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sabu-rina · 9 months ago

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I’m Not What You Need (But I Am) (Touya/OC) (1/2)

Eun has a surprise gift (or two) for Touya that makes this unwanted birthday party worthwhile. Will post ch2 smut when it's done... Title is from Granite by Sleep Token.word count// 3,890 tags// soft touya, age difference

(AO3)

*:･ﾟ✧

Touya had no intention of celebrating his birthday that year—or ever, to be honest—but there he was, under house arrest and powerless to stop his family from throwing a party. Natsuo was right when he said it was more for Fuyumi and their mother, but the truth didn’t make him any less grouchy. They even invited that dipshit chicken and his girlfriend. She was easy on the eyes, especially in her formfitting, off-shoulder sweater dress and tights, but her do-gooder streak gave him the ick. Probably vice versa for her, to be fair; his scars were gone, so it wasn’t his appearance that made her sit on the other side of Hawks.

“Think I’ll go help the girls with the cake,” she said once the silence hanging over their heads became too much to bear. Touya purposefully looked away as she scurried off to the kitchen. After a moment, he felt the brush of feathers against his bare arm and turned to find Hawks had not taken over the empty seat, instead choosing to remain on the edge of Touya’s bubble.

“Scoot over,” he said, nose wrinkling. The wrinkle turned into a grimace as Hawks entered his bubble fully, scooting so close Touya had to blow feathers out of his face. “Wrong way, chicken-dick!” He shoved his shoulder away and lifted his other hand, then remembered the Quirk dampener on his wrist. The other man regarded him smugly, but then moved farther down the couch.

“Now, now, Touya-kun, you’re supposed to be turning over a new leaf. What kind of language is that? So hurtful.”

“Shut up. Who invited you anyway?”

“Eun invited Akari,” Hawks shrugged, “I’m her plus-one. Why? You want to kick out your girlfriend’s guest?”

Touya scoffed. If he spent another second alone with Bird-Boy, he might rip off the dampener just to light himself on fire. As he started to stand up, a voice called his name from the hall and two figures entered. Akari returned, dabbing at a spot on her chest where frosting had splattered, but was accompanied by Fuyumi this time. His sister pointed at him and although she was smiling, he sank back down.

“Aozora-san and Kaminari-san will be here in a few minutes, and then everything will be ready,” she said. He wanted to ask why they were invited too but held his tongue. If Eun invited Akari, of course she’d invite her brother and hisplus-one. And Shouto had invited the Pissy Pomeranian (that was totally not his boyfriend) and the Green Goody Two-Shoes, so what was two more people for a party that wasn’t his. He put his elbow on the arm of the couch and dropped his chin into his palm.

“Lighten up, Birthday Boy,” Hawks said, “Where’s your girlfriend, anyway?”

Touya didn’t turn to answer, his words half-mumbled in irritation.

“She’s avoiding me,” he said bluntly.

Fuyumi chuckled and shook her head.

“That’s not true,” she corrected, “She’s got a big surprise!”

He didn’t react, mostly because he didn’t want to admit that it stung a little to wake up to naught but a note that said I’ll see you later! At least it was signed with a heart. But when he tried to hunt Eun down, his siblings blocked his path and directed him to the living room. If he needed anything from the kitchen, Fuyumi brought it.

“Won’t even let you see her, huh? Sounds like a wedding superstition.”

Touya couldn’t stop himself from turning to glare at him, his neck heating up under the collar of his t-shirt when he found the bastard smirking back at him.

“Oh, stop it, you two,” Akari sighed, exasperated, “Don’t bully him on his birthday.” She crossed in front of them to sit back down beside Hawks, giving her boyfriend a small bump on the shoulder to punctuate her point. Touya looked away again, trying to ignore the itch under the dampener on his wrist. He just hoped it was chicken skewers for dinner.

While they waited for the last on the guest list, Fuyumi returned to the kitchen for the final finishes on the food. Just as predicted, it wasn’t long before they heard the front door open and then two boyish voices. However, they never entered the living room, instead circling around to the garden where the party was being set up.

Eventually, Natsuo popped in to escort them and Touya hopped up a little too fast. Finally. He marched past his brother and down the hall, ignoring Natsuo’s chuckle at his impatience. He just wanted to get the day over with, to be done with all the annoying mysterious rigmarole. Stepping out into the winter air was a shock, not because it was cold in January, but because it was comfortable.

It was already dark at 6 o'clock, yet the garden was lit up with blue and purple from the many lights strung up in the trees, from poles, and along the perimeter. More were wrapped around the frames of pop-up gazebos, put up to protect a long buffet table and a platform of stone placed down for a dance floor. The rest of his family was around the food, all just chatting except for Shouto, who had already taken skewers. (Heh, they were chicken.) Giant globe lanterns gave off a warm glow that broke up the blue, as well as patio heaters to stave off the winter.

More impressive was the stage. The large platform stood just a few feet off the ground and was surrounded on three sides by a thick wall of various flowerpots, seemingly bought just for this. The flowers masked the base of the giant structure built around it that supported the lighting, as well as the various cords that powered everything. Behind the flowers was a black sheet for a backdrop that danced with twinkling blue from a projector. No wonder it had taken all day to set up… Was this the surprise Eun was saving? Speaking of which… He scanned the faces of everyone on and around it.

As it turned out, Present Mic had showed up without him knowing and was currently double checking the amps and speakers. It was weird to see him out of costume, dressed in slacks with whatever hair not in a bun resting on his shoulders. Beside him was Eun’s brother, Daisuke, fiddling with one of the two guitars set up. He was wearing a baggy, black T-shirt over a grey crewneck and cuffed jeans that stopped just above his black and blue high-tops. His fluffy, steel grey hair poked out from beneath a beanie he swore belonged to Eun. Bakugo, clad in black jeans and a leather jacket to cover up the obscenity on his t-shirt, was at the drumkit, occasionally hitting the pedal or a drum before leaning down to adjust something. Daisuke’s dumb blonde (did he dress like his boyfriend on purpose?) stood on the grass in front of the stage, a red cup in his hand and talking animatedly to a dark figure he didn’t recognize, dressed in a hoodie and skirt, with black tights and black sneakers. Where the hell was Eun?

Natsuo elbowed him, nudging him into the garden, then Hawks bumped him too, just to annoy him. He swatted at one of Hawks’ wings, earning a sideways glance from Akari. Then, the blonde, Kaminari or whatever, looked over the figure’s shoulder and got the biggest, dumbest grin as he waved him over.

“There’s the birthday boy!” he shouted, drawing everyone’s attention to Touya. There were more people than he realized, from Eraserhead’s family to a handful of UA alumni he didn’t care to remember. He was about to turn on his heel and stomp back inside, but then the mysterious figure turned.

The hood partially obscured her features, but he’d know Eun’s face from a thousand paces, in any lighting, at any angle. Before she even jogged over to him, he could see the sparkle in her big, black eyes as they crinkled into a smile. She was already wrapped around his neck before he realized the hoodie was actually his, which explained why it was a little too big on her. Although the sweater smelled like him, woodsy and masculine, he was overtaken by the scent of her perfume, like his cologne but with a hint of vanilla. Had she ever worn perfume before?

“Happy Birthday, Touya,” she said against his neck. He felt the heat from her body radiate out and melt every edge of his, instantly soothing the tension.

By the time he remembered to hug her back, she pulled away, the whole thing only lasting a few moments. He settled for resting his hands on her hips as they both leaned backward to look at the other, her own hands still on his shoulders. Her cheeks were pink, probably from the cold air and putting things together, but her lips were velvet purple, bordering on matte black. There was a hint of color around her eyes, as well as eyeliner, and…mascara? Since when did she wear more than balm or gloss?

“You look…” he started, then paused as his eyes trailed down. A skirt. Or…a dress? She definitely never wore those outside of her old school uniform. A smile tugged at his lips; did she wear all this just for him?

“Amazing,” he finished, looking at her face again. She slipped her hands from his shoulder to his chest and gave him a light shove, separating them as she laughed quietly.

“Oh, stop. You can’t even see the dress.” He blinked as she reached over her shoulder to pull the hoodie off like a boy and caught it when she tossed it to him. Her short, dirty blonde hair was a little messy from taking it off, but she quickly smoothed it down and tamed a few flyaways. It was the same as always, framing her face just right so he could see every feature. She didn’t seem phased by him staring, smiling as she motioned down her body.

It was a simple, black dress that hugged her figure until the skirt that ended mid-thigh, with a boat neckline and long sleeves. He whistled and reached to touch it, betting it was soft and smooth, but she put her finger up to stop him, then smirked as she turned around, wiggling her hips just a little to make the skirt swish. He sucked in a breath. On her back was nothing but a few familiar freckles and a giant ribbon near the base of her spine, tied into a neat bow. The broad space of bare skin was certainly enough to forget the modest view from the front. When she turned back around, she gave him a look that asked his opinion while already knowing the answer. He closed the gap between them and ran his hands up her sides, fingertips touching the flesh where the fabric stopped. He caught her tiny shiver when he briefly brushed over her ribs. It was his turn to raise his eyebrows.

“No bra?” he asked quietly, practically purring. Her smile was cheeky as she scrunched her nose and rose slightly on the balls of her feet to meet his lips in a peck.

Someone loudly cleared their throat, suddenly reminding the couple there were plenty of other people to witness their antics. While the guests had the decency to return to mingling, his family was looking on knowingly. When Touya turned to sneer at them, annoyed at whoever had the nerve to interrupt the best part of his day, his siblings looked away to feign innocence. His father, dressed like he was at a business meeting, stood at the back of the garden with Hawks, a comically tiny cup in his massive hand. When his eyes darted away from his son’s glare, Touya knew he was the culprit. It certainly wasn’t his mother, who was currently approaching them.

Rei was elegant in her knee-length, black dress, with her long, white hair put up in a twist and kept in place by two sticks made of bronze and labradorite. Her smile was soft and warm, and Eun bashfully scratched her nose as she stepped away from him.

Just then, a whistle pulled Eun’s attention to Daisuke, who was waving at her from the stage. With a polite nod to Rei and a smile to Touya, she excused herself to go help set up. He watched the bow bounce as she jogged away, but then felt his mother’s grey eyes watching his face and threw on his hoodie so she couldn’t see the pink tinge on his cheeks. When he tugged the sweater down, he caught another whiff of Eun’s perfume, now permeating the material and mingling with his own. He was never washing it again…

He glanced at his mother to find her still smiling at him, with the same knowing twinkle Natsuo and Fuyumi usually had.

“Happy Birthday,” she said. He wanted to scoff, but when the image of her sad face flashed in his head, he couldn’t bring himself to make it a reality. Instead, he tried to smile, although it was closer to a cat with a snaggle tooth. She laughed and he immediately stopped trying. When he turned away to pout, she stopped him with her palm on his cheek, then cupped his other cheek as well.

“I just wanted to say…I’m so proud of you, Touya. Really.” She looked into his eyes, and he tensed at the sincerity, unsure if he was prepared for this kind of intimate moment. Although, he had to admit the cool of her skin was soothing for the heat that lived beneath his, scars or not. He felt his own features soften, his body dropping its guard just a little. Even after she moved her hands to his upper arms, the comfort remained. She gave his arms a little squeeze, then let go.

“Thanks…Mom.”

Bakugo went apeshit on a drum breakdown, startling both mother and son. Kaminari, now on stage with a bass hanging in front of him, shouted something at him, but Bakugo continued to smugly bang out a rhythm. Daisuke laughed and played a few chords with him, causing his boyfriend to roll his eyes, although he couldn’t hide his own smile. Eun adjusted the mic stand and looked to Present Mic for the go-ahead.

Rei tugged on his arm, and he gave her a questioning look.

“Let’s stand closer,” she said, almost as giddy as a schoolgirl. He let her tug him toward the stage, still confused.

Daisuke had done shows for parties before and both he and Eun were famously fond of karaoke, so what was so special about this one? When they stopped a few feet from the stage, he realized the difference; Eun wasn’t setting up, she was preparing. That only confused him more. Did his mother know what genres she gravitated toward? When he glanced at her, she just smiled and hooked his arm with hers.

Bakugo’s drumming petered out, then ended with a cymbal crash to irritate Kaminari. Most of the lights in the garden dimmed, turning the stage into a beacon. The guests came closer, even Hawks, leaving Enji to stand solo in the back. Fuyumi and Natsuo joined him and Rei, sparing him a few glances they thought he didn’t notice. Meanwhile, Shouto was already in front of the stage, standing with Midoriya and the other 1-A kids that had showed up.

The stage lights dimmed then, leaving just the twinkling blue spinning over the band’s faces. The music started like a dull ache, then Eun closed her eyes and gripped the mic stand. Her voice was low and smooth, with the occasional nervous vibrato.

Sulfur on your breath,

Granite on my chest.

It was a song like a beating heart waiting to be pulled out. From the way she touched her chest and referred to herself as more than a body, to the slight furrow of her brow when she sang to a You, her ache was visceral. Despite shut eyes, he felt her gaze on him and his past. Their past.

The music picked up and Eun opened up, her black eyes finding his so quickly he knew she felt him staring. Her tone was harsher now, matching the motion of the hand that once rested over her heart, now cutting the air. He felt her finger jab into his chest each time, accusing, and correct to do so; she was singing of a time he tried to forget, to leave behind, but she insisted they remember so they’d never go back.

But then her eyes softened before flickering away from his, and a smile broke through the mask of the character she was playing onstage. It was then that he realized his mother was still holding his arm and swaying her head, smiling back up at Eun. Was this song for him or his mother? Or both?

There was a lull. Eun stepped away from the mic, her hair falling into her face as she dropped her head.

Then there was a break and the grit he had expected came like a thunderstorm. The lights flashed in time, each crash of the drums, lightning that lit up the garden. Eun’s body moved on its own, neck and back bending to the will of the heavy guitar in her brother’s skilled hands. Daisuke lifted his head and the siblings looked more alike in the moment they exchanged looks than ever before, two grins and all teeth.

She returned to the mic with fresh vigor and power. The last line burned with the smoke in her voice, sending goosebumps down his arms as she held the final note while holding his gaze.

You say you want me, but you know I’m not what you need.

But I am.

The audience erupted with cheers and applause, including Rei. She unhooked her arm from his and bumped him with her shoulder, reminding him to clap as well. Eun looked at Daisuke, who nodded, then she took a short bow.

“Eun has a beautiful voice,” Rei said. Touya slipped his hands into his pockets and hummed, still watching the young woman on the stage as she exchanged words with her bandmates. A blush dusted her cheeks while her beam never wavered. She’d blossomed on that stage, right before their eyes.

“Yeah,” he said, “Beautiful.”

Rei paused to look at the side of her son’s face, at his blue eyes locked forward and the ghost of a genuine smile tugging at his lips, then turned to leave. She really was proud of how far he’d come, and she was glad he had someone to take him farther, to keep him grounded so he could heal—so they could all heal.

It wasn’t until the band started into the next song, already starting heavier than the last, that Touya realized Rei had gone. He looked around to see her heading into the house, Fuyumi in tow, but before he could ask why they were leaving, Natsuo spoke.

“The next one isn’t really their taste,” he said, “Come on, let’s get closer!”

They played two more songs. The second was hard and soft at the same time, with Kaminari showing off his new bass skills while Daisuke and Bakugo played above their weight class just to match Eun’s energy. Her poetry about giving oneself over to another in both body and soul, was punctuated by the gravelly growls and screams she’d practiced since she was 14. When the breakdown came, almost everyone in the garden was nodding along, some banging their heads. Bakugo did what he did best while putting the kickdrum to work. Daisuke shredded a disgusting solo with Eun at his back doing an equally nasty growl. The whole time, Eun was glowing, a smile lighting up her face when she wasn’t singing, just moving. Mixed with the lights twinkling and flashing and dancing over her face, her spell gripped Touya to the core. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

That remained true for the third, and final, song, which slowed things down. She put the microphone back on the stand and sang the closest to a ballad she would ever get. While his attention remained glued to her, she returned it any time she wasn’t closing her eyes to belt. It was hard to keep tone when she wanted to smile all the time, which was always her reaction when she looked at him.

The lyrics were vague yet specific, like an inside joke known only to them, and their meaning planted a new kind of ache in Touya’s chest. He wanted to pull her off the stage and keep her in his arms forever. He wanted her to say those things to him in private. He wanted that life, that light, to stay in her eyes forever. And there was so much more wanting in him, but no words to put to it. All Touya knew was that he was feeling, and there had been way too much of that for one night already.

The ending of the song was the boys jamming while Eun danced around the stage. When the last notes played, the lights cut to black. Then, the dancing blue lights returned, and a spotlight landed on Touya.

“Can we get a ‘Happy Birthday’?!” Eun said. Everyone shouted it out in response and applauded. Earlier, it would have annoyed him, but he was too busy thinking about her to really care. He stared as Eun continued, her own gaze flickering back to his occasionally.

“It was a ton of fun playing for you all! We hope to do this again soon if anyone else has a birthday coming up.” Some laughed when she waggled her eyebrows after that. “Anyway, help yourself to the buffet if you haven’t already, and the cake will be out in about fifteen minutes! Thank you for coming!” She bowed as the guests clapped and cheered again.

Once the crowd started to migrate toward the long table of food, Eun said a couple things to Daisuke before heading over to Touya, who was waiting patiently. She hopped off with his help and he felt his head spin when her perfume hit his senses. He’d barely gotten his arms around her before his lips were pressed to hers, inhaling deeply as though the kiss was a relief he’d sorely needed. She smiled and leaned into him but didn’t wrap her arms around his neck like she wanted. That would wait until she had a chance to freshen up.

He just barely ended the kiss, their noses still brushing when he touched his forehead to hers. He narrowed his eyes, which were still focused on her purple lipstick.

“Bathroom,” he croaked.

She blinked.

“Meet me in the bathroom,” he clarified, then kissed her one more time before parting entirely.

She made to argue, cheeks flushing as she glanced around to make sure no one had heard his demand, but he was already turning on his heel and heading inside. She blew hair from her face and pouted, not moving yet. Once he was inside, and very clearly not joking around, she huffed and followed.

#original character #oc x canon #eun mha #mha oc #dabi #touya todoroki #touya x oc #happy birthday dabi #i forgot to post this here

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2daidorumusic · 4 years ago

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#uesugi celia #aozora under girls

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aozoraundergals · 7 years ago

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Dead community, blog inactivity, and waning interest in the game

With AUG entering its third week since launch, one thing has become clear: This game’s English community is nearly non-existent. While there is a small grouping on Twitter and a Discord of 30-ish people at the time of this writing, here on tumblr specifically, the tags have all been dead. Not even to mention that I've grown bored of the game very quickly; It’s been so unworthwhile to post here that I missed posting any news about the first event, and missed Kanon Tendo’s birthday this past week too. So unless AUG has a bigbang on tumblr (which better be sooner than later seeing how equally-unpopular it already is in Japan), consider this blog inactive. If game-changing news ever happens i’ll be sure to try to post it here, but any small daily login news will have to found elsewhere.

Now, are you one of 3 people on here who does want that daily login news and updated game guides and not sure where to go? That I can help with: Twitter: I along with another player run AoGirlsEN, Although it is also suffering from lack of consistent posts. I check it daily, so if you have any questions that you need answered this is probably your best bet! The Google Doc: What started as a simple copy paste of all the info here for personal reference has grown into the go-to info dump for AUG. still not finished, but far more accurate that everything on here.

Discord: Barely active, but I don’t have the server muted, so any questions posted there I will see too. Instagram: Not really a social media I use often, which is upsetting seeing it seems to be the most active for AUG content at this point. There are a few AUG accounts but the active one currently is Aozoragirls; I’d definitely check there for any misc. translations the google doc doesn’t have.

#Aozora Under Girls #AoGirls #AoGal

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lovinglapislazuli · 2 years ago

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So @curedeity came up with the hilarious concept of Minori making mermaid lore videos while Laura just chills in the background and I wanted to illustrate it! The concept of precure having youtube channels has so much chaotic good potential XD

Here’s the original galaxy brain post: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/curedeity/687050199519068160?source=share

Image description under the cut:

Image Description: A traditional art drawing featuring a mock up youtube video page. The video, uploaded by user Legendary Papaya and titled “The mermaid Theory iceberg Explained” features Minori and Laura from tropical rouge precure at the pool in the Aozora aquarium. Minori is in front of a microphone decorated with little pink flowers and colorful beads, smiling and gesturing with her open hand as she is explaining something. Laura is laying in the background on the other side of the pool, in her mermaid form, admiring her painted nails and smiling. To the right side of the video window, five recommened videos are listed. The titles are, in order from above to below: “Door of courage!” (thumbnail shows Urara from Yes Precure 5), “Cutefy your wardrobe!” (Sango from Tropical Rouge precure holding a dress), “Blazing good weather man” (Asuka’s dad from Tropical Rouge), “Komachi scary story vol.3″ (An open book, a mug and some daifuku sweets) and “H@ppy Together” (The four girls from Fresh precure as a dance group).

#Tropical Rouge Precure #Precure #プリキュア #laura apollodoros hyginus la mer #You -know- she has an hour long video about jellyfish species #I like to think Minori would have the same chill yet chaotic energy of wendigoon #minori ichinose #pretty cure #yes precure 5 #fresh precure #my art

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katavicbun · 4 years ago

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As promised (actually I don’t think I promised it but whatev) here is the girl talk snippet from “It’s Not Over. We’re Not Done.” chapter 15. If you haven’t read it ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/28798473/chapters/70625382 plu plug plug) then you’ll be confused, but like... if you want contextless post-DR3 “Nagito has friends” fluff, who am I to stop you?

Back in the Jabberwock killing game, Nagito almost enjoyed the motives that they were given. As soon as the 77th class had been thrown into the thick of it, Nagito had been beside himself with anticipation at seeing brilliant Ultimate hope persevere against the depths of tragedy. But he didn’t think he’d be happy about a new killing motive again.

Granted, the reason was much less nefarious this time around.

The First Blood Perk: there would be no trial or punishment for the first blackened. They would be free; or whatever that meant in the context of the simulation.

Nagito was looking forward to telling Hajime the relatively good news, but once his game-watching shift was over, it looked like Kazuichi had beaten him to it.

From what Nagito could hear at a distance, it sounded like Kazuichi was putting a bit too much emphasis on how “Kokichi is being an absolute dick to Kiibo”, but the tension in Hajime’s expression lessened with the actually-important news.

Even when Kazuichi left, Nagito stayed where he was, indecisively shifting from foot to foot. Hajime hadn’t reacted well at all when the two’s relationship had been outed the day prior. He was slowly warming up to showing casual affection when they were alone, but when others could see them…

Hajime finally noticed Nagito fidgeting on the other side of the hall, his face softening further, a small but genuine smile gracing his face. The sight went straight to Nagito’s heart, speeding it up to double-time.

He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten this lucky.

But before either could call out a greeting, two hands slapped over Nagito’s eyes as someone leaped onto his back.

“Ah?” Nagito said in subdued alarm.

“Nagichan spotted! Deploy, deploy!” Presumably Ibuki screeched in his ear, as he bent under her weight.

“Oh, wonderful! I was worried we would not be able to meet today,” Sonia chirped, somewhere to Nagito’s left. When Ibuki slid off and he regained his sight, Nagito saw the two, plus Komaru, beaming at him expectantly.

“Do you… need something…?” Nagito blanked.

“Uh, yeah!” Komaru exclaimed, as if he were missing something very, very obvious. “We haven’t talked about-“

She cut herself off when she spotted Hajime in earshot, looking as baffled as Nagito felt.

“Ha! Ha! Hajiman!” Ibuki hooted, “Nagi is needed in another castle!”

She and Komaru grabbed both of Nagito’s arms and tugged him back in the direction he’d come from.

Murder, maybe? No, probably not.

Sonia smiled brightly and gave a brisk wave to Hajime. “Do not worry! We shall return him to you soon!”

Komaru and Ibuki giggled madly at her word choice as they dragged Nagito away. He wasn’t positive, but he was pretty sure Hajime’s face began turning a concerning shade of white.

Komaru threw the door open when they reached her and Toko’s room. The three girls filed in without hesitation, but Nagito stopped at the doorway. Wasn’t it inappropriate for a man to enter a girl’s room? It wasn’t like he had ever done that before. Nor had he ever wanted to. However, the protest never had the chance to leave his mouth before he was pulled in, too, the door slamming behind him.

It came as no surprise that Toko was already inside, curled up under the covers. She seldom moved ever since they were locked inside the hotel, still wracked with guilt and self-horror from what she had done to save Komaru from Tsumugi’s crowd. From who she had let Genocide Jack kill.

“Hello, Toko,” Nagito said quietly. “Is Nami bothering you?”

Toko made a small noise of negation.

The only parts of her that Nagito could see was the tangled purple mess of hair sprawled across the pillow, and her hand, absently petting his dog lying beside her. Evidently, at some point during the past two hours or so, Nami had slipped inside, like the spoiled pet she was.

“Tell us everything!” Komaru urged excitedly, jumping onto the mattress to sit with her girlfriend. Sonia knelt delicately on the floor on Toko’s other side, and Ibuki flopped down next, yanking a very confused Nagito with her.

“Everything...? Komaru, we were on the same shift,” Nagito reminded her.

“Huh? No, not about the…” Komaru trailed off. It seemed like their merry group of twenty-three was split down the middle when it came to how to deal with their situation. Hajime couldn’t stop talking about it, but Komaru was trying very hard to talk about literally anything else.

Ibuki interrupted. “So are you and Hajiman, like, ooey-gooey lovey-dovey, or are you…” She made a variety of random sound effects that Nagito was afraid to interpret.

Sonia and Komaru were leaning forward with sparkling eyes and wide grins.

Ah.

“I… um,” Nagito stuttered, completely unsure of how to answer. The room suddenly felt very warm. And small. “Not… Not the second one. I think.”

“Ooey-gooey boyfriends!” Ibuki squished his cheeks as Komaru and Sonia shot him with rapid-fire questions.

“When!?”

“Where?”

“Who confessed!?”

“Oh! Have you kissed?”

Nagito managed to pry Ibuki away from his face. She bounced away, unbothered. “A week ago, in the hotel hallway, it… depends, and…” Nagito stopped. What was he even allowed to disclose? So much of this was uncharted territory; he still wasn’t used to having friends in the first place. He still wasn’t used to even calling them friends, despite them insisting it was so.

“He’s blushing! They totally have!” Komaru accused proudly.

“My goodness, the both of you must be so sweet!” Sonia clasped her hands together under her chin. “What did you talk about?”

Nagito had replayed the moment an inappropriate amount of times in his own head; maybe it would be nice to talk about it out loud. And they were asking. “Hmm… Hajime said he loved me, and let me kiss him.”

The three girls had frozen smiles on their faces, like they were expecting more.

Ibuki blinked. “Ah… aww?”

“I’m sorry. Was that too much?” Nagito frowned. He was trying to get better at determining when he had been talking for too long.

“D-details…” Toko mumbled. So she was listening.

“It… was nice…?” Nagito ventured.

“What did you talk about?” Komaru prompted. Sonia and Ibuki nodded.

Oh. Just a little more, then. “I told him that I fell in love with the Hajime inside Izuru and the Izuru inside Hajime. Then he requested that I stop saying things like that if I continued rejecting his advances. I reminded him that it was for his own wellbeing, and he told me that for whatever reason, he believed that I wasn’t an utter detriment to his quality of life. He even said he was sad when I died!” Nagito closed his eyes dreamily at the memory. “He said many kind things, and allowed me to kiss him. He smiled!”

The girls looked considerably less excited.

“I… I am… more confused, somehow.” Sonia cocked her head, her eyebrows upturned.

“Wait, hold on, did Hajime say he loved you before?” Komaru asked. “When you were in Towa with us, you said it was one-sided.”

“L-lying…” Toko muttered.

“No, not on purpose!” Nagito quickly clarified. He tried not to lie when he could. “Hajime also said it on the boat ride back to Jabberwock, after we escaped Aozora.”

“Well well well!?” Ibuki shook her fists, pumped up again at the prospect of more gossip.

That memory wasn’t quite as pleasant.

“When Hajime was fixing my prosthetic, he wanted to know why I sacrificed myself for him, and allowed myself to be captured in his place. Of course, I reminded him that I loved him,” Nagito recounted. It seemed like an obvious question at the time. Now that he had hindsight, though, he wondered if it was simply a way to steer the conversation. “He said he felt the same. He tried to kiss me, but…” Nagito winced.

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I just can’t let you. Because I was right, wasn’t I?”

“You think I’m doing this because of Izuru!?”

Nagito shook his head. “...Well. Like I said. It was… for his own good.”

Sonia gasped and covered her mouth. “Oh, Nagito, I… I am so sorry!”

“You’re… sorry?” Nagito repeated. Not quite the reaction he was expecting.

“I told you that Hajime was fixing your arm because I thought you wanted to talk,” Sonia explained mournfully. “I knew how you felt, and I could tell Hajime had feelings for you as well. You both acted so odd afterwards. I should have picked it together!”

“‘Put’,” Toko corrected.

Calling his and Hajime’s actions “odd” was a bit of an understatement. Hajime tried to explain himself, and reconnect, and care for Nagito. But Nagito pushed him away. He was cruel.

“Um, question?” Komaru spoke up hesitantly. “You keep saying that avoiding him was for his own good. What do you mean, exactly?”

“Is it Nagichan’s luck?” Ibuki asked.

Nagito shook his head. If it were anyone else, or if Hajime was 100% “Hajime”, it would have been. Something terrible would have happened to him, just like his parents. But Hajime’s own Ultimate Luck nullified the negative aspects.

Well. Not Hajime’s luck. It was-

“You are talking about the simulation, then?” Sonia offered after a pause.

No, not really. Nagito wasn’t in the mood to correct her, though. Plus, the Jabberwock killing game was a massive roadblock between the two of them.

“I never saw the simulation, though. What happened?” Komaru asked.

Sonia and Ibuki avoided Nagito’s eyes.

The Jabberwock killing was also the massive elephant in the room.

They all waited for Nagito to explain. He didn’t. He figured the extent of his actions would best be described by the ones he hurt.

“Ah. Well,” Sonia said after his silence became apparent. “Nagito, um… he was a little…”

“Wacko?” Ibuki supplied.

Sonia looked at her sharply. Nagito nodded in encouragement.

“Nagichan tried to hurt Imposter. And everyone. And Hajiman... is also part of ‘everyone’?” Ibuki continued with uncharacteristic discomfort. Her details were very lacking. Nagito thought it would be best to fill in a bit.

“Not out of self-preservation, either. I simply thought that by introducing despair, it would persuade our classmates to fight for their own brilliant hopes. When I failed, I tried to convince the others to do the same,” Nagito explained. The words were familiar, but even he noticed that his tone lacked the enthusiasm he once spoke with. It felt less like the ramblings of a devotee, and more like an objective, emotionless retelling. “I found out our past identities as the Remnants of Despair, and used my own life to try and take theirs. After all, it was the only use I could think of for myself.”

By the deafening silence following, Nagito came to the conclusion that this was not the planned topic of discussion.

This was all news to Komaru. Still, she didn’t look surprised. It probably sounded very consistent with her and Toko’s experience with him.

“But we have forgiven you!” Sonia insisted, covering his hand with hers. “You have proven that you are a good man, many times now. And… we have all done… terrible, terrible things.” Her voice dipped down at the end of her sentence. As pure-hearted as she was now, Sonia, too, was a Remnant of Despair.

“Hajiman totally thinks so, too!” Ibuki piped up, the positive momentum picking up again. “He’s gone gaga!”

“First impressions aren’t everything, either!” Komaru added. “I mean, look at me and Toko. The first time we met, we were totally different to each other than we are now.”

“It wasn’t the first time we met,” Nagito blurted out.

Oops.

“You… knew each other when you were students?” Sonia deduced. “I did not know that.”

“Oh no, Nagichan didn’t like Reserve Courses…” Ibuki recalled. There went the positive mood again. However…

“I met him when he was no longer a student,” Nagito corrected, his tone flattening out. He met him when he was no longer Hajime.

“I see. Hajime feels guilty because Izuru hurt you?” Sonia asked quietly.

Yes, but not the way she meant it.

Nagito wasn’t planning on explaining much further, but Toko spoke again, her voice muffled under the blankets.

“W-where did you g-go when you l-left Towa? Th-the f-first time I-I mean.”

Nagito’s head shot up.

“Wh-what Tsumugi said…” Toko murmured.

“Nagito Komaeda, Ultimate Lucky Student number two, psychopath hope-bitch, Izuru’s personal puppy dog!”

A sharp inhale from Sonia, a gawk from Ibuki, a sympathetic sound from Komaru.

The questions popping around in their minds were practically audible, but they knew enough not to voice them. It wasn’t like they didn’t understand what Toko was implying, either.

Nagito felt that familiar, peaceful feeling of resignation fill his body, pasting a blank, cheerful smile on his face.

“I’m sorry, I know this isn’t what you planned on talking about today. Though, if it’s any consolation, I’ve found this conversation enlightening. It’s good to remember your roots, isn’t it?” Nagito mused. “‘Hajime and Nagito’... it’s pretty nonsensical and twisted, hmm? His claim to care for me is… impossible. And so is yours-”

Nagito was cut off when Sonia tackled him.

“Do not dare finish that thought!” She cried, squeezing him much tighter than he figured she would be able to. “I do not claim to know how Hajime feels, but I know how I do!”

“Sonia…?” Nagito blinked, trying and failing to untangle himself.

“You are sweet and kind. You saved my life, even after how we have treated you!” She insisted, cheek squished against his shoulder.

Ibuki leaped at Nagito from his other side, nearly knocking him and Sonia to the ground. “Ibuki’s crazy, too, it’s a-okay! And she was wrong, Nagichan would never hurt his neighbors’ pets. Nami-Mami is so happy!”

The dog’s tail thumped on the bed at the sound of her name.

“Plus, Nagi’s got the voice of a princess, and he lets me play with his floof!” To illustrate, Ibuki plunged one of her hands into his hair and ruffled madly. Nagito really didn’t like it when (most) people touched his hair, but he was too surprised at the moment to protest.

Two more arms wrapped around his shoulders as Komaru laid on her stomach to reach them from the bed. “I know I haven’t really known you for too long, but I wanna get to know you more. We didn’t get off on a good foot, but you’re so different now!”

A hand landed on his head.

“I-I j-just do wh-what Komaru does… sh-she makes friends w-with w-weird people, b-but…” Toko muttered.

Nagito felt tears prick at his eyes, but he was too cocooned with affection to be able to wipe his face. “Ah… that’s… thank you,” he murmured.

He jumped when he felt a light slap on his scalp.

“Also, come on! Hajime is totally head over heels!” Komaru scolded playfully. “When you talked to him on the computer back in Towa, he was so happy you were okay, I thought he was gonna, like, explode!”

“I-it was gross,” Toko agreed.

“And Hajiman tried so hard to rescue you!” Ibuki squealed. Nagito flinched at her proximity to his ear. “Ibuki heard he carried Nagichan all the way back to the bus. Like a knight and a princess!”

Nagito wasn’t sure he liked Ibuki’s insistence of him being a princess, but she meant well.

“And I have never seen Hajime as happy as he was when you were together.” Sonia said, pulling back to put a hand on Nagito’s cheek. “We are not defined by our actions in the past. Who you are now is most important, and the person that you are now is the one we all love.”

Being loved: it was an experience that Nagito never really had. Of course he wouldn’t recognize it.

“After everything… I think you should allow yourself to believe what you are told.” Sonia smiled gently. “Don’t you?”

Change didn’t come easy. It didn’t come quick. It came in increments, in short bursts, in relapses and two steps back, and in growth.

One gesture couldn’t change everything. But it could help the process.

“I… I love you all, too,” Nagito said thickly.

********************

Nagito knew he’d made Hajime lose his cool quite a bit back in the day. But not like this. Never like this.

The hole Hajime had punched through the wall watched them like a single black eye, the resulting drops of blood on the carpet almost visible, even in the dark. Hajime’s eyes were puffy, and the bandage on his hand was bulky and rough.

When Hajime had gotten out of the shower, Nagito was laying on the bed and feigning sleep. He wasn’t sure what he could even say to Hajime, and decided that acting was the least offensive thing to do. He kept his eyes shut, even when he felt Hajime’s bore into him. Even when Hajime laid down and clung onto him for dear life. Even when Hajime hooked his legs like a vice around one of Nagito’s, and gripped his shirt enough to make it ride up, and buried his face so far into the crook of Nagito’s neck that he worried his breathing was compromised.

Maybe it was to prevent Nagito from leaving and trying to sacrifice himself. Again.

Or…

“I think you should allow yourself to believe what you are told. Don’t you?”

...Or maybe Hajime just wanted reassurance that Nagito was there. Maybe he just wanted to be with him.

“I love you,” Hajime whispered shakily to the supposedly-sleeping boy, his breath warm on his skin.

Hajime wanted Nagito to be scared about the prospect of his own demise. But how could he be?

Right now, Nagito had everything he wanted. He had… friends. A makeshift family. He had Hajime.

For once, Nagito was happy.

#out of context the last part sounds like domestic abuse i can't stress enough how much it's not #it's not over we're not done on ao3 #danganronpa #Nagito Komaeda #Hajime Hinata #sonia nevermind #ibuki mioda #komaru naegi #toko fuwaka #komahina #hinakoma #fluff #angst #fanfic

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muthaz-rapapa · 3 years ago

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Finally, Asuka arc. However, this ep only told her backstory so I’m sure we’ll get at least one more for closure and what’s looking to be a likely reconciliation with Yuriko.

That said, I can understand both girls’ viewpoints on the issue that ruined their partnership. Asuka followed her sense of justice when other players tried to sabotage Yuriko’s equipment. Unfortunately, since there was no solid proof they can provide to support that claim and the other team called foul on Asuka’s “violence”, Aozora had to compromise to keep that news from going public and banning their team from future competitions altogether. Yuriko was thinking for the benefit of everyone but that broke Asuka’s belief and trust in her teammates who won’t fight for the truth because they’re too scared to lose the chance to compete.

Neither of them are wrong, it’s the other team’s underhanded tactic against them that is. However, Asuka and Yuriko still ended paying the price (their friendship) for it which is truly unfair.

And the longer that sense of betrayal stretched between them, the harder it is for them to forgive each other for not understanding what’s “more important”…even though they really…

…know each other better than anyone else does. Yuriko of course still believes that Asuka did nothing wrong, that she would never deliberately hurt anyone and was just protecting her partner. While Asuka also understands that as captain, Yuriko did make the correct decision to save the team. Because competitions are held every year, they can always play at the next one but can’t if their school is blacklisted.

However, every time they see each other, the animosity and anger block that understanding. They’re still too hurt over the rift that split them apart to say “You were right” and make up. So they accuse each other of being narrow-minded despite the both of then knowing that’s not really the case at all.

It’s not a matter of being stubborn here. Or I should say, it’s not a matter of childish indignation.

It’s a matter of principles and their unwillingness to yield because of that.

But with time and proper healing, they’ll be able to let this conflict become water under the bridge someday.

I mean, obviously Asuka and Yuriko still care a lot about each other. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be butting heads now. They wouldn’t still be fighting each other so hard if they didn’t care or even remember mundane things about each other like the case with Asuka’s pillow.

The past is past, it’s already done and you can’t change that. You just have to accept it for what it is, let it go and move on.

And I’m sure they will. It’s not worth it at all to keep hating your best friend forever when in reality, you want nothing more than to be with them.

Asuka and Yuriko haven’t lost that mutual feeling yet so they’ll be able to overcome this eventually. 😊

#on another note the animation this episode was WEIRD AF yo 😅😅😅#those eyes scare me 😳😰#tropical rouge! precure #tanizawa asuka

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darkershining · 3 years ago

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DarkerShining’s thoughts on Pretty Cure: Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure

Hey everyone! As you can guess from the title, I’m going to be talking about my thoughts on Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure.

The story begins as Manatsu Natsumi, an energetic girl from Minamino Island, prepares to move to Aozora City to live with her mother, who works at an aquarium there. At the same time, an ambitious young mermaid named Laura offers to head out to find humans who can become Pretty Cures, in order to save the Gran Ocean, as the mermaids and sea fairies living there have been drained of their Motivation Power. Laura hopes that taking on this mission will lead to the Queen of the Gran Ocean naming her the next Queen.

As the boat Manatsu is on is heading towards Aozora City, Manatsu decides to put on some of the lipstick her mother gave her for some extra confidence, only to end up accidentally dropping it into the sea, where it is picked up by Laura. Manatsu meets with her mother, and follows her to the aquarium she works at. After looking around at the various creatures in the aquarium for a bit, and discussing how there are still much of the ocean humans have yet to explore with the aquarium’s director, Mafune, Manatsu heads out to explore the city.

Around the same time, Laura begins her search for a human that might become a Pretty Cure, but she isn’t sure what to look for. Naturally, Manatsu and Laura eventually end up meeting up. Manatsu is excited to meet a real mermaid, while Laura is less enthusiastic, at least until Manatsu compliments her looks. The two talk for a bit, and Laura returns the lipstick Manatsu dropped earlier. Wondering if Manatsu might be one of the people she’s looking for, Laura asks Manatsu to try opening one of the four Tropical Compacts she brought along.

When Manatsu fails to open it, Laura concludes that Manatsu isn’t the one she’s looking for, and asks her to keep their meeting a secret as she goes to resume her search. Manatsu gladly agrees to keep it a secret between the two of them, and heads home to unpack her things. As Laura continues to search, she spots a group of men jogging, only for a large crab-like creature, one of the followers of the Witch of Delays, to appear and summon a monster called a Yaraneda. The Yaraneda have the ability to drain people’s Motivation Power, leaving them tired and unwilling to do anything.

Manatsu spots the commotion from her house, and remembering where Laura was going, decides to go investigate to make sure that Laura is okay. When Laura sees Manatsu heading to her location, her cry of surprise alerts the crab, Chongire, to her presence. Chongire has the Yaraneda capture her, intending to drain her motivation too, but before he can do so, Manatsu arrives and tries to save Laura. Chongire wonders why Manatsu isn’t more concerned about her own well-being, but Manatsu is the type of person who always does what is most important to her at the moment, and right now, what is important to her is saving Laura.

Manatsu’s strong feelings get a reaction from the Tropical Pact, and a ring appears around Manatsu’s finger. Laura realizes the key must be what can unlock the Tropical Pact, and tells Manatsu to use it. Doing as she says, Manatsu becomes Cure Summer, and is able to fight the monster. Laura uses her Mermaid Aqua Pot to take back the stolen motivation, while Cure Summer takes down the monster. After this, Laura tells Manatsu the two of them will be working together from now on.

As Manatsu starts attending school, it doesn’t take long before she and Laura track down the other three Cures. Together, they form their own school club, the Tropical Club, and work together with Laura to stop the followers of the Witch of Delays from stealing people’s motivation.

Okay, that should be enough for a brief summary of what happens in the first few episodes of the series without giving away too much. There’ll be spoilers for the entire show under the “Read More” link.

(previous parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)

Manatsu Natsumi/Cure Summer

As usual, I’ll start with the lead “pink” Cure of the series, Manatsu Natsumi. Manatsu is quickly established as an energetic girl, who is really looking forward to life in the city, going to school and taking part in club activities. We also see that she believes in doing whatever is most important to you at the moment, which is something she picked up from her dad. Open-minded and eager to try new things to make the most of her school life, she also helps her fellow Cures discover new things and sides to themselves. However, there can be times where Manatsu’s impulsiveness gets her into trouble.

I really like Manatsu. Her motto of focusing on what is most important in the moment is a good one, and I like her enthusiasm when it comes to whatever she’s set her mind on at the moment. I also like how she brings the team together, and how her impulsiveness is one of her strengths, but can also be one of her biggest flaws.

I like her character design, particularly how Cure Summer’s outfit isn’t primarily pink. There’s certainly some pink in there, and I feel the show still sort of treats it like pink is her theme color, but the dress is mostly white, with hints of pink, blue and yellow. I like how the design also brings to mind a sailor outfit somewhat, fitting for a series that focuses a lot on the ocean.

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Sango Suzumura/Cure Coral

Next, let’s talk about Sango. We first see a glimpse of her when Manatsu looks through the window of the store Sango’s mother runs. When Manatsu begins school, she later recognizes Sango when they meet again there and discovers that they are in the same class. Manatsu quickly begins to develop a friendship with Sango. As they spend time with some of Sango’s other friends, Sango mostly goes along with what her friends are doing, but watching Manatsu doing her own thing and not caring what others might think, Sango can’t help but admire her confidence. Meanwhile, Manatsu admires Sango’s kindness as she watches Sango return a dropped wallet and later giving her ice cream to a young girl who wanted the same flavor as her after the ice cream shop ran out.

While visiting the aquarium, Sango is separated from the rest of the group, and is drawn to the sound of Laura singing while she’s relaxing in one of the open pools outside. The two interact for a bit, with Sango complimenting Laura’s looks, and Laura tries to see if Sango might be a candidate to become a Pretty Cure. She gets no reaction from the Tropical Pact, so Laura leaves before Manatsu shows up to bring Sango back to the rest of the group. Looking at some dugongs and remembering the stories of how they were mistaken for mermaids, the other three friends speculate that mermaids might actually be funny-looking themselves, with Sango not being able to bring herself to tell them otherwise. Later that night, Sango wonders why she went along with that.

The next day at school, while Manatsu and Sango eat lunch on the roof together, Sango tells Manatsu a story from when she was in kindergarden. The kids had to grow tulips as a school assignment, and had the choice between a pink or a purple tulip. Sango went with purple because she thought it was cuter, only to regret it when it turned out she was the only one who went with purple. Sango admits that she tends to go with the flow so she doesn’t stand out, but Laura, listening in from the Aqua Pot, thinks Sango is making too big a deal out something so small and tells her to be more confident.

Discovering Sango has met Laura, Manatsu decides to tell her about the Pretty Cures. However, they are interrupted when a short distance away, Chongire has created a Yaraneda. Manatsu and Laura head off to deal with it. Sango hears her friends talking about the mermaid sightings at school the other day, and wonder if this is connected to the monster attacks. Sango finds the courage to speak up, telling her friends that the mermaid is not to blame, before running off to find Manatsu and Laura, getting the attention of Chongire.

She arrives at the scene just as Manatsu transforms into Cure Summer, and watches as the fight starts, amazed at how cute and strong Cure Summer is. When Cure Summer gets hit by the Yaraneda and knocked into Laura, Sango calls out to them. Cure Summer and Laura tell Sango to get to safety, but Sango has made up her mind: She wants to be as brave as Cure Summer, and vows that she will try to believe in herself more from now on. A ring appears on Sango’s finger, and Cure Summer and Laura realize they’ve found the second Cure.

Sango transforms into Cure Coral, and uses her newfound ability to create shields to support Cure Summer. After Laura takes back the stolen Motivation Power, Cure Summer tells Cure Coral to deliver the final blow. With some newfound confidence, Sango is no longer afraid of stating her opinion, and Cure Summer and Laura have a strong new ally. As their adventures continue, Sango gradually gains even more confidence in herself, and eventually starts to get an idea of how she can use her talent for fashion and make-up to support others.

Sango is adorable! Out of the five Cures, I think Cure Coral has my favorite design. I like her outfit, with the cute hat and her big pigtails. Most purple Cures tend to have more serious personalities, so I like that Sango is a little different from what we usually get on that front. Not that Sango can’t be just as badass as those other purple Cures, particularly in those moments when she manages to create multiple shields at once.

Her character may at times not stand out as much as her fellow Cures, but apparently that was intentional as she was meant to be sort of an audience surrogate. At least her character arc picks up later on, and I do like what they do with her. Having her initially put her confidence to test when she is asked to take part in a fashion show, and discovering the joy of sharing cuteness with the world. This later leads to her discovering her true calling when she later tries out for an audition to be a model, and ends up enjoying herself while helping out some other models with their make-up, leading her to come to the conclusion that rather than being in the spotlight herself, she’d rather use her skills to help others stand-out. I think becoming a make-up artist fits her well.

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Minori Ichinose/Cure Papaya

Next we have Minori, a quiet second-year student who is also a bit of a bookworm. Manatsu and the others come across her in the school library while searching for any information they can find on the legendary Pretty Cure, or mermaids. Minori admits she enjoys the story of The Little Mermaid. Manatsu catches her off-guard when she asks if Minori believes in mermaids, and Minori replies that it’s just a fairy tale.

Suspecting Minori might be a candidate to be the third Cure, Manatsu and the others decide to look into her some more, and learn from their teacher that Minori used to be in the Literature Club, and even wrote her own story featuring a mermaid. Manatsu finds the story and compliments Minori on it, but Minori doesn’t want to talk about it, saying it’s just a silly fairy tale she wrote a year ago. Manatsu can tell that something is bothering the girl.

They later meet up with Minori again while looking into a museum’s exhibit on legends involving mermaids. Minori apologizes for her behaviour the other day, while Manatsu also apologizes for reading her story without asking her about it first. Minori talks about her love of the story of The Little Mermaid, but as she talks about the plot, Laura, pretending to be part of the exhibit, suddenly speaks up, questioning why the mermaid in the story would make such a sacrifice for a human man.

Manatsu and Sango explain the situation to Minori, who is unsure how to react to all this. They ask if she’d like to be a Pretty Cure, but Minori doesn’t think she has what it takes to be a heroine in a fantasy story. Laura still has her try holding one of the Tropical Pacts just to see if something happens, but gets no reaction from it. Manatsu thinks Minori might just need a little confidence boost, and offers to lend her her lipstick, before they are interrupted by a sound from nearby.

Dr. Numeri has summoned a Yaraneda, and Manatsu and Sango quickly transform to deal with the situation. However, when the two find themselves trying to prevent the Yaraneda from crushing them both, Laura turns to Minori, encouraging her to to believe in herself and go save her new friends. Minori resolves to do just that, and a ring appears on her finger. Unlocking the Tropical Pact, Minori becomes Cure Papaya, and saves Cure Summer and Cure Coral. Together, the three defeat the monster and Laura takes back the stolen Motivation Power, with Cure Papaya delivering the final blow to purify the monster.

After the battle, Minori notes that this is all still a lot to take in, but she’s more open to the idea of being part of this now. As their adventures together go on, Minori gradually gains more confidence in herself as club activities with the Tropical Club leads to her trying new things and expressing her feelings more.

I really like Minori. I wasn’t sure how I felt about her design as Cure Papaya at first, but after seeing it in animation after her debut, it grew on me. As I am something of a writer myself, I can relate to some of the struggles Minori goes through. Other than that, I like how she uses her brains to help the group, whether it is coming up with solutions to a problem presented during group activities, or thinking of a strategy for dealing with Yaraneda as Cure Papaya. I also enjoy her character arc, gradually seeing her become more confident, a bit more expressive and finding the resolve to write a new story.

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Asuka Takizawa/Cure Flamingo

Next, we’ve got Asuka, an athletic third-year student. She is first introduced saving Manatsu from a gang of bullies. Impressed by her actions, Laura immediately wants to recruit Asuka as the final Cure. And so, Sango helps Manatsu track her down at school, and they introduce her to Laura and explain the situation to her.

Asuka calmly notes that this is a lot to take in, but declines the offer, as she gets the impression that Laura is just doing it for her own sake. Trying to approach her again, Manatsu is approached by Yuriko, the student council president, who Asuka also happens to have some history with. Yuriko declines Manatsu’s application to start her own club, and notes that even if she redid it, there are no rooms available for a new club. Asuka steps in to defend Manatsu, stating Yuriko is being unfair. Yuriko asks Asuka if she thinks she can find a room for them to use, to which Asuka states confidently that she can. Manatsu and Sango thank her for her help, but a flustered Asuka tells them this doesn’t mean she’ll become a Pretty Cure.

The three search for a bit, before meeting up with Minori, who points them to an old shed that hasn’t been used in a while. Getting the approval of their teacher, the girls spend the next few days working on clearing out the shed so they can use it as their club room. While helping out the others, Asuka asks them about why they’re helping out Laura, and they tell her that while Laura might seem self-centered, she does have her good points too, which gets Asuka to reconsider her initial impression of Laura a little.

While eating some tropical melon bread with Manatsu, Asuka admits that she doesn’t really think being part of a team is for her, while Manatsu tells her about why she’s been so excited about her school life. Once they’ve finally gotten the clean-up done, Manatsu, Sango and Minori go to take the trash to the recycling plant. Asuka finds a message Manatsu left for her along with some of her favorite tropical melon bread, inviting her to spend time with them again sometime.

Coincidentally, Dr. Numeri happens to be at the recycling plant, and she creates a Yaraneda that Manatsu, Sango and Minori have to fight shortly after arriving. Asuka spots the distortion in the sky from the Yaraneda appearing, and realizes the other girls might be in trouble. The Yaraneda, created from a discarded totem pole, splits off into four parts, making it difficult for the three Cures to deal with it. Asuka eventually arrives, telling Laura to hand her the Tropical Pact so she can help them. Laura is glad Asuka changed her mind, and Asuka affirms that she made this decision on her own. A ring appears on Asuka’s finger, and she transforms into Cure Flamingo.

Cure Flamingo helps them turn things around, and on Cure Papaya’s suggestion, the four of them work together to force the totem pole Yaraneda to re-assemble, allowing Laura to scan it and take back the stolen Motivation Power, before Cure Flamingo finishes it off. Asuka admits that she might be willing to give being part of a team another try. We gradually learn more about Asuka’s history with Yuriko back when they were both part of the tennis team as the story goes on.

Asuka is another great character, and I really like her design. I really like her tough personality, as well as the softer, dorkier side she shows every now and then. I also like her backstory and interactions with Yuriko. While Asuka had good intentions with trying to stop some of the players from the opposing team from sabotaging Yuriko’s tennis racket, her confronting them without thinking got her in trouble. When she and Yuriko subsequently disagreed on how to handle the situation, with Asuka wanting the team to stand up for themselves since the other team tried to sabotage them, while Yuriko suggested they agree to the other team’s deal of backing out of the match in exchange for them not reporting them, since they can’t prove Asuka’s claim. Both of them had valid points, and with Asuka’s sense of justice, I can understand why she lost faith in the team when she realized none of them were willing to go along with her suggestion. I’m glad the two of them eventually manage to reconcile.

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Laura Apollodoros Hyginus La Mer/Cure La Mer

Next is Laura, the ambitious young mermaid. When the Gran Ocean is drained of its motivation, Laura is one of the few mermaids to avoid this fate. She speaks to the Queen, and volunteers to head out to find the Pretty Cures, hoping the Queen will name her to be next Queen of the Gran Ocean if she succeeds. Laura quickly makes her way to Aozora, where she meets Manatsu and the two of them gradually assemble a team of Pretty Cures. Laura is very confident in herself, proud of her looks and singing voice, and not afraid to speak her mind. She aids the Cures in battle by using her Mermaid Aqua Pot to take back stolen motivation from Yaraneda, and then returning it to the victims once the threat has been dealt with. While Laura is initially somewhat harsh on her human friends, she gradually mellows out as she grows closer to them.

However, as the group spend more time together, Laura starts feeling left out whenever the Tropical Club do activities without her, as she has to stay hidden due to being a mermaid. She eventually figures out how to get around this by wearing a skirt long enough to conceal her tail, but even so, she starts to wish to be human, especially after an incident with the Aqua Pot leads to her and Minori accidentally switching bodies for a day.

As the villains catch on to the fact that the Cures require Laura’s assistance to take back the motivation they steal, they put together a plan to kidnap Laura. The Witch attempts to make a deal with Laura, stop interfering with their plans and she’ll help grant Laura’s wish of becoming human. Laura refuses, and is locked up in the dungeon in the mansion’s basement. With Kururun’s help, she manages to escape, fleeing the mansion with Butler chasing after her.

She is knocked out by Butler, but Kururun manages to save her and pull her to safety in Gran Ocean. The Queen tells Laura she’s done well so far, and Laura realizes she needs to get back and help her friends. The Queen entrusts her with a rock shaped like a sea shell, and Laura goes to look for her friends, who have been overpowered by a Yaraneda during their search for Laura. Laura arrives in time to see Manatsu defeated by Chongire, and her desire to save her friends causes the rock to reveal it’s true form as the Mermaid Aqua Pact, and a ring appears on one of Laura’s fingers. With the power of the Mermaid Aqua Pot, Laura is able to become Cure La Mer, gaining a human form in the process. Using her new powers, she’s able to save her friends. After the battle, she is delighted to discover that she can now freely switch between human and mermaid form in civilian form. With this, Laura begins attending school alongside the other Cures, leading to her having to learn even more about the human world.

I really like Laura! I have a soft spot for certain fantasy creatures like mermaids, and I really love her design. Her personality also makes her a really fun character, and it’s nice to see how she becomes a bit more mature over the course of the series as she grows closer to her human friends, and discovers certain secrets about the Gran Ocean. I also like how she’s a member of the team from the start, even before becoming a Cure. Cure La Mer’s design is really nice as well, incorporating some ocean elements fitting of a mermaid. And of course, she continues the ongoing trend in recent Pretty Cure series of having at least one non-human Cure on the team.

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Kururun

All right, the main five Cures are out of the way. There is one more Cure that I’ll talk about later, but for now, let’s talk about the fairy mascot of the season, Kururun. Kururun is initially introduced as the Queen’s pet, and later shows up in Aozora to deliver a present from the Queen to the Cures. They decide to stick around with the Cures, keeping Laura company in the Aqua Pot.

So, what's special about Kururun? Well, they can’t say anything besides their own name, so the Cures basically have to try to interpret what they might be trying to tell them, with Minori in particular seeming to have a good grasp on how to do so. Other than that, their only known special power is to open the way to the Gran Ocean, which is an ability both sea fairies and mermaids possess. So, compared to other fairies in the franchise, Kururun doesn’t really have that much going for them.

Kururun isn’t entirely useless, though, as they occasionally affect the plot, such as helping Laura escape from the Witch’s mansion in episode 17, or letting the other four Cures know where Cure Summer is in episode 29 so they can come to her rescue. They also indirectly help the Cures figure out that the mermaid queen they interact with for most of episode 36 is an imposter.

I do like Kururun, and I like the moments where they get to aid the Cures and contribute to the plot. Other than that, there is something a little amusing about how little relevance they have to the story compared to most other Pretty Cure fairy mascots, since Laura/Cure La Mer handles some of the tasks you’d expect the fairy mascot to do. At least they have a cute design, and I think making the mascot a seal was a good choice.

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The Villains

All right, let’s talk about the villains of the story. A group of creatures from the deep who serve the Witch of Delays, working to open the Fool’s Casket in hopes of gaining immortality. In order to open it, they summon Yaraneda, that can drain people’s motivation. As the series goes on, they’re given the means to summon increasingly more powerful Yaraneda, requiring the Cures to obtain new powers in order to keep up.

The first of these villains the Cures have to fight is Chongire, a large crab who often complains that he just isn’t feeling it today, and wants to finish things as soon as possible. When not fighting the Cures, he works as the Witch’s personal chef, and is quite proud of his cooking skills, even if the Witch isn’t always in the mood to eat the food he makes right away.

Then there’s Dr. Numeri, a laid-back sea cucumber lady who is employed by the Witch as a doctor, helping tend to her teammates’ injuries. Numeri is quite clever, occasionally coming up with some clever ideas for dealing with the Cures. She is generally calm, and also has an interest in fashion. She also likes to dote on Elda.

Speaking of Elda, she’s the youngest of the villains. She’s a somewhat bratty shrimp girl, who also works as the Witch’s maid. Elda just wants to stay a kid forever, and may throw a tantrum if things don’t go her way. However, despite her young age and childish behaviour, Elda does seem to have a decent intuition, as she sometimes gets the feeling that Butler is hiding something from them.

I really like these three villains. They’re quite endearing with their lazy personalities, and I particularly like the family dynamic between them. The relationships between villains in Pretty Cure series can vary, with some getting along, some merely tolerating each other, some forming rivalries and some outright being willing to get rid of their own teammates if it’ll help them get ahead. I don’t think we’ve really seen the kind of dynamic we see between these three villains in previous series. I like how episodes 19 and 34 in particular has Chongire and Numeri looking out for Elda as if she were their daughter. Another nice moment between the three of them is when they watch a meteor shower together in episode 26.

As for moments from each villain individually, I liked the part in episode 28 where Chongire gets mistaken for the mascot the judo team ordered to help with their booth, and Chongire just goes along with it and puts his cooking skills to use, at least until he finally locates the Yaraneda orb he dropped earlier in the episode. And of course, he gets some good moments in the last few episodes when he discovers Butler’s true intentions, and declares that he won’t go along with letting him destroy the world, even if that leads to Butler turning him into a Yaraneda shortly afterwards.

I like the moments where Numeri puts in some effort to use her cleverness against the Cures, whether her plans work or not. I also enjoy the moments where she shows more emotion besides her usually laid-back state, whether it is played for laughs such as her getting spooked by the Cures while exploring a dark cave or getting caught off-guard when she realizes Asuka tricked her in episode 31, or during more serious moments, such as her horrified reaction when Butler turns Chongire into a Yaraneda.

As for Elda, episodes 19 and 34 immediately come to mind since both focus heavily on both her and Manatsu. The former episode has her unknowingly bonding with Manatsu while hiding out in an old mansion and pretending to be the spirit of a doll waiting for her owner to return. After discovering who she was talking to and seeing Cure Summer trying to prevent the mansion from being destroyed by the Yaraneda for the sake of the doll, Elda throws a tantrum to distract the other villains, letting Cure Summer free her friends so Cure La Mer can purify the Yaraneda. Elda also ends up taking the doll from the mansion home with her, keeping it in her room.

Episode 34 also has some good moments, after she runs away from home due to Butler threatening to evict her if she doesn’t bring back any Motivation Power. She spends her time just having fun on her own, until she starts feeling homesick and we see her thinking about Chongire and Numeri. Chongire eventually shows up to give her a Yaraneda orb so she can try and gather some motivation, and when that fails, Numeri offers Elda some of the Motivation Power she had secretly saved up so she’ll have something to present to Butler. It’s a really sweet moment.

These episodes also show that in many ways, Elda and Manatsu have a lot in common, as both focus on the present in their own way. Elda wants to stay a kid forever, while Manatsu, while uncertain about what she wants to do in the future, is more about just living in the moment. I also like how Elda is often the one who keeps bringing up questions regarding Butler’s goals, getting the impression that he’s keeping information from the rest of the villains. While the other villains occasionally question Butler’s behaviour too, I feel like Elda is the one who questions whether the plan itself will work.

And of course, all three of them get some more great moments in the final episodes, when they discover Butler’s true intentions. When Butler tries to drain their motivation, it only takes them a few minutes to recover since they didn’t have that much motivation to begin with. They also help the Cures by fighting off the Kowasundas, and seem to manage to do so without taking too much damage themselves, aside from Chongire possibly losing an eye during the battle and one of Numeri’s horns being damaged.

Now, let’s talk about the Witch of Delays herself. When we first see her, she is shown to be quite lazy, telling Butler she’ll deal with whatever interfered with their plan tomorrow. However, the Witch wasn’t always this way, and it turns out she has quite the tragic backstory. In the past, she was known as the Witch of Destruction. Having been born to destroy the world, the Witch attempted to do just that in the past. However, the people in the town she attacked fought back and managed to wound the Witch with their weapons. While the Witch was recovering in a cave, she was found by a young girl named Aunete. Aunete, not knowing who the Witch was, felt sorry for her and nursed her back to health.

The Witch believed she could not accept Aunete’s friendship, and so resumed her mission to destroy the world once she had recovered enough. Everything changed when she discovered that Aunete had become Cure Oasis, the Pretty Cure who was now trying to stop her and her followers from destroying everything. The two eventually confronted each other, and fought for quite a while. In the end, the Witch called off the fight, telling Cure Oasis they would finish the fight the day after.

However, the Witch never returned to finish the fight, continuing to hold it off until “tomorrow”. She continued to do so for hundreds of years, until she had forgotten what she was trying to delay in the first place. Unfortunately for everyone, Butler took advantage of this in order to get the Witch to finish what she started. Now the Witch intends to open the Fool’s Casket so she can continue to delay forever, but sometimes she can’t help but feel that she’s forgotten something important, as she struggles to remember the identity of the girl she keeps seeing in her dreams.

When the Cures confront the Witch, they question her motives, leading to the Witch realizing how much she’s forgotten. She eventually regains her memories, and upon realizing that Cure Oasis is no longer in this world, she nearly goes back to her old self out of grief, as the Cures try to talk her out of it. With Cure Summer getting her to realize that she doesn’t truly want to destroy the world anymore since she put it off for so long, she urges her to reconcile with Cure Oasis, whose spirit has been wanting to help her this whole time. Once the two are finally able to reconcile and the Witch finally accepting Cure Oasis’ friendship, the Witch is able to pass on peacefully, her body dissolving into sea foam.

Among her powers, she’s the one who creates the different Yaraneda orbs, and she also seems to possess some sort of illusion magic. As the Witch of Destruction, she also possessed powerful destructive powers.

We’ve seen quite a few villains with tragic backstories in the Pretty Cure franchise, and I think the Witch’s backstory might be one of the saddest ones we’ve seen so far. She was literally born for the sole purpose of destroying the world, and even when she grew to care about Aunete, she didn’t think she could just abandon her original purpose. So, instead she decided to just delay their fight, and kept doing so for years, not able to bring herself to do anything else. And then when her memory starts to fail, her loyal Butler takes advantage of this to get her to unwittingly finish what she started by using the Fool’s Casket to destroy the world. The Witch is also suffering due to her struggle to remember what was important to her, and having spent centuries just staying in bed doing nothing has likely left her in quite poor health as well.

So I think the Witch finally being able to move on after reuniting with Cure Oasis was the best possible outcome for her. I also liked the detail of the Witch’s body dissolving into bubbles, bringing to mind The Little Mermaid, which the show has had several references to.

Finally, there’s Butler, the Witch’s loyal seahorse servant. Having served the Witch since the times she was known as the Witch of Destruction, the Butler tried many times to get her to finish what she started, only for her to keep telling him they’d do it tomorrow. However, with the Witch’s memory failing and her old age starting to catch up to her, the Butler managed to get her to go along with trying to open the Fool’s Casket, which would drain the life from everything else on Earth and grant her and her followers immortality once opened. Despite manipulating the Witch and doing all he can to keep her from remembering Cure Oasis, he genuinely cares about her and wants her to return to her former self.

Butler is much more motivated than any of the other villains, constantly reminding them to go out and gather Motivation Power to please the Witch and so they can fullfill their goals. Of course, he hasn’t informed Chongire, Numeri or Elda exactly how the Fool’s Casket works. He is generally calm, but does express how he doesn’t tolerate laziness from the other villains besides the Witch. He even threatens to evict Elda from the mansion if she keeps failing to bring back Motivation Power at one point. Whenever he enters combat himself, he tends to give the Cures quite the challenge with clever tactics. He attacks Laura when she tries to escape from the mansion, and manages to knock her out by zapping her with his staff. In episode 29, he creates a Yaraneda capable of weaponizing the water around Aozora City. He later manages to work out how the Cures’ sincerity allow them to gain new powers, and comes up with a plan based around it in order to steal the Marine Ring that can give them their next power-up.

Near the end of the show, he not only manages to create a very powerful blue whale Yaraneda that manages to drain most people in Aozora City of their motivation, but he also manages to damage the Aqua Pot, preventing Laura from returning the stolen motivation.

When the other villains learn the true purpose of the Fool’s Casket, Chongire is quick to turn on him, to which Butler responds by turning Chongire into a Yaraneda. When the Witch finally regains her memory, Butler is initially overjoyed to finally see her back to her old self, but is saddened when the Witch moves on, leaving him behind. Despite the Witch being gone, Butler decides he’ll simply destroy the world himself in her name. He turns himself into a Yaraneda and quickly drains the other three former villains of their motivation to add to the Fool’s Casket. When that isn’t enough to fill it up, he turns to the Cures to take their motivation instead.

With the other three villains intervening to help the Cures, Butler summons an army of Kowasunda, the monsters that served the Witch of Destruction. The former villain trio help by fighting off the Kowasunda, allowing the Cures to focus their efforts on Butler. However, Butler manages to resist every attack thrown at him, and nearly defeats the Cures. It is only when they manage to unleash the combined the power of both the Earth and Marine rings that they ultimately manage to defeat Butler and return him to his normal form. Refusing to give up, Butler resorts to using his own motivation to power the Fool’s Casket, leaving himself in a shriveled up, lethargic state. Luckily, the arrival of Queen Melusine with the repaired Aqua Pot allows Cure La Mer to take back all stolen motivation and destroy the Fool’s Casket.

When everyone’s motivation is restored, only Butler’s motivation is not returned. While Manatsu initially wants to return it to him, everyone else agrees it might be better to leave him as he is so he won’t cause any more problems. When Butler’s motivation dissolves before they can do anything with it, the former villain trio state this might be for the best.

So, yeah. Butler is a pretty good villain. He has some similarities with Gooyan from Futari Wa Pretty Cure Splash Star, in being a main villain who initially seems like the second-in-command to another villain and in some way wishes to destroy all life. However, while Gooyan didn’t care for Akudaikhan, only creating him to do his bidding and getting rid of him once he no longer served a purpose, Butler was genuinely loyal to the Witch and did everything he did for her sake. I guess in a way both he and the Witch were living in the past, with the Witch refusing to move forward, and Butler refusing to accept that she no longer truly wanted to destroy the world.

As for his final fate, on one hand, being left permanently in a unmotivated, sluggish state might seem pretty harsh. On the other hand, as the other characters acknowledge, he probably would’ve tried to destroy the world again some other way if he did get his motivation back. And at least the other three former villains are willing to look after him.

So, yeah. I really enjoyed these villains. I really like their character designs, and they’re even kind of relatable at times.

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Other Characters

Now that we’ve talked about the heroes and the villains, let’s talk about some of the major supporting characters, as well as notable one-shot characters.

I’ll start with Manatsu’s parents, Taiyo and Aoi. Taiyo lives on Minamino Island and works at a scuba diving shop. He’s a fairly energetic guy who believes in living in the moment, something he also taught Manatsu. Aoi lives in Aozora City, and works at an aquarium there. She loves the ocean. She and Taiyo first met when she visited Minamino Island, and during a festival, she wrote a wish on a stone to have a magical encounter. Shortly after, a scuba diving Taiyo appeared next to her boat, along with a rare octopus that was clinging to his shoulder.

I like these two. It’s easy to see where Manatsu gets her love of the ocean and energetic personality from. I like watching their interactions with Manatsu and her friends, and I think it’s nice that they manage to maintain their relationship while living in different places.

Next is Sango’s mother, Miyuki Suzumura. She runs the Pretty Holic, and is shown to have a calm and kind demenour. She occasionally takes on jobs for special clients, helping provide make-up for special events.

I like her. She has a nice design and is a supportive mother to Sango. She doesn’t really play a major role, but she does get some nice moments throughout the series.

Next is Minori’s mother, Narumi. Not much to say about this one, since she only really has two appearances, first in the body swap episode where she comments on how odd “Minori” is acting, and a cameo in the finale. Maybe I’d have more to say if we got to see more of her and her interactions with the real Minori.

Next is Asuka’s father, Haruya. He is introduced in episode 26, when Asuka asks him for help in making sure the sky is clear for an upcoming meteor shower. We learn that Haruya has a reputation as being able to clear the sky through a ritual, and we see during it that when doing so, he is so focused on his prayer to the skies that he doesn’t even notice when a Yaraneda shows up and starts attacking the other people nearby. He is later shown in episode 38, asking Asuka about whether she has decided on what high school she’d like to apply for, noting that despite Asuka’s claim that she’s given up on getting into Phoenix Academy, her having brought out her tennis racket in her room suggests otherwise. He also appears in episode 45, offering to help make sure the weather is nice for the Tropical Graduation Festival.

I like what we see of him. He has sort of an interesting backstory, and he seems like a supportive father to Asuka. We know that Asuka also has a brother, but we never get to see him at any point during the show. I do wish we would’ve gotten to meet him too.

Well, let’s move on to the next character. Laura doesn’t really have a family, as mermaids in this setting are born from a giant sea shell, but I suppose her relationship with the Queen still counts, as Laura does see her as a mother figure, so let’s talk about the mermaid queen next.

Queen Melusine Muses Mnemosyne is the current queen of the Gran Ocean. She is much larger than the other mermaids, due to the fact that she’s actually centuries old. She appears to be a kind-hearted, gentle individual, and has great trust in Laura. However, as the show progresses, we learn that she has been keeping certain things from Laura. The mermaids have a rule that states that any mermaid who makes contact with humans must have their memories erased, using a machine that was once invented by a lonely mermaid who wanted to forget her pain over outliving her human friends. Despite Laura not wanting to give up her memories, Queen Melusine believes enforcing this law is necessary, and both she and Laura will need to have their memories erased once the Pretty Cures’ mission is complete.

Episode 43 reveals that when she was younger, she too attempted to become a Pretty Cure to deal with a villain who was attempting to open the Fool’s Casket. Unlike Laura, she failed to become a Cure, but even so, she still managed to put a stop to the villain’s plans. She hid a cup of Motivation Power and a Mermaid Bracelet (the one that was later found by Laura) in a cave, and was witnessed by a young girl in the nearby village as she leapt out of the water during the night after dropping off the items.

I really like Queen Melusine. She has a great design, and I like her interactions with Laura. She clearly has a lot of faith in Laura as the next candidate to be Queen, and seems proud when witnessing Laura’s character development when presenting her with what would become the Mermaid Aqua Pact. I also like the conflict that arises between the Queen and Laura over the law that states that mermaids who interact with humans must have their memories erased, since it leads to some great character development for Laura.

With the Cures’ families covered, let’s talk about other notable characters. Most of them are connected to Aozora Middle School, so let’s first talk about Mafune Hirabayashi, the director at the aquarium Manatsu’s mother works at.

Mafune is a kind older woman, who loves the ocean and is open-minded when it comes to mysteries about the ocean that have yet to be discovered. Her appearances mostly have her talking to Manatsu and the other Cures about the ocean, and in episode 4 she gives Manatsu tickets to the mermaid exhibit at the museum. During the final episodes, she is among the few people in Aozora who didn’t have her motivation drained, and she and Aoi try their best to help those who did have their motivation drained. She also briefly interacts with Kururun when things are returned to normal, taking a liking to the strange seal-like creature. She also doesn’t seem too surprised when Laura reveals herself as a mermaid to everyone attending the Tropical Club’s play in the final episode, simply watching calmly with a smile.

Mafune is a nice character. I wish we’d seen a bit more of her, but she does get some nice interactions with Manatsu and Aoi.

All right, moving on to the school characters, let’s start with Saki Sakuragawa, Manatsu and Sango’s homeroom teacher. Saki is a kind teacher, who also ends up being chosen by the Tropical Club to be their club advisor and supports the club in their activities. She can also be rather clumsy at times, but is still well-liked by her students.

She gets her own focus episode in episode 25, when her father comes to visit for a class observation, and she is rather nervous about the sudden visit. When talking about it with the Tropical Club, she gets even more concerned when they mistakenly believe her father might want her to quit being a teacher so she can inherit the family orchard, since her father is getting too old to work on it himself. The Tropical Club and the other students do their best to help her make a good impression on her father, but in the end, it turns out to be unnecessary. Saki’s father fully supports her continuing as a teacher, having already hired reliable workers to help with the orchard, and admitting that part of the reason for his sudden visit was to attend a concert by an idol he (and his co-workers) likes.

I really like Ms. Sakuragawa. She’s has a cute design, and I like how she supports the Tropical Club throughout the series. Her clumsiness also leads to some funny moments, and I like how she for the most part doesn’t really let these mishaps get to her.

Next up, Yuriko Shiratori, the student council president for most of the series. She is introduced as strict and skeptical to the Tropical Club, due to Manatsu’s vague description of what the club would be all about in her first application. However, with the support of Ms. Sakuragawa, as well as some former students of the school that Manatsu and her friends helped out, Yuriko eventually accepts, noting she’ll keep an eye on the club. It is also clear from her first few interactions with Asuka that there’s some history between the two.

Throughout the season, she and Asuka have a rivalry going on. Yuriko is also shown to care about the reputation of the school, agreeing to facing off against the Tropical Club in a quiz show to resolve a dispute between them in order to also promote the school. When graduation approaches, she passes on her role as student council president to Rika Ichijou, who had been the vice-president of the student council.

During the 3rd year students’ graduation trip, Yuriko suspects that Asuka is hiding something, due to Laura and Kururun stowing away on the train in Asuka’s bag via the Aqua Pot. Later, Laura and the audience finally learn what exactly happened between Asuka and Yuriko when Asuka explains how she and Yuriko used to be on the tennis team together.

When Asuka was caught confronting players from an opposing team who were trying to sabotage Yuriko’s racket, Yuriko suggested they go along with the other team’s demand that they withdraw from the match in exchange for the other team not reporting Asuka’s behaviour. Yuriko believed Asuka’s story, but since they had no way of proving what happened, she believed withdrawing from the match was the best option to make sure everyone could keep playing, and the rest of the team supported Yuriko’s opinion. However, this led to Asuka leaving the team when no one supported her.

When Numeri and her Yaraneda catch up with the train they’re on, Yuriko discovers Laura’s presence on the train, but decides helping her and Asuka evacuate the other students to a safe part of the train is more important. She is eventually knocked out by the train being shaken, and later regains consciousness when Cure Flamingo checks on her. Watching Cure Flamingo fight the Yaraneda, Yuriko recognizes her as Asuka, but keeps this to herself.

One day, Yuriko witnesses Asuka practicing tennis by herself. When the Tropical Club on a whim go to check out Phoenix Academy, they come across Yuriko practicing tennis with the coach there. Yuriko, hoping to finally move on from what happened in the past, challenges Asuka to a tennis match, even offering to let Asuka have the referral to get into Phoenix Academy if Asuka wins. As both of them get more competitive, she and Asuka talk things out. Asuka explains that it was the support of the Tropical Club that helped her trust in others again, and Yuriko finally admits that she wishes to play tennis alongside Asuka again.

A Yaraneda interrupts the match, and Yuriko asks Asuka to finish the match before going off to help her friends, revealing to her that she knows Asuka is Cure Flamingo. Yuriko believes her grades will be enough to get her in even without the referral, but when Asuka chooses to go help her friends, Yuriko respects her decision. After Yuriko gets the referral, Asuka thanks her for helping her make up her mind, and resolves to get her grades up so she’ll have a chance to get into Phoenix Academy alongside Yuriko.

With their friendship rekindled, Yuriko is noticably more cheerful during her interactions with Asuka in the last few episodes. She even acknowledges all the good the Tropical Club has done for the school in arranging events and getting everyone involved. During the Cures’ final battle, Yuriko is among the few people to not have their motivation drained, and she organizes the other students who still have motivation to help those who were drained. When she later asks Asuka if she and the other Cures saved the world, Asuka denies this, although Yuriko does not seem convinced.

I think Yuriko is one of the best supporting characters of this season. I enjoy her interactions and her sort-of rivalry with Asuka, and how she’s a good person who tries to do what’s best for the school, even if she can be strict about it. I also like that she ends up discovering that Asuka is Cure Flamingo, and it’s nice seeing the two finally reconcile, and her helping Asuka find the resolve she needs to improve her grades enough to get into Phoenix Academy.

She also gets some really cute moments with Asuka in the last few episodes. It’s nice seeing how happy she is to have reconciled with Asuka, and how she’s grown to appreciate the Tropical Club.

The next character I’ll talk about is Masami Kakuta, the president of the Disciplinary Comittee. She is initially introduced as suspicious of the Tropical Club, investigating the mermaid sightings at the school. She ends up confiscating the Aqua Pot, forcing Laura to find a way to retrieve it. Making use of a skateboard to move around the school, Laura manages to make her way to the room where the confiscated items are kept, as Masami tries to find her. Laura manages to avoid being caught by “borrowing” a school uniform with a skirt along enough to conceal her tail, disguising herself as a student.

When Masami later comes to take back the Aqua Pot, the Tropical Club manage to avoid having it confiscated again by stating that according to the rules, the clubs may keep any item necessary to the club, and the Aqua Pot would be considered such an item. When Masami shortly after spots Kururun on a skateboard, she tries to point them out to the other members of the committee, who do not see. Believing she’s been overworking herself, the other members of the committee suggest Masami take it easy for a bit and leave the Tropical Club alone, with even Masami wondering if the stress has been getting to her.

Masami later returns in episode 24, being part of Yuriko’s team during the quiz show against the Tropical Club. While the student council team manage to get an advantage, the Tropical Club ultimately win.

Masami’s next big role is in episode 30, where she alongside Rika and Laura are candidates in the election for the next student council president. However, Rika ends up winning by a large margin. Masami does however take a look at the ideas Laura had wanted to implement, and seems to find some of them to be good ideas.

In the final episode, when Laura reveals herself to be a mermaid and invites the students to touch her tail, Masami is quick to run up and take Laura on her offer, pleased that she was finally proven to be right all along about there being a mermaid on school grounds.

I don’t have that much to say about Masami, but I do enjoy her appearances. She has some fun moments, and I liked the moment where she seemed genuinely intrigued about Laura’s ideas for what she would’ve done if she got to be student council president. And her moment with Laura at the end when Laura reveals herself as a mermaid was pretty fun too.

Next, I’ll talk the trio of Kiriko, Naomi and Yumi. They are three classmates of Manatsu and Sango, and are seen hanging out with them in an early episode. They sort of just follow the trends and seem to share the same opinions, with Sango sort of going along with them due to wanting to fit in. They seem a bit confused by some of Manatsu’s antics as she does her own thing. They don’t seem to mind when Sango starts expressing her own feelings more after being inspired by Manatsu.

Throughout the rest of the series, these three make minor appearances, and are often seen together. In the episode where the students talk about their plans for the future, we do learn that Kiriko wants to travel the world, and that Naomi wants to be an actress.

Not much else to say about them. They have cute designs, but since they don’t really do that much after episode 3, it’s sort of easy to lose track of them among the background characters.

So, let’s move on to the members of the broadcasting club, Izumi Komori, and Yukie Hayashida. They are introduced in episode 13, in which the Tropical Club listen to one of their broadcasts about mermaids. After Manatsu, Sango and Minori later happen to come across Izumi and Yukie, the two of them are happy to learn that they listened to their broadcast, as they had noticed a lack of interest from the other students. Manatsu suggests the Tropical Club join one of their broadcasts.

During the broadcast, Izumi talks about a challenge going on at a local shop where if a customer manages to eat a massive parfait in thirty minutes or less, they get it for free. Izumi even managed to pull it off herself, but it soon becomes apparent that the giant parfait might’ve been too much as Izumi starts feeling unwell and has to go to rest in the nurse office.

Yukie is initially unsure what to do, but the Tropical Club offer to step in as hosts. Things don’t go so well, although their antics certainly get the attention of other students. Eventually, Laura, having made herself a skirt long enough to conceal her tail, decides to step in. Laura manages to get things somewhat under control. When a Yaraneda attack catches the group’s attention, Laura tells the others to go ahead while she handles the final segment. Laura sings a song, which everyone enjoys.

The next day, Izumi has recovered, and she and Yukie approach the Tropical Club once more, stating their latest broadcast was a hit and people have been requesting to hear Laura sing again.

Izumi and Yukie play minor roles in later episodes, sometimes aiding the Tropical Club by letting them use the broadcast room. In episode 28, they do an interview with the Tropical Club during the culture festival, and Izumi also tells Laura what she remembers about Minori from when they were in the same class together, as Laura tries to figure out why Minori quit the Literature Club.

I like these two. I don’t have much to say about them, but I do enjoy their appearances throughout the series.

Next, there’s Shiori Nakagawa, a first-year student with an interest in astronomy. She is introduced trying to create an Astronomy Club, but having trouble finding anyone interested in joining. Manatsu and Laura decide to have the Tropical Club help her out, putting together an event to have the students get together to watch an upcoming meteor shower.

The Tropical Club try various things, eventually managing to get the other students to show interest in watching the meteor shower at school. However, the girls realize the weather might work against them, so Asuka decides to ask her father for help in making sure the skies are clear for the meteor shower. As more people start to gather, the Tropical Club go to fetch more tarps for everyone to sit on while Shiori watches the sky to see if the clouds are clearing up. However, Numeri shows up and summons a Yaraneda, which drains the motivation of several people including Shiori.

After the Cures have dealt with the Yaraneda, Shiori regains consciousness and remembers what she saw doing. Checking the sky again, she sees that the clouds are starting to clear. With the skies clear, everyone can watch the meteor shower. The event is a success, and the next day, Shiori has several students interested in joining her club. Shiori makes a few more appearances during the episodes leading up to the Tropical Graduation Festival, in which she and the Astronomy Club prepare a human planetarium in which some of the club members dress as constellations for the festival.

Shiori has a cute design, and her focus episode had a lot of nice moments, from getting to know a bit more about Asuka’s father, to seeing even the three villains admiring the sight of the meteor shower.

I think that’s most of the notable school characters I wanted to talk about, but we’re not done yet. Next, I’ll talk about Yuna Yamabe, a young actress introduced in episode 9. She’s a fairly new actress who is just starting to rise in popularity, and she catches the attention of the students at Aozora Middle School when they learn that a few scenes for the new film Yuna will be in will be filmed at their school.

Yuna, however, is nervous about her role, as she will be playing the villain in this movie, and she isn’t sure if she’s up to the challenge since that’s very different from her previous roles. Since Miyuki is doing her make-up for the movie, she ends up spending time in Pretty Holic, where the Tropical Club try to help her get into character.

While Sango helps out with advertising a new make-up line while wearing a panda mask, the others talk about Sango’s newfound confidence, with Yuna being surprised to see this side of Sango, as she had gotten the impression she was similar to her. After Sango collapses from the heat and has to be brought back inside, Sango talks about how she recently re-read Cinderella due to the promotion for the new make-up line, and came to the conclusion that the most important thing Cinderella got from the Fairy Godmother was the courage to go to the ball.

Yuna is inspired by Sango, and asks to try on the mask and do some advertising. Yuna uses the oppurtunity to practice playing a different character while no one knows it’s her behind the mask. With Sango having inspired her to be more confident, and Miyuki helping her with the make-up for her role, she manages to successfully play her new role.

Yuna returns in episode 39, in which she is asked to be one of the judges for an audition to be a model for a particular magazine. Sango decides to enter the audition to put her talent and knowledge of fashion to the test. However, during the auditions, Sango realizes that maybe there’s another way to apply her talents that she’d enjoy more as she ends up helping out some of the other models with their make-up. Yuna approaches her and they talk for a bit, with Yuna wanting to see how serious Sango is about this. Sango asks Yuna if she likes being an actress, with Yuna replying that she does.

I like Yuna, since she plays a role in Sango’s character arc. I like how Sango inspires her, and Yuna basically gets to return the favor later on. Her character design is nice too.

Last, but not least, let’s talk about a character who plays a major role in the story, namely the Legendary Pretty Cure herself, Cure Oasis.

As mentioned when I talked about the Witch earlier, Cure Oasis was a girl named Aunete who found the injured Witch and nursed her back to health. Aunete would bring the Witch food and medical supplies, and told the Witch a bit about herself. She didn’t mind that the Witch didn’t seem to want to talk about herself, considering her a friend regardless.

When the Witch resumed her mission to destroy the world, Aunete ended up becoming Cure Oasis, and defending her hometown from the Kowasundas summoned by the Witch. When she and the Witch eventually discovered who they were fighting against, neither were happy to have to fight each other, but even so, they had to fight. Their fight continued for a while, until the Witch left, saying they’d finish their fight the next day. But the Witch never returned.

In the present day, the spirit of Cure Oasis contacts Manatsu and sometimes Laura through their dreams, showing them visions of the past. She later contacts the Mermaid Queen through her mirror, explaining her unfinished business, later allowing the queen to pass this information onto Cure La Mer.

Once the Witch finally remembers what she was trying to delay this whole time, and the Cures manage to talk her out of destroying the world, the Witch is finally able to reconcile with the spirit of Cure Oasis, finally allowing them both to move on. However, Cure Oasis, or at the very least an apparition of her, makes one last appearance during the final battle with Butler, being summoned by the Cures’ final attack to help them purify Butler’s Yaraneda form.

I really like Aunete/Cure Oasis. Her design is pretty good, and I like that she’s a green Cure. When we first saw her, I thought that maybe the palm tree hair was a bit much, but the design grew on me as we got to see more of her. I also like that they actually did animate a transformation sequence for her.

When thinking about the Witch’s backstory, we saw how things played out from the Witch’s perspective as she refused to finish the fight. However, I can’t help but think about Aunete’s perspective in all this. The Witch said she’d be back tomorrow to finish the fight, and then never returned. I imagine Aunete just had to keep going about her life, while waiting for the Witch to return at any time to finish things, but it never happens. She never gets the chance to talk to her again. It really is no wonder that Cure Oasis’ spirit was left with unfinished business.

And even as a spirit, there’s very little she can do aside from reaching out to the current team of Cures to help them learn the truth so they can try to reach out to the Witch. It’s nice to see her efforts pay off in the end when the Cures help her finally speak to the Witch so they can finally put the past behind them and be friends.

I’m not sure if the Cure Oasis that appears during the Cures’ final attack is the real Cure Oasis or not, but either way, it’s nice that she in some form gets to join the Tropical Rouge team for their final attack.

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Overall Thoughts

All in all, I think Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure was a fun series! It has a unique animation style that does look pretty nice, the soundtrack is pretty good, and the characters are enjoyable. The themes of this series are the ocean, mermaids, club activities and make-up, and I do like what they do with these themes. I also really like how creative they get with each of the Cures’ finishing moves. The soundtrack is also nice, with some wonderfully catchy opening and ending themes.

I’ll admit it does have some flaws, particularly in the first half of the show in which Laura’s character arc leading up to her becoming Cure La Mer ends up overshadowing the other Cures somewhat, but I feel the second half of the series rectifies this. I think the Cures’ character arcs are handled well, and reach satisfactory conclusions. The introduction of Cure Oasis’ spirit also adds an element of mystery as we gradually what really happened between her and the Witch.

There are some interesting twists along the way, including the revelation of how the Witch of Destruction became the Witch of Delays, and Laura discovering the law stating that mermaids who interact with humans must have their memories erased, along with the fact that this had already been done to her once, as she and Manatsu had met once as children on Minamino Island. Her determination to find a way to prevent her memories from being taken again adds a new element to her goal of becoming Queen, leading to some good development on her part.

I guess I’ve already talked a lot about the final battle, so I guess I don’t need to go into too much detail about it. While mroe probably could’ve been done with the Cures’ final battle with Butler, I do like what they did do with it, and seeing the villains finally use the abilities we see them use during the opening credits against the Kowasundas was really cool. The other Cures helping Cure La Mer take back the motivation from the Fool’s Casket due to the sheer amount of motivation that had been placed inside it was also a nice detail. And the former villains apologizing to the Cures for all the trouble they caused before taking Butler with them and swimming off to find new jobs was nice.

As for the final episode, it plays out a little different than the last few seasons of Pretty Cure, in that there isn’t a last minute enemy for the Cures to fight and no cameo by next season’s Cure. It focuses solely on the Cures’ putting on their play for the Tropical Graduation Festival, as well as Laura having to make a decision on whether to stay with her friends as a human, or return to Gran Ocean to fullfill her dream of becoming dream.

In the end, Laura decides the most important thing she must do is to go back to the Gran Ocean, and so she parts ways with Manatsu and the others after they do their play at the festival. Laura even reveals herself as a mermaid to the entire school. Manatsu gives Laura her lipstick to remember her by, and the girls promise to meet again as Laura swims away.

While we knew the mermaids had their memories erased, the following scenes reveal the true extent of the memory erasing machine’s power as even Manatsu and the others lose their memories of their time with Laura as their rings used to open the Tropical Pacts fade away, and any trace of Laura’s presence is removed from photos and such.

As we check in on Laura as she studies to be Queen, she wonders where she got the lipstick from. She also notices a message she had written to herself in said lipstick, telling her to go seek out the Witch. Turns out prior to losing her memory, Laura had put together a plan to get them back and ensure that no mermaid would have to lose their memory again. Since the former villains were neither mermaid, human or sea fairy, they wouldn’t be affected by the memory erasing machine, so she visited them before heading back to Gran Ocean, and told them that if she came back to see them after losing her memories, to give her directions to Aozora City.

She returns there with the Queen’s permission to supposedly study humans, and ends up coming across Manatsu in the place where they first met during their second first meeting. Manatsu finds out Laura is looking for someone and offers to help, asking if she has any clues. When Laura presents Manatsu’s lipstick, the two suddenly realize that they know each other, as the Aqua Pot starts to glow. The memory erasing machine overloads and explodes, as the Aqua Pot unleashes a series of bubble photos Laura had taken of her time with the Tropical Club, and everyone’s memories are restored.

Learning Laura put this plan together and seeing it in motion was pretty awesome. We had seen Laura was willing to do whatever it’d take to remember her friends, and seeing her succeed feels pretty good. In the end, we also see Laura teaching other mermaids about humans, with the Queen seeming to approve, presumably because the law can no longer be upheld without the memory erasing machine, and since it was built such a long time ago, it’s likely none of the mermaids currently alive know how to fix it. Or maybe they don’t even want to. It was also nice that the former villains got to play a role in Laura’s plan.

So, yeah. A pretty good entry in the Pretty Cure franchise. It was a lot of fun watching the Tropical Club undergo character development, putting on events for the whole school to enjoy and doing their best to protect people’s motivation from being stolen. I feel like there’s a bit of a message in there about how people are able to connect and inspire each other. I also really like the message about living in the moment and doing what is most important to you in that moment.

And that’s my thoughts on Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what Delicious Party Pretty Cure has to offer!

#pretty cure #darkershining's thoughts on pretty cure #tropical rouge precure

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