"Starlight" ...
It's the story of goddesses drawn by the glow of the heavens.
We can fight and argue and disagree, but there are ties that bind us together...
Yet we may be pulled from one another, never to meet again. It is a sad story.
Let's go! Together, we will grasp that star.
Our dream will not come to be!
That stage, those voices joined in song...
They can't help but spur us on.
Huh?
Let's go...
To that stage, to that shining star... Together!
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
Dear Miss Hikari Kagura...
The days have been cold lately. How have you been?
Karen Aijo, the Stage Girl, is doing well today, as always!
What?
Oh, yeah!
Our performance of "Starlight" for the 99th Seisho Festival went off without a hitch!
It was my first performance at the Seisho Music Academy,
but I think we all worked together and put on a really great performance!
And yet...
I'm still not satisfied.
Next year, I will get the role of Flora!
Once I do, I sure hope you can come and see me...
As if, right?
Bit by bit, I'm getting closer to that promise I made you... I'm sure of it!
So, you do the same! Oh, but pushing yourself too far is a big non non, okay?
I'll write again later.
Yours truly, Karen Aijo.
Well, I'm off.
Karen, thank you for all the letters.
My lessons always keep me busy, but I'm still running forward...
Toward you, and the stage we promised we'd share.
So that here... we can become stars!
The Royal Academy of Theatrical Actors.
Stage actors and directors,
scriptwriters, stage designers, lighting and sound technicians...
everyone who aspires to work in the theater, you'll find them here.
The classes here can be specialized or cover a general curriculum.
From cutting-edge Performance Arts Theory to the latest in practical stage construction...
The teachers here are all stage veterans, offering specialized, high-level courses.
My fellow classmates have gathered here from around the world, competing for the same dream...
I can't let my guard down for a single moment.
Every day is a battle I give my all, as if I were up there on stage!
I can't let myself settle for regular bit roles.
I need to be better. I have to shine brighter...
And aim for that promised stage.
Hikari-chan! I don't want you to go!
Karen, crybabies can't be stars!
What?!
B-but, Hikari-chan, if you go to Dondon-
It's "London."
I can't do "Starlight" by myself!
Okay, fine.
You won't go to Dondon?!
I won't come back until I've become a star!
So I won't be seeing you either!
Why?! Why?! Why, why?! Why?!
Because when I'm around, you always rely on ME.
Oh, come on! Can I call you?
Nope.
Um... Uh, fine. Can I write you?
Hikari-chan, you don't have to write back! I'll just send mine!
Okay?
Karen.
Hikari-chan...
I'll see you on stage, okay?
Yeah! It's a promise!
You've got it wrong...
It's fate. Okay?
"Fate"?
Yeah!
Tokyo Souvenir City
I put on a big show in front of Karen, but the truth is, that was for my own sake.
If I didn't say it like that and keep my distance...
I'd start to miss her.
"I love the stage. I love 'Starlight.'"
Now that Karen's told me that, I...
I'll keep running.
We'll meet again under that spotlight.
Karen is waiting for me, up on that stage...
So that, together, we can become stars!
That's why I can't settle for the here and now.
More... more... more!
I have to push myself more, go even higher!
Huh?
What is this?
Revues are...
enchanting stage performances with songs and dances.
A-a giraffe?!
Japanese is more suitable, then? I understand.
The Revue...
is song and dance woven into a mesmerizing stage show.
In these auditions that will soon start, the one who presents us with the most dazzling of revues
shall receive the heavenly tiara and find the path to the Top Star opened before her.
"Top Star"?
She who stands atop the stage of fate...
The one who emits unending "shine," causing her talents to bloom with a brilliance that transcends time.
It is a role that lasts for eternity.
"The stage... of fate"?
Will you participate in this audition?
I understand.
Karen. I am...
waiting for you...
on the stage of fate!
It can't be!
This concludes all auditions.
What?
Huh?
What's gotten into Judy?
She's gotten SO much better lately, huh?
That jump she just did was super pretty!
What were... those auditions all about?
Suppression of the people!
War upon war, a tyrannical emperor... No longer can I turn a blind eye to these!
What's happened... to me?
We are the "Sworn Allies of the Sword,"
This stage means everything, and yet I feel nothing...
and with God as our witness, we shall bring justice to bear!
The nervousness of standing on the stage, the euphoria of singing atop it is just...
Those in whom we trust, those closest to our sons...
Even YOU would betray us?!
All the "shine" I feel when I'm on stage... it's gone.
But, why?
Even should the day come that we must fight them...
I've... lost it.
Huh?
What?
The 130 grams I lost...
That one jar of hand cream I always used...
The salmon sandwich at Crosstown and my paperback copy of "Macbeth"...
Eleven two-pound coins, the weight of one of my kidneys...
What is it of mine... that I've lost?
What's happened to me?
I feel nothing.
It was as if I were being urged on... and I was plunging forward.
But now... Now, I can't remember anything.
Why... Why did I choose to stand on the stage?
What do I hope to accomplish at that school?
Oh, right. That's it.
Karen and I made a promi...
Karen.
No way! How could I have done that... to my promise with Karen?
What's wrong with me?
Did something happen?
"Audition"?
No... I can't!
Answer...
Please answer!
Answer, Giraffe!
I won't allow this!
I can't... go on like this!
In the "Audition,"
the one who presents us with the most dazzling of revues shall receive the heavenly tiara
and find the path to the Top Star opened before her.
However, if you lose, everything shall be taken from you...
including your precious "shine."
I understand.
You kept that from me, didn't you?
The birth of the Top Star requires a measure of fuel.
That was... the shine that was taken from me?
I could not have predicted you would have so much still remaining.
And so, I will provide you with one more chance.
Huh?
For your next Audition...
The location shall be... Japan.
In the Audition, the one who presents us with the most dazzling of revues
shall find the path to the Top Star opened before her.
I can participate again? But, why?
The Stage Girl who has lost it all...
It is a fateful stage, one upon which no one can predict what will happen.
That is what I wish to see.
Then I... accept.
Very well. Then I shall put things in motion...
But, where in Japan?!
Even if it means you must fight that girl.
Hey! Hey, wait up!
Revue of Solitude
The vow from that day slipped from a hand held confidently aloft, falling into the abyss.
Though it may end in tragedy, I will once again ascend the stage of fate.
Student of the 99th class, Hikari Kagura!
All of this... is for the sake of Starlight!
The sixth day of auditions is a performance of the "Revue of Solitude."
Now then: sing, dance, and compete to become the Top Star.
I feel sorry for you, fighting with such a small sword.
I'm sure there've been so many painful things...
But it's all right now.
Because I...
I will take on all of it, for you!
Don't be afraid.
You're already one of us, Hikari-chan!
Sadness, parting, failure...
The agony that comes from being a Stage Girl...
My repeat performance will protect you from all of that!
Karen, what is it that's making you do this?
I made a promise... to Hikari-chan!
Why, Hikari-chan?
What's driving you to go this far?
Karen... and fate. They're both waiting for me!
I thought I'd be able to... brag to Karen, at least a little.
About the stage, and dramas and musicals...
Like, "This is a world that's a little different from what other girls know."
I wanted to show her that and surprise her.
Hikari-chan! Let's go to that stage!
Huh?
Let's both become stars...
We'll all do "Starlight," together!
That's the moment she was born...
The Stage Girl, Hikari Kagura!
I will not... lose again!
I've lost everything, and so for me...
my promise with Karen is what binds me to the stage.
I will become a Stage Girl again. It's for that reason...
My only choice is to defeat all other participants and become the Top Star!
There's no other way to fulfill my promise to Karen.
Even so... she's such a fool.
This Audition is all about taking, or having that chance taken from you.
And yet, in order to protect me, she...
We will become stars, together!
I can't steal Karen's "shine."
And yet...
If I don't defeat all the others, that shine will...!
So then, let's both pass together!
If we both shine the brightest, we can both pass together, for sure!
If we can shine... together.
I'd never even thought of that!
But-!
Even so... I could see it.
A "Starlight"... for the two of us!
Act II The Flower, In Bloom
The Shine... is born anew.
Position Zero!
This concludes the sixth day of auditions.
Did you know, Hikari-chan?
The script dictates that Starlight is a tragedy.
It must end in parting.
Are you okay parting with Karen-chan?
Even if you one day... you'll have to fight her?
Even so, Karen and I...
Watashi zutto anata o miteta
Kodoku o oite kita mitai
Koyoi, tsuki mo
Waraikakeru
Kotchi o muite
Oh, fly me to the star
Kimochi tsutaeru koto dekinakute
Ironna jinsei o
Ukabe
Enjite miru no
Anata no ki o
Hikitai kara
Oh, fly me to the star
A sharp ascent, I'd say.
Could they be... a destined pair?
I understand.
Next Time On the Night of the Star Festival
Revue Starlight.
I see.