“Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale.”
“It is never too late to become what you might have been.”
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you will make one.”
Some great quotes Junna gave. As usual, what a lovely episode. I’ve seen people be taken aback from this episode as Nana’s conflict is now over, but I think it was handled very well. Also, the timeloop obstacle wasn’t really what this show was about. It’s always been about “Starlight” and about Karen and Hikari, and it’s going to continue to be that way from now on. And while Nana v. Karen was the revue this time, the real focus for me was Nana and Junna.
The opening segment was a huge slap to the face for Nana. The production girls and our main girls come together to discuss the first draft of the Starlight script. Lines have been altered, the costumes have had some changes, and the girls happily love these changes all while saying that having the same type of play would be boring. It’s always better to improve the play, thus upon improving yourself. All of this said with Nana right next to them, none of them knowing her true feelings but shows her dissatisfaction later. Karen wonders what’s wrong with her, but Hikari takes out the novel Starlight is based on when they’re sitting outside. She picked it up in London so she read it all to Karen by translating it. Nana is back in the room with the props as Junna finds her there and tells her everything, that she’s been repeating the 99th Starlight for awhile now. We see a flashback of Nana is middle school, alone in her club room. She’s always been alone, and hasn’t had friends. But when she went to Seisho, all the things she wanted she finally got. It’s no surprise that she would want to repeat things to keep her happiness, and friends, and stage.
It was very interesting to finally know the whole story of Starlight because the anime is following the plot. Claire and Paula meet when younger, then when they turn 16 they meet each other again, the same way that Hikari and Karen meet up when they’re both 16. Unfortunately, Claire has an accident that causes her to lose her memories (Hikari loses confidence?), and they both set out to reach the star together to reclaim those memories. But first, they have to face off the goddesses of sin, such as:
- When Fury was Passion (Junna)
- When Curse was Faith (Futaba)
- When Escape was Bravery (Kaoruko)
- When Jealousy was Affection (Mahiru)
- When Despair was Hope (Nana) [Maybe will be Claudine?]
- When Arrogance was Pride (Karen) [Maybe will be Maya?]
They do, and they reach Starlight. They reach out but the blinding light of the star causes Flora to lose her eye sight. The two separate, even though Claire regains her memories in the end.
The tale is very tragic, and it makes me wonder how the ending of the anime is going to go as both Karen and Hikari want to both be stars. Will they suffer the same fate? Are they fulfilling some sort of prophecy? It’s exciting wondering what’s going to happen!
The revue between Nana and Karen was short, but still great. Nana realized that the person that was responsible for changing this time loop wasn’t actually Hikari, but it was Karen. She jumped right into the auditions, and ever since that happened, things have been changing left and right. Nana’s song was amazing. It was menacing and powerful, and sounded angry. She admits all her feelings to Karen as well and Karen says “Non non!” to everything. It’s important to want to move on and improve, things should never be the same. Karen stepping out of the Starlight emblem on stage was proof of that and she was able to defeat Nana. I’ve seen some people complaining that Karen was able to beat her, but this is the same as her fight with Hikari. Nana was up against someone she’s never fought. The Karen in the time loop and the Karen now are two different people. Karen is stronger because she’s improved. She has drive, and it’s not just her. The other girls have improved too. Ever since Karen jumped into the auditions, things definitely have changed and moved on. They all look at things differently and have learned and accepted things about themselves. And most important of all, they want to continue to be better. None of them are the same stagnant girls that Nana was able to defeat easily in her time loops. They’ve changed, and you can see the change. Mahiru isn’t dependant on Karen anymore and has accepted Hikari, Hikari found her confidence and is now more driven, Junna has accepted herself and strives to be better, and Kaoruko, not the bratty princess that just goes with the flow, actually helped out the costume girls with the costumes of the goddesses. She’s actually getting involved and is putting in effort. Nana used to be the most talented and powerful of the group, but after this revue, I think she’s finally realized that she’s very far behind from the others.
The episode ends with Nana and Junna. I appreciate that Nana was never made to be an evil antagonist. She was just a lonely and confused girl, and Junna was able to see that and also see that she was always looking after them. It was cute that Nana kept asking Junna for more quotes, all saying the same things such as not making yourself better by remaining stagnant.
But, Nana in the end was coming around. It was interesting that she admitted to changing some lines and directions in her time loops, in order to make it a little more fun. When things were changing when Hikari came around, she noticed the girls changing as well and noted how fun the new days were. But she was still scared of losing her time loop, so she had no idea what to do. In the end, Nana was finally able to change. Junna’s support was so sweet and I’m glad these two got to have such a nice moment together. I think I might have wanted a Nana v Junna revue instead, but it makes sense why it was Karen. Either way, I loved this episode a lot and I can’t wait to see how this is all going to end when Starlight is such a tragedy. With Nana on board, and Hikari as a new addition, this is going to be the biggest and probably the most important performance of Starlight.
