99th Seisho Festival
Performance Day
Let's go! Together, we will grasp that star...
Though I release my arrow over and over, it will not reach that star...
You, who so naively aim for that star... how could you understand this fury?!
Me, I... I was sure I could grasp that star!
At least, that's what I thought.
But that was nothing more than arrogance!
If you don't have the strength to face something, you should just run away!
Yes. Running away was... it was all I could do!
And yet, in the midst of such lamentation and regret,
I remained spellbound!
This is envy... such terrible envy.
If that's what you think, then tell me!
What must I give up to have that person for myself?
Ah, it repeats itself again.
The cycle of despair... That which lies below the starlight.
Our dream will not come to be.
Wow...
99th Seisho Festival
It's so bright...
99th Seisho Festival
2 days after closing
Year 1 Group A & B
Joint Celebration Party
99th Seisho Festival
This was the first performance of the 99th class at the 99th Seisho Festival, "Starlight"!
The show was a huge success, and so we say...
Cheers!
Junna-chan, thanks for your hard work!
Nana...
We've only finished the first show, though.
We'll have to start preparing for next year soon.
You're being hasty, though!
It was a huge success, huh, Karen-chan?
And you did good too, Nana!
Mahiru-chan, weren't you nervous?
Yes! But thanks to Karen-chan, my heart stopped pounding.
It's the two leads.
That was an excellent performance!
Thank you very much.
I am not losing to you.
Well then, let's audition again next year. Together.
Nana Daiba...
You too.
Huh?
Maya...chan?
I thought I wouldn't get that goddess role, but I managed it somehow!
I don't think "somehow" has anything to do with it, do you?
Nana!
Futaba-chan?!
Thanks for helping out with so much!
Nana, you helped me quite a bit too.
You're really good at shoulder massages!
Me too! You came to practice with me!
And you were a big help with the costumes, too!
And with the background sets, too!
And when everyone was starving, you made snacks for us...
I feel like it's thanks to the banana muffins you made that we made it through the final stretch!
That's right!
Banana!
Huh?
Nana... You're like everyone's "banana," right?
You're sweet and kind and nourishing!
You can even ease stiff shoulders!
Nana is... a banana?
Oh, that's cute!
Even your height is... banana-like?
And you smell good, too!
A banana, huh?
Nana?!
D-did I say something wrong?!
Nana?
No... No, that's not it.
I'm happy!
I...
I'm so glad I came to this academy.
I can't believe making a performance could be so enjoyable, that it would shine so much.
This performance, the "Starlight" of the 99th Seisho Festival...
I'll never forget it!
I've found best friends forever, and the stage I was meant for.
She was born on this day...
The Stage Girl, Nana Daiba.
Revue Starlight
Ano hoshi o tsukamu no wa daare? Who, oh who, will be the one to grab hold of the star?
Tou no choujou de At the very top of that tower
Shizuka ni tomotta honou ga atsuku mune o kogashite iku These flames lit in silence fill my chest with a white-hot passion
Unmei no wa That's just the Wheel of Fortune
Butai no ue de odorasareteiru wake ja nai It's not like I'm being forced to dance on this stage
Tobitate Spring forth
Tashika ni ano hi mitanda I'm sure I saw it that day
Hajiketa hoshi no kirameki The brilliance of a star that has burst open
Iroaseta yakusoku ni yubi ga fureru made Until my fingers reach out to touch that faded promise
Makuake mae ni hajimaru It will start before the curtain rises
Me no mae de tsuzurareteku And be spelled out before our eyes
Umarekawatta watashi wa Having been reborn
Koko de kimi ni aeta I was able to meet you here
Mou ichido Once again
Seisho Music Academy
Spring Vacation / First Day
Oui, J'atteris a 15 heures demain.
Yes, I'll arrive in Paris tomorrow at 3 PM.
See ya, Banana!
Expect a souvenir, okay?
Futaba, hurry up!
You carry some luggage, too!
Well, then...
We're off!
Starlight Hall
It sure is quiet when everyone leaves.
The only ones left are me and Junna-chan!
Wait, you're going to take pictures of THIS, too?
The next Seisho Festival is the 100th. It's a big deal!
These are all important moments that we need to get on film!
Are you okay... with not going home?
Huh?
It's just that... I decided that I wouldn't go home until I graduate.
If you're doing this because you're worried about me or something...
Junna-chan, you wanna eat udon?
This is where I want to be.
Sure. I'll have some.
Seisho Music Academy
New School Year
Okay, as of today, we're second-year students!
Okay, Junna-chan, give it your all!
Wait!
As an upperclassman, as well as our student council rep, I have to make sure not to embarrass myself!
It's all the same, but it feels new!
Wow... Those're the new students.
They're all nervous and worried stiff.
This is new to us, too...
Actor Training Department
Okay, this is the second-years' classroom.
I look forward to spending the next year together!
Spring vacation is over, and everyone is raring to go, huh?
Huh?
Naruse and Osaka aren't here yet, are they?
It looks like they dropped out.
What?!
No way!
Sayo Naruse
This is my first duty as a second-year chairperson, huh?
Right!
We have to move forward, to make it an even better performance this year.
Yeah.
100th Seisho Festival
Auditions Commence
Performance Training Classroom
The 100th Seisho Festival will be our second performance of "Starlight."
The auditions for the main cast will finally start today!
This time for sure I will achieve a flawless victory.
You're going down, dear Tendo Maya!
I'm gonna get the part of Flora!
Then I'll be Claire!
The next lead will obviously be me!
You're heavy...
Daiba-san.
Oof...
May I have a word with you?
Sure.
We're already on the next auditions, huh?
It still doesn't feel real...
I mean, it's still so clearly burned into my mind: our "Starlight."
That ultimate stage, just for us, that we made together...
I wonder if we can still have it... that same stage.
Even if it's the same cast with the same members,
the same performance will not exist.
That's true, but...
The girls have made their decision.
There was sure to be despair, suffering, and rage beyond our comprehension.
I said that, didn't I? That we should go for the lead roles.
There are those for whom it will not come to be, however earnestly they try.
It is an impossible dream, one to which they give their all, yet there are those that will leave the stage behind.
A favored idol...
a voice that flourishes wonderfully...
an expansive field of vision over the entire stage...
Even with all that, why won't you-?!
Hurry up and decide, will you?!
Just wait a little bit longer...
99th Seisho Festival
If you're not making a serious effort because you wish to remain "everyone's Banana"...
I...
I will not forgive you, Nana Daiba.
Maya...chan.
Nana?
Junna-chan.
Oh, are those pictures from our celebration party?
Yeah. Wanna see?
Oh, the chairperson!
Nice shot!
Wait, you took these too?!
Only two months have passed, but it's still kinda nostalgic.
Our "Starlight," here at the Seisho Festival...
I love it.
I love it, too.
Yup! Me, too.
With Group B supporting us backstage, we in Group A get to sing and perform.
A stage made just for us, made by all the members of the 99th class.
I wonder if we'll never have the same kind of performance again.
I wonder if I can stand on that stage...
Huh?
I mean, a stage is a living thing.
Even if it's the same "Starlight," it's impossible to have the exact same stage!
And there are people who aren't here anymore.
Yeah!
That's exactly why we have to practice more and more, and have a way, way better performance!
Karen-chan?
Hey! Don't stand on the bench, Aijo!
This is a stage. My stage!
And I made sure to take off my shoes.
I'm not worried about the shoes!
You like high places, don't you, Aijo?
Yep! I like 'em!
Places like Tokyo Tower!
Always following the chance that there's a better stage...
But, to me...
That "Starlight" is the best. It can't be topped.
Bath
A giraffe...
How cute.
Huh?
Good evening, Nana Daiba.
Do you find it blinding?
What?
I understand.
A real... giraffe?
The Revue.
It is a song and dance woven into a mesmerizing stage show.
The more "shine" that a Stage Girl feels,
the more freely the lighting equipment, the sound devices, and the stage mechanisms all begin to move.
The play, the song, the dance, the shine of the Stage Girl...
This stage responds to it all.
"Shine"?
The one who presents us with the most dazzling of revues
shall find the path to becoming the Top Star opened before her.
"Top Star"?
The one who stands atop the stage of fate.
She makes her talent blossom limitlessly within the lead role,
a role with a brilliance that transcends time and lasts for eternity.
I don't care about that. At all.
I understand. However...
what if you could stand atop any stage you desired?
Any stage?
You have one as well, do you not? A blinding stage...
One which you will never experience again, though you reach for it.
A blinding stage that satisfies the shine.
Is it blinding? I understand.
Can it really be any stage?
No matter when, or what kind?
Will you participate in the auditions?
I understand.
This is... how serious you are?
Did something happen that changed you?
Is it blinding?
What?
I am blinding.
What happened to you?
I can't reach it.
You'd go this f-
Position Zero.
It's so blinding that I can't reach it.
Congratulations.
Is it blinding?
Yes, it is.
The one who has passed this audition...
is you, Nana Daiba-san.
And now that you are the Top Star, what is the "stage" that you have sought?
A repeat performance of "Starlight" at the 99th Seisho Festival.
A shine like a jewel on fire,
blissful days that glitter like a rainbow...
I want that again.
Even now... that stage is blinding.
Very well.
For you of the 99th class, your program will be...
"Starlight."
I love "Starlight"!
Me too!
Oh, "Lumière des étoiles"? Sounds good.
"Star... light"?
But, why "Starlight"? And why now?
What's gotten into everyone? Junna-chan?
What?!
Junna-chan?
W-well, you suddenly called me by my first name...
Daiba-san.
Actor Training Department
Huh?
First-years headed for the 99th Seisho Festival
Nana Daiba
The Stage of Fate
This is how the cycle began.
A repeat performance of the 99th Seisho Festival...
Precious friends, a precious stage, such precious days, all repeated.
When I'm in those repeat performances, nothing scares me.
There's no growing up, and no becoming an adult.
The suffering that is forced upon you...
the pain of trying new things, the sadness of giving up because it hurts too much...
I will protect everyone from all that!
That's right! Banana!
Huh?
Nana, you're like everyone's banana!
Because I'm sweet and kind and nourishing?
And I can even ease stiff shoulders?
Y-yeah...
Yeah, yeah!
I was thinking about how I could make that same stage again, when...
I should have been able to reach it, but it's still too blinding.
Congratulations.
The one who has passed this audition...
is you, Nana Daiba-san.
And now that you are the Top Star, what is the "stage" that you have sought?
It's still so blinding.
I do not know how many times we have done this, but... Very well.
Hey... Why?
Why are you doing this for me?
The moment a Stage Girl becomes a Top Star,
the fusion of "wonder" and "shine" produces a most wondrous reaction...
An eternal sparkle, in a moment of combustion...
An eternal stage no one can foresee!
I... I wish to see that.
An eternal stage... that no one can foresee.
For you of the 99th class, your program will be...
Who... is that?
"Starlight."
What?
Are you okay, Karen-chan?
I just can't stop... thinking about sandwiches...
K..Karen-chan!
Are you okay, Karen-chan?
She's fine. The girl's a rock!
You're so heartless, Banana-chan!
Hey, you all right, Karen?
We have a transfer student who'll be joining us in the Actor Training Department as of today.
I know it's unexpected, but please give her a warm welcome.
Huh?
This hasn't happened before...
Who is... that girl?
Hikari Kagura
I danced a whole lot today too, so let me ride the bike!
We're walking home to build up strength! The taxi fare is five million.
If you mean my T-shirts and towels, I folded them and put them away.
But...
I wonder what happened.
Maybe always having the exact same stage is boring.
A stage of fate, one that no one can foresee...
And yet, no matter who shows up, my "repeat performance" won't change.
Hikari Kagura-chan...
I want her on my stage, too!
Next Time Toward the Light
Revue Starlight.
I understand.