In 2013, I reviewed a manga call Kageki Shoujo!. I enjoyed it immensely. It had all the elements of a strong Shoujo manga story, but was running in Ultra Jump magazine, Shounen Jump‘s older brother. After that review, the mangaka moved publishers and it was relaunched as Kageki Shoujo SEASON ZERO, a reboot of the series with Hakusensha that ran in Hana to Yume magazine…an audience that seems, on the face of it, more sensible for this series. Volume 1 of this reworking is a larger volume than the original V1 I reviewed. It was with great delight then, that I heard that Seven Seas has licensed this manga as Kageki Shojo The Curtain Rises!.

Narata Ai is a former idol with a major group, who has been forcibly “graduated” as a result of her calling a fan a creep. Desperate to be in a world without men, Ai decides that a career with the all-female musical review troupe seems the perfect escape so she applies to the school.

Watanabe Sarasa is a highly enthusiastic fan of Lady Oscar and, by extension, the troupe that brought that show to light, the Kouka Revue. She’s a bumpkin, tall and not particularly graceful, but she has energy and enthusiasm in abundance and Ai dislikes her instantly. Ai and Sarasa are, of course, roommates upon entrance to the school and of course, have to deal with bullying from older students, but they have other issues, too. The root of Ai’s fear of men is much darker and Sarasa’s dreams are much more aspirational, than we initially understood.

The art in this series is really wonderful. There is a deep love for the glittering shinyness of Japanese musical revue theater on every page and the drama of the story echoes the struggle to achieve and transcend, the gut-wrenching emotionality and triumph of a Takarazuka play.  It’s exactly the delightful concoction of joy and pathos that makes a great musical revue play, balled up in a fun, otaku-friendly manga story. I’m so very excited that you can read it!

The story is not Yuri, but there is a deep root in it to stories that are. There are a good half dozen references to anime, manga and other media that we all recognize in this volume. This story about two girls striving towards stardom together may not be Yuri, but it will always be welcome on my shelves.

The folks at Seven Seas did a great job of bringing the references-to-other-things-filled narrative to English, so kudos to Katrina Leonoudakis for translating that messy pile of cultural references. Laura Heo’s letter and retouch was excellent, especially as a lot of the effects here are artfx. I do also want to say that logo designs at Seven Seas have upped their game significantly and this one, by Courtney Williams is a lot of fun. Great work as always to the folks at Seven Seas.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Character – 9
Story – 8
Yuri – 0
Service – 3 some nudity and ugly stuff implied

Overall – 8

If you like Takarazuka, or Shoujo drama, sports manga, or frankly, pretty much anything at all, do give Kageki Shojo! The Curtain Rises a try. It’s a great production of a manga. ^_^ I know I’m looking forward to Volume 2!

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy!