At times, Hikaru in the Light! felt like a season of American Idol to me. We feel the intensity of the competition through its characters' hopes and aspirations, the glow of the stage, and the harsh rules laid down by the competition's judges and producers. It requires the winning idols an extraordinary cut above the rest, and its judgemental arbiters' comments range from mild approval to tongue-lashingly scathing. The story of a young idol-in-training having to overcome such obstacles drove the story into predictable territory yet there's still enough drama and charm that makes it easy for idol fans to sink their teeth into Hikaru's quest for onstage glory. Now that the manga is being reissued in color, you might say that fans can see Hikaru in a whole new light.

Hikaru in the Light! is an underdog story at heart and as such, a lot of the usual trappings are very much in place here. Minus the presence of evil step-siblings, Hikaru starts Cinderella-esque with our protagonist working as a lowly assistant in her grandfather's bathhouse. Having mopped floor after floor while singing nothing but the oldies for five years is something that Hikaru has grown to love, but she's unsure if it makes her talented. That is, until her friend Ran re-enters Hikaru's life, already having made it as an idol and pushing Hikaru to join a stage greater than the bathhouse floors.

Even if you can see where Hikaru's plot is going five miles away, none feels hackneyed. Considering the targeted age demographic of this manga, it's hard to knock on a simplistic plot that could serve as inspiration for young entertainers in training. Plus our main character is filled with enough spunk and heart that one can't help but cheer her on. As a fan of the oldies, I'll admit that I already had a bias for Hikaru from the very start--it's not every day I get to see anime characters cover Carole King, let alone twice (Tapestry is one of the greatest albums ever, btw). I like how undeterred she is by the competition despite her initial nervousness and feelings of self-doubt. At one point, Hikaru says that the large number of people involved in the competition means she just has more people to learn from. In a moment that screams of adorkability, Hikaru's bathhouse background kicks in during her first audition when she swaps her mic with a mop to sing through, winning over the competition's judges and earning her the title of “mop girl.”

Most of the manga's off-stage antics go by rather breezily. The relationship between Ran and Hikaru remains amicable, never letting her experience as an idol get the better of her. She's always supportive of her friend, even when Hikaru's vocal talent proves to be formidable. One competition has Ran beating out Hikaru by a significant margin, but with Hikaru still in the race, it's enough to leave Ran wondering if she's that much better than her friend. More character development is placed on Ran during the latter half of the manga when she interacts with the other competitors. This shift in perspective might be distracting to those who want something more straightforward, but I still enjoyed this little narrative detour for what it was worth.

The auditions and competitions are more dramatic, marked by close-ups of characters singing, swaying, sauntering, and sweating their way through every step of the way. All the grueling demands of finding talent a cut above the rest are personified in its producer Hamaya, a man filled with so much superego that he could give Simon Cowell a run for his money. He's never too glowing with his compliments, and his criticism can be rather inflammatory, particularly when he chides the competitors on their dancing skills--one particular moment of verbal vitriol leads one of the competitors to break down in tears. Hamaya's mean streak here makes sense though; competition is a very grueling experience, and having a judge amp things up helps address how serious and dramatic things are to participants.

The art style is also very well-detailed and helps make the bright gaudiness of the idol competitions leap out of every single page. The stages burst with energy while the characters and their actions are drawn with focused attention to detail. Everything coming out of mangaka Mai Matsuda's pen is flowing with detail, except for one thing. I tend to agree with Rebecca Silverman's original review of the manga that the dance numbers aren't as dynamic as they could be. We see characters give off stylized poses in their song and dance numbers, but not a lot of attention is given between these poses. There isn't a complete sense of motion in these sequences, although they are still detailed enough that you can fill in the blanks in your head. The new edition of the manga comes with colored pages that help give more attention to detail in some of these moments. The scene where Hikaru becomes “Mop Girl” comes with hues of blue and pink to let the reader know how comfortable Hikaru is singing the oldies. It mentally places her at grandpa's comfortable bathhouse instead of the stuffy offices of judges who are, well, rather judgemental. My one complaint is that I would have preferred it if the color choice didn't seem so pasty in its presentation.

I was in the high school choir and my inability to stay on pitch relegated me to lingering in the background, meaning I had robbed myself of the ability to take any instance of musical competitiveness seriously. Ironic, considering how some of my favorite stories revolve around musicians and entertainers where every performance matters. In Hikaru in the Light!'s case, it's a matter of being considered extraordinary or standing in the back just like everybody else. As someone who went through the latter, it's always inspiring to see a story try to achieve the former in such a charmingly simple way, even if it's not the most game-changing thing ever.