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Kaleido Star
Anime DVD Review
The anime series Kaleido Star appears to be squarely aimed at girls, aged 7 to 15. That said; it is thoroughly enjoyable regardless of your age or gender.
The hero of the story, Sora, a young and talented acrobat from Japan, leaves her friends and family and moves to California to audition for a role in Kaleido Stage, a kind of Cirque-Du-Soleil acrobatic ballet troupe that performs regularly in their own special arena (that also has dormitories for the performers).
This coming-of-age story follows her adventures, but there's more to her being a performer than just doing acrobatics. She's helped along the way by a spirit in the form of a talking doll, and through her trials and tribulations she eventually gains some friends, but overall it's a rough road for her. She's hated by everyone at the beginning, and only the big boss of the show sees her potential. And she's not even that good compared to some of the others, but with some willpower and determination she manages to squeak by.
Fans of zombies, swords and wizards, shoot-em-up gunplay, fanservice, giants robots, space battleships, and over-the-top heros that can do *anything* should looks elsewhere; Kaleido Star is refreshingly absent of all the usual trappings of an anime series, although it does run the shojo drama playbook of pulling at heartstrings with almost every episode.
With animation from Studio Gonzo, direction from Junichi Sato (director of Sailor Moon) and writing by Reiko Yoshida, Kaleido Star has some very heavy hitters behind it, helping to make it one of the most original anime series we've seen in a while, and certainly an anime series in a class by itself.
In one of the pivotal moments of the film "Tucker" Martin Landau plays a character that tells Jeff Bridges "Don't get too close to people, you'll catch their dreams". Watching Kaleido Star, it doesn't take long for you to catch Sora's dream of being a part of the magic, glamour and glitz. Of being a part of something that can mesmerize adults and children alike, bringing smiles and joy to everyone who sees it. Kaleido Star is truly magical, inspirational, and wondrous. It is the stuff dreams are made of.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, February 2011
Below: Scenes from Kaleido Star.
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