Kirarin Revolution

Kirarin Revolution
File:Kirarin Revolution OP 1.jpg
きらりん☆レボリューション (Kirarin Reboryūshon)
Genre	Romantic comedy
Manga
Written by	An Nakahara
Published by	Shogakukan
Magazine	Ciao Magazine
Demographic	Shōjo
Original run	March 2004 – June 2009
Volumes	14
Anime
Kirarin Revolution Kirarin Revolution STAGE 3
Directed by	Masaharu Okuwaki
Studio	SynergySP G&G Entertainment
Released	7 April 2006 – 27 March 2009
Games
List of Kirarin Revolution games

Kirarin Revolution (きらりん☆レボリューション, Kirarin Reboryūshon, lit. "Sparkling Revolution") is a Japanese shōjo manga by An Nakahara. The show's title is actually based on a phrase her manager uses during the idol contest between Kirari and Aoi. As of August 2007, it runs in the shōjo magazine Ciao published by Shogakukan. It won the 2007 Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga.

The anime adaptation is a Japan and South Korea coproduction, and it premiered on April 7 2006 in Japan on TV Tokyo and is ongoing as of April 2008. Starting from episode 103, this show is aired in High-Definition 16:9 with 3D animation and ended on March 27th, 2009. Its airring time was 18:00-18:30 on Fridays. A variety program named 'Sakiyomi JumBANG!' took its place on the TV schedule.

Story

Kirari Tsukishima, a gluttonous 14-year-old beauty, is a girl who does not care about idols and the entertainment world because her mind is occupied by food. Her obsession with food only causes her to be clueless about love. One day, after saving a turtle that is stranded in a tree, Kirari meets a handsome and gentle boy named Seiji, who gives her a ticket to a SHIPS (a popular idol group) concert to show his gratitude for her saving his pet. Kirari then storms off to the concert and runs into another boy, who tears up her ticket and warns her to stay away from Seiji because she and Seiji live in different worlds. The outraged Kirari then sneaks into the concert, only to discover that Seiji and the boy who tore her ticket, named Hiroto, are actually members of SHIPS. Finally understanding the meaning of "different worlds" (Seiji is a popular idol while she is an average middle school student), Kirari refuses to give up. Filled with determination to be with Seiji, she declares that she will also become an idol.

Characters

Main characters

Kirari Tsukishima (月島きらり, Tsukishima Kirari)

Voiced by: Koharu Kusumi, Drama CD voice by: Miyu Matsuki

• Age: 14
• Favorite food: Crepe and many others

Kirari is a cute and gluttonous 14 year old girl who strives to be an idol. In the beginning she only wanted to be an idol so she can get closer to Seiji, but now she really likes show business. Like a lot of shōjo heroines, she is clumsy, dense, overly trusting of others, and lacks common sense. She is also inexperienced at sewing, cooking and some other household chores. Despite her shortcomings and lack of talents, she manages to persevere because of the help she receives from SHIPS and her cat, Naa-san, and because of her unwavering spirit and resilience. Kirari appears to have the ability to understand, not simply the common pets such as her own pet Nā-san which appear throughout the series, but actual animals too (in character with the show, nobody notices or makes a fuss about this point). Also, she has a unique characteristic of turning all artistic designs into mushroom shapes. Over the course of the show she not only becomes an idol, but also performs a series of odd jobs to promote her company (or in some cases to accidents) such as being a part of a variety show, a manager for other talents (her first job), an actress, a policewoman, a circus clown, a manga artist, and even the pink ranger. She is also a member of the idol unit Kira☆Pika which consists of her and another girl who is talented but has stage fright. Later she start another group known as Milky Way with 2 other girls. As the series progresses, Kirari starts to realize that she actually likes Hiroto but continues also having feelings for Seiji too.In Kirarin Revolution Stage 3, episode 129,a new male idol appears and starts to like Kirari.

Name Origin: Tsukishima means "Moon Island" and "Kirari" is an onomatopoeia for shining.

Nā-san (なーさん, Na-san)

Voiced by: Chigusa Ikeda, Drama CD voice by: Kumiko Higa

Kirari's cat. He is an outstanding cat that can sew, cook, and do other chores. Na-san has received recognition for his intelligence and singing abilities. He even knows how to repair vending machines. As a mascot character to the heroine, he provides a lot of help to Kirari and protects her from danger (such as when Hiroto gets too close to Kirari, Na-san hits/covers Hiroto's face). At the same time, it is also shown that he is a genius cat which excels in both english and mathematics. His favorite food is taiyaki.

Name Origin: He says "na."

Hiroto Kazama (風真 宙人, Kazama Hiroto)

Voiced by: Akio Suyama (episodes 1-102), Takuya Ide (episodes 103-) Drama CD voice by: Masaki Mimoto

• Age: 14
• Favorite food: Grilled Meat and Cooked Pork

A member of SHIPS. In contrast to Seiji, he is brutally honest with Kirari and even calls her stupid, but he is usually the one who ends up helping her in sticky situations. He later falls in love with Kirari as you can see him blush in front of Kirari (who doesn't notice). On episode 24, to disguise both of them, he hugs her at the beach (which causes Kirari to blush and start to think...). He is the oldest of 5 brothers and is excellent at doing chores. Hiroto is jealous of the new coming male idol.

Name Origin: "kaza" refers to wind, "hiro" refers to the universe

Seiji Hiwatari (日渡 星司, Hiwatari Seiji)

Voiced by: Souichiro Hoshi (episodes 1-102), Shikou Kanai (episodes 103-) Drama CD voice by: Wataru Hatano

• Age: 14
• Favorite food: candy Seaweed and Japanese food

A member of SHIPS, as well as Kirari's love interest. He is very rich. His parents disagree with him being an idol. Throughout the beginning of the series, he seems oblivious to Kirari's feelings, but by episode 12 he begins to portray feelings of jealousy over Hiroto's and Kirari's friendly relationship. He knows that Kirari and Hiroto love each other and that his feelings towards Kirari are not as deep as Hiroto's feelings towards her. He is gentle and says very encouraging words to Kirari. Since he is as dense as her, he always has a calm and clueless expression. When he is wandering around in the city, he disguises himself as an otaku. In episode 125, he hugged Kirari. This may be showing that he may have feelings for Kirari too.

Name Origin: "hi" refers to day, "sei" refers to star

Friends and rivals

Noel Yukino (雪野 のえる, Yukino Noeru)

Voiced by: Sayaka Kitahara

Noel is a 14 years old tomboyish girl. She is very athletic girl and loves playing sports. She is a member of Milky Way.

On episode 133, it shows that long ago in grade school, she had loved Cloudy. After finding out that he was going to a dance with another girl, she never meets him again. On episode 135, she holds a grudge on Kirari for a while after mistaking Kirari to be kissing Cloudy.

Name Origin: "Yuki" means "snow" and "Noel" refers to Christmas

Cobeni Hanasaki (花咲 こべに, Hanasaki Kobeni)

Voiced by: Yuu Kikkawa

Cobeni is a strange 14 years old girl. She is usually seen with a crystal ball. She usually wears glasses. She is a member of Milky Way. However, she takes off her glasses when she is performing on stage with the other members of Milky Way, Kirari and Noel.

Hikaru Mizuki (観月ひかる, Mizuki Hikaru)

Voiced by: Mai Hagiwara

First appearing in episode 62, Hikaru was a 13 year old idol-in-training that was assigned to learn under Kirari's wing. Initially, Hikaru resented Kirari's influence, but later learned to admire her optimistic nature. Kirari and Hikaru later team up to form the idol unit Kira☆Pika, but the pair was shortly disbanded (It was a temporary unit). Hikaru continues her career as a soloist, and although it seemed like her friendship with Kirari was ruined in episode 77, they are still friends. Her childhood friend is Wataru.

Name Origin: "Hikaru" means light or bright, "Mizuki" means beautiful moon.

Aoi Kirisawa (霧沢 あおい, Kirisawa Aoi)

anime voice|Chiwa Saito

Dubbed the "idol queen", she is a popular idol. She is very polite and considerate. She advises Kirari to regard idols and fans equally since they share common feelings. Currently, Aoi is graduated from being an idol.

Name Origin: "kiri" refers to fog or mist, "sawa" refers to valley or swamp, "aoi" refers to indigo or blue

Arashi Amamiya (雨宮 嵐, Amamiya Arashi)

anime voice|Takafumi Kawakami

• Age: 14

Kirari's childhood friend who moved to Osaka. As an illusionist, he plays all sorts of tricks to get Kirari to quit the entertainment world so that she will fulfill their childhood promise of being his wife. Interestingly, the majority of his tricks involves the conjuring of various sea creatures. He tends to break into explosive nosebleeds when he comes into contact with anything related to Kirari.

Name Origin: "ama" refers to rain, "arashi" refers to storm

Erina Ogura (小倉 エリナ, Ogura Erina)

anime voice|Masako Jo

• Age: 14

Although she is an idol who belongs to the same company as Kirari, she views Kirari as a rival. Using her crybaby act and girlish charms, she manipulates others in order to interfere with Kirari's progress. Attends the same 'idol school' as Kirari, and formerly held the position of 'princess' in her class' popularity ranks (before Kirari transferred.) By the public, her idol status is barely acknowledged, and she is considered 'funny' over 'talented'. To boost her idol image, she attempts a gang thug image, complete with a kendo shinai and an austere-looking long skirt.

Fubuki Todou (藤堂 ふぶき, Todou Fubuki)

Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya

• Age: 14

She is one of Kirari's toughest rival. Having to recently gone from being a model to an idol, Fubuki regards Kirari as not fitting enough to be an idol herself. But in episode 26 she realizes that Kirari was the same girl who helped her answer the door to get their cats. Fubuki is friends with Kirari, but is still her rival.

Izumi Amakawa (天川 いずみ, Amakawa Izumi)

Voiced by: Yuzuki Ryoka

Izumi works in the same company as Fubuki and considers Kirari a rival for Hiroto's feelings. Although sweet and charming at first glance, Izumi plays a double standard and immediately shows hatred towards Kirari. Her feelings for Hiroto have brought her to the extent of stealing Hiroto's first kiss and injuring Kirari's leg; these feelings only intensified when Hiroto angrily demanded her not to touch Kirari. During a fashion show, Izumi's identity is revealed to be Hyoutarou Izumi, a childhood friend of Hiroto's. Back when the two were little, Hiroto promised to become an idol unit with him, but Hyoutarou's family moving separated them. Hyoutarou later realized that Hiroto had broken his promise and teamed up with Seiji, which led him to pursue Hiroto aggressively by becoming an idol under the guise of a girl. Although Hyoutarou's identity is revealed to Kirari, he becomes less of a physical threat to her; however, since he is gay his feelings for Hiroto still remain strong.

Akane Minami (南 あかね, Minami Akane)

Akane is an idol working for the Higashiyama company, the same company as Fubuki and Izumi. She is considered a top idol, at the top of the ranks with Kirisawa Aoi. She is very subservient to Higashiyama company, as they made her popular in spite of her inability to dance (after an injury she suffered at a young age). She will do mostly anything she is ordered, including sabotage Kirari's idoling career.

But although she appears to be like that, Akane also seems to have changed as suggested in several episodes such as in episode 71. Becoming a better person and most possibly a somewhat ally of Kirari's, Akane is changing into a good hearted character.

Miku (みく, Miku)

Voiced by: Kumiko Itou

One of Kirari's friends from her original school.

Sayaka (さやか, Sayaka)

Voiced by: Kaya Miyake

One of Kirari's friends from her original school.

Nii-kun

voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara

He is Noel's cat. He respects Naa-San.

Mii-tyan

voiced by Noriko Shitaya

She is Cobeni's cat. She loves taking a bath.

Family members

Takashi Tsukishima (月島 天, Tsukishima Takashi)

Voiced by: Chomenori Yamawaki

Kirari's doting father who brought up Kirari by himself. He cooks large amounts of food each day for Kirari. Although an easygoing and kind person, he is initially opposed to the idea that Kirari becomes an idol since he fears that their close father and daughter relationship will suffer. Later, however, he recognizes Kirari's seriousness regarding the idol business and begins to support her.

Name Origin: "takashi" refers to sky or high

Grandmother (おばあちゃん, Obaa-chan)

Voiced by: Masako Nozawa

Kirari's grandmother who gives Kirari her tone-deafness. She encourages Kirari to be an idol since she is a secret fan of SHIPS (particularly Hiroto). She is very attracted to Hiroto as seen in episode 34, due to the fact that he reminds her of her deceased husband. (But actually Hiroto is not at all like Kirari's grandfather). When she thinks about Hiroto, Hiroto starts to get a cold chill running through him.

Subaru Tsukishima (月島すばる, Tsukishima Subaru)

Voiced by: Shintaro Asanuma

Kirari's brother who currently resides in America with the hope of having his own idol debut. He currently studies acting in New York. Kirari looks up to him very much. He has a cat, Mr. Na.

Urara Tsukishima / Luna (ルナ, Runa)

Urara is Kirari's mother. She is a famous actress and Luna is her stage name. She first appears on episode 97.

Managers and producers

Chairman Muranishi (村西 社長, Muranishi Shachou)

Voiced by: Susumu Chiba

Chairman of the company that Kirari and SHIPS belong to. He recognizes the potential that Kirari possesses and makes a lot of arrangements before and after she becomes an idol. He believes idols should be dealt with as individuals, instead of treated as tools for their agencies.

Kasumi Kumoi (雲井 かすみ, Kumoi Kasumi)

Voiced by: Michiko Neya

Kirari's manager. Although externally a serious and humorless person, she is actually pleased by Kirari's willingness to do her best in every situation.

Name Origin: "kasumi" refers to haze, "kumo" refers to cloud

10 years earlier, she was an idol working for the Higashiyama company. Her previous name was Hoshino Kasumi.

Manager Shakujii (石神井 マネージャー, Shakujii Manager)

Voiced by: Hisayoshi Izaki

Erina's subservient manager who tries to fulfill Erina's every request.

Chairman Higashiyama (東山社長, Higashiyama Shachou)

Voiced by: Naoko Matsui

Chairman of the company of Fubuki and Rhinoceros. She happens to have a crush on Chairman Muranishi. Originally, she used dirty tactics to attempt to cause Kirarin's downfall, but after her best stars quit and Chairman Muranishi refuses to let her interfere with Kirari (he also begs her for help, on his hands and knees), she softens a bit and instead concentrates on making top quality stars rather than sabotaging her anymore.

Other animal mascots

Director Nezumi (ネズミ 会長, Nezumi kanchou)

The director of SHIPS and Kirari's company. Although he is a mouse, he plays an important role in choosing job for idols. He predicts the future by shaping a skull into a piece of cheese

Name Origin: "nezumi" refers to mouse

Kame-san (カメさん, Kame-san)

Seiji's pet turtle. Kirari believes in a childhood tale of Urashima Tarō who rescued a turtle, and the good things happened to him. Since Kirari rescued Kame-san, she met Seiji and started her "sparkling revolution." Kame-san was first seen stuck on a tree and Kirari saves him.

Name Origin: "kame" refers to turtle and is very cute

Na-yan (なーやん, Na-yan)

Voiced by: Miwa Kouzuki

Brother of Na-san. Kirari gave Na-yan to Arashi one week before he moved to Osaka. Na-yan is a magician's assistant and has the speed of a thief. He loves money, especially pennies.

Name Origin: His name is complementary to Na-san and he says "yan" since he grew up in Osaka

TanTan (たんたん, TanTan)

Voiced by: Koichi Sakaguchi

Erina's dog that shares the same nasty personality as her.

Mr. Na (Mr.なー, Mr. Na)

Voiced by: Megumi Shinkawa

Subaru's little cat raised in America. He loves to eat pizza.

Mya-san (みゃ～さん, Mya-san)

Voiced by: Hisayo Mochizuki

Fubuki's arrogant cat that loves to play pranks on others. He is actually Na-san and Na-yan's brother

ToriDoshi (とりどし, ToriDoshi)

Fubuki's pet chick with great strength.

Special Units

Kirari Tsukishima starring Koharu Kusumi (Morning Musume)- Koi Kana, Balalaika (2nd opening), Happy, Chance, Papancake, Mizuiro Melody, Olala, Sugao Flavor

SHIPS-Hikari no Naka e, LoveXMega, TokyoFriend*Ships, Kimi Ga Iru

MilkyWay-Anataboshi,Sansan GOGO, Tan Tan Taan!

Kira☆Pika-Hana wo Punn,Futari wa NS

Media

Main article: List of Kirarin Revolution media

Products

Toys

• Figures
  • Na-san
  • Kirari
    • School Uniform
    • Idol Clothes
    • Blue Dress

• Key Chains
  • Na-san
  • Nayan
  • Myaa-san
  • Kame-san

• Cards
  • Dress Cards

Only in Japan, Korea or Taiwan

• -*

External links

• Kirarin Revolution Official web site - Japan Template:Ja icon
• TV Tokyo Kirarin Revolution Official Homepage - Japan Template:Ja icon
• Kirarin Revolution ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia