If you’re expecting Episode 2 to shed light on anything going on in this show, you may want to think again. Trust me, this show doesn’t explain the logistics entirely and aspects such as the talking giraffe is just something we’ll have to roll with. This episode does add a couple of rules to the Revues, and I’ll get to them in a bit, but that’s about it. To Revue Starlight‘s credit, it does ease you into accepting everything as par for the course. This is largely in part to Karen’s behavior being so believable. She’s just as confused about the auditions as we are. Karen does eventually stop questioning things but by that point, the show has hoped that you would as well.
Episode 2 begins the day after the Revue of Passion. In her sleep, Karen recalls the aftermath of the duel, in which the giraffe accepts her participation in the auditions. Apparently, talking about the revues to anyone will result in paying a hefty fine. Not the worst punishment but then again, studying at Seisho must be expensive. Mind you, this doesn’t actually stop the main characters from talking to each other about the Revues. In fact, the rule gets broken within the next couple of scene and you never once see the giraffe pull out a bill. Still, this explains why the competition isn’t widely known.
Once Karen and Mahiru wake up, Hikari tells them that she’s decided to move into their room, even though she declined Karen’s offer to do so last episode. This is presumably so that Hikari can keep an eye on Karen, now that the latter has decided to be a Stage Girl. Karen obviously doesn’t question it but Mahiru isn’t terribly keen to have Hikari as a roommate. Believe me, we’ll get to Mahiru soon enough.
As classes begins, it seems that Karen isn’t doing so great. We see her barely manage to stretch and sing on key. I could just say she sucks but the thing is, Karen must be competent enough if she’s managed to get into the academy. Given the Giraffe’s comments last episode, it’s likely that Karen is just unmotivated. She doesn’t have a very strong reason to keep up with the curriculum so her abilities have gotten rusty as a result.
During a lunch break, Hikari attempts to convince the giraffe to remove Karen from the auditions. To her chagrin, the giraffe refuses and he then plays an audio replay of Karen’s decision to join the competition to explain why he thinks Karen should participate (don’t ask how he managed to record it). All of a sudden, Nana appears behind Hikari to offer her some banana flavored pudding. I guess Nana really wants to be friends with the new transfer student.
When I first watched Revue Starlight, I assumed Junna to be a one-off opponent. As it turns out however, this episode builds more on her character and establishes a more legitimate rivalry between her and Karen. That was surprising at first but in hindsight, it’d be really lame for Junna to be written off so quickly so I really appreciate that the show gave her some more attention before moving onto to the next rival. As the episode goes on, you learn how ambitious Junna is. While just about everyone in the class thinks Maya and Claudine are undefeatable, Junna wants to surpass them. She therefore trains herself to get better, to the point of exhaustion even. The gap between her and the Top 2 keeps getting bigger but that frustration only motivates Junna even more. Because she’s so determined, Junna gets annoyed at her classmates for being so content with Maya and Claudine being the cream of the crop and not trying to better themselves. This kind of comes into play with her relationship with Karen. During a dance class, Junna learns that Karen wasn’t originally invited to the Revues. Realizing that an interloper got in her way, Junna naturally becomes pretty hostile towards Karen.
Junna then passes out, her overworking finally catching up to her. Nana stays behind in the infirmary to look after her. Upon waking up, Junna confides in Nana about her dream and how she might finally have the opportunity see it fulfilled. Parallel to this, Karen confronts Hikari. Hikari tells Karen that she lacks the “shine” to compete in them and she urges her to drop out. Due to her chat with Junna however, Karen decides that she wants to become the Top Star and surpass Maya and Claudine so that she can fulfill her promise with Hikari. Between this and Karen’s decision to partake in the auditions, it’s clear that Karen really does have resolve. Perhaps what made her seem ineligible for the Revues is the fact that she isn’t only considering herself in her aspirations. She hopes to reach her goal with Hikari. In that sense, she deserves to get the crown just as much as everyone else. I really like that Karen’s conversation Hikari plays out in tandem to Junna and Nana’s. Despite Junna’s belief that Karen doesn’t belong in the Revues, the two of them actually have very similar goals.
This then brings us to the audition of the week, the “Revue of Desires”. The title is pretty self-explanatory; both Karen and Junna are vying for the crown right now. If you’re wondering how Junna is back to fight, the show explains how the revues are structured. Basically, the contestants are placed on a ranked list and their rank goes up and down depending on the results of their respective duels. No one is placed in brackets so everyone is free to continue participating in the auditions until the competition ends. In-universe, it’s random as to who fights who but obviously for the plot, the duel a given episode focuses on is intentional. Case in point, Episode 2 focuses on both Junna and Karen and the two are kind of on thin ice with each other so it’s a no brainer that Junna would get her revenge match.
Going forward, the imagery in most of these battles pertains to a specific character. Naturally for this revue, the stage is all about Junna. There are essentially three major props: some pairs of glasses (many of which are giant), a plethora of mannequins, and some golden confetti. Barring the glasses, these may seem really random at first but I can think of some reasons as to why these props are used to represent Junna’s character. Given Junna’s desire to become the top student in her class, it’s safe to assume that she thinks she isn’t special. Since the mannequins all look the same, perhaps they represent how indigestible Junna feels about herself, that she’s just another student at the school. Obviously, Junna wears a pair of glasses but the glasses in this fight suggest that these are the only defining trait Junna thinks she has. For both props, it certainly comes across that way when Junna uses mannequins to depict her childhood and the only way you can tell which one is supposed to be her is the fact it’s been adorned with a pair of glasses. As for the confetti, Junna talks about wanting to be a star or reaching out for one so I think these are simply meant to represent a bunch of stars.
Regardless of what these props symbolize, there’s no denying that Junna puts them to her advantage. With the stage lights, Junna is able to use to the giant glasses to seemingly disappear from Karen’s sight. The mannequins act as her decoys. The confetti makes the fight more chaotic. It makes sense for Junna to throw Karen off like that. As soon as Karen closes in on her, it’s potentially game over. That said, I find it interesting that Junna feels the need to use so much subterfuge. It honestly feels like she’s fighting Karen more seriously than she did against Hikari. I like to think that it’s because Junna lost to Karen last time. Junna may think Karen shouldn’t be at the revues but on the off chance that Karen’s victory wasn’t a fluke, she still gives the fight her all.
The insert song for the Revue of Desires is called “The Star Knows”. Something that you may notice is that some of the songs in Revue Starlight actually takes a while before the characters start singing. With “Until the World is Turned to Ash”, it takes 26 seconds before Hikari and Junna begin to sing. Here on the other hand, it takes 1 minute and 44 seconds. There’s some advantages to this. One, it lets the characters get a good chunk of dialogue out of the way. Two, it can help the viewer soak in the instrumentals and get them excited for when the singing finally starts. On a more specific note, I really like how dramatic the song is throughout its duration. Even when it calms down a little, the song never stops feeling tense. It really suits Junna’s determination and the heated rivalry between her and Karen.
Given how prevalent Junna is in the fight, she is of course the more prominent singer in the song. In her lyrics, Junna attributes her intense desire to being set aflame. She admits that she doesn’t know it came to be, just that it won’t go away. Junna also pulls a title drop, saying that the “star knows what [she] seeks”. Since Junna wants to be a star or is reaching out to it, I think she means that the only one who understands her desire is the desire itself. I admit that it’s a little odd but it does suggest that Junna feels she’s alone with her ambition.
Eventually, Karen joins the the song. I really like how, for a while, Karen sings at the same time as Junna and then back to back with her. In other words, the two characters are dueling against each other in song just as they are dueling in-person. Junna sings how she can’t afford to lose or else it’s too late. Karen admits that she doesn’t understand where Junna is coming from but she still wants to talk to her and she assure her that there’ll be another chance. Towards the end, Junna more or less continues to sing the same things but Karen mentions the promise she made with Hikari. Whereas Junna is stuck in a loop of despair, Karen is looking ahead and that kind of makes her desire seem stronger than Junna’s.
Given how early we are in the show, Karen obviously is going to win against Junna (again). This fight is pretty convincing in making you think she might lose, though. Given Junna’s range and trickery, Karen is at a huge disadvantage and she’s largely on the defensive throughout the fight. She has put up with a lot so her victory feels earned in the end. I’d also argue that it’s more appropriate for Karen to win anyway. Junna may deserve the win but with how often she says she can’t lose, it feels like she’s hedging too many bets on becoming Top Star to get anywhere with her goal. Conversely, Karen argues that a dream doesn’t end in one shot and that there’ll always be a chance to take the stage. She isn’t as desperate as Junna so she’s more worthy to be the victor.
Despite losing to Karen again, Junna accepts the results this time around. Funnily enough, this duel seems to have actually made Junna grown closer to Karen. She stops seeing Karen as an interloper and thanks to Karen’s words (both musical and normal), she decides not to overthink the results of the revues and just try her best until they’re over. The newfound friendship between them is further cemented by Junna giving Karen permission to call her by her first name and Karen giving her a new nickname, “Jun-jun”. As intense as the fighting was, it ultimately ends in a happy ending and that sets a hopeful precedent for future battles in the show.
That said, there are some concerning aspects to this episode’s conclusion. While all the fighting is happening, we see Hikari wallowing on the floor of her dorm room, apologizing to Karen for getting her involved in the revues. Mahiru overhears this and she expresses some concern over the dream Hikari and Karen share. Between this and Mahiru’s disapproval of Hikari moving in, it seems that she’s afraid of how the new girl will affect things between her and Karen. There’s also Maya and Claudine. The two have actually been duking it out the same time as Karen and Junna, with Maya coming out on top. Maya’s participation was given away by Revue Starlight‘s OP but it’s nevertheless concerning to see the top student partake in the revues. That she makes short work of Claudine certainly presents her as a tough opponent to beat.
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