Arriving in the U.S. from Japan, 16-year-old Sora does what lots of kids only fantasize about: she runs away and joins the circus. Lucking into an audition with the Kaleido Stage, a kind of Ringling Brothers meets Cirque du Soleil outfit, Sora finds adventure in making new friends and building her own self-confidence in Kaleido Star, a standard anime effort featuring lots of girls with enormous, limpid eyes screaming at one another and getting red in the face. As is often the case in the “magical girl” genre, there's a bit of supernatural hokum here with a talking doll (who turns out to be the "Spirit of the Stage") that "befriends" Sora and goads her regularly to follow her dreams, all part and parcel of the overt you-go-girl stuff in this harmless flight of fancy. Rated 12-up, this dual-language disc compiling the first five episodes, with bonus clean opening/closing animation and production sketches, is optional. [Note: Kaleido Star: All Things Great & Small, Vol. 2 is also newly available.] Aud: P. (M. Johanson)
Kaleido Star: Welcome to the Kaleido Stage! Vol. 1
(2004) 125 min. DVD: $29.98. ADV Films (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. ISBN: 1-57813-694-6. Volume 19, Issue 4
Kaleido Star: Welcome to the Kaleido Stage! Vol. 1
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