晶

ok idk how to start this i just wanted to reflect on the conclusion of jhs arc in revue and in a way, the conclusion of their purpose and place in this franchise. because i'm very sure that whatever the new project is it won't be featuring them at the forefront (give me 1 scene cameo please and ill be happy.)

people have always been saying When will jhs get an anime and even i had hopium for it at a certain point in time when it felt viable. but ultimately it never would have happened because the jhs were for lack of a better description unplanned babies and it wouldn't be wise to invest so much time and money into what was originally an impulsive attempt to revive starira and keep revue sorta alive during/after peak covid time + mimorin leaving. because ultimately that's what jhs was. romana are the true second seiran but jhs were kind of like seiran 2 in a way because of how they ended up going a lot further than they originally were supposed to. i always think about the stories of auditions and how the cast didn't know anything other than they were auditioning for a minor role in the starira play and they were from siegfeld. (although i'm not sure at what point these plans changed, since i doubt they'd force them to do watashitachi wa mou butai no ue as their audition if they didn't want some longevity out of them)

in a situation where bushi was actively bleeding money from starira and losing one of their main cast members, they did the best with the short-term resources available to them and all things considered gave the jhs a Lot of content for not much in return and for that i am honestly grateful. does this mean i think they couldn't have done more for jhs, no, i think if they wanted to they could have pushed them a lot more and gotten a lot more out of them even within the time they had. but given the circumstances (it being a relatively impulsive decision and small-scale change, the characters hinging on the existing framework of starira characters which are stuck in game world, the cast slowly diversifying their activities enough to be too busy for revue), plus the characters not being well-received by everyone (again esp with the attachment to starira and discussions of equal treatment) i think i can understand *why* they didn't invest more in jhs than they did.

and again. when you look at it all they did quite a lot. 17 songs over a span of 3 years, 4 solo lives, and of course the 4 stageplays, 2 stageplay cameos, live cameos, the random voice dramas that literally nobody gave a shit about but they still did anyway. they did a lot for revue starlight, even if it doesn't seem like it - they kept a decent chunk of the fanbase (of course not everyone) invested as well as brought new people in. and i think, with the way they treated them, they were never meant to be anything bigger, just a way to bring something new and interesting to the table, an earnest new story grounded in the existing framework but living slightly above it. the jhs and seiran are a lot alike in this way, i think. and i ask myself, what about the edels - they were always based in starira first and foremost and that's where the bulk of their story played out - they work in other parts of the franchise - readers theaters etc, and all star radio is still going, even if i don't listen to it much anymore. i won't speak heavily on the other schools - if i'm being honest, i think they're slowly trying to put everything else behind them, barring the possibility of more romana stuff and guest appearances from others. i can't say i'm particularly happy or sad about this i think i've said enough about this topic already i'm neutral on the decisions that are out of my control. just know that i was a rinmeikan fan before anything else

i guess i wanted to make this post bc i feel like i'm always going on about how i like everyone and i accept cast member changes readily and whatever which i do still think is true but i would be lying if i said the jhs dont have a special place in my heart that no one else in the revue cast can fill. so as we're in this inbetween space where pretty much all of the existing revue storylines are wrapping up and something entirely new is beginning, i can't help but feel sad that (june 2025 me voice) they took the jhs and romana out back and shot them. and i don't want to say goodbye to them. but they've done what they had to do and created something beautiful that really moved me and comforted me, and i have to appreciate and accept that. i still hope one day we will get to see kukugumi or others cover jhs songs tho LMAOO

partially related, i keep thinking that we need to start treating starira story like umineko. in my personal opinion its not something that needs *more* content. they kind of literally squeezed out every drop of content they could and wrapped up everything neatly and it stands on its own as a vn that is self contained and has an end. so its like umineko. and people still love umineko no matter how many years go by and keep reading it. and i hope we can do that to starira too. like i think we need to start marketing it this way. "who is we" idk not me. Gestures vaguely