𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕟𝕚𝕞𝕖 ℂ𝕝𝕦𝕓-- a chatroom for anime fans--

Alright so...what. Okay, the details are a little fuzzy to remember so honestly I might have to rewatch but it seems that Hikari and Karen managed to change the ending of Starlight so that it's a happy one? Honestly this is still boggling my mind, like it kinda feels like a huge mish-mash of parallels like 'hey were you paying attention cause everything we've fed you up until this point is i m p o r t a n t cause it all lines up with the play' and like,,, it's cool and flashy and all but I still can't figure out why? Like, how did we get here? How did we get to the point where Hikari somehow needs to 'atone for her sins' or something. Like,,,WHAT? The religious implications seem entirely out of left-field for me, like what what what. 

I feel like I understood what was going on for the majority of the anime. And sure fundamentals like 'how does the Revue work' didn't make sense and they didn't really need to, but that last episode threw my grasp of the situation out the window. Maybe I'm being dramatic and maybe if I watched it a second time I would get it, but that's just how I feel about it for now. 

I will give it some positives though in that tying everything back to Starlight did give everything a sense of unity, like a complete story, even if I don't understand the how's and why's. The visuals and symbolism were amazingly cool, and the scene in the desert was really intriguing. I read the comments (just to see how people felt) and everyone was freaking out about how the giraffe started talking straight to the camera, to us, and basically revealed that he was representing the audience, watching the Revue and always wanting an unpredictable interesting stage. 

The giraffe is also very interesting to me and I feel like there's something there to think about, idk I still have to process all of this lol

I agree with basically everything you just said. Personally I wasn't disappointed by the ending, but I wasn't really impressed either. Maybe I was expecting too much, but oh well. It was satisfying, at least. And a happy ending.

The religious implications would have been okay if they had hinted at them earlier in the story, and if Hikari's "sin" was actually something to atone for. I still don't understand what she actually did that was technically wrong. Is it the fact that she put herself in the Revue? I don't see how that's a "sin", and it was never even considered a problem until after the final revue. It didn't make sense, so I just kinda ignored that part.

As for the craziness of the last episode, I just kinda interpreted it as "since the revue stage rearranges itself based on the person's inner thoughts and desires, then that's what is happening here" So I guess it kinda makes sense that Hikari's "destined stage" would be an endless reenactment of the Starlight play. Karen was using the stage to her advantage in order to rewrite a better ending for her and Hikari. But I'm dumb and not that great at interpreting hidden meanings in things so I could be wrong on that.

Lol I actually forgot what the giraffe said in that last episode when he was facing the camera, because I was too busy thinking "stop staring at me, that's creepy" But usually what he says is very vague anyways. It could have been important though, should probably watch it again just to see.

Overall Revue Starlight was really great, and the Revue fight scenes were the biggest highlight for me. I'd definitely go back and watch the show again, because like you said the symbolism, visuals, and parallels to the Starlight play were all just fantastic and enjoyable. And I can't get the insert songs out of my head either, lol. This show is so underrated and should be one of the top anime of the year.