#kaoruko hanayagi

[lyadrielle]

Just this one time I am making a fanart of Revue Starlight... I binged the anime in one day and watched the movie the next XD Also yes this is the tattoo that was visible for like 1.5 seconds on screen during the movie... Well I am a sucker for tattoos what can I say!?

[largeonions]

the train will go to the next station without fail

[paradiseyuri]

Created by : ☆底眩(まぶし)☆ Respective credits to the creator ⓟⒶⓇⒶⒹⒾⓈⒺ♡ⓎⓊⓇⒾ

[marcuyapup]

happy birthday giiirlll

[caynaise]

Dyeing your jet black armour red, just where do you think you’re headed?

[upathosarts]

rebellious general catalina and her friend mariavera

[dreamsky-sapphi]

Happy birthday Kaoruko

(I'm a bit late this time)

[staardustkisses]

woe, curse of kukugumi be upon ye

[diezmil10000]

por primera y última vez en esta autopista egoísta

[bloodraven55]

kaoruko fantasising about her childhood friend crashing her wedding to save her from an unwanted arranged marriage…. y’know just normal gal pal things

[halimaidmf]

quite possibly the funniest moment in revue starlight

[caramelmochacrow]

kao bday yay

[largeonions]

99

[mayoiayasep]

happy BHM i’m being self indulgent again! Black hairstyles I think Revue Starlight characters would have seisho edition👑✨

[seiran | rinmeikan | frontier | siegfeld | siegfeld jhs]

[amourjuno]

something i’ve noticed about the sound design in the first act of revue starlight: the movie ☆

(i am no expert, and this isn't very in depth...)

each scene of the revue starlight can be categorised as the abstract or the present reality.

the abstract is flashbacks, revues, and interludes, and the present reality is the more grounded scenes like the scene of everyone in the seisho dorm living room and the script reveal for 101th’s starlight. with a few exceptions for dramatic or emotional effect, the abstract contains music, but the present reality has no music but a constant, mundane rumbling sound effect: whether that’s the wind, the washing machine, or the train.

this lack of music in these scenes made me feel uncomfortable as a viewer, and it really stuck in my brain. it’s unusual for revue starlight, especially as an anime and bushiroad property from the modern era, to not have some kind of background music at almost all times. there’s usually at least some music, right? music is the window to a character’s emotions and thoughts! it establishes the tone of the scene, the genre, the setting! it’s so important! and there isn’t any!

but these sound effects are their own music, and they tell their own story.

of course the absence of music is to create a distinction between the reality and the abstract, but also to contrast the tv show, or to put it into narrative perspective, the characters’ second year of high school. the melodies of their blissful high school lives are now replaced with the uncomfortable, looming reality that adulthood is approaching. do you remember that feeling, maybe near to your graduation, the crushing and shocking realisation that you’ll never get these years of childhood back? that you’re about to be thrust into the adult world? even as a teenager, you still have a child-like innocence that is threatened by this realisation.

the monotonous droning that accompanies this lack of music puts this passage of time at the forefront. how many times have you sat in a quiet room with a ticking clock? a washing machine? a microwave? did you feel uncomfortable with this heightened awareness of the passage of time? were you anxious? bored? desperate for the time to hurry up, or desperate for it to slow down?

in the train scene, kaoruko, even when everyone around her is having interesting conversations, is focusing on the sounds of the train. she says “how long is this going to keep rumbling on for?” and it’s not a coincidence that, in the previous scene, after lashing out at everyone for forgetting the auditions, she stumbles upon the room that is filled with the sound of the rumbling washing machines. she’s being confronted with the inevitable passage of time, and it’s frustrating her.

as a viewer, it made me think “wow, everything has gotten more mature now” it gave me a similar feeling to that crushing realisation i talked about earlier. i love when media can give me such a reaction, or call back to a feeling that i had either long forgotten or struggled to put into words. revue starlight is an anime that has done that for me so many times, and i can really appreciate it for that!!

[tokyo-tower-symbolism]

In Revue Starlight, we see two different endings for Claire and Flora in Starlight.

In the first one, Flora is blinded by the light and falls from the tower, leaving Claire trapped and the two of them separated forevermore. In the second ending, Flora is blinded and falls, but then she ascends the tower once more and reunites with Claire at the top, fulfilling their promise this time.

But there is actually a secret third ending.

In Kaoruko and Futaba’s revue in the movie, it ends with the two of them barreling forward on top of two trucks towards each other. It is very similar to how their last revue ended, with the two of them charging towards each other in a similar straight line.

In the show’s revue, Futaba is blinded by how dazzling Kaoruko had been in the past, and how dazzling she continues to be, and is unable to swing her weapon, so Kaoruko manages to win that revue. In the movie’s revue, Kaoruko is dazzled much the same way and is unable to swing her weapon, so this time Futaba wins the revue.

Only in the movie, this whole thing is happening on top of a very tall building, so after Kaoruko is blinded, she falls, just like Flora.

But this time, Claire, I mean Futaba, is able to hold on to her.

Instead of the two being separated or reunited at the top, this ending has Flora and Claire fall to the bottom of the tower, not quite achieving their promise yet, but still together.