Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

It's really odd, because it started off kind of like a generic-ish idol show, and slow, then all of a sudden, the last 6 minutes or so, it goes completely off the rails and fucking bonkers. With the elevator, talking giraffes, symbolism, theatrical stage battles and heavy machinery transformation scene. I don't know what to make of it right now after that, but I'm interested in where this is going to lead to cause that part was fabulous as fuck.
 
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Episode 1:

Yeah, that last sequence and the dream sequence from half way into the episode right before Hikaru shows up are what I watch animation for. Fluid animation, surreal visuals and a unique style that live action still can't capture this fluidly without resorting to immersion breaking methods. The majority of this episode is just fine, but those few inspired minutes are enough to earn this a spot on my roster of shows for the season.

Not that I think the normal bits of the show were bad. They were standard paint by numbers stuff, but executed well enough that they didn't annoy me. Hell, I really like this one bit with a nice characterization joke in the background.
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It's both funny and tells you a lot about Karen before she's even done anything.

The rest of the episode proceeds just how you think it would until the Karen stumbles onto the elevator and things go a bit nutso. I don't really want to try to interpret too much of what's going on other than the obvious bit that Karen is being reborn from someone that is pretty half assed about the whole idol thing to someone that wants to fight for her spot as the lead.

I've no idea how much of this is real and how much is metaphorical, but I'm interested in finding out. I'm also hoping to dig into the symbolism some more if possible because I'm curious why a giraffe. The answer could be something or nothing depending on what this show decides to do.
 
The low ratings made me take this show off my WTW list for now but since y'all are saying such good things, AND kinema citrus is the studio, AND it originally looked good to me to begin with, I'll be picking it up. Sorta excited now.
 
ZetsubouKaiji said:
Episode 1:

I've no idea how much of this is real and how much is metaphorical, but I'm interested in finding out. I'm also hoping to dig into the symbolism some more if possible because I'm curious why a giraffe. The answer could be something or nothing depending on what this show decides to do.
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Yeah, I really want the symbolism to amount to something here, because I feel like it'd be such a tremendous waste, with such cool visuals.

I learned, that the director behind this, is basically a protege and friend of Ikuhara, having done extensive work on his shows, and everything just clicks into place here.
 
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So this was decent, the first part was all ok but that last few minutes was really nicely animated. And in all honesty pretty damn epic. There's also a giraffe.

Yeah... :P i bet thats super duper deep

But the actual "fights" looking like a cheesy stage play gave it a certain flare im not used to, which is really cool.

I liked this first episode but eh... did it seem kinda gay to anyone else? A little bit subtextual?

GenSan said:
I learned, that the director behind this, is basically a protege and friend of Ikuhara, having done extensive work on his shows, and everything just clicks into place here.
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oh. Yes. It does indeed click into place.

I know what the giraffe means now, and i know why it feels gay. All my questions are answered.

The giraffe means they needed something weird to be a representation of something else and later on we're going to get it explained with some subtle symbolism™ that it didn't really need so that it can get good ratings from the artsy people watching.

Basically I really don't give a shit what the giraffe is, because that's not what i'm looking for, i'm looking for unique presentation and this anime has it so far. Its very nice.

The gay is because ikuhara breathed near it probably. I mean i haven't seen any of his stuff but it all looks gay.
Hope the rest will er, stay good at least. I got serious symphogear vibes.
 
MythicalTurkey said:
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I've never seen an Ikuhara anime here's a bunch of half baked assumptions I made.
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Not that you have to care about the symbolic elements, but if what you care about is the presentation then they're very much a part of the presentation.

Also, it's not like anyone is going to step out on the stage on explain what any of it means. That would be terrible and pointless.

I'm guessing the parts where you call the anime gay were a joke? Because if you don't think Banana Fish is that gay then I'm not sure where you're getting it here. The characters are pretty much stereotypical cute school girl types and there wasn't anything in the way of suggesting they were more than friends even in a baity sort of way.
 
GenSan said:
It's really odd, because it started off kind of like a generic-ish idol show, and slow, then all of a sudden, the last 6 minutes or so, it goes completely off the rails and fucking bonkers. With the elevator, talking giraffes, symbolism, theatrical stage battles and heavy machinery transformation scene. I don't know what to make of it right now after that, but I'm interested in where this is going to lead to cause that part was fabulous as fuck.
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...You know, I was gonna pass on this cause I don't like any idol show not named Symphogear. But you have intrigued me...
 
ZetsubouKaiji said:
Not that you have to care about the symbolic elements, but if what you care about is the presentation then they're very much a part of the presentation.
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Nah. If they present symbolic elements upfront in a way where i already dont care about them, like a giraffe, im not going to care if its anything but a giraffe because it just isnt that interesting. I see what you're saying, other parts of the symbolism that are more involved, i may be interested in, but not so much that. it's just kinda "there" to me, like the random shots of shit in after the rain that didnt really pertain to anything unless you're really looking close.

ZetsubouKaiji said:
I'm guessing the parts where you call the anime gay were a joke? Because if you don't think Banana Fish is that gay then I'm not sure where you're getting it here. The characters are pretty much stereotypical cute school girl types and there wasn't anything in the way of suggesting they were more than friends even in a baity sort of way.
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come on now.

And I do think banana fish is a bit gay. im just choosing to not talk about it since they left it ambiguous.
 
When I read the synopsis of the show I immediately thought of Takarazuka Revue, an all female Japanese theater troupe, that's pretty much why I decided to pick this up and I was pleasantly surprised by the first episode. Heres to hoping the rest of the series will keep my interest because I have high hopes.
 
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