Kageki Shojo!!’s actress protagonist turns to a sophisticated reminiscence to seek out her character’s motivation, however the scene is superbly animated.
WARNING: The next comprises important spoilers for Season 1 of Kageki Shojo!!, presently out there on Funimation.
Kageki Shojo!! is the story of Sarasa Watanabe, a Kabuki theatre fan who strikes to a prestigious college to hitch the Kouka theatre troupe, loosely impressed by the real-life all-female musical firm Takarazuka Revue. When the constructive and bold Sarasa decides to audition for the position of Tybalt in a commencement ceremony efficiency of a scene from Romeo and Juliet, she struggles to get into character when she realizes that she has by no means hated or had a grudge towards anybody. That’s till she remembers being considerably jealous of her childhood good friend Akiya Shirakawa inheriting the coveted position of Sukeroku when Kabuki theatre typically excludes feminine performers.
Although Sarasa would not hate Akiya, her frustration with him grew when she overheard him agreeing to ask to be her boyfriend in order that he and his Kabuki household might keep up a correspondence together with her when she moved away. Not solely this, however Akiya agreed to this plan below risk of not inheriting the Sukeroku position. Sarasa met Akiya at their agreed aquarium date regardless and requested to be his girlfriend first. Remembering the injustice of dropping her true ardour for Kabuki, and sure the indignation of virtually being requested out with an ulterior motive, Sarasa makes use of the reminiscence of the aquarium to encourage her to embody a jealous, wistful Tybalt.
The aquarium scene itself is full of element. The scene begins in Episode 12 with a shot of rising bubbles adopted by a swarm of jellyfish. Each is distinct, transferring in numerous instructions and with totally different ranges of bioluminescence. That is adopted by a static shot of eels rising from the sand, every casting different-sized shadows like bushes in a forest.
At this level, Sarasa tells Akiya about how the fish remind her of assorted Kouka roles. “These little shiny fish are the ensemble, and people large gradual fish are the celebs with main roles.” There are such a lot of faculties of assorted large and small fish with such life like actions that it could be potential that the fish are rotoscoped or filtered footage. Both manner, the result’s lovely, and the consistency of their lighting and shade as they transfer across the tank is impressively realized.
Akiya asks which fish represents the prime star – for all his flaws, he does care about Sarasa’s work. Sarasa says that it’s “Undoubtedly the stingray. Its large fluttering wings are just like the feathers the highest stars put on.” The stingray is clearly conventional hand-drawn animation, and its fins’ actions which Sarasa describes have a terrific sense of gradual however fluid motion. The way in which the sunshine of the tank shines extra strongly via its skinny fins can be a powerful element.
Sarasa says, “Two years after I begin at Kouka, I will be a kind of little fish.” At this second, one such fish is mirrored in her eye because it swims previous. Not solely is that this one other lovely element, nevertheless it symbolizes how Sarasa identifies with the fish: it is a reflection, like wanting in a mirror. Sarasa tells Akiya that she is lastly ready to move on from Kabuki and that she’s going to “let” him be Sukeroku. Akiya is quietly dismayed, maybe as a result of he believes that Sarasa is true that she would handily surpass him on the position if she had been allowed to.
Kageki Shojo!!‘s model of Tybalt is, maybe surprisingly to audiences unfamiliar with Takarazuka, universally assumed to be jealously in love along with his cousin Juliet. In Episode 13, Sarasa remembers the aquarium once more, drawing on private expertise to strengthen her audition. A tearful Akiya asserts that he might be Sukeroku. That is instantly adopted by Sarasa’s Tybalt grimly saying, “My life ends by the hand of Romeo,” and fading away. Maybe Sarasa feels that her Kabuki aspirations had been lastly ended by Akiya’s resolve to get the position.
What initially prompts Sarasa to make use of her frustration with Akiya for motivation is an interview wherein he claims that “There have been loads of instances I did not need to be there” as a child. Maybe her reminiscence of him lastly starting to truly need the position gave her some aid as properly. In any case, Sarasa’s efficiency is profitable due to how she gets in touch with the character’s emotions. Maybe certainly one of them is forgiveness.
In a humorous however necessary scene, teacher Ohgi explains to fellow Tybalt auditionee Sawa Sugimoto that Sarasa’s Tybalt was superior as a result of Kouka followers who determine with Juliet will respect how “He solely exhibits his true emotions to Juliet” as he dies. If Sarasa makes use of her justified envy of Akiya to study Tybalt’s envy of Romeo, and her sense of loss and need for Kabuki for his emotions for Juliet, then Sarasa too surprises the viewers together with her true emotions on this scene. The constructive, upbeat character, who encourages these round her akin to Ai Narata and the Sawada twins, has a secret fury that she shares solely close to the tip of the sequence. The anime’s aquarium flashback reveals what Sarasa will need to have been considering as she watched the fish, making her feelings extra relatable.
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