#I hate how people are starting to villainize the CG just to

[dragonbee259]

Piping Hot Take For The Newest Episode:

[natasha-in-space]

'Why do you love rika. I love rika myself as well. Tbh for me its like, the more I stay in mysme fandom the more my love and appreciation for rika grows. It initially started as me being angry at the double standards of the most asian media fandoms in general cuz i realised that rika would have been more well loved if she was a man, people would use the male!rika's trauma to justify his actions and this thought has made me angry and made me "appreciate" rika out of spite. But it eventually has grown into a genuine appreciation for her. Idk how to explain but something inside me makes me want to protect her and save her from everything happened to her leading upto the current situation. And more hate she gets more i feel the desire to defend her.

Actually my no 1 is another character and he has a place of his own which no one could take (its yoosung btw) but rika...i think she might be a close second fave i guess - anon'

I accidentally messed up your ask, so I'll be replying in this way instead!

Thank you for the question, dear anon! I'm always giddy to chitchat about these things. I do want to prelude this by saying that this is not really a proper analysis, but more of me just writing out my personal feelings. I might try my hand at actual analysis one day, but, for now, I'm just sharing my own interpretations!

Mystic Messenger is probably the only fandom I have been in since... well, since it has formed, basically. It's wild to think about sometimes. Things are very different in our little space now, compared to how it was before. Public perception of Rika is one of those things. I can totally resonate with your frustrations on that front, unfortunately. I know many folks miss the time when the fandom was bigger, but... personally, I don't. Especially as a Rika fan. It was borderline exhausting trying to curate your fandom space as a Rika fan at the time. Hell, we had full blogs dedicated to solely hating on her, a fictional character, and people who expressed their love for her. And that's just here on Tumblr. People used to full on write hate comments under every single seasonal CG with Rika in it. It was terrible, and very, very disheartening to see. Especially since most Rika fans I've met over the years are the sweetest people. Granted, there is a case to be made for practically every mm character, and how the fandom may have misinterpreted them in one way or another, so it's not just a Rika problem. Just that she was majorly disliked.

If anything, I'm very happy Cheritz still continued to include Rika in the seasonal events despite it all. Props to them on that front.

Right now, thankfully, things are much more peaceful and respectful. Rika is definitely not the more popular character, but now you can openly express your love for her in the fandom space, without fear of being harassed. I'd say that's a great win for us!

That being said, as to why I love Rika... Hm, it's interesting to put it into words. I didn't have a strong opinion on her until V's route came out. I never really shared the collective hatred of her, but I didn't love her either, you know? V's route came out during a pretty rough patch in my life, and I think that helped me get personally invested in what it had to tell. Rika actually feels like a fleshed out character with many nuances, and that instantly made me interested in paying close attention to what they wanted to do with her.

Rika is complicated, to say the least. She always was, but, with all the added content to her story that Cheritz have put out over the years, her complexity only evolved further. I love that about her. I love morally dubious characters who's mind you have to carefully study and pick apart piece by piece in order to understand them. I love how she is not really a villain in a traditional sense. She is not actively pursuing harm on anybody, not in her eyes. It is fascinating to me how different her view point is, compared to those around her. How skewed her perception of the world around her grows over the years. It's both scary and captivating.

So, it started with fascination. Appreciation for her character and a desire to delve deeper into what makes her who she is today. I think... my appreciation has grown into love when her Behind Story came out. I know many folks have very complicated feelings towards it, especially since it came out alongside V's After End and its unfortunate push for forgiveness, but I never really viewed Cheritz establishing Rika's past as an attempt to wash her of her sins. It just came out at a very bad timing is all. If her Behind Story came out a bit later, I think public opinion of it would have been different. It's a shame that their huge mess up with the message in V's After Ending sabotaged it like that.

Thing is, Rika wouldn't be as compelling and interesting as she is, if she was truly innocent. That being said, I... relate to her struggles on a deeply personal level. Not as deeply as I do with Saeran, but her story and her struggles do make me choke up to this day. Because, in a way, I see my past self in her. Being able to read through her story, her thoughts, and her feelings have really made me form a genuine fondness to her. Her religious trauma, her painful path of learning to survive in an environment that actively tries to harm you at every possibility, her fears of being the devil everyone says she is, her inability to accept and love herself, because all she has ever known is pain, danger and hatred... It hurts. I think, everyone has that little voice inside their head. Telling them that they are bad and undeserving of the love people close to them are expressing. That everyone actually hates them. That there is something inherently wrong with them. It's heartbreaking that, in Rika's case, this voice has eventually consumed her to the point of no return.

When you are an abused child, who knows nothing but the hostile world they have at home, it will follow you into every crook and cranny of your life. Even when you're not home, even when you're 'safe', your mind and body will still be on high alert, as it's natural to try and keep yourself safe from harm. Rika's fear of the world around her, her deep inner self-hatred is something I have experienced as an abused child/young teen. It's debilitating, and it's heartwrenching to think that so many people have to suffer like this.

I think the beauty of her story to me is the sheer tragedy of it. It's a tough pill to swallow, but people are not born evil. She has done horrible, immoral and unforgivable things, and yet, in some twisted sense, her heart was not filled with malice as she did so. She believed she was saving Saeran, she believed she was providing her believers the safety and love they couldn't get elsewhere, she believed she was trying to show her old friends the truth by taking them to her side. Of course, none of those things are actually true. Her real intentions were selfish, albeit not evil. A desperation to be loved and not abandoned. That dichotomy is both beautiful and tragic to me. (Some of these are very bad quality bc I can't screenshot stuff right now)

Of course, there's also the whole V/Rika debacle. Personally, I never put all of the responsibility onto either one of them. That takes away the beautiful tragedy of their shared bond. V - or, Jihyun - genuinely cares deeply for her. He is heartbroken at all the suffering he sees her go through during his route. Of course, it's not just his care for Rika at play, but we're not talking about him right now. While, for Rika, he was her only anchor, her light, the one person who saw the real her and accepted her instead of forsaking her. At least that's what she thought. Rika and V are two very hurt and troubled individuals who have met each other at the worst possible time. And that makes it so sad to me. Neither him nor Rika truly wanted to harm one another. Whether there was any romantic love between them or not, they did care for one another deeply. Too deeply, even. Clinging to one another in order to satiate the emptiness they had inside, each in their own toxic way. It was not healthy. But it was genuine.

And I love tragic bonds, be it romantic or not. There is something compelling about two people who do want the best for one another just causing more harm than good. It's also painfully truthful. Not to such an extreme, but the struggle of doing what's best with no direction is one many can relate to.

I guess, to conclude this all, I'd say I love Rika for her complexity most of all. There are so many layers to her, and her story is truly a heartbreaking one to behold. But, God, is it beautiful, too.

Also, may I just add, her voice actress is absolutely amazing? She puts her all into playing Rika, and her story wouldn't be as moving if it wasn't for her breathtaking work. Her voice acting made me cry a whole lot of times.

[vivalgi]

My review on BOLAS 2

In general I found the sequel to be a worthy successor to book 1. It had lots of funny scenes, heartfelt moments and surprising twists. Most of the new art was great and high quality as usual and I really enjoyed the world building. The main aspects that felt lackluster were romance and the final battle, plus a few smaller annoyances.

Things I liked:

world building - the story not only vastly expanded but almost turned the lore we'd learned in book 1 upside down. It was cool learning that the world isn't just black and white, the evil shadow realm and the good light realm, but much more complicated and each side sees the other as bad guys. It was a positive surprise to learn that amongst the dangerous monsters there were ordinary and good-hearted people living in the shadow realm. Tyril and Nia even had existential crisis after learning that dwarves were using shadow magic without getting corrupted.

complex (ex-)villains - that snarky Aerin was very annoying at first but it was hard to keep hating him even after the damage and heartache he'd caused in book 1, especially since Nia who'd suffered the most was able to forgive him. Similar thing with Valax. At first she seemed like a typical one-dimensional villain with a single wish to wipe out the light realm. Then it turned out she was just a purpose built tool and brainwashed to carry out someone else's world domination plans. In reality Valax was compassionate and cared about her people and sadly had never felt love and affection. Even the couple from the shadow court was strangely sympathetic.

dark and twisted moments - especially what happened to Cherta's grandmother. The way she turned into an ugly and murderous creature when Cherta was trying to keep her alive must have been an extremely traumatic experience. All the challenges the girl went through to find cure for her grandma only for it all to end in such an ugly manner. The couple of times when the MC had PTSD attacks were also heavy and heartbreaking. Or how we fed a cute puppy to a dragon for a magical feather.

Art - I loved most of the CGs, the one with Nia telling a story to kids was especially sweet and tear-jerking. The party artwork was a bit funny though, especially giant Nia just posing for us while others were busy with important stuff. New backgrounds were beautiful and new characters like the dwarves and goblins looked interesting. And why are evil women always so damn hot? I liked the original looks of LIs more but the redesigns were alright too, although I had to correct Nia's hairline to keep it consistent with book 1 hairstyles. Premium outfits were well done too, though I complained how different in style the male and female Whimsywood outfits were. My favourite was the male Shroudwatch outfit.

Things that weren't so great

pacing - The story started off very quickly. Following a short recap the MC was immediately kidnapped and after escaping and getting the gang back together it was a constant running and fighting. Luckily the story slowed down a bit later and we finally had more time to really catch up with our friends and loved ones after 3 years of waiting. The story should have focused more on how the kidnapping affected everyone. Those were the best scenes.

romance - some may like the poly/harem style freedom that they can easily romance anyone whenever they want without any limits and repercussions but for me it took away the sense of progression. It often felt like romancing my LI in book 1 meant nothing. There were a few rare moments where it changed a scene a bit but most of the time it seemed like we were merely friends. I'd like to see more acknowledgement that I'm dating one character, especially from other characters. I don't want my LI to be called just a friend when they're clearly more than that. I would have loved for an opportunity to lock to a certain romance path or involved parties to sit down and discuss polyamorous relationship. It was also strange that the MC had to sleep alone and couldn't choose to stay with the LI after making love. Another thing that grinded my gears were the romantic choices. Almost all of them were about asking a kiss from the LI, even with Valax after just a few flirty options. It's nice when picking romantic choices leads to kissing as well but romance is so much more than pushing tongues down each other's throats. Where are the tender moments, pouring one's heart out, cuddling etc? The romance has become too shallow and lustful in Choices books.

the main villain - The Ash Empress could have been an equally complex character like her daughter. After all, she turned out to be the former Mother of Grey, an old deity with an unfortunate destiny who was good-natured at first but banished to the shadow realm where she got corrupted. However, besides a tiny glimpse of hope for redemption, she remained a typical one-dimensional evil character with a banal desire to conquer the world. She didn't seem very dangerous and frightening either, despite her looks. Everyone kept making fun of the empress which easily triggered her. And defeating her felt super easy, barely an inconvenience.

the final battle - I think it was too big and convoluted. There was a lot going on, the MC kept running from one place to another to help others but the stakes never felt high enough or the odds against us, unlike the first book.

Other remarks + hopes and expectations for book 3

I wonder why the Watcher left the rift near the White Tower for last. After all, that's where our journey began in book 2. It doesn't make any sense besides plot convenience.

I guess since the story teased a new world deep below ours, we are going to spend most of the time there, which is how PB was able to give us such important choices at the end. We probably won't be seeing the consequences of our choice for long, only in the first chapter until we get the gang back together and start a new adventure. Later on it will probably just be mentioned here and there.

throughout the first two books we've had a chance to learn so many skills and find so much helpful magical bling that our MC feels very overpowered already. All of them seem underused as well. So, instead of being introduced to a plethora of new stuff, we could finally put the 27(!) already learned skills to good use and focus on something else...

...like characters. We now have 6 LIs who all are hungry for our attention. Let's spend more time with them. And the social quests could also have platonic routes. I would have gladly spent on scenes with others besides my LI but unlike WTD the 30-diamond scenes were purely romantic.

Threep (and Loola) should rejoin the crew. The owlbear cub was cute and Mal constantly picking on Tyril was funny but Threep was one of the highlights of book 1.

No more "💗 I'd like a kiss" choices. The heart icon already hints at the romantic choice, the rest doesn't have to be so obvious and should allow the writers to be more creative.

I hope to experience more moments that make us laugh, cry, puke, pull the hair out and punch the screen. Action scenes can be fun but it's the emotions I mostly look forward to.

Unlock the damn closet!

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Flushed Away

So I think there's a reason why Aardman is best known for claymation above all else. Because when they try their hand at CGI, it turns out weird and uncanny, like Flushed Away here is.

But more on the animation in a bit, what's the story? Roddy is a pet rat who ends up, well, flushed away into the sewer, where he gets tangled up with Rita, a scavanger who is being hunted by a toad who plan on flooding the entire sewer city to get rid of the rats (So basically, to commit a Genocide). It's a.... mildly simple story with few surprises in it; bunch of action scenes, Roddy and Rita fall in love because of fucking course they do, bad guy is boring bad guy and our heroes save the day and learn the meaning of family or something idk I wasn't really paying that much attention.

Flushed Away, in its very nature, is kind of focused on that gross out toilet humor, so it immediately lost me with a lot of that. The rest of the humor that isn't that is just very bland and unfunny, and along the same lines, its action scenes don't really do a whole lot for me either and just tend to drag on way too long. I get the vibe that this, way more than the other Aardman/Dreamworks productions I've seen, is by and large the most focused at kids. Which hey, guess we're on a trend with that because so was Over the Hedge.

The characters are, fine I guess, not too stand out. Roddy is your typical protagonist who starts off all high-strung and stuck up until he realizes how lonely his previous life was and decides the sewer ain't half bad after all. Rita is ok, the usual Dreamworks scrappy "tough girl" love interest that we've seen before and will see again in this rewatch (I forgot to mention this in my previous list but so many of Dreamworks ladies are like this, Tzippoah, Chel, Marina, Fiona, hell even Astrid imo). As for the rest of the characters, they're very one note. Our villain doesn't even have an actual name, he's just called The Toad, and he's about as boring as you'd expect any power-hungry antagonist to be.

And finally, the animation. It is... weird. I respected Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit for how technically impressive they were, because claymation is very difficult and takes so much work to perfect. But this movie is CG animated, yet still utilizes Aardman's usual signature style. As a result, you get weird character models, with bizarre lighting and textures that look unfinished almost. The movement of the characters is smooth enough, I suppose, but this style just... doesn't lend itself well to anything other than claymation. It's just ugly man, idk what else to say.

So yeah, like I said in the Over the Hedge review, we're deep into Dreamworks' first "mid" era now. Kind of a shame the Dreamworks/Aardman teamup streak ends here because I don't actually hate Aardman's work, even if I do find their character models a little... uggo. Unfortunately, this is definitely the worst of the lot when it comes to the Aardman trilogy. No wonder that most people forget it exists because even after just one viewing, that's what I intend to do too.

Overall Rating: 4/10

Verdict: Flush these uggo rats into hell where they belong

Previous Review (Over the Hedge)

Next Review (Shrek the Third)

[egg-emperor]

I can’t imagine your first reaction to seeing 06 eggman? was it a letdown? and how about movie egg? were you not surprised they made him skinny

My opinion on him has changed a lot over the years. I was surprised to see their apparent attempt at making him look as realistic as they could, despite him still standing out hugely against other humans in the game so it felt quite uncanny. I thought he looked very weird and he felt like a stranger to me in it compared to his usual self. The golden nipple cap jacket look is also super bizarre. I remember when my brother and I saw for the first time and giggled about how strange he looked XD

They did unfortunately do him dirty with his in game model, which I think is where a lot of people's problems with the design lie- but I feel it's really only because the poor quality textures on the model and washed out color palette don't help it visually. Because his CG model was always fine to me and the CG overall was pretty and much better looking than in game in general. It was certainly always weird to see him so differently proportionately there too but I never had any really big issues.

Funnily enough, the first Sonic movie actually made me suddenly appreciate the design way more and go back to replay 06 for the first time in a few years just because of how much more he still looks like Eggman than carrey for 99% of it, in many ways. I felt like I took him for granted then and appreciated that they never really strayed that far with the 06 design at all! And when I see him in game now I feel the exact way I do when I see my most beloved classic/modern Egg. 🥰

I wasn't even very happy about 06 Eggman being seemingly slimmed down a little and have always joked about how the man needs to be fed more to live up to his name more even there, I've always had a gripe with him being slimmed down to lose that precious egg shape to any noticable degree lol. But the changes I'd make to his 06 design are minor and I still think he's very handsome now. And something I appreciate most in the design are his pretty blue eyes being visible 💙

It's especially okay with me for how it was a one-off because his usual design and style is just irreplaceable. I still feel that the most realistic his design should ever get is Unleashed's glorious CG with him being cartoony but with realistic details as the perfect balance- but I still love him all the same when seeing him in 06, always in CG and even in-game now since the first Sonic movie made me appreciate what we had as it was a much less drastic redesign in the end.

As for the movie version, I'm just personally not a fan of the movies in general and that includes the Robotnik design. It got mistaken as hate back then so I'm wary to share my thoughts today but I was honestly disappointed when I saw it in the first movie with him just being carrey with a mustache for almost the whole thing. I like my Eggman fat and bald, he's meant to have an egg shaped tum with a head smooth like an egg too! And the later changes still didn't help my opinion.

I still don't like how he's skinny but I also didn't want carrey to wear a fat suit anyway, I would've just preferred for them to cast a fat actor in the first place (and even more preferably for the movie to be CG animated instead) but it's already said and done, I've just accepted that it's not for me. I also just can't see and don't think of jimbotnik as an Eggman in the first place and can still only see carrey, so it doesn't count to me and feels like the movie just has a completely different villain instead.

So I'm personally not a fan of the movie version but it's not the only design I'm like that with, I've actually just always been very picky when it comes to Robotnik/Eggman designs, so it's not surprising that one that started out barely resembling him wasn't my thing. Classic and modern own my heart and 06 is actually probably my third favorite design of them all, I actually like it quite a lot more than the rest! Though my options are limited with the small amount I personally like lol

[kiytan]

So we watched The Marvels (2023). Yeah, that film with Captain Marvel, Ms Marvel and Spectrum; apparently that came out in NOVEMBER, and has now hit streaming. Disney just left this out to die and did 0 advertising for it and it seems nobody watched it.

Overall I think it was a very fun film, with a few big weaknesses. If you like MCU stuff, it's absolutely worth a watch, then again I liked antman 3 and hated the loki tv series, so my opinion is apparently wrong.

More detailed thoughts (and spoilers) below

So there is a *bunch* of stuff that has happened off-screen at the start of this film, that (as far as I can remember) hasn't happened in another marvel film/tv show, we're just expected to magically know it has:

The Kree had (/are having) a civil war

Carol destroyed the supreme intelligence

The Skrulls have an emperor, and at least 1 planet.

Nick Fury lives in space now, and founded&runs S.A.B.E.R

All of that is just stuff you should know, somehow.

The villain is a kree accuser whose name I've already forgotten, she's a boring version of Ronan - and Ronan wasn't exactly exciting to begin with. But at least Lee Pace was chewing the scenery. It feels here like the actress is going for it 100%, but that's still 200% short of where the scenery chewing, cackling villain energy needs to be.

The rest of the cast do a good job, and Iman Vellani continues to be great as Kamala, and her family steal most scenes they're in.

The CG overall is good, and feels like it's actually needed.

The fight choreography is mostly really solid, and has some creative uses of powers.

There is a scene with the flerken(s) I won't spoil, but absolutely give a raise to whoever decided to play that song - it's a very, very funny scene.

Now nowhere in the film does it say Carol is queer. At no point is it stated clearly that she's into women. She just, you know, lived with and had a close relationship with Monica's mum for a number of years, and is "old friends" with Valkyrie. Oh yeah, that's another thing we're just expected to know, she's been...friends...with Valkyrie for years, apparently. Was this just an excuse to get Tessa Thompson to turn up in a suit? possibly. again, the film isn't saying anything, it's just thinking it really rather loudly.

And in a highlight of how few people saw this film: it has some x-men in it. Sure it's because a character gets shunted to a parallel universe, but they wake up to find a well designed, but badly CG'd Beast (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) and an alternate version of themselves looking after them. Which means somebody writing it has read a comic with sword in. Which also means we're one step closer to getting Abigail Brand in the MCU, and that's exciting.

Overall it's a fun film, that wants to have fun and it seems like the people involved in it are having fun. Why this was left to rot but secret invasion was pushed so hard, I'll never know.

[lessapander]

Right, so. Just the grande finale/whatever the name of the final route is called to go, and I thought I might ramble a little to get my thoughts in order about Steam Prison (specifically on Switch, so Fin's route is included by default).

Mild spoilers under the "read more". Nothing plot-based, just my personal thoughts about world-building or personality stuff with the LI's/Cyrus.

tl;dr: I liked this game, but the plot and pacing really drags a lot, and I feel like it was trying really hard to not be an otome game, and getting dragged down by the fact that it is, indeed, an otome game.

World Building: Right off, this is my favourite part of the whole game. There was so much room for cool exploration of the differences between the Heights and the Depths that I feel got kind of pushed to one side. I suspect that this is because the otome-ness of the game interfered with really exploring that, but it still had a lot of (ahahaha) depth to it. The fact that the two cultures have deviated written languages was a very interesting point that I felt should've really been explained more, for example. Or why the people in the Depths revere Yune, though he only became a saint after leaving for the Heights. What's up with that? I kind of hope some things may get a bit clearer once I do the final route, but I'm not holding my breath.

Voice Acting: Always top notch. No complaints. Excellent casting choices. Especially impressed with Furukawa Makoto (Adage) and Shingaki Tarasuke (Fin) during their anguished scenes. Also deeply enjoyed Kameyama Yuji (Sachsen) in his very villainous role. I'm not in the camp of wanting a route for him, but I can definitely understand why. They really let him go wild in that role.

Eltcreed Route: I went in thinking he'd be my favourite LI and was wrong for once. He's just kind of weird and inconsistently written. They tried to hint that he's got an iron fist ruling his territory in his route, but it really doesn't come across well (it was better executed in Ulrik's with a few points, but ... still a bit meh). His route did provide me with some of the best one-liners of the game, however, and spawned an in-joke with my partner as a result of some of the dialogue options.

Ulrik Route: Probably the least logical among the LI's in terms of ending up with Cyrus. His plot was the highest stakes (in my opinion) but also kind of dithered out in a few of the endings. It felt like they chose one ending that would be "the ending" for each of the routes, but I really felt it with Ulrik's. Most of his endings (and the Elt ending hidden in his route) didn't really have the same ring of sincerity for me. I did like him as a character, but not as a love interest for Cyrus.

Adage Route: Similar to Ulrik, I felt like his route was a bit illogical but only really had one ending that was up to snuff. It was very satisfying finding more out about the overall plot in his route, and starting to solve the mysterious nature of Cyrus' parents' death, but I again felt like he just wasn't a very good fit for her romantically. A lot of the romance kind of got in the way of other plot and on occasion annoyed me. The pacing and timing of the route also was really bizarre and hard to track at times. However, the intertwining of Fin's story and Ines' behind the scenes work with the HOUNDS was expertly woven in on route-replay. Thumbs up to that. I actually was very pleased to see how that was handled. Similar to Eltcreed, some of the one-liners in this route have resulted in an in-joke with my partner about childbirth and where babies come from.

Ines Route: So his endings were a bit more varied and made sense, but I really hate the final CG for his good ending. It's a personal nitpick, though. Overall, he was kind of my least favourite of the LI's because he was just so ... bland. He almost never committed to anything until the very end of his route, and his brushing off of Sachsen's rampages really kind of bothered me. His route does have some of the most twisted Fin interactions hidden in it, though (oh man, poor Fin).

Yune Route: I wondered how romance with an immortal god-like being would go and didn't expect the direction this route took. Turns out, he's a little bit of a sociopath. Go figure. Playing this route after Ines was a bit refreshing, because he has a similar attitude of apathy to Ines, but at a basically global scale. Most of his endings made sense, though I was very annoyed that his "good" ending puts the majority of the plot and story after the credits with no choices to be made. I get why it was done that way, but man. Annoying.

Fin Route: Poor. Fucking. Fin. I think his is probably the overall best otome route and the one I enjoyed the most, and it's probably due to the fact that he and Cyrus have so much history to build on. It felt more organic than the other romance routes, even though there was less plot and overall development. It really felt like the other routes were trying to be a regular VN and build a story around a really cool world with the romance shoehorned in as an afterthought, while Fin's was pure otome with a bit of the world surrounding them. So it was kind of a nice one to end with, honestly. I was starting to get a bit burnt out on the half-assed love affairs. That said, I do have some beef with Cyrus in this route (I have beef with Cyrus in every route, but especially this one lol).

Impressions of Cyrus: There's good and there's bad. She's sassy, has a strong sense of justice, and takes decisive actions. She's a bit of a feminist and very resilient. But because they wanted to her to also be naive to romance and sex, the writing sometimes goes way too far off track and is completely illogical. There are times where it's funny (watching her learn about childbirth was amusing and fine; watching her learn about affection and romance was heart-warming) and times where I rolled my eyes because it just ruined scenes (eg: she knows what rape is, she knows rape is bad and protects other women from sexual assault, but somehow doesn't know that consensual sex exists???). There are holes in her logic in this area in particular that drove me bonkers, because there was no pattern to what she did and didn't comprehend when it came to relationships other than "love, BAD". Her happy ending with Fin was actually soured somewhat for me because of these misunderstandings.

So would I recommend it? Yeah. I would. And I'm looking forward to the fandisc. But man, it wasn't an easy one to get through. I used the skip function a lot more often during replay than I normally do (I have 100+ hours in a lot of otome games from just re-reading the dialogue to get new endings or missing scenarios, to see how it looks with fresh eyes; I did not do that with this game).

I also followed a guide to get the non-happy endings so I didn't have to spend time floundering about (which I normally enjoy a lot in otome games and VNs).

[syncogon]

ranking the young blood season 1 arcs

names and episode counts are from memory so forgive me. writing this down now, so I can see how my feelings change after I do my s1 rewatch - this is mostly* from memory from 4 years ago

*I've most recently rewatched the beginning and the end. and also I've been reading this sequel fic, so there's huge biases at play here haha

SPOILERS!

1. Bin Province / Qichuan Memorial arc (ep 33-42):

So here you can most obviously see my bias at play because I've been rewatching and hooo boy there's so much to love here. The premise with ZJ about to be married and YZX really upset but trying not to be and the rest of Qizhai being like why you are such an idiot. Zhao dad being supportive. We get the fantastic and heartbreaking brother relationship with YZX and YBQ, and the intrigue and tension of trying to outwit someone as powerful as him, and the conflict of "fighting" someone you love like this. The incredible homoerotic tension between YBQ and LZ (that boat escape scene?? that umbrella scene?? what was up with that???). And of course the return of the greatest villain of the show, and his relationships with ZJ, YBQ, etc... 妙. The plot twists and reveals and character/relationship development of this arc were just really well done aaah

2. Chen Gong / Wheeled Cannon arc (ep 12-22):

This is the mission where the team really comes together properly for the first time, and it's our first taste of the stellar plot twists of this show. CG himself gave an incredible turning point that I didn't foresee at all, with really interesting ramifications. Having to work against people you thought were allies... Lots of dark forces at work here that they have to navigate, and the Qizhai was really tested. I think in particular WYN's development during this arc shone.

3. Mi Ge Recruitment arc (ep 1-7):

It's nice seeing the squad come together and start to get a feel for each other. But it's also a little sad/painful I want them to be friends already :c that life-or-death trust... I did also like this arc for the first allusions to important characters and plot points that are bookended in the final arc. Shoutout to early YZX WK relationship was already so good. I feel our main cast was painted in efficient strokes in our first introduction, that they would then proceed to develop over the course of the show. Also, I do have a soft spot for their school shenanigans (the Chen Gong arc also features plenty though, including the infamous "you qizhai are all insane!" heh)

4. Yun Ni / Liao Princess arc (ep 22-33):

Honestly don't remember too much about this arc. I think I just hated HDZ so much, and masked guy blaming them for something that wasn't their fault, and the number of important people dying just got a little too excessive and depressing for me. Yun Ni herself and her attendant are so young and cute though

5. Prison arc (ep 8-12)

This is a little unfair because I'm giving it so few episodes compared to the others, but I honestly don't remember much of it and didn't really understand the plot haha... But we get Ding Er so :) I'm always a fan of the "you created your own greatest enemy" trope and this is a less painful flavor of how that usually goes

[jsaunderswrites]

DCing the U, if you know what I mean ;-)

I was very much not a fan of 2013's Man of Steel. I hate the tone, the visual style, how it approached its themes. Just thumbs down all round, with the exception of the cast. I need to see that bit of Black Adam where Henry Cavil plays a more traditional take on the character, because I suspect he'd actually be great at it. I decided I'd see how it was received before checking out Batman v Superman, and the results seemed to be that the people who enjoyed it had already loved MoS. And then the culture war BS started. So I just left it. I didn't watch Justice League, or its re-release/re-edit/remake. I did watch Wonder Woman because I didn't want the first of this generation of superhero films starring a woman to flop, but I didn't really care for it. So that was it for me and the DCEU, until this last fortnight. With the announcement that the universe is starting again over the next two years and that we'll be getting a new Superman film I decided to give them another chance. That is, I want to let the new DC Universe film series sell me on its own merits without the baggage of the old DCEU.

Officially the series will begin in 2024 with the release of Creature Commandos as the beginning of Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. However the actual universe was rebooted in The Flash this year, and there are a couple of films released between then and next year. So they have, sometimes inconsistently, stated the following installments take place within the fictional universe of the DCU, but are not part of official first chapter:

Aquaman

The Suicide Squad

Peacemaker season 1

Blue Beetle

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

And because of my dumb, all-inclusive brain I have decided to personally include Aquaman: Undertow, Arthur's Guide to Atlantis, and the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special.

I have now seen all the currently released films (haven't finished Peacemaker yet) and here are my thoughts on all of them:

Aquaman (21/12/2018) Surprisingly fun. A bit irreverent but doesn't dive into full irony ("Really? Orange top with green pants!? And a seashell buckle!?! How ridiculous!") which I do appreciate. I enjoy that it's a grail quest, not a stop-the-device-that-shoots-a-glowy-light-into-the-sky. Arthur is a fun hero, I appreciate his character journey, simple as it was. The chemistry between him and Mera may have been simple but it still worked well. Lots of cool underwater stuff! Sunken ships, battle sharks, crab soldiers, lost world dinos, glowy coral, giant ancient sunken statues, etc. All fun stuff! The CG can be kinda iffy, especially on people but I'm okay with it. Black Manta was cool but Ocean Master was nothing special. This was a fun starting place.

The Suicide Squad (30/07/2021) After trying Suicide Squad from 2016 I was so pleasantly surprised at how much this improved on it. The strong themes and defined characters and creative action and cinematography. Just :chef's kiss: I wish that King Shark got something to do in the final battle that was unexpected to highlight how Waller's putting them in such defined roles that don't actually fit them as characters.

Blue Beetle (15/08/2023) I think this was the weakest so far. The class and racial themes work very well, until Jenny becomes the good billionaire. The scenes where Jaime is talking with his dad and later uncle were the best parts of the film! The first one actually made me teary, that doesn't happen at movies! The villains were nothing, until Carapax's backstory was revealed, and then suddenly they're veeerrry strongly tied into the existing themes! I don't know why they rewrote Jaime's world so much. Why is he a college graduate instead of a teenager? Why don't they live in El Paso? Why does Ted Kord have a daughter? Is it just because a heterosexual love interest is a requirement? The "komedy" is pretty forced. The suit now burns his clothes away, so we can have a nudity running joke, until they just stop acknowledging it later on. The clothes still burn but we don't need to see him change back. The scarab goes inside Jaime and emerges at the base of his neck instead of just latching onto that part so we can keep saying it went up his ass. All of Kord's Blue Beetle equipment looks like it came out of the old comics, cue all the characters complaining how goofy everything looks! And a lot of stuff doesn't work fully! People love when we say our universe is dumb! And then it starts having 80s stuff out of nowhere, the Bug starts blasting Motley Crew, the shield is built out of a Power Glove (wasn't Ted a billionaire? Why is he repurposing a Nintendo peripheral?) the minigun is made of light-up cubes. It just feels like it's only there because "Hey, remember the 1980s!?" has been the flavor of the last eternity.

So now I'm just waiting on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. In the meantime I think I'll try Birds of Prey and then maybe the Shazam!s.

[gavinastrawolf]

My Quick Thoughts on Kamen Riders (the ones I've watched so far.)

Gaim: A really neat coming of age story with a bunch of punks that fight with dancing and then later POKEMON. I remember it dragging a bit but its been forever since I've watched it. I hate there's just a point that all of the villains use the same weapon and that was boring as fuck. Outside of that I just remember enjoying it. I need to rewatch it.

Ghost: I do like the idea of this one but man Takeru coming back to life once (not including when he gets turned into a ghost in episode 1) is impactful but every time afterwards feels like an ass pull. This one felt like there was form bloat imo. I get it but it feels like they introduce a few forms that are only used once. I get it when rider does this but it felt too often and fillery to me. Outside of that the plot is a bit messy but enjoyably. I like the main character and the cast is pretty neat. I love the fun facts about the historical figures that are in the eyecons. Its very ok. The third rider in that is cool though. I love it when villains turn into good guys ok.

Zero-One: I HATED this concept as soon as I watched it. It feels like Kamen Rider Detroit: Become Human. There are some moments that made me laugh in this that weren't intentionally funny. I feel like the themes in this feel really fucking jarring with them being like "Robots are people too!" ESPECIALLY nowadays with AI causing more problems. I dropped this one cause I couldn't get new episodes and I'm glad I did. I think the more it went on the more I would of hated it. I do love that one of the villains has his company's trademark in his transformation jingle though.

Build: Easily has to have some of the best cliffhangers in any Rider I've watched. Every episode felt REALLY important and it always felt like it was moving the plot forward no matter what. A lot of riders start out with some monster of the day format to give you an idea of the characters but they don't really move the plot forward, Build is not like that at all. Every episode of Build just BUILDS of each other in a really fun way. I loved the main 2 riders and the later 2 are also good. I love there's a lot of foreshadowing in this that's played off as a joke and later OH WAIT IT WASN'T A JOKE. The forms are good, the fight scenes are good, I loved the plot a lot too. The only thing I think I hate is there's a few moments when Build could of finished off the big bad but doesn't for no reason. Unless I missed something it feels like he could of ended him early and focused on how to get the world back to normal. I also did not care for the Grey Bottle arc. I feel like they really wanted to make something that wasn't important now important. Plus that's when I think the show really slows down plot wise too. Outside of that it's still my 2nd favorite in the whole series and I really love it a lot.

Geats: Easily my favorite Rider ever that I've watched so far. Form the concept that this is fucking a Rider based on fucking FORTNITE made me really excited cause I felt like Rider would work REALLY well with this idea. Not only did it work well but I think it was way better than I expected it to be. The main 4 riders are amazing and I love every single one of them. I think these are the most fleshed out characters in any Rider I've seen so far. The story is really fun to watch, the power-ups are cool and GOD Geats has the BEST fight scenes in any Rider imo. They feel really fun to watch and the cinematography is just amazing. The CGs also don't feel that distracting in this too. I can't stress this enough, Geats has got to be one of the best Kamen Riders I've ever watched. I know some people are not a fan of how these latest episodes have been treating a certain character but I don't think its bad. Easily my favorite Rider.

Faiz/555: I swear to god if people talked to each other half of the conflict on this show would not exist, but that is the point. Faiz having its main themes about communication is neat. While frustrating to watch at times, I really love the dynamic the main cast has with each other. I love that there is 2 different groups of the main cast too. It creates this neat contrast on what group vs the other. There's a few plot lines I think should of been resolved sooner but there's a lot of neat moments of character misunderstanding another's motives cause they don't have the context. Faiz is really amazing EXPECT for the last 10 episodes. That is the most rushed arc in any Rider and the ending feels anti-climatic. Episode 50 has a really good fight scene but that's not the final fight. So the real final fight that they were hyping up for MOST of the show is just like 1 short scene and its over. It feels like nothing was resolved in a meaningful way. Don't get me started with that kid plot line that goes nowhere and is just there to be there. Faiz could of been a classic but then they just forced it to end at episode 50. It needed at least 10 more episodes and it could of been great. I still recommend it but man that ending is fucking rough.

Revice: I think its mid as fuck. I am about 15 episodes and I think its just OK. The main character bores me, the rest of the cast is very passable. I think the only interesting one is Daiji Igarashi and even then I'm so conflicted on him. On one hand cool that we get to explore this conflicts through his demon, on the other hand it feels like they wanted to go through it too fast. I do like that he gets over his demon in a cool way and he's himself forever... UNLESS HE'S KNOCKED OUT OOPS NOW HES HIS EVIL DEMON SELF AGAIN. I fucking hated that in one of the fights. It comes out of nowhere and it feels like it ruins his arc of over coming his own personal demons. The fact that they can swap who takes over the body could of been neat but they make it clear that Daji "defeated" Kagero and reclaimed his body. So the swap feels so jarring and out of nowhere. I hate it so much and it bugs me even more that he is still evil. The more I think about this plot point the more it bugs me. Outside of that I think the music is nice. George and Vice make the show for me and that's really about it. I think the pacing is REALLY bad in Revice. The pacing gets better as it goes on but those first 7 episodes have some real bad pacing. It feels like they wanna rush to the fight scenes which I know you gotta do one in every episode (at least it feels like it) in Rider but man can you set them up instead of rushing to them. The first episode feels like a whiplash with how quickly they want to get to the transformation. The fight scenes are a mixed bag here too. I know Rider has a lot of CG in their fight scenes but Revice relies on it TOO much. In episode 4 there's a fight scene that's a chase and that's cool on paper, but then you see it and it looks like a really bad PS2 game. Most of the Buddy forms are like this too and it looks so bad. I love the idea of the Buddy system though but man they do it so badly. I'll give Revice this, it has A TON of cool ideas but it never really feels like it capitalizes on them vs a lot of other riders. Its too overambitious for its own good which I can appreciate but man it makes the quality of the show pretty bad at times.

[dragonbee259]

Since we’re really into villain arcs, I’d like to humbly propose my own idea for Blue

(I thought this song fit super well)

Imagine after Ep 30, when the CG are welcoming Purple and Mango, all of the mobs around them are kinda pissed that they just, y’know, let the bastards who almost got them all killed just get off scot-free.

Also, Blue is pretty pissed at Purple and Mango, mainly since she’s had her trust shattered time and time again, so she’s much less forgiving than the rest of the CG. As the gang and Purple interact more, Blue’s animosity shows more and more, which causes infighting in the CG. This comes to a head when she just snaps and just spills out why she hates Purple so much (think Quagmire confronting Brian in Family Guy), but the rest of the CG, especially Green, think she’s being unfair and demand she apologizes. Blue refuses, and it ends with a full on fight. Blue is defeated, and she’s unofficially banned from the CG.

She leaves the PC, and she ends up seeking shelter in the village she and Yellow defended from the Pillagers. Blue notices how the villagers (and Titan Ravagers) also hate Purple and Mango, and they start forming a plan to take them down. Blue trains the people with even more techniques, and they send messages out to the monster kids, the villagers from Purple’s old PC, and even the witch, and they all agree to essentially wage war on the CG for excusing Mango’s and Purple’s crimes. (I’ll maybe write more later, but for now I’m gonna get something to eat :P)

[ridley-was-a-cat]

Winter Anime Mid-Season Thoughts

I won’t bore people with my thoughts on everything I’m watching, but here are a handful of things that have jumped out at me so far.

Tomo-chan is a Girl - I’m enjoying this romcom quite a bit, but I don’t understand why you’d make a story about a tomboy that treats being a tomboy as some sort of failure state. Tomo is cute and happy the way she is, and Jun is clearly attracted to her this way, so I wish her friends would stop trying to change her.

MagiRevo - Once this stopped forcing the romance without doing the necessary work to establish a relationship first, I started enjoying it a bit more. Anis still annoys the shit out of me, though.

Sugar Apple Fairy Tale - Challe is the sort of S-tier husbando that’s been missing from anime since they stopped making adaptations of shoujo manga in the mid-2010s. The story is doing lots of good things, too, but I just can’t get enough of the otherworldly hot warrior fairy.

Buddy Daddies - It is both surprising and impressive how this show about two men raising a child together completely lacks any kind of sexual tension or baiting, while also never going for the “no homo” angle or aggressively shooting down the idea that they could be together romantically. They could just be friends, or they could be a well-established couple past the flirtatious phase. Either one feels equally likely based on how the show is written.

Vinland Saga - It’s satisfying to watch Thorfinn gain some perspective and grow up a bit, and Snake can get it, but my biggest takeaway is that the OP and ED songs are catchy as all hell. They get in my head and won’t leave.

Trigun Stampede - I don’t hate 3D CG, and I’m not some sort of old-school Trigun purist, but this show just isn’t hitting for me. The story doesn’t make any damn sense, I don’t care about any of these characters, and the villains are one-note and boring. This is the show I’m enjoying the least right now.

“Ippon” Again - This is turning out to be pretty much exactly the kind of girls sports anime I’ve been looking for, where the girls get to be athletes and be passionate about their sport instead of cute little objects dabbling at an activity. I just wish the guy doing the soundtrack got the memo that this was a sports anime and not a cute girls doing cute things show.

In/Spectre - Kotoko is back in all her thirsty, dirty-mouthed glory, and I am here for it. I got burned out on Steel Lady Nanase at the end of season one, but this season seems to be made of the shorter, snappier mini-arcs that made the first half of season one so good.

[paper--moons]

Regressor!Aizawa Headcanons

There are a lot of moving pieces to manage when one leads the busy life of a pro hero, not to mention being a teacher on top of that. Add the fact that villains have been attacking his kids, his pre-existing mental health concerns, and just the general chaos of life and you've got quite the stress storm brewing! One of the constants in managing all of this stress and anxiety when it gets to be too much is his preferred method to self-soothe: his hair. Most often this presents itself in the form of rubbing the pieces that frame his face between his thumb and fingers, although this isn't always necessarily the case. If he starts to feel particularly distressed he'll switch to tugging on his hair instead of the gentler, repetitive motions of before. And while this is by no means limited to whether he is big or little, his regression does cause a change in how he's stimming. A dead giveaway that he's feeling especially small is that itty bitty Shouta will suck on his hair the moment his cg looks the other way.

But when things get too overwhelming for him, the one thing that helps calm him down even more than playing with his hair? Having someone else do it for him. The reassurance and all encompassing sense of I got you, you're alright that comes from someone cradling his head as they card their fingers through his hair is like getting a dose of pure sleepy calm that washes over him completely. That being said, only a select few people actually get to play with his hair, and even then he's very picky about who makes that list. Not just because he's a bit tender-headed, but also the proximity and closeness that it requires. Shouta isn't the biggest fan of physical contact unless it's on his terms and the other person respects his boundaries, or the other person is well-trusted and allowed to initiate—in other words, he operates on cat rules.

Contrary to popular belief, he does brush his hair—it isn't tangly, it's curly! Still, it can get a little wild looking if he's been rolling around, you know, committing his baby crimes. Shouta absolutely hates the hairbrush though and sees no reason to brush his hair if he's still toddling about. It isn't the hair brushing time, he says! That's in the mornings. But Hizashi disagrees. The minute he pulls it out however, the baby is gone and is hiding in his best hiding spot (which is just under his blanket in the closet, though this also happens to be where he goes when he wants quiet time—so it isn't exactly hard to find him, but Hizashi lets him have a minute anyway before coaxing him out). In the end he still gets brushed, but Hizashi is so careful about it, making sure not to tug or pull and even hums their special song for him while he brushes. And despite himself, Shouta finds that he enjoys it (but only because Hizashi made it enjoyable).

This fate of being brushed can be avoided some days though! But not because the baby manages to hide or convince his cgs about the brushing time being in the mornings. No, Shouta is able to avoid the yucky, yucky hairbrush when he submits to a quick finger combing and allows Nemuri to braid his hair. She is always wanting to style it some particular way anyhow, but for the sake of baby time she sticks to braiding—which is both comfy for him and doesn't run the same risk that a bun or another up-do might (coming loose, getting tangled, etc.). Plus it does still give Nemuri some creative freedoms, what with all the different styles of braids she knows how to do. Though more often than not she winds up giving him a simple three strand braid, or twin tails if she thinks he'll sit still long enough for her to do so.

Shouta is very particular about whether or not he lets them put in hair clippies to keep his bangs out of his face. How is he supposed to hide behind his hair if it's pinned back? The trade-off for the loss of his security blanket had better be worth it—which is why he only keeps certain ones in, and it's kind of become a competition to see who can buy him ones that he actually likes and will leave alone. So far Hizashi is winning, having picked out a set of Chococat barrettes that little Shou absolutely adores (and that big Shou may or may not adore as well). Though Nemuri came in a close second with a set of holographic Pusheen pins, but he prefers to just look at those ones and play with them by popping them open and closed to hear the little clicky noise—which he will do until he accidentally pinches himself and declares the hair clippies are mean.

Dealing with a cranky baby who desperately needs a nap but is struggling to get there? Playing with his hair will ease him right off into dreamland, and his cgs aren't above using this little trick when Shouta starts getting fussy. Really, it's far more effective than Nemuri's quirk is on him sometimes, or it least it feels that way. Especially when combined with a nice warm bottle of vanilla milk. All Shouta can focus on are the fingers carding through his hair, the nails gently scratching at his scalp, and the warm milk flooding his mouth and filling his tummy until he's warm inside and out. It certainly tamps down any of his big bad thoughts that can make it difficult for him to sleep, the anxiety quelled by all these other sensations that are sending his brain signals saying safe, safe, safe.

On the off chance he is due for a haircut and is spending a lot of time regressed for one reason or another, it's near impossible to get him to agree to it. Haircuts are already distressing enough for him, but when he's small everything is amplified. Shouta doesn't want to get it cut or trimmed up because then it won't be right. The way it curls around his shoulders, the weight and feel, it will be all wrong for weeks and it bothers him so much it practically hurts. So it takes a lot of coaxing and considerate explanations to help him get to a point where he tentatively agrees. But it has to be Hizashi that does it. Zashi knows not to cut too much, doesn't make fun of him for how hiccupy he gets, and is sure to pause if it gets too overwhelming. It also doesn't hurt that he's sure to give Shouta a special treat afterwards—usually a visit to the cat café they frequent—for being such a brave boy.

[poisonouswritings]

So I bit it and checked out the new Fictif story (thoughts and some spoilers under cut)

TLDR; I am pleasantly surprised and cautiously optimistic for the future of this one, but I will still fight Fictif in the parking lot of Denny's at 3am

Firstly I just wanna say,, the music,,, is such a damn banger. I could vibe to it all day.

Secondly the writing seems good so far!! Definitely descriptive, didn't Immediately launch into 'characters being unreasonably in love' the way some other stories on this app do. There was a healthy amount of flirting mixed with genuine conversation

A little bit of Last Legacy vibes!! Not sure how intentional it is

The characters,, actually,,, seem to have backstory??

The characters,,, actually,,,, seem to have personalities that go beyond their relationship with the MC? The characters don't feel flat and one-dimensional?? They feel like people??? With their own relationships and conflicts and opinions and????

hohohOHOHO HOT PIRATE LADY

HOHOHO HOT PIRATE LADY MAKES MEN QUIVER IN FEAR

HOT PIRATE LADY HAS A CREW OF MOSTLY WOMEN

I am very weak for hot and confident ladies in general, but especially pirates

Wolfish male character who loves his younger sister but somehow fucked up in the past and is now desperately trying to find a way to save her????

He has growlies?????

Hot pirate lady calling him a puppy???????

Hot pirate lady and wolfie man being best friends????????????

Wolfie man may turn into a wolf at some point???????

While I am a little sad that this one seems to be following the recent trend of not having individual character routes and instead just jamming everyone together (FTLoG, MM, CtC, and now this one), the relationship between the characters makes it make sense

The CG for this chapter is of the hot pirate lady???

The concept of the story is actually really interesting!! It gets revealed pretty early on so I'll just say, the idea is that MC is an author and has to help fairytale villains (the wolf from Red Riding Hood and Captain Hook) change their stories.

Hook's motivation is that she has her own story but it was completely overshadowed by a man-child and now she's determined to get her own book to tell her story in!!

The writer really looked at all our outrage over Tess, Celia, and Val (I've also seen people say this about Maeve to a lesser extent but I haven't played CtC yet so) and said 'girl I got you I will shove this in the exec's faces until they fucking listen'

While this obviously does not make up for all the bullshit Fictif has given us in the past, I am saying this is a step in the right direction. It's a start.

This does not mean we should stop being critical of them! One good move does not put them back in good graces, and I'd hate for this one series to basically be a pander. Continue to call Fictif out on their crap!

[leonardhoee]

A Rant About Ikesen’s Treatment of Motonari

I’ve been away from tumblr for a while but I had to come back for this.

So something I’ve noticed throughout playing Ikesen is the way that the game is very biased agains Motonari and I think it needs to be addressed because he is the only brown character and his portrayal is full of harmful stereotypes against brown men. I love this game but I haven't seen a single person acknowledge how badly Motonari is treated by the creators and the fandom as a result of that.

Also any racist comments will be blocked.

Possible route spoilers under the cut…

So lets start with the obvious, he is the only dark skinned character in Ikesen and when I first started playing I was so happy about that because finally (regardless of his ethnicity which honestly in this portrayal of him can be up for debate, I HC him as south East Asian) we are getting some representation. Throughout the game though I started noticing a lot of harmful stereotypes being thrown onto him that none of the other characters face.

Both him and Nobunaga are relatively misogynistic, I’m not denying that at all. However the way it is portrayed in their routes is very different. Nobunaga should in fact have sexual harassment charges, yet its romanticized repeatedly throughout his route. Motonari on the other hand treated MC as a possession the same way Nobunaga did, however he is shown as aggressive and scary as opposed to Nobunaga being shown as sexy and romantic.

There is also a difference in their respective CG’s 

Motonari’s CG is shown much more threatening and aggressive than Nobunaga’s

That brings me to my next point. Every other antagonist so far is shown to have a gentle and redeemable side. Kenshin threatened to wage war on the whole country while keeping MC locked in a cell yet he is still shown to be gentle and romantic. Kennyo repeatedly kidnaps and threatens MC’s life in other routes yet he is shown as a gentle monk who just wants revenge for his fallen brethren. Why doesn't Motonari get that level of consideration and empathy? Why is he, the only brown man, shown as an aggressive two-dimensional brute in every single route that isn’t his own? And this is a harmful stereotype that shows itself in all kinds of media. Brown men are depicted as predatory and aggressive both in fiction and real life.

This leads me to his ethnicity (I’m only talking about Ikesen’s portrayal of Motonari, I am well aware he was a Japanese warlord irl). In his route there is a part where he is talking about slavery and colonialism. As a South Asian woman I completely understand his perspective and its what got me thinking about this subject in the first place.

This subject is clearly personal to him. These lines, the way he looks as opposed to the other characters, and the fact that he speaks Spanish (around this time period the Philippines were being colonized by Spain), leads me to head cannon him as South East Asian, specifically Filipino. However, historically, Motonari comes from a region of Southern Japan, which is known as Hiroshima today. Cybird meant to market him as Okinawan. A large part of the reason Motonari is being treated this way by Cybird stems from the fact that people from Okinawa face racism from mainland Japan. Considering the fact that this game was made in Japan, and knowing what we know about their history of colonization, racism, and east asian beauty standards revolving around colorism, I am honestly not surprised that Motonari is being portrayed like this.

Until now they just showed his reason for fighting the Oda to be “oh I just want to watch the world burn for no reason”. But no that’s not the reason. These lines. That’s the reason. A lot of the context behind those lines comes from the fact that comes from because people from mainland Japan treated Okinawan people as slaves. He doesn’t want to see another colonizer come into power. Sure he’s a bit of an extremist but historically people who have this ideology have always been portrayed as savage and barbaric and “against the betterment of society” (think Jet from atla or even Malcom x). It’s no different in ikesen. The devs are clearly villainizing this ideology. Let’s not forget the fact that irl Hideyoshi invaded Korea. And the fact that anime and otome games are part of Japan’s way of erasing their war crimes and rebranding themselves to the rest of the world. It’s blatantly obvious here with the way they’re villainizing Motonari for having a perfectly valid reason to fight the Oda. If Japan stays divided they can’t invade and colonize other countries like the Philippines can they? Anti-colonialism = bad. 

Lastly I want to talk about how they downplayed his abilities as a leader and a warlord in his own right. In all the other routes he is depicted as less educated and frankly “dumb”, and it shows itself in his speech patterns too. Compared to Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, Motonari’s speech is stereotypically “less educated” and “lower class”. Yet he is just as much of a leader as any of the other warlords. However instead of acknowledging that, the game chooses to focus on his crimes and behavior as a pirate, instead of his role as the head of the Mouri clan.

At one point Kicho even compares his intelligence to a fifth grader which just rubs me the wrong way because lets take a moment to actually look at Motonari’s abilities. He is multilingual, has knowledge of global politics and economics, is an amazing businessman, and extremely analytical. He is literally known as the God of Decit, yet I did not hear that name once until his route came out. His strategies are good enough to be called a god, yet that is completely buried in the other routes in order to simplify his character into a trigger happy psychopath and a violent brute. He is just as smart as Nobunaga yet he is not given the credit he deserves.

Both Motonari and Nobunaga are extremely similar yet because of the horribly biased portrayals, Motonari is one of the least popular characters whereas Nobunaga is the second most popular. It makes me angry to see people in the fandom choosing to blindly hate Motonari without recognizing the fact that this stems from a frankly racist portrayal of an extremely intelligent and powerful character. Although truthfully, I blame the devs because if they had given his character even half the consideration and depth the others got, this would not be the case. 

You can disagree with me if you want. I am simply bringing attention to something I haven’t seen being addressed.

I hope in future routes, events, and sequels he is treated better by the devs and and the fandom. Please stop projecting racist stereotypes onto brown men.

[destinygoldenstar]

I review every Pretty Cure Ending

I'll cover each chronologically, and put them on a tier list,

And before I begin, there IS a Youtube video that contains every Ending I'll go over, so you guys can get an idea on what I discuss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDLDAPsYKc8&t=2788s

Credits to めいぷる, who made the video.

So let's begin.

Futari Wa 1

So starting with these old ones, these first 5 seasons just contain the civilian forms of the Cures hanging out, I guess that's the word to use. And for the first one... yeah it's aged. I'm not gonna be too harsh, since it is the first ending theme they did, and it's kinda impressive for what it is. But all they do here is just every cast member marching in a line. Now there are actually some parts here that replicate the Cure's personalities, like Nagisa's lacrosse team and Honoka's science club members, and what are these villains doing?!

Seriously, what is this?

But what I can't excuse is how poorly the faces are drawn here, they look like dots. And also these clip shots of Nagisa and Honoka around the end. It's a slip of them, not even a full frame, with a LOT of black empty screen in between them! Nothing even happening there! And they hold these shots. For. So Long.

That's lazy, I don't like that!

And the song is middle of the road, nothing too special for me. But it does serve it's job in making the ending upbeat.

I'm gonna give this one a C tier

It's the very first one, and it shows.

Max Heart 1

This is. BY FAR. The WORST ONE.

Even for the early years, it's bad!

It's like they took everything I complimented about the first one, and threw it out the window, as well as cranked up the cons to 10!

They're not even dancing here, this is LITERALLY just a bunch of people walking around

We DO NOT even get a good frame of the Cure's faces. Either the camera focusing on a part of their body that ISN'T their faces, or they're extremely small because they're walking in crowds of nobodies! Not even significant cast members here! And it's ALL STILL FRAMES. NOTHING is going on here. The first shot is us watching Honoka's legs walking, and they hold that shot for almost 15 seconds! Wha-why do you think Honoka's legs are neat to watch? That's creepy out of context!

There not even anything of personality from the Cures as there was with the first one, they're just walking around. The fairies are drawn so poorly here it's ridiculous. Even for 2005, there is no excuse for this. It's that bad.

There's only one dancing part and it's of every citizen in sync for one second, and it's like... it kills what they had going for. And what they had going for wasn't even good or neat to watch. Why are there images of the episode events happening on NEWS SCREENS?! Is a citizen seriously not asking "Wait, why is this happening?"

And then the song COULD HAVE saved this idea, but... it's trash. This song is extremely inconsistent and I cannot, for the like of me, understand what it's goal is.

Yeah, I just really hate this one.

Sorry I'm starting out this so negative, but I didn't expect this one to be as bad as it was.

D tier, ALL THE WAY

Splash Star 1

I'll say it right now, out of all of the early non-CG endings. This one is probably the best.

This ending does quite a bit right to my surprise, even the song. Yes, even these odd notes they use that kind of gives it a scrunchy feel, words in such a way, especially to the visuals and how it compliments it. My favorite parts of this are in the middle of it, where the visuals are not only BEAUTIFUL, but it also showcases the Cure's personalities as well, to something as simple as looking at stars. Even the still frame of them sitting in a tree, and the slow burn shot of them holding hands in the sunset, are accompanied by the song well enough that they hold my attention.

I will say it kind of fumbles in the beginning and ending in the visual department, such as these weird white flash edits from Saki that don't add anything, and at the end these Cure's animation budget drained HARD. But at least we got a good face from Saki.

Yeah, I like this one, definitely the best one of these classics.

A tier

Splash Star 2

Okay, what happened here?!

Yeah, I don't like this one either.

This is their first attempt at actually dancing for the whole thing, and yeah, first attempt, it looks bad.

This dancing is not good, and not even in sync with the music, which isn't even that catchy to me. Even then, the dancing just kills everything for me, it's... how do I say this? It's just them bopping around and swaying their arms vertically, and not much else. Wasn't cute with the fairies, not cute when the Cures replicate that. Even the cut to the villains makes absolutely no sense and is not even ironically out of place as Futari Wa. And these backgrounds, while cute somewhat, are blurred out for some reason and we can barely see them.

First try, and first strike.

D tier

Yes 5 1:

Okay, off the bat. The song. BAD.

This HURTS MY EARS.

That solely has to do with the singer, who just sounds like she's squealing half of the time, and it's so weary it hurts. Their HURTS to listen to.

But the visuals are actually pretty descent.

Still frames, again, don't work out too well, but at least in these still frames, they show off the Cure's personalities really well. But again, the visuals do falter in the end with everyone walking with ice cream. This walking animation looks SO bad, and they're not even moving, it's just these fences moving and it looks so awkward.

I dunno, if the song wasn't so painful for my ears, this would be higher, but as is...

B tier, I think that's fair

Yes 5 2:

Remixing the second ending of Splash Star is NOT A GOOD SIGN.

And if that's NOT what they're trying to do here, then I don't know what it is.

But that said...

It works better for the Yes team than it did Splash Star tbh.

Part of that is the improved visuals, where yes it's the same bad dance, but there are some small cute quirks here to at least give the dance more depth and distract me with it's personality. That said when they don't do it the dancing is still cringe.

But I also LOVE Nuts here, who looks so cringed by what he's doing.

That's awesome.

But in the end, it is still a remix of Splash Star, and still the same dance, just... less awful

C tier, it's at least watchable now

GoGo 1:

This ending has TOO MUCH going on!

Especially visually, my eyes get dizzy watching this. Not only are there SO MANY detailed stamps here, but the framerate moves way too quick for me to catch anything, or understand any of the dancing they're trying to do here. I can't even appreciate Nuts here because he's only there like ONE SECOND. I can't notice that first viewing!

Ironically enough, the only time they slow down is a shot of Kurumi for some reason.

But she's not even doing anything, and I don't like it when Milk is on screen, she sucks!

At least the song does kinda match this fast place, and it kinda catchy, but again, the visuals just ruin this ending for me. Less is more sometimes guys.

B tier

GoGo 2:

STRIKE THREE GUYS

AND YOU'RE SOOOOOOOOO OUT

Okay, that's a bit harsh, but COME ON

THREE REMIXES of THE SAME SONG, AND DANCE?!

Which I didn't even like the first time?

On top of that, the animation doesn't even save it here, as it just looks cheap. They try to focus on grandiose backgrounds in this one to try and make it look appealing, and I admit it does focus on the Cures personalities, but even then, by focus shouldn't be ENTIRELY on the backgrounds. The Cures are at the front of the screen.

That's all I have to say for this one

D tier

Fresh 1:

And here we start the CG dancing!

And first attempt...

This is actually really good!

I mean, WOW, over a decade later and these dance moves hold up and keep me intrigued the whole time. The CG may not be the best, but the fact they're even able to pull off these moves is awesome enough that I can give it a pass.

The problem I had with the Futari Wa ending with the backgrounds is gone now. There's always something going on to keep me hooked, and it ends up not being noisy like the GoGo opening.

For a season I think is kinda overrated, I will say this really holds up!

If I have to have a gripe though... yeah you know where I'm going with this. The song.

It's not bad, it just sounds way too smooth and calm in these energetic visuals, and while it gets the job done, it also could have been so much more memorable.

But as is, for their first CGI ending, pretty solid.

A tier

Fresh 2:

This is kinda the same Fresh ending for me, but with much more impressive technology, and of course, Eas. I swear pairing her up with Miki was intentional at a certain point.

What I said about the first one can apply here, great dancing, great visuals that somehow still hold up, I just wish the song could match it better.

Do I like it more than the first Fresh ending...?

Maybe...?

A tier

Heartcatch 1:

This one is a lot better than I initially gave it credit for.

Like, I wasn't too fond of the song or the dancing the first time I watched it, but WOW, does it hold up!

And it's actually VERY Heartcatch feeling, and goes with the season!

Kinda a shame they never have the Cures dancing in their civilian forms again after this, because this actually works very well. Even the dancing is so weird but cute, I guess that's the word to use. It's perfect for Tsubomi and Erika's characters.

And then the visuals, it holds up! The balloons in the background and the little sketches are there to make the school look more interesting, and somehow not feel noisy. Even when we transition to the fashion bits, it's just so in character and beautiful to watch.

The shot of Tsubomi making a heart around herself and transforming, CHEFS KISS

I just-

How did I not care for this beforehand? This is actually REALLY good!

So much so that I'm giving this one this tier lists first S tier

Heartcatch 2:

Alright, first off...

Why is there a christian choir?

Why did you make that?

Okay, I know one of the lyrics is 'hallelujah' but... why ya gotta take it that far?

Don't get me wrong, it's pretty sounding, but I gotta ask... why?

I think this is an attempt to make this ending theme seem grand, but... sometimes less is more.

And the dancing isn't that good either honestly. At the beginning, there's an awkward shot of the Cure's jumping, making it SEEM like it's gonna transition somewhere else... but then it's just them on that same runway dancing again. It's awkward. On top of that, it's just not as quirky as the first one in my opinion, and feels way more sophisticated, which may work for other teams... but this is Heartcatch we're talking about.

I will say though, what saves it is the backgrounds. BEAUTIFUL. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL.

Every shot is just glimmering with something in the background, and it's GOREGEOUS.

Even this last shot of the Cures turning into their super forms, sounds like a tribute to the first ending that makes it happy.

I just wish the song wasn't confusing and the dancing was as good as these elements.

As is...

B tier

Suite 1:

It's alright. I don't have a lot to say about this one other than the dancing and the music are completely in sync the whole time, and that's amazing. But I don't know, there's nothing that really stands out for me, okay song, okay dancing...

It's okay.

B tier

Suite 2:

Really underrated.

This one has much more Suite personality, and once again, the dancing and the music are in sync, which is incredible. And on top of that, I heavily prefer this dancing and this song. Yeah it's tamer and less grandiose than the first one, but I think that works beautifully, especially for Suite.  

I LOVE the way the sixth rangers transition into the dance, in sync with the dance itself. Ako is so adorable here, omg...

So I love the music, I love the dancing, I love these camera angles. I do have same nitpicks, like the background is a little too noisy, especially around the second half, and Hummy is just... no. That does not look right.

So that prevents me from giving this an S. But yeah, still a REALLY underrated ending.

A tier

Smile 1:

THIS ONE MAKES ME SO HAPPY!

Yeah, I love this one

This is absolutely perfect for Smile. It's beautifully colored without being noisy, the dancing is extremely great, and the facial expressions as well, it really looks like these girls are having fun. If they're happy, I can be happy too. I love my Smile girls here.

It's a bit hyperactive, especially with the song, but again, it's perfectly fitting for Smile. This one also goes to insane miles as well to make this memorable. Every ending has a different start with each Cure character that sheds their personality. Miyuki smirks at the camera, Akane gives a fist pump, Yayoi trips over herself (and then has a bruised nose afterwards, such great detail) Nao flips her hair, and Reika is calm beauty. And AGAIN do they shed personality with these panels. These bits of the respective Cure dancing on the side, is so simple, and yet so affective that this ending encourages multiple viewings just to see a lot of details, like the one I already mentioned.

And frankly, I LIKE the idea of the Cures dancing in a circle instead of in a triangle formation, as you're not drawing your full attention to the pink that way. It especially works for Smile, because this emphasizes that this is a story about the WHOLE team, not just one being special. That's small, but it's amazing.

And then the lighting at the end... WOW. BEAUTIFUL.

Even endings YEARS LATER don't top this lighting effect as well.

Yeah, I don't really have anything bad to say with this one, it's easily one of my favorites, it's fantastic, and it was my first ending I saw too, so there's admittedly some bias here. But still, this makes me happy.

S tier. EASILY.

Smile 2:

Admittedly, this one isn't AS good as the first one. But it's still amazing to me. Everything I loved about the first ending applies here, with these clipshows, the dancing, the bright colors that are extremely affective, and even the song, while more controlled than Yay times 3, is still very pleasant for the ears and makes me happy.

I guess my biggest gripe is with these clips of the Cures doing their finishers. I KNOW that they're all beams in the show, so it's accurate, but... I dunno, it just looks cheap with that sketched effect.

Is enough to move this down a tier??

Honestly...

No. It's still S tier for me.

Honestly, with the exception of one other season, Smile has the most consistently good endings out of the entire franchise.

DokiDoki 1:

Okay, you guys are gonna hate me for saying this, but I think this one is a TAD overrated.

Don't get me wrong, it has good dancing, definitely, and even a good song. The ending with the glitter affect on the outfits, beautiful.

But... I don't know, it just doesn't feel like DokiDoki to me. I am kinda disappointed that they didn't let Makoto's VA sing the song. And the backgrounds are... pretty, but also generic. It gets the job done, but there's nothing here that screams 'this is a card themed season'.

Also Rikka is a bad dancer. But I kinda think that was intentional.

So yeah, this one's overrated to me, but it IS still good for what it is. I just kinda wish it represented it's season better.

A tier

DokiDoki 2:

Another TOO MUCH ending.

What's with all these quick camera shots that don't even make sense half the time?

Why must you replicate Futari Wa and bring back the clips amongst the black screens?! That looks bad! That doesn't look right!

I will say it does feel more like DokiDoki than the first one did, but I do prefer the first ending by a landslide because this one is pretty much the ANTI first ending of DokiDoki. The Cures making hand notions of Love is cute, but other than that, these camera angles are just nauseating and it's hard to see what's going on. On top of that, the dancing isn't even that good. And the song isn't as memorable as the first one at all.

C tier

Happiness Charge 1:

Again, TOO MUCH.

It's not as bad as the DokiDoki one, but there are STILL so many camera angles that just feel awkward. And I can't even appreciate the small details because they're only there for a frame. And the dancing is just not good, more so because I can't understand what's going on half the time.

They also tried to copy smile with the idea of clipshows showing the Cures personalities, only here, they show the Cure's power ups... which is not nearly as interesting.

I will say the lighting at the end is fantastic, and the song is actually quite good. But other than that, is might be one of the most derivative endings the franchise has.

B tier

Happiness Charge 2:

This one is a mess.

Again, awkward camera angles and too much changes in such, where I can't even appreciate the dancing or the visuals. On top of that, it's not even as good as the last one. I also find it weird that they give Honey a moment to shine, but NOT Fortune. That's wierd.

And the song is just not that good to listen to, and again, I HATE the clips and the black screens accompanying them. They do not look good!

There's really not much for me to say here other than it's BAD.

D tier

Go Princess 1:

Why is there clipping here?!

Am I the only one seeing this?

Anyway, this ending is nothing special.

The song is whatever, the dancing has next to no choreography I find interesting, and the backgrounds are kind of plain.

And again, CLIPPING.

This was 2015! There is NO EXCUSE for this!

I will say I do like the backgrounds at the beginning with the Cure's elements, and the mode elegant being shown at the end is neat. Plus this ending does have a good singer.

But while that prevents it from being a D...

It's still C tier

And I love Go Princess!

Go Princess 2:

I'm gonna say it, this ending has THE BEST SINGER out of ALL THESE ENDINGS.

Like, oh my gosh, this singer is SO GOOD, I'm shivering.

It is a MASSIVE improvement of the first one BY A LONG SHOT.

Like... HOW did you go from this, to THIS?!

The visuals? FANTASTIC.

The facial expressions are AMAZING, to the point where I'm shocked they could pull this off. Towa smirks at the camera at one point. And I love it!

On top of that, the detail on the models is outstanding, with some GORGEOUS affects.

Yes they're dancing on a stage again, but that stage is designed in such a way where it FEELS like Go! Princess

And another thing?

This one also has multiple versions of it. Specifically with each Cure having a part where they basically sing about their character arcs, on top of BEAUTIFUL visuals to come out of it, it's wonderful to listen to, but on top of giving the song layers. And even without that, it's a great song, accompanied by a fantastic singer like I said before.

And I love Go Princess!

S tier

Mahou Tsukai 1:

I'm saying it right now, the second Go Princess ending, and this one... are in my opinion, THE BEST endings of Pretty Cure.

BUT while these are technically the best ones, subjectively, the Smile ones, and another one I'm gonna go over later, are my favorites.

So there you go, that's my top 5 for ya.

So anyway, this Mahou Tsukai ending. This one is near perfect.

Where do I even begin?

One, the song is catchy and beautiful to listen to. And it feels like something out of a dollhouse and kids playing inside. Which is EXACTLY what's happening here!

The backgrounds? GORGEOUS. HOW do you make so much little details in this house and the stage later on and have it NOT be NOISY AT ALL?! It's truly remarkable.

The dancing? MWAH. It's so filled with personality, and they finally learned how to animate dancing stuffed animals and have it not look awkward! The models? beautiful! They are so filled with personality, with the dresses and the hair, it's just outstanding! Mirai and Riko work so well together it's amazing.

I love how they transform the house into the stage to sync with each other's separate styles at the beginning, I love the dancing brooms, I love how they use brooms as guitars, I love Mofurun here like I said, I love...

Just about EVERYTHING.

I don't even know if my descriptions are doing justice on how good this ending is! Azenzone ranked these endings himself, and he basically says everything I can say about this ending, just way better.

S tier

And you know what the crazy thing is? This is NOT my favorite ending.

Mahou Tsukai 2:

This one actually is not too far behind from it's predecessor it's a little too noisy.

Don't get me wrong, the song is just as great. The visuals are beautiful. I love the idea of the changing daytime and the broom guitars coming back at the end. The lighting is gorgeous. But while the dancing is still great, it's not as great, and the amount of stuff going on does drown it out. We have changing times of day, we have rainbows and space, we have the brooms, we have Ha-Chan doing an awkward wave at the end (That's kinda cute) and we also have them in space...

Which I Think is actually made to foreshadow the end of the season, which is a neat idea... that in the ending's context doesn't make a whole lot of sense. In the first ending, they're clearly turning the dollhouse into the stage with their own magic. Here, the garden suddenly expands, which looks weird, and when it opens up, they're suddenly in space.

What?

But that said, it is still really cute and VERY Mahou Tsukai, and while the noisiness bumps it down, there's still a lot to like about this one.

A tier

KiraKira 1:

I don't even like KiraKira as a season! It's my least favorite season of the entire line up! I don't like this season! AND YET these endings are actually REALLY GOOD.

I just... HOW?!

First off, this one, it is extremally good, especially with the song giving a spunky feel to it that fits the season. I love that they dance with the whisks, the dancing is filled with personality.

I guess my only gripe is that Himari actively encourages kids to dance on the streets, and... well I guess other musicals do that as well, so that's fair. But still, THAT'S DANGEROUS.

And then I just wish the backgrounds reflected the Cure's personalities as much as the dancing does. As is, there really isn't.

But still, this is good for what it is.

A tier

KiraKira 2:

I LOVE this one.

Every nitpick I had with the first ending, is gone, and this one's strengths are cranked up to 10. The song is really catchy and memorable, I honestly listened to it a lot of times, it's just so funky and fun, and dare I say, sweet. It's perfect for this season.

Every Cure is doing their own individual dance to shed their personalities, and on top of that, we actually have backgrounds that reflect that and match it!

And what I said about the circle formation before? This might be my favorite interpretation of it, because the camera isn't spinning everywhere and making you dizzy. (So I get why not a lot of people enjoy that)

And... I don't know, this one does next to everything right and is just fun.

Wish I could say that about KiraKira as a season, but whatever.

S tier

Hugtto 1:

I remember OBSESSING over this ending when it first came out. Like, ARE THESE CURES RAPPING?!

So yes, this song is absolutely AMAZING for my ears to listen to-

And everything else about the ending is decent.

Yeah, I wish I could say I still obsess over this ending now, but not really.

I just don't think the visuals match with this off the wall energetic song. If it did, it would be easy S tier.

But it's not.

The dancing is just decent, with a few good moments here and there like Ange jumping in between Hana and Homare when they dance together.

Does anyone think that's visual representation of the ending of the season?

My headcannon, Homare is the father! I know that doesn't make sense, but that's the idea I live under on who Hana's husband is! At least Homare showed up for Hugtan's birth.

ANYWAY, yeah that's like the only good bit I can think of with this dancing, otherwise it's kinda stiff movement, as they're just posing for these visuals, which while good, don't really make a whole lot of sense. I think these are meant to represent the several career paths, but why is Homare, the ATHLETE of the group, in front of the arts and crafts stuff? That's weird. And on top of that, they're dancing in a dollhouse, where said dollhouse isn't nearly as interesting to look at as with Mahou Tsukai.

It also seems to kind of hate Homare for some reason, where they not only give her one of the most boring parts, but Yell and Ange keep shafting her from a lot of parts. That makes me sad, I like Homare.

So yeah, the song is FIRE and holds this up, but the visuals just don't compare

B tier

Hugtto 2:

MY EYES

MY EYES

THEY HURT

Okay, that's a bit harsh. The dancing actually isn't the problem here. The problem is the backgrounds. They are WAY TOO BRIGHT. And also nonsensical. It looks like they're supposed to be dancing in a phone, but... why? This isn't a tech themed season, so it makes no sense. All these swirls and backgrounds are distracting and don't add to anything. I will admit the singing is pretty decent, even if it's not as good as the last one, and the dancing itself is actually kinda good. But these backgrounds just KILL THIS for me. I can't look at this without getting some sort of seizure.

C tier

Star Twinkle 1:

This might be controversial, but I LIKE Star Twinkle's art style. I like these colorful stamp-like drawings for backgrounds, and even they're not being used, it's still beautiful. The song in this ending is also pretty good and catchy, just not very special for me. And the dancing is... whatever, it's just them bopping around with telescopes. Cute enough, but I kinda wish there was more to it than it's art style.

B tier

Star Twinkle 2:

This is an EXCELLENT blend of style and substance. Much more than the first ending.

I'm gonna get the problems I have with it out of the way: It favors Neko a little too much. I get sixth ranger, but other endings casually include them in the line up, and this one make it seem like Neko is the secondary star of the show. And this ending also barely uses Soleil and Selene aside from one bit, but I guess that's intentional, because these two contribute next to NOTHING to the plot of the season. And while the idea of the Cures in the background is cute, I gotta wonder why they hold numbers of all things, it's kinda weird. I think it's to symbolize the lyrics, but even then, that encourages ignoring basic logic.

But aside from those, this is actually very neat on it's own. It really feels like one of the more unique endings from it's style of artwork, so it's kind of hard to compare it to other endings. I actually don't hate the singing here, I think it captures the space themed song pretty well. And the lighting is actually not that bad for what it is.

The shot of Hikaru hugging the heart pillow, that's both adorable and full of personality.

And I didn't even realize they were spinning their fingers at the end on my first viewing, that's kinda neat.

Yeah, this is good

Just remember that 1+1 does not equal 2, and 2+2 equals FISH.

A tier

Healin Good 1:

Okay, so recently, my girlfriend has started watching this season, and she's really enjoying it so far. She thinks Rate's cute

And part of that has to do with this ending.

Like Healin Good as a season, I don't think it's as good objectively as others...

But this one feels far more special to me personally.

First off, the colors, beautiful. And unlike most endings, they actually INTERACT with the colors around them, from an energetic summer, to a mature fall, to a calm winter, to an awakening spring. And the dancing replicates the seasons in such a beautiful way. Yeah the dancing isn't as technically creative as Mahou Tsukai, but for what it is, it gets the job done excellently. Plus it's one of the prettiest endings to look at.

The camera spinning around like a clock and following the Cure's hands, THAT IS AMAZING.

Everything just feels like it was placed the way it was for a reason, and every Cure gets a chance to shine here.

But why do I love this ending the way I do?

You know where I'm going with this, the song.

It's not as grand as some of the others, but it doesn't need to be. As the song not only fits the season, is pleasant to listen to, and is memorable, but it also hits in the lyrics.

I can't think of any other song from an ending that hit me in the heart as much as this one, one that says 'yeah, things may be bad, but look at the world around you, it's beautiful. And no matter what, you are always worth something. You deserve a great life, and let our tambourines guide you to that.'

My girlfriend is also hospitalized like Nodoka, and when I showed her the season, she was in awe of this ending. And so was I, who also has some hard times in life. This ending, more than any, is not only a spectacle, but a message, that even in the hardest of times, the Pretty Cure will lead us to greatness.

I don't think it's as good as the Mahou Tsukai ending or the Go Princess ending, but this one speaks more to me than any other ending Pretty Cure has done.

For that, this is my favorite ending in the entire franchise.

How can I not give it S tier for that?

Healin Good 2:

This one on the other hand, is a MASSIVE DISAPOINTMENT.

This is SO nonsensical that it hurts.

Just like with the Hugtto one, we have seizure backgrounds that make zero sense, and even LESS sense here, with a NATURE themed season.

On top of that, the song is not even that catchy, and kind of annoying with the brass. I can't make sense of anything that's happening here on top of that, with the backgrounds, the dancing, or anything for that matter. The whole time, I'm just confused. Why are there bubbles? Why are we in a phone world? What is Asumi doing?

It just makes no sense, and the visuals are a clear downgrade from the last one that it hurts.

D tier

Tropical Rouge 1:

Okay, so I don't actually have a lot to say with the Tropical Rouge ones, they're just kinda whatever to me.

They're good, they fit the style of the show, and in this one I like the Laura sketches, and the running dancing is cute, but I take MASSIVE issue with the models in these. They look cheap. These look like pre-Fresh CGI. It does not work.

Also Minori's hair just... DISTRACTS me, I don't know what it is, but her hair is just TOO DARK of a shade of orange that it just doesn't look right with the rest of her dress. It's distracting.

But the dancing is fine, the music is fine, it's cute

B tier

Tropical Rouge 2:

Kinda the same thing as the last one. Dancing is fine, music is fine, but not memorable, Minori's hair is distracting, the models are a bit better here.

But the first half is actually pretty solid, with the bubbles and the different colors of the sea representing each Cure, BUT then they ditch that and just have the Cures dance on this boring stage the whole time.

Wasted potential, if you ask me.

B tier

Okay, so the tier list doesn't actually have Delicious Party, but I'm gonna include it anyway. Otherwise I'll get angry replies that read "Where's DP?! Why didn't you cover DP?!"

Delicious Party 1:

I actually like this one, it's very cute for what it is. The dancing is actually really fun to watch, and I like the visuals for the different foods and how they represent each Cure.

But why is the audience LITERAL FOOD?

Makes it look like the Cures are telling them to commit cannibalism.

A tier for that

And that's it.

There you go guys.