Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight (Revue Starlight)

As preparations begin for Seishou Music Academy's yearly Seishou Festival, the girls of the 99th class are gearing up to perform their very own rendition of Starlight, the tragic tale of two goddesses drawn together by the glow of the heavens but destined to be pulled apart, never to meet again. Created to foster the next generation of theatrical talent, this girls' only school works to improve the singing, acting, and dancing skills of its students.

One student is 16-year-old Karen Aijou, an easygoing girl who has dreamed of performing on stage since she was a child. Her love for theater is further invigorated when her childhood friend Hikari Kagura transfers to Seishou Academy. Through her old friend, Karen stumbles upon a secret elevator leading to a massive theater underneath the school. Hosted by a talking giraffe, this arena serves as a battleground where her classmates participate in duels to determine who among them deserves the title of "Top Star," earning them the right to play one of the lead roles in Starlight. Emboldened by the promise she made with Hikari to someday be stars together, Karen enters these mysterious battles in the hopes of making their dream a reality.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.

Edit

Related Anime

Adaptation:	Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight: Overture, Butai Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight: The Live - Show Must Go On
Side story:	Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Specials
Other:	Shoujo☆Conto All Starlight, Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Re LIVE 1st Anniversary PV, 99 Illusion!
Sequel:	Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Movie
Summary:	Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight: Rondo Rondo Rondo

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Daiba, Nana

Main

Koizumi, Moeka
Japanese

Tendou, Maya

Main

Tomita, Maho
Japanese

Saijou, Claudine

Main

Aiba, Aina
Japanese

Kagura, Hikari

Main

Mimori, Suzuko
Japanese

Tsuyuzaki, Mahiru

Main

Iwata, Haruki
Japanese

Hoshimi, Junna

Main

Satou, Hinata
Japanese

Aijou, Karen

Main

Koyama, Momoyo
Japanese

Hanayagi, Kaoruko

Main

Itou, Ayasa
Japanese

Isurugi, Futaba

Main

Ikuta, Teru
Japanese

Kirin

Supporting

Tsuda, Kenjirou
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Iwasaki, Atsushi

Producer

Ogasawara, Muneki

Producer

Furukawa, Tomohiro

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Yamada, Haru

Sound Director

Edit

Opening Theme

"Hoshi no Dialogue (星のダイアローグ)" by Starlight Kukugumi (スタァライト九九組) (eps 2-11)

Edit

Ending Theme

	1: "Hoshi no Dialogue (星のダイアローグ)" by Starlight Kukugumi (スタァライト九九組) (eps 1, 12)
	2: "Fly Me to the Star" by Hikari Kagura (Suzuko Mimori) (eps 3)
	3: "Fly Me to the Star" by Karen Aijou, Kagura Hikari (Momoyo Koyama, Suzuko Mimori) (eps 4)
	4: "Fly Me to the Star" by Mahiru Tsuyuzaki (Haruki Iwata) (eps 5)
	5: "Fly Me to the Star" by Futaba Isurugi, Kaoruko Hanayagi (Teru Ikuta, Ayasa Itou) (eps 6)
	6: "Fly Me to the Star (instrumental version)" (eps 7)
	7: "Fly Me to the Star" by Karen Aijou (Momoyo Koyama) (eps 8)
	8: "Fly Me to the Star" by Junna Hoshimi, Nana Daiba (Hinata Satou, Moeka Koizumi) (eps 9)
	9: "Fly Me to the Star" by Maya Tendou, Claudine Saijou (Maho Tomita, Aina Aiba) (eps 10)
	10: "Fly Me to the Star" by Maya Tendou, Junna Hoshimi, Mahiru Tsuyuzaki, Nana Daiba, Saijou Claudine, Futaba Isurugi, Kaoruko Hanayagi (Maho Tomita, Hinata Satou, Haruki Iwata, Moeka Koizumi, Aina Aiba, Teru Ikuta, Ayasa Itou) (eps 11)

Reviews

Sep 27, 2018

KANLen09

Recommended

Damn, does this series truly knows no bounds at knowing how to captivate its audience, by showing the weaknesses that breaks you and cultivating that into the strength that makes you better and more spirit-willed with confidence. That's the vibes I got with watching Shoujo Kageki: Revue Starlight, truly a hidden gem, sleeper hit, AND a seriously underrated masterpiece that can compete with the likes of Your Lie In April, in terms of musical development (more on that later). And before you ask, this isn't an idol musical fan-fest anime (like so many that I come to despise over the years).

Since this is an original ...

Open

Gift

Oct 10, 2018

Gundroog

Mixed Feelings

If Revue Starlight put as much effort into the story as it did into presentation it could’ve been a great show. However not balancing the two and not at least compensating on something in particular it brought down both elements. There will be some spoilers in this review but given how lackluster the writing is I sincerely don’t think they matter.

Starlight starts off rather simple before trying to make things more complex and failing. We got a few girls, they attend an art school that teaches them all about theater and their ultimate test is to be top stars during a yearly Seisho Festival. However ... there’s a caveat. Outside of interpersonal drama and the hardships of study and practice, girls have to compete in a mysterious underground audition ran by a talking giraffe who serves sort of as a stand-in for the audience hungry for spectacle and drama. They get armed with some weapons with a bow being as advanced as it gets, and go at each other until one cuts off a button from the opponent’s outfit. The one who managed to do that and moves up in ranks. Ranks seem to correlate with their prowess as a performer rather than a fighter, so a lot of the time these fights become battles of will where the one who’s right wins. It’s a more or less elegant and thematically appropriate way of putting in action in a show like this and justifying your characters going “yep, screwed up on that one guess you’re right and I’m wrong”.

The show runs with this sort of basic structure for about 6 episodes. We get some SoL bits, we get a focus on a character or two, we learn about something that bothers them and then it’s solved in a fight and never matters again. As trite as it might sound this is the best part of the show to me. SoL segments are enjoyable thanks to presentations that’s easy on the eyes and character interactions, who despite their overall simplicity have a good dynamic when you put them together. If I were to make a music comparison this show would be like a shittier Kraftwerk when it came to characters. They don’t have a lot of complexity but compose some basic elements together well enough for it to be entertaining. The fights are also somewhat spectacular, they won’t be wowing many people with top notch animation or stunning action choreography even though both of those are on a decent level. However, when you put together everything they do for the characters, the design of the stages, songs and decent animation and choreography it’s a nice cherry on top of I think almost every episode.

Unfortunately when episode 7 rolls in the show changes drastically and tries to be way more complex and dramatic than it has any right being with how barebones the story and characters are, they can’t even establish a coherent theme or statement but you take a look at how it’s presented and it’s as if you’re supposed to be getting something new about life out of this.

At Episode 7 we learn that the aforementioned giraffe and his underground auditions grant winner their wish, which one of the girls uses to put on the same show over and over for god knows how long. It pretty much comes out of the blue but at least there’s nice bits of foreshadowing to be found throughout the show alluding to that girl’s strong affection for the event and recontextualize her actions. At this point she seems like a big villain or a psycho, after all it’s not very kind or healthy to force everyone inside a time loop for unknown but presumably very long time. Not to worry through, her crazy gets knocked out of her the next episode so we can build up the drama between the two main characters.

That’s what the remaining quarter of the show pretty much is. It’s all about the main couple of Karen and Hikari. Even the story within a story of the show, the titular Starlight is supposed to be a parallel to their relationship and their fate. The two want to be happy together but there can be only one top star so one will have to fall by the end. This is their entire dynamic. One wants to do the impossible and go against “fate”, the other wants to prevent her precious little baby friend from having to face the hardships of losing in that underground tournament and losing her “shine” or basically idol charm and shit. Despite being very simple and straightforward the show leans so much on hitting you over the head with “subtle” symbolism and allusions in dialogue that at times you’d think this is supposed to be some 2deep4you art film. It depends on personal preference, but I found it very frustrating how self-indulgent the show got with that stuff despite having a pretty damn basic, unimaginative plot and themes.

Another slightly disappointing aspect is music. Not that it’s bad but unless you’re a fan of JPop already this won’t have anything new for you. Aside from standard instrumental tracks this is just bland, generic idol jpop. It’s nice that lyrics for the fights tie into what the actual fight is about but it’s important to note that unless you’re pirating this anime or know japanese you won’t have much of a clue as to what they’re singing about. On top of that it’s obviously mixed differently from the way a normal track by itself would be so there are many times during a fight where the insert song is getting a bit muted so that characters could talk. Symphogear has a similar thing going on but that show did it much better cause characters actually sing during a fight, so the song itself actually blends in perfectly with the action.

At least art is consistently good. There’s a dedication to striking visuals and cinematography. Also while the actual symbolism was pretty damn blunt and obnoxious at times, at least it was consistently nice to look at and I guess it gives people looking for it something to chew at. The last few episodes, I’m not sure from which point exactly, struggled with production but I doubt many people will notice that. Aside from some cheap, slow, panning shots that you’d see in almost any other show it’s clear that the team working on it believed in the project and was passionate about making it so at least there’s no jank there to really leave a bad spot on the presentation.

Overall this show is rather hard for me to recommend. If you’re really into idols or SoLs with female cast then sure I guess you’ll get something out of it. Otherwise though it’s just a very mediocre, at times bad even narrative that’s only spiced up by nice visuals. Maybe if it went over the top, or at least harder on the spectacle it would be worth watching just for that but as it is that part alone can’t carry the show.

Open

Gift

Jul 15, 2019

QueenOfShoujo

Not Recommended

"This whole anime felt like drinking lukewarm water. "

I went into this with no expectations really. The art looked good and I needed something to watch that was dubbed so I could work while watching it. Despite the lack of expectations it still managed to fail them. The single reason I finished this show was because I didn't want to bother to go out looking for something else.

This anime is a mix of a bit penguindrum in the way is has absurd things happen that aren't really meant to be taken literally but also aren't completely metaphorically. And a bit of Madoka Magica almost exactly ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Gacha anime

by RobertBobert

33 Entries · 48 Restacks

NFSP Cabinet Reccomendations pt 3

by Ailes_Grises

40 Entries · 9 Restacks

yuri 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👭

by grrrlsrevolution

44 Entries · 6 Restacks

More recommendations

Recommendations

View All

More news

Recent News

North American Anime & Manga Releases for July

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for July Week 1: July 7 - 13 Anime Releases Cop Craft Complete Collection Blu-ray Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? (H...read more

Jul 7, 2020 3:39 PM by ImperfectBlue | Discuss (0 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for April

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for April Week 1: April 7 - 13 Anime Releases After War Gundam X Collection 1 Blu-ray Animegataris Complete Co...read more

Apr 5, 2020 10:06 AM by ImperfectBlue | Discuss (0 comments)

More discussions

Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Episode 11 Discussion Stark700 - Sep 20, 2018	27 replies	by Mat2468xk »» Jan 25, 8:36 AM
Poll: Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Episode 9 Discussion Stark700 - Sep 6, 2018	49 replies	by Mat2468xk »» Jan 24, 11:18 AM
Poll: Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Aug 23, 2018	87 replies	by Mat2468xk »» Jan 24, 9:51 AM
Poll: Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Episode 5 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 9, 2018	37 replies	by Mat2468xk »» Jan 24, 8:38 AM
Poll: Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 27, 2018	86 replies	by AlexGecko »» Nov 25, 2023 5:09 PM

Recent Featured Articles

In Numbers: The Best Anime of the Decade

What's the #1 anime of the 2010s? Which year was the best? What studio had the most hits? We have the answers to all these questions and more!

by Shymander

623,582 views

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Daiba, Nana

Tendou, Maya

Saijou, Claudine

Kagura, Hikari

Tsuyuzaki, Mahiru

Hoshimi, Junna

Aijou, Karen

Hanayagi, Kaoruko

Isurugi, Futaba

Kirin

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-