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Two killer cyborgs are on the loose and while the military tries to contain the situation, a clueless reporter including her camera pops up in the middle of things. Based on a story by Masamune Shirow, directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo (worked on AKIRA, GUNDAM and GOLDEN BOY). 50 minutes of cyberpunk technology and action. The characters and the plot are pretty dumb, but I still loved it. Feels like an 80s sci-fi-action movie - doesn't take itself too serious, but excites nonetheless. I also liked the designs of the futuristic cities and mecha. Artwork seems a little bit more polished than the animations. Good show!

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.

A show about a squad of female fighter pilots training to become good enough to not get banned by the JASDF (Japanese Air Self Defense Force - yes, this is also a military ad in some ways) - count me in! The detailed drawings of all things mechanical, the concept of the show itself and even the visual character design is great, but sadly the writing is abysmal. Because it was the "style of the time", they had to include a love triangle with the super-lame male protagonist, which forces all the female characters go head over heel about that dude for absolutely no reason ... at all. That was a good way to ruin an otherwise solid show. I wonder if the manga is better?