The following is my first impression of the anime Kaleido Star after viewing the first two episodes. Spoilers are likely; however, it’s only the first two episodes.
The first episode did not really grab my attention. Immediate bullying and being thrust onto the stage in a sense “sight unseen” was more than a bit predictable and quite irritating. Sora’s utter lack of notice when she disturbs others also bothered me. Add to that the “cute” sidekick (in this case a talking doll-like spirit who looks like a combination of Revolutionary Girl Utena’s Saionji and Excel Saga’s Ilpalazzo with Ilpalazzo/Touga’s [Utena again] voice) which immediately seemed unnecessary, and I was pretty turned off. However, I found myself immediately liking the male characters in the show. The Policeman, Carlos (why on Earth are they subtitling that as Kalos?), and Ken are really great, and Yuri rather reminds me of Mytho from Princess Tutu.
Anyway, first episode seemed a flop. But then the second episode came along. The bullying continued, but at least this time you could see where it was coming from with regard to the gaggle of girls (not including Queen Bitch Layla). All they knew was that Carlos had given Sora a position without an audition and even put on stage straight away. They’d all worked bitterly hard to get to where they were, and they had no idea about the performance she’d put on while chasing the thief in episode one. Granted, they rather jumped to conclusions, but hey, it was rather odd that Carlos seemed so close to her already. So, I accepted their bullying. And was actually quite surprised how quickly it ended. So often they overplay the bullying themes in anime. Yes, I understand that ijime is a very big problem in Japanese schools. It’s a problem here too. However, anime frequently lacks reality (much like any 80s John Hughes film depicting geeks), and so when the bullying becomes too frequent or is used too long, it simply because irritating. Making the girls realize quickly that they were wrong really added to the charms of the episode and greatly improved my initial view of it.
However, the best part was yet to come. While I’m tempted to say it’s the introduction of a Hisakawa Aya voiced character (Sarah), that’s just the close second. Although having her voice the “fun” character is going to be an absolute treat, yet again. No, the best part was Sora’s failure. She worked so hard, and did her best. However, just like in real life, she failed. She wasn’t just suddenly able to perfect a routine (without any prior experience on the trapeze) that had taken others years to fine-tune. Not at all. Instead, they allowed her to get close, to show the importance of hard work, but also showed that it takes a little more than that to succeed. Time and growth is also crucial. It was truly a great scene.
So then, what is my first impression of this show? Well, it’s got its stereotypical moments, but between the perverted spirit (cracked me up in episode 2) and realizing the limitations of using an overused storyline like “let’s bully the new girl for no apparent reason” it has lifted itself up from a slightly less than mediocre first episode to a quite enjoyable second, and I for one am truly looking forward to seeing the rest of it as well.
