Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight eh? Some sort of idol thing with a bit of buzz to it, let’s give it a try. Oh, they’re in a theatre school and it’s all a bit Fame? Neat. Using a talking giraffe as a spring board to start a transformation scene so you can interfere in the sword fight between two of your class mates? Wait, what?
Yes, this turned out to be Love Live meets Revolutionary Prince Utena, or at least that makes for a good elevator pitch. Reality is not quite that simple. Even if the director is Tomohiro Furukawa, who worked under Utena‘s Kunihiko Ikuhara on Penguindrum and Yuri Kuma Arashi. Instead, Revue Starlight takes its inspiration from the same source: the Takarazuka Revue, the all-female musical theater troupe. In fact, this started out as a proper musical and several ex-Takarazuka Revue members are involved with its creation. Not all sword fighting lesbians singing songs at each other are an Ikuhara invention.
More than two thirds of this first episode is actually pretty straightforward: the cool shit only starts in the last couple of minutes. First we have to have the usual idol anime introduction episode, in which we follow our eight main characters through their school routine before it’s interrupted by the arrival of a transfer student. Said student turning out to be the childhood friend of our protagonist. Even in these more mundane sequences the animation is top notch. Lots of fluid movement, with all the spontaneous dancing being a good excuse to show off the animators’ work. There’s a depth to this series that’s almost palpable. Even if this had been an ordinary series about theatre idols competing with each other for a starring role in this year’s revue, this would’ve been one of the best series of the season. Adding sword fighting lesbians and some kind of grand theatre conspiracy? Genius.
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