I reviewed Kaleido Star when it was first released in 2004 and found it to be quite enjoyable and fun and highly recommended it. Fellow anime reviewer Don Houston reviewed the boxed set of the first season and thought that it was "a quality show all the way around." My hopes were high for the second season. Since the first set wrapped up the main storyline, where would they take the show? Unfortunately the answer is nowhere new. In this season they set up things so that Sora has another rival, actually two this time, but after this time it doesn't seem natural and real. They have really forced to plot past the breaking point to set up the season and made the first volume one a big disappointment.

Series Background:

In the first season of Kaleido Star, Sora Naegino travels to the US from Japan to chase her dream, joining the world famous Kaleido Stage. Though she's talented, young Sora has to prove herself to the current Kaleido Stage cast, especially the star, Lala Hamilton. Over the corse of the season, Sora's skills grow and she slowly wins over the cast with her energetic personality and never-say-die attitude. She even wins over the stuck up Layla. In the end Sora becomes the star's partner and the two of them manage to preform the Legendary Great Maneuver, the ultimate trapeze stunt that leaves the crowd speechless. While preforming it though, Layla breaks her arm very badly and has to quite the stage. Layla hands over the staring role to Sora, and puts the care of Kaleido Stage in her capable hands.

This Season:

After the first two episodes that retell the events of the first season, the latest chapter in Sora's life begins. With Layla gone, Kaleido Stage is having a tough time of it. The crowds are still a bit thin, and to boost attendance the management hire Leon Oswald, the world's greatest trapeze artist. Leon's even more stuck on himself than Layla ever was. On opening night he decides that the talent of the performers, especially Sora, is lacking and leaves in the middle of his first scene. So Sora decides to save the show by preforming both roles, hers and Leon's, for the rest of the show. To make matters worse, a new rival jumps on stage during the closing number and challenges Sora's right to headline at the Kaleido Stage. (My gosh, where was security? Do they let just anyone jump in and take part in the show??) May Wong was the highest scoring candidate in this year's crop of applicants to the Stage, and she insists that she's going to be the next Layla Hamilton.

I really enjoyed the first season of this show, and highly recommended the series when it first came out. I was looking forward to this sequel, and popped it into the DVD player as soon as it arrived. I'm sorry to say that I was sorely disappointed in the way this season's story has been unfolding so far. While the first season had realistic problems for Sora to overcome, this season I have trouble suspending my disbelief. The fact that the head of Kaleido Stage lets Leon come back after walking out in the middle of a show was pretty dumb especially after he said that he may walk out again, but to let him rewrite the shows and cut out Sora's part was ludicrous.

I also couldn't believe that everyone was treating May like a goddess even though she had only been with the Stage for a couple of days. She is instantly set up as Sora's equal even though she has no professional experience. To make matters worse, she commandeers equipment that Sora needs for her own use and no one seems to care.

The fact that both rivals hate Sora and constantly criticize her performances is puzzling too. Has everyone forgotten what she did in the last season? This time the series has lost the sense of fun and excitement that the original season had. They are trying to paint Sora as the underdog once again, but it's just coming across as being really stupid. It's too bad, because the first season was a lot of fun.

This DVD has a 2.0 Japanese soundtrack and a 5.1 English dub. The sound quality was very good in both tracks. The voices were clear and there wasn't any hiss or distortion. The English dub was more full and rich, being a 5.1 mix, but I enjoyed the Japanese dub a little bit more. I really disliked a couple of the voices on the English audio track. The actress who voices Sora in the English version has chosen an annoying voice for her. She sounds like a three year old, with a very high-pitched cutesy voice, and it gets old fairly quickly. The dorm leader Sarah's voice had a fake British accent that sounds incredibly inane. The other actors do a good job, but I still prefer the original language track.

Video:

I was very happy with the way this show looked. Being a recent show, the full frame picture was very good. The colors were bright and full, and the lines were tight. There was some light aliasing but this was minor it wasn't distracting. This is a nice looking show.

Extras:

The DVD comes with a clean opening and closing, and a three-minute reel of production sketches. There is also a five and a half minute featurette on Serena Varghese, in which the actress is followed to class at the University of Houston, and then we see her in the recording booth dubbing tracks for Kaleido Star. For some reason they never mention what she's majoring in, which I found a little odd. Final Thoughts:

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed the first season of this show, which is why I'm so disappointed that this second season is so weak. The plot is idiotic and the actions of most of the characters are unrealistic. It was really hard to sympathize with anyone this time around. Sora's insecurity was believable the first time around, but this time it isn't. She's more than proven herself, and the fact that she won't stick up for herself is rather irritating. I really wish this show was better, and while I hope it improves, I really doubt it will. There are too many quality shows out there to waste your time on this one. Skip it.