We knew this day would come sooner or later.

The day Mahiru’s life changed for the better.

BaKaren training with a different partner.
It all began after the off-screen legendary training when Mahiru woke up from a pleasant dream/flashback and noticed something was off about that day. BaKaren woke up earlier than she did. When she got to dance class she was welcomed with an unpleasant sight. The rest of the day she felt unpleasant.

Young Mahiru graduating from junior high being all cute and nervous.
Later in the evening she opened the package she’d received from her grandma. It was the usual batch of produce from her home in the countryside. She also send a DVD of a special interview. Mahiru is the eldest daughter of a family with 6 children and she passed the exam to attend the Seisho Music Academy after being recommended to take the exam by her grandma. When it got to the part where she answered the question “What kind of star do you want to become?” she stopped the DVD out of embarrassment or not wanting to remember her old self.

Banana discussing the lead roles.
The next day Mahiru overheard Banana discussing the lead roles with her fellow backstage girls. They were blown away by BaKaren and Hikari’s portrayals of the lead roles and wanted them to get the parts whereas Banana preferred it staying the same as it was the year prior with KuroMaya as the leads. They responded by saying since they’ll be doing Starlight for the next three years it was time to change things up by recasting the leading ladies. We’ll most likely follow up on this in the next episode.

Mahiru’s nightmare.
That night Mahiru had a nightmare about Hikari stealing “her spot”.

Poor dear has reached a point of desperation.
And so on the third day Mahiru went through what can only be described as a desperate lovesick lesbian being repeatedly screwed over by her greatest enemy. It was both funny and sad.

Mahiru snaps and confronts Hikari.
Finally Mahiru had had enough and confronted Hikari, demanding she give back “her spot” that she stole from her because the hope she had placed in her love for BaKaren was all she had left. Basically she saw herself as inferior to everyone else but BaKaren’s encouragement inspired her to keep going, leading to her falling in love with the dork. Hikari responded by saying “Choose your words carefully…”. Right on cue Demon Giraffe sent out a text. It was once again time for FCT.

The goofiest FCT battle by far and surprisingly my favorite.
The good news was the highly anticipated battle against Mahiru was worth the wait for she was as adorably cuckoo as she was a powerhouse. I’m pretty sure that super baton of hers weighed a ton. The bad news, for me anyway, was her opponent being BaKaren. I was hoping she’d fight Hikari but then I thought about it and came to the conclusion that the dork being Mahiru’s opponent was the better choice…mainly because Hikari, while better than Mei-Tron as a character, is still the least entertaining. I suppose a fight between a lovesick cuckoo lesbian and her dimwitted love interest was the more enthralling choice. Again this is currently my favorite FCT battle.

Mahiru vs Karen.
During the battle Mahiru begged for BaKaren to go back to being the lovable dork who needed her to get up every morning, exercise and move about their day, bringing how being there for the dork was all she had left. BaKaren’s counterattack was reminding her of all her strong points, that she was just as talented as everyone there and how much she loved seeing her perform. Mahiru was taken aback by her words but was all like “The winner will decide who is right”. Of course the dork won and moved up to Rank 7.
Afterward everyone had a potato party. Unfortunately for Mahiru she forgot to eject the DVD and they all saw the answer to the question from earlier. Mahiru wanted to become the kind of Star who brought smiles to the faces of everyone she cared for. A large weight was lifted off her shoulders. How this will affect her quest for love we’ll have to wait and see. Really good stuff as usual.

#ThisIsPotato.
The KuroMaya moment of the week.
I’ve been waiting for this episode for a not so very long time, after watching this episode it’s like I’m watching Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 1 episode 11 where jealousy is the main topic.
Those scenes where Mahiru holding some of Karen’s stuff (pillow, towel, water canteen) where she almost got an indirect kiss on Karen’s water canteen then suddenly Hikari appear out of nowhere saying “I forgot something” is very much like ” Mahiru in a nutshell”. I don’t know I’m kinda having feel some sympathy to Mahiru. Compare to Hikari who is just cold but kind to Karen, Mahiru’s dedication to Karen is off the charts. I hope this what Karen’s means about Mahiru’s enthusiasm which she love for.
I hope there will be a review match up between Mahiru and Hikari to prove once and for all who’s the better “girlfriend” for Karen.
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It was kinda similar to what You went through.
Poor Mahiru couldn’t catch a break.
Yes. I’d still love to see Mahiru vs Hikari happen at some point.
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I forgot, I noticed those revue match ups are kinda like national sports league where there’s a table standings/rankings and also home stage of every competitor like Junna’s glass ruins and mannequins, Maya’s ladders and of course my favorite so far is Mahiru’s cat and baseball theme (because of it’s wackiness). So far all of Karen’s audition is like a road/away game.
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Good observation dood.
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It was truly an amazing fight, and rather unique~
I love this show to bits! Just love it!
I can’t really word it, but it’s just so much fun~
AotS for me so far!
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One of the best of the season for sure.
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Speaking of Tamao, did you ever see this AMV?
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Not much of AMV person. It’s a neat one though.
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And that my friend is how Mahiru got friendzoned.
Poor girl, she’s getting closer to her Event Horizon.
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I wouldn’t go that far.
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My fav battle and episode so far! So cute and goofy!
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Indeed.
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She has the best revue song, definitely.
And HorribleSubs were wrong at the end when she said “I really do love this” she actually said “I really do love her”. So, her character will change, that’s for sure, the question is how.
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It will be an interesting ongoing character development for sure.
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That FCT was indeed the most fun to watch 😀
I know this is Mahiru’s time and all but with all that’s happened, I’m actually more interested in that lead role discussion. I just wanted to see how Mahiru’s FCT was going to be and I loved it. So cute! LOL 😛 Anyway, going back to that discussion, Banana’s look on the other two’s suggestion on having Karen and Hikari as the leads, she doesn’t seem to like the idea and didn’t want to reject it directly because she’s too nice. I wonder why…does she not trust the abilities of those pair? Does Maya and Claudine have something on her or something? Or is it because it’s Banana’s first take on being a stage crew and doesn’t see the possibility of having a new cast? Though those two make more sense, if there are different people who can do the role just fine other than Maya and Claudine then why not? Give the audience something fresh especially since they’re doing the same thing for 3 years, there should be something to look forward to every time so people won’t get tired of it. Plus, it’s going to be a good chance to see who the people want to see the most. But despite the things I said…I still want Maya and Claudine to get the lead roles! They’re not the main cast of this show I wish they could at least be the leads in Starlight. Even though that’s not going to happen. Oh well.
Btw, who won between Claudine and Hikari? Were the other girls just props/effects for the fight between Karen and Mahiru? Did I miss something?
PS.
That last pic looked like Claudine wanted Maya to feed her some potato 😀
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This was great episode.
The fight was awesome, it finally gave Mahiru a way to express all her feelings and confront Karen in an actual battle and sort her feelings a bit.
I’d like to say that I want to see how her character grows after this but I’m afraid that they are just going to focus on other characters and Mahiru is just gouging to fade in to the background now that she has had her spotlight.
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It was a marvelous spectacle for sure, yes.
Maybe we’ll see bits of her development in between that of the other girls.
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The legendary training course was so legendary words and animation could not describe it.
Mahiro got a chance to express her feelings, and hopefully will have a chance to share them with someone less clueless next time. I do want a Mahiro vs Hikari battle at some point.
I liked how BaKaren and Mahiro kept running through other people’s fights.
This show has helped me realize I like Hikari’s voice actress. I’ll have to look out for her more in the future.
There wasn’t much of the great banana this episode. Too bad.
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Agora estou preocupado com a Mahiru,não quero ver ela sozinha,mais depois de ver esse episodio eu não sei oque vai acontecer.
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I wouldn’t worry. I’m sure she’ll find a girl who will give her the love she deserves.
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The Chyuu-PAS sub is infinitely better because of this https://i.imgur.com/EnwHpoy.jpg
CR’s sub’s “I really do love this” didn’t make sense at all.
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HiDive’s subs. CR didn’t get this one, meaning fewer people in the West are watching it, which is a darn shame.
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Oh, whoops. I mainly associated Horrible Subs with CR’s subs and tend to forget that they get the subs from every official streaming service. And yeah, really wished more people would watch this, definitely underwatched.
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Yup.
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I learned from this episode that, baseball skills are essential to be a top actress.
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An important life lesson.
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Easily the best episode in my opinion. I love Mahiru’s obsession with Karen. She does not want to be another Yaya or the third wheel girl in a yuri relationship.
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You know… It wasn’t a VHS tape… It was a CD/DVD…
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Okay.
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