Shining Star is a 3D animated show that was produced in South Korea. It was licensed under Maro Studio and SM Entertainment, and premiered in October 2017. In 2019, the episodes were uploaded on YouTube.
This show follows Chae Nara, a klutzy girl who dreams of becoming an idol. Thanks to help from a person she meets named Jin, she auditions for Shining Star School, a school for idols. She manages to get in and meets See-a and Yena, and they form a unit. There are other idol units, too, with some being friendly, like Purple Queen, and some being rivals, like The Dolls.
A movie, Shining Star: Birth of Lunar Queen, was released in theaters on July 18th, 2019.
Shining Star provides examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Peach is this to Jin.
- Alliterative Title: Shining Star repeats the letter "S".
- Alpha Bitch: Hera was this in season 1. In season 2, however, she has a Heel–Face Turn and becomes a Lovable Alpha Bitch.
- Beta Bitch: Lily and Rose were this to Hera in season one.
- Foreign Remake: A Chinese version distinct from the Korean version was produced and aired in 2019.
- Hidden Depths: In episode 20, Rose seems to dislike Noah, but she actually knows a lot about him. When she pretends to be a toxic caller on Melody's talk show, Nara points out that Rose actually knows a lot about Noah and that she truly is a fan. Rose ends up accepting this, and the end of the episode shows her running over to Noah with a CD for him to sign.
- Jerkass: Hera (in season 1), Lily and Rose (though they had their moments of kindness; Rose especially), and Calliope.
- Off to See the Wizard: Episode 23 was a Whole-Plot Reference to The Wizard of Oz, with Nara as Dorothy, Hendel as Toto, Jackie as the Good Witch, Jin as the scarecrow, See-a as the Tin Man, Yena as the lion, Hera as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Lily and Rose as the flying monkeys.
- Playing Sick: In episode 32, Nara gets a ticket to Friday's concert. However, she has to practice with Melody, and as she's depressed over this, the others think she's sick. This gives Nara the idea to fake being sick so she can go to the concert.
- Rise Of Zit Boy: In episode 16, Nara gets a pimple and freaks. She constantly covers her face, tries putting on makeup, and even borrows a pimple cream from Lily and Rose, which ends up making the pimple bigger. In the end, she learns that pimple or no pimple, she's still herself, and she takes the stage with the zit still on her face.
- World of Technicolor Hair: We have characters with yellow, blue, pink, and green hair as if it were perfectly normal. This actually cost the Chinese version some air time, as it was pulled from the airwaves after complaints that, for some reason, its hair colors were a bad influence on children.
