Girls' Musical Revue Starlight) is a Japanese media franchise created in 2017 by Bushiroad, Nelke Planning and Kinema Citrus.

Over multiple school years, the characters are drawn together by these shared qualities despite their greatly different personalities and talents, while also coming into conflict in their pursuit to surpass each other.

In these revues, the Stage Girls sing seemingly spontaneously composed musical numbers, clash in largely hand-to-hand combat, and may even act out dramas, on an ever-changing set constructed by unmanned stagecraft.

A talking giraffe, as well as, eventually, other denizens of the underground theatre, preside over the revues, all seeking to witness the unpredictable scenes that will play out on stage each time.

Five students from Rinmeikan Girls School, an institution specializing in traditional theatre of Japan, debuted in 2018 as additional main characters in the mobile game.

Five students from Siegfeld Institute of Music, an elite school fostering strong competition, debuted in 2018 as additional main characters in the mobile game.

They have also released two singles, performed alongside Starlight Kuku Gumi in their third concert, and starred in a Siegfeld-focused stage play with guest appearances from each other school.

Three students from Seiran General Arts Institute debuted in 2018 in the franchise's second numbered stage play, before being added to the mobile game as additional main characters.

[16] A manga adaptation of the musical drawn by Tsubaki Ayasugi, titled Butai Revue Starlight: Show Must Go On (舞台 レヴュースタァライト SHOW MUST GO ON), and a 4-panel manga series by Makimaki Mawaru, Yonkoma Starlight (よんこま すたぁらいと), both began serialization in Bushiroad's Monthly Bushiroad magazine from January 6, 2018.

[17] A third manga written by Kanata Nakamura and illustrated by Sora Goto, Shōjo Kageki Revue Starlight Overture (少女☆歌劇 レヴュースタァライト オーバーチュア), began serialization in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Comic magazine from January 30, 2018.

Nana defeated even Maya to win the auditions, and wished to relive the first-year Starlight, causing time to rewind to the start of the previous school year.

While studying in London, Hikari diligently worked to fulfill her promise with Karen, but was tempted by the giraffe into an audition where she ultimately lost to a fellow classmate.

On the final day of the auditions, Karen and Hikari revisit Tokyo Tower, recalling how they embodied their promise there by trading hair barrettes.

Karen forces the revue to continue, conceiving a new ending in which Flora reunites with Claire, and reaches Hikari by summoning Tokyo Tower onto the stage as a bridge.

[26][27][28] The second is a brand-new anime film, entitled after the series itself, was planned to premiere on May 21, 2021,[29][30][31] but was delayed to June 4, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the extension of Japan's state of emergency period.

Before the end credits, Nana, in the underground theatre, notices the red star props suspended overhead as a portent of death.

As they enter their graduating year, all but a few of the Stage Girls of Seisho's 99th class intend to apply to the top national theatrical troupe.

Detached and without exertion, Nana dispatches nearly everyone, posing cryptic questions about their future that only Maya seems to comprehend (Revue of Annihilation, "wi(l)d-screen baroque"), and leaving them playing out a graphic tableau of death.

After receiving the unfinished Starlight script for their graduating performance, featuring new lines calling for change and rebirth, the Stage Girls arrive at understandings of Nana's exhortations.

In the underground theatre, Kaoruko, as a bakuto, deals a game of chō-han at an illicit gambling den in a Shinto shrine complex.

She faces off against Futaba, as a sukajan-clad delinquent, as both crash dekotora trucks through the walls (Revue of Malice, "わがままハイウェー"Wagamama Highway).

Nana coldly scorns Junna's retreat from performance to study theatre in university, offering a blade as if to prompt seppuku.

After futilely attempting to ensnare Nana in a labyrinth paved in famous quotations while raining down arrows and copies of the character 星 (hoshi, lit.

Battling obstinately through spotlit haze, Junna steps onto an unseen position zero and defeats Nana through her shocked denial.

Confronted by Hikari on a train platform high above the clouds, the giraffe drops a tomato before bursting into flame and falling to the desert far below.

A reborn Karen emerges from the box in front of Hikari, and both are paraded in ostentatious displays of stage lighting (The Final Lines, "スーパー スタァ スペクタクル", Super Star Spectacle).

At first, the Stage Girls battle collectively against forces causing Starlight, as well as other plays treasured by each school, to be forgotten by the general public.

In late 2019, after the game cast performed the real-life "Starry Diamond" concert, including six original revue songs by mixed ensembles between the four schools, the game launched stories, events, and characters depicting the Stage Girls competing in a series of Greek mythology and constellation-themed revues using these songs.

In Arcana Arcadia, the Stage Girls return to the underground theatre, performing in a new audition to inspire a future play yet to be written by Elle, and to compete for the yet-unknown leading role.

The game also launched time-limited cross-promotional events for franchises including Hatsune Miku, BanG Dream!, Love Live!