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Shining Star initially caught my interest because of its affiliation with SM Entertainment - one of the top entertainment companies in South Korea, known mostly for producing technology, actors & music. While the show wasn't terrible, it certainly didn't live up to my expectations. This will be my first review, in which I will give a completely spoiler-free rundown of what to expect from Shining Star's story along with my personal opinions on everything else.

Story: 5/10
The story, especially in the first season is extremely standard - an ordinary girl with big dreams wants to become an idol but must overcome many hardships to do so. ... She meets friends, rivals & love interests along the way while attending a prestigious idol academy. Sounds familiar, right? The only unique part of the story that isn't completely ripped out of existing, much better anime such as Aikatsu, PriPara or Pretty Rhythm comes in the form of its K-Pop influence. Shining Star shows us bits & pieces of Korean idol culture, as opposed to the usual Japanese idol culture. That being said, they're still pretty similar & there is a lot.. I mean a LOT of repetition throughout the series.

Art: 3/10
The art is composed entirely of 3D models, which I don't really have a problem with. My problem lies in how badly they are executed & how choppy everything is, outside of the performances. It's easier to forgive low FPS when it's a 2D animation, especially considering how underpaid & overworked most animators are, but I digress. I really like the character designs & the stage costumes can be downright gorgeous with how detailed they are, but the facial expressions often times look really awkward & unsuitable to the emotion which is supposed to be portrayed.

Sound: 10/10
I might be biased but given the territory of idol anime, this is up there with the best of them soundtrack wise. It's a mix of SM's biggest hits & also a good few deep cuts from artists such as BoA, Red Velvet, Girls' Generation, f(x), EXO, S.E.S., H.O.T. & so on. Some of the songs are re-recorded by the seiyuus, who also deliver fantastic original songs! At the time of writing this (2/16/2021) there are still no credits featured on MAL, but some of the talents behind the singing voices include Park Jungyeon, Koeun, NingNing (æspa) & Nakamura Hina.

Characters: 7.5/10
They might not be the most original, but surprisingly they interesting & likeable enough to drive me to complete this otherwise plodding, mediocre show. The cast is primarily female, which is good because they're much stronger than the male characters that there are. There's idols, trainees & staff, all of whom are prominent to the story. Not many characters are listed on MAL as of writing this, but there's a wide enough variety of personalities & styles that it's likely everyone will find at least one character they like.

Overall & Enjoyment: 5/10
If you can get past the pedestrian story & lacking animation, there really is something to love about Shining Star. Even if you can ignore the flaws mentioned before there is a big problem in that it overstays its welcome, not providing enough substance or new content to merit 52 episodes - unless you REALLY want to watch an authentic K-Pop anime. While I certainly enjoyed parts of it, I wouldn't recommend it. I'd suggest just checking out the music videos, especially for the original songs, which are all available in HD on YouTube.