:   Thirteen year-old Akikaze Rui finds a way to change her shy demeanor in her middle school's drama club. More importantly, she wants to perform on the same stage as that gorgeous senpai. All she needs to do is work up the courage to apply...

Tags: Meet Cute, Comedy, Puppy Love, middle school!Rui, middle school!Tamao

Akikaze Rui, thirteen years-old, didn't know what to expect from her school play. It was the day of her middle school's cultural festival, and she had been wandering from attraction to attraction until her curiosity led her to the auditorium. Little did she know that her life was about to be turned upside-down. 

The actors were average at best. It was a middle school play, after all. But there was one standout performer, a shining star against a night sky of amateurs: a girl with long, dark hair.

She played the role of a princess, her character beginning the play as a regal and refined woman who is pushed into taking up the sword and becoming a fierce and formidable warrior. The actress's transformation was incredible. Rui wouldn't have believed such a dainty girl capable of such ferocious yells and impassioned speeches. It was inspiring, to say the least.

Up until now, Rui had been a leading member of the Going Home Club. She was too shy to join any social group she didn't have to, and her only extracurricular interest was kendo, but she was already enrolled at a dojo and had surpassed what most middle school students were capable of. After seeing this play—more importantly, its starring actress—Rui was inspired to try acting. She wanted to change herself, and she might be able to do so through the medium of acting. She had to join the drama club.

Rui knew she had to strike while the iron was hot. There was a chance that if she waited, the fire burning in her chest might die down and she would give into her shy nature. It had to be now.

As the other students filed out of the auditorium, Rui snuck backstage. It wasn't until she was hiding behind a prop tree that she realized she didn't have a plan. She peeked out behind the tree periodically in search of her new idol, her determination waning with every passing second. Maybe she should just leave and go to the drama club sometime later...

She stepped out from around the prop tree just in time for another girl to come out from behind the stage. Rui recognized her immediately as the actress who had turned her world upside down. The girl was still wearing the princess costume that she had on during the play. It hadn't been apparent at a distance, but now that Rui was up close she could see that this girl was astonishingly pretty. Like, "melt your brain" pretty.

"Oh, I thought everyone left," the girl said. "Are you one of the girls who volunteered to help put away the props?"

"Um, I, uh..." Rui had trouble getting words out of her mouth at the best of times, and talking to a beautiful girl she admired hardly counted as ideal circumstances. The phrase "I want to join the drama club," had seemed so easy to say when she decided to sneak backstage.

The other girl seemed unperturbed by Rui's verbal fumbling. "Could you help me with this zipper?" She turned around, showing Rui the zipper on the back of her dress. "I think it's stuck, and everyone else in the drama club has left already."

"O-okay!" It was easier for Rui to think now that she wasn't looking the gorgeous girl straight in the face. She pulled down on the zipper slowly, careful not to tear the fabric around it; indeed the zipper was stuck, and Rui had to use both hands to try to free it. Her fingers grazed the bare skin of the other girl's back, and she felt the strongest urge to apologize, though she didn't know why. What's going on with me? Rui asked herself. Why am I getting so flustered? We're both girls...

At a later date Rui would recognize this moment as her gay awakening.

The zipper jam finally gave way and the metal teeth parted. Rui pulled the zipper down just far enough to make sure it was fixed, then jumped away. "Um, it's not stuck anymore."

The girl turned around and flashed Rui a smile that turned her insides out. "You're a life-saver," she said. "We haven't met before, have we?" She looked to Rui's uniform. "You must be a first year. I'm Tomoe Tamao. Hopefully in the future I can be a more reliable senpai to you."

Rui struggled to introduce herself, as if she had forgotten her own name. She was rescued by the unlikely appearance of a third year student.

"Ooh, looks like Tamao-chan has a fan!"

Rui's idol, Tamao, frowned. "Senpai, you left me all alone. I had to ask this nice first-year to help me with this faulty zipper."

"Don't complain. Plenty of girls at this school would jump at the chance for a little private attention from her."

"What do you mean?" Tamao asked. "Is she someone famous?"

"You don't know her? That tall glass of water is Akikaze Rui-chan. She's the talk of all the athletic clubs."

Rui blushed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Akikaze-san," Tamao said. "What club are you a member of?"

The third-year chuckled. "Akikaze-chan hasn't joined any clubs. That's why they're crazy about her. She's the tallest first year in the school, and she looks like she's only going to get taller. All the sports teams tried to recruit her at the start of the year, but she turned down all of them."

"Recruit" was a delicate way of putting it. The athletics clubs had practically waged a war over which of them would get to claim Rui. The poor girl had been forced to sneak around the school, dodging her athletic upperclassmen at every turn. For someone with social anxiety, the experience had been terrifying. It was all she could do to stutter out a polite rejection every time one of them found her. Eventually they got the message and left her alone.

"Um, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," Rui said to Tamao. "N-not about the sports clubs! I want to join the drama club. Your performance this afternoon really inspired me!" In fact, it was the most moving performance she had seen, but she was afraid of coming on too strong by saying so.

Rui was afraid that her sudden declaration would weird her out, but Tamao's eyes glittered with joy. "That's wonderful!" She took Rui's hands in her own, oblivious to the way her kouhai stilled at the contact. "You can't imagine how glad I am to hear that our play touched somebody that way."

"Jeez, you can't be a respectable senpai if you melt over a little praise," the third year said with a laugh. "Tamao-chan takes her acting seriously. A little too seriously, if you ask me."

Tamao pouted (a sight that nearly knocked Rui off her feet). "You don't take acting seriously enough, senpai."

"Don't let the busybody scare you off, Akikaze-chan. Make sure you fill out an application form." The third year cackled as she walked off. "I can't wait to brag to the other clubs that we snagged their dream member right from under their noses."

"Honestly." Tamao sighed. "I know that she's busy preparing for entrance exams, but she could at least pretend to be diligent about acting. I promise the other members of the drama club aren't like her."

The other members of the drama club could be juvenile yakuza for all Rui cared. She only had eyes for Tamao. "I promise I'll give acting my all," she said, and she meant it. If she could act half as confidently as Tamao, she'd be satisfied. If she could perform alongside Tamao—that would be a dream come true.

"I look forward to taking the stage with you, Akikaze-san. Hopefully you'll have my back in the future as you did today," Tamao added with a chuckle.

Rui's heart skipped a beat at the reminder that she'd undone her senpai's zipper. "Uh, anyway, that senpai said you're really serious about acting. Do you want to be an actress?" For some reason she felt the need to know this near-stranger's life plans.

"Ideally, yes. "I'm going to enrol at Rinmeikan School for Girls, like my mother and grandmother before me. The school has a performance department with a century of tradition."

"I'm going to enrol too!" Rui, in fact, had never given a moment's thought to what high school she would attend. 

Tamao didn't question Rui's declaration, nor her transparent motivation. "I'm glad to hear it. Not enough people these days respect traditional arts." She smiled. "Maybe it was fate that we met today, Akikaze-san."

"Y-you don't need to speak so formally to me, Tomoe-senpai," Rui stuttered. Being referred to so stiffly made her feel odd for some reason. She wanted the two of them to become... closer. "You can call me by my first name. If you want to, I mean."

"Of course, Rui-chan. But if we're going to be friends, you'll have to return the favour." The corner of her mouth turned up into a sly smirk.

Rui blushed. Friends. Yes. That was good. Great. Fantastic. "If you say so, T-Tamao-senpai."

Three Years Later...

"Awwww! Baby Rui was so cute!" Ichie squealed. "She was still taller than her senpai even back then."

During a lunchtime picnic out on the school grounds, Fumi had idly expressed curiosity as to how Rui and Tamao had become friends in middle school. Tamao related her side of the story, embellishing Rui's "gallant rescue" of her from the gnashing teeth of a stuck zipper. She pulled out her cell phone and showed the group a picture of herself and the drama club's newest member, visibly flustered by her senpai's hand on her arm.

"Rui-chan has grown a lot," Tamao said with a smile. "She's changed so much in three years, but she's always been a talented, beautiful young woman."

"Three years, huh?" Fumi looked to Rui with pity.

"Let's see more," Yuyuko said with a devilish grin, no doubt hoping for something she could tease Rui with. She scrolled through Tamao's photos, revealing a seemingly limitless supply of pictures featuring Rui.

"...that's a lot of pictures of Rui," Fumi noted.

"We made a lot of memories together," Tamao said with a smile.

"I don't remember that!" Rui yelped, blushing up a storm. Displayed on Tamao's phone was a selfie that she had taken with Rui's head resting on her shoulder. She appeared to be asleep, and Tamao held a finger to her own lips in a shushing gesture. 

"That's pretty shady, Tamao-senpai," Yuyuko cackled.

"Is it a crime for me to keep pictures of my number one fan?" Tamao's subtle, sly smirk had lost none of its power of Rui.

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Revue Starlight, Episodes 7-8

Guys.

Holy FUCK.

Truth

I was not ready for these episodes.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew Revue Starlight was good. Like, really damn good. I’ve been enjoying the hell out of it right from the start, and I haven’t had any major complaints I could level against it. I love the characters, I love the direction, I love the action, I love the way it explores the complex ambitions of theatre culture (especially one as extreme as the Takarazaka Revue), and I really love all the relationships. This is one of the few shows that I actually don’t mind taking so long to get through, because I want to savor every last morsel of this delicacy. I want to turn every moment over and over in my head, thinking about all the wonderful ways everything plays off each other. It’s almost terrifying how quickly this show wormed its way into my heart. And I’ve approached every new episode with my hopes about as high as they could possibly be.

But these episodes are something else entirely.

These episodes are the answers I’ve been waiting for. These episodes dive into the characters’ past to explore the true meaning behind the Revue auditions. These episodes reveal what’s truly going on behind the giraffe’s unblinking facade. These episodes put faces to questions I didn’t even realize were being asked and tore the entire foundation of Seisho Academy to the ground, revealing the true foundations pulsating underneath. These episodes, this backstory, is Revue Starlight laying itself bare at last, revealing every last card it still has up its sleeve and showing us exactly what our girls have gotten themselves into.

These episodes are everything.

Like, holy shit. Holy shit. Did that really just happen? Did any of that really happen, or did I just hallucinate the entire thing? How the absolute fuck did Revue Starlight accomplish this? How the everlasting crap did it pull off a reversal this stunning? As fantastic as it was before, these episodes blow literally the entire rest of the show out of the water. They are stunning. They are riveting. They are emotionally taxing and overwhelming and awe-inspiring, and my eyes are still kinda damp from tears. I feel like I just got vibe-checked by a ten-gallon cement mixer, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Because these episodes- these spellbinding, jaw-dropping episodes- are an absolute goddamn triumph in every conceivable fashion. They’re the apotheosis of everything Revue Starlight was building towards, launching this show into the stratosphere with the force of a stardust-powered rocketship. They’re a fireworks explosion of stunning clarity, a bravura performance to match the best of Symphogear’s operatic bombast with a level of finesse that boggles my mind to think about. And I’m still reeling in the aftermath, desperately trying to screw my head back on so I can put down in words why these episodes are so goddamn good.

Thankfully, for once, I know just where to start my praise. I always loved this show to death, but now, I feel fully confident in calling Revue Starlight a flat-out masterpiece. And if the final four episodes are even half as good as what just transpired here, there’s no way this show won’t end up somewhere among my favorite anime of all time. So let’s talk about why.

Frozen

The most devious trick these episodes pull is in convincing you into thinking there’s nothing that special about them at all. Episode 7 starts with a flashback to the wrap party for our gang’s first Starlight, the one they’re trying to improve upon this year. And at the center of attention is, at last, Nana “Banana” Daiba, the girl who decided that this time, she was comfortable taking a backseat and letting her friends own the stage without her. The quiet, easygoing girl, always present with a calm bit of advice or a friendly quip, like a big sister to her frazzled, energetic peers. Someone who's so comfortable staying out of the spotlight that she literally hides behind a camera most of the time, documenting the world as it unfolds in front of her while keeping it behind a screen she seems fit not to breach. Even the goofy reveal for how she got the nickname “Banana” fits that mold; she’s sweet, kind, and extremely nutritious, the kind of person it’s easy to take for granted as a quiet pillar of support who’ll always be there, giving you a pat on the back without asking for anything in return. At last, you think, we’ll find out what’s driving this girl. We’ll find out who she is and where her potential lies, just as we did with Futaba and Kaoruko and Mahiru before her. We’ll see her come into her own and find her own sparkle, joining her peers as a worthy warrior of the stage.

I was wrong.

I was so, so, wrong.

Because the longer that flashback drags on, the more time we spend with Nana in the past, the more unease begins to slowly creep in, eating away at our sense of comfort. You start noticing how many shots stand in perfect stillness, almost as if observing the world through a detached lens. You start to feel like this is how Banana must process the world in front of her, as a wide snapshot that keeps her at a distance from everyone, watching everyone struggle and anguish for the sake of their dreams, a raging fire behind a cold, silent sheet of ice. You start feeling frozen in time, like you’re drifting through space without ever moving forward, stuck watching events play out from the outside of a glass box looking in. And slowly but surely, Nana’s doubts start creeping in. The fears locked behind her pleasant, untroubled face. The fears of moving forward, of leaving behind everything she cares for, of it leaving her behind. The girl who was just happy to be here, who broke down in tears of gratitude at helping making something so incredible with her friends, who felt valued just to be a part of this incredible moment, sees that moment fading further and further into the past... and she is scared.

She is unbelievably, overwhelmingly scared that this moment is the best it will ever be.

That the unstoppable march of time will eventually tear everything wonderful about their first Starlight crumbling down.

That the still, unmoving joy she portrays on her face will be swept away by the quiet ticking of a grandfather clock.

And it’s only then, at long last, that her phone first buzzes with an offer from a giraffe bathed in starlight.

Rewrite

And it’s here that the true scope of what’s going on in Revue Starlight bursts through the surface in a shower of silver crystals: this isn’t the first Audition Nana’s been a part of. This isn’t the first time she’s fought her classmates at Seijo Academy for the right to call herself top star. In fact, she already was a Top Star. She was a Top Star countless times over, so many times that the giraffe doesn’t even remember how many time she’s repeated this ordeal. Just like Homura Akemi from Madoka, she’s trapped in a time loop of her own choosing, determined to live out these events over and over until she finally gets them right. What events? Why, the performance of the first Starlight, of course. As the victor in the first audition, her wish as Top Star was to go back in time, to relive these perceived glory days over and over again, forever and ever. All she had to do was keep winning again and again, rising to the top of the audition pool every single time, achieving the crown of Top Star and wishing to return, once more, to the performance where everything seemed right. Because as long as she can keep reliving those days, she doesn’t have to be scared of what comes next. She doesn’t have to be scared of what comes after the Audition is finally over, when the time comes to put on another play, when she can’t recapture the perfect performance that’s stuck in her mind like a splinter she can’t get rid of. Nana Daiba is the playwright of the universe, writing and rewriting this performance time and time again to escape the fear of what comes when the curtain finally drops.

But this game was doomed to failure from the start. As Karen rightfully points out, the stage is a living thing. No performance is ever repeatable, because each performance happens in the now, the present, pushing forward to a future of its own making. And no matter how much you might want to repeat a perfect performance, to recall the emotions when you truly clicked on stage and felt yourself owning your role, or dominating the spotlight, or having that perfect sense of actor’s clarity, the show must go on. The theatre never stops moving. It can’t stop moving, because a stagnant theatre is a dead theatre. As someone who’s acted in countless shows, there are far too many moments I had on stage that I wish I could bottle for all eternity, perfect snapshots of creating living stories with the force of my passion. But every show eventually closes, every play requires a new motive, and every last performance must be built from the ground up, entirely new, once again creating something unique and special that lasts only for a moment, but lingers for a lifetime. The curse of theatre is truly an impossible one to bear, but it’s one we must bear all the same. Because trying to recapture something so essentially ephemeral and temporary will only stall you in place, grasping for an answer that no longer exists.

And try as she might, Nana can’t keep that light shining. She can’t keep repeating the same performance over and over again without the luster slowly fading again and again, until she can no longer feel the overwhelming joy that made her break down in tears just to be a part of something wonderful. She can stand on the dazzling stage again and again, but the deep, cavernous yellow light she’s faced with only reflects more and more of her own emptiness back at her. She’s stagnant. Sinking. Never facing the fears of growing up, but never coming to terms with everything she’s already left behind. It’s a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking sequence, the girl we’ve come to rely on so casually suddenly facing us with quiet, hidden, but unmistakable rage and terror. If time moves on, we face the inevitability of sadness and failure. But if time stands still, there’s nowhere to go but down. Trapped between these two inevitabilities, Nana can can do nothing but grasp onto what she perceives as the lesser evil and believe in it with all her strength, even as the tattered curtains fray more and more and the lights grow increasingly dim, the giraffe’s quiet monotone seeming to laugh at her from the darkness.

But then, something changes.

A new player arrives.

And the cogs of fate start turning once again.

Devour

Which brings me to the second giant reveal these episodes have in store for us: the nature of the Top Star herself. In another eerie echo of Madoka (I say that as a positive, because this show is really good at echoing without directly ripping off), it takes great deals of energy to give birth to a Top Star, someone with the passion and drive to take the stage for themselves and achieve their greatest desires. And that energy, it turns out, is drawn from the competitors they triumph over. The passion for performance, the joy of acting, the desire to shine brightly and create something beautiful, all that is sucked out of those who lose the audition and funneled into its victor, giving them the power to choose their fate at the expense of completely destroying everyone else. Christ. Christ, Christ, Christ. Just when I think this show’s brutal dismemberment of theatrical ambition can’t get any more biting, it proves me wrong. Under the Revue system, the dreams and aspirations of countless performers are literally ground to dust and chewed up into fuel for the sake of elevating a singular, significant talent as high as they can climb. The elevation of the star means stomping out everyone they climbed over to get there, snuffing out countless hopes and dreams as easy as breathing. For as selfish as Nana’s desire for stagnation is, it’s no wonder why she’d want to stop the future in its tracks if this is what the future must hold. Only one person can triumph... and everyone else is doomed to see the light die in their eyes.

And with Hikari’s backstory revealed, we finally understand the full weight of letting that light die. The Hikari we meet in the past is jubilant. She’s full of life and excitement, driven to pursue her passion so she can stand on the same stage as Karen, but also smiling! And laughing! And full of obvious joy at being part of something wonderful! But then, she loses the Revue Audition in England, one of many such auditions held around the world to generate Top Stars at the expense of countless talents. And the joy is sucked right out of her. The passion is gone. Defeated by talents she could never hope to beat, forced to play second fiddle to the overwhelming stars who overshadow her, she can no longer lift her sword in passion. The metaphor is obvious and crushing: because the Top Stars are elevated so far above everyone else, everyone else can’t help but lose hope in ever amounting to anything meaningful, and the fire in their souls is soon snuffed out. We may not have literal soul-sucking machines in our world, but Karen’s depression was a sword straight through my gut, because fucking hell, I have been there. I’ve been faced with peers far more talented than me and despaired, wondering what I was even doing on stage, what I was even trying to accomplish. The agony of feeling stuck as a secondary character isn’t easily overcome, even for the best of us. And considering how fucking exclusive the Tarazaka’s version of it is, I can barely imagine the kind of shame Hikari must have felt.

That’s why Hikari was so determined to keep Karen out of the auditions. That’s why she’s been so desperate to win and keep her childhood friend out of harm’s way. Because she knows firsthand the cost of losing. She knows what it’s like to think back on the promises and dreams of long ago and feel their meaning oozing away in grey sludge. She knows the despair and sorrow of no longer feeling joy doing something you used to love, crushed under the weight of expectations and ambition. Her promise with Karen, made on the very same slide they renewed that promise on in the present, pulling Karen up to her level in the shadow of the Tokyo Tower just as Karen would eventually do to her, almost lost its meaning for her. She almost gave on up a life’s dream, something so dazzling and beautiful that she left the person she cherished most behind for years on end just to be able to achieve it. All almost up in smoke because it was decided she was worth more as fuel for someone else’s deification. But some promises hold stronger than others. Some vows aren’t broken so easily. And Hikari has just enough inner fire left to rage against her fate, to brace against the cards destiny has handed her. And the Giraffe, never one to miss an opportunity for a more exciting, unpredictable achievement, decides to give her another chance. To let her jump back into the fray, this time in Japan, for the sake of the person she promised her Starlight to.

But then, something happened she never expected: Karen jumped into the fray right alongside her.

Because on the unpredictable stage of destiny, you only have two choices: rage against the fate bearing down on you... or seize it and make it your own.

Reborn

And all of that, at long last, brings us back to the present. All the unexpected turns, all the stagnation suddenly lurching into motion, all the hopes and fears and desires and regrets, all rushing forward and culminating, on the sixth day of auditions, in a duel between Nana and Hikari themselves. The two with the biggest stake in this Revue. The two who’ve tasted despair at this altar before. The two who know the cost of failure and the pain that drives them to greatness more acutely than their peers could ever know. The desire to stay trapped in the past against the desire to plunge headfirst into the future. The girl who wishes to keep writing the play forever against the girl who wishes to start the performance anew. It’s a bitter, aching, terrifying duel, pitting two episodes of epic character establishment against each other in a single, furious clash of blades and ideals. And we finally see the deepest, cruelest selfishness of this competition laid bare; both of these broken warriors went into this competition trying to achieve victory for the sake of saving everyone else. As long as Nana could keep winning, she could keep her friends from having the joy sucked out of them by repeating their unchanging present over and over again. She could keep them happy and excited, undimmed by the pain of failure and envy. She could shoulder everyone’s burdens, so none of them would ever need to do anything. And Hikari could spare Karen the pain of seeing her cherished partner succumb to despair, could give her the chance they always dreamed of. Let me remain the master of your fates, the teller of your stories, and I can save you.

But unlike Nana, Hikari isn’t the same person she was when she started this Revue. Not anymore. Not after Karen threw herself into the fray with the bullheaded confidence of a dreamer determined to see their dream through, no matter what obstacles stood in their way. Now, Hikari has seen a better path. Now, she’s prepared to achieve victory not just for her friends’ sake, but by her friends’ side. Now, when facing despair amid the flaming scenery of the Revue of Solitude, paralleling the moment she gave up on stage, she chooses to hold her hand steady. She chooses courage. She chooses the future. She chooses passion.

She chooses a shared Starlight.

And the force of that choice changes everything. The fire is doused by water. The song takes on a hopeful, triumphant air. The harsh red lights are replaced by soft blues. From the wreckage of Hikari’s last failure, a new curtain rises, one baptized in ocean waves and soaring bells.

And a single title card soars high over the new battlefield.

Act 1 is over.

Act 2 has begun.

The show has gone on.

Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between, I fucking lost. The moment I realized what this show meant by calling this moment of clarity Act 2, the tears started falling. All the pain we’d been stewing in for the past two episodes, all the despair and hopelessness, all the unbreakable chains and inescapable fates, rewritten by a soaring soprano solo, an unbridled tide of change, and flurry of action spectacle that stands as some of the most riveting swordplay I’ve ever experience in anime. A perfect crescendo of passion and hope bursting through the bonds of despair, signaling the tearing down of the old order and the arrival of the new. Nana’s stage is finally eclipsed; Hikari has broken the cycle of despair. And she’s broken it not with further selfishness, but with the conviction to carry a selfless promise to its end; to shine not as a singular Top Star who tears everyone else down, but as the partner of the person she loves most in the world, sharing the spotlight as they create something truly beautiful together. The future is set in motion, the fire once lost is burning bright again, and the stars above are shining down for all the world to see. And terrifying as the road ahead might be, we face it with open arms. Whatever it takes. Hikari and Karen, side by side, breaking the parasitic cycle that’s chewed far too many up already, carving the way for a spotlight that can be shared among all those who reach for the light.

This Starlight will not be a tragedy that tears people apart. This time, we shall Starlight together.

Folks, I am in awe. I’m legitimately in awe. In just two episodes, Revue Starlight transformed from an immensely rewarding show into a bona fide masterpiece, something with the power to move mountains and explode with the best of what storytelling is capable of. It’s a riveting snapshot of ambition that cuts deeply close to home for me, an extraordinary emotional exploration of the reasons we fight to achieve something meaningful, and a beautiful smorgasbord of fantastic characters and relationships that I could spend years with and never get tired of. This show is incredible, and I’m utterly floored by what it’s been able to accomplish. This is an artistic triumph worthy of standing among the pantheon of all-time greats. I can’t believe my time with it is already almost over, but I’m not going to let a second go to waste. I’ve going to devour every last scrap of Revue Starlight left, and I’m going to wring every last ounce of meaning I can out of it. Because this anime has proven itself worthy of my highest consideration, and I can’t fucking wait to see how it ends.

So congratulations, Revue Starlight. You’ve achieved something incredible here. Now, show me what magic you have left to spin.

Odds and Ends

-That shoulder massage train is killing me. You’re all such dorks.

-”Wait, I have my dignity to uphold!” GOD STOP MAKING IT SO HARD TO PICK A FAVORITE COUPLE

-Listen, I love how extra everyone is in front of the camera, because that is so accurate.

-It’s seriously chilling how there’s no singing in Nana’s version of the ED. It’s like she’s so worn out on repeating this loop over and over again that she can’t even be bothered with the simple pleasure of singing her piece out.

-OKAY I WAS NOT READY FOR THE GIRAFFE TO BREAK OUT THE ENGRISH

Good damn, that was a satisfying post to write. Not every show could inspire so many thoughts from me with just two episodes. Here’s looking forward to the final third!

[terraoblivion]

I get where people are coming from when they claim Karen and Hikari are boring in Revue Starlight. They see a laid back, happy go lucky girl and offbrand Homura. While I believe this perception is wrong, I'm not sure how much I can blame people for it. We were meant to see that, the script and direction are clearly playing on those expectations. They're just also trying to make a thematic point with it.

Yes, Hikari is a cheap Homura knock-off, because she chose to be one. After suffering the trauma of her loss to Judy in London, building herself up as a hero to at least save Karen is what kept her going and helped her cope with that trauma. This is the model of trying to be a hero she chose. The grim, stoic badass driven by past hurt to save and protect the weak, innocent girl she loves. Classic heroic archetype.

Except it doesn't work.

All her plans are utterly absurd. How would being surly and distant to Karen in any way change whether Karen got an invitation? How can she not see the obvious flaw in trying to protect somebody from losing by making them forfeit? How exactly is stabbing Karen in the back and all but committing suicide in front of her supposed to not be traumatic for Karen?

These are all terrible plans, but ones that are consistent with classic storytelling tropes. The superhero must lie to his loved ones to protect them. The damsel is protected not by strengthening her agency, but by keeping her away from danger. The chivalric knight tears himself to shred to prove his devotion to his lady love. The hero sacrifices themselves so that innocents are saved. This is how Homura, the very character people treat Hikari as an inferior clone of, treats Madoka for most of the show.

Karen on the other hand is seen as weak and girly. By the audience, by her classmates (except for Mahiru, obviously) and most hurtfully by Hikari. Hikari sees her as the crybaby love interest she must protect, even as she is aware that she's lying to protect her own feelings. She says as much when she admits that the reason why she wanted to limit interaction with Karen while in London is to avoid feeling homesick.

But while Karen's clearly one of the girlier characters, she's hardly weak. While all the other girls in some form or another buckles under the strain of their career, Karen thrives at Seisho. She's joyful and playful and full of energy as she goes through her day in the first episode. She has fun, she has friends, she appears to genuinely love theater and performing.

In comparison all the other girls are cracking under the strain. Hikari fell into depression from merely being number two. Junna fears that she'll never be a star and if she can't be the star, then it will invalidate throwing away the safe future her family had planned for her to pursue theater. Kaoruko is breaking from no longer being the gifted child everybody praises. Maya had to throw away friendship, her ability to express her emotions and even her social skills to reach the top. All the girls have stories like that.

Except Karen.

Karen enjoys being part of theater with her friends and her performances. She might not be ambitious about being the star, but she still incorporates her performance and practice into daily activities and she's still accomplished enough to not only get in, but to get a role two years straight. It's hard to see how she wouldn't be a valuable member of a theater troupe. She's not going to get into fights over top spot and is quite emotionally stable in general, while also being able to both do the job and have energy left for telling jokes and building camaraderie.

This lack of ambition doesn't stop her from taking decisive action when she needs to either, nor asserting her own needs and desires when she thinks she needs to. She jumps in to save somebody she cares for without a second thought, not even entertaining the lecture on why she's inferior and unworthy. She reaches out to people she's told are her rivals when she realizes they have emotional need and seeks to support her. She claws her way out of depression by taking on a brutally hard task and sees it through to completion. These aren't the actions of somebody weak or thoughtless, they're the actions of somebody with a clear sense of self and what their goals and desires are.

Nor is Karen simply following Hikari like I frequently see people claim. Performing Starlight together was her idea. Getting involved in the revues was her idea. She dragged Hikari back into things when she was trying to sneak out and in the end, she goes to tell Hikari how she screwed up and pull her back out. She also takes time on things unrelated to Hikari to support other girls and her introduction doesn't even bring up their promise until Hikari shows up, even as she introduces her life at Seisho. Hikari is the most important thing for Karen, but not the only thing and what they do together is ultimately always Karen's goals.

While Hikari doesn't realize it, Karen is the one who inspires and leads and Hikari is the one who seeks to follow and support. The big goal they both work towards until Hikari's cynicism, trauma and disillusionment gets the better of her was Karen's idea. All of Hikari's proactivity is aimed at protecting Karen. While appearances suggests that Hikari should be the otokoyaku and Karen the musumeyaku, Karen leads and inspires Hikari and Hikari seeks to support and protect Karen. And both Hikari and, seemingly, the audience miss this.

Which is the thematic point behind why this couple are the leads and why Karen is the hero and Hikari the love interest. It shows the artificiality in the roles of the otokoyaku and the musumeyaku and it seeks to present a counterpoint to traditional character roles in anime. The cheerful girly one is the hero, making the decisions and inspiring others, the aloof, badass loner is the love interest who swoons at the actions of the hero. It's an inversion of expectations and established narrative patterns and one that plays beautifully with both the themes of overturning the strict order of Takarazuka and the preordained tragic end of fictional lesbians.

This is why you could not tell this story with anybody but Karen as the lead and Hikari as both love interest and foil. It's also why I'd be really interested in seeing what a story where one of the other girls is the lead would be like.

Also, as a side point that's not really important thematically, but part of why I love them as a couple. Hikari is such an adorable dumbass. The final chapter of the prologue manga where she thinks she's being the sneaky hero who will bring everybody joy, while everybody else are trying to help out without letting her realize is just the cutest thing. She's just so sure that she's doing this wondrous thing that will shock and delight everybody, even as she's trying to hide an entire Christmas tree in their common room.

[tren-fraszka]

Past Imperfect 2019 Letter

Dear creator,

Thank you for taking your time to check my requests. I know my requests can sound a bit tricky, but please don’t be discouraged. I wish you will have good time writing first and foremost!

My AO3 is Tren, if you wish to check it out.

Likes: comedy, casefics, canon compliants, AUs, time loops, bodyswaps, roleswaps, “being hoisted by your own petard” plotlines, snark, pettiness, rivals, enemies to friends to lovers, violence, friendships and character bonding,

DNW: explicit sex, A/B/O, mpreg, rape depicted as positive (so no “it’s okay, because the other person enjoyed it/it was what they truly wanted”), trans headcanons, soulmate AUs, stories ending with surrender to fate/destiny, fourth wall breaking in canons where that doesn’t occur, character has cancer or other real life terminal disease AU, word “queerplatonic”.

Also, I included what ships I’m okay with in each fandom. Please do not include any ships that aren’t canon and I have not allowed in those sections (if you feel really strongly about a ship I haven’t mentioned, you can always ask through mods just in case).

Additionally, while I almost never request fanart as possible medium, because I prefer my main gift to be fic, I would be very okay with receiving fanart treats. On another note, feel free to use my old letters if you get your hands on them. I never stop being interested in fandoms, and if I requested something once I will still want it in the future.

                                               REQUESTS

A general note on time travel: feel free to get bloody if you want. Aside from Revue Starlight which isn’t a violent show by nature, I don’t mind characters dying and getting hurt during the attempts to change the timeline. I also don’t mind characters not succeeding in their attempted goals, as long as the fic doesn’t have a complete downer ending. I’d rather the heroes won at the end of the day, but I don’t mind if you make it a bitter victory. Good endings are, of course, fine too. I also love the trope where the attempt to change the events through time travel results in the canon timeline.

TALES OF SYMPHONIA 

Lloyd Irving, Lloyd Irving & Kratos Aurion

This party gets so many things wrong on their journey to save the world that almost half of it is in ruins when they are done saving it. Needlessly to say I think there is a whole lot that our party may want to fix using time travel.

I'm partial to the idea of time traveller Lloyd because he would be so terrible at it. He's just so earnest he would accidentally reveal he has a whole lot of knowledge he shouldn't possess. Give me future Lloyd who returns to the body of his younger self who has only just started on his journey of regeneration and who keeps struggling not to call Kratos dad. Or future Lloyd returning to the past with his own body, who is desperately trying to stay incognito and fix the timeline rather than accidentally breaking it even more (bonus points if future Genis and Yuan have some sort of magical connection with him and are constantly screaming at him about what he should and shouldn't do). I would also love future Lloyd pretending before the party that he is just a mysterious swordsman by emulating Kratos.

I'm also fine with other characters travelling in time, I just don't have concrete prompts for them. But you are free to have fun with them. I'd rather the Kharlan Heroes weren't the ones time travelling since their charm is in the fact that they are absolute dumbasses who keep failing to account for the consequences of their actions (aside from Kratos who spends way too much time being apathetic, only to regret absolutely everything when he does manage to pull himself out of his depression), but if you have some good ideas for how they can fail even more by time travelling I won't mind (maybe they can accidentally get into way of some other time travelling characters). I just want them to keep being ancient disasters. If they suddenly became competent enough to fix the timeline it would feel weird. Unless it's Martel who somehow time traveled into the future and proceeds to fix everything by slapping all other Kharlan Heroes and telling them they are idiots.

As for how much the timeline is fixed, I would prefer for Yggdrassil to get defeated and the worlds to be merged at the end, but if the characters' efforts don't amount much to actually making things better than the original timeline, I won't mind. You are even free to make them fail even more. Honestly, stopping Kratos from gallivanting into space is the only fix-it that actually matters to me and I would love if it gets included into the story. 

Also, you are free to go for some darker moments with Lloyd time travelling back to when his mom died and trying to save her, but failing to do so.

As for the ships, I'm fine with: Lloyd/Genis, Genis/Presea, Lloyd/Genis/Presea, Zelos/Colette, Colette/Sheena, Zelos/Colette/Sheena, Anna/Kratos, Yuan/Martel, Kratos/Yuan (as "useless widowers who only have each other left" ship). Please don't include any ships not listed here, even if they are 2/3 of a threesome.

Time Loop/Groundhog Day

Time Travel Fix-It

Mental Time Travel to Past - Replacing Past Self

Mental Time Travel to Past - Sharing Body With Past Self

Time Travel Fix-It - Time Traveler Fixes Things By Accident

Uncontrollable Spontaneous Time Travel

Time Travel to Fix Problems Caused By Previous Time Travel

Multiple Travelers - Get In Each Other’s Way While Trying To Achieve Different Goals

SHOUJO KAGEKI REVUE STARLIGHT (ANIME)

Yes, I really am okay with any characters from this show. I love all girls in this theater school, so I'd rather you focused on the ones you enjoy the most, dear author. I admit I just want more shenanigans around Banana's time loop. Give me all more or less successful attempts to break out of it. Maybe Maya becomes aware of the time loop and starts to view Nana as a rival much to Claudine's frustration. Or Kaoruko's increasing frustration with the fact that she's the only one who remembers time loops other than Nana finally spurs her to put effort into bettering herself. Or maybe Giraffee's POV as it gets increasingly frustrated with the repeating performances and tries different indirect approaches in hopes of stopping Nana. Feel free to use any other idea you have, I'm just interested to see your ideas!

I'm playing Re-live game so you are free to borrow characters and ideas from it. Maybe rather than Hikari it's some other stage girl that comes to Seisho and gets caught in the time loop? Or one of the characters travels into the future and they end up having three days to learn for their role, because they don't share memories with their future self. 

You are free to ship any girls from the anime as you like. My only request would be that if you decide to borrow Michiru from Re-Live that she will not be shipped with anyone.

Breaking a canonical time loop

Canonical Time Loops

Time Loop/Groundhog Day

Multiple Travelers - Accidentally Get In Each Other’s Way While Trying To Achieve The Same Goal

Multiple Travelers - Get In Each Other’s Way While Trying To Achieve Different Goals

Time Loop - Unexpectedly Living With The Consequences Of Actions During Final Loop

Time Travel For Pranks And Petty Mischief

Trying to not break a canonical time loop

5 Minute Long Time Loop

Outsider POV Of Strange Events Caused By Time Travel

LORD EL-MELLOI CASE FILES

I’ve watched anime and read the first volume of the novel. I also know way too many other Fate properties if you want to use them or the characters from them.

Waver Velvet, Gray

This canon is perfect for all sorts of magic induced time travel shenanigans be it time loops or time travels. I would love for Waver and others to stumble into some sort of time distortion and have to figure out how to escape out of it.

I requested Waver and Gray, because I feel like they would be the most interesting characters to be involved in time travel shenanigans, but if you want, I also wouldn't be opposed to Flat, Reines or Callum in that role. You may make the situation as serious or as mundane as you wish. This fandom is great for all kinds of stories. Whether it be Gray caught up in a time loop that always ends up with Waver ending miserable and trying to change that, or Waver having to watch death of people important to him. 

The loop could be caused by magical accident or be a ploy aimed to Reines faction. Or maybe Flat created a time loop because he couldn't finish his homework on time. Or someone from Waver's class brought a cursed artifact to the class and now they need to figure out who it was. The possibilities are endless. I also think that a character from the future using magecraft to communicate with those in the past could work really well here. 

If you know Zero, then I would also be very much up for Gray travelling back in time to see the fourth Holy Grail war. Whether she changes anything, or if she remains a bystander by accident or choice isn't really important to me. I'm fine with both. Though I think it would be really sweet if she got to comfort Waver after Iskander's death.

I love this fandom for all the gen relationships, so I would love if you went in that direction. When it comes to pairings I would be okay with Waver/Melvin or Reines/Gray, but don't feel forced to write them in.

Time Loop/Groundhog Day

Time Loop - Unexpectedly Living With The Consequences Of Actions During Final Loop

Time Loop - Only looping character is aware of the loop

Time Travel For Pranks And Petty Mischief

Unusual Ways To Communicate Through Time

Accidentally Built A Time Machine

Uncontrollable Spontaneous Time Travel

5 Minute Long Time Loop

Meeting your hero in the past

Multiple Travelers - Accidentally Get In Each Other’s Way While Trying To Achieve The Same Goal

Parallel Universes

Outsider POV Of Strange Events Caused By Time Travel

MY HERO ACADEMIA 

I'm reading the chapters as they come out, you are free to incorporate any new developments.

Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Uraraka Ochako, Tokoyami Fumikage

Unlike other canons I requested, for this one I have a very strong preference for one of the characters I requested to be the time traveller. I love most of the cast, but this is one time I'm gonna play favourites.

This canon is great for characters going back in time to fix stuff with everybody having heroic motivations. How well their attempts go is up to you. Feel free to put the characters through some hell if you want. 

Since I would enjoy similar scenarios for all characters I feel like it would be more helpful if I focused on the reason why I chose this specific characters:

- Uraraka - one of her biggest strengths is her ability to read and influence others. It would be interesting to see her change the events using her talents. She's not very powerful and charismatic compared to some of her classmates, but she has plenty of tricks of her own to use instead. Also, she has determination to spare.

- Tokoyami - I love him and Dark Shadow. It would be very interesting to see how the loyal and hard working Fumikage deals with suddenly being thrown into the past. He would surely want to help his friends, but at the same time he seems to believe in fate to some extent. How would he be able to reconcile those two drives?

- Aizawa - on the one hand as a teacher he can do much more, but on the other one now he has to save his thirty students from all the dangers lurking before them. Needlessly to say, it's no easy task to keep all the problem children of class 1A safe. He's an experienced hero, so it would be interesting to see how he uses his knowledge and skills to overcome the obstacles in his way.

For the pairings I enjoy Bakugou/Uraraka, Todoroki/Deku and Aizawa/Hizashi. I don't have strong shipping preference for Tokoyami, but I would be okay with shipping him with Deku. Feel free to ask through mods if you feel strongly about shipping him with someone. As far as Uraraka's feelings for Deku are concerned I'm okay with her crush being mentioned, but I'd rather it wasn't the focus and definitely not an endgame. I like the idea of the two of them dating for some time, but realizing it isn't working for them and staying friends instead or a scenario where Uraraka never conveys her feelings and they sizzle out through years.

Character Receives Letters from Their Future Self

Character's Health Worsens the More They Time Travel

Time Loop/Groundhog Day

Character Meets Their Own Earlier/Later Incarnation

Time Loop - Looping character trying to save another character's life

Uncontrollable Spontaneous Time Travel

5 Minute Long Time Loop

Alternate Universe - Canon Character Is Secretly A Time Traveler From The Future

Multiple Travelers - Accidentally Get In Each Other’s Way While Trying To Achieve The Same Goal

Mental Time Travel to Past - Sharing Body With Past Self

Mental Time Travel to Past - Replacing Past Self

Mental Time Travel to Past - Merging With Past Self

[vanilla-blessing]

qb anime of the year list 2018

Anime of the Year 2018 - the year of girls going to aquariums together

I’ve seen at least one person who claimed that 2018 was the best year for anime in recent memory and I’m inclined to agree. A large majority of my top ten list is shows that I would consider perfect and even shows that blew away what I thought was possible in the medium. It was a revolutionary year and makes a strong argument that anime wasn’t a mistake after all. - qb

#1

Hugtto! Precure blew away my expectations every week for close to a year. I don’t exactly know what to say about it here, since this isn’t the last time I’ll talk about it for sure. It doesn’t even end in 2018, but it was such a huge part of my 2018 in anime that it would be inaccurate to not include it. The only way I can think to explain Hugtto! Precure is to talk about the Netflix She-ra reboot. She-ra’s a pretty basic modern Dreamworks cartoon, with some interesting ideas thrown in and likable characters, but mostly held back by what they could realistically allot for production. Because of this limitation, She-ra goes hard on a single perfect episode (if you’ve seen it, you know which one) that stands out in a big way and shows the full potential of what they set out to make. Usually, Precure is lucky to get a handful of these stand-out episodes in a season, and most of the time just gets by, due to being an annual series that can never, ever take a break. Normally, the first few episodes of a Precure season can be counted on to be strong, but the realities of anime production being hella tough inevitably catch up.

Hugtto! Precure started with an incredible opening arc, then never let off the gas pedal. Nearly every episode of Hugtto is a stand-out, never-before-seen, innovative tour-de-force. The combination of production miracles that resulted in Hugtto has been talked about by me on this blog before, (http://vanilla-blessing.tumblr.com/post/176000267859/hana-is-getting-unstable-a-pink-precure) but the length of time that Hugtto stayed in the paint, going extremely hard every single week with few exceptions, was just absurd. Every season of Precure has one or two peaks, sometimes a good season gets lucky and has even more, the best seasons bat a solid average, but are still expected to be held back by reality. Coming out of the fifteenth season of Precure with a majority of the best episodes in the entire franchise isn’t something that I can wrap my head around, but it definitely happened, mostly in 2018. It’s simultaneously a love letter to the franchise’s past, present, and future made by the biggest Precure fans on the planet, and it’s unquestionably the best season. Hugtto threw what we all knew was true and had accepted about Precure clear out the window, retroactively made older seasons better, watered my crops, brought world peace, ect.

Oh yeah and boys can be cures now. 

#2

I’m definitely not done with Revue Starlight and this won’t be the last time I talk about it. Revue Starlight essentially carried the Summer 2018 anime season on its back. Starlight absolutely dominated my anime watching schedule; my week was seriously just waiting for and watching different translations and releases with every other show being almost incidental, far less important than waiting for the song lyrics to get translated for an episode I had seen three times already. I won’t get into everything here, since I’ve already talked about it on this blog after all (http://vanilla-blessing.tumblr.com/post/179023723689/subtext-is-for-cowards-revue-starlight), but I need to reiterate that it was such a commanding, unique, stylized experience and didn’t drop a single episode in its entire absurdly high-level production. The only reasonable explanation for this is devil magic, and hell, it was worth it. Revue Starlight is probably in my top 5 anime of all time and I wouldn’t get this list out if I said everything I wanted to say about it. It’s great. Watch it twenty times. 

#3

Pop Teen Epic, or Hoshiiro Girldrop, was the most wildcard that has ever been in seasonal anime, and could have been absolutely anything. What none of us predicted was just how much of anything this show would be, encompassing an unprecedented range of artists, voice acting talent, and whatever AC-bu are, each giving their very individual takes on a self-described shitpost comic strip, sometimes covering the exact same material two or three times, with no regard for any sort of cohesion or structure.

Nothing about this idea should have been funded, nothing in Pop Team Epic has any reason to work, and as a straight adaptation probably wouldn’t have worked. PTE spun gold from trash through the raw effort of artists doing their own thing, which captures the original spirit that made the formerly-cancelled comic popular in a way that’s much too intelligent for haters to understand. Also it got a dub, which is the most ridiculously bad idea i’ve heard in my life, and it owns that it happened.

#4

Spider-man into the Spider-verse is legit the best comic book movie ever made. It’s a fun, expressive twist on the most tired superhero origin story of all time, and showcases some of the most sssssssssstyle and raw, real emotion I’ve ever seen in animation. Its particular selection of influences is brilliant and poignant, rising far above the simple fanservice you’ve come to expect from Spider-man. The unrelenting individualistic spirit of this movie will stick with you the longest in the soundtrack, bravely incorporating a side of pop music that you don’t usually get to see in big-budget productions, pulling soundcloud rappers out of their grody (i’m told) dens into the spotlight with equal importance alongside the heroic score. Spider-verse is all about establishing your own unique flavor, and it manages to overwrite every other entry in this cursed franchise with its bold taste.

#5

It doesn’t make sense to me how amazing Aggretsuko’s dub is. The impeccable timing of each line, the perfect integration with the comedy, and the optimal length of the episodes are all far beyond what I expected from a Netflix show. It not only converted the original series of shorts that I already had on my top 10 the first year into a godlike longer series I didn’t know I wanted, but went to the effort to bring real metal singers in for the karaoke. Honestly just repeat everything I said in my 2016 list and multiply it by five. I hope they make more. They’re making more.

#6

I was pretty slow to pick up anime in the Winter 2018 season, but I never missed Hakumei and Mikochi, maybe because it was like, the only simulcast on my favorite online anime streaming subscription service HiDiVE. The subs weren’t great, and it certainly wasn’t all that popular, but it was just the relaxing show I needed. Hakumei and Mikochi brought me back to my favorite non-racist parts of the Redwall series of books: friendly animals, delicious foods, alcohol, and rustic songs. I was ready to put it on my list for simply being a cute healing foodie anime, but to my surprise, it had much more in store within its tiny world: stark confrontations with mortality, a shy riverside necromancer, the inexplicable remake of The Raid: Redemption in miniature, fashion trends, frogs, carpenter weasels, carpenter skeletons, ghost celebrations, a country beetle with lofty dreams. The list of memorable people, places, and things contained in the gnomish roommates’ tiny world goes on and on.

Masaomi Ando’s directing went completely along with the storybook aesthetic, maybe even to an overall detriment, which is exactly the kind of reckless commitment to style I love to see. The distinctive paneling, constantly gorgeous backgrounds, and deliberate pacing perfectly captured the imaginative stories I loved to read as a kid, but with more alcohol, and more sophisticated themes under the surface. Even something anime rarely get right, endings, were perfectly capstoned every week with a short digest that explored more of the history, legends, and very personal lore of their small, unique world. At its core, Hakumei and Mikochi is the calming story of tiny roommates you think it is, but it’s also so much more. They have day jobs and get drunk and remodel their house after it explodes that one time. They gamble dangerously to escape a blizzard, help a photographer give herself a little credit, and rescue their neighbor from a fancy grave of her own making. By the end of the show Hakumei practically built half a town. The collective stories from their everyday adventures build into something tremendous, and it all wraps up on the most perfect ending sequence I could have hoped for, which calls back to every story thus far as a new verse of the show’s central duet is sung. In any reasonable AnimeOTY Hakumei and Mikochi would be my top anime of 2018, but this year, the competition was unreasonable. This show will just have to settle for being the best regular anime of the year.

#7

Bloom Into You is an incredible adaptation of an apparently yuri romance manga that raises the bar for anime adaptations in general. I don’t know when, but somewhere along the line I stopped expecting that serious capital R Romance anime would have a distinctive style, and gave up to the notion that there was no demand anymore and a stylized, seinen/josei romance would just never get made. Well that was 2016 and then Scum’s Wish happened which this blog has covered extensively.(http://vanilla-blessing.tumblr.com/post/168842023559/how-lerche-adapted-an-average-trashy-romcom-into, http://vanilla-blessing.tumblr.com/post/168789506264/scums-wish-and-our-messy-uncomfortable) To me Bloom Into You feels similar in concept, as a difficult romantic situation with no easy answers or completely happy people. The main perspective character, Yuu, is among my favorite romantic leads in any series; she doesn’t get romantic feelings, although she wants to, and despite being easily motivated, is kind of dispassionate. Her relationship that she was pushed into with Touko might as well be out of mutual convenience, since Touko doesn’t want to fall in love with someone who would love her back, and Yuu doesn’t think she can.

Yuu filters the developments of the series as they grow closer through a very different perspective compared to more emotional leads of usual romance stories, methodically breaking down and considering where she’s at, observing where others are at, before taking an action that makes sense to her. Her growth through the series takes a very different direction than the common dramatic formula; instead of running headfirst into misunderstandings to overcome romantic challenges, she’s compelled to take a step back and position herself in a way that allows her to understand and confront her girlfriend’s issues. The changes that she experiences herself during this process are extremely gradual, but are no less significant to her. Although the dramatic weight of the series is obviously all about Touko, the central thesis of Bloom Into You is to explore Yuu’s complex feelings, and ask to what degree our actions are dictated by our emotions. It’s a heavy topic to be sure, but what makes this anime adaptation special in particular is how the directing and production pull it off, to maybe an even stronger degree than the original material.

Bloom Into You’s most striking and noticeable feature is the incredible conservation of small movements that connect expressions naturally. Minute changes in characters’ faces are vital to observe the almost imperceptible changes in Yuu over the course of the series, and every aspect of the direction is in service of highlighting these subtle moments. In addition, repeated cinematic themes are reinforced over the show’s run, such as the use of light to impart a blinding realization, flower language to inform deeper personalities, even using a literal (not literal) cinema. Symbols such as trains, masks, and mirrors are used constantly and consistently to reinforce the show’s themes, which should be immediately obvious from the opening animation. I’m still kind of stunned that Bloom Into You’s ending theme is such a banger and managed to use an oscillating sine curve in a metaphorical way. These details might be lost without the brilliant layouts, intentionally resembling a stage, which always push the minute differences front and center. As an anime adaptation, Bloom Into You adds so much value in such a subdued, conservative way that it puts uninspired adaptations to shame.

#8 

Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 rounded out the year with a good old new-fashioned Japanese-speaking Chinese-Wuxia Taiwanese puppet show. The novelty of this wild series, like, existing at all, is still incredible to me, but I was really wowed by the new characters and the direction the series went in after the already high standards of the first season. Following the outrageous action and fights of the previous season, I did not expect that season 2’s introductory goon would 1. Live past the first episode 2. So quickly become my favorite swordfighter and 3. Have inarguably the most complete character arc of the entire show thus far. The Princess of Cruelty’s struggle against her inner and outer demons in a unreasonably stacked, desperate situation developed her into easily the most compelling character of the season, and the rest of the cast including a corrupt police officer with extremely disconcerting and bad puppet teeth, a ventriloquist rock-lutist, and a nihilist monk each bring their own unique flavors to the table. The table that they throw the puppets in the air from to make the show. All of the new elements of Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 improved an already strong formula even more, and revealed an emotional depth to the series that I’m excited to see developed further. Some people might not call this anime, but those people haven’t seen Thunderbolt Fantasy for longer than 2 seconds. It’s so anime.

#9

I blasted all available seasons of Star vs the Forces of Evil early in 2018, and it was basically my first foray into straight-up American cartoon magical girl, despite watching all the Japanese ones, which was probably an oversight on my part. That’s because Star Versus is really good, and provided a flavor of magical girl I had been missing out on. I could talk about the excellent sparkle witch aesthetic of the show, fluid animation, and hilarious comedy, but I’d rather spend this blogspace posting Star Butterfly faces. 

#10

A Place Further Than the Universe, or YoriMoi, or my preferred moniker That Antartica Anime, wasn’t on my radar until well after it had finished airing, but it stuck with me for most of the year. Although it’s definitely melodramatic at times, it utilizes this tendency in exactly the right way to enhance the individual characters’ emotional arcs. Even though I was personally sort of taken out of it for many of the girls’ personal trials, :penguin emoji: is obviously thoughtfully written and carefully constructed, and especially knows how to orchestrate an immense emotional reaction with pitch-perfect timing. If there’s one particular aspect this anime has absolute mastery over, it’s hitting that perfect note and cue to create a memorable narrative climax. And for all my bellyaching about not fully relating to some of the characters, Miyake is definitively the #1 qb-relatable character of the year.

Here’s the rest of my list. Don’t @ me about it because if its not on my top ten then it doesnt really count anymore i dont make the rules thats just how it is

11. Yuru Camp

12. Hisone and Masotan

13. Asagao to Kase-san

14. Devilman Crybaby

15. After the Rain

16. Planet With

- friend of the show @queuebae on twitter 

That’s why the 2018 anime of the year award goes to Kaiju Girls 2.

[queen-of-hearts92]

Revue Starlight 1: I can’t believe it’s not Ikuhara!

GRANT ME THE POWER TO REVOLU-wait. Wrong show.

If you haven’t read the prelude for this, you should! Please go here!

Otherwise come on in for the episode summary and discussion! This will be fun! ouo

Note: I have NOT seen episode 2 as of this post/typing. All this is based on the first episode and the first episode alone.

>RAISE THE CURTAINS Y’ALL, IT’S STORY TIME!

The episode starts with our main character, Karen Aijou, repeating a story she’s seeing on stage which she is also performing in with her childhood friend, Hikari Kagura, who also recites the story. It cuts back to the audience and now Hikari and Karen are little kids watching the play that their teenage selves are performing in. The play is called Starlight, it's about goddesses that were drawn into the glowing of heaven. That’s about it for the play summary. Teen! Karen speaks about ties that bind others together, Teen! Hikari counters that they still can be pulled away from each other anyways and never see each other ever again. She refers to the story as sad. 

Next we get this amazing shot, I pulled it together so it’s one screenshot cause we gotta see it in its full glory. I hope it looks alright!

I WARNED YOU ABOUT THOSE STAIRS BRO

It seems like on these stairs they are underneath the Tokyo Tower, which seems to be quite relevant to this series cause this isn’t the last time we will see it. Not by a long shot lol. Anyways, Karen declares that she and presumably Hikari are gonna go to the stars together and we get a very Ikuhara looking title card. (It also comes in black!)

Is that the Tokyo Tower? God damn this tower is EVERYWHERE.

We then start with how most anime starts, getting up for school. Karen is woken up by her roommate, Mahiru Tsuyuzaki, because she slept through her sweet dino alarm clock going off and they gotta get to school (side note: a framed picture of little Karen and Hikari sleeping on a bus is on Karen’s desk). Karen, isn’t a morning person at all but she gets up and dressed and sleeply waits to cross the road with Mahiru. Karen realizes she left her crown barrette in her dorm so they run back to get it. Mahiru isn’t a fan of running back just for a hairpin but sometimes you do wild shit just because you have a crush on your roommate. 

The two make it to school not only right on time but they are the first ones there, the first class of the day seems to be dance so the two of them suit up and start doing stretches and warm ups together in the dance room.

We also find out that Karen’s class is the 99th one here and she’s student number 1. Mahiru’s student number is 17. Soon the other girls in their class start showing up. Student number 25, Junna Hoshimi walks in first. Junna expresses surprise that Karen got up in time this day, student number 11 Claudine Saijou also comments on that but in song because she’s a theater kid. Student number 15, Nana Daiba aka Banana-chan (yes that’s her nickname), twirls Mahiru and says Karen getting up on time was probably because of Mahiru’s help. We are then introduced to number 22 Kaoruko Hanayagi and number 2 Futaba Isurugi at the same time, I also like to call them our resident Haruka and Michiru descendants lol. Student number 18, Maya Tendou, strolls in with a sparkle sound effect and makes her way to the center of the room. All the girls follow and stand for the morning class. 

We learn there are 28 girls (this is before Hikari comes) in this class all together and that they are Class 2-A which means they are most likely second years (as it goes for anime set in high schools). It’s also May 14th, I dunno if dates will be relevant but we should make note of it anyways just in case.

Karen gives us internal exposition explaining the school is 100 years old and it’s a theater training school. She also says they are classmates but also rivals at the same time but it’s cool they all get along. We then see more of the pretty school grounds and then we go to the girls having lunch. 

During this lunch scene we see more glimpses of what the characters are like and their quirks. At the table with Karen are Mahiru and Nana. Junna comes over and gives them flyers for something called the Seisho Festival, even though this festival isn’t until next year Junna says they are preparing to get ready for it anyways. According to the flyer, Karen’s class will be performing the Starlight play we saw a bit of at the beginning. Nana is nostalgic about the first year they performed this play but Junna scoffs and says what they did was amateurish and they needed to do better than last year. 

We learn that this class at least will perform the Starlight play every year of them being in high school for this festival. Karen is jazzed about doing the play again. Mahiru comments that maybe next time her and Karen could be the “fated couple”. Karen is like, nah Claudine and Maya will probs be the leads since they are the best in the class. Junna disagrees with this assumption and shows her disagreement via dipping Karen and saying they shouldn’t assume who will be getting the roles in the play just yet.

Back in class, Karen is sitting in the back row by the windows (as many protags have) and she...She has a vision/daydream of some sort. We get a shot of gears turning and smoke and then she’s on the top of the Tokyo tower, overlooking the city. Karen admires the view and wonders how she’s getting such a great view when suddenly Hikari walks up behind her and pushes her off the tower. Karen falls backwards in slow motion, the background music turns distorted and off putting. Karen recalls that the tower was where she bought her crown barrette. She talks about a promise coming true and then we get a symbol with a giraffe on it and Karen lying on the classroom floor. 

Mahiru and Futaba (I think) asks if she’s ok and Karen is like its cool I’m fine. We cut to Junna’s phone and on its screen there is the giraffe symbol and it says underneath “Auditions Day 1”.

If you want to prove your love you-wait no thats bears not giraffes

Karen thinks about her weird dream and then the teacher announces there is a new transfer student and, bam it’s Hikari! She has the number 29. Karen is super excited to see her childhood friend but Hikari doesn’t seem like she feels the same way. Hikari has been at the Royal Drama Academy in England for the past 12 years. Karen and Mahiru show her to the dorms after school, on the way there Karen comments on the promise and it has something to do with their barrettes (Hikari’s barrette is stars/sparkles). 

Karen wants Hikari to stay with her and Mahiru, much to Mahiru’s distress, but Hikari says no and goes to her own room. Hikari doesn’t have a roommate btw. Karen says through the closed door of Hikari’s room “let’s be stars one day”, the tower is shown again.

We then get a montage of Hikari being amazing at everything because she’s a anime transfer student, that’s just how these things go. Next we go to everyone but Hikari in the showers (don’t worry, we don’t see anything at all) and Karen is fangirling about Hikari and how cool she is. The other girls join in on the fangirling and it’s commented that Hikari seems rather cold, Karen defends her saying it just means she’s cool and mysterious. The other girls playfully tease her about that statement. Afterwords Karen realizes Hikari isn’t around and looks for her. 

And I must mention this line is said:

Is this foreshadowing? We just don’t know.

I could be wrong but have a feeling this will be important later down the line.

Anyways. Maya comments that she can’t “see Hikari’s heart” and then we go back to Karen. She goes to Hikari’s room and finds it empty, she also finds Hikari has the same picture of them as kids as she does. Karen then notices Hikari outside running off somewhere and decides to follow her. This leads Karen to the school, Hikari seemingly has disappeared. Karen notices a strange elevator she’s never seen before, she steps in and presses the down button cause thats what you do when you find strange elevators. 

And then.

The fucking elevator rapidly drops down screeching all the way, speeding down like it’s a fucking rollercoaster. The gotta go fast elevator takes her to the “Underground Music Theater of Seisho academy”, this stage is under a recreation of the Tokyo Tower. A voice declares that day one of the auditions has begun. We are shown center stage, the voice says the competitors are aiming to be “the top star”. Karen is flung into the air and lands safely in a audience theater chair. The stage lights up and Hikari and Junna are seen decked out in a fancy uniform. The two start singing and then, they start dueling. Hikari has a dagger and Junna has a bow and arrow. 

Karen is confused, she asks “Is this Starlight?” which means that the songs they are singing are likely from that play. A stray arrow whizzes by Karen’s head and then its revealed she’s not alone in the audience. There's a giraffe. A talking giraffe.

*Insert Spongebob joke here*

This giraffe was the voice from earlier. The giraffe says the revue has begun and talks about the wonderful combo of song and dance and fighting. He says the person who presents the “most sparkling revue” will have the path to the “top star” opened to them. He also says the top star will get the “heavenly tiara”, a tiara is then shown. There are suddenly stars on stage everywhere as Hikari and Junna fight. 

Karen is still confused, the giraffe says “they understand” and says “they are desperate” and thats what makes them Duelists Stage Girls. He asks if Karen has the same determination. Hikari is struggling, Giraffe says if the metal pin/button on her jacket falls the revue is over. Hikari gets pinned to a wooden star decoration via arrow and loses her weapon, it seems like she’s going to lose. Giraffe says that those who don’t wish to play lead don’t get chosen and asks Karen to leave. Karen gets on Giraffe’s neck, he tips over and she leaps off his head towards the stage declaring she and Hikari are going to become stars together. 

Then, the transformation sequence happens.

Maybe one day she’ll become a car to revolutionize the world.

After she transforms Karen, wielding a sword, announces her presence on stage. Junna tells her to fuck off and Hikari seems horrified that Karen is here. Karen then smoothly charges to Junna, blocking her arrows with ease, knocks Junna’s pin/button off and smoothly dips her finishing the duel. There’s a very brief shot of Junna kneeling on the ground in the dark defeated before a curtain falls on her.

Karen stabs her sword into the ground declaring “Position Zero!” and we get this shot of curtains/ribbons covering tower like a fucked up christmas tree.

We can’t go without our phallic symbols you know.

Giraffe declares the first day of auditions over. Karen is pretty pleased with herself, Hikari on the other hand is crying and says “Baka Karen!”. The episode ends here.

We get to see the opening and its pretty cutesy but, we all know ops can lie about what the tone of a series is don’t we?

This looks a little different from when I did theater. Less giraffe. 

>If 9 girls worked for Love Live it can work here!

Alright now, Imma go over all nine of the girls very briefly and then we can move on to the episode breakdown.

Karen: Our protagonist! I find she’s starting off the series about as standard as protags get. She’s passionate, kinda weird, and determined. However there's one particular thing that stands out about her to me, she’s not untalented or struggling with the craft she wants to do. Quite the opposite in fact! Like she won that duel with pretty much no problem and doesn’t seem like she’s struggling in any of the classes! Her classmates tease her about her being a sleepyhead but they never tease about what she can do nor imply she’s behind everyone in someway. I find that to be quite unusual for this kind of protag character. I’m interested to see where she goes from here.

Hikari: Hellllooo mysterious transfer student! I’m getting strong Homura Akemi vibes from her, as in she knows more than she lets on and really doesn’t want the main character to get involved into whatever crazy shit is going down. It will be interesting to learn about her as the show goes on.

Mahiru: She’s very cute but all I can think is “oh this girl is gonna get her heartbroken isn’t she”. I’m getting a strong vibe she has feelings for Karen but is too shy to confess, and unfortunately it seems like Karen only has eyes for Hikari. This, could get messy.

Junna: Serious business girl here. I like her design, I can’t say I’ve seen this particular look for a character before. Specially the bell decorations. Unfortunately for her, she’s the one who loses these stage duels first and we will get to see via her what happens when someone loses. If anything. Could be nothing. Or she’s fucked. Guess we will know next episode.

Claudine: If this show was made in the 90s, Claudine would have the “ohohohoho!” laugh. This is based off her looks alone btw. She’s one of the top students and she reminds me of a classmate who was in choir with me in Jr High and she would sing opera in the girls locker room nearly everyday. It seems like she’s not a “mean girl” and gets along with her classmates, except for Maya. She and Maya obviously have a rivalry going on, to a point they compete with each other over eating lunch. But they were also the leads the the play last year so there’s probably more than meets the eye for their relationship for sure.

Nana: Her nickname is Banana and I just. I dunno if I’ll ever call her that, but her hair does look like bananas. She’s interesting, it seems like she’d interested in Junna since she took like three pictures of Junna with her phone in one scene. She might be the “is sweet but 100% can kill you if she wanted to” type. She also seems pretty nostalgic, talking about how fun it was to do the play last year and such.

Kaoruko: Ah yes, one part of the couple of this series. She and Futaba are always seen together, even on the steps from the start of this episode and in the op. Kaoruko is the femme in the relationship and seems to have a knack for traditional dancing, but she’s also a bit childish. She’s super sleepy in the morning and when Futaba drops her she complains and during lunch when she finds a food she doesn’t like she plops it into her girlfriend’s plate. I like her.

Futaba: The other part of the couple of the series, always seen with Kaoruko. Futaba is the butch in the relationship and her skill lies in stage combat if her wiping the floor with everyone during practice is any indication. In the op she’s seen riding a moped. She seems pretty patient with her gf’s antics. Sighing and rolling her eyes like she’s super used to it, like when Kaoruko dumps the food she doesn’t like onto her plate. I like her too.

Maya: The other top student and rival to Claudine. Maya seems to be very confident in herself, she walks like she’s all that and a bag of chips in her first scene and she isn’t intimidated by Hikari’s talents. It seems like she might know something is up with the not seeing Hikari’s heart comment but it’s hard to say for sure right now.

>Holy Zettai Unmei Mokushioku Batman!

-This anime nails down the Ikuhara style excellently! Especially in the last half of the episode, the part with the sewing(?) machines when Karen enters the stage reminded me of the Utena movie when Utena turns into a car. The action scenes are amazing and I’m really impressed with them! You could legit replace the soundtrack of this show with Utena’s and it would work just the same (in fact I went ahead and did just that!). I’m very impressed in this regard for sure.

-Something that I picked up on right away is the fact that Revue Starlight starts similarly to shows like Utena, Princess Tutu, Madoka Magica, and Penguindrum. A standard not so new plot is happening and then PSYCE you are going down an elevator 2000 mph and there's a secret stage underground and a giraffe is there. I think this is a reason why this show gives me a good feeling about it, cause it opens the same way shows I love have done.

-The fact that this school’s specific age was said makes me go HMMM. To my memory, that’s not something you state in anime unless it’s important to the story or becomes relevant later. A 100 year old school is nothing to sneeze at anyways.

-I’ve seen some folks saying that the underground stage bit is imaginary and it’s really just a normal audition but I very much disagree with that. It’s too mysterious for such a simple explanation, Hikari is way too dodgey about going there for it to be normal, and we see Junna get the call for this weird audition in the classroom. No this is real, giraffe and all.

-Speaking of the Giraffe let’s talk about him a bit, so it’s clear he knows what’s up and he acts as a referee of sorts at the very least. I looked up to see if giraffes have any particular symbolic meaning but I can’t find anything concrete, just spirit animal websites which isn’t a reliable source to say the least. So, let’s look at this from a historical perspective briefly. Giraffes are subjects of African folklore unsurprisingly, it seems these tales revolve around how the fuck it’s neck got so long. Outside of folklore, giraffes have captured people’s fascination for a long time. They were often kept as pets on the continent and especially overseas. The Greeks and Romans thought giraffes were a camel and leopard hybrid and called them camelopardalis. Giraffes have often been used as showanimals so to speak, their owners would travel around the world to be like LOOK AT THIS LONG THING. They were liked because they were pretty and elegant looking and yet they are also very powerful animals...hm possible meaning here? 

I also must mention Qilins. 

A Qilin is a mythical animal from east asian cultures, and they are based on giraffes. A giraffe was brought to China and the Emperor declared them to be magical creatures (I don’t blame him, giraffes are amazing). Quilins are basically very small dragons that sometimes have unicorn-like horns. In Japan, Quilins are called Kirins which is also the modern word for giraffe in Japanese. In the power hierarchy of mythological animals in Japan, Kirins are at the top with the phoenix and the dragon right behind it. There's a lot more about Qilins/Kirins to say but for now I think it’s a being to keep in mind going forward. It might be relevant or not, we will see.

-I refer to Futaba and Kaoruko as the Haruka and Michiru of the group because let’s face it, ever since they’ve appeared in the 90s they’ve been a source of lesbian couple inspiration in anime and other media. Honestly that’s what I think of first when I see couples in anime like Futaba and Kaoruko, even if their personalities aren’t 100% like our favorite early 90s gays. Now if they will be like them in their actions it remains to be seen though.

-Hikari seems really upset Karen became a Stage Girl, that’s one reason why I’m thinking there's more than meets the eye for these auditions. She seems way too upset, to the point of crying, for it to be just “oh crap we gotta be rivals now”. Her cold demeanor also extends to this, trying to push Karen away so she doesn’t get involved. Whoops she got involved, you tried Hikari.

-The Tokyo Tower is seen EVERYWHERE in this episode and it’s even in the title card! I don’t know if this takes place in Tokyo but even if it doesn’t that doesn’t change the fact it’s in places it shouldn’t be. The only relevance for why the tower is around as of right now is it seems to be the place Karen and Hikari got their barrettes and made their “promise”. There might be something else that happened there too though.

-On the shot of the girls sleeping/knocked out on the stairs, there's something odd here. The narrator says 8 women, not 9. And Karen, isn’t there. Her cape and sword are at the top by Hikari but Karen herself isn’t there. Oh dear, this can’t be a good sign for Karen.

-I find that the curtain falling on Junna after she loses interesting, especially with how fast it comes and goes. Took a few tries to get a screenshot, which will be below. Symbolism? Besides a pun that is, “IT’S CURTAINS FOR YOU” being a phrase that describes when someone has lost. Or the curtains falling meaning the ending of a stage performance. We won’t know more for sure until we know if anything in particular happens to those that lose.

Plot twist the curtain literally ate her.

-Cool thing about the elevator, when it drops down its styled to look it someone cut the dang thing out with scissors. Like a cut of reality? Anywho, I just think it’s neat.

-I like the glimpses we got into the girl’s dynamics and personalities. Claudine and Maya are rivals and possibly more than that. Futaba and Kaoruko are together all the time. Mahiru is the responsible friend who might have a crush on Karen. Nana is friendly and sweet and likes to reminisce on the past. So on and so forth. It makes me curious about seeing more of them that’s for sure.

-On wikipedia, it states this anime is 12 episodes long and while I’m still not sure if that is correct, I’m gonna assume that’s what we will get until told otherwise though.

-I like how the teachers don’t look like, ya know super young and childlike. No their teacher looks like an adult and you can tell she’s one compared to the teenagers. I really like that. I’m curious if we will see other staff members of this school but it’s hard to say if we will or won’t right now.

-I wonder how big this academy is? The dorms appear to be at least a few blocks away from the school itself judging by when Karen and Mahiru leave in the morning and when they show Hikari where the dorms are. It’s not as wild as Ohtori’s design but I want to see more of this campus for sure.

-The musical part sounded good BUT it was really hard to hear over the fucking giraffe talking. I’m gonna assume this won’t happen next time cause Karen is in this shit now but it was a little annoying. I get why, had to explain shit, but I was like aw man when he was talking over the song.

-Hikari’s cape is blue while everyone else's is red. Interesting. SYMBOLISM?

-I’ve seen some people say “oh this is an idol anime?” no. No it isn’t. The girls aren’t idols, they are stage theater performers. I can’t say I’ve seen a ton of idol anime but no this ain’t an idol anime. And just because it has a game coming out for it doesn’t make it one either, if it did we should consider Fate/Stay Night one then lol.

-A Stage Girl eh? Hm, the fact that they are called something like this concerns me. Like it’s a mark of being fucked over like duelists in Utena are.

-There are flower petals all over the opening and the last shot of the opening is Karen and Hikari holding hands. Interestingggg.

-This show is hardcore using Utena as a basis and invoking Utena imagery, just look at the official art! The opening, the dueling outfits, the fact that dueling is occurring and how they are won, the title cards, the transformation parts, the flowers (what kind of flowers I dunno), the tower, even the god damn title all invoke Utena imagery. I’m hoping this means we are going to good places.

>Gogai! Gogai! Speculation and Questions time!

-So this is a school that's there to recruit girls for a very specific dancing group which appears to be named after a, I assume, tragic play. And the recruitment process is done in an underground stage and it appears this class and solely this class have been chosen for this audition. I don’t know about all of you, but this sounds awful ritualistic and just plain fishy to me. There's something wrong with this group, or whoever is running the group behind the scenes. At least it feels that way.

-This series could be a metaphor/symbolic for two things, it could either be about the competitive nature of stage theater and how it can make or break relationships we have with each other. Or, if they are going deeper than that, it’s about all the struggles of those who do theater professionally/want to do it and everything that comes with it including exploitation, being overworked, sacrificing relationships, and, if they really are going for it, homophobia. It will really depend how much creative freedom is here. I’ll talk about that a bit more later.

-There MIGHT be a deeper reason to why Hikari left Japan all that time ago. To chase her dreams? Something darker? Is there more to the Tokyo Tower beyond them just getting barrettes together? Why the dream sequence at the start? Was there a falling out there? Too little to go off of just yet.

-So, this is the 99th class right. The first years below them are 100th then. Does, that indicate anything? Why was this particular class chosen and why now? Unless this happens every year to the second years? Many questions.

>But is this really such a good idea?

This anime shows A LOT of promise, I haven’t been this excited for a new anime in a long time like I said in the prelude. However, I’m worried that my gut feeling is wrong. It’s mostly cause of who produces this series. I’ll explain my two big concerns here.

-Revue Starlight looks A LOT like an Ikuhara work, that is for sure. But, is it going to talk the talk if it’s walking the walk? Will this just look like an Ikuhara thing and not commit storywise? I’m not expecting Utena levels of greatness or discussion here, I just feel if you are gonna imitate Ikuhara you need to have something to say. But, what is allowed to be said is unknown here. You see, like I said in the prelude, Bushiroad has its hands in this project. These are the guys that have made Love Live and Bandori, their usual target demographic is male otaku that want to imagine themselves in relationships with fictional girls and buy all the merch and blu rays. This begs the question, is the Revue Starlight anime going for that crowd? 

It’s not airing at “Otaku O Clock”, which is a time period late at night that specifically airs shows for male otaku (RS airs around 4/5pm btw). But that doesn’t mean it won’t be an issue nor does it say what the target demographic is. Revue Starlight is going to be a multimedia project, it has an rpg mobile game planned, as well as a stage musical. So that begs the question, how much creative freedom is here with the anime? Will it be limited because they want to appeal to and not upset the male otaku? If so that might prevent this series from being more than just a superficial Ikuhara look alike. However, Bushiroad has also produced Watamote which is a jab at socially awkward otaku but Watamote wasn’t gonna be a multimedia project so. I dunno if that should indicate anything at all.

-Even though I’ve been referring to the girls in this show having romantic feelings for each other, the other thing I worry about is the use of lesbians/wlw here. You see, shows like Love Live and Bandori don’t have a whole world inhabited by girls for no reason. Having little to no male characters in these types of shows is so there isn’t anyone to get in the way of the entitled male otaku’s fancys of being in a relationship with one of the girls. In turn, any and all gay romantic tension in these shows aren’t for the girls benefits nor are they for any queer person watching, it’s so the entitled male otaku don’t feel threatened and for any yuri fans. 

In these shows, there will never be a canon gay couple or even any girl that will admit that she’s gay. Most will call this queerbaiting but that would imply that this is for any queer people, cause it isn’t aiming to bait queer folks. So I’ll refer to it as Yuri Baiting, sure the girls can flirt with each other and “act” gay towards each other but nothing will ever come of it! As a gay lady myself, it’s frustrating to watch. Love Live is annoying enough with it but Bandori, oh man. It hangs around the borders of committing but it just doesn’t, legit theres a character flirting with every girl she sees and she’s pretty much all but gay without saying anything but they never will say as such! Despite me being a fan of both these series, I really really hate seeing this.

Now I’m gonna clarify what I mean by committing, I don’t mean that the characters have to kiss or even be like “THIS IS MY GIRLFRIEND”, you can have gay characters without them ever declaring themselves as such. Utena is a great example of that, Anthy and Utena fall in love with each other and even though they don’t kiss in the show (beyond a frame in the second ending credits) you can tell that’s what's going on via the language of visual storytelling. Granted Utena made this even more obvious in the movie where they do kiss, hell it’s one of the last shots at the end! Another example is with Haruka and Michiru, they don’t really like say they are together romantically but you can tell they are via how they are shown interacting with each other and how other characters see them and comment on it. You can do this without even saying the word lesbian! Hell even before Ruby and Sapphire of Steven Universe got married you can tell from the moment we meet them they are very obviously a romantic couple. In the same vein, you can tell Pearl was romantically in love with Rose from Rose’s Scabbard (and even before that) onwards. In Legend of Korra, reading Asami and Korra’s interactions as romantic is very much the correct read because they become the official couple at the end even if it’s never said within the tv show. I haven’t seen Yuri on Ice but my understanding is Victor and Yuri, while canon, also shows they are romantically into each other via visuals. Visual storytelling is useful like that!

Hence you can tell in things like Love Live that it isn’t going to do that, I’m using Love Live as an example cause it’s so fucking clear it’s Yuri Baiting that you can’t fucking miss it. This is super 1000 times more obvious in the mobile game where, sometimes the girl on your screen will hit on you or flirt with you (please stop I am 26 YEARS OLD). And while yes, in universe the player is another student at the all girls school but that doesn’t matter. Their dialogue is directed to the person playing and when the target audience is male otaku well, that is who they are really speaking to.

Gdi one time Riko, one of the girls in Love Live, blatantly buys yuri doujin/manga but does that mean anything? Nopeeee! AND, the same anime has probably one of the biggest examples of Yuri Bait in this particular series! There’s an episode of the anime Love Live Sunshine where Chika and Riko are standing by a beach, looking in each others eyes and holding hands and the sun slowly comes up all romantic looking and the music swells and Riko tells Chika “I love you.” and that’s where this episode ends. Now you’d think this would go somewhere, but NOPE. No it sure fucking doesn’t! It’s never fucking mentioned again. When I first saw the ep I was like “Fucking christ this isn’t gonna go anywhere isn’t it.” and ta dah I was right! Cause fuck you if you think they’d ever commit to anything that isn’t pandering to their shit tier demographic and anyone who is queer can go fuck themselves cause all we are seen by these people is fetish bullshit that fucking hates you and fucking christ I’m SO TIRED OF THIS SHIT! AaaaaaaAAAAHHH!

This Chu Chu is here to prevent me from ranting too much about off topic stuff. Please stand by as I scream into a corner.

Ok. I’m good now. Ok. Sorry about that.

I could go on but I won’t. My point being here is I’m worried that the Revue Starlight anime will backflip into this direction. If it does then any and all romantic looking interactions are a fucking lie and fuck you if you think it’s anything else but fetish pandering. I’m hoping it doesn’t do that in this anime, but it’s hard to tell at this point. So I have this fear anyways. I am hoping I’m concerned for nothing, I really am.

>Starlight, Starbright?

So, after all this I am left to wonder if my good feeling about this show is correct. I’m either right or the visuals are tricking me and this show is either really mediocre at best or outright bad. Right now, concerns aside, this show feels very very promising. The fact I’m able to write this much about it is a good sign to me. 

Well, that’s all for now! I promise the next post won’t be as long, or at least I’m thinking so but who knows? Thanks for reading!

Meet you back on the stage for episode 2!

[recentanimenews]

Fans Give Their Hot Takes On The Anime Awards

More important than the Oscars, the Grammys, and the Havelock, North Carolina Chili Cookoff combined is the Anime Awards. It's that wonderful time when we can look over the past year of anime and bestow honors upon the ones that most touched our hearts. And with them looming ever closer, we asked some of y'all to give us your hot takes on who YOU think should take the trophy in some of the categories. And you didn't disappoint. Your answers ranged from surprising to thoughtful to inspired, so we decided to collect the twelve best of them and post them here for the rest of the internet to love and appreciate and then, as the internet does, nitpick into oblivion. 

  I'm gonna go down category by category, and what better category to start with than the big one: Best Anime.

  BEST ANIME

  "Yorimoi for AOTY" by Cameron (A Place Farther Than The Universe)

  A Place Further Than The Universe was the best anime of the year. It was the best anime by far and no other show came even close. There were plenty of other shows I loved this year like Laid-back Camp and Revue Starlight but none of those shows compare to the good good Antarctica girls. The show teaches amazing lessons and made me cry many times. The email scene at the end of episode 12 made me cry for hours and I still tear up every time I think about it. It's just genuinely one of the best shows I've ever seen. This is my new go-to recommendation for people who want to get into anime. Their adventure is so inspiring and it deserves anime of the year. 

  "Devilman: Crybaby" by Manic Stylo (Devilman Crybaby)

  It's been almost universally accepted by both formalist and populist anime fans that Devilman Crybaby has the qualities of an instant classic. From its unique visual direction, infectious soundtrack, and unrelenting use of adult content, Devilman Crybaby breathes new life into Go Nagai's classic manga and beautifully streamlines it for a contemporary audience. Remaining mostly faithful to its source material, director Masaaki Yuasa's sensibility for abstract and avant-garde visuals makes for a delightfully nightmarish fever-dream adaptation of Nagai's original concept (it's a match made in heaven...or hell in this case). As far as adult anime go, Crybaby is consistently balanced fare with uncompromisingly violent action for anyone who just wants a fun romp, solid thematic undertones for those who want more bite out of their shows, and tastefully implemented real-world commentary if you want more than just escapism. A hyper-stylized modern gothic masterpiece, whether it worked for you or not, Devilman Crybaby will not leave your subconscious any time soon.

  "Zombies But Still Alive" by Jouii-chan (ZOMBIE LAND SAGA)

    2018 has been quite the year for anime. It's my first year that I've been watching and keeping up with seasonal anime with Crunchyroll! But one show stood out to me, and that show was Zombie Land Saga. For the first few episodes, I was pretty doubtful about the series. I mean, an idol anime with zombie girls? That was just plain crazy!

  But as the show went on, I realized Zombie Land Saga was more than some silly comedy show. It was beauty. All the characters had great chemistry, and the music was great. It got me addicted to it with it's great music too. The best part of the show was how it showed the indomitable human spirit and how even through the toughest of storms, anyone can prevail. Sakura provided a great lead with her past sucking her of all her confidence, yet she overcomes this to lead Franchouchou to a great future. Zombie Land Saga was one of the surprises of 2018, and I was always hyped to watch the new episodes when they came out.

  "Violet Evergarden: An Anime for a Lifetime" by James (Violet Evergarden)

  Violet Evergarden is an anime that grabs your heart. The loss of a father, mother, daughter, son- the fears of rejection, regret, and failure- Violet Evergarden reaches inside you, and pulls tight on these strings. It's not just a post-war story; Violet Evergarden is a somber filled tale that elicits a strong sense of empathy from the audience. Beautifully rendered and well-paced, the story features a subtle escalation in heart ache and healing. Each episode takes the time to fully immerse the audience in a complex micro-story filled with very human lives. This anime understands the importance of a well developed character, and spends it's time wisely weaving this incredibly vibrant, living world. Story aside, the animation and artwork are absolutely stunning. When paired, the audio and visual cues truly bring the world of Violet Evergarden to life. From start to finish, there is no other animation that delivers a more compelling sense of catharsis and satisfaction, and that is why I believe Violet Evergarden deserves to be Anime of the Year.

    Best Boy

    "I Would Lay Down My Life For Toono Hiyori" by Nija (Free! -Dive to the Future-)

  200 words definitely aren't enough to properly convey my intense love and appreciation for my everything, the light of my life, the absolute blessing that is Toono Hiyori from Free! but I'M STILL GONNA TRY because he deserves everything. Starting out as a fun antagonist, turning into a slightly confusing antagonist, and then ep. 6 hits you with that ABSOLUTE GUT-PUNCH and I weep for him always. He did some things wrong (though I understand why he did them and wouldn't say I necessarily disagree tbh) but in the end he's just a lonely boy giving everything for the person he cares about the most without ever asking anything in return. Less important but still Important things include: he's a jerk sometimes and I love it. His frenemyship with Asahi? The funniest thing. He can and will ruin your life with a smile, he loves reading and coffee and has a really good fashion sense, he's very organised and on top of things, even if he's a social mess lbr... And if he likes you, he'll probably kill for you. All in all he's just the best and you, person who's reading this entry, should know that too. Bless his soul.

  "Katsuki Bakugo, A Living, Breathing Explosion" by Mimi Valentine (My Hero Academia)

  Katsuki Bakugo is easily one of the most dynamic characters of the year. Starting with his complicated relationship with Izuku, his hidden jealousy for a boy with no quirk, to outright anger at him suddenly having a quirk, to the rejecting the trope of "rival becomes evil for greater power," to confessing his feelings of inferiority towards Izuku, and the intense self blame for what happened to All Might. Katsuki has always shown that he has this heart, from treating Uraraka as his equal in the torunament, to fully acknowledging Izuku's growth ans strength. Seeing his slow dismantle from just a typical bully to a hidden broken boy only to show you that under all that anger, he's truly just a boy who wants to be a hero.

  "Why Rimuru Tempest is the bestest boy of not just this year, but of all time" by Kat (That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime)

  There were a lot of good boys this year, but who was the goodest? The undoubtedly most delicious smudge-muffin in existence?

My answer is Rimuru Tempest and here's why:

He is the kindest ball of squidge you could ever meet. He would stop and help anyone in need at the drop of a hat. In his previous life he DIED saving his kohai from an attacker and he would do it again.

He is adorable. How could you take one look at his face (or lack there of) and not fall in love instantly with this soft boy? Not only is he soft in his ball form but once he grants the wish of a dear friend, he becomes the ultimate soft boy. One you could probably hug endlessly and both of you would still be comfortable.

He is the definition of epic. One of the first things he does with his new life is befriend and EAT a dragon. He ate him, whole. Then he proceeded to eat everything else in the cave. If you hurt one of friends he'll eat you too! Not before he beats you in a hilariously and awesomely one sided combat sequence though.

  BEST FIGHT SCENE

  "SSSS. Gridman's True Final Battle" by Donovan Bertch (SSSS. Gridman)

  The greatest part about SSSS.Gridman's final battle wasn't the sheer amount of quality animation and editing on display. It wasn't the satisfaction of seeing Gridman finally return to his original form, theme songs blaring, as he finally decked the villainous Alexis Kerib in his smug face. It wasn't even finding out what the hell SSSS actually meant in the end. All of those were wonderful moments that made the fight shine, to be sure. However, the greatest part was that when all was said and done, the fight wasn't Gridman vs. Alexis Kerib. It was the show's antagonist, Akane Shinjo, vs. Herself. Her sins, her insecurities, her self-hatred...it took a lot of effort, and it wasn't a total victory (given that Akane's final scene with Rikka shows her still processing her guilt), but few things are that simple. Even when the heroes came to encourage her, it was Akane who made the final choice that led to Kerib's downfall. Gridman may have landed the final strike and had the big speech about human potential, but Akane Shinjo defeated Alexis Kerib and saved her world. The action-packed duel was just icing on the cake.

  BEST VA PERFORMANCE (EN)

  "My Hero Academia, Episode 61: Bakugo's Breakdown (Clifford Chapin)" by Masky (My Hero Academia)

    In one of the most emotionally stirring episodes of the entire series, we finally see all of Bakugo's pent-up anger come to a boil in this what could be considered a huge turning point for his character development. As a character who is known for his angry outbursts, this episode let us have some insight into Bakugo's inferiority complex and really reminded us just how young and emotionally immature these upcoming heroes are, and yet how much responsibility is weighing on their shoulders. With such an important milestone for a character like Bakugo, the voice acting in this episode was critical. Clifford Chapin gave an extremely raw and powerful performance that truly echoed Bakugo's pain; a performance that exceeded expectations of even those who don't normally give dubs a try. It was real, emotionally-charged, and could be considered a landmark for just how far english dubs have come.

  "Clifford Chapin (Katsuki Bakugo)" by Katherine (My Hero Academia)

    My Hero Academia fans sure are spoiled with a fantastic same-day English simuldub in addition to everything we already love about the series! With great casting overall by ADR Director Colleen Clinkenbeard, Chapin's take on Bakugo is one of the highlights. He's consistently been such a natural fit for the role that I can't imagine anyone else voicing him, and always seems to give 110%. Season 3 has been no exception with some key moments to really shine, including a fan-favorite emotional confrontation. His vocal cords would probably disagree, but I'm definitely glad he's a part of one of my favorite anime from 2018.

  BEST OPENING SEQUENCE

  "Fighting Gold - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure" by Loon (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind)

    "Fighting Gold" is an intro I was honestly excited for long before it was even announce. I may be slightly biased as a manga fan and long time Jojo fan but in all honesty "Fighting Gold" is really a masterpiece in my opinion. It highlights the series so well with plenty of hidden spoilers as most Jojo intros have had before it telling the story perfectly if you break it down. It is an intro I will honestly never try to skip to get to the anime itself faster.

  BEST DIRECTOR

  "Akira Amemiya - SSSS.Gridman" BY Katherine (SSSS. Gridman)

    I would not be surprised to see SSSS.Gridman represented in quite a few categories this year, but its direction is where the show truly shines as one of the best of 2018. Akira Amemiya and Studio Trigger juxtapose the understated, day-to-day activities of our heroes with glorious, city-destroying kaiju battles without ever being jarring. However, that doesn't mean the former is only viewed though a mundane lens while the latter are just beautiful hype machines. Character moments have just as much flair as any fight with dynamic framing, art, and sound design, while tokusatsu battles are given so much attention to detail with how the kaiju move to pay homage to the live-action shows the team grew up with. Amemiya has a confident sense of visual language, and it shows every episode. SSSS.Gridman is subtle when it needs to be and bombastic when it wants to be, which is not an easy task to pull off.

---

  And there you have it, the diverse tastes of anime fans and people that praise the holy name of Bakugo. But even if you didn't find your submission on here, thank you for taking part in this and double thank you for supporting Crunchyroll over the past year. We do our best to give you the greatest anime collection in the universe, so we appreciate y'all taking the time to give us your thoughts in return.

  Remember, if you haven't voted in The Anime Awards, there's still time! And if you have, we look forward to sharing the winners with you on February 16th, when the Awards are streamed live on Twitch. 

    By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[docholligay]

Revue of Desire: The Star Knows

OKay, so this is a long post, because of the format I think will work best for taking apart this song. I went and found a place that breaks down whose line is whose, because I can’t tell their voices reliably apart, and my subs don’t do it. (I switched to hi-dive so I could better clip the lyrics for this) Please note that songs are by their nature poetic and I don’t speak Japanese, so I’m doing my best. 

Discussion beneath the cut.

What I really think is interesting about this song is it starts with Junna asking why. When we think of desire, when we think of passion, when we think of the flames of those two things, it’s almost invariably positive. It’s about reaching for something. 

But Junna here claims that she’s been imprisoned by the fire of her own passion, of her own desire for the stage, unable to let go of it, knowing that they will never burn out, that she will never be truly free of it, even as she cannot quite reach for the star that she is searching for. 

This, I think, goes so much to the heart of what Junna truly believes: The no one can understand her, that her dilemma and her tragedy is singular here at Seisho. That no one can want it so bad and be so far from reaching it as she is. There has been nothing to protect her, no one who could understand her. 

Now, I don’t think that’s true. I think there are probably at least a handful of girls who could understand exactly where she’s coming from, the struggle and the desire. But often when we are at the toughest moments of our lives, we can feel so lonely, as if no one could possibly understand us, and all we can do is burn with the furious fire of want. 

It’s interesting that Junna believes that only that star of destiny, that top star, can understand what she really wants, the purpose and the meaning behind all of this desire. That no one else has ever felt this way or could understand. 

And here even Junna admits that what she wants might be unattainable. That she spends all of her time fighting with herself, fighting with the idea of what she wants to be versus what she can be. She may claim that she’s ging up against Claudine and Maya, but really her struggle is within, the way she talks to herself, the way she feels about herself. 

She expects these duels, this star, to solve so many things for her, to deliver what she truly wants, but I think even she knows that’ll never be the end of it. There will be new stages, new challenges, and her drive and desire will always throw her up against that wall. 

The idea Junna has of having to go beyond here, of having to surpass this stage and find her own future, goes into what I was saying. She’ll beat Karen, and it won’t be enough,. She’ll beat Futaba, Claudine, any of them, but still she will seek. She’s got that deep hunger inside of her, as terrifying as it is admirable. 

(God, capturing the clips when they’re both singing is an unmitigated nightmare. Hidive does junna in the bluish white and Karen in the pinkish white) 

So much of this is about Karen and Junna’s individual theories of life. Junna is so black and white. There is loss, there are mistakes. and for Karen, everything is possibility. Not winning one time, Karen argues, is no reason to despair or to believe that it has to be that way forever. 

But what’s most striking to me amidst all this is Karen saying “You’re right, I don’t understand, so TELL ME. Talk me. Let me know what you are going through, you don’t have to do all of this alone.” Like I said, i think the anime falls down a little at the end on this point its trying to make about them as a unit versus a “winner”, but in moments like this, it really shines with that idea. 

Going sort of into this, in the first musical, this same tune is used for when the girls are each talking about their reasons and their angsts individually, their desires and the ways they are frustrated. I saw the anime before I did the musical, so I was interested to see the tune reused. I don’t know that there’s much to be made of it, other than it has a good tune for these sort of things, but seeing Karen and Junna’s contrasts made me think of all the different motivations in that musical piece and how I wanted to call that out specifically. 

Against, the contrasting here is fantastic. Junna speaks of the darkness, of being on her own, while Karen speaks of morning, and of everyone, of community, about how all their futures could be bundled up together, about how they could all succeed. 

There’s kind of a weird tonal jump here from “There is a future for everyone” to “Oh shit I forgot my promise to Hikari, low key fuck Junna” but I understand that we’re working within a format where A: Karen has to win and B: Karen has to be on her bullshit, and I accept it for what it is. 

But I suppose there’s a point to be made that it’s Hikari that pulls her out of this place where she is only looking to make everyone happy and content, it’s Hikari who lets her want victory for herself on this stage, even if its only that her intention is to carry both of them. 

THis is, of course, a call out to the Starlight play that takes place sort of within and around this anime, and the way the girls were punished for reaching for those stars. But Karen doesn’t really worry or care about punishment, if it brings her to Hikari, to that promise she made. And in this case, it’s Junna that’s in the way, and while she doesn’t want Junna to suffer in any way, Karen has a star, also, that she has found, something to guide her and guard her.