Rosetta Passel (ロゼッタ パッセル) is one of Sora Naegino's many friends in the Kaleido Star anime. While she was raised in France, her original birth took place in Belgium. She has been a diabolo prodigy since she was nine years old, when she won her first diabolo tournament, and once went by the nickname of "The Diabolo Machine" due to her flawless performances and cold personality. Like Layla Hamilton, Sora helps change Rosetta's outlook on everything when they become friends. When Rosetta joins the main cast in the second season, she sees Sora as a role model figure and wants to be just like her while a strong sister like bond grows between them.
Season One[]
Rosetta sulking in an elevator
Rosetta had a very small role in the first season. In her debut episode, she was invited to Kaleido Stage to perform diabolo for a week. While Sora Naegino and the others watch from outside his office, Kalos Eido asks Sora to care for Rosetta while she is here and they bunk together in Sora's room. At first, Rosetta is mean to Sora, wondering how Sora could watch over her when she knows nothing about her (she made a slight mistake when speaking about where she was born). Rosetta first demonstrates her skills before the performance Cinderella and performs flawlessly. However, the audience is bored and stays silent even when her performance is done. Kalos plans to end her contract and Rosetta turns to tears because she is not making the audience applause, even though Layla says she performed very well. Sora asks Kalos to give Rosetta one more chance and he does, provided Sora trains her for the rest of the week. But soon after, Rosetta leaves the dorms and begins to head down for the airport after a talk with her agent on the phone. Sora and Sarah Dupont catch her in the elevator sulking and they tell Rosetta the news.
Sora and Rosetta in the Diabolo Battle
While training with Rosetta for diabolo, Sora is not getting the hang of it and Rosetta is disgusted that Sora is supposed to be her partner for her next performance. While she tries to leave for the airport again, Ken Robbins and Marion Benigni catch her and bring her back to Kaleido Stage to see a show that Sora and Jonathan are doing. While apart of the audience, Rosetta sees how Sora manages to make everyone applaud and smile even when Johnathan is upstaging her most of the time. When she attends the showing of Cinderella, Rosetta is shocked to see Sora making the entire audience applaud for her, stating it's nothing like the performances she gave. Rosetta, now certain that Sora can help her, tells her that she still would like to perform with her. When their big performance comes, it's a diabolo battle on swinging platforms. Sora and Rosetta throw a diabolo back and forth to each other, attempting to get it into the other's goal. And during the performance, Rosetta loses her balance and makes a fault. But despite it, she wins the battle and hears the audience applaud. She tells Sora she hasn't felt this happy since her first diabolo championship, also adding that she had almost forgotten how it made her feel before she performed with her, and thanks Sora with a hug and kiss. She then leaves Kaleido Stage but turns to wave goodbye to Sora in the taxi, saying "Merci Sora" before the episode ends.
She returns halfway through the season when Yuri Killian takes over Kaleido Stage. She is invited to join Freedom Lights, the new company that Sora and her friends start. She quickly accepts the invite and is a strong supporter of the group despite her first belief that they would be doing another diabolo battle upon her return. When they go to Marine Park to perform, her diabolo skills have now made the audience applaud and smile like how Sora showed her. It's also thanks to Rosetta that they manage to enter the world performance tournament after losing their deal with Marine Park, but that ultimately backfired as the Masked Star's (Layla) identity was forcefully revealed by an enraged Yuri. Even though she seemingly "disappears" after this point, she returns just in time to join the audience in seeing Sora and Layla performing The Legendary Great Maneuver, an event that would change Rosetta's outlook on performing from that point on.
New Wings[]
Rosetta sleeping in Sora's bed with her in her return episode
Shortly following the start of the new season, roughly following the second episode at the same time May Wong was moving into the dormitories, Sora Naegino finds Rosetta in her shower late one night after she runs away. She tells Sora that she ran away from her agent to become a member of Kaleido Stage and become a trapeze artist, telling about how watching her and Layla's final performance left her so moved that she wanted to hear the same applause for herself one day too. Sora agrees to watch over Rosetta, even after Rosetta told her that her agent would probably give her "a thousand lashes" if she was caught, and makes sure no one finds her. But while Sora is out for a performance of Sayuki, Rosetta sneaks into the training room and gets into a fight with May about Sora's skills. She accidentally reveals herself and is soon chased by Sora, Kalos Eido, Ken Robbins, Jerry and her agent (who came to Kaleido Stage knowing Rosetta would go there). Her agent gets into a fight with her, which is then revealed that Rosetta's agent is really her mother. She didn't want Rosetta to return to Kaleido Stage fearing that she would turn back into a machine since it was her mother's forceful training as well as Rosetta driving herself into the ground that originally caused Rosetta to become the "diabolo machine". However, Rosetta argued with her that watching Sora and Layla's final performance together was the only thing she could think about day and night, unable to contain herself. Also, she said that this time, she wanted to be like someone else (meaning Sora). Rosetta tried to prove she could handle the trapeze, but she ends up getting stuck on the bar and hung there until Sora came up and saved her. And at that moment, while Sora and Rosetta are laughing together, her mother remembers that it was Kaleido Stage that returned Rosetta's smile to her. She then allows Rosetta to join Kaleido Stage, the official mark of Rosetta going from a secondary character to a full fledged member of the main cast for the rest of the series.
During the series, Rosetta is now seen with Sora's group of friends and constantly supports her as she works to train her body to handle the trapeze. Since she is now a main character, Rosetta's true self emerges from beyond her title as a diabolo prodigy. She is shown as a head strong, determined person who won't take anything lightly or give up easily (something that seems to match Sora, except she's not as head strong as Rosetta). Rosetta also has a lot of faith in Sora and her support for Sora easily rivals that of Anna and Mia. It's revealed in two episodes that Rosetta is HORRIBLE at doing household chores such as doing laundry, cooking her own meals, washing dishes, cleaning curtains and such, in which all end in either a giant mess or things breaking. This can easily be proved in Rosetta's return episode as she had broken Sora's dishes, ripped the curtains, broke a light bulb and sucked up Fool in the vacuum. Despite all her faults and the pressure she puts on herself, Sora and Rosetta have a very close, sister like bond with each other.
Rosetta and Sora's hug after Kalos drops the "bet"
In an episode later following her official joining of the cast, Kalos informs her of her performing diabolo, but Rosetta argues stating that she won't perform unless it was on the trapeze. She also made a one sided bet that if she couldn't master the trapeze in three days, she would quit Kaleido Stage. Desperate for help, her first action is to go to Sora for help and she agrees to be Rosetta's trainer (she was surprised when Rosetta called her "Teacher Sora", making Sora feel surprised that someone as proud of her abilities as Rosetta could call her teacher) . At first, Rosetta cannot get the hang of it since she doesn't have the muscle strength to make the bars swing and has to train at a lower height. Rosetta is slowly progressing without the interruption of May and her hurtful sarcasm. Rosetta feels like she would never get the hang of it until Sora decided that the best thing for her to do would be to take a break and enjoy playing in the park. During that time, she gets to experience playing in the park, something she never was able to do growing up while she met some of Marion's friends from school and helped teach them (and a clumsy Sora) tricks to improve their juggling. During one of her moments on the swing set with Sora, after Sora started the swing, Rosetta sees Kaleido Stage from the swing and tries to get Sora to see it. She pushes them off with a great force and they were both able to see Kaleido Stage from there, which Sora surprises Rosetta by saying that Sora wasn't doing anything that time and Rosetta got the swing to go by herself. Even with her time up and her skill at the trapeze fairly weak, Kalos forgets about her bet, saying he never even agreed to it in the first place, and Rosetta stays at Kaleido Stage while still receiving lessons from Sora. Kalos, though, tells Rosetta that he hopes to see her as a top trapeze artist in three years.
After Sora lost at the Circus Festival and quit because of shame, Rosetta is among Sora's friends when she returns an episode later. She was extremely worried about Sora and even offered to let her live with her in her dorm room with her contract terminated. She also received a Japanese lion puppet from Sora as a souvenir from her return from Japan, something she found a bit scary at first due to its face. She also joins Anna and the others in performing a special show for Sora on the Children's Stage showing how devoted friends they are and how Sora never got a chance to sit back and watch a show since she joined. Later, Sora and friends return to France, Rosetta meets Alen, Leon's old trainer, and tries to get him to help her learn trapeze. At first, Alen rejects her since she fumbled on his old trapeze equipment, mocking Kaleido Stage's talent qualities if they would let someone like her join, but quickly changes his mind once he sees Rosetta's diabolo skills to their fullest, stating that she's just a beginner at the trapeze. When Sora and the others catch up with her, they learn the history of Leon and his sister Sophie, as well as some insight to The Angel's Maneuver.
While Rosetta got to perform with Sora again during the car exhibition show, Rosetta's first big break on Kaleido Stage came when she was a member of Swan Lake as one of the supporting characters. But sadly, Rosetta doesn't believe she can do it, but gets some surprising help from May and goes on to perform with her as her partner. When Sora performs the Angel's Maneuver successfully during the show's climax and becomes a Kaleido Star, Rosetta mysteriously discovers that she can now see Fool and walks away frightened like Sora was. All Fool can say is that the dream to become a Kaleido Star has been passed on, and it now rests within Rosetta, possibly hinting that Rosetta is to surpass Sora like how Sora surpassed Layla.
The Princess Without A Smile OVA[]
Older Rosetta seen by Sora
In the OVA, The Princess Without A Smile, Rosetta is chosen to be Sora Naegino's partner for the upcoming performance, titled the same as the OVA, as the princess. During training, she is having a hard time as she can't handle being a lead role yet, yet she says that figuring out her role is easy at first since it sounds like her when she was the "Diabolo machine". She soon starts doubting herself very much and runs away.
When she waits at a bus stop, she sees Fool's mask stuck in a spider web (thanks to Sora flinging him away earlier) and sees all the memories locked away in his mask. She soon realizes what everyone's feelings can do just as Sora and friends find her. She returns and joins Sora for the performance. Right as Sora and Rosetta are about to go on, Sora sees a vision of an older Rosetta by her side in one of the outfits from the Legendary Great Maneuver and turns to Sora saying "Thank You, Sora...." before Sora snaps back to normal.
Kaleido Star OVA 3: Good da yo! Good![]
In the third OVA for Kaleido Star, done completely in chibi style and computer animated, Rosetta is apart of the five main characters singing the opening theme of "Yakusoku no Bashe e" with Sora Naegino, Anna Heart, Mia Guillem and Layla Hamilton. In the actual OVA, Rosetta hosts a section called "The Amazing Attempt at Diabolo" where she tries to teach Ken the basics about diabolo performing. While she is performing with little problems, Ken's constant daydreaming and cluelessness cause him to blunder at most of the things Rosetta teaches him. Also during the performance, Rosetta sometimes says hurtful things to Ken that causes the entire audience to laugh and make Ken feel embarrassed. In the end, he is the one billed with Rosetta's payment for the diabolo performance. The things that Rosetta teaches are:
- The standard length of a diabolo string should be at least up to your neck or chest with one stick on the ground
- How to spin the diabolo
- A basic trick by catching the diabolo on the string after launching it upward
Relationships[]
Sora Naegino[]
Sora is arguably the first and closest friend Rosetta has at Kaleido Stage. While generally cold and mean to her, originally, something about seeing Sora's performances makes her see Sora in a whole new light and she starts to believe Sora is someone who can help her regain the ability to entertain her audience. After Sora is successful in helping her, Rosetta hugs and kisses her after their performance. After returning as a member of the main cast of Season 2, Rosetta is a lot happier and kinder, becoming another of Sora's many friends and possibly her new "Number One Supporter" for performances to come. Also, it seems time with Sora has made Rosetta also act rather childish as well, but its nothing Sora can't handle.
Fool[]
When Rosetta first met Fool, her general reaction was the same as Sora. She was scared of Fool's sudden appearance and rushed off, leaving Fool saying that the dream of being a Kaleido Star has passed to the next "fool" (meaning Rosetta). Unlike Sora or Layla's relationship with Fool, Rosetta believes Fool is a great teacher and calls him "Master Fool", or "Sensei" Fool in Japanese, which has Fool filled with happiness. While he believes Rosetta is more gullible in lulling into a pervert scenario, Sora is the first to stop him. The only time their relationship with each other is seen is during the Kaleido Stage OVA: The Princess Who Never Smiles. This is because Rosetta doesn't meet Fool until the series finale.
Layla Hamilton[]
Layla was the first to praise Rosetta's performance while Kalos generally disliked it. Rosetta and Layla are probably on even level since they were both top performers at what their mastery was (Rosetta was a diabolo professional while Layla's talents were the trapeze). When Rosetta thinks of Sora's performances, she likes to mirror her to Layla. Not much else can probably be said since Rosetta and Layla have little interaction during the series.
May Wong[]
May is automatically despised by Rosetta for mocking Sora's skills, leading to their first argument during her return episode in New Wings. While May puts down Sora and makes fun of her skills, Rosetta believes Sora is amazing and says that there's no way May would be able to see Sora for what she truly is capable of. Her hate for May continues throughout most of the second season until Leon's incident during his and May's comeback show following the Circus Festival. It can easily be seen that Rosetta thinks May is still ridiculous or a bit creepy (she has a disturbed face when May announced her opinion change of Sora right to their faces). But under all that, Rosetta and May are good friends and they performed together during Swan Lake since it was May's words that got Rosetta to be more into Swan Lake when she felt unable to perform.
Ken Robbins[]
Alongside Anna, Mia, Sarah, and Marion, Rosetta tries to get Ken to be more open to Sora and helps push him in the right direction. But all their attempts fail as Ken is too shy to tell Sora his feelings directly to her. She's probably one of the many people to unknowingly embarrass Ken in public (she continued saying hurtful things to him during the third Kaleido Star OVA). Still, Rosetta and Ken are friends too.
Performances Through the Series[]
- Cinderella - Opening entertainment
- The Diabolo Battle - Competed With Sora, Rosetta wins
- Freedom Lights - Member
- Exhibition Show - Squirrel (Supporting Cast, performed with Sora and May)
- Swan Lake - Young Fairy (Supporting Cast)
- The Princess Without A Smile - Princess (Lead, partnered with Sora)
Songs Featuring Rosetta[]
- Blanc et Noir - Sora Naegino and Rosetta Passel - Kaleido Star OVA 1: The Princess Without A Smile, Kaleido Star Vocal Album ~Minna no Sugoi Character Song~
- Yakusoku no Bashe e - Rosetta Passel, Sora Naegino, Anna Heart, Mia Guillem and Layla Hamilton - Kaleido Star OVA 3: Good day yo! Good
- Under the Rose - Rosetta Passel - Kaleido Star Vocal Album ~Minna no Sugoi Character Song~
- Everlasting Rainbow - Rosetta Passel, Sora Naegino, Anna Heart, Mia Guillem and Layla Hamilton - Kaleido Star Vocal Album ~Minna no Sugoi Character Song~
Rosetta's gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The name Rosetta means "Rose" or "Splendid" in Italian.
- She is one of the few characters to be able to see Fool.