As I mentioned, one of my big motivations for attending ACen this year was the fact that staff members of Kinema Citrus and their related anime properties had been invited as guests of honor. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Revue Starlight; not only was I enthralled by its gorgeous animation and music, I loved its story and themes. However, I also have very little sense of how the series was perceived in the anime fandom at large. While I saw some reviews of the series here and there, aside from a couple of big examples, most of the blogs I regularly follow didn’t talk about it much, so I was mostly just thankful to have the opportunity at ACen to learn a bit more about an anime series I really enjoyed and be among similarly-minded fans.
Note: Except at very specific points during the presentation, photos weren’t allowed, so all but a few images are my own inclusions after-the-fact.
Speaking as a fan of both the series and the animation process in general, the panel did not disappoint. The panelists provided a lot of insight into the construction of the anime’s storyline, as well as how its visual and aesthetic elements developed into the final product. Because the anime was an original story (rather than based on a manga, novel, or video game), this provided the team the freedom and opportunity to tell the exact story they wanted to. Of course, those of us who are involved in creative pursuits know full well that having a lot of freedom can be both a blessing and a curse, because without a road map it’s incredibly easy to get lost in a wilderness full of creative dead-ends. It’s comforting to know that this feeling isn’t just the realm of us amateurs – real creative professionals are sometimes faced with similar hurdles that come from being asked to produce something out of nothing.
One aspect of Revue Starlight that I really enjoyed is the fact that it’s littered with symbols and other visual short-hand that gives it a particular look and feel. The creative team made a lot of very deliberate decisions when it came to certain major visual components, and were open about sharing how they came to those decisions. For example, Tokyo Tower is an architectural feature that has a prominent visual role throughout the series. It’s a location that’s important to Karen and Hikari’s plot-related promise to one-another, and it also exists as a looming set piece while the characters are undergoing the audition process below the school. The creators felt that it was important to provide a sense of place in the anime that audiences could relate to. Because the story is an original one that doesn’t have supplementary source material, choosing to utilize a very familiar landmark was purposeful to allow the audience to orient themselves without too much trouble. That’s also why the team chose to use a giraffe in the anime, and to provide the giraffe with a sort of “catch phrase” (“wakarimaaaaaasu”) that was simple and memorable; utilizing an animal that exists in real life gives the audience something real and tangible to hold onto while the rest of the series travels in somewhat supernatural directions.
They also talked a bit about the character design process, including the fact that, at the time the character designs were needed in the production cycle, the characters themselves weren’t exactly fleshed-out, so the designer really didn’t have much to go on (“Sumimasen! – I’m sorry!” said director Furukawa). Once again, operating creatively without much of a road map is both a blessing and a curse! The panelists showed a character line-up (the sort of thing you’d find in one of the comprehensive guidebooks there are about various anime series) and stated that the character designs ended up not changing much from the original sketches, including the school uniforms (meant to reference uniforms from the Takarazuka performing arts school), as well as Daiba Nana’s “banana” pigtails (“bana-nice!”). While the anime’s final look is definitely the result of hard work, it sounds like there was also a lot of luck involved too – all the visual pieces ended up fitting together very nicely in the final product.
The team talked for a while about the general animation process, and showed examples of a few different cuts from the first episode from their rough stages through the final product. This part of the presentation was incredibly fascinating to me, especially since even the very rough “first draft” storyboards and animated sequences revealed the care and consideration that’s put into the framing and depiction of character movement. Because the series’ action sequences take place within a relatively limited area (a stage), the series utilizes a lot of dynamic shots and camera angles to provide a sense of movement, and much of that is helped along using computer graphics for some environmental elements. The staff talked about (and showed) how they roughed-out the framing and provided the information to the CG artists, who then brought the backgrounds to life.
The rough sketch of Hikari. 
The completed Hikari illustration.
Throughout the presentation, the staff members traded off duties producing a digital sketch of main character Hikari Kagura. Seeing this process was valuable to me as someone who occasionally does some character artwork, because as the rough sketch transformed into the finished piece, it underwent tons of different corrections, alterations, and transformations. The angle of her eyes, the thickness of her eyelashes, the position of her hair ornament… all of these things changed dynamically as the art was being produced. As someone whose experience with digital artwork is filled to the brim with the frantic undoing of lines until the perfect angle or curve is finally achieved, it’s comforting to know that the pros deal with the same sort of perfectionism in pursuit of a refined, completed product.
I think perhaps my favorite part of the presentation was when Shiori Tani, animator/designer from Kinema Citrus, talked through some of her prop/environment design from the series. She too started with very vague descriptions of the various characters in the show, and used those to develop visual “maps” comprised of various objects and color schemes that she felt would represent the types of people the characters were. There were also illustrations of the characters in different clothing along these lines, and well as how their bedrooms were decorated – a great way to reveal each person’s specific tastes! It was a really fascinating look into an aspect of anime production that we might not think about all that much, but which greatly affects the overall look and feel of a series on an almost subconscious level.
I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to attend this panel and gain a deeper insight into an anime series that I already really liked. I’m also appreciative to the Kinema Citrus staff for making the trek all the way to Chicago, and for being willing to speak so openly about all the elements that go into the production of such a visually-stunning and unique anime series. It really helps one to develop an appreciation for the many facets of production that go into making an anime series what it is when staff members are so willing to discuss their thoughts and creative processes in such an open way.