Connoisseur of Basic and Complex Fiction and Facts

(all dialogue taken from the Ripple subs)

Context:

EP 2 - Stretches (A)

We find Junna taking position next to Maya and Claudine as often as possible at this point. During ballet roll coll in ep 1, and in yoga and singing in this one.

Then during lunch, we see her practicing the same stretch she was watching Maya crush, now shaking with effort just like Karen was:

It's very clear that Maya specifically is her goal. In fact, this episode is using her as a proxy to establish Maya as the goal.

EP 2 - Kuromaya dance (B)

Once it's done that, it's able to distinguish her character (outside of, if you'll pardon the pun, representing the class) with how she reacts to Maya's skill.

Note that this is one of fairly few times the anime really pushes the otokoyaku-musumeyaku hierarchy of the irl Top Star system. In the Takarazuka revue, the musumeyaku can't be the Top Star, rather you have "the top star and her partner, the top musumeyaku". In Starlight, we kinda just have to deduce these by proxy - Claire is a female role, but she's played by the taller actress and considered the "lead"/top star's role even above Flora, so she's the "male" role. A lot of the other paired leads we see are also same-sex (e.g. in El Dorado & Wartime of Farewells). I could talk a lot about how this divide is taken in spirit but quite different to other Takarazuka media in terms of gender. The main point I'm making here is the the choice to use it more literally HERE is mostly to do with positing Maya as dominant even above Claudine, and Claudine as able to support her and follow her (literally, in a ballroom dance context). We'll actually see Junna leading the dance during the latter half of this class, reinforcing that she is aiming for Claire while Karen is Flora.

Onto the actual meat of the interaction:

Classmate: They really are amazing. Karen: They’re really shining, the two of them. [internal monologue]: Tendou-san, whose parents are both actors. Kuro-chan, who’s been working as a child actor since she was small. A top star… Could that kind of glimmer be mine? Classmates: -That’s Maya-sama for you! Perfect as always. -But Saijo-san did a great job as her partner, too. -They’re both so cool. -How lovely. Junna: If you’re just here to watch, get out. Get out. If you can’t surpass them, you’ll never stand at the centre of the stage.

Karen is much more interested in the two of them, because to her Hikari is a part of her goal and she's also not specifically aiming for Claire/top star. However, the extras do recognise Maya specifically as more impressive ("perfect", "-sama" vs "great job as her partner", "-san")

I know that most of the class are looking at her here, but Karen and Nana do feel particularly prominent. And they at this point do represent the lack of effort more than anyone else, which is why they make such great foils for Junna.

Having done this sort of course myself, Junna is doing what the lecturers want you to when they work you in groups, and what the really dedicated do. She stands, because it's supposed to make you stay (or at least look) more alert and keep you warmed up better than sitting like most of the others are and is more respectful. And she's taking notes, actively using her time off the floor to make the time she does have more valuable. I cannot stress enough that this is, at least from my experience, exactly what the teachers and older students have told Junna will help her improve faster and make the most of her time. (bear that in mind for the first few lines of the next dialogue section)

Still, Junna's speech here, feels somewhat misdirected. I think she's at least as mad at Karen as she is at the extras - they're not actually indicating that they don't intend to try in the auditions, they're just complimenting their classmates. Whereas yesterday...

EP 1 - Lunch (C)

Junna: Here. Karen: Oh, the Seisho Festival. Junna: We're starting to prepare. Karen: What? But it's not until next year. Junna: There's never enough time. There's a lot that needs to be done. Karen: But we're doing Starlight again, right? I've got all the lines down. Junna: What's important is how much you've grown since last year.

Now, you know and I know that Karen probably has all the lines in Starlight down, or at least all of Flora's, or at least thinks she does. But a more reasonable interpretation from Junna's POV (and a viable interpretation full stop, considering the rest of the conversation and Hikari's absence at this point) may be that she's talking about Arrogance, you know, the role whose lines Karen spent weeks/months learning last year. I.e., it's not worth starting to prepare now since she has Arrogance in the bag (no symbolism there) and doesn't feel the need to aim higher. Meanwhile, Junna is painfully aware that there are not enough hours in the day for her to catch up to Maya and Claudine - her only hope is a head start (which she doesn't actually have, because they're not Kaoruko and are training almost/as much as her).

Skipping over a brief Nana diversion to arrive at...

Karen: Yeah, that's right. We'll get to do Starlight again, after all! That's incredibly fortunate for us! Mahiru: You really love that story, Karen-chan. Karen: Well I mean, it's beautiful, yet sad... It really fires me up. Don'tcha love it? Mahiru: Oh, I... yeah. I do love it. Karen: Right? I hope I get a named role again this time. Mahiru: Y-yeah, me too. Maybe next time, you know, you and I could play the destined two, or something. Karen: Nah, I'm sure Tendo-san and Claud-chan will get the lead roles again. Mahiru: Huh? Oh, yeah... Karen: Those two are on a whole 'nother level than us. Their singing and dancing, and the way they shine on stage... I guess we're no match for them. Junna: The auditions haven't even started yet, so don't decide who will be playing the leads.

The conversation in the dance class is hitting a very specific nerve that Karen exposed and then poured acid on during the revue of passion - even someone who's not aiming for anything more than "about as good as last time" could defeat her that easily.

Which is why she is about to get even madder:

EP 2 - Junkaren dance (D)

Ignore the Nana in the room. I'm sure she has super normal motivations.

Wow. What a coincidence.

Karen: Um, Hoshimi-san... Um... do you, er... Do you know anything about what happened on that stage yesterday? Junna: Didn't you see it written in the email? Karen: Email? Junna: The one about the revues by the chosen stage girls. You didn't get an email? Karen: What are you talking about? Junna: You weren't invited?

She looks... genuinely hurt here. If Karen wasn't chosen, that means the reasoning behind the choice wasn't just skill. I think up until this point she really thought being chosen meant she was in the top 8-9 students in the class, and that Karen was just another competitor who cheated by interfering. But if Karen wasn't chosen and still beat her, then anyone else in the class who wasn't chosen might still be ahead of her. She thought her work was paying off, but even bottom-of-the-barrel late riser Karen was found more worthy of position zero - something she actually decided she was going for, hm, a few hours after this conversation now.

Karen: Guilty as charged. Junna: Don't screw with me! It's definitely invalid, then! Why are you getting in my way when you weren't even chosen? I'm serious about this. Unlike you, I...

She thinks Karen is messing with her and actively harming her chances... for a laugh? Because she's too stupid to know better? And is succeeding. Junna's tower of starlight gathering is made of cards and Karen is jumping up and down in the next room.

(slight tangent:

One: I love this shot (the mahiru POV, the sudden shouts behind her, the way the camera stops a couple steps before she realises what's happening), I think it's amazing. Cinematographically. Can confirm it truly captures the feeling of "someone in your dance class just fainted right next to you" but it also kind of looks like mahiru pushed her if you're not paying attention. for yelling at karen i guess?

Two: Oh who's that rushing to Junna's side? Nana and Karen. shrugs coyly. crazy i guess they were just the ones standing closest when she collapsed. oh wait. no they were not)

EP 2 - Sunset (JN/HK)

OK. FINALLY THE ACTUAL SCENE FROM THE START OF THE POST. WITH THE CASTING CALL AND THE POSTER.

During this scene (note that Junna and Nana's exchange overlaps with Karen and Hikari's conversation on the grass). Brackets at the end of the line are my commentary; if they have a number it's because they call back to one of the scenes above or parallel another part of this scene. I tried to add context with square brackets[] to avoid too many more screencaps/remind us of what partial sentences are talking about, but only things i think are very concrete in terms of what they mean.

HK1

Hikari: You heard about the auditions, right? Karen: [Junna] said they're revues by the chosen stage girls.(D) Hikari: That's right. So you should drop out, Karen.

I kinda thought this was the same conclusion Junna reached, but in neither of her arguments with Karen this ep does she actually specifically say Karen shouldn't compete. She's more concerned with Karen's interference. She wants to go to the giraffe to have the win scratched, Hikari goes to the giraffe to get Karen removed. It's arguable that when Junna says "Why are you getting in my way when you weren't even chosen" she means "stay out of it entirely", but equally she may mean "stop fucking cheating and play the game the rest of us are playing, show some respect to those who are competing". It's up to the giraffe whether or not Karen is allowed in, it's the fact that Karen entered her 1v1 with Hikari (which she was winning!!) without warning that she disputes.

JN1

Nana: Did something happen between you and Karen-chan? (D, HK1) Junna: Not really, I just got a bit irritated. (D) Nana: About that? ...Or about something else? (About the Seisho Festival auditions, or about the Top Star auditions?) Junna: They're the same, as far as I'm concerned.

HK1: I think these overlapping scenes are just REALLY here to show the hikaren/junnana parallels that exist at this point. Both nana and hikari are trying to protect their partner from something they would neeeeeever understand. they both want them to not have to suffer, they both can't bear the thought of them losing their brilliance. neither of them understands that in doing so, they are taking the stage itself away from their partner. and neither junna nor karen will be told to stay off the stage. Anyways, Hikari and Nana both ask about the conversation between Junna & Karen. you know, the conversation they arguably incited (although it had been brewing pretty clearly) by leaving them to pair up, too invested in checking out the competition/threat to their run for top star (which, again, they want because it allows them to protect their stage, which is embodied to some degree by their partner).

"I just got a bit irritated" - again, I think there is a real nerve which karen touched during ep1 Lunch (C) and was exacerbated all through both B and D. there was old irritation from yesterday lunch, then karen jumping in and winning despite apparently not wanting a lead, then her classmates' complacency, THEN finding out Karen wasn't even chosen.

However, at the same time, she's absolving Karen of blame. Nana told everyone else that Junna fainted from exhaustion, but she also knows something has changed (Hikari) and not necessarily that Karen jumped onto Junna & Hikari's stage. It's very possible this collapse is triggered directly by that incident - we see junna thinking about it while she works out at whoknows-o-clock in the morning at the start of the ep and it makes sense that it would kick her into overdrive. But Nana is spinning eleven plates and someone threw another one at her yesterday, and she didn't catch Junna when she fell. I find it very hard to believe that Nana at this point in her arc would keep letting Junna collapse straight onto the floor through multiple loops, even for the sake of accuracy, even if she knows she won't get seriously hurt. So this is ANOTHER plate and she is scrambling to figure out what's going on (she will keep scrambling for the next 6ish episodes, rip) and get things back on track. So yes, she knows Junna is overworking, maybe she's seen her collapse at other point/s in the timeline, just not on this day. At the point she gives this excuse, btw, Karen is in the room and so is at least one person who they DEFINITELY aren't meant to tell (a teacher) about the auditions. She still feels the need, when Junna wakes up, to ask her one-on-one whether it's because of Karen. And instead of telling Nana that Karen jumped in, or even (if she doesnt know Nana is in the auditions yet, as Nana doesn't seem willing to mention them outright) that Karen upset her, she says she was the one to get irritated, who worked herself up into that state, possible due to multiple factors (they're the same = multiple factors compounded into one)

"They're the same, as far as I'm concerned" - i.e. she accepts that her one chance to get the stage she wants as a star is to win the Top Star here, and her hope is that she's the one who wants it enough. Maya and Claudine don't need it, so maybe if she locks in hard enough while they focus on the real auditions, she can manage (unfortunately, Claudine wants Claire and Maya is very possessive of Top Star, as discussed in ep10, and of course she doesn't know about the wild(e)card who is ONLY interested in these auditions.)

HK2

Hikari: You weren't chosen because you don't have enough glimmer. Someone like that shouldn't be disrupting our auditions. (D)(TOO LATE Karen: No way! I'm not dropping out of the auditions!(AND YET) I mean, my heart was racing! When Hoshimi-san told me... (about the auditions)

JN2

Junna: Even if I give it my all, I can't catch up to them. (B) No matter how hard I work, they're too far ahead. (TOO LATE) But that doesn't mean I'd be able to give up just because of that.(AND YET) Nana: Junna-chan... Junna: I want to become a star.(I WANT)

this is the trouble! simply put, the time and effort she puts in might be enough to beat out Nana in the Starlight auditions (and not even in the giraffe ones, where Nana does actually try to win and does despite not working as hard hour-to-hour, at least not in the same ways) but it does not outdo Maya and Claudine who have the genetic lottery and the practiced skill.

HK3

Karen: If, just if... (A CHANCE) on the stage we promised that we'd stand on together, Tendo-san and Claud-chan were already standing there... Just like Hoshimi-san was saying, if we can't surpass them... (TOO LATE) we won't be able to stand on the same stage. Hikari: Karen...

(TOO LATE)

Hikari: You weren't chosen because you don't have enough glimmer. Someone like that shouldn't be disrupting our auditions. Junna: Even if I give it my all, I can't catch up to them. No matter how hard I work, they're too far ahead. Karen: If... Tendo-san and Claud-chan were already standing there... Just like Hoshimi-san was saying, if we can't surpass them...

They recognise their own poor odds.

(AND YET) Karen: No way! I'm not dropping out of the auditions! Junna: But that doesn't mean I'd be able to give up just because of that.

But they find themselves unable to give in, regardless.

JN3

Junna: But I was given a chance. I might be able to stand up there with my very own glimmer. At the centre of the stage, in the middle of the spotlight (giraffe). I might be able to become one - a real star. (A CHANCE) (Her name appears on the board)

(A CHANCE)

I think she believes that not only is this her best chance, but if she lets someone else win it they will become a mortal threat to her ability to reach her star. Which is essentially what she has to work through with "a loss doesn't mean it's over" and in the movie - "if I use many stars as my guides", "a stage that's meant for me", and the sheer abundance of position zeros in comparison to the series where there is One. That's why she's not Nana's Junna-chan anymore by the end of Hunting.

Unlike Junna's "even if I work hard, I can't do it" which posits that there is no way she can win, Karen's "if" is actually predicated on the very fact that Maya/Claudine's dominance and right to Starlight is still uncertain, that there is a chance for her and Hikari so long as they continue to believe that nothing is set in stone. (See: As long as we are together, I will believe there is a continuation to our destiny) (See: I believe that saying goodbye here isn't our fate). You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, etc.

HK4

Karen: Ever since you came back, I've been feeling like I've finally woken up from a daze. Becoming stars together... in order to make that dream come true, I guess. (A CHANCE) Anyway, Hikari-chan, I want to Starlight with you! (I WANT) Hikari: Karen... (Karen's name appears on the board)

(I WANT)

Karen: I want to starlight with you! (HK4) Junna:

These are the two things they have to realise - what they want, and that it is possible for them to have it. that is how you enter the auditions. backed up by ep 7, I guess - nana's name comes up once she realises that winning will let her go back, that that desire CAN be realised. ep 8 - hikari is selected to rejoin the auditions once she remembers what she's lost (i.e. what she wants to get back) and confronts the giraffe to demand a refund (sees getting it back as something she can actually do)

anyways. back to maya. the casting call can't erase her fucking name top and center of the poster. this IS what we see EVERYONE focused on for a lot of the class audition segments and discussions of the festival. god. i wonder who put up the casting calls. i don't think junna would have done it like that. this is what is being discussed in A, B, C, implicitly in D, and throughout the sunset scenes. it's the elephant in the room that nana can't stop bringing up to amemiya and masai. it's what half the extras have to say about the audition process. and it overshadows junna because NANA does. nana has percolated her in the 99th festival for years. god. she lives with that!! like she lives in the same room as "hmm... but I really liked the Starlight we made last year. I think it might have been the best play ever. I wouldn't change anything about it. I wish we could just make the same play again" god. no WONDER she has to write little post it affirmations for herself about how she can really totally seize whatever star she wants in a unique way that no one else can, yes, she can even do claire.

OH! and yeah. so junna knows what she wants, ("I will seize my own star" postit, etc), but has to actively reinforce her own belief that it is possible and is validated+relieved and invigorated by the top star auditions as a get-out-of-jail-free from having to confront despair.

karen has a general belief that all things are possible, and does not get discouraged easily, but has trouble remembering why she is aiming for the top/self-motivating. she is validated+relieved and invigorated by hikari's return/their promise as a get-out-of-jail-free from having to figure out what she actually desires.