Manhua / Superstar from Today

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Superstar from Today (Chinese: 今天开始做明星, jīntiān kāishǐ zuò míngxīng. ^note Also known by the fan-translated titles "Start to be a Star Today" and "Today, I Become a Star") is a 2015–2023 dramedy manhua series by the group Shidai Manwang, published on iQiyi and Tencent. It is completed at 407 chapters.

Qin Ze is a male college student and his sister Qin Ya is an Idol Singer and actress. Thing is, she forces him to crossdress and take her place in her performances so she can slack off and go on vacations! In turn, she sometimes takes his place in college. This odd arrangement becomes increasingly difficult to keep, especially when the vicious entertainment industry is breathing down their necks looking for any excuse for a scandal.

The manhua was published in English on Webcomics (Sidewalk) before the translation was suddenly cancelled on chapter 249.

In 2019, it received an Animated Adaptation which currently has two seasons. It is streamed in English on iQiyi under the title Super Star. In 2023, the first season had a Japanese-dubbed Compilation Movie titled Re:STARS ~ Two Shining Stars Connect to the Future (Re:STARS 〜未来へ繋ぐ2つのきらぼし〜).

This series provides examples of:

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Qin Ze has brown hair in the manhua, but the donghua makes him blond to match his sister.
• Abhorrent Admirer: Feinimo towards Qin Ya, especially when it's actually Qin Ze who's receiving his affection. Both find him obnoxious.
• Amazon Chaser: Feinimo is a world-class jewelry designer who likes strong assertive women. When "Qin Ya" challenges his judgment and grabs him by the collar, he is instantly smitten and doesn't lose attraction even after "she" beats him up later (he has no idea that was a guy, but still praises "her androgynous air".)
• AstroTurf: After Qin Ze joins the singing competition (under the alias "Singer Q"), he is bombarded by bots posting negative comments. These were arranged by Ling Wei in an attempt to sabotage him.
• Attractive Bent-Gender:
  • The siblings pass off very well as each other and catch the attention of the same sex, much to Qin Ze's chagrin. The plot gets started when a sponsor tries to seduce him and he lashes out violently, affecting Qin Ya's reputation.
  • Qin Ya uses this to help her brother by acting princely with his crush Ji Mi, who thinks it's the real Qin Ze hitting on her.
• Batman Gambit: Qin Ya's plan to reveal that the plagiarism scandal was a Frame-Up. First she makes Ling Wei and Jin Feng have a fall out by providing proof of her briberies to the latter while showing interest in working for him again. This leads to Jin Feng firing her. Next, Qin Ze uses a fake identity to become her assistant and steal recordings of the meetings where they discussed the conspiracy. This becomes more complicated when Ling Wei rats their secret out, but ultimately the Qins win and reveal the plot during the singing competition.
• Bifauxnen:
  • Unsurprisingly, Qin Ya when dressed as her brother. She looks exactly like him and he is noted be really handsome to begin with.
  • As part of the singing training camp, one of the challenges is to distribute fliers while dressed as the opposite sex. We see random girls who look like handsome boys, some of which even act flirty towards passerby girls.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Ling Wei and Jin Feng are conspiring together at first, the former for fame and the latter for power. However, they have a fall out, resulting in a Big Bad Ensemble where they work for their goals separately.
• Big Brother Instinct: Or twin brother instinct. Despite having issues with their arrangement, Qin Ze does care about his sister. After he screws up her reputation, he genuinely wants to fix it and gets mad when people talk smack about her behind her back. This goes the other way around too.
• Big Damn Heroes: Qin Ze is unable to show up for the singing competition due to his stage fright. Without even telling him, Qin Ya takes his place and sings dressed as him, letting him pass to the next round.
• Big Storm Episode: "Qin Ya", Feinimo and other celebrities have to record a show in the wilderness of Tanzania. A storm takes them by surprise and they are isolated until a rescue team finds them.
• Cannot Talk to Women: Qin Ze grows nervous when girls try to hit on him. Fellow student Bingbing wonders how he can be so handsome, yet dumb.
• Career-Ending Injury: Qin Ze was a popular child singer until excessive training and his voice cracking left him aphonic, which made him screw up an audition. His voice recovered, but the trauma remained.
• The Cavalry:
  • Production of Wang Siming's movie looks doomed due to a lack of budget and Ling Wei poaching their actors. Suddenly, Feinimo and the actors Qin Ze met in Tanzania show up. Feinimo offers to finance the film in exchange of being the male lead while the others just participate with no strings attached.
  • Episode 13. Qin Ze is late for the competition, then Feinimo shows up in his motorcycle to give him a ride to the studio. There, the guards won't let him in, but his friends from the training camp pretend to fight to distract them, allowing Ze to enter.
• The Charmer: Qin Ya becomes really flirty and smooth when pretending to be her brother. Other girls swoon around her, unaware of her gender. If it counts when it's actually a girl, then it reaches Even the Guys Want Him levels when she flusters Xiaobai and a Basketball player who had a crush on Ji Mi.
• Chick Magnet: Qin Ze, to his own surprise, becomes one after Qin Ya replaces him at college for a day, during which she acts like prince and sings at a show. Next day, he has hordes of girls chasing him! He was also a chick magnet during his career as a child singer.
• Child Prodigy: Qin Ze was a singing prodigy as a kid before being traumatised. Ji Mi even uses a recording of one his performances as a comfort song, not knowing the singer is the young Qin Ze.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Jin Feng. At first only a HR manager, he hatches a plot with Ling Wei and rigs an election to become CEO. He also offers Qin Ya better roles in exchange of sex (which she rejects).
• The Diva: Ling Wei, Qin Ya's rival as an idol. She's sexy, arrogant and jealous of Qin Ya's fame. She's also turns out to be one of the Big Bads.
• Deducing the Secret Identity:
  • Ling Wei's paparazzo figures the ruse out by comparing photographs of the twins and their singing voices. This leads him to find other details like the calluses on Ze's fingers and their different shoe size.
  • Ji Mi finds a dress in Ze's closet, which she recognizes as one worn by Ya in a concert. She pieces it all together almost immediately and it leads to a brief break up between the two.
• Dub Name Change: The Japanese dub changes Qin Ze and Qin Ya into Hoshizora Eita and Hoshizora Karina respectively.
• Dreadful Musician: Gou Dai, another member of Xingyun and one of Qin Ze's rivals during the singing competition. He sings so bad that he needs his voice to be modified in post-production. When the first day of the competition comes, he seems to be singing perfectly in public... Except the audience immediately notices he's holding the microphone upside down. Turns out, he was using a playback!
• Entertainingly Wrong:
  • During practice, Ji Mi notices that "Qin Ze" sings exactly like Qin Ya. Her conclusion is that Ze is Ya's ghost singer and that the latter is a charlatan. Needless to say, Ya is offended and tries to defend herself without blowing the real secret.
  • Feinimo sees "Qin Ya" with no bra filler in Tanzania and, instead of realizing he's a guy, thinks she suffers from A-Cup Angst. "I don't mind the size!"
• Exact Eavesdropping: How the main characters learn of Ling Wei and Jin Feng's conspiracy. They're in his office talking about how they set up the plagiarism scandal and one of Qin Ya's trainees happens to be walking down the corridor. She proceeds to tell Qin Ya.
• Frame-Up: A plagiarized song is added to Qin Ya's album without her knowing it was stolen. This was a set up by Ling Wei and Jin Feng to lower her value, allowing Ling Wei to take over her roles and also helping Jin Feng become CEO.
• Hyper-Awareness: Ji Mi is noted to have extremely acute hearing. She's the only one who noticed that the "Qin Ze" at college sang a few notes very femininely.
• Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: Ling Wei's plan in ep. 4. She and a paparazzo show up unannounced at the twins' house to "interview" Qin Ya and stream her without makeup and losing a cooking challenge. It backfires thanks to the twins' cleverness. The audience loves Qin Ya's performance.
• Landslide Election: Xingyun (the company Qin Ya and Ling Wei work for) is suffering from their stocks falling in price after Qin Ya is accused of plagiarism in her latest album, so the shareholders hold a vote to replace their CEO. Almost everybody votes for Jin Feng, Ling Wei's manager. The former CEO Wang Siming immediately suspects Jin Feng bribed them.
• Loony Fan: Qin Ze's blond roommate, who is obsessed with Qin Ya. When Ya shows up dressed as her brother, she finds him worshipping her at an altar. He also owns a body pillow of her.
• Love Confession: After a minor misunderstanding when Ji Mi runs into Qin Ze with a girl from the training camp, he finally decides to confess to her by singing one of her songs in front of a fountain. Ji Mi confesses she likes him too.
• Loves My Alter Ego: Qin Ze's blond roommate loves Qin Ya, unaware most of his goddess' performances are actually by his pal. When the truth comes out, he's not exactly disappointed and instead wonders "why did I never ask Qin Ze to wear a skirt all this time?!"
• Official Couple: By the end of season 1, Qin Ze and Ji Mi are officially boyfriend and girlfriend.
• Paparazzi: A given since this is a series themed after the celebrity business. Of particular note is a brown-haired paparazzo who works for Ling Wei and is constantly trying to find Qin Ya in a scandalous situation. He's the first person to figure out the Twin Switch.
• Performance Anxiety: Qin Ze's trauma left him unable to perform in public unless he's pretending to be another person. Later, he finally conquers his fear with Ji Mi's help during the singing competition.
• The Unmasking: Ling Wei finally reveals the twins' secret in a press conference about Qin Ya and Feinimo. Qin Ya tries to deny it at first, but the evidence is irrefutable.
• Unwitting Pawn: Ling Wei turns out to be one. Initially Jin Feng's co-conspirator who benefitted from their plot, he tosses her to the trash when the opportunity to hire Qin Ya again presents itself. Chen Xiao, another celebrity, taunts Ling Wei by saying "Jin Feng likes younger women and you're getting old!" This inspires Ling Wei to become even more aggressive towards Qin Ya, culminating in her and her paparazzo discovering the Twin Switch.
• The Reveal: Climax of season 1. Why did the Twin Switch begin? Because Ya believed that Ze could slowly conquer his trauma by singing on stage under a different identity until he finally felt free to perform as himself once again.
• Right Behind You: Bingbing is making fun of Qin Ze for being so obedient towards her and easy to mess with. Qin Ya, dressed as him, overhears it and proceeds to counterattack by cornering her against the wall and making her blush.
• Sibling Seniority Squabble: The Qins are twins, but Ya insists she's the older sister when they're fighting!
• Sleeping Their Way to the Top:
  • Ling Wei is accused of this, but she denies it. Given she kisses Jin Feng in private, these rumors may be accurate.
  • Jin Feng expects Qin Ya to be willing to do this, but she assaults him after he "subtly" suggests it. This leads her to resign from the company.
• Start My Own: Wang Siming leaves Xingyun and opens his own movie/TV studio, offering the lead roles to Qin Ya when she also resigns.
• Stern Teacher: Qin Ya becomes the mentor for a Girl Group. She's very strict and demanding of them. When Qin Ze meets them, they look traumatized. They do, however, hold her in a high regard and support her after the plagiarism scandal.
• Talent Contest: Inscriptions open for a singing competition and pretty much everybody insists that Qin Ze join it. He refuses at first because of his trauma, but ultimately does go for it. Unfortunately, one of the judges is Ling Wei, who antagonizes him throughout.
• Title Drop: Episode 13. The twins have redeemed themselves to the public. Now without the baggage of their secret, they proclaim "we are super stars from today!" (Adjust depending on how you translate the title.)
• Twin Switch: The main gimmick of the series! The siblings take each other's place, leading to drama and silly situations. They also hide the fact they're siblings so people won't connect them and suspect there's something amiss.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Qin Ze's friend Xiaobai, who dresses as a girl just for the hell of it and doesn't hide it.