Kirarin Revolution (Japanese: きらりん☆レボリューション, Hepburn: Kirarin Reboryūshon) is a Japanese manga series by An Nakahara. The series ran in the shōjo manga magazine Ciao from March 2004 to June 2009, with side stories running in Pucchigumi in 2006. The manga has sold a cumulative total of over 10 million copies. It was awarded Best Children's Manga at the 2006 Shogakukan Manga Awards.
An anime adaptation premiered on April 7, 2006, in Japan on TV Tokyo and ran for 102 episodes until March 28, 2008. A second season with the subtitle Kirarin Revolution Stage 3 (きらりん☆レボリューションSTAGE3, Kirarin Reboryūshon Stage 3) aired from April 8, 2008, to March 27, 2009, in high-definition and 3D animation. The anime series stars Morning Musume member Koharu Kusumi, and during the show's run, she released music and made crossover appearances at concerts and television shows as the character. Starting with Kirarin Revolution Stage 3, additional cast members joined her in music activities, such as MilkyWay and Ships.
Plot
Kirari Tsukishima, a 14-year-old beauty, does not care about idols and the entertainment world because her mind is occupied by food. One day, after saving a turtle stranded in a tree, Kirari meets a boy named Seiji, who gives her a ticket to a concert to show his gratitude for her saving his pet. However, when Kirari shows up at the concert, another boy named Hiroto, tears up her ticket and warns her to stay away from Seiji, because they both live in different worlds. Kirari learns that Seiji and Hiroto are members of the idol group Ships. Finally understanding the meaning of "different worlds", Kirari refuses to give up pursuing Seiji and declares that she will also become an idol. However, being an idol requires tons of training and talent. Faced with rivals and scandals, Kirari is determined to come out as a top idol.
Characters
Main characters
Kirari Tsukishima (月島 きらり, Tsukishima Kirari)
Voiced by: Miyu Matsuki (drama CD), Koharu Kusumi (anime)
Kirari is a beautiful 14-year-old girl who strives to be an idol to become closer to Seiji. She has a huge appetite for food. Despite her shortcomings and lack of talents, she manages to persevere as a result of the help she receives from her friends and her unwavering resilience. As time passes and she spends time with Hiroto, she begins to fall in love with him instead.
Na-san (なーさん, Nā-san)
Voiced by: Kumiko Higa (drama CD), Chigusa Ikeda (anime)
Na-san is Kirari's cat who acts competent and intelligent. He provides a lot of help to Kirari and protects her from danger.
Hiroto Kazama (風真 宙人, Kazama Hiroto)
Voiced by: Masaki Mimoto (drama CD), Akio Suyama (episodes 1-102), Takuya Ide (episodes 103-153)
Hiroto is a member of boy band Ships. Hiroto acts honest and strict towards Kirari. Despite how he treats her, he falls in love with her. Although he supports Kirari's feelings for Seiji throughout the series, he often worries about her when she faces difficult situations and is usually the one who helps her out.
Seiji Hiwatari (日渡 星司, Hiwatari Seiji)
Voiced by: Wataru Hatano (drama CD), Souichiro Hoshi (episodes 1-102), Shikou Kanai (episodes 103-153)
Seiji is a member of boy band Ships. He is gentle and air-headed, and Kirari compares him to a prince. He has a pet turtle named Kame-san (カメさん).
Stage 3 characters
Noel Yukino (雪野 のえる, Yukino Noeru)
Voiced by: Sayaka Kitahara
Noel is an original character created for the anime and part of the idol unit MilkyWay. She is an athletic girl who loves playing sports. She is in love with her childhood friend, Cloudy. She owns a pet cat named Ni-kun (にーくん, Nī-kun; Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara), who used to be the leader of a gang in his cat town and joins Mi-chan and Na-san in their own idol unit, Triangle.
Kobeni Hanasaki (花咲 こべに, Hanasaki Kobeni)
Voiced by: You Kikkawa
Kobeni is an original character created for the anime and part of the idol unit MilkyWay. Kobeni is usually seen with a crystal ball. She owns a pet cat named Mi-chan (みーちゃん, Mī-chan; Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya), who used to live in luxury and joins Ni-kun and Na-san in their own idol unit, Triangle.
Recurring characters
Arashi Amamiya (雨宮 嵐, Amamiya Arashi)
Voiced by: Takafumi Kawakami
Arashi is Kirari's childhood friend and an illusionist who moved to Osaka when they were six. He tries to get Kirari to quit the entertainment world so that she will fulfill their childhood promise of being his wife. He owns a pet cat named Na-yan (なーやん, Nā-yan; Voiced by: Miwa Kouzuki), who is Na-san's brother.
Erina Ogura (小倉 エリナ, Ogura Erina)
Voiced by: Masako Jo
Erina is an idol who belongs to the same company as Kirari, yet views her Kirari as a rival and manipulates others in order to interfere with Kirari's progress. She attends the same school as Kirari, and formerly held the position of princess in her class' popularity ranks before Kirari transferred. She has a pet dog named TanTan (たんたん, Tantan; Voiced by: Koichi Sakaguchi).
Fubuki Todo (藤堂 ふぶき, Tōdō Fubuki)
Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya
Fubuki is a former model who transitioned into being an idol. She first dismisses Kirari, but she later regards her as a worthy friend and rival. Because Fubuki comes from a wealthy family and has experienced fame since childhood, she is viewed as spoiled and confidant. She owns a pet cat named Mya-san (みゃ～さん, Myā-san; Voiced by: Hisayo Mochizuki), who is Na-san and Na-yan's brother, and a pet chick named ToriDoshi (とりどし, Toridoshi), who has great physical strength.
Izumi Amakawa (天川 いずみ, Amakawa Izumi) / Hyotaro Izumi (和泉氷太郎, Izumi Hyōtarō)
Voiced by: Ryoka Yuzuki
Izumi is an idol working in the same company as Fubuki and views Kirari a rival for Hiroto's feelings, manipulating staff members and the media in order to keep Kirari away from him. Izumi's identity is revealed as Hiroto's childhood friend, Hyotaro, who had become an idol disguised as a girl after they had both promised each other to become idols as children. He owns a pet cat named Yoka-san (よかっさん, Yokassan; Voiced by: Chiemi Miyata), who wears glasses and has a crush on Na-san.
Cloudy (クラウディ, Kuraudi)
Voiced by: Toru Baba
Cloudy is a new idol working for the Higashiyama Company. He flirts with Kirari as part of the company's orders to sabotage Kirari's career, but he soon falls in love with her for real and eventually quits his company. He apologizes Kirari for sabotaging her so much to the point where she couldn't take it. He also says that he will return to someone's fan and support Kirari as an idol. His real name is Kiriya Hayami (流水霧也, Hayami Kiriya).
Aoi Kirisawa (霧沢 あおい, Kirisawa Aoi)
Voiced by: Chiwa Saito
Aoi is an original character created for the anime. Dubbed the "idol queen", she is a popular idol. She acts very kind and helpful, and is Nojo's 15th top idol winner. Aoi graduates from being an idol and travels around the world pursuing a new career in music, but she and Kirari remain good friends.
Hikaru Mizuki (観月 ひかる, Mizuki Hikaru)
Voiced by: Mai Hagiwara
Hikaru is an original character created for the anime. She is an idol trainee who Kirari mentors and forms the idol unit Kira Pika with her. At first, she acts rude towards Kirari, considering her as some sort of fool. However, she starts to respect her as she teaches her important lessons and helps her out whenever she struggles. The two eventually become close friends and Hikaru thanks Kirari for all her help at last. Afterwards, Hikaru continues her career as a solo singer after their last concert as Kira Pika ends.
Family members
Takashi Tsukishima (月島 天, Tsukishima Takashi)
Voiced by: Chomenori Yamawaki
Takashi is Kirari's doting father who brought up Kirari by himself. Although he is an easygoing person, he initially opposes the idea of Kirari becoming an idol, but he begins to support her after seeing how serious she is about her career.
Subaru Tsukishima (月島 すばる, Tsukishima Subaru)
Voiced by: Shintaro Asanuma
Subaru is Kirari's brother who resides in America with the hope of having his own idol debut and currently studies acting in New York. He owns a pet cat named Mr. Na (Mr.なー, Mr. Nā; Voiced by: Megumi Shinkawa), who he found at Fifth Avenue.
Grandmother (おばあちゃん, Obaa-chan)
Voiced by: Masako Nozawa
Kirari's grandmother is an original character created for the anime. She encourages Kirari to be an idol since she is a secret fan of Ships, particularly Hiroto.
Luna (ルナ, Runa) / Urara Tsukishima (月島うらら, Tsukishima Urara)
Luna is an original character created for the anime. She is Kirari's mother and a famous actress under the stage name Luna (ルナ, Runa). She asks Kirari to go to Hollywood with her but Kirari refuses and decides to remain in Japan, continuing to be an idol.
Managers and producers
Chairman Muranishi (村西 社長, Muranishi-shachō)