life line by line

After the success in France, the crew of Kaleido Stage head back home to the US… but not before Anna and her bunch give off a farwell performance at the airport (poor Ken). And what’s this… Yuri is joining them too! Apparently he’s heading up the next performance at Kaleido Stage, but one can tell he’s going back for other reasons too.

Back at Kaleido Stage, Sora and everyone is hyped now that Yuri is back and Sora is ready to get back on the stage. Carlos has already renewed Sora’s contract and he and Yuri tell everyone their next play: Swam Lake with Sora and Yuri as the stars! The final act will be the Angel’s Act and everyone has high hopes for it… Leon then makes his appearance as he has heard the tail end of the conversation and wondering what his part will be. Already Yuri and Leon go at it over Sophie’s death (which Yuri had some part in), the training for the Angel’s Act, etc leading to one kick ass scene seeing “evil” Yuri again!

A bit later Cathy is at Mia’s doorstep, making for one hilarious entrance to basically crash at Mia and help her out with ideas for the production. Kotono Mitsuishi rocks as usual as she has to be one of the few seiyuus out there that could talk at mach speed all in one breath without losing a beat. Funny watching Mia visually sweat under Cathy’s “what, you don’t have any ideas yet?!?!” even though Mia only heard about the specifics of the performance moments ago. Switch over to Anna and her two friends as they discuss future plans for their comedy troupe. Pretty seriously looking scene that TOTALLY gets ruined (much to my enjoyment) by Anna’s unique comedy antics. Also funny how Ken has been roped into the group (even if he’s not there) as Anna wonders if they can do it without his “talents.”

Yuri and Sora are at an nearby beach, where they discuss the Angel’s Act and if Sora is still willing to do it. Yuri then tells Sora how he and Leon are connected as Yuri was the cause of Sophie’s death. Shock is apparent over Sora as Yuri tells his story of ambition, lies, and death. During the previous Circus Festival (I think that’s the name, too lazy to look it again), Yuri was watching Leon and Sophie practice the Angel’s Act knowing it wouldn’t match up with Layla’s Golden Phoenix but still wanted to win. Afraid that Leon might replace him in Kaleido Stage and ambitious back then to get his revenge against Carlos (i.e. remember first season), Yuri called Sophie out to a park far from the place of competition. Of course Yuri never showed, but Sophie waited until the very last minute eventually rushing back to make it time… too bad Sophie got into an accident along the way. During Sophie’s final moments, she kept asking Leon to get Yuri since she was a big fan of his that Leon called many many times asking Yuri to come. Touching scene seeing this with Leon’s frame in black only outlined by the setting sun as tears fall while he begs over and over to Yuri. Unfortunately for Sophie, there was no way Yuri was going to come with his and Layla’s performance coming up; thereby starting Leon’s hatred for Yuri. Sora has no words but one can tell she’s still pretty shocked over everything she just heard. Yuri tells her he’ll become a devil anytime for Sora to complete the Angel’s Act; it’s the only way possible. He leaves her mentioning he’s going to meet up with Leon to settle their business once and for all.

Later that night, Sora is moving back to her old room with everyone welcoming her back and wishing her good luck with the upcoming Swam Lake performance. Rosetta is chilling with Sora back in Sora’s room when May drops by surprisedly. Why is May there? Well, she came to celebrate Sora’s return… interestingly, she’s not a big crowd type of person (had me fool with her personality) so she wanted it to be a small thing. The three girls are on the balcony where May bluntly tells Sora she’s expecting the best from her, she’s playing opposite role to Sora and will outshine her, and if Sora does anything less than perfect May will take her place as top star without an second thought. Sora accepts it as is, since that’s the May we all know and love and Sora is already hyped to be performing again. The three celebrate May style by shaking their cans of soda and accidentally shooting Fool to the stars twice! With the mood now set, May tells Sora for the two of them to head to practice…

… Leon is walking towards center stage, answering Yuri’s call out. An fencing sword is dropped right in front of Leon as Yuri calls him out, saying this is Leon’s chance for revenge. Leon ain’t going to play Yuri’s game and goes to leave but “evil” Yuri is back as he lays Leon down. Yuri pretty much tells Leon how it is: Leon isn’t really the Shinigami everyone thinks he is but in reality, an coward too afriad to complete the Angel’s Act. Yuri goes on to say Leon never wanted Sophie to finish training and was in fact relived when she died. Leon is too shocked and pissed for words as Yuri continues with it is similar with Sora; Leon must have saw the raw talent Sora had but hoped by putting her through the Angel’s Act training she’ll eventually break yet didn’t. Yuri gloats Leon more and more, Leon finally cracking and goes charging at Yuri with the fencing sword. The battle is on! Around this time Sora, May, and Rosetta are walking in when they hear the battle and run to check out what’s going on. They’re shocked to see Yuri and Leon fighting as the two go out non-stop showing some impressive skills (awesome fight scene, period). Yuri and Leon eventually end up on the new swing thingie Yuri had plan for use for Swam Lake, Leon getting an hit on him. Sora can’t take it anymore and goes up to stop them, performing the weightless-in-air part of the Angel’s Act perfectly (okay, mad corny with the tears overflowing and “holy glow” there). She stops the two as Sora tells the two she doesn’t care which will be her partner, but no fighting on the stage. It’s all too sad and can’t they hear the stage cry too Sora continues on as it triggers memories for Leon of Sophie’s last moments alive. Basically Leon promises Sophie that he’ll complete the Angel’s Act etc etc etc. Remembering the promise finally seems to break Leon as some self-realizations come in. Yuri then mutters it would have been okay if he died, as it would have been an way to make it up to Sophie’s death. This sort of shocks eveyone there as Yuri tells how Leon needed a way for his “time” to start again as every since Sophie’s death Leon hasn’t truly moved on. Also that only Leon can be Sora’s partner for the Angel’s Act as he’s perfect for it or something. Out of nowhere, Layla comes in saying “so this why you called me.” Layla goes on with it doesn’t matter what happened in the past with Yuri, their win at the Circus Festival was still a win. Layla’s also says how she doesn’t believe in making an conflict free stage but that she has left something important behind on the stage. Her last words are to Yuri that not to worry, Leon wil be Sora’s partner as Layla leaves. Yuri tells Leon this is his last chance to keep his promise while Leon looks at Sora, seeing Sophie right next to her.

Kaleido Star delivers ten fold. Having this episode as an setup for the final act and clearing up some questions from the previous ones worked well in my opinion. Whether from the short Cathy camero to May “growing up” to Leon and Yuri’s past, I was left on the edge of my seat wanting more! Also with Layla’s last message of “leaving something important on the stage,” I’m so hoping for Layla to do a last stunt as part of the Kaleido Stage cast. Now with only seven episodes plus a short one-shot OVA episode left, it’s killing me waiting for the rest of Kaleido Star to come in whatever translated form. It’s almost tempting to try to find the raws and watch the rest even though I’ll probably be clueless to what’s going on.

Once again, blast you creators of Kaleido Star for making such an addicting series the likes of which I’ve never seen before. Now I sort of want to pick up the rest of the first season on DVD right now. You bastards, hehe