{Below the shower of anime that passes through four times a year, I met Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.}
[And I met SanaeK10.]
In a fated encounter.
[{I think we two have always been together. So let us all meet together again in the future. On the next season of the anime shower.}]
The two of us have been connected through a distant promise. But. On the Season of Fall where I first watched Revue Starlight...
[SanaeK10, we met for the first time this year.]
{Who...are you?}
[SanaeK10?]
{I don't understand! Your impeccable direction, your brilliant soundtrack, the ratings we’ve made...I feel as though they were all important to me. But I can’t remember!}
On my way back from the review site from the previous season, I had an accident and lost my ratings for the show.
[We may be able to get them.]
{What?}
[Today is the review festival held once every season. If we’re able to seize 5 stars from the top of the Star-Plucking Tower, perhaps my ratings will...]
[{Let’s go, to pluck those stars together.}]
If you pluck a small star, you will gain a small happiness. If you pluck a large star, you will obtain a great wealth. If you pluck all five, you will obtain an eternal wish: The coveted Top Anime position.
Star plucking is the absolution of sin. Star plucking is the miracle of the season.
With TBS to help us, we arrive at the Star-Plucking Tower.
However…
‘Who goes there?!’
They were confined to this tower 500 years ago…
Sinful goddesses awaiting their death in slumber.
Safeness, Predictability, Bravery , Corporate Interests, Wasted Potential, Despair.
{I beseech you, Let us pluck the stars! Revue Starlight needs them!}
‘We will not relinquish any star to you!’
‘Why were we confined here?’
‘What sins did we commit?’
‘Amidst the flow of time, we goddesses have forgotten even that.’
The Stars remember all.
When Safeness was Risk-Taking.
When Predictability was Imagination.
When Fear was Bravery.
When Corporate Interests was Director’s Vision.
When Wasted Potential was Expectations Exceeded.
When Despair was Hope.
‘No matter how safe I keep up this project, it could never reach those stars. You who blithely make those stars your aim, how could you not seek risk?’
‘I had it within me to take that star within my grasp. So I believed. But that outcome was naught but expected! ‘
‘In the face of an insurmountable obstacle, ‘tis better to run! Yes! Evasion was the only path left to me.’
‘But I remain frozen in place, bound by upper management and multimedia projects!’
‘This potential, my own wasted potential. O, tell me! What must I sacrifice for my expectations to be exceeded?’
‘Alas, the wheel must turn again. The cycle of despair. Beneath the light of the stars.’
Even as we are torn apart by the black emotions of the goddesses, we two reach the summit. Here, the Stars await.
‘And so it shall be bestowed upon you, the Star you have wished for. ‘
[My eyes ! The light blinds me!
SanaeK10? Where are you SanaeK10? SanaeK10!]
{I remember now…
Your name is…
Forgive me, Revue Starlight (and countless other anime with wasted potential).
Our dream was not meant to be.}
Her eyes burned by the light of the stars, Revue Starlight fell from the tower, forever parting with the coveted Top Anime position.
And in the skies above, the stars continue to shine for eternity.
Revue Starlight. Princess Principal. Psycho-Pass the Movie. No Game No Life 0. Toji no Miko. Umamusume. Usakame...
This is a story of a distant and nearby review site, from long ago, in the faraway future.
6.5/10 (Rounded to 7)
{Author's Note: My thoughts on the show, without the theatrical Starlight filter:
It was an entertaining show with stunning visuals, brilliant direction and an excellent soundtrack. However, it all felt safe and predictable. Ending up being wasted potential despite it all. Interesting plot points get brought up and are instantly resolved with little to no consequence, and the blandest pairing ended being the main focus of it all. Can't help but feel a little bummed out by it, really. I did however, appreciate that the anime didn’t go out of its way to overexplain everything unlike most shows out there, so it earns bonus points for that. Foreshadowing was accomplish quite well. And the Giraffe’s hamminess is always enjoyable especially at the end. Still worth a watch, but don’t get your hopes up. Personal favorite episodes were 1,5,7,8 and 12. }
