The Revue of Pride. One could say it’s about Maya’s pride in wanting to keep her position at the top, but in actuality, the pride of this episode is that of Karen’s. Like always, the symbolism was very strong this episode. This episode also established just how far apart Maya is from the rest of the girls, where they can’t even compare themselves to her. With Karen’s bullheadedness, she received a wake up call.
The way this anime has built up Maya is amazing. She’s always been presented to us as the top person in their class. She’s admired by all and has taken the lead role before, causing a rivalry between her and Claudine. In this episode, Maya is symbolized by swans, feathers, and the Venus de Milo statue that’s seen in the school courtyard. The stage of the revue this episode was made up by stairs, with Maya standing at the top. All of these symbols paint an obvious picture of Maya as this unreachable and immovable object.
It’s interesting when it comes to the Venus statue. We see Maya near the Venus statue when she confronts the girls as they eat their lunch. As the camera focuses on her, she mirrors the statue perfectly. Her positioning is also significant as she stands a ways before her peers, symbolizing the distance between she and the rest of the girls and how far apart in skill they are from her. Maya being represented by Venus/Aphrodite can be interpreted in multiple ways. In one way, her being the Venus represents her otherworldly beauty that makes her classmates gawk at her like one would a statue. Another, it represents how far apart she and her peers are like I’ve already said. And a third could just be that Maya herself is like a literal statue, where she’s so strong, durable, and not being able to move so easily. This is shown when we see the paper plane fly and crash into Venus. I’ve seen people say the paper plane represents Karen or Claudine, but I think it’s more likely it’s Karen.
Maya isn’t in the wrong. She’s not a bad person at all, but she just has a different perspective on things compared to Karen. The pride mentioned this episode could point to Maya, as she held her pride as being the top of the class and remaining firm on her position of only having one star and fighting for it. On the other hand, Karen’s pride was broken.
I’m glad Karen got this wake up call, though Hikari’s actions confuse me. Her position is that she wants to stand on stage with Hikari like they promised when they were little kids, and she’s so confident she’ll do it. Except the giant glaring problem being the lack of communication between Karen and Hikari. Karen just thinks that Hikari wants the same thing as her even though they’ve never talked about it and has the gall to say that she’s going to win. Karen is too overconfident and her want of there being two stars is unrealistic and isn’t how things work and Maya showed her this. Karen continues with what she wants and it comes back to bite her as she easily gets defeated by Maya. To really smack it in her face, Maya stood at the top of the stairs as Karen was pushed to the bottom, showing just how powerless she is against her. Of course, the lack of communication isn’t just a Karen problem, it’s also a Hikari problem. She’s aloof as hell and doesn’t voice her opinions and mainly stays away from everyone. She doesn’t vocalize why she wants Karen to stay away from the auditions, and so her actions of tying her up and locking her in a storage is so weird and extreme. They’ve barely spoken to each other and hardly had a normal conversation with each other.
We see that Karen has fallen to the very bottom of the rankings after her loss to Maya, and the final nail in the coffin was seeing hers and Hikari’s reflections in the rain at the end of them in their revue outfits, standing at the very bottom of the Tokyo Tower. Far from the top, right at the bottom in both the rankings and in general.
There are things in this episode I didn’t quite get, like the relationship between Claudine and Kaoruko. I also don’t understand why Hikari is so against Karen participating in the auditions. I don’t know if Hikari knows something more, but I hope the actual communication between them happens. Other things to note, it’s interesting that Banana-chan is switching to production. Junna is actually investigating the giraffe and bless this girl, I hope she finds an answer. And I swear Mahiru is going to snap soon. Karen’s attention has been elsewhere and she’s been forming friendships away from Mahiru and Futaba is reminding her of that. I can see Mahiru just snapping and going insane. Don’t think that’ll be a good thing.
I honestly feel sorry for Mahiru. It looks like she is being cast aside so Karen can focus on… a btch. Don’t get me wrong. I like Hikari, but why put all your attention on HER when you have a loving friend who has your back and stuff (coughs* Mahiru coughs). I can’t wait for Hikari to actually make sense cause as funny as the locking Karen in the storage shed was, it was really extreme. I really need answers about why Hikari is like this!!!
Oh and I never noticed the symbolism for Maya. Well, the Aphrodite one anyway. I definitely noticed the symbolism in the battle! Frick, I really enjoyed this battle!!! I swear, these battles in the last 3 episodes appeared to be better choreographed than some battle shounen or anime that features “epic” fights XD
Yes, the thought going into this show is amazing. The symbolism reflected in the fights too, making them a lot more complex and intriguing. This show is just so great!
Hikari is such a mystery right now. I don’t even understand why Karen is still so adamant about keeping their promise when Hikari has been giving her the cold shoulder this entire time. Hikari doesn’t seem interested in Karen at all and I don’t get why Karen can’t even grasp that. Poor Mahiru. Can’t say I’m a fan of her clingy ways but I do feel bad that she’s been getting ignored this whole time.