Kaleido Star

The Kaleido Stage is known throughout the world for captivating audiences with its amazing acrobatics, innovative routines, and extravagant costumes and sets. It is a place for guests to believe in magic, and Sora Naegino wants nothing more than to be a part of that magic—by becoming an acrobat for the famed circus herself.

To realize her dream, she travels from Japan to California to audition for a place in the group. However, Sora learns that she needs much more than her natural talent to bring joy to the faces in the crowd. She quickly discovers just how difficult it is to be a professional performer where the stakes—and the stunts—are higher and mistakes spell danger! To put on performances worthy of the Kaleido Stage, she will need to endure rigorous training, unconventional assignments, fierce competition, and the antics of a mischievous spirit named Fool.

Can Sora reach new heights, make new friends, conquer her fears, and surpass her limits to become a Kaleido Star?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Naegino, Sora Main

Hirohashi, Ryou Japanese

Hamilton, Layla Main

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Fool Main

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Oswald, Leon Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Passel, Rosetta Supporting

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Jonathan Supporting

Kozakura, Etsuko Japanese

Wong, May Supporting

Nakahara, Mai Japanese

Killian, Yuri Supporting

Chiba, Susumu Japanese

Heart, Anna Supporting

Watanabe, Akeno Japanese

Dupont, Sarah Supporting

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Uchida, Tetsuo Producer

Satou, Junichi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Creator, Key Animation, Original Creator

Hiramatsu, Tadashi Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Daichi, Akitarou Director

Reviews

Sep 14, 2023

MewVenus

Recommended

This was so cool, I wish circuses were real.

All kidding aside, I came in with high hopes - you can't be a shoujo fan and NOT watch the anime CrunchyRoll says was directed by Junichi Sato. So I expected it to be, at least, good...and it was so much better. Seriously - they just don't make 'em like this anymore.

For those of you that are into shoujo but not boy-meets-girl type stuff, this one's for you. I think this could most accurately be described as a shoujo sports anime. The pacing here is incredible - the writer has a great sense of how ... to create the perfect amount of tension. Sora will usually pick up a big win at the start of the episode - but it will always be chased by some new, crueler failure. Sometimes we're forced to sit with that failure for multiple episodes...which makes it so satisfying when she finally overcomes it. They do a good job of putting the viewer in Sora's shoes - some obstacles really look impossible to clear, so when that finally happens, it's really inspiring.

Sora in and of herself is an extremely interesting protagonist - she's determined, confident, and stubborn to a fault. She has a one-track mind to her ultimate goal, no matter what jumps into her path. She's fiercely independent - sometimes to her detriment, as she can be so focused on getting results that she forgets to speak up and ask for help.

The rest of the cast is very colorful as well, and actively help carry the story. Sora's friends have rich motivations of their own that brought them to Kaleido Stage that have nothing to do with being "the best". One friend wants to incorporate acrobatics with the comedy her father taught her to love as a little girl. The other begins as an acrobat but learns she has a flair for writing and directing. There's not a single character in the primary supporting cast that feels disposable or forgettable. It was a delight to get to watch this group of friends help each other grow toward their goals.

If you're an artist of any kind, I especially recommend this show. It just feels true to the trajectory of how these things happen - to get briefly real, I've been struggling with some self-doubt as an writer lately. I've been putting off work on writing the next episode of my audio play (hence, why I was watching this to begin with) and was thinking I might not be cut out for it at all. But then I watched this and it reminded me that not so long ago, my big challenge was finishing the script for the second episode, or getting the voice actors' lines for the first. Every challenged looked big and bad until the next big bad challenge pops up. The bigger they are to more exciting the view when you jump over them is what I'm saying I took away from this, I guess.

((Also lost it when Anna said "Rosetta went to bedda :3"))

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Mar 18, 2023

FlintPaper

Recommended

Sora has dreamed of being a performer since childhood and never gives up this wish, even after the tragic death of her parents. But when she arrives in America, she gets lost at the airport and is late for her big audition. Sora's great role model, Layla Hamilton, of all people, ice-coldly slams the door in the girl's face. Only assistant Ken Robbins turns out to be a friendly contemporary and allows Sora to stay in the tent during the evening performance that is just starting. Suddenly, the opportunity arises: When one of the artists fails due to a mishap, Sora is supposed to step ... in as a replacement according to director Kalo. Full of high spirits, Sora seizes the opportunity to prove herself. But when she finally appears on stage, the performance turns out to be more difficult than expected. Stage fright?

In the end, however, Sora is allowed to stay despite an amateurish performance. The obscure Kalos seems to find something in her, much to the annoyance of top artist Layla, who refuses to acknowledge Sora's existence. But it's not just her, the rest of the artists don't care for Sora either, because they think she's been given special treatment by Kalos. So the atmosphere is not exactly pleasant. Nevertheless, Sora does not want to give up her dream and tries to please everyone. Not an easy task, but our girl has at least one ally. One evening, a small, strange figure appears in Sora's room, calling himself 'the Fool'' and claiming to be a spirit of the stage and that Sora has been chosen to perform the so-called "legendary maneuver". This is an incredible trapeze act, the performance of which has brought death to many skilled performers. But before that, months of hard training and hot-headed rivals stand in Sora's way.

Kaleido Stage is basically a sports anime without actual sports. It is about physical feats and also about competition and rivalry, but not about any teams, points or prizes. Everything revolves around magic; the magic to enchant his audience and that with the help of artistic body figures and tricks, which were previously perfected through hard training. In principle, a well-known pattern is used, because every spectacular climax (usually a trapeze maneuver, of course defying all laws of nature) of a new show requires several episodes of hard preparation beforehand, which are occasionally spiced with self-doubt, depression and eventual (re)-self-discovery. As obviously unoriginal as it sounds, Kaleido Stage still feels fresh and can be addictive under certain circumstances. With the consistently likeable characters and the overdramatized production, the time flies by in no time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 1, 2022

PixelB

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (9/51 eps)

I had high expectations for Kaleido Star, considering that the last early 2000s anime that I avoided for a long time despite having lots of positive feedback, Hikaru no Go, truly was a good show. Unfortunately, Kaleido Star is a typical early 2000's show that fails to show anything spectacular.
I think that many people who watched this show, me included, don't care much about circus performances, and the fact that Kaleido Star decides to focus on such a niche form of art is bold. However, I'll be honest, my lack of interest in circus performances is hardly a negative thing. Take Hikaru no Go: ... I did not care about Go at all, yet it entranced me all the same. Kaleido Star definitely is not bad because of the focus on circus performances, in fact, it helped set it apart from its competition.
Sadly, Kaleido Star is not great all the same. Kaleido Star features a pretty good beginning, one where the protagonist is new to the performance scene, yet is eager to learn, a sponge of knowledge. She lands a performer's job at a prominent Circus through dubious means, substituting someone else last minute. That isn't the problem that I have with this show, it's just that the show doesn't know how to continue its solid beginning.
As you progress through episodes, it's pretty clear that each arc has its blatant obstacle and theme, spoon-fed to the viewer. Oh look, a difficult maneuver, drama between circus members, and the strained relationships between a star performer and her family. On paper, these themes are good, but the thing is, these episodes are too clean cut and short. Each episode will present a problem, and it WILL take at most, a few episodes for the arc to be wrapped up quite neatly. It gives some depth to the characters, but I would have liked some more natural characterization. Anna's one of my personal favorites, but rarely do these characters get the actual focus that they need for them to be developed properly. Instead, they're forced into some archetypes and you're never able to see them act naturally. You're forced to watch episodes where the goal is extremely clear: finish this complex maneuver in 7 days, hand out all of the toys before the performance starts, create new maneuver with this group of people, etc.
Wouldn't it be nice if instead of a concrete obstacle or goal, you were instead, just given time to see the characters play out naturally so that when they do come across an obstacle or problem, the viewer will actually care about the outcome?
Now, this was not enough reason for me to drop the show completely, but what really made me definitely drop was Jonathan. He's a pet seal that Sora adopts, and the episode introducing him is just...nothing. If I didn't know this was an original series, I would have thought this episode to be filler. Sora brings in a seal, and she doesn't want to abandon it because of a not so subtle projection that if she abandons the seal, she loses a part of herself, since it would be akin to turning her back on her younger self. But seriously, Jonathan is not even a comic relief character in the series. To my knowledge, he barely appears at all, so why introduce such a meaningless character?. His squeals are annoying, and the entire episode revolving around Sora feeding and caring for him is just filler. There's nothing you really know more about Sora through Jonathan. Oh look, Sora and her friends enter a juggling contest to help pay for Jonathan's food! Wow, real relevant.
So no, Jonathan's episode was not the only reason I dropped this show, but it definitely was the last push that gave way. Kaleido Star fails to make me invested in any characters since all of the episodes are dull and formulaic to a tee. There's no long story arcs that make me invested in either the circus performances themselves, or the characters.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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