Revue Starlight

Episode 6

Revue Starlight's sixth episode opens with a flashback to Kaoruko and Futaba's childhood, revealing that they've been friends since long before they attended Seisho Academy. Kaoruko, born into a well-to-do family and reared for a career in traditional Japanese dance, is a bad combination of rebellious and naive, so it falls on the practical and down-to-earth Futaba to take care of her friend when she runs off without thinking. The two tease other in a way that reveals both their conflicting personalities and how comfortable they feel together. Under the soft snow of the cherry blossoms, it's easy to see how they would have only grown closer as they grew up, which makes the harsh cut to the middle of their duel sting all the more.

This context for their relationship is super important, and I'm glad they led with it, because Kaoruko spends most of this episode acting like a complete jerk toward everyone, especially Futaba. Her laziness has previously been played for laughs, but here it's brought into sharp focus as a symptom of a deeper selfishness and sense of entitlement that have been festering unchecked for a while now. She only now realizes all of the extra effort that Futaba has been putting into her practice, and her response is not to be proud, but jealous. There are echoes of Mahiru's codependency problem from last episode, but whereas Mahiru was coming from a place of insecurity, Kaoruko is coming from a place of privilege. For too long, she's been expecting Futaba to take care of her every need, from waking her up in the morning to rubbing her feet in the evening. She expects to get a lead role, because that's what she deserves. So naturally, her entire world comes crashing down when she fails a single audition, and instead of looking inward, she lashes out.

For as bratty as Kaoruko comes across this episode, Futaba comes across like a saint. To her credit, she doesn't seem to mind taking care of Kaoruko's needs, because she's been doing it since childhood, and clearly she loves her. What she eventually takes issue with is how much Kaoruko has been taking everything around her for granted without putting in any extra effort herself. When she fails the audition, she half-jokingly asks Futaba to hand over her role, but when that barb turns into a full accusation, that's the last straw for Futaba. On the outside, this looks like a lovers' spat, with Futaba even going so far as to move into Claudine's room specifically to upset Kaoruko (which works). On the inside, however, it's much more complicated. Futaba is trying to help Kaoruko help herself, but their mutual stubbornness prolongs the conflict practically to the breaking point.

The show knows how unreasonable Kaoruko is being, and it punishes her by playing her post-Futaba struggles for laughs. After she realizes that the secret auditions could be her way back into the spotlight, her first bout is immediately interrupted by Mahiru's antics from last episode. She proceeds to lose every fight she picks, which she deserves, because there's no room for shortcuts on the way to being the Top Star. Defeated, she resorts to her dirtiest trick yet, announcing that she intends to leave the academy. It's a childish cry for attention, and everyone (except for Karen) recognizes it as such, but Futaba still hesitates to give her the satisfaction of a response. Maya at least tries to give her some advice. The parallel between Kaoruko's relationship with Futaba and Maya's relationship with Claudine is drawn throughout the episode, and Maya helping Kaoruko while Claudine helps Futaba strikes me an attempt by both of them to fix their own fraught relationship through a surrogate one. Maya does her best to make Kaoruko realize that her frustration is internal, not external, but only Futaba can truly get through to her on the dueling stage.

Mr. Giraffe laconically comments that these auditions are becoming more and more personal, and this is certainly the duel with the most years of baggage attached to it. Kaoruko's dueling stage takes them back to her childhood, inside of a traditional Japanese house with cherry blossoms outside. Futaba vents her frustrations and finally gets through to her longtime companion. Futaba's goal was never to surpass Kaoruko, but to catch up to her. She never would have considered going to Seisho if Kaoruko hadn't decided that for her, and despite all of her blood, sweat, and tears, she only just barely made the cut. But because Futaba worked so hard to be there, she appreciates it that much more, while Kaoruko, who probably never worried about getting accepted, grew lazy and complacent. Being a Stage Girl requires constant work, and so does being a good partner. Kaoruko let all of that atrophy, so that no matter how hard Futaba worked, she'd never be able to see Kaoruko shine. That's all she wanted, and Kaoruko in turn is moved enough to find her passion again. Probably my favorite part of the episode is how Kaoruko makes a show of cutting off her own clasp, but only as a gambit to trick Futaba into getting close enough to attack. It's a performance that demonstrates her renewed commitment to the theater, and it also shows more of that duplicitous edge that gives her character some extra depth. Kaoruko wins the duel, but both of them leave the stage happy.

Overall, I'm conflicted on this episode, mostly because I think Kaoruko got off too easy. I'm glad she thanked Futaba for everything in the end, but Futaba also deserved an apology at the very least. I also tend to have a pretty high tolerance (and affection) for snobbish characters, but Kaoruko was frustratingly bratty and dense up until the final minutes, and the infinitely more sympathetic Futaba didn't really get an arc of her own outside of the things she explained in her duel dialogue. Part of me thinks Futaba deserved to win that duel as well. However, if Starlight's ultimate goal is to overthrow the unfairness of the ranking system (and I hope it is), then Futaba “winning” by losing is fittingly transgressive. It was competitiveness and jealousy that ate away at Kaoruko in the first place, and Futaba's selflessness managed to save her. It's cute how Kaoruko seems determined to become less of a burden at the end, but if she's truly committed to being a better actress and partner, she better be giving Futaba some foot rubs in the future. It's only fair.

Despite my frustrations with this episode's narrative, this was another great-looking, great-sounding, and all around great episode of Revue Starlight, ending poetically on a delicate dance between two sakura petals. The show's been settling into a pattern of resolving various kinds of relationship drama, which it's been doing well, but I hope we'll start to see some more progress toward its larger thematic ambitions. So much of my hope lies in next week's episode, which delivers a long-anticipated focus on Banana. If anyone can shake up the show's formula, it's gotta be Banana. I believe in Banana.

Rating: B+

Revue Starlight is currently streaming on HIDIVE.

Steve is a longtime anime fan who can be found making bad posts about anime on his Twitter.