#With how Toei can use color while animating

[dna-d2]

So I just realized something that’s total bullshit with the post-timeskip character designs in One Piece.

Everyone’s pissed about how everyone got like ten shades lighter, so Toei or whoever goes “Oh well the dark-skinned thing was just a design error that we couldn’t just stop for no reason, so we waited until timeskip to properly fix it”

But I realized that that is BULLSHIT

And that’s because of ROBIN

So pre-timeskip Robin looks like this, right?

She has the kinda darker skin and blue eyes

While post-timeskip Robin looks like this

Still with the blue eyes but now the way lighter skin, like everyone else

Like I said before, this is because APPARENTLY, back in the day, the anime’s designers didn’t know the official color scheme for Robin back when she first appeared, so they made her look the way she did. Apparently that sorta thing just happened a lot. (Like with Vegeta in that one filler episode of DBZ) So they made her lighter skinned with the intention to “fix” their mistake, along with a few other characters, to properly match the manga

Except it still doesn’t match the manga

In the manga, Robin’s eyes

Are brown

Maybe her skin is a little lighter, but she still doesn’t have blue eyes, which Toei deliberately kept for Robin’s post-timeskip design

And there’s even at least one movie where they also use Robin’s original color scheme, Strong World

Where they keep her brown eyes and not QUITE Caucasian skin tone. It’s definitely still lighter, but it doesn’t seem quite as light as post-timeskip

In conclusion, while I can’t say for sure what the motivation was behind this, I can certainly think it pretty loudly, and I think that it WASN’T just to fix their “animation design errors”

So TL;DR is that Toei really just wanted to make a bunch of the characters lighter skinned for WHATEVER reason and tried to use “manga accuracy” as an excuse and that excuse is bullshit

[retrosofa]

The biggest influences on No More Mermaids in no particular order.

MW: This was probably the first gay comic I ever read. I discovered it while I was in college, dealing with internalized homophobia, being a virgin and slowly figuring things out. As terrible as they are, I really did adore Garai and Michio. They're absolutely horrible people but wow, are they entertaining characters. I especially loved how Tezuka depicted sex scenes, which was the biggest influence on No More Mermaids.

Mahou no Mako-chan: What can I say? I'm a sucker for the old school melodramatic shoujo narrative. It was one of Toei's earlier full color series and you can tell they were having a ball with it. There's a lot of beautiful imagery and interesting animation techniques used throughout that definitely influenced my paneling. Go Nagai's Devilman was a big influence on me of course, but I think I wrote chapters more-so like an episode of Mako-chan. I guess because I always felt like my life was a melodrama.

The Works of Yoshihiro Tatsumi: Namely the three books that Vertical put out. I read these in high school and I was absolutely blown away. I remember reading these and thinking "this is what I've wanted in a comic." I like that Tatsumi didn't use a lot of screen tones. His writing was gritty and extremely raw, which really captivated my interest. I think my favorite comics were Occupied, Make-up, and Woman in the Mirror. The way he depicted queer characters fascinated me because they weren't the butt of jokes or stereotypical. Definitely check his work out.

Fun Home: I didn't read this until after I started No More Mermaids. A friend recommended it to me but I was afraid it was going to influence me a little too much. I think I read it after I completed the fourth or fifth chapter. Reading this made me feel like I could be more open with my writing. I need to get around to reading the follow up.

[ecargmura]

Wonderful Precure Episode 30 Review - Working Together As A Team

After watching the events that transpired in this episode, the more I come to the conclusion that Satoru and Daifuku are not going to be Precures. While I do think it’s a wasted opportunity, I do get why Toei is not going to include him as one. Regardless, even if I say this, I still do hope that I am proven wrong. I like surprises.

The Precures mope about the events of last episode and I’m amazed about the character development I’m seeing. Komugi in the beginning would only care about Iroha but now, she’s cheering up Iroha because she wants her to be friends with Gaou’s gang and knows that she can do it. Her words feel less selfish and more selfless now. Yuki got a lot of development too. Remember how toxic she was when she was trying to forbid Mayu from befriending the dog duo and was restricting her from doing this and that? Yuki has changed a lot since then. While she does mention Mayu’s timidity, she doesn’t call her weak like before. She’s the one who suggested that the Precures should do a group transformation despite not liking cooperation before. Damn, Yuki’s done a lot of growing since the early episodes. Mayu grew from being awkward around people to being upset for Iroha. Heck, Mey Mey of all characters got character development too. Everything he usually does is for Niko, but he even talked back and even told her no to taking away the Precures’ powers because he believed in them. Mey Mey may be a stickler for rules at times, but he always believed in the Precures. Heck, it’s thanks to him that Niko was able to give them a power-up! While Iroha didn’t get profound development yet, I think that this part of the story will be that growth for her and for Satoru.

I was surprised to see what sort of character Niko is. She feels like a morally gray character. She isn’t hesitant on taking away the Precures’ powers if she finds them unreliable. Fortunately, this is a Precure show, so she does warm up to them. I was surprised that the Mirror Stone is actually a part of her and that it’s actually a Niko Diamond or something. There is also foreshadowing that she has a true form which could be humanoid or just a huge unicorn version of herself. I do want to know more about Niko as she has a lot of personality but has a lot of mystery. The last part of the episode was hilarious with how Niko just decides to crash Iroha’s place and her parents are gushing over how cute she is.

The new group attack was pretty cool with how they all get a power-up version of their outfits. It was nice seeing that they get feathery outfits. I wonder if it’s to represent that they’re angels in a way. Given that the Diamond Castle gives the girls ribbons of their respective colors, this was how I came to the conclusion that Satoru and Daifuku aren’t going to be Precures. Other than the group attack, I also love that they use four Kirarin animals! I hope they keep doing this in later episodes!

The Gaou gang was hilarious with how Torame and Zakuro squabble like siblings. I do wonder what sort of relationship these three have as Zakuro is madly in love with Gaou to the point of fantasizing while Torame respects him. I’d love to see these three interact because I don’t want them to be one-note villains.

Anyways, I really liked this episode and can’t wait to see how future episodes will be like with GaoGaons. Next week’s preview seems interesting as Mayu’s friend from middle school might make an appearance. What are your thoughts on this episode?

[ironvandyne]

WASP REDESIGN ‘23 💛

So once again, I decided to refresh Janet’s design just like last year but decided to go more drastic. One, her hairstyle is no longer similar to her EMH counterpart as I began to distance myself from the canon even more and wanting to change it up a little. It can be reminiscent to the bob she once had in the comics (which I am hoping that makes a return someday, same with her fashion career that has been obscured for far too long!)

Her suit design is based on Avengers (1998) issue 41 and 44, bits of her EMH design and a smidge of her design for Disk Wars (y’know that one Marvel anime that they made with Toei, need to watch that) Her wings are blue, which is something I asked my followers and mutuals on Twitter (no wait, X) on what color Jan’s wings should be. 71% asked for blue and there for it shall be. I also decided to use a honeycomb brush for the wings texture (and also the suit as well) which made it looked better. The wings were based on the megascolia procer or giant socliid wasp, which is one the largest wasps of the world.

Fun fact, a wasp actually has four wings than two, which I just found out while typing this whole post lmao.

And the style of the art was actually based on one of the 6th anniversary cards from Bandori (specifically Mashiro Kurata’s card) as it resonated with my vision on how the art was going to look.

Now you’d thought this post would be over when I am also sharing my initial sketch for Janet’s redesign I did earlier this month. Nothing much changed from it besides the earrings, wings and the boots. But overall, I’ve been wanting to do this since late June but I haven’t got the chance to do it until now.

Another sketch is her and Carol, donning her new costume from her upcoming October run which I am really excited to see! (<- has never read a carol danvers comic ever) I loved her in EMH S2 and I have begun to like her 616 counterpart as well, she is so cool. And I think Caroljan is cool as well.

[star-stream]

Bakuage 12: dorudoru!

I truly cant get enough of these guys. I really enjoy how aloof they are most of the time before they remember they should be terrorizing people. I also love how often they change locations to hang out in, i hope they get a permanent base though i almost feel bad for them

Ive only watched one episode of Go-Onger before but it was still an enjoyable episode. Speedor was so cute, i truly enjoy the puppetry that simply involves jostling a little toy slightly in your hand. Its always so cute... Also the stickers for the eyes to convey expression, augh so cute!!!! Its like that meme of the cat getting mad eyebrows.

His hair is so red!!! Shockingly red!!! As i said ive only watched one episode of Go-Onger but he definitely didnt have hair this red! It was shocking but its so good too, it really fits him. I read on the production blog that he just suddenly showed up to set with his hair like this and the director just gave up...

Actually after watching the episode i looked up Furuhara and it seems playing Sosuke in Go-Onger completely changed the trajectory of his life forever and i think he kins him for real and not jokes... Which is great for ad-libs, which he did a lot in this episode apparently! Live your truth king.

After watching Jou-kun stuff his cheeks (and pockets) with all sorts of sweets like a squirrel it was refreshing to remember he is a very nice police officer who can be serious about his job like this. It was really good, he has many strong points! Im looking forward to the next Jou-centric episode.

Back to the topic of puppetry, but the Kurumaju using its hand to move the mouth to flap it while speaking was really fun, it seems like a lot of work!

The action in this episode was really good!! I love that were still learning more and more about everyone's individual fighting styles. Bunorange hooking his leg on the Nejiretta here was really good, hes a very leg focused fighter, which i really enjoy.

The sharpshooter Bunblue did some incredible tricks with his weapon too!! So flashy!! Youre so bakuage inside Chasshiro!!! The Pink and Red joint action was really fun too, i love to see heroes playing off each other during fights, and Mira really excels at it!!

I love everyones different reactions to getting stuck. BunBlue just started blasting... I really liked that Red just looked around perplexed at everyone else too. I love characterization coming out in moments like this.

First Mad Rex gets the name wrong and now Sosuke... Im sorry Bunred... I just always say Bun(color) instead of Boon (Color) because thats what shows up in the role call, is that wrong too?

Though im not familiar with Go-Onger it was exciting!! I love older heroes showing up to help the new heroes, its always a good development. And also the special Go-On Handling Drive was extremely Bakuage!!!!!!!!!!

I love that the Sanseaters are so used to Yarucar getting chucked that theyre fully prepared to catch him now. You care so much about eachother!! I simply cant hate you guys!!!

Two robos!!! How exciting. I saw on the production blog that the original Engine-O is no longer in TOEI (probably because it was borrowed by Disney for Power Rangers RPMs Zord) so they used CGI to animate Engine-O and Boonboomger Robo. It looked really good! It was a very exciting fight

I like that Taiya was able to gain something from this meeting too!! His buddy... :) His friendship with Bun-chan is so special to me.

A really great episode!!!

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 051

This episode suu-uuu-uuuu-cks...

So Goku Black destroyed Trunks time machine, but fortunately, there was a spare: the one Cell hijacked from his own alternate future.  That takes some explaining, so we get a flashback to the events of DBZ Episode 140.  The weird thing is that some of this footage is brand new.

And yet, some of it is from the original scenes in DBZ.  I don’t understand the purpose of that.  It’s not like Dragon Ball Super was ever shy about using footage from DBZ before. 

Also, this flashback is conspicuously in sepia tone.  Usually they just kind of tweak the colors to indicate that it’s a flashback.  I’m wondering if they did this to gloss over the fact that Future Trunks had lavender hair in Z, but now he has blue hair in Super. 

I’m pretty sure I remember some full-color flashbacks of Future Trunks in this arc, so I’m curious to see if those are still in this DVD set I bought, or if Toei edited the flashbacks to hide the lavender truth.  I mean, we already know they tinkered with some of the crappier animation. 

The thing is, it’s all pointless, because we have Kid Trunks in every episode of this thing, standing right next to Future Trunks, and everyone points out how alike they are, except no one mentions that they have different color hair.  I don’t understand this. 

Guess what happens in this episode?  Jack and shit, and Jack just left town.   Dr. Brief and his wife return from a trip, and that’s the biggest highlight of this episode.  It has nothing to do with anything, but it’s nice to see Bulma’s mom actually get speaking lines.  

While explaining the whole story of the second time machine, Piccolo asks why Bulma still has it, and she actually goes onto explain how she asked Trunks for the spare so she could examine it before he went back to the future in DBZ #193.  Did we really need this explained to this level of detail?   No, but this episode is desperate to pad for time, so that’s what we get.

Also, everyone keeps talking about how the spare time machine needs to be cleaned up before Bulma can repair it, but they just keep talking about it instead of actually doing it.  The episode ends with them getting ready to start cleaning it.  Not that I want to see an episode where they scrub the moss off a time machine, but the only thing worse than that is an episode where they talk about getting ready to scrub the moss of a time machine.

Back in the doomed timeline, Goku Black just sort of floats around and talks about how useful his fight with Goku was.  Seeing the real Goku in action helps him understand how to better utilize his body.  He wants to study Goku’s powers more, so he can get even more powerful.  Uh... why?  You already wiped out nearly all life on Earth.  How much more powerful do you need to be?  Who’s left?  Mai’s cat?  Yajirobe? 

Oh, and Trunks finally notices that the girl with Emperor Pilaf is the younger counterpart of the Mai he knew in his own world.  He takes her hands in his, and gets all sentimental, but it’s all meaningless.  Mai asks what she’s like in the future, and Trunks has this extended flashback of how Mai led the resistance, and they tried to trap Goku Black by dropping several collapsing buildings on him, but it didn’t work, so she had to save Trunks with a flash grenade. 

I mean, they really, really want the audience to buy into this cool post-apocalyptic resistance militia, but it just doesn’t make any sense.  Goku Black can defeat Trunks at will, and yet we’re supposed to believe a bunch of guys with shotguns can make any difference.

Also, the relationship between both sets of Trunskes and Maiseses is so poorly defined that it’s pointless to compare them.  The future versions are just very good friends.  Trunks is telling everyone what she was like, and as far as he’s concerned he may never see her again.  He thinks she’s dead, and he still can’t bring himself to say anything like “I loved her so much.”   Or “she was the only one who really understood me.”  Or “I never got the chance to tell her how much I cared for her.” 

Likewise, the child versions of Trunks and Mai seem to have no relationship at all.  Trunks seems to be sweet on her, but he’s too shy to say anything, and Mai seems oblivious to his feelings. 

Like they want this to be all profound or something, but it’s not.  These aren’t even the same characters at different points in their lives.  These are alternate universes, essentially.  Whis and Beerus can piss and moan about time travel, but at this point the two worlds are separate from one another.  One just happens to be seventeen years ahead of the other.  So it’s not like the adult Trumai is the culimation of anything that would happen to the kid Trumai.  It’s just a coincidence that in both worlds they have zero romantic connection. 

I mean, this whole business is further complicated by the fact that Kid Mai isn’t actually a child.  She’s the same Mai who was an adult in the first arc of Dragon Ball.  According to the Battle of Gods movie, she, Pilaf, and Shu were turned into children when they made a wish on the Dragon Balls, although this is never mentioned in Dragon Ball Super.  However, Bulma does make a remark in this episode about how they sometimes seem older than they actually are, and they panic, like their secret has been exposed.  So I think it’s safe to assume DBS is following the same backstory for the Pilaf Gang. Mai is a middle-aged woman in the body of a child.  This has made the Trunks/Mai ship a contentious issue in the fandom ever since. 

But I have a hard time getting worked up about it, because even though Dragon Ball Super keeps shoving it down our throats, there really isn’t anything to it.  Any romance between Trunks and Mai is only implied.   There’s no chemistry, no declaration of love, no nothing.

So yeah, that’s all I got.  Oh, and Goku goes to train while Bulma prepares the Time Machine for launch, but Whis and King Kai refuse to train him for this mission, so he’s kind of SOL.  That’s how weak this episode is.  They can’t even be bothered to show a clip of Goku training.  Fuck this...

[maybeamiles]

To add onto this, here's the full-color spread of the straw hats for chapters 999-1000. There's an argument that this whitewashing is done to be more accurate to the manga, and I would like to propose that this too is bullshit.

First of all, Oda appears to use the same technique whenever he colors skintones, something easily seen if you compare Zoro, Franky, and Sanji here.

They all have a white highlight, a few layers of skintone foe shading, and then a shadow layer and some purple for realism. Comparing colors won't do us any good here, because this shading style doesn't have a distinct midtone like the anime does, and depending on how closely you pick your colors the texturing of the markers leaves some spots darker than others.

The biggest differences in skintone come from how many layers of skintone color oda applies. Robin, Luffy, and Ussop all have fewer highlights than Zoro, Franky, and Sanji, while Nami has fewer shadows than anyone in the crew.

Yes, all the straw hats are pale, but you know who isn't?

Blackbeard. It doesn't take a genius to see that he has a MUCH darker skintone than anyone else in the show. And in Oda's official art?

Same skin tone as everyone else. Now if Toei actually cared about manga accuracy, why make everyone pale except blackbeard? For that matter, why make Robin one of the palest straw hats when, if we look at the *miniscule* differences in coloring, she's supposed to look like Ussop or Luffy?

One piece has two problems when it comes to depicting characters of different races (three if you count the poor design decisions for Ussop and Blackbeard). The first is that Oda either cannot or refuses to draw more than one skin tone. The second is that Toei saw this, decided to take their own artistic liberties in the beginning, then backtracked (for some reason) during the timeskip and has continued backtracking ever since.

Oda can ABSOLUTELY be better than this. One Piece can be better than this. It HAS been better than this. The limited skintones we had in the early days of the show aren't great, but they're loads better than what we have now. I love One Piece. I will still watch the show and read the manga. But as a fellow artist, if Oda and Toei are trying to depict a world where men can be made of rubber and reindeers can talk and fish-people swim in the sea then it is their failure as storytellers and artists if they refuse to depict different colors of humans, and we as a fandom need to acknowledge it as such instead of sweeping it under the rug like we so often do.

made a chart of the straw hats' skin tones with the colors being screencapped directly from the episodes, to show how much they've lightened. this is more than just an "artstyle change" or "design evolution" or "just the timeskip" this is blatant racism/colorism. it's fucking ridiculous and i don't understand how toei is continuously getting away with it please reblog btw, i think this is something people should see

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (October 9-15, 2022)

Supreme shock sensation of our times: a Godzilla comic released on schedule! Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - All Hail the King! #1 dropped on Wednesday. I'll confess I forgot about it for a couple of days; your priorities get scrambled when you're recovering from knee surgery. This is a direct sequel to last year's Monsters & Protectors; I don't recommend going in blind. Two big reasons to pick it up: Gabara's debut in American comics (in a dream, natch) and a professional Xilien troll who muses over which reaction .gif he should deploy. Yeah, me too.

Toho released a teaser and this very cool still for the upcoming short Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan's Attack, showing off the Showa Gigan replica suit Shinichi Wakasa built. It's strange to see it opposite FinalGoji (presumably the same stunt suit from last year's Godzilla vs. Hedorah short). I guess it's just his destiny to face Godzilla suits that are barely holding themselves together.

I cannot hope to comprehensively cover the deluge of Godzilla merchandise forever threatening my bank account in this column, but I would like to spotlight this enamel Baragon pin, designed by Christian Gonzalez for Ghost X Ghost. When I saw it my hands simply moved to order of their own volition.

The Dino De Laurentiis King Kong films are getting format upgrades. StudioCanal has a 4K restoration of the 1976 remake slated for November 28, while Umbrella Entertainment is bringing King Kong Lives, long out of print in the States, to Blu-ray on January 18. Neither company is American, but 4Ks don't have region codes and I hear Umbrella Blu-rays are typically region-free.

Probably neither will be a buy for me. The color grading on the 4K King Kong doesn't look great, and the special features don't measure up to the Blu-ray Shout! released last year. I will grant that the King Kong Lives Blu looks like a winner, with great packaging and new special features including a Ray Morton audio commentary. (They had to be new; the old DVD didn't have a thing to mine.) But it's not exactly one of my favorites, and since Shout! recently picked up the rights to it, I'd rather hold out for a version I don't have to import.

Just over a year after it premiered at Fantastic Fest, Iké Boys is out on digital courtesy of (they just keep coming up) Shout! Factory. Hopefully a physical release will follow, because this heartfelt American tribute to tokusatsu doesn't deserve to be buried in the Google Play Store. Set in the last month of 1999, it concerns a pair of Oklahoma tokusatsu geeks and a Japanese exchange student trying to prevent the apocalypse, empowered by the obscure 1969 anime film that predicted it. It's very low-budget and hits a lot of predictable coming-of-age beats, but it's got a good heart and Yumiko Shaku (yes, Akane in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla) classes it up. Also... it's not often I'm pandered to so directly. The director's one of us, to put it mildly.

Big thing are happening on the bootleg circuit... a couple of them last week, but I never posted about them on Tumblr and this is the first installment of this column. Yesterday, Skeweds Translations posted fansubs for What to Do with the Dead Kaiju?, Toei and Shochiku's kaiju comedy with no U.S. release outside of film festivals in sight. The film is catastrophically bad, I'm sorry to say, failing as a satire and as a genre exercise; Day of the Kaiju handled the same premise far better in a quarter of the time. But if you're so inclined, you can find a copy of the movie itself on the cat site... along with a higher-quality copy of Shin Ultraman than was uploaded there previously. I don't know where these things are coming from (Zarab?), but I'm not complaining.

And in the how-can-this-be-real category, a treat for your ears: the recently unearthed Hong Kong dub of Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen. As in Godzilla vs. Megalon, Ted Thomas, Chris Hilton, and Warren Rooke voice many of the characters. You won't believe the words coming out of their mouths—I don't think they did either. Between the child murder, checkmated atheist, and Hanuman's unquenchable thirst for carnage, this was always one of the kaiju movies with the most jaw drops per minute, and it just got better. A VHS containing the dub turned up in Lebanon; @Redcome40977685, @PrissMegaforce, Omayyad, and Elie Al Hajj got it digitized and @spacehunter-m synced the audio up to a fine-looking widescreen version.

[miho-and-hanasaki-for-duel-links]

This video is not about Yugioh, but this is part of why it stresses me out so much to think about the long-term survival of Season Zero.

The currently-available-online footage is so bad. Severe generation loss, seizure-inducing color flickering in some episodes, hardcoded subs. 

I’m genuinely curious about the 1998 team’s plans for how they would’ve adapted the series. I look at changes other anime from the same decade made to their source material - and I like a lot of them! Even the changes I hate are interesting to analyze, in a way that makes me glad I can observe them.

And Season Zero is a genuinely fascinating artifact in the history of the Yugioh franchise. You can see how it tries its best to make the series’ sudden change in genre smoother, in the context of it being released while the manga was already in Duelist Kingdom. I’m curious how they would have handled Duelist Kingdom.

I don’t think Toei will ever legally re-release Yugioh 1998. I think they don’t see it as useful to their brand identity as a company.

I don’t think Konami or Shounen Jump are interested in re-releasing it, either. It’s not useful to the Yugioh franchise’s current brand identity.

So that’s why... I wish anyone who has the source material on hand would do something about it.

I’m just begging that someone who has VHSes scans them. I’m begging that *someone* has the original for-television film reels. I’m begging that someone gets them uploaded in as high of a digital quality as possible before the physical media they’re trapped on rot into nothing.

[melodyalanaroster]

Miracle Romance

"Oh my god." Alana gasped with tears in her eyes. She stood in front of a large mirror and stared at herself. "I finally look like Serenity." She smiled as she left the dressing room and showed herself to Nathaniel. "You look amazing." Nathaniel smiled. Alana began to cry. “For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be like her... And now, even for a few moments... I can be her.” Tears made their way down her face as she smiled. "I guess I have to break your one rule." Nathaniel smiled. "You are not dying your hair black." Alana remarked. "I could wear a wig." Nathaniel replied. “But Nath... We talked about this...” Alana began. "I am not letting anyone else be your Endymion." Nathaniel interjected.

★

Throughout Alana's life, she had made it very clear that Sailor Moon had been a staple to her. It was a staple in the Roster family. By the time Alana reached the point of living in the Black Tower, at least four generations of the family enjoyed it. Including both primary sets of sisters, Margaret and little Ravenna.

She would play pretend with Viktor, Severina and Sam when they were children. She would always be Sailor Moon and Princess Serenity, Viktor was Tuxedo Mask and Prince Endymion, Severina was Sailor Venus and Sam was always Sailor Jupiter. The tree house in Alana's backyard was often the Moon Kingdom and they would frequently save the world. The adventures would always end with the power of love winning and the kids going into the house for a snack.

As the kids reached adolescence, they were forced to stop playing. But, their love of the anime was still prevalent. Alana always kept up with merchandise news and rumors about the release of a second anime. Lynne had made sure that Alana and Sam had their own copies of the manga, original anime and movies. Viktor happily talked about being Endymion to Alana’s Serenity until they were forced to break up. They wanted to continue the fantasy, but circumstance parted them. Severina was always happy to talk to everyone, and toss out ideas for a proper cosplay group, but Sam dampened the idea with the reminder that, as long as Viktor’s and Severina’s fathers remained in control of their lives, they’d never be allowed to do so.

When Lynne moved Alana and Sam to Amouria, things began to change. "She won't shut up about that Nathaniel guy." Viktor growled as he sat down next to Severina. “Viktor, you knew from the day one that you and Mels weren't allowed to be together. She has to find her Endymion." Severina sighed. “But seriously? aunt Lynne moves her and Sam to Amouria and they both immediately find guys they like?” Viktor complained. “You know Mels talks about other guys too. Right now, it could be Castiel, Lysander, Armin or Nathaniel.” Severina tried to make things sound better. “No, it's definitely Nathaniel. She barely mentions the others to me. Mostly about Armin playing games, Castiel being an ass, and Lysander losing his notebook. But she dotes on Nathaniel a lot.” Viktor retorted. Severina sighed. "Viktor... Do you remember what happened to Adonis and Beryl? Their envy got the best of them, they became evil and they died. Please keep a clear head.” She reasoned. "I am not like Adonis and Beryl." Viktor shot. “Viktor, I can't believe I have to be the voice of reason here. Both of our moms made it very clear that aunt Lynne, Mels and Sam have more freedom than we do. They're not blue bloods. They have to find their miracle elsewhere... Although, you and I will probably end up being paired together in an arranged marriage set up by our fathers.” She explained. Viktor thought for a couple of minutes and sighed. "I just thought..." 

The first time Nathaniel ever went into Alana's room, he instantly noticed her Sailor Moon dolls. "They're really hard to find these days... And Sailor Moon means a lot to me..." She said as she explained what the show meant to her. “It's a connection to my past, my closest friends, and my family.” She smiled. Nathaniel looked puzzled for a bit, then smiled. "That's really sweet.". He smiled. He noticed a picture of her, Sam, Severina and Viktor on a shelf and picked it up. “You all look like you’re having so much fun.” He mused. “Yeah... That’s the only time we’ve ever been able to dress up.” Alana sighed, wistfully. The kids were in makeshift Sailor Scout uniforms. Their hair wasn’t perfect, and Viktor’s tux didn’t fit right, but they didn’t care. The photo had been taken a few weeks before Cosima Chevalier’s death, and was one of the last happy memories they had as a group. “Its cute.” Nathaniel chuckled as he looked at her lovingly.

When her mother went into the hospital, Nate arranged it to where Alana and Lynne could sit and watch whatever they wanted in the room. Lynne suggested marathoning Sailor Moon. The days in the hospital weren't as bad when they watched the show and Lynne stayed stable, but there were days where not even fighting evil by moonlight could save the day. But, that didn't keep them from trying. It didn't take them long to get through all five seasons and three movies of the original anime. “I heard they're making a second anime that's supposed to be closer to the manga!” Alana attempted to be cheery. She was sure that she, Severina and Sam had told her about Crystal, but she really couldn’t think of anything positive to say.  “That's lovely! Do you know when it's set to come out?” Lynne asked. “I have no idea. I'm sure Toei will update us when they can!” Alana replied. “I hope its soon.” Lynne smiled. Suddenly, Lynne began coughing and her monitors started to go off. “NURSE! HELP!” Alana cried.

Even when Sam and Alana fought so badly that the Military and RDR felt it was necessary to create a treaty between the two organizations to prevent the sisters from ever being enemies again, it was actually their love of Sailor Moon that truly began to bring them together again. Severina had gotten wind of the fight and forced the girls to go to her house. “OW! RINI! YOU'RE HURTING MY EAR!” Alana whined. “Seriously! What the hell?” Sam whined. “I don't care if I'm hurting you two! This kind of fighting is unacceptable! You two are sisters and you know that this behavior will tear the family apart! I won't allow that!" Severina began to cry as she lead the sisters to her home theater. "What's all this?" Alana asked. "You've forced my hand, so I'm pulling out the big guns!" Severina cried as she grabbed a remote and turned on the screen. Sam and Alana looked at the menu then at each other. "Go figure." Sam grinned. "Of course." Alana grinned. The menu on the screen was the DVD menu to Sailor Moon R: The Promise Of The Rose. By the time the song “The Power Of Love” was playing, tears were streaming down the sisters' faces. "Mels." Sam began to choke. "Sam." Alana's voice wavered. They looked at each other, sadness and regret in their eyes. “Mels... I’m s-so s-sorry f-for what I-I said..” Sam sniffled. “I’m s-sorry t-too S-Sami...” Alana blubbered as she hugged Sam. “I love you.” Sam muttered as she held onto her sister. “I love you too.” Alana murmured. 

When Death’s Domain was getting set up, Alana dedicated a whole room to the series. “You’re seriously going to have an entire room dedicated to Sailor Moon?” Derek had asked. “Yes. Its going to have shelves for merch, posters, and a couch to relax on.” Alana mused. “Melody can have whatever she wants for her apartment. And, if it helps her destress, I most definitely approve.” The  Red Death announced. “Well, the majority of my collection will be in there. There’s going to be something Sailor Moon related in every room.” Alana smiled. “Of course there will be.” Derek facepalmed. “I’m not apologizing. I love Sailor Moon and I wanna showcase it in my home.” Alana laughed. “And I’m sure you’re going to do nothing but post about your collection for a while.” Derek rolled his eyes. “Obviously. Moonies have a good presence online.” Alana mused. “I thought “Moonies” were people who followed the Unification Church?” The Red Death inquired. “Yeah, they are called that, but Sailor Moon fans are also called “Moonies”. I know, in certain circles, I have to be sure to differentiate... But, its what we’re called.” Alana explained as she shrugged her shoulders. The room ended up becoming a paradise for fans of the series. Shelves filled with various collectibles, a couch decorated with two throw pillows and a blanket, a coffee table with two sets of coasters, a large rug, framed posters, plushies, moon and star lights along the walls and showering down the window and a tv mounted on one wall. In contrast to the vast majority of Death’s Domain, the room was an explosion of bright colors.

★

Nathaniel stepped into the restroom for a few minutes. Alana watched the door in anticipation. When he came out, he was running his hands along the circumference of the black wig, making sure it was in its proper place. The thought of how similar he looked to Viktor shot through her mind. She did her best to suppress that thought. "You don't even like cosplay..." She muttered as she smiled. "You do so much for me, I don't mind doing this for you." He grinned. "Nathaniel! I love you!” She cried as she wrapped her arms around him. “I knew I was going to see Princess Serenity, I didn't know Prince Endymion would be with her!” someone called from behind them. They turned around and saw Sam leaning in the doorway. “Sam! I look just like her!” Alana cried. "I wonder if I can get Ken to be Nephrite." Sam commented. “I'm sure he would be if you asked him. You two would be the perfect Jupiter and Nephrite!” Alana beamed. “I didn't know this was turning into a full on cosplay group!” Ken laughed as he walked up behind Sam. "Why not?" Sam asked. "I'm not sure Viktor would appreciate being Kunzite." Alana remarked. “He'd have to get used to it. Since Nathaniel is Endymion, that demotes Viktor to Kunzite.” Sam stated. "Right because when you guys were kids, Viktor was always Endymion." Nathaniel rolled his eyes. “Viktor has had years to accept his position in my sister's life. If he doesn't accept it, it will not end well for him.” Sam replied. "Do you think he will?" Nathaniel asked. "If he truly cares about her, he will." Sam nodded. “Viktor has known for years that our time ended long ago. Accepting his new position is painful for him, but he is well aware of the fact that it's something that he must do.” Alana explained.

A few minutes later, Renee walked into the room. “You both look magnificent! The girls and I have gotten a backdrop ready, would you two mind taking a few pictures?” She beamed. Alana smiled and turned to Nathaniel, a very hopeful look on her face. "Would you be okay with that?" She asked. Nathaniel nodded. "Sure." He grinned. They followed Renee into a room. "Oh my god! You two look utterly amazing!”, “You look beautiful Mels! Nathaniel, you look so handsome!”, “True Moon and Earth royalty!” the other girls cooed when they saw them. “I think we should do a cosplay group. I'm Jupiter and Rini will be Venus.” Sam commented when she walked in. "I volunteer to be Mercury!" Renee cheered. "I'll be Mars." Lyra smiled. "I'll be Pluto." Veronica beamed. "I don't mind being Saturn." Nora suggested. "I wonder if we could get Lucy and Noelle to be Uranus and Neptune." Sam pondered. "We could also see about getting Ravenna to be Chibi Moon." Alana proposed. “I think that would be fantastic. Who would be the rest of the Shitennou?” Lyra asked. "I could see if Armin could be Jadeite." Alana thought out loud. "Are we really setting up a cosplay group?" Nathaniel asked. Sam looked at Nath, as if he had said something really stupid. "Do you not realize how highly rated Sailor Moon cosplay groups are?" She asked. Nathaniel shook his head. “Sailor Moon cosplay groups are some of the most elite cosplayers in the anime world. Sailor Moon being one of the most iconic anime in history, it is instantly recognizable. The cosplayers take some of the most beautiful pictures, make some of the coolest videos, and even do events. They may not be unionized like Star Wars' 501st Legion, but they come together and coalesce with great ease whenever they recognize each other. Children who recognize them run up to them the same way that they do with superheroes, and typically, they are nice to them. It is a sisterhood of love and justice.” Sam explained. "Not to mention how fun it would be to finally be in one." Alana cooed. “We'd still need Zoisite.” Veronica stated. "I wonder if Derek could be him." Nora pondered. “Uh, guys? Can we please get to the photoshoot?” Renee asked impatiently. 

After posting for photos for what felt like an eternity, Nathaniel and Alana went into the changing room to get out of their cosplays. "You do look really beautiful in that." Nathaniel smiled as he took the black wig off. Alana blushed. "Do you really think so?" She asked nervously. “Of course. You look magnificent.” He blushed as he walked over to her and kissed her. “Thank you for doing this my love. It means the world to me.” Tears came to Alana's eyes as she spoke. “I love you my Melody.” Nathaniel cooed as he wiped a tear from her cheek. “I love you so much Nathaniel!” She mused as she threw her arms around him.

★

A few weeks later, in the early hours of the morning, several cars arrived at an old castle in the country. “This place looks amazing! Perfect for our photo shoot!” Alana cheered as she got out of the car. “Welcome to the Astarian Royal Palace Lady Melody!” A woman with long brown hair, sunglasses and wearing a knee length blue dress beamed as she walked up to them. “Mrs. Reynard, I presume?” Alana asked as she shook the woman's hand. “Yes ma'am. We spoke over the phone.” the woman smiled. “You are fully aware as to why we need the palace today. Am I correct?” Alana inquired. “Yes. For your little photoshoot. Cosplay, I believe.” Mrs. Reynard replied. “Yes. Sailor Moon. Its important the palace be the backdrop to this shoot.” Alana stated. “The photographer will be here in a few minutes to set up. They'll need time.” Mrs. Reynard explained. “That's fine. We need time to prepare.” Alana smiled.

After a couple of hours, the members of the group began to step out of their respective preparation rooms and into a lounge. Lynne Roster as Queen Serenity, Sam as Sailor Jupiter, Severina as Sailor Venus, Renee as Sailor Mercury, Lyra as Sailor Mars, Noelle as Sailor Uranus, Lucy as Sailor Neptune, Nora as Sailor Saturn, Veronica as Sailor Pluto, Ravenna as Small Lady Serenity, Viktor as Kunzite, Ken as Nephrite, Armin as Jadeite, Derek as Zoisite, Nathaniel as Prince Endymion and Alana as Princess Serenity. When the entire group was gathered in the lounge, tears filled Alana's eyes. “It's so beautiful!” she happily cried out. “Awe! Mels!” Severina cheered as she hugged Alana. “This was a fantastic idea!” Lynne beamed. "How long do we all need to wear this?" Armin asked, slightly uncomfortable. “Just a few hours. We're gonna get a TON of shots! ” someone replied as they walked up. It was a young woman with short platinum blonde hair, bright green eyes, and pale skin. She wore black pants, a white button up top and a deep blue beret. "You all look so regal!" She cheered. “Alright everyone, let me introduce you to you Catarina. She's a friend of mine from boarding school. She's the photographer I told you guys about!” Severina introduced. “Hello everyone! It is an absolute pleasure to meet you all!” Catherine bowed. ” Severina introduced. “Hello everyone! It is an absolute pleasure to meet you all!” Catherine bowed.

The photoshoot took several hours, and took place at various locations within the castle grounds. Lynne insisted on at least one family shot with Sam and Alana, and one with Sam, Alana, Severina, Ravenna, Ken, Nathaniel, and Viktor. “This is odd. I don't quite know the anime, but those characters aren't actually family, aren't they?” Catarina asked, curiously. “Not exactly... I mean, Queen Serenity, Princess Serenity, and Small Lady Serenity are three generations of lunar royalty, and Prince Endymion is Princess Serenity's husband and Sailor Chibi Moon's father... But, this shot isn't about the show's family. It's about their family.” Lyra explained. “Oh. That's sweet!” Catarina smiled. Alana insisted each “couple” got their own picture. Viktor wasn't too happy that his couldn't be with Alana, but he didn't mind posing with Severina. Kentin was very happy to have a romantic pose with Sam. "Nephrite and Jupiter look so fantastic!" Renee cheered. “Are you kidding? I've been wanting to do this set for a long time!” Sam beamed. “My favorite part of all of this. I hate this wig, but being your knight is worth it.” Ken mused as he looked at Sam lovingly. "This is awkward." Derek rolled his eyes when he and Renee had their turn. "Oh grow up!" Renee snapped. "Derek... You know what happens when Renee gets mad!" Alana laughed. “Yeah... She gets pretty scary.” Derek sighed. Everyone laughed as Renee forced Derek into a somewhat romantic pose. "But this is so awkward!" Derek whined. "Just do it!" Renee demanded. When their part of the shoot ended, Derek sat down and shot back a bottle of water. “That was weird. "Lyra, Armin, you're up!" Alana cheered. “Now this will be interesting! ” Ken chuckled. “And in Dragon Ball references Armin! Toei may own both franchises, but now is not the time to try to mix the two!” Sam ordered. “Awe come on! That takes part of the fun out of it!” Armin whined. “Armin, if we were doing a smaller photoshoot, I wouldn't mind a few “fun” shots. So please be more serious.” Alana urgent. "Fine." Armin sighed as he and Lyra took their places in front of the camera. 

“God that was exhausting! Who'd have thought that Cosplay would be THAT much work?” Nathaniel whined he crashed onto the living room couch at Death's Domain. "If you had cosplayed as the Winter Soldier when Armin and I cosplayed as Captain America and Black Widow at that Marvel Exhibition in High School, you would have known, first hand, A LOT sooner!" Alana shot as she crashed down next to him. "You still won't let me live that down?" He asked. "Nope." She chuckled. "Why not?" He asked. “Because Armin and I worked our asses off to do our characters justice and we were hoping you would join in on the fun. Especially considering how Natasha and Bucky get together in the comics several times, so it would have been a cute “couple's cosplay” for you and me. Not to mention how cosplay is more than just “wearing a costume”. When someone properly cosplays, they also wish to play the character, even for just a day. They temporarily escape reality and enter the one the character they're cosplaying as resides in. Weeks, months, and even years are spent building props and even hand making the items and outfits. There is a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go into it!” She explained. "I know you and Armin love it, but I don't think I could do it as often as you want to." Nathaniel sighed. “I get that. Its not for everybody. But, I'm thankful you did it for me.” Alana Mused. “I love you Alana. You always do so much for me... And it has been a long time since I've been the "prince" to your "princess." He grinned. "And I'm sure rubbing it Viktor's face added to your enjoyment.” She chuckled. "That did make it a bit more fun." He smirked. "I really wish you wouldn't antagonize him." She sighed. over you and find someone else. It's the same with Castiel. You're not going to be with him, so he needs to quit pining." He shot. "Yes, but with Castiel, you two have reached a mutual agreement, and he has angered me in such a way that I spat that truth with him." She chimed in. "Which makes the situation with Viktor worse. had your family and Severina telling him for years... Yet he insists." He huffed as he rolled his eyes. "Despite that, he is still one of my best and oldest friends. We were raised together and are still like family. Can you at least try to play nice with him?" She requested. Nathaniel looked at her annoyed. "Please! Pretty please! My sweet Endymion…” Alana begged as she playfully batted her eyes. He thought for a minute and exhaled. “Fine. ” He sighed. "Thank you." She mused. “But if he oversteps the boundaries that you and I put in place, I won't be so kind.” He stated. She cuddled up next to him and kissed his cheek. "I love you Nathaniel." She cooed. He put his arms around her and kissed her forehead. "I love you too Alana."

★

Several weeks later, after the images from the photoshoot had been posted and gone viral, an idea came to Severina's mind. She turned to Alana and Sam and smiled. "What?" Sam asked. “What if we did a cosplay concert?!” Severina cheered. “Nope. I'm not singing.” Alana stated. “PLEASE! We could choose a song from Sailor Moon and singing it at a convention!” Severina urged. “Really? What song would we even do?” Sam asked. “What about “Moon Effect”? It's sung by all of the scouts!” Severina cheered. “Please no. I don't sing.” Alana begged. "But, you wouldn't be alone... And we can't do it without our Sailor Moon!" Sam sneered. “Honey... You're such a beautiful singer! Please!!!!” Severina pleaded. “No…” Alana muttered. “Damn it Mels! Just do it! We all know that you sing when you're alone! On top of that, Nath, Rini, Viktor, Mom and I have all been telling you for years that we all think your singing is beautiful! So, just do it!” Sam snapped. "Don't forget how your teammates think so too." Severina added. Alana thought for a few minutes and huffed. “Fine. I'll do it.” She sighed. “Huzzah! Let's do it at Comic Con!” Sam cheered. "No! That’s too big a venue!" Alana pleaded "That's why it should be done there! You'll get over your stage fright on one of the biggest stages on the Convention Circuit!" Sam explained. "My babies singing a Sailor Moon song in full cosplay? I'd love to help you with it!" Lynne cheered as she walked up to them. "Fantastic! We'll make it a family project!" Severina smiled. Alana looked around at the other women, thought for a few minutes, sighed, and sheepishly grinned. “I guess the Roster Family women are putting on a show!”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Words cannot describe how badly I've wanted to write something Sailor Moon related to my story... 

Sailor Moon means a lot to me... It was my mom’s and my “thing”. No matter how much we fought, argued, and went at each other’s throats, we always bonded over the series. The first and last time I watched it in it’s entirety was with her just before her disease started taking its hold. She was the one who got me my first bits of merch, who was always happy to talk to me about it. The last Christmas gift I got her was a blanket with all the scouts on it, and she gave me plushies of Luna and Artemis. When mom died, Sailor Moon came to mean so much more to me. My aunt made me pendants with her ashes in them that look like the Legendary Silver Crystal, I got Pluto’s Garnet Rod tattooed on my back, and I became more adamant about collecting items. Each time I get a new item, I feel closer to her... There are times where I’ll even burst into tears because of Sailor Moon making me think of her....

Yes, I used the character sprite of Nathaniel that I edited from the Dark Chocolate Steward to make him look more like Endymion. I made his hair black, and edited his rings and earrings out.

Little tip... The bit about Adonis won't make sense unless you've read the Codename Sailor V manga.... If you’re not in the mood to read it, Adonis was a lowly Venusian soldier who was in love with his princess (Venus). Venus fell in love with Kunzite instead of him. He found her on Earth and cursed her to never be able to have love again, thus freeing more of her time up to focus on her duty as the leader of Princess Serenity’s Sailor Guardians.

This was originally going to be a Valentine's Day special for 2020. Then 2020 became the dumpster fire that it was and my real life needed more of my attention....

The majority of this does take place during the first year between University Life and Love Life. Before Nath and Alana go on their globe trotting adventure. The flashback section takes place at various points in time.

Credit goes to:

Naoko Takeuchi for Sailor Moon

@candysweetposts for the Princess Serenity Pack (seriously, thank you for going through with my request!)

@chinomiko and Beemoov for My Candy Love

[tsuki-sennin]

Tsuki can't get enough of doing liveblogs~! So, what's up on the chopping block in my kitchen today? Why it's of the PreCure Flavor~! On this lovely Easter Sunday, April 17th 2022, Delicious Party finally came out of its hacker-induced hiatus! And because of that, I'd figure I'd do a late night celebration with one of these! What to call my tag though...

"if you receive a little kindness give them a large serving!"

Yeah, that'll work! That sounds like something Yui's grandma would say! Souji Tendo's grandma too! Filter that tag out if you hate my non-existent face!

Spoilers, I guess... with a side of mild catching up, a la mode~!

-So, DePaPre! I'm told that we use this because "DeliPre" is something both very different and very not safe for work. I like this, it sounds like everybody's favorite rehash, Decapre from Street Fighter IV! And to a lesser extent, Depeche Mode.

-My favorite so far? Probably Rosemary, he has that sassy gay uncle energy I aspire to. Yui's a great protagonist though, I love her very much. Kokone too! Spicy lass! And Kome-Kome~! Little fox babby! Idk how I feel about Pamu-Pamu yet though, but once Ran finally enters, I assume she and Mem-Mem will be a funny ramen lady and her dank little dragon dude who will help elevate this cast to new heights.

-Idk if I really like Takumi though. He looks like Sans Undertale, yeah, but like... he's not really interesting me so far.

-Oh Toei Animation... you blockheads~! At least you try.

-The same cannot be said for Crunchyroll, however. What a shit service, and anyone who uses it should run away as soon as they can.

-Oishina Town~! What a very lovely place~! Like Aozora City~! But like... making me real hungry. ...I know I'm going around in circles with Today's Special, but I should probably grab a snack. ...even if it's currently a fair bit past 10 PM... maybe next episode.

-Oh cool, the Heart Cure Watch comes with video chat. ...I mean, it's basically a Fitbit so I assumed it did, but hey, cool!

-Ohhh, that's a lovely bento.

-Kokone-chan spun her salad too hard.

-What a versatile item, that butter roll!

-That's a ham!? That's a big fuck-off hunk of Fred Flinstone meat! ...so uh, would you happen to know where I could buy one of those? For cheap, preferably?

-Awwww, Mari-chan do a jump!

-Speaking of rolls... Kome-Kome seems to take it a bit more literally than most.

-20 rolls!? That's a whole baseball team's worth of sandwich-y goodness!

-Kokone's driver gives me real good vibes :)

-Oh yeah, the theme song! I love the energy behind the strings, and the gentle percussion and horns are real nice!

-Deliciously Partying with PreCures!

-SIXTY ROLLS

-All that food better not go to waste, Kokone-chan!

-Ohhhh, I see now. Very gay of you, Kokone-chan. My point still stands, however.

-When I was a kid, I was a real picky bastard when it came to my food. Kinda comes with the territory of being autistic. Now that I outgrew it, and as an adult who sometimes has to cook for his own family who have actual jobs and social lives, I think I finally understand the depths of my mother's pain when I slave over and nearly burn myself alive and/or decapitate myself while cooking dinner only for it to be left out because somebody didn't feel like eating. I will eat whatever I am served with no complaints for now and forever.

-Deliciousmile is like... the most PreCure catchphrase ever.

-Ahhh, prawns. I'm not really a crustacean kinda guy, so I usually only eat them fried. Seems great though.

-Fuwa-sama...

-Do you think maybe Kamen Rider Vulcan LLC gained enough revenue as a subsidiary of Hiden Intelligence to elevate Isamu's family into socialite status?

-I'm kidding, of course. Wait a second… last name of Fuwa. Dog-related power source. Blue and white color scheme. Ranged attacks… Holy shit, this is a conspiracy! Sound the alarms! Legendary former A.I.M.S. captain Isamu Fuwa has a niece, and she's attending your middle school right now!

-Oh wait, no. Her family name has different kanji... (芙羽 - "Feather", I believe)

-As opposed to kanji that probably wouldn't be used in a show like this (不破 -"Unbreakable").

-Never mind, false alarm!

-Anyways, let the girl do chores! She wants to help you!

-Monster in the kitchen. What will they cook?

-Hold up, your grandma told you this? Interesting, veeeeeeery interesting.

-Another little bit of Tsuki-Sennin-related Culinary Trivia~! I actually took a few semesters' worth of Culinary Arts in high school. The teacher was a veteran of the restaurant business, and he definitely should've been teaching at an actual culinary college instead of a crappy public school with asbestos in the gym's ceiling and (from what I've heard after I graduated), a lot of violent incidents. Even though I tried my best to behave/get everything done as best I could... I'm still decently sure he didn't like me very much, but that's okay. It's thanks to him that I can never accidentally poison anyone or burn an entire kitchen down.

-I take it back, I love you Pamu-Pamu, the tea kettle pupper fairy.

-She cleaned the entire school without even picking up a single broom.

-THE GHOST ATE THE KETTLE

-Uhhhh... okay, sure, Secretoru. Go kidnap the Recipeppi because you don't know how to eat fried prawn. Bundoru, bundoru!

-It hasn't even been a whole day, how'd it spiral this fast?!

-Oh, hello there Ran. I can't wait to meet you properly.

-Amane Kasai... you seem to be way different from Yuriko Shiratori. You have a very lovely name, though.

-"Ughhh, fine, I'll beat up the monster myself!"

-My man just wants his fried prawns, this is bullshit

-Oh, I am convinced that "Weird Food Girl dating Weird Rich Girl" dating rumors would absolutely replace this monsters stuff in like... five minutes.

-Go take a break, she's shaking you down, school workers.

-If you eat food from the same beach, you'll be friends... what kind wisdom to pass down.

-"Each meal only happens once in your life, so make each one the most important." That's what Souji Tendou's grandmother said.

-...no, I'm not gonna let up with the grandmother quotes, how dare you ask that.

-Oh, same "kitchen". I... I see... well, those guys like prawns, they'd probably say "same beach" too!

-Let's eat together as besties :)

-Yummy yummy prawn :)

-And here comes Gentlu with the blandifying strike!

-"Man, I kick ass at this job! I'll be a shoe-in for promotion for sure!"

-"Oh dammit, this is your school... fuck. Alright Ubau-zo, kick their asses!"

-Monster confirmed.

-HAS HE BEEN JUMPING THIS WHOLE TIME

-Daaaaaaamn, Yui! You got kicks!

-Yesss, Kokone-san! Free them!

-You Cures are real admirable gals, huh?

-Oh thank god, Mari-chan's here!

-Delicious Fieeeeeld~!

-Alright, time to burn some calories!

-Squeeze the fox!

-Wow, these transformations are pretty long, compared to Tropical Rouge's. ...at least, it feels that way.

-I will never get over the name Cure Spicy.

-Man, that's like a nothing attack to a Pretty Cure.

-She spin~!

-Man, guess that poor... salad spinner? He was hungry.

-I wonder, can a Cure feed you with her attacks here?

-Recibepis get!

-Bye Gentlu, you're adorable.

-Who just... leaves plates out like that? No wonder they thought they were haunted.

-Kokone Fuwa. Dog lover.

-"You're part of the clean up now!"

-I assume this is Ran-chan's "CureSta". I wonder if she's also active on ByTube, and saw Ikki and Vice kicking ass? ...to be fair, that'd hardly be the weirdest crossover reason I've thought of.

-Woooow, Yui knows her stuff!

-Ohhhh, Ran-Ran... evil?

-Chururin, the Bundoru Gang's secret mastermind. They're the very devil of the grocery store!

-Soda pop today!

-Oh yeah, this ending theme. It has a sick-ass bass riff, and is very danceable! ...unfortunately, I've been here for like an hour and thirty minutes and don't feel much like dancing tonight. And this is the closest we've seen to Cure Yum-Yum beating shit up. Tearing up the dance floor.

-We're doing an investigation into CureSta next episode~! Will my Yui/Kokone ship evolve into an ever-exciting OT3?

-...I should probably start making food before I do these... well, join me next Sunday! When we have another lovely meal time at a reasonable hour with Kabuto! Vulcan! A girl who I currently assign Cross-Z! And their sassy gay uncle Bravo! In the meantime, I'll be doing more PreCure research so I can truly come into my own as a fan! Please look forward to it.

[recentanimenews]

OPINION: Revolutionary Girl Utena Is Surreal, That's Why It Works

  There’s no avoiding how strange Revolutionary Girl Utena is from the outset. Its premise is already outlandish enough, and director Kunihiko Ikuhara was never afraid to take the absurdity of Utena and run with it. There’s no shortage of oddities and eccentricities littered throughout Utena’s storyline, but that’s what makes this anime so hypnotic. 

  The classic ‘90s series follows Utena Tenjou, a young woman attending Ohtori Academy who aspires to be a prince like the one who supposedly saved her from despair as a child. She opts to wear a boy’s uniform to school and excels at sports while eschewing anything she perceives as girly. Upon meeting the school’s mysterious Rose Bride Anthy Himemiya, she unwittingly partakes in a battle against the members of the Student Council. Each of them participates in a series of duels and the champion among all of them is granted the opportunity to marry Anthy and attain untold power.

  The premise is outlandish. The execution is baffling. The series takes viewers on a winding, thorny path through the toxicity of the gender binary that ends as strangely as it began. Yet it’s that surrealist nature of the series that makes it so compelling all these years later. Amidst the strangely defined nature of the Rose Bride and the absurdity of the ensuing conflict surrounding her, the journey shared between Utena and Anthy is made much more vibrant and compelling as the series goes on.

    Utena was created by Kunihiko Ikuhara. He came fresh from his work on multiple seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime. He was ambitious for his time, as he wanted to take the renowned magical girl series in new directions. When he left the series over creative differences with Toei Animation, he took his ideas for Sailor Moon and used them to create a shojo series of his own.

  In Revolutionary Girl Utena, his imagination could run wild. But for a director who would go on to create a show like Sarazanmai — an anime where the protagonists sing a musical number while doing the unspeakable in extracting macguffins from giant monsters — the creative freedom he had with Utena set a precedent for what unfettered Ikuhara would look like. And unfettered Ikuhara is nothing short of surreal.

  As baffling as Utena is from the outset, the anime tends to lean very abstract with its narration and imagery. The loose romantic premise is brought to life through dream-like sequences and transformation that leave so much to the imagination. How does the battleground for the Rose Bride duels simply exist underneath a school? What is the purpose of the elevator where Ohtori students share their struggles in the Black Rose Saga? Where does Utena even end up after the final battle against Akio when she sets Anthy free?

  Much of what occurs in Utena might appear nonsensical at first. Having to reconcile its premise with its metaphysical art direction is no easy task and suspending your disbelief can only accomplish so much. Yet that surrealism is what strengthens the series as a whole. Utena is an exploration of adolescence, heteronormativity, and the toxicity of the gender binary told through the lens of an unconventional shojo love story.

    To that end, it takes full advantage of animation as a visual medium. Colors and filters are used to display characters’ emotions and illustrate tension without revealing too much. The nonsensical nature of some of its songs, like “Absolute Destiny Apocalypse,” add extra mind-bending layers to Utena’s commentary. A lot of Utena doesn’t mean anything from the outset but the characters’ individual journeys offer us clues as to what it all ultimately means to the viewer.

  This isn’t to say that Revolutionary Girl Utena is pure nonsense. The underlying threads are there for everyone. Utena tries to defy the gender binary without realizing she is completely dependent on it as a form of expression. Anthy is beholden to the desires of the Duelists while lacking any will of her own. Her older brother Akio effectively peaks in high school to the detriment of those around him. Every character has a readily digestible journey toward addressing their demons. Through that, the show presents each of them as a psychedelic experience that makes a different kind of sense to everyone who watches it.

  By nature, surrealism as an art form doesn’t lend itself to any one strict interpretation. To offer an explanation to any of it is to lessen its individual impact on newcomers experiencing it for the first time. An overall message for Revolutionary Girl Utena exists but searching for that message is part of what makes Utena so memorable. Discussing it and dissecting its more abstract elements makes Utena a show that can transcend generations and remain relevant even multiple decades after its initial release. If Revolutionary Girl Utena doesn’t make sense to you right away, it’s doing its job right. Feel free to dive in and determine its meaning for yourself.

  What's the most surreal anime you've seen? Let us know in the comments!

      Carlos (aka Callie) is a freelance features writer for Crunchyroll. Their favorite genres range from magical girls to over-the-top robot action, yet their favorite characters are always the obscure ones. Check out some of their pop culture pieces on Popdust and Looper as well as their satirical work on The Hard Times.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a feature, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Carlos Cadorniga

[bimboficationblues]

One Piece!

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite

so although One Piece is one of my favorite series, my caveat for that is that I specifically adore the manga. I always found the anime frustrating in various ways and since ditching it for the original that opinion has only gotten stronger.

I think it's an interesting example of the medium because in some ways it does have some distinct advantages over the manga. The voice cast is incredibly talented and really suits the characters; the ability to use music really adds color to the series' sense of romantic adventure; the absence of word bubbles allows a greater appreciation of the drawings (there's a "but..." coming); and when the animation hits, it really hits.

However, the anime's slow pacing can make the series feel mind-numbingly boring even when important things are happening, and the animation is often terrible to look at. Eiichiro Oda's style is "cartoony" but it has an expressiveness that often falls flat in the Toei anime. These problems are a direct consequence of the production schedule, and although recent directors have been able to inject more vibrancy and fluidity, the pacing issues (by most accounts) still continue.

The anime also has the problem of The Tits. I think Oda is partly responsible for this but it's not quite so...egregious in the manga, nor is it coalescing with other forms of ugliness (such as jiggle physics or poor drawings). See this example:

I dunno, I would love to see an equivalent to "Dragon Ball Z Kai" where all the stalling for time is stripped away. (There is actually a fan project called "One Pace" which does exactly this, though I don't know how well, and it can't resolve the other problems.) This is also why I'm kinda willing to give the live action series a fair shake; could be a more tolerable on-boarding experience in some ways.

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation

I generally do recommend the manga instead and then maybe watching some key moments if you feel like it - I read through 900+ chapters in three weeks and it would have taken me far longer to watch the same number of episodes (and that's roughly about how many there are when you exclude anime filler). So reading it earns you both a better told visual story, and a better time investment.

BUT One Piece is great! It's a fun adventure, it has a good central cast with interesting relationships and histories, an interesting world that unfolds in a really unique way. Its themes of freedom and repression and history and legacy continue to resonate with me. So like, if you absolutely cannot tolerate reading manga or just need something to put on in the background then I think the Funimation dub is pretty solid. Just use a filler guide.

fav characters: my all-time favorite character is Nico Robin (happy belated birthday!). Unfortunately she went underutilized for a long while, but I love her black humor and her passion for history. I also think she understands Luffy better than a lot of the other crew despite their very different attitudes, since both of their lives and familial relationships were destroyed by the government (which I think is also why folks like her relationships with Franky, Jinbei, and Nami, the other crew members whose loved ones were actively or indirectly killed by govt forces). Because her love of truth and capacity to learn and share history brings her into direct conflict with the World Government, I think she also has a brilliant connection to some of the core ideas and themes about freedom and government repression that I find most interesting. The way she develops and learns to rely on others, to love and be loved in kind, is incredibly compelling. Hell, her existence being inherently criminal is both a stark example of how law is used to "unmake" certain people in both our world and the OP world, and was such a good narrative engine that they just did the same plotline again with Luffy's brother in the following saga. Definitely a Character of Transgender Experience.

least fav characters: Garp is a Marine who wanted his grandchildren to grow up and join the Marines, and to achieve this goal he left them to live basically unsupervised with a bunch of bandits, only occasionally showing up to do some Child Abuse to "teach them how to be men." When one of those grandchildren is later condemned to execution for the crime of being born to the previous Pirate King, he does not intervene, resign, or in any way interfere with the proceedings beyond impotently getting in Luffy's way. One of my favorite moments is when he shows up in Luffy and Ace's childhood hometown and gets the shit kicked out of him by the bandit who raised them for being such a jackass.

He is an effective character but I hate him.

fav relationship: in terms of romantic pairings, the one that I have the most respect for is Franky/Robin just because of this moment.

As far as more general relationships I love the bond between Luffy and Zoro.

fav moment: there's so many but like, it's gotta be Usopp/Sogeking setting fire to the World Government flag on Luffy's command, effectively declaring war on the world on behalf of a comrade - right?

headcanons/theories: I'm not really deep in the theorycrafting phase right now, there's so goddamn much material to work with. I *am* of the opinion that Trans Crocodile is real. Maybe when I reread later this year (after Wano ends, if it ever does).

unpopular opinion: my most unpopular opinion is kind of a meta one: One Piece is not a "battle shonen" (dumb term anyway). it really grinds my gears when people treat it like it's DBZ where there were specific quantifications of physical power. Bounties aren't equivalent to power levels because bounties are meant to represent a socio-legal relationship between the World Government and pirate forces. Battles are important, but just as important as all the non-battle things going on; this is not quite as true in something like DBZ, Demon Slayer or Naruto where it's mostly just an escalating series of fights.

how’d you find it: I saw the 4Kids dub on TV when I was like 10 lmao

[ecargmura]

Wonderful Precure Episode 20 Review - Amity Lumiere

Even after all that transpired, Yuki is still reluctant to join the Precures. Well, she doesn’t keep that attitude for long. While her main goal is to protect Mayu, I do like that her desire to help Niko Garden stems from her thoughts and feelings after conversing with the Kirarin Fawn. It wasn’t Mayu or Komugi who convinced her, but the fawn. I actually like that! It shows that Yuki can make decisions that doesn’t have to be influenced by Mayu and it sort of gives her an incentive on how these animals feel when they are being controlled. They say that they feel alone, helpless and unable to control their own body. Yuki knew what it was like being alone before meeting Mayu, so that’s the reason why she decided to become a Precure officially.

I think that this episode is the one where Nyammy finally gains some respect for Lillian as she protects her, showing off that Lillian and Mayu doesn’t need to be protected by Nyammy all the time and that she can be the one doing the protecting too. This cements their bond to grow and their duo item and attack are revealed. They get a tambourine called the Amity Ribbon Tambourine and their duo attack is called Amity Lumiere. Very nyanderful indeed. I love the tambourine, but the animation of the duo attack is a little slow for my taste. I love the colors, though! I wonder if their tambourine will call upon the Kirarin Animals like the Friendly Wand.

I kind of wished that the previous Kirarin Animals had some gimmicks to them like how the Kirarin Fox and Hamster did. The Fox’s gimmick of shapeshifting was so interesting and I know for a fact that using the Kirarin Fox will be like using Metronome in a Pokemon game. It’s going to be crazy—the preview even had Wonderful turn into a car tire!

This was a huge Nyammy and Lillian focused episode that Wonderful, Friendy and even Satoru were shoved away from the spotlight. I even forgot Wonderful and Friendy were there the entire episode. Since the cat pair got better transformation sequences and better dynamic, I wonder if Toei is going to shove the dog pair aside for the cat pair because it does feel like favoritism is at play here.

Yuki’s condition on becoming a Precure is to go to school with Mayu. I feel like Mey Mey’s only functional role is to forge documents at this point. What sort of shenanigans will Yuki bring to school? I can’t wait for the next episode!

[the-bejeesus]

To Those Who Say “I’m not gonna catch up on One Piece until it’s finished. Why would I watch/read 1000+ episodes/chapters when I don’t even get to know how the story ends?”

      Now for the past few years, when I came across somebody who said this, my rebute would be something like “Well the series is great already. It doesn’t really matter if I don’t know how it ends, because the journey itself is enjoyable.” or “Man if that’s your excuse, who you gonna explain why you read/watch stuff like Berserk, Hunter X Hunter, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and My Hero Academia? Newsflash, they aren’t done yet.” But it came across my mind that I can now apply a completely different approach:

“If you start watching/reading at this pace right now, it will be over by the time you catch up.”

      If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll know that for awhile now Oda has been saying that he plans to end the series in just 5-4 years. Now he’s made lots of claims in the past that turned out to be ridiculous. However, many One Piece researchers have compiled his claims and found out that they only get more accurate as time goes on, with the most ridiculous claims being found to be myths. And with the most recent claims of ending the series in less than 5 years, even his editors who are usually skeptical have started to trust that he can do this. After all, he has officially set there to be only one more saga (which isn’t necessarily one arc, but it’s either going to be 1-2 major arcs or an anthology of 5-6 shorter arcs). And now that we can trust this claim, we can essentially extrapolate how many chapters/episodes are left and what pace we have to binge to catch up at just the right time.

If you plan to read the manga (black and white):

The manga in black in white is a perfectly fine way to enjoy One Piece. It’s what Oda draws, it’s how he intends it to be viewed, and best of all, it will be the first version of publication to finish.

     Out of the 1223 weeks since the first chapter published in July 19, 1997, 1000 chapters have published, meaning on average he publishes 42 chapters per year, or in other words, there are only 10 hiatuses per year (including holidays where WSJ does not publish). Now if I wanted to be more accurate, I’d only look at the chapters published this year, to exclude outliers like how he had no hiatuses for the first 200 chapters, or how he had a 4-week hiatus during the timeskip, but 2020 has been a bit crazy, so we’re not doing that for this or any of the others.

     Going off of this, the final chapter would be chapter 1212 in December 28, 2025 (yes, the 28th would be a Sunday again.) So here’s how you’d calculate the pace in which you need to read One Piece, and really this is how we’ll calculate it for every version)

     Now I know math is boring, but the reason I’m showing this to you is because the amount of weeks until One Piece ends will vary based on when you start this binge. Chances are you aren’t going to start the day you see this post, and there’s an even greater chance you won’t see this post the day it’s posted. For every example I’m going to assume you started binging on December 28, 2020. Now let’s try to use it for this example.

     And there’s your answer, just read 4-5 chapters per week. By the end, One Piece should be nearly over or have very recently ended. To put that into a different perspective, you could purchase and read just two volumes per month and you’ll be at prime pace. Or you could read one chapter every day, but only on weekdays.  If you want to, you can see this calculation in action in graph form.

     While this is a very rudimentary graph, it’s a basic visualization of what we’re calculating here. We’re calculating what speed we need to binge to catch up at exactly the right moment. I say exact, but ultimately no one can predict how many chapters there will be exactly, nor how many hiatuses Oda will go on during it. It will be important, as you’re nearing the end, to find a spoiler-free way to keep up on how close One Piece is to ending. To know whether you ought to speed up or slow down.

If you plan to watch the anime (subtitled):

For years now people have hated on the anime “terrible animation!” “terrible pacing” but at the end of the day, it’s the more popular version. Or the more viewed version I should say. And personally, I think that once you acknowledge its problems and learn how to deal with them, it’s a perfectly fine experience. There’s enough good voice acting and enough good storytelling that you’re easily able to ignore the problems. Plus, the animation has substantially improved since Wano.

      Now for this we’re going to have to change a lot of variables to get this right. We’re going to have to adjust when publication started, and recalculate when One Piece will end by looking at how slowly the anime adapts the manga, and how behind it is. The anime aired on October 20, 1999, and has aired 956 episodes since then. This means on average they air 44.9 episodes per year, meaning there is pretty much only 7 breaks the entire year. With these 956 episodes, they have adapted 955 chapters, making the pace almost exactly one chapter per episode. However this is really inaccurate, considering all the better-paced arcs earlier on in the story. Looking solely at episodes 2012 and onwards, the anime adapts at a pace of 0.65 chapters/episode.

     Knowing that there are roughly 212 chapters left, and Toei adapts at 0.65 chapters per episode, we can assume that there are going to be roughly 324 episodes left. That sounds like too many, but keep in mind that there will be several, several instances where the manga will be on hiatus whereas the anime will keep on airing. Knowing there are approximately 324 episodes left, and that the anime only takes about 7 breaks a year, we can assume that it will take 7 years, or 374.49 weeks before the anime will end. So now we have the information we need to do the math again.

x = 1280/374.49

x = 3.417 episodes/week.

     It may seem like a more relaxed binge, since you get a whole 2 extra years to binge, and you only have to do 3-4 episodes per week, compared to the 4-5 chapters. But keep in mind that these episodes are 24 minutes each. Still not at all bad, but you will be spending more time on it overall.

If you plan to watch One Pace:

One Pace is a fan project that edits the anime so that filler and padding is cut, other edits will be made to make the anime more manga-accurate, such as reorganizing scenes, or adding title cards where absent. Originally only used by a niche number of One Piece fans, One Pace has grown in popularity, and has tried to improve its quality to accommodate more fans, such as making their episodes Dual Audio (meaning you can switch between the dub and original Japanese audio tracks), and including Spanish subtitles.

      You’d think we’d have to adjust for when One Pace began, how slowly One Pace catches up, and the works, but there’s not much to calculate. Fortunately for us, no matter how far behind One Pace is on editing the current arc, they always like to wrap things up just a few weeks within when an arc ended, if not the very same week. So really all we have to calculate is how many One Pace episodes there will be by the end of all this, so that we know how many you’ll need to watch per week.

      Looking solely at what they’ve covered so far, One Pace has taken 573 episodes and condensed it down to 259 episodes. That’s a pace of 2.21 anime episodes/ paced episode. Earlier we calculated that there would be 324 episodes of the anime left, making for 1280 episodes total. This would mean that there would be around 578 One Pace episodes by the end. And One Pace would probably wrap up in, let’s say 376 weeks, because as I said, they’ll probably finish editing the final arc a week or two after the last episode airs.

x = 578/376

x = 1.53 episodes per week

      Now that’s a relaxed pace. 1-2 episodes per week? That’s so slow, I’m not even sure if I’ll remember what I watched last week next time I watch some episodes. The only problem is some of the pre-timeskip still haven’t been edited. They’ll probably be done by the time they finish the final arc, but that’s not gonna work out fast enough. You’ll hit your first roadblock about 7 weeks in when you need to watch the Baratie arc and it’s not done. And don’t even get me started on how many arcs aren’t done in dub or Spanish sub yet. Hopefully you could just switch to the anime or manga when you hit these arcs, readjusting how many episodes/chapters you need to watch/read when you do. But that’s a bit of an excessive amount of math for something that’s supposed to be fun. So yeah, if you’re still convinced you shouldn’t get into One Piece until it’s ended, maybe this is the option for you.

If you plan to read the manga (Colored):

Since 2012, Shueisha has made a colorization of One Piece. It’s not a fan coloring, it’s as official as it gets. Many consider the color schemes portrayed in this version as the most canon, as the majority are pulled straight from whatever colored illustrations of Oda’s they can find. And quite frankly it makes the manga at least 10 times more beautiful. It’s especially great if you have trouble interpreting dense, small black and white panels.

      This one is a doozy. You’d think all I gotta do is calculate how far behind the colored manga usually and just adjust from there, right? Wrong. Because how far behind the colored manga is, or how frequently they release volumes in full color, is one of the most inconsistent things I have ever seen. You wanna see what I’m talking about? This is how they’ve chosen to release each volume since 2012:

Volume 1-12: July 15, 2012

Volume 13-23: September 28, 2012

Volume 24-63: December 4, 2012

Volume 64-65: April 4, 2013

Volume 66-68: December 20, 2013

Volume 69-70: August 25, 2014

Volume 71-72: September 16, 2015

Volume 73-75: October 4, 2016

Volume 76: December 2, 2016

Volume 77: March 3, 2017

Volume 78: July 2, 2017

Volume 79: September 4, 2017

Volume 80: December 4, 2017

Volume 81-82: March 3, 2018

Volume 83: October 4, 2018

Volume 84-86: August 2, 2019

Volume 87-92: September 16, 2020

     How I am supposed to find out how long it will take for Shueisha to colorize the final volume of One Piece is beyond me. I guess the first step would be to look at how far behind the manga each release was on average, but I’m going to ignore all the ones before 2013, because those were clearly just Shueisha catching up really fast cause they just started and didn’t want to be dozens of volumes behind forever. So of the 14 publications between 2013 and now, on average the last chapter of the last volume they colored was 97.78 weeks after that chapter had published in Weekly Shonen Jump. This means that if the final chapter of One Piece is chapter 1212 on December 28, 2025, then you can expect the final colored volume to publish November 14, 2027.

x = 1212/359

x = 3.37 chapters/week

     So if you prefer the manga but don’t want to read 5 chapters every week for 5 years, this might be a better option for ya. But yea, I have no doubt my prediction is at least a little off for this one.

If you plan to watch the anime (dubbed):

Unlike the 4KidsTV and Odex dubs of One Piece, the FUNimation dub is a perfect way to enjoy One Piece. The DVDs come with enjoyable commentary and a marathon mode, great for binging.

       FUNimation’s releases of the dub are inconsistent, although not nearly as erratic as the colored manga release. However, there was recently a 2-year hiatus we only just got out of. Since Episode 1′s dub in May 27, 2008, the dub has gotten as far as Episode 614. But that’s only looking at the DVD releases. If you’re willing to stream on FUNimationnow, the dub is as far as 641, and if you’re willing to digitally purchase it from an e-shop such as the Microsoft store, it goes all the way to Episode 654. With that being said, that would mean that on average, FUNimation dubs 1.004 episodes per week. Although if we go back to before the two-year hiatus so as to exclude it from the average, it’s actually 1.10 episodes per week. Not a huge difference, actually. And then if we look solely after the two-year hiatus, it’s actually 2.25 episodes per week, which is insanely faster. It’s hard to tell what the future of the dub will be. I can’t assume they’ll go this fast forever, so I’m just going to take the average of all 3 and say it’s 1.45 episodes per week. Don’t know if that’s the best mathematical approach, but the number seems about right.

     So knowing that the dub is at Episode 654 and looking at our previous guesstimation that the anime will be 1280 episodes long, we can predict that it will take 431 weeks before the dub catches up and ends. That would be in 2029! Sounds quick at first until you notice it’s 4 years behind!

x = 1280/431

x = 2.96 episodes per week

      Looks like it’s almost exactly 3 episodes per week. Not as much less of a workload as I expected, compared to catching up to the sub. You know, I figured those 4 extra years would make you binge a lot slower.

Final Thoughts:

      There’s a lot of my math that was estimation, approximations, extrapolations. Feel free to correct me or fact check me, especially if you plan on using this. I figured this would be a fun thought excercise. There’s also a lot of smaller variables I simply didn’t want to take into account because of how long this is already. For example, reading the black and white manga. The calculation can vary slightly depending on if you read it the day it’s published (which I assume would have to be a fanscan unless you can read Japanese), reading the weekly publication legally on Viz.com, waiting for the physical volume release. The dub can also vary depending on whether you buy from Microsoft, wait for the FUNimationnow release, wait for the DVDs, or wait for the Collection sets. So feel free to take this into account.

[techouspeaks]

Healin Good Precure Final Verdict and thoughts on Tropical Rouge Precure!

First off, sorry I haven’t been around that much to even talk about Healin Good. First, I just kinda lost interest in doing reviews for a while and then some personal snit just had to be thrown in when I really wanted to discuss somethings. So this review is kinda gonna be slightly unorganized but I’ll do my best and I’m really sorry about Precuruary again not being this year. This past year has been whoo! Just yeah...Anyway! I will try to be more active when I can be but I can’t make any promises right now. So onto the review! 

I know every year I’ve said that each precure seems a little better than the previous ones in some aspects. Like for example, Star Twinkle I felt was a little better than Hugtto in terms of overall enjoyment and characters, but it lacked developing the plot and the lackluster in the personality of the princesses. They could have had each princess have the certain traits expected from their signs such as Virgo being a perfectionist and Aries being hot tempered. 

Than again, maybe it’s cause I just think anything is better than Kira Kira! lol! I know I get a little harsh with that series. Given the other series that came before and after, can you blame me? There are better series than that. (In my opinion, anyway.)

Healin Good, I can definitely say this was a good ride for both plot, character, music and animation! Yes, the designs for the cures were a little lack luster and I still can’t help but get Cure Flora vibes from Grace, but eventually, I got used to it. In fact, while I know it was the anniversary of Yes Precure 5 Go Go!, I almost felt like they should have just made that into a separate movie and have Healin Good meet Go Princess since the cures there have a lot in common!

But of course being their own thing. They’re not copies of the GoPre girls, but they share definitely some things in common such as Cure Grace and Cure Flora’s flower theme, Cure Sparkle and Cure Twinkles love for fashion and star themes and Cure Fountain and Cure Mermaid for the water themes.

In terms of plot, it wasn’t like the most amazing plot ever, but it was decent and coherent. It was a serviceable plot that did the bare minimum and not be too crazy and outlandish and the morals at least made more sense unlike Twinkle. There was no getting grumpy dog people to learn to smile and be happy. 

Yes, the one thing that doesn’t make sense is how Cure Earth came to be and I will admit she as well as Fountain are the least interesting girls. I know people love Fountain/Chiyu! For me, blue cures have interesting stories but a personality that doesn’t fit it. They’re okay but I always feel like they’re just the cool kid that’s typically the responsible role model and nothing more, with the exception of Cure Marine and Cure Beauty, the later fits that role but she also has a bit more to her in terms of personality. The backstory for Fountain/Chiyu doesn’t make sense either. She sees the horizon line between the ocean and the sky and wants to jump that high. Then at first she’s just sees high jump as fun, which annoys a rival of hers and thus she’s pressured to like it more than just a school thing. It’s weird and almost complicated...

Cure Earth/Asumi is sorta a motherly kind of character since she’s in her 20s in appearance, but still a fish out of water. I’m glad they didn’t make her a teen so she had to go to school with the girls and she’s like the first adult main cure (Like I get Cure Flower, ancient cures and the Hugtto Cures, but I’m talking as in the main team member and not a side character type thing.) Which is nice, it shows that yes adults can be heroes. I mean we had adult superheroes all the time and the teen was just the less experienced side kick. 

As for personality, she’s a bit of a blank slate but I love her design! I know Green Cure and all wah, but hate to say it, the more people complain that there isn’t a green cure in every season, the more I’m kinda glad cause people get sooo uptight like they’re whitewashing a character or something. Like stop! It’s just a team color for Pete’s sake! Like even if they did her as a green cure, she’s kind of bland in personality so would you be happy with a green cure that’s sorta the blank slate?

I’m not saying she’s bad. She can be funny and it can be enjoying to watch her understand feelings and things since while an adult physically, she was basically born out of a whim and only knows how to talk and understand the basis of the Healing Garden as well as Princess Latte and Queen Teatinu. Shoot, she couldn’t even eat on her own.

My two favorite characters by far have to be Nodoka aka Cure Grace and Hinata aka Cure Sparkle. Hinata is just a fun character. She’s emotional, got a go getter attitude and I like the fact she’s into fashion but isn’t over the top annoying or particularly snobby, kinda like Cure Twinkle but different that Cure Twinkle has more of a professional attitude and higher skills, while Cure Sparkle is a bit clumsy and overly excited about everything. She has insecurities and flaws but thanks to Nodoka and Nyantoran, she gets over these rather quickly.

As for Nodoka, I know people are disappointed that her illness turned out nothing more than Daruzen, I don’t blame them for going this route. Yes, it kinda gives an unrealistic impression that the disease just simply needs to jump out of someone and they’ll be okay. I can’t help but think it might have backfired especially given the time since we had the you know what virus. So many kids were watching their families get destroyed and while, yes, it would be good to teach kids to stay strong and fight through it and that it takes time for people to recover fully, it could also be too overbearing for them as well if they happen to have a loved one who is sick or they themselves and are just constantly reminded of the suffering.

Put it short, there’s kind of no best way around it. You can either do it this way and there might be some kids that think well the virus can just jump out or do it the other way and risk kids getting depressed and anxious, which would be bad as depression and anxiety in kids has risen a lot since 2020. For me, I think kids are smarter than we give them credit. They are gonna be aware that stuff in cartoons/anime works differently than in the real world, so I feel like the route they took was better. It was already risky having the main character be sick and being put in the hospital to begin with.

With that being said, Nodoka is a good character for more reasons than her being sick and fighting an illness. She wants to be supportive because she needed support. Just because her illness turned out to be some alien germ from another dimension, doesn’t make her desire to help any less meaningful. She did suffer a lot, fought through pain and suffering through an unknown amount of time. Just cause she healed miraculously doesn’t make her suffering not real and her inspiration and influence on others less so.

Bottom line, it doesn’t matter how she healed, she still suffered, got inspire by those who helped her and thus inspired those to work hard on getting better. The message is still there.

But there is another thing that makes her special and that is when Nodoka told Daruzen off! That alone was the most inspiring thing ever done in a Precure series in a LONG time! It’s not just her standing up to a bully. She stood up to her abuser! And yes, I do like Daruzen and at first I thought they would be a cute couple, but I will admit when Daruzen took things too far and as someone that’s been sexually harassed and known people who were forced on, I can’t push forward with the ship or Daruzen for that matter. 

When Daruzen needed help, Nodoka pushed him away and then he outright made her feel bad about it. “I thought you were about helping others.” This is a tactic used by abusers, taking advantage of the kindness their victim usually has and congrats to Rabirin for being the best partner to a Precure. 

Nodoka holds no responsibility for Daruzen. He used her thus abused her, he caused so much pain not only onto her but to those around her. Put it short, Nodoka doesn’t owe Daruzen anything! That to me is one of the most important lessons to teach anyone especially young kids. It’s good to teach others to be kind and forgive folks, but if you don’t want to than don’t especially if they have done nothing but hurt you. Your health including mental health comes first above all else. It’s not selfish especially if the one needing help was selfish first and didn’t think about you in the long run.

So as much as I think that Daruzen X Nodoka could have been cute, I can’t help but applaud Toei for going this route instead. Especially these days, I feel it’s really important teach kids that it’s okay to think of what’s best for you, including putting a limit on helping people and setting boundaries. I’ve known even family members and friends that were in this situation where they had to stop helping someone, because that person took advantage of them and they had to put their foot down, cause they had to finally think of their own health and well being. It’s not selfish. It’s important to take care of yourself first!

Speaking of mascots, all the mascots are useful including Latte, which is the main mascot that is in peril the most since the villains make her sick. However, she is far from a passive pup as some people pass her off as. She does know when to put her paw down and even in the midst of her suffering, she does try when she can to help. Even go as far as refusing Nodoka’s care until she and Rabirin settle their differences to work together. She also has the ability to sense when the earth needs help and is the only animal that can do this. She also refuses Cure Earth’s/Asumi’s overly servitude towards her, showing she knows when to speak out about her own well being. True Latte doesn’t get too much to shine but when she does it’s rather welcomed.

Normally with mascots, I don’t care for them since they tend to be typically one note. The mascots for Healin Good are all memorable with their own personality  and they grow along side their respected cures. The only mascots I know that grew a lot was Yes! Precure 5/Go! Go’s Coco, Nuts and Milky, Go Princess Precure’s Aroma and Puffu. Mofurun only showed much growth in the movie where they became a cure. Though Mofurun is still more useful than the mascots in Kira Kira. (Yes, I will always take the opportunity to slam on that series!)

Speaking of Kira Kira...Oh boy. Well I was a little excited to finally have an ocean themed precure series with a mermaid, my excitement kinda dropped when I noticed the transformation compact and transformation. I’m gonna go a head and review the first episode since I watched it. 

I’ll first start off the with positives and move on to what I wouldn’t say are horrible things, but more so my overall concerns with it.

First, like others, I’m glad we got a lead cure that isn’t pink for once. This is a first since Splash Star Precure, whom I don’t think Cure Bloom counts. I mean in the first season, she kinda is pink, but then when she becomes Cure Bright her colors change so I kinda count her as being mix color, while Cure Dream was the first official Pink Cure.

I also like that while Manatsu/Cure Summmer is another happy go lucky type, she does have a bit more zest and isn’t the overall cutesy happy go lucky cures we’ve come to know. She’s different from Cure Star and Cure Yell, in which she’s happy go lucky in a more of a hot headed sense, than the cute, been bullied but still brave kid which was Cure Star and Yell.

Manatsu/Summer reminds me of Lina Inverse from Slayers and other similar red head characters from that era, which makes sense she is a red head. (Least Manatsu is).

The transformation and battle scenes are better too. I was worried that because the pact and start of the transformation looked so similar to Kira Kira, I was worried it would be exactly the same but it’s different enough it seems. My only gripe is that maybe Cure Summer’s final pose at the end for her transformation sequence could have been a bit more dramatic. Her pose look lack luster compared to the rest of her transformation.

The animation in Cure Summer’s attack is amazing but the 3D part of is a little distracting somewhat. I feel like the sun could have been done in 2D. Other than that, animation is gorgeous! Bright and colorful with nice detailing within the characters and background.

I also can’t help adore Cure Coral/Sango’s design and character. She hasn’t appeared that much, but already I kinda already adore her! She’s so precious and I can tell she’s already gonna be a fan favorite among many! I also like how she seems sweet and quiet but isn’t shy either. She’s rather just down to earth, just doing her own thing but still being polite. Refreshing take especially on a purple cure!

Now onto my issues with it. Starting with a bit too many similarities to Kira Kira such as the transformation pact and the overly energetic, silly theme. I don’t mind silly when it’s balanced out right. For me, it’s a bit too crazy and kinda the issue I had with Cure Princess and sometimes Cure Marine. I get that it’s about motivation VS procrastination. I hope they work it out to teach kids there’s an importance of both. Just teach that you need a bit of balance. Right now, it’s just not. Manatsu kinda gets on my nerves a little bit and then you have Laura...

I kinda have mix feelings about Laura. On one hand, I do relate to her. She’s a little vain and I like the fact that despite being a main character, she’s actually quite selfish! Her whole desire to do this mission is out of hope that she’ll be the next Queen, which apparently, the current Queen isn’t her mom I guess, but she’s chosen to be in line and she seems to want to be Queen simply for the selfish reason to be praised and adored, not cause she wants to help her people. I like this for the fact that it makes her far different from Cure Milky/Lala, whom many have said she was probably a little too responsible for her age, but I digress, Lala/Cure Milky is one of my favorite cures. 

What I’m concern is the fact that Laura will outshine the cures and take over the spotlight especially when she becomes a Cure. There’s no denying this will happen especially since it’s been confirmed the Midseason Cure is called Cure Le Mer, which is her last name. She seems to already outshine the mascot for the series Kururun, who is the first mascot to not meet the lead cure in the first episode because the poor thing barely gets any screen time!

I noticed this especially when the products for the series came out that Kururun is barely in any of the merchandise. I guess after focusing so much on the mascots for three seasons, having at least one be the token mascot to save all humanity, they decided “Eh, lets just make a mermaid the star seller and just have the mascot be squeezed in for those who want a stuffed animal.”

I get that the Midseason cures tend to take over the spotlight anyway, but I don’t always agree. Cure Scarlet and Cure Earth kinda grew along side the other cures. Taking time for both them and another Cure or character to shine as well. With Laura, because she’s already part of the group, hopefully won’t  outshine  the cures, but being how much they merchandise and show her off, it’s looking a bit bleak for anyone who isn’t Manatsu/Cure Summer when Cure Le Mer takes the stage.

I also fear since the series was announce that Asuka/Cure Flamingo maybe too much like Cure Chocolate given how her design is similar. I love her design, her’s is my favorite design of the bunch, but you can’t deny she looks like Cure Chocolate with longer hair. I hope they give her and the other cures more personality and growth especially before Laura becomes a cure.

Other than those gripes, I don’t hate it and do like some things about it. Maybe I’m just used Healin Good’s more relaxed theme that I’m kinda skeptical for this more wild, eccentric series. Maybe it will grow on me in time. Hoping it does since as said, been wanting an ocean themed Precure series with mermaids in it for a looong time!

Without further a due, I give Healin Good Precure 8 out of 10 stars. Won’t rate Tropical Rouge Precure until the end of the season. Seeya in the next review!

8 Stars Level: “Great!”