Top 10 Anime Betrayals
But is it a betrayal? I don’t think so. I’m sure Hikari has conducted some sort of plan very early on in the series so her actions are with reason. Though it really was surprising but I’ll get to that in a bit. What I really want to talk about
is MAYA AND CLAUDINE. I will say that I am kinda disappointed that neither of them really got episodes only about themselves. Maya had a good chunk of screentime before, so it was mostly Claudine that got the shaft. I really want to hear her sing more because Aina Aiba is amazing. She did sing but with three other people so that makes me sad. But my god their relationship is amazing. They always seemed to be at odds and hugely competitive with each other, but this episode proved just how strong they are together and how much they look up to each other. And…well, love each other. They’re rivals, but that drives them forward. It may look like they might not like each other, mostly on Claudine’s side, but this episode proved different. Claudine always looked up to Maya ever since they first met, but also tried her best to surpass her because she didn’t just want to be second best anymore. There was always this mutual respect between them despite the rivalry and they both got to shine when Giraffe decided to have a duel revue because of the Top 4. Karen and Hikari’s team work was to be marveled at, but…Maya and Claudine. When Maya had her coat cut and Claudine trying to pin the loss on her, it hurt. But what was interesting this episode was the juxtaposition between Maya and Claudine, and Karen and Hikari. Maya and Claudine may have fought against each other at school but they both need each other to grow and get stronger. They each complete each other, and what I thought was amazing that their whole exchange was in French. This was something they could only tell and understand between each other, which made the scene even more powerful. Personal. Hell, it was romantic. It was beautiful that Maya would even learn French and choose to only use French to speak with Claudine so that her words were for Claudine and Claudine only. That in itself is significant! Also, even though they aimed for the Top Star, they agreed to do it together. That’s just amazing.
That kind of sounds the same until the very end when it comes to Karen and Hikari. Hikari had already shown weird behavior when they both went to the aquarium at Tokyo Tower. Their scene together in the tower was quite sweet but then when Hikari got the text for the audition she made it sound like she was leaving. In the end, the revue ended like the play in that someone fell. We even had foreshadowing from the very first episode when Karen had that dream of her being pushed off Tokyo Tower, and it was by Hikari. It actually happened this time, Hikari cutting down her coat and pushing her off so she could reach the star, just like in the play. While they both started off wanting to be stars together, Hikari changed things and made herself Top Star. But, she said she didn’t want Karen to lose her “shine” so I’m thinking that Hikari is going to use her wish to get rid of the system, or save Karen’s “shine”, or get rid of herself? I’m not sure what she’s planning but with two episodes left, I’m getting excited.
I really liked this episode and the song. The revue was very plain though it had nice moments here and there. However, I heard how there’s production issues and I think it’s catching up to the staff now. They’re understaffed so I hope they don’t kill themselves over this show. I’m already in love with this show so I only hope for the best for the animators. 🙁
About that betrayal, it’s probably something like “I can’t let her take this burden, so I’ll do it alone, blah, blah, blah”. Even if Hikari has some kind of plan, we could see in previous episodes that she’s not that bright (in ex. imprisoning Karen, which would lead to her losing an audition anyway), so it will surely backfire.