Episode 1

**Stage Girls** (舞台少女, *Butai Shōjo*) is the first episode of the anime *Shōjo☆Kageki Revue Starlight*. It first aired on July 12, 2018.

## Introduction

Karen Aijo is a Stage Girl who dreams of life on the stage. As she zealously works on her lessons at Seisho Music Academy, a transfer student she had known in the past shows up: Hikari Kagura. She is a childhood friend of hers who left when they were very young, and the Stage Girl with whom she had promised a destiny in which they stood on the stage of their dreams, "Starlight"......

## Premise

The curtain rises on the performance of a lifetime as Karen and her classmates attend a prestigious music academy to become the next theatrical stars.

## Summary

Mahiru Tsuyuzaki struggles to wake up her roommate, Karen Aijo, who is on class duty for the day. On their way to school, Karen insists on returning to their room to retrieve a crown shaped hairpin that she keeps next to childhood picture of herself and another girl. After putting it on, they head to school.

As they do stretches in the rehearsal room, other students begin coming in, teasing Karen for waking up in time for once, but the bickering stops once Maya Tendo walks into the room, motivating the rest to take on a serious attitude and prepare for lessons.

Their day proceeds with the theater-oriented lessons that the Actor Training Program at Seisho Music Academy provides, such as singing, acting, and different types of dancing.

During their break, Karen and Mahiru treat themselves to an abundant lunch made by Nana Daiba for all of them, when the class representative Junna Hoshimi approaches to hand them the script for the upcoming Seisho Festival, which will take place the next year. The play their class will perform is "Starlight", the same play presented in the previous edition of the Festival, in order to witness their own improvement. Nana talks fondly about their experience from that time. Karen wishes to get a named role again, to which Mahiru says she would like to play the lead role with her. However, Karen responds by saying it will likely be Maya and Claudine Saijo again, as they are no match for them. Junna reprimands her for her attitude, saying not to decide what the roles are before the auditions have taken place.

While they wait for the next lecture back in their classroom, Karen dozes off and dreams of herself looking down from Tokyo Tower, until she is pushed from it by a girl with a star shaped hairpin. As she falls, Karen remembers she bought her hairpin there, and that the way things are currently, their promise will not be fulfilled. Karen wakes up by falling from her seat, after which class starts with an announcement that a new student will be transferring into the class. The student in question is Hikari Kagura, who had been studying in London for the past twelve years, and whom Karen will be showing to the dorm as the person on class duty for the day. Karen recognizes Hikari as her childhood friend, so she is eager to do so; their teacher Urara Sakuragi, however, assigns Mahiru to accompany them because she is concerned about Karen's excessive excitement.

Karen's enthusiasm is met with nonchalance from Hikari, until the former points out that she has not changed because she is still wearing her hairpin. Upon arriving to their room, Karen says they will have to split it with Hikari so she will not feel alone, but Mahiru reacts negatively, which prompts Hikari to leave the room and go settle in an unoccupied one. Karen speaks to her through the door, telling her they will work hard fulfill their promise of becoming stars together.

Back in class, Hikari displays an impressive amount of skill, which her classmates commend her for between themselves. Kaoruko Hanayagi points out that, for a childhood friend of Karen's, she seemed cold toward her.

Karen looks for Hikari in the dorms, where Claudine, Nana, and Maya ponder whether she could be a new rival. However, Maya says her heart is not in it. Karen enters Hikari's room and finds the same childhood picture of them that she keeps on her desk. As she looks at it, she sees Hikari making her way back to the school, and follows her.

In the school, Karen finds an elevator where there ought to be none, which takes her to an underground stage. There, she finds herself in the audience seats along with a mysterious speaking giraffe, and she witnesses Junna and Hikari dueling each other with stage outfits and weapons in a performance that the giraffe refers to as the "Revue of Passion". The giraffe accuses Karen of not having what it takes to be a stage girl, but it surprised when Karen climbs its neck to leap into the stage, interrupting Junna's and Hikari's duel and coming out victorious. Hikari reacts by calling her "idiot Karen" through tears.

## Characters

* Karen Aijo
* Hikari Kagura
* Mahiru Tsuyuzaki
* Junna Hoshimi
* Nana Daiba
* Futaba Isurugi
* Kaoruko Hanayagi
* Maya Tendo
* Claudine Saijo
* Giraffe

## Locations

* Seisho Music Academy
* Starlight Dorm

## Staff

Director
* Tomohiro Furukawa

Series Composition
* Tatsuto Higuchi

Script
* Tatsuto Higuchi

Storyboard
* Takushi Koide (OP)
* Tomohiro Furukawa (OP, episode)

Episode Director
* Shinya Iino
* Tomohiro Furukawa

Unit Director
* Takushi Koide (OP)
* Tomohiro Furukawa (OP)

Music
* Tatsuya Katō
* Yoshiaki Fujisawa

Character Design
* Hiroyuki Saita

Art Director
* Kenji Fukuda (Studio Pablo)
* Kentaro Akiyama

Chief Animation Director
* Hiroyuki Saita (OP, episode)
* Kuniyuki Ito (OP)

Animation Director
* Akiko Matsuo (OP)
* Hiroyuki Saita
* Kaito Shimizu
* Kuniyuki Ito
* Takayuki Noguchi (OP)

3D Director
* Hisashi Akimoto (T2 Studio)

Sound Director
* Yō Yamada

Director of Photography
* Kazuto Izumita (T2 Studio)

3D Set Lighting
* Hisayasu Kamiya

Animation producer
* Muneki Ogasawara

Assistant Director
* Takushi Koide

Color Design
* Chie Yoshimura

Editing
* Masayuki Kurosawa

Giraffe Design
* Kuniyuki Ito

Graphic Design
* Mao Yamaguchi
* Yūto Hama

Insert Song Lyrics
* Kanata Nakamura

Key Animation
* Akane Tsukamoto
* Azumi Kuniyoshi
* Fumiaki Kouta (OP, episode)
* Hiroaki Takagi
* Kaito Shimizu (OP, episode)
* Kaori Higuchi
* Kei Anjiki (OP)
* Koichi Kikuta (OP)
* Kuniyuki Ito
* Kyouko Takeuchi
* Masatsugu Arakawa (OP)
* Naoto Abe (OP)
* Reio Komoto
* Saori Suruki (OP)
* Satoshi Sakai (OP)
* Shinya Uchida
* Shiori Tani (OP, episode)
* Takahiro Ōkawa (OP)
* Takayuki Kitagawa
* Takeshi Takakura
* Takushi Koide
* Toshiharu Kudō
* Toshiko Hashimoto
* Yōko Shirai (OP)
* Yuichi Hirano
* Yuka Kuroda (OP)
* Yuki Koike
* Yuki Matsuo
* Yumiko Nakamura (OP)
* Yūta Kiso (OP)

Main Animator
* Kaito Shimizu
* Yuki Koike

Prop Design
* Shiori Tani
* Takeshi Takakura

## References

1. ↑ https://www.hidive.com/stream/revue-starlight/s01e001