This review is spoiler-free.
Madman Entertainment have just announced that they will partnering with Australian TV station, ABC, to begin showing anime on their network during their night time schedules. This was split between ABC2 (now known as ABC TV Plus), the more mature channel with content targeted at adults, and ABC3 (now known as ABC ME), which was their kids channel. I was 9 years old, so I mainly stuck to this kids channel. When this partnership was announced, I didn't think much of it, but my older brother had heard about this "anime" thing from one of his friends and was interested to see what it was all about, so he initially told me about it and I mostly just thought "I'll check it out if you are, I guess". ABC3's anime schedule was set to begin on July 22nd, starting with Ouran High School Host Club and Fruits Basket airing every Sunday from the 22nd, and Vampire Knight starting on Saturday of the following week (the 28th).
That night was the night I'd first try out an anime aside from like... Pokémon and stuff like that. Fruits Basket was the first in the time slot, my brother decided to wait (but fell asleep) because he wasn't interested in Fruits Basket due to it being a "girly anime" (he's not like that anymore). I... decided to give it a chance.
That's where it all started. I LOVED Fruits Basket, I had nobody to talk to it about, but I loved it and that's all that mattered. That's why I'm here today. Fruits Basket birthed my love, my passion, for anime almost 10 years ago now. However, you're not here to hear about Fruits Basket. You're here for Revue Starlight. There's a reason for all of this backstory. I promise.
Recently, like most modern anime watchers, I've grown accustomed to waiting for new seasonal releases throughout the years hoping to find the odd gem or two. However, since I first decided to give seasonal anime a look back in 2016 (and found 3-gatsu no Lion, which remains my #1 anime to this day)... those gems have become much, MUCH fewer and further between.
The anime industry has lost a lot of it's drive for passion, that much is clear. It's all about the money now; how many 12 episode trend-hopping trash-fests you can push out per year simply because they sell. It's become increasingly hard to find anime projects that feel passionate. That make you feel something... almost real. In the last year... I've been struggling to enjoy anime. I take long, multiple week at a time breaks from seasonals, have left shows on hold for nearly a full year, and have starting dropping shows or just avoiding them more than ever before. The creator of Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino, made a statement on this recently, talking about how the anime industry is falling behind due to more focus on profit than quality.
It had me asking myself a very sad question recently: Why can't I love anime anymore?
I was wrong. I still think the anime industry is losing touch, but... I can still love anime.
I went into Revue Starlight knowing nothing other than the fact that Kenjirou Tsuda had a... unique voice role. A friend of mine, who is a big fan of Revue Starlight, was talking in my Discord server about English subtitles on the new movie (which I've also watched and plan to review soon), and he told me that now was a good time to get into the series. I thought... "yeah, why not?"
So I sat down, and I watched. One episode became 3. 3 days later, (had internet issues for the next 2 days) "just a few episodes, maybe" became the rest of the series. Why? Because for the first time since Yagate Kimi ni Naru in 2018, I... fell in love with a series. I grew attached to it's characters. I felt the passion that went into this work.
I love Revue Starlight.
The passion I feel coming from Revue Starlight is... everywhere. The story, the characters, the art and animation, the music, the voice acting. Everything.
I loved the characters and how they fit into the story. I thought them all having their unique, established dynamics, relationships and, most importantly, motivations was excellent. It was a hard decision, but Junna ended up being my favourite character. I love her passion, her energy, her cute dorkiness... but her motivation and determination really resonated with me. I... understood her desires to aim for the top, and I thought it was truly a beautiful sentiment to keep that desire despite the insurmountable odds. In general, I love that they gave every character the attention that they did, they took advantage of their episode limit and structure to give each character their own development and monologue while still keeping the pace in check. The voice acting for each character was excellent, most of the voice actors in the series are relatively new to the scene. Everything these characters said felt so... grounded, like it wasn't just acting, but real people speaking their minds. Whether it was soft, friendly conversation or battles of spoken word... the lines were delivered beautifully.
The music. Oh, THE MUSIC. Yoshiaki and Tatsuya did amazing jobs on the OST. Memorable tunes, their own unique styles while still keeping the theme and they ALWAYS the set the right mood very well for each scene. All of the performers seemed to know exactly what they were making and always pushed out the perfect music for each moment the music was needed. The OP, ED and Revue songs were also very well written pieces of music. I ABSOLUTELY ADORE the fact the Revue songs flesh out what the characters are thinking through their lyrics, it added so much to already well written characters. I like that the meaning of the lyrics is further reinforced by visuals, ranging from the direct to very obscure symbolism, many delving deeper than just the characters and even into their VAs interests.
The art and animation... where do I even start? Unique character designs, a defined style, detailed backdrops... all of that on top of the beautifully smooth animation during the Revue scenes. I've talked so much about passion already, but the visuals here show passion similar to studios who have been for DECADES for putting heaps of passion into the visuals of their works.
I could talk more specifically about elements, and give scores on each of them, but I've done that on other reviews before, but... now, I don't feel like a number is quite enough. Instead... I have something else I want to talk about.
More accurately... what does passion mean to me?
Passion is a symbol of love and admiration. Something I'm not afraid to loud and proudly say I'm passionate about. Something I'll never be afraid to love. In media, something that impacted me so strongly that it makes me want to talk about just how much I love it, how much it impacted me... so much, I'll allow my love to flow over and I'll have to tell somebody about why I love it.
On that night all those years ago, an anime from one brilliant mind gave somebody as alone as I once was something to love. So many years later, when I thought my love was fading... Revue Starlight, it's meaning, it's passion, it's... shine, all coming into my life and making me realise that my love can still thrive no matter how much things seem to be put into place to stop that.
2 weeks ago, there were two anime right at the top of my favourites that had something to separate them from those under it. Those two were 3-gatsu no Lion and Yagate Kimi ni Naru. I hold them so highly because they mean something genuine to me. In 2016, 3-gatsu no Lion helped me realise that I wasn't suffering alone. I was still going through the motions coping with the gravity of the loss of one of the most important people in my life... who barely even remembered me before she left us. This, and all of the other things happening in my disaster of a childhood. Yagate Kimi ni Naru helped me come to terms with my sexuality and taught me a lot about emotions and the pressure I felt. I didn't think anybody would accept me, because I could barely accept myself.
Today... there are 3. Revue Starlight joined them. Revue Starlight taught me so much about ambition, about emotions, about determination... about finding something that means the world to me, my own star, and pursuing it. If I fall, I'll get back on my feet. If I'm not enough, I'll work as hard as I can to become enough. If I fail, I'll pursue it over and over again until I get right. Alone or with the people I care about, I'll pursue my star; my dreams.
If you've made it this far: thank you. This review is a bit of a mess since I'm still collecting my thoughts on the sequel movie. This was more of a general review talking about how Revue Starlight has revived my passion and love for anime, and may have talked more generally than specifically talked about Revue Starlight. I'll be reviewing the movie tomorrow (Edit: LMAO), and I'm aiming to make that a more specific review with a bit more of an analytical element to it.
- Chiribei
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