Filmmaker Reacts: Honkai Star Rail - Sparkle Trailer Monodrama

Honkai Star Rail - Sparkle Trailer Monodrama Reaction! Subscribe for more!
Follow me on twitch.tv/philiphartshorn
Follow my twitter: philipharts
Join my discord to help me choose my next video: / discord
Watch my new film on my main channel: / philhartshorn
#honkaistarrail #honkaistarrailreaction #honkaistarrailgameplay

[@PhilipHarts]

What do you think Monodrama represents? Subscribe here and Follow me on twitch.tv/philiphartshorn Join my discord to help me choose my next video: discord.gg/J85mKhG Watch my film work here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fILKZpVsl8aafdU Follow my Twitter: Twitter.com/philipharts

[@nwm4660]

good analysis, highly recommend Acheron animated short and trailer

[@scrappy_horns8139]

Its awesome stuff! I love it! Recommend you to also review Acheron’s too! I love her myriad celestia artwork and va was so good

[@Nova-zx5mc]

You should see the honkai impact 3rd vid lament of the fallen before seeing the acheron trailer

[@225Reaver]

"What do you do when you've written yourself into a corner? Have someone burst into the room with a gun. Trust me, it grabs the audience's attention." -Raymond Chandler, pulp novelist Sparkle's quite empathically portraying herself as a plot device to trigger the action in the Penacony arc.

[@225Reaver]

Lore dump/analysis: Sparkle is a "Masked Fool", a faction that aligns itself to the aeon (god) "Aha", which is effectively chaos and amusement personified, exulting in randomness, plans going awry, and disorder. Sparkle has been able to create illusions and shapeshift into other characters (as shown in the morphing scene) as well as act in such disguises to be near identical to the originals. As a Masked Fool, its impossible to tell what Sparkle's deal is - is she just crazy and having a second personality from her acting career take her over? Has she actually been possessed by Aha? Or is it all an act? More to the point, does it truly matter, if she acts equally crazy in all three instances? I'm reminded of the phrase - "Wanna know how I got these scars?" From Joker in the Dark Knight. The Joker tells his audience several different backstories, each trying to elicit a different reaction - and any or all of them could be false. Either way, she's very much an agent in causing as much chaos as possible. Some fun things to note: the hollow ball is something from japanese festivals, with the trailers being bunting one might see hung from a stall. The ribbons on the fallen Sparkles are clearly subbing out blood for those, leaving both sets of imagery a festive celebration of death and self destruction. There's at least two specific Sparkles with "identities" in this trailer, the gunwoman with a red mask, and the defender with a white mask. At the end of the trailer, the white one fires the bullet through herself and the mask falls to the ground, changing from pure white to half white, half red. Read into that what you will. No answer on the eyes, though! Maybe it just happens normally in this universe! Theres a lot of great analysis here on the viualisation, thanks for that!

[@Mafka6932]

Sparkle’s story is literally same as Joker’s. In her story there are multiple that say about her being an orphan child, cursed girl, the last descendant of the puppet clan and she herself says that they are all fake

[@crepette1396]

the eyes seem to be tied to death. Not literally being dead but their lore being tied to death, like how the strange authority that all the Arlecchinos had, how Signora gave up her life and physical body to protect her nation only to be tied back to Teyvat with a cryo delusion that's muting her powers as the Crimson Witch of Flames and so on

[@serenitysilvermoon2309]

NGL, I've been wandering if she's an Emanator of Elation

[@AuspexAO]

You think the gun is just an edgy symbol of an assassin, then you realize that every gunshot is killing a personality and then it becomes REALLY scary. The way she just keeps shooting even when she should be occupied in combat, it's like an addiction. It's easily my favorite representation of ego death. Sparkle is just the mask.

[@MBrandr]

The roast chicken at the end is believed to be (at least in part) a joke referring to Shaoji, one of Hoyo's most well known (and infamous) writers, and someone who fills many Honkai fans with dread. "Shaoji" = "Roast Chicken".

[@Radiokillerpollo1]

Shaoji is Aha, and that's my final statement.

[@peeperstrem4384]

Wait why do Honkai fans not like him? I haven’t heard of him before?

[@MBrandr]

It's not that anybody dislikes him as-such. ... It's that you're pretty much guaranteed to a "positive and wholesome story" (😢) when he's involved.

[@Radiokillerpollo1]

@@peeperstrem4384 dislike him? He's an awesome writer and makes amazing stuff. HI3 community just likes to make fun of him in good spirits because when he's part of the story the fandom ends up crying.

[@peeperstrem4384]

@@MBrandr oooh! Thank you for explaining!!

[@AC_Art-N-Stuff]

One thing I noticed was that you mentioned her "x" shaped eyes, but I think they look more like butterflies. Butterfly symbolism is known for transformation, and after the "Me. I am Elation!" line, the shot immediately after makes her headshot wound look like shattered glass butterfly wings. She also had some angel/devil symbolism in that extreme wideshot you kept pausing on, with the deep red screens background looking like red wings, and the circular image above her head both evoking halo and horns imagery, and from where we/the camera was looking up at her evokes some type of twisted reverence. It's really cool :)

[@Malam_NightYoru]

they are not. If you look, the X is below her pupil, it being the 5th petal of a sakura flower.

[@nichthrafn]

They use deeply significant use of colors in her masks here. The one who is shooting everyone in the beginning has a red mask while those she is shooting either have no mask or white masks. Then you get to the Russian roulette scene and it goes: Red mask: "There's only one bullet left. Wanna play a game?" White mask: "What's the wager?" Red mask: "The life of a faker." Then the white mask pulls the trigger to herself, if this is being played the way I suspect it is intended then they are supposed to switch back and forth, and we get the "someone is getting in my way" she throws the gun up in the air. Red mask, rather than passing the gun back after pulling the trigger-as the game should be played-goes on a monologue while firing the gun at herself each time. Red mask, catching it: "So what?" Red mask: "Let me tell you what foolishness is. Pretending to be smart, like you do. Then what is a Fool? Knowing when to act clueless, like I do." Then white mask has the gun and red mask is holding it against her head. The white mask seems to understand that this is going very, very badly. Red says "What is Elation? I am Elation." Elation is capitalized, referencing the Aeon (god). Then the _fifth_ trigger pull happens, and everything goes wild. The imagery is based on another video about suicide. It was pointed out that during this scene the two musical "themes" of the red and white mask are joined in this scene. At the end of this personality deconstruction the final chamber is emptied and we see the white mask one get shot in the head. The masks merge and we see Sparkle, with her iconic two color mask, come together. There are a few ways to interpret this, but the idea that essentially Aha (the god of Elation) basically entered into her and merged with her personality is a popular theory.

[@qaztim11]

After the acheron trailer showed sparkle being able to manifest 3 Stellaron hunters and an entire illusionary dimension(dont know if it was purely her or if she was using the memoria around penacony), she is probably pretty close in power to an emmanator.

[@GD0nly]

Everything about Sparkle, from her name, to her outfit, to her whistle in this trailer is misdirection. It's all to focus your attention over here, while she's over there doing something she doesn't want you to know about yet. In her words, she's fine being a side character because of the freedom that grants her out of the spot light. A main character couldn't do what she wants to do. She wants your attention, but she wants it where she wants it, most specifically NOT on her. So she'll act up, she'll act out, she'll make you focus on exactly what she's doing, as long as she can get what she wants done around that, that's perfect.

[@tachyonrailgun]

So I’m almost surprised you didn’t count the chambers. By the time she was forcing the other her to shoot her, she had shot 4 times. Meaning that that shot was a true 50/50, which is what sent her spiraling into that crazy imagery scene. I see that as the ultimate high of surviving that game of Russian roulette for all 5 chambers. You know that wasn’t the bullet because it was fired in truth at the very end. You’ll also notice she was more disappointed when firing the first 2 chambers. I think this was because those would’ve also been satisfying to her because that’s similarly low odds and would’ve been exciting. Elation. Pursuit of the thrill.

[@Kuruyami]

"I want to know if anymore animated shorts have come out" Boy howdy, do I have good news for you. You'll want to check out "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas". A useful tidbit to know going into it is that Black Swan, the white haired lady, is able to deep dive into people's memories, and borders on immortality via existing more as a concept (Technically a memetic entity) than a flesh-and-blood person.

[@GABiHatchiiwa]

There is another animated short and it’s for Acheron titled "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas." It has very cool dancing 👍

[@sylrune]

There is also now Acherons character trailer too. Both are amazing.

[@MilD_Voices]

I just noticed, her mask near the end was full Red. It's like she killed the "pure" half of herself, and now only the dark bloody side is all that's left. But then she shows up at the end, with her normal half and half mask, indicating that she's still the same split broken person and everything is just an illusion. A prank from a fool.

[@KurosawaIsamu]

There's intentional mystery on who sparkle is that her trailers lean into. Her level up unlockable character info snippets are all conflicting origin stories so you don't know which if any is true. She also uses illusions to take the place of other characters in the story as well as fake accounts in the games messaging app so you can never be sure if the character you're interacting with is really who they appear to be.

[@GrimMeowning]

13:00 She can visually transform into any other character or become invisible. She did it with us few times in main story quest - pretended to be someone else.

[@celaninari8806]

Another interesting thing to note in the trailer is which Sparkles have white masks and which have red masks. The red masked Sparkle appears to be the aggressor on the white masked Sparkles. The face morphing is a reference to her ability to use illusions to take the form other other people. Other fun facts: All 5 of her story entries in game are different and lies. There's a fake credits scene in the game where all the characters are credited as "???" for their real name, except for Sparkle, who is credited as "Sparkle".

[@dragonproudia3312]

So i found this somewhere and it gaves an interesting perspective of sparkle's backstory, Deceived by Elation Sparkle's journey to Elation began with her becoming an actor. As we know from Myriad Celestia, she loved the idea of hiding her true self under the smiling expression of her mask. That Sparkle we can identify with white-mask Sparkle from the trailer. She represents curiousity, confidence, pretentiousness and joyful play on the stage which is the symbol of the entire world. Red-mask Sparkle we can identify (somewhat) as the embodiment of Elation, a desire that the real Sparkle followed through her path, intriguing and addictive. It would be a lie to say that she didn't enjoy it. The truth is she loved every part of it, being able to switch between different personalities and living a life that suited her back then true self. She joined the Masked Fools. The mask is the symbol of the will of elation. We can see Red-mask approaching her first. Everything is a game, a play on the stage. She played alongside so long, forgot about fear and didn't realise how dangerous that game is. At some point she even lost control over the mask, which began to present to the rest of the world as the real Sparkle, hiding her true self. At some point of that game, she lost herself... Morphing with the will of Elation. We can't say for sure if the Sparkle we see is the real one or a puppet controlled by Aha (the Aeon (god) of Elation). She might as well be both, which can be suggested by the two-colored-mask. Everything that happens may also be not necessarily according to her will, instead fulfilling the will of Elation.

[@AoABlodhgarm]

The one thing I think that caught me most off guard was when I noticed that the "crazy" version of her or the one that is making the proposal to her in all of these videos is the "red mask". Everytime pay attention to the last that is on her head, or in her hand and it is the personality. Red is crazy/unhindged. She started out with a white mask and now most of the time she wears a split mask, half white, half red.

[@captain1432]

Philip's facial expression on every other reaction video thumbnail: 👁👄👁

[@Zolwiol]

Sparkle is ELATION. She just likes to stir things up to make them more interesting, chaotic theatre kid. Yes she can "illusion" her appearence. Monodrama is the title of this trailer and she's playing every role. The finla image is "The Final Supper" reference but everyone is Sparkle and MUCH more violent than the original piece.

[@yourname4817]

For me, this is their best trailer. Honkai Star Rail did come out with another animated short called ‘Rondo Across Countless Kalpas’, I definitely recommend checking that out. And the Acheron trailer.

[@darkdude1996ify]

My interpretation of the previous trailer is still that, as her acting skill improved, she went from not being to portray emotions well, to becoming the character she's playing, to eventually creating a whole new persona/version of herself to portray that character in order to manipulate the audience('s emotions), perhaps for her own entertainment. And at the end, when she refers to the world as "an even bigger stage", it feels like she's simply saying she's considering the entire world her audience (perhaps again with the intention of manipulating them and their emotions for her entertainment). And in this case it's perhaps a nonchalance of killing off the roles that she played as they're no longer necessary, no longer entertaining to her. This could be a reference to how the Aeon she follows has done similar things in the past, with things ranging from worms to entire worlds.

[@thepunnyguy572]

Can’t wait for the Acheron trailer

[@blaze_burn]

Somehow the Acheron Trailer that just came out tops this one for me, this one is insanely good especially with the music tho

[@LycanMOON]

Same 1-Acheron,2-sparkle,3-argenti in terms of favorites imo

[@makotoyuki3869]

I thought the music was pretty lackluster. It was way too electronic. Pretty generic.

[@nubbylittlecat1753]

@@makotoyuki3869If you’re talking about the Acheron trailer music then I agree.

[@sushishishu]

Personally, I think Acheron’s is COOLER, especially lore wise, but to me what makes a trailer better is how memorable it is (and usually by it’s music). Although Acheron’s theme gives me chills every time, it’s not as memorable or “iconic” as Sparkle’s and Kafka’s so I would still put them above. I could rewatch those 2 dozens of times while I always skip reaction videos to the best part of Acheron’s trailer, ykwim? Those are still the top 3 regardless tho

[@ACDNeo]

Of curse cuz sparkle is on acheron trailer

[@CelestialMelody]

Oh my, you've reacted to this~! Am so happy~! Really wanted to see you react to this and break it down~!

[@Hesperus_]

This is my favorite treiler so far. for how much stuff is going on and how artistic (and unhinged) it is, HSR devs really up their game with Penacony characters and their trailers, and I'm in for it. So, there is theory that the red mask is the aeon of elation, the white mask is Sparkle's more rational self - the 'faker'. When she gets shot, the mask turns half white, half red - Sparkle accepting the path of elation.

[@Idkk-yq6qu]

I always love your analyses

[@kojocreations]

I’ve been waiting for this!

[@Mescrim]

3:15 I believe this shot was to emphasize her feet, making many instinctively pull out their wallets

[@LunarValkyria]

for the part where she seems to morph into other characters. That is an ability of hers. One of her powers is to shapeshift into anybody she wants, like putting on a mask. lol She has the ability to make you doubt everyone, even those you would never doubt normally. xD

[@kiryukaimemorial127]

Good to have you back, your analysis videos for HSR always interest me and I end up weighing your opinion very highly, as you have actual cinematic experiece. Amazing insight into the personality of a character you only know through a few videos! I look forward to your delve into Acheron's video series, as her videos have been MUCH more cinematic. Sparkle was playful and unhinged, but Acheron........ well, you'll see.

[@YoshiAM6]

Yass been waiting for this one

[@icedromeda9410]

im surprised he never pointed out the masks having different designs for each of the "sparkles" holding the guns

[@unknown20005]

the still image of the feast is actually a spin on a real life painting from what i remember i forget the name of it though

[@yes6978]

4:53 when I first saw this I thought it was just like a twisted version of the last supper lol

[@akarin1752]

Can't wait to see you react to Acheron's trailer

[@grimkitten8254]

hmm my notice got attached to the weaved strings on the flying bullet spiraling behind it giving sense of larger movement to the bullet in epic visual effect but also how i lately did alot of yarn weaving to make woven colorfull strings like that and how i kinda often thought of them similar to giving stage to my feelings at the time in a relatable grounded manner in the meditative flow of weaving them together on the side

[@grimkitten8254]

hmm learned something new with the expanded distortion on the wide angle shot depicting the stretch of her psyche

[@lyn737]

The Rondo Across Countless Kalpas is an animated short that has come out

[@Zet-jb2zn]

By the way, the trailer is heavily inspired by the video by Optie Animation. (【R-18G】 MARINOL - LeaF) and (【太鼓の達人】 彁 （Movie:Fiz）)

[@RavenShugo]

I think reaction without hitting pause every 5sec for the first time and then rewatching with stopping and discussing is much better, than making a slide show from the get go. If you gonna stop so much from the start, then it looks like you already watched it beforehand, so then "reacts" word in title is a clickbait.

[@kjhuu5670]

this trailer easily became my favorite from star rail, it’s so good

[@YourRyeBread]

I really appreciate your channel already and I’m not even halfway through this video. Watching more right after I didn't notice some things you saw and I hope you see the changes to her eyes throughout Her white masked self is calm and happy, her unmasked self is active and loose, her red masked self is devastated and weighted I already forgot this was my first video of yours 😭 But anyways its interesting to see the change in your reaction/video behavior compared to the prior videos I wonder if this video is Sparkle showing whoever the actress was in prior control how much control she now truly has and furthering it with fear pfft I just realized the change in thumbnails for the hsr videos Part of me wonders if she's been taken over by Aha (what else could they want to do but have fun in this world of ants?) or if she's an emanator (we dont always know and neither do the other characters right?) *change in thoughts starts here Sparkle - Black Mask (none and all) Black Swan - White Mask (good) Aventurine - Red Mask (bad) Acheron - White and Red Mask (past, present, or future changes) OR its just for the aesthetic of the video OR* Black Mask (both or neitherx2?) White Mask (good, truth?) Red Mask (evil, false?) White and Red Mask (both or neither, truth?)

[@passingmonkpassingaway2059]

Sparkle trailer gives me goosebumps when I see it first so I used all of my saved pulls and she never disappointed me at all

[@ordis5423]

I love the detail of the final bullet she fires is real, because if you look at it all of the shots are confetti after when she says there's 1 bullet left she fires 6 times

[@Idkk-yq6qu]

YESSSSS,FINALLY

[@FloeticsPH]

FINALLY!! Now Acheron's is nxt YOUR COLOR! 💛💛

[@artaleasham4105]

The mask putting on her face and the kaleidoscope at the end is actually her ult ingame.

[@chenmei7848]

Please react to the Acheron Trailers next 🙏 Those ones will definitely not disappoint.

[@Hyopsodus]

the feast scene really screams last supper to me. I havent met her in the story yet, but id like to know how that would relate when i do!

[@akumanoraneko]

this is awesome ✨✨ also the reason they showed other characters there, she can transform herself into another character,

[@Strawberries1994]

There's quite a few other myriad celestia trailers you can watch.. the last one being "kyode" (the name is more long, but idk why KZbin insist in translating the titles to spanish instead of showing me the english one)

[@Kyurengo]

Have you seen the KZbin serie "Alien stage"? I think you would like how they tell such a story

[@antrepeyous]

I also noticed that her eyes glow whenever she pulls the trigger on herself, which probably means she gets a high whenever she pulls the trigger.

[@haridevrajesh7426]

This along with acheron trailer are at the top for me followed by Kafka

[@SynonyrnCroastTunch]

Black Swan and Acheron got an animated short, there was also an animated short for lunar new year like a month ago

[@Jersaih]

The one thing im getting from this-elation is pretty fricken cool

[@Ittosfav]

I need you to react to the Wuthering waves so bad 😭

[@brycejohnson1480]

Sparkle is an Actor who disguises herself with illusions so that she can play other "characters" , taking on their appearance, height, sound, and mannerisms. There are still scenes in the game where the Main Character is able to correctly deduce when Sparkle is pretending to be somebody they know by slightly off character moments Sparkle has while "Pushing the Narative". More importantly when she declares herself to be "Elation" she is speajing theistically. In universe the Aeon she worships is dead and she is stating to be the Elations replacement. In my opinion her ultimate goal is to transcend her body to become a god of selfish chaos, a branch of the Elation all to herself.

[@JohnPaulGarcia-fi3pg]

Love to see you break the Acheron trailer. I wanna know what your thoughts are from a technical lend. (Pun not intended)

[@Sinyao]

At the point during the kaleidoscope, when you see the fox masks, the masks are pulling the facade away to her real self, or rather Aha.

[@soran_skies]

you HAVE to watch the acheron/black swan animated trailer!!! imo its the best video hoyo ever made!!

[@Naicul3360]

Sparkle is the definition of psychopathic. AND I LOVE IT

[@kazuhah1743]

My question is: who is talking to whom. Is it Sparkle talking to Sparkle, or is it Aha talking to (and through) Sparkle, and if so, what is Sparkle's special role on the path of Elation.

[@ajubal_senpai]

After Kafka I was like “no, I don’t think HSR can get better…” but this! This is a masterpiece. I just love the way you break it down because this video is more than good music and nice scenes, it’s all about her travel and building her personality, killing her “useless” personas and falling into insanity! It’s amazing!

[@zieek1]

Her catch phrase is "why so serious".

[@Koutouhara]

Sparkle can change her form into anyone. So her body is used as a stand in for everyone - all the people she killed at the beginning the 3 at the table are sparkle versions of Himeko, Welt, and March who has joined the Trailblaze for this arc of the adventure. Another note is the White and Red masked versions. White is the realest version of Sparkle in this video - while Red version is Aha - Aeon of Elation. It's a 4th wall breaking deity that Sparkle is contemplating and ultimately following. She kinda flirts with the idea of Elation when she shoots herself first and seems unfazed - but then Aha takes the gun shoots 4 more times, until you get to the last bullet. Sparkle as the gun but tries to pull away from Aha, seemingly a little scared. They are LITERALY Elation. Then eventually she has accepted the mask goes from one color to half & half. She's a follower, committed to this path. The last scene also evokes Last Supper kinda vibes but with Aha being at the center of it.

[@Tiredofbs54]

Please do a reaction to HSR " Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" I really wanna hear about your opinion. It's really good animation

[@_Ducky_]

1) I’m pretty sure she’s being possessed by Aha “i am elation” the difference between the pure white mask and the pure red, then the combo of the two. 2) sparkle’s trailer is 12/10 and is the best trailer they currently have. Beating even Your Color

[@StruSzi]

not the nier music, got chills.

[@thetalkingbear]

After going through Penecony I understand her slightly more.

[@Dysputant]

Lifleless personas sarved at table... This is Last Supper... by Sparkle. She is suggesting she can be anyone.

[@MIddl3ground]

Her Trailer reminds me of Kurumi Tokisaki from Date A Live, from her face to her "unhingeness".

[@user-hi6tp1od2i]

I don’t know if anyone told you this but in the game sparkle turns herself into someone else to trick the MC so I think that’s where the different people part plays in

[@finleaves]

please do acheron’s trailer , might even be better than kafka’s trailer 🙏

[@Sh1ro_sense]

2:55 sparkle:pretend to be smart like you Me:ouch…

[@aliciamarrow7062]

"Really nice opening shot" *gets shot*

[@bryantpc_6214]

Plz, do Acheron trailer :O !

[@altherconsolacion7328]

Acheron trailer immediately! lol

[@inkiaio1616]

i think sparkles whole thing is that she can be everyone but no one

[@Talon1124]

"A thousand face in a thousand places. Can you find the answer?" Her whole shtick from my very limited knowledge is she can use those masks to take on the form of other people.

[@Strawberries1994]

We don't know much about her, apart of her being part of the mask fools (a faction in the game), even the "idol" trailer could simply be a lie of her.. at the end of that one when she ask "who is the real Sparkle?" you can see in each TV a different story (one of those being the idol story one) She has the power to create illusions and mask herself as other people

[@bonnybuns689]

Acheron trailer 😢

[@drager364gamerv5]

react to acheron trailer pls

[@rodrigosouza881]

you pause= i leave

[@The-Rpg1]

Do you know what I hate the most yt that always pauses just watch sometimes you can but not like every 10 seconds 😅

[@kjhuu5670]

omg first!