#Splash Star and Precure 5 are one of my childhood animes

[ssnowssakura01]

AM I SUPPOSED TO ONLY FINDING ABOUT NOW THAT SPLASH STAR AND PRECURE 5 ARE COMING BACK AS ADULTS?? LIKE THEY HAVE A JOB AND CAN DRINK LIQUOR??

[hapuriainen]

Hapuriainen's animation, comics & games (and other) of 2023

Got the wrap up almost sort of out on time this year!

Anime: Frieren (cour 1), Re:Zero (season 1) Futari wa Precure Splash Star, Yes! Precure 5, Yes! Precure 5 GoGo, Smile Precure!, Mahou Tsukai Precure!, Hirogaru Sky! Precure, Otona Precure, Zettai Bouei Leviathan, Petite Princess Yucie, Tokyo Mew Mew New s2, Magical Destroyers

Did I legit not watch any other non-magical girl anime than Frieren and Re:Zero? I'll have to try harder this year. Overall 2023 was a very Precure year and I'm done with almost all of the seasons, only 3 left. But Frieren has been amazing, it looks so beautiful (and is certainly an improvement from the manga on this front), the music is great and of course I already liked the story. Re:Zero was compelling enough that I might watch the second season even if the isekai aspect really isn't for me. Emilia best girl.

As for Precure, usually I manage to watch one backlog season in addition to the airing one, but this time I surprised myself and did five. Which may not have been smart since it was kind of a chore at some points, but I wanted to prepare for the Otona sequel (which turned out to be a disappointment). The 2023 season Hirogaru was one of the better ones thanks to the excellent heroine.

Manga: Are You Alice, Saint Tail, Stellar Witch LIPS, Zelda manga (Oracle of Ages/Seasons, Ocarina of Time, Four Swords)

On the manga front there wasn't much of note, the ongoing series from previous years (OP, MHA, Undead Unluck, Spy x Family, Frieren, Witch Hat Atelier…) continue and I don't have a lot to say about them, except that my interest in One Piece is still very low even if we finally got out of Wano.

I did manage to finish Are You Alice after it being on hold for years, so that's something at least. It has absolutely lovely art and I like the concept, but it did get kind of complicated at times. And I wish we had seen more Alices.

Movies: Super Mario movie, Puss in Boots 2, The Bad Guys, Strange World, the Boy and the Heron, Barbie, various Precure movies

Barbie enters the scene as one of the few live action anything and it was great. The message didn't really speak to me personally but it has an amazing aesthetic, fun story and something to say. And like everyone else has already said, I agree that Puss in Boots 2 was great on all fronts and The Bad Guys was a lot of fun too.

Comics & novels: W.i.t.c.h. reboot, Null Magical Girl, Smile Precure! novel, Magia Record scene 0

The W.i.t.c.h. reboot came out of nowhere and landed with a thud, I was willing to give it a chance but the story just wasn't that interesting. Not sure how I would rate it if it didn't have the comparison against a childhood favourite.

Games: Zelda 1, Zelda Oracle of Ages & Seasons, Ocarina of Time, Tears of the Kingdom, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, Pokemon Arceus (or half of it), Usagi Shima

From the anime side 2023 was a very Precure year, but on the game side it was an extremely Zelda year. Or it started as a Pokemon year with Brilliant Diamond, which was not enjoyable, and continued with Arceus, which has been the best Pokemon game I've played. Haven't cleared it yet though since I got this sudden need to play Zelda, and I didn't want to rush it. But I'm looking forward to finishing it.

On the Zelda front Tears of the Kingdom was just as great as I hoped, and it effectively monopolised my summer. But as much as I like botw Link, I'm ready for a new Hyrule. As for the older loz games, the OG game was too retro for me, but I really liked Oracle of Ages. Seasons had fun gameplay but the story was very nothing.

Then there was Usagi Shima which was cute for about 2 weeks but once I completed the bun book there wasn't really anything left to do. But it was fun for what it is.

Best work: Tears of the Kingdom

Best music: Frieren (A Powerful Mage)

Best visuals: Barbie looked amazing, especially for a live-action movie. Frieren on the anime side. As for manga, Are You Alice

Best character design: Cure Sky

Best OP: Hirogaru Sky Precure for the song, Frieren for visuals

Best ED: Frieren also

Biggest WTF: the sequel to a goddamn Shrek spin-off being so much better than it had any business being. Also the entirety of Null Magical Girl.

Best Girl: Frieren

Best Boy: Botw Link again I guess, I spend a lot of time thinking about him

Best Side Girl: I dunno, Ha-chan (Mahou Tsukai Precure)? She is just so cute.

Best Side Boy: Rauru (the goat one not the owl guy), he got a compelling story that lets us see him displaying many different emotions and he has such a pleasant voice. I'm not a furry but…

Worst Girl: Nozomi (Yes! Precure 5 & GoGo, she was ok in Otona though)

Worst Boy: I don't think there's enough works with a notable male main character this year and I don't remember hating any of them. I guess I didn't particularly like Subaru (re:Zero) but he wasn't like, the worst.

Worst Side Girl: Ellee-chan (Hirogaru Sky! Precure), baby characters just really don't work for me

Worst Side Boy: I don't really like the friendly rivals in Pokemon, so Barry.

Best romance: I continue to ship Link and Zelda (botw/totk)

Best non-romantic relationship: The fact that botw Link isn't alone any more and has friends who are happy to see him and fight with him

Worst romance: Main girl x main guy from Stellar Witch Lips, they barely had any scenes together

Worst non-romantic relationship: the group dynamics in the W.i.t.c.h. reboot didn't work nearly as well as in the original.

Plans for 2024:

Tiger & Bunny and Spy x Family part 2

Wonderful Precure!

Starting three backlog Precure I haven't seen yet with Heartcatch

Maybe it'll be Evangelion's year this time?

Ghost Trick is currently downloading on my Switch since it was on sale

More Zelda in general

Case Study of Vanitas started getting published here so I'll probably catch up on that

[ssnowssakura01]

AM I SUPPOSED TO ONLY FINDING ABOUT NOW THAT SPLASH STAR AND PRECURE 5 ARE COMING BACK AS ADULTS?? LIKE THEY HAVE A JOB AND CAN DRINK LIQUOR??