Kaleido Star/Headscratchers

Kendra Kirai: So I'm watching the second season now, about halfway through it, and Sora has just been unable to trust Leon to catch her. And they're saying SHE is the one to blame because she 'lacks power'?! When your life literally depends on your partner to catch you, and he has shown (VERY RECENTLY I might add) quite willing to LET GO with no safety net beneath you, of COURSE there's going to be trust issues! And they're saying it's WRONG for her not to trust the bastard who purposely DROPPED his previous partner, then grabbed her arm just in time for her shoulder to be seriously injured?!

What.

The.

FUCK.

-- A very angry Kendra Kirai

Pretty much exactly what I was gonna say too. And no, your tragic backstory does not absolve anyone of this.

-- A similarly angry K.o.R

-- Agreed re: Leon's despicable behaviour, but some discussion about it:

The test was if Sora was willing to die in order to compete at the Circus Festival/to be Leon's partner. Now, previously, Sora WAS willing to risk death in the Legendary Great Maneuver with Layla to rescue the Kaleido Stage. It's one of the principles of the show's ethos: a good performer HAS to be willing to take risks. And the Circus Festival is also one without a net.

I do think that Sora's choice deserved more credit than she got for it. She took the risk in the Legendary Great Maneuver out of SELFLESS motives: to save the Stage, to be with Layla, to give the audience a true show. And she doesn't want to take a similar risk for the SELFISH reason of participating in a competition. (And it's mentioned later that Leon wanted her to fail because HE was afraid of SORA.) It was perfectly in character for Sora not to value a competition as much as saving the Stage, but it does show in contrast with May that May IS willing to risk her life to take part in the Festival, and that's why May got in as Leon's partner. But in the end, May's motives are selfish, Leon's self-absorbed by his own issues and his behaviour is extremely selfish and abusive, and Sora's the one who's truly willing to give of herself to help the audience and her fellow cast members.

Thirded. Nor does the fact that this was supposed to be a rehearsal for a new performance (If you don't get it, keep watching). If doing the routine wrong can get your partner killed, you shouldn't be using it as a 'test' to see who's worthy of being your partner.


 * In answer to the above, the entire second enfuriating season of Kaleido Star is a massive and stupid Xanatos Roulette by all the higher-ups (Carlos, Mr. Kenneth, Sarah, presumably Layla, etc.) to bring out Sora's "full, true potential" and turn her into the "true Kaleido Star". It's utter and complete bullcacky, but that's the explanation. Despite having SINGLE-HANDEDLY saved the Kaleido Stage and everyone's hoped and careers, Carlos more than anyone, redeeming half the cast, and hooking Carlos up with Sarah finally, to say nothing of SURPASSING Layla's level of acrobatics and suceeding at the Legendary Act that no one had ever completed before, Carlos and the others decide that by ganging up on her, treating her like crap and demeaning her, demoting her, acting as if she's no better than when she first joined, and letting people like the borderline psychotic and completely disruptive Leon and the insanely jealous and arrogant May simply join and surpass everything that Sora had grittingly earned through hard work, blood, and and sweat despite them not syncing or fitting in at the Kaleido Stage at all and standing completely in opposition to everything it itself stands for....That Sora will magically overcome and achieve a level of acrobatic excellence farther than anyone else has before just to spite them.

The fact that this works, and that she isn't showered with the gillions of accolades that, say, Layla enjoyed when she's surpassed her and done more for the stage than anyone else, had this troper raging for weeks afterwards. If there's a trope that's directly opposed to the Karma Houdini, where someone good doesn't get what's coming to them, Sora is the prime example.

Alright, here's mine. As far as I know, you never perform on the trapeze without a safety net. People CAN and WILL die if that safety net isn't there! I'm only halfway into the second season, and I've seen it happen four times now. The last two times people fell and got hospitalized (they should have died from that height, honestly), the second time was mentioned above with May. The first time it happened though...well...It's the Legendary Great Maneuver / Mystical Act, that one is slightly permissable. Slightly. --A very bugged Magicwings
 * You'd actually be wrong here. This is a very frequent (and cheap) trick to cap off an acrobatics performance. Rather than end the performance on a complex and potentially dangerous maneuver even WITH the net, they'll often remove the net and do something far simpler to create a sense of real danger to wow the audience with. And yes, this stunt occasionally gets said acrobats killed.

Here's another: you know how the whole beginning of season 2 Leon gets these flashbacks that compare Sora to a gorgeous angel- like girl? most people (including this troper) thought that girl was his long lost love or something. I mean' the time he knocks Sora out of a car's way, it really looks like he's this close to kissing her (the only thing presumably stopping him was a potentially young audience), and after all the hints, it turns out that the girl is his SISTER?! come on' if it was a live show, I'd call Leon a very over- the- top actor.
 * Or he just loves his sister THAT much.

This is stupid and probably a coincidence but it will not leave me alone until I say it. Why are her two best friends called Anna and Mia in a show about gymnastics?
 * My...just...BWAH! This somehow makes sense...