[REQ] Kaleido Star

In Valen`s Name · 2012-04-24 01:07

Hello,

My request is for the second season of Kaleido Star, which starts from episode 27+ (the first season has already been released in DVD-quality by another group, though you're welcome to do this part again if you can improve on the quality/screen size, or just for verisimilitude's sake). The second season of this awesome series hasn't been released fully in DVD quality yet, which is the reason for my request.

Info links:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=635
http://www.animenfo.com/animetitle,1202,oxrwad,kaleido_star.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaleido_Star

Summary:

From AniDB:
Naegino Sora is a 16 year old girl who yearns for the "Kaleido Stage" she once saw with her now deceased parents. And so, alone she sets off to America from Japan to go for an audition.

However, Sora arrives at the audition late and misses her chance of a lifetime... But that is just the start of the challenges that she must face to become a top entertainer. As she works hard on beautiful stages and goes through times of discouragement, the conscience of a professional awakens in her.
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From Wikipedia:
In the second season Sora returns to the stage after attempting the Legendary Great Maneuver with Layla. This leaves Layla's shoulder injured and unable to perform. The absence of her co-star, having retired to further a career in Broadway productions, prompts a slight decline of the Kaleido Stage. Because of this Kalos brings in a new recruit, Leon Oswald (a lofty trapeze artist). It seems at first that Leon is reminded very much of someone due to Sora's presence, and at times this causes him to either be really rude or really sweet to Sora.

Despite this, however, Leon disapproves Sora as worthy of being on the stage with him. This leads to the most talented of the new Kaleido Stage recruits (the Chinese May Wong, who is also an ex-figure skater deciding to compete against Sora) to question and challenge Sora's position as Leon's partner and star of the show.

Sora's first goal in the season is to attend the circus festival in Paris, but the competitors will do anything to attain the title of 'festival winner': betray, deceive, or even attack their opposers. The atmosphere and attitude this creates does not bode kindly to Sora's carefree, optimistic, ultra-idealistic outlook. It in turn causes her to withdraw from the competition in the middle of her act (or the Angel Act) with the redeemed Yuri Killian, leaving her friends, family and Layla confused and otherwise disappointed with Sora.

Most of the season concentrates on Sora finding, questioning, and pursuing new dreams. After many trials and rejections, Sora eventually aims to become a "True Kaleido Star" while creating a fun, conflict-free stage, the complete opposite of what she experiences at the festival in Paris.
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My own remarks:
If you haven't seen this series yet, I consider it right up there in the top 10 best anime series of all time (at least it's on mine, along with 12 Kingdoms, Hikaru no Go, Great Teacher Onizuka, Seirei no Moribito and The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi [Season 1 only]). The first season of Kaleido Star is simply terrific, especially when we get to the first-season finale and we get to see the Legendary Great Maneuver. The second season, meanwhile, starts with a much darker tone to the story that builds to something even more amazing, so that by the end, the grand finale (and its Angel's Act) are simply the best ending to a series I've ever seen anywhere (no other series comes close to it). This is why I'm requesting for the DVD-quality release of this series from your group. Thank you!