#and Komachi... Komachi my sweet girl why do they do this to you. why do they make Natsu say ''i feel calm around you''

[greenscreen-dress]

I wish all Precure seasons that attempt to force a reciprocated romance between young teen magical girls and animal-fairy mascots that turn into Ambiguously Adult Hot Guys™ a very Stop That Immediately Dear Gourd Why. 🫠

[redge]

【OSHI NO KO】 Season 2 Episode 15

When I started consuming this media, I made a Twitter thread while watching Season 1. Now that I caught up with the manga, I'll just put my thoughts here on Tumblr.

The opening song is one of the best parts of this season.

This manga panel made it to anime! 🤣 As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. 🤪

It's so interesting that season 2 has been using this I'll Go With Sweet Today scene for two episodes now. As far as I know, the only time Abiko-sensei mentioned Sweet Today was when she and Kichijouji-sensei made it through a deadline. It's curious.

Himekawa Taiki, all shaved and clean (this sounds wrong but why not HAHA!)

Abiko-sensei, can we have a Tokyo Blade spin-off where Blade falls in love with Tsurugi? If not Abiko-sensei, then Aka-sensei, can we please have that angle for Taiki and Kana? Yes? HAHAHA

Another deviation from the manga (that I actually like haha). As Aqua is watching Kana rehearse, that's when he started thinking of "memories when I was happy". His thought process here was more emphasized compared to the manga.

My favourite OnK character is Arima Kana and it was in this chapter that I thought maybe Kana and Aqua have a chance? Above anything, I just want Arima Kana to be happy. Please Aka-sensei. T_T

Please give this doctor his peace of mind. For everyone's mental health, he needs to calm down and let Aqua be the teenager that he's supposed to be come on Gorou-sensei.

The other side of the fandom hates Kana Arima for liking Aqua even when he is dating someone else like it's a nasty feeling to have and you can actually do something about it. Well, if Kana was that bad of a woman, she would've run to Aqua and assisted him. But she chose to stand by because Akane was there. And why would Kana run to him? Who is she to Aqua, anyway? Heck at this part of the story, she doesn't have any idea what she is to Aqua (even after chapter 150, I am not convinced. Yes, I have trust issues). She's just a girl Aqua entrusted the B-Komachi members with. Right? Even that childhood boast is just her foolish assumption.

Now let's put emotional acting to use. Imagine you're Kana Arima. You have this crush, you see him often, but you can't do anything about it because he has a girlfriend. When you're suffering from jealousy, he'd state that he's just dating for work. Then he makes a "plan to make his partner happy", then he avoids you, then tells you he's protecting you, then tells you he can't help but have fun when he's with you. And after all those things you still don't know what you are to him. 🙃

Why do some people condemn this woman for having this hopeless romantic love for Aqua? If anything, our enemy here should be Aqua. I mean, Ruby says it all, right? ↓

Kidding. I love Aqua, he's just a broken, lost and confused teenager but I love Kana so much more please give this character the happiness she deserves I beg you Akasaka-sensei. T_T

There's something crucial missing from Gotanda-san's "I'd thought for sure that..." that was in the manga. But then, what importance would other characters' thoughts be if we have no clear proof what (who) Aqua is thinking, from his own mouth? So Aqua, when will I know your feelings, my dear child? 😅

Trigger warning for the next screencaps

This was painful but Aqua's monologue before the execution of that Sayahime and Touki scene was 100 times more painful for me. Actually, Aqua having these last memories of Ai as his mother is torture.

The voice actor of Kana posted on Twitter (X) about this scene. Interesting, right?

TL;DR:

Akasaka-sensei, conclude this manga already please 😅

[so-bitya]

okay, didn't get to talking about the show fooor a while now because I was trying to hold in all my complaints until it was over lol, but it's over now🎉yippee!🎉 so I can complain to my heart's content

so obviously there's some good parts, like the action (in episode 2), seeing everyone again with their upgraded designs ♥ (except Syrup big L), and having them dealing with adult issues, ok and now that's out of the way

-hype

the show wasn't meant to be some masterpiece but hoo boy that was kinda messy right? I really felt like the show writers weren't sure of where they were going with the show and so the execution felt lackluster. I definitely felt the show lost its momentum as it went on and the conclusion was simple to say the least.

The beginning started off quite nice. Seeing Nozomi have issues as an adult over expending herself for her student and failing. I liked how the show brought up divorce, a problem without a easy solution. I thought a major theme of the show was gonna be about the difficulties of being an adult and the life you dreamed of not turning out the way you want? And it would have been so good but instead took a left turn and make it about pollution like??

It felt so forced and genuinely less impactful, because how did the girls contribute to pollution?? what did this have to do with them becoming adults??? Depression works just fine! and having the monsters come from human misery just makes more sense? (didnt that happen anyway in episode 5 while hearing nozomi's and coco's insecurities?) but instead I gotta deal with this angel freak attacking people out the random and im supposed to take her seriously like ok.

and is it just me or was the time theme just thrown in there too? It didn't really feel like the girls were focused on the past that much. I thought the girls were going to deal with clinging to the past, lost time, and the pains of growing up? which would have more poignant then nozomi randomly fainting for a week and waking up just fine.

overall the beginning showed a lot of promise but it really didn't deliver as it went on. and no I didn't expect them to do something new?? but just stay in line with the themes they had, really felt like they tossed the whole adult precure concept out the window.

-action

ohhh my gosh the fight scenes?? they were so dull, like I was counting the amount of times they animated the girls actually hit something (it wasn't much) which is so disappointing because episode 2 Nozomi had such great action. she was beating up the villains with blood and gore it was insane, but now we got this like....

most of the show reused these cgi goons with bland designs, and we completely lost the monster of the week concept, so the monsters didn't feel like they were in harmony with the girls issues. The final boss was okay i guess, but yeah it really showed the lack of budget if they couldn't even animate most of the fights for the show.

-teamwork

and the biggest thing that bothers me is the lack of teamwork? like, this is a magical girl team show, why are they solving their problems individually?? Where's the friendship? Where's the love?? At most you get an episode of one girl helping another, but that's like two on screen max and that's so sad?

Why did Komachi help Saki off-screen? Why didn't they spend time baking with each other? Why didn't Rin have a convo with Nozomi? Why are all these fun, sweet moments being passed up? like they have their weekly drink parties, but they honestly feel like meetings. Especially if this is how they're acting after not being in contact for years?? What about a party, a huge sleep over and they all get blasted and have to deal with hangover the next day, like what about fun??

I dunno I felt sad watching uraras episode, which yes it was good and it was very nice to see her reconnect with Syrup, but then I remember the past urara episodes and the girls were always there supporting her. They showed up at her work, delivered her scripts, and sang her a "we love you urara" song with choreo and everything?? What happened to that team? they don't even notice or care? It all just feels so lonesome and humorless which is honestly the most disappointing part.

-romance

like what was the point. Why did coco need an apartment? boy can turn himself into a plushie, was him living with nozomi too raunchy? all for a romcom situation we never saw, which would've been great for them learning how to live like a couple??

the romance just felt so divorced from the rest of the story and unnecessary at times. And it wouldn't have been so bad if they let their personalities shine? Like why not focus on that Nozomi was inspired by Coco and how he feels about her being a teacher? (instead of stalking her 💀)

Or what about Nuts and Komachi? He was her editor before, he has nothing to say to her now that she's an accomplished writer? They were all friends before, let it show! Who cares if it was romantic of not? Why wouldn't all the girls be excited to see Coco and Nuts too? Why wouldn't Urara and Syrup still stay in contact (but he has time to deliver Nozomi's love letters?) No big reunion party?? WHY DID NO ONE STAY IN CONTACT WITH EACH OTHER????

It's the same issue the yes 5 shows had with romance, especially with Coco/Nozomi, bending itself around for melodrama. the reason no one else kept in contact with each other, was to build up coco and nozomi. the reason the time flower drama existed was for coco and nozomi.

I feel like im being harsh, but I just can see it being better executed. Or not even! Just something more substantially that fit the themes of them growing up. Like why bring up all those issues of marriage if they weren't going to solve them on screen! Or i dunno, break up and move on with life!

(sorry for the splash girlies, who had their duo come back only to have their stories revolve around two guys that never show up 💀)

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 191

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 42 - “Rin and Karen’s Secret Promise” Date watched: 1 June 2020 Original air date: 2 December 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/FiOgssJ Transformation Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6k6SzS0 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Just a couple of gals being pals: part 2

Karen and Rin seem like an odd pair of friends. This has been pointed out before by me, and by the show itself. In a way, they resemble Nagisa and Honoka from the first series, so while they don’t share as tight of a bond as the original duo, they do have a unique closeness in that “opposites attract” kind of way. Today we’re going to explore that a little more!

The Plot

It’s now December so the girls get to decorating Natts House for the Christmas season sale. Everyone contributes in their way to make sure it looks immaculate, but they forgot to get flowers, so Nozomi voluntells resident flower experts Rin and Karen to go get some.

In Nightmare, Hadenya mocks Bunbee for his constant failure and reminds him that failures usually get the Black Paper. (remember this for next episode)

Rin and Karen arrive at Fleuriste Natsuki, only for Rin’s mom to ask Rin to tend to the shop so she can pick up the twins. Since Rin is stuck, she suggests Karen take the flowers back to Natts House by herself, but Karen offers to stay and help as well. Rin doesn’t think she’s up to the task, but Karen proves her capacity when she helps some customers while Rin is tied up with a phone order. Karen impresses Rin with her knowledge, and Rin impresses Karen with her people skills. Since they’ve been gone a while, Komachi begins to worry about them back at Natts House, and Urara fears they may have gotten into another fight over flowers. Nozomi, however, has full confidence in her decision to send both of them together and tells the others not to worry. Rin and Karen continue to work side by side, and at the end of the shift, Karen observes that Rin is really passionate about flowers, in a more tender way than herself, and tells Rin she could do this for a career. Rin admits that while she certainly enjoys helping out at the shop and playing sports, she doesn’t see them as future careers, and she has no real dream for the future. Karen admits to Rin that she’s in the same boat, even though she’s able to apply herself fully to any task, she struggles with identifying an actual long-term goal for the future. They each compliment Nozomi, Urara, and Komachi in their ability to find and work towards a dream so steadfastly. Then, Rin proposes that they make a promise: whenever one of them finds a dream, they’ll tell the other first. Karen agrees and they share a smile. Unknown to them, Bunbee is around the corner and overhears their conversation, silently mocking their shared goal.

A little later, the pair are on the way back to Natts House, each with flowers in tow, when Bunbee intercepts them, turning some falling leaves into a giant leaf Kowaina. Rin and Karen quickly transform into Cures Rouge and Aqua and start to battle the Kowaina but it overpowers them. Bunbee suggests that, since they have no dreams, they are in despair and should join Nightmare to gain more power. They rebuke him and vow to find their dreams someday. They argue back and forth with Bunbee about the validity and importance of hopes and dreams, similar to Nozomi’s fight with Despariah in episode 39, but he manages to kick them around. Nozomi, Urara, and Komachi arrive in time to tell him that their friends would NEVER fall to despair, and they transform into Precure. They kick the Kowaina a few times, but despite being a leaf, it’s very sturdy. They then turn back to the ideological debate with Bunbee, speaking of the important things they’ve learned from their friends Rin and Karen. Mint recalls the tiara that Rin made for the wedding (ep 32) and Milk remembers how Karen took care of her when she was sick (ep 34). Both instances displayed some true passion and sincerity, and it fosters a realization in Rouge and Aqua. They stand back up, newly energized by the amount of appreciation and support that their friends hold for them, and together they perform Rouge Burning and Aqua Tornado, destroying the Kowaina. Bunbee flees.

Back at Natts House, everyone admires the flowers Rin and Karen brought, but there is some latent curiosity about why they brought two different types: cyclamen and cattleya. Rin explains that they both felt two types would be better than just one, and Nozomi is happy about their choice. While the other three are busy, Karen confides in Rin that she may have found her dream, and Rin admits the same. They dance around admitting that it was the others’ strong words that made them realize how happy they felt working for others in the ways they did, and the audience is left to try to piece together exactly what their newfound dreams are for themselves. (don’t worry, we’ll get find out soon enough.) The episode closes on a shot of the flower arrangements.

The Analysis

Rin and Karen are a really fun duo to watch. I honestly do think it’s because they remind me of Nagisa and Honoka a lot. One is a short-haired working class sporty tomboy with feminine interests, the other is a long-haired intellectual from a wealthy family with absentee parents, and both are well-respected by other students. Before becoming Precure, they had little reason to interact, but now they’re friends. Obviously, the team dynamic means their friendships are different, but out of all the pairs of friends in this series, Rin and Karen bear the strongest resemblance to the originals. Regardless, I genuinely enjoy seeing them come closer, admiring and complimenting each other’s work, and opening up to admit that they don’t have dreams yet (another trait they share with their predecessors). Their promise to tell each other first if they find a dream is really sweet, and even Nozomi and Rin don’t have that kind of a friendship. I just love seeing their bond deepen here.

Unfortunately, the villain plot of this episode doesn’t do a whole lot to help, not in my view. I will always stand up for the girls standing up for the importance of hopes and dreams, which is what they’re doing here, but it just comes down to the same argument they had with Despariah a few episodes ago, or with Bloody the last episode: “Dreams are important!” “No they’re not, I’ll beat you!” until the girls prove that their friendship is actually more powerful. The kowaina is quite strange. It’s a giant leaf, but it’s as sturdy as a brick wall, but Bunbee does most of the fighting while the kowaina just stands around. To his credit, Bunbee is a pretty good fighter, with a devastating dropkick that incapacitates both clusters of girls, but fortunately everybody’s support for Rouge and Aqua inspires them to stand back up and finish off the monster. However, this episode also reinforces a running trend that’s been developing over the series, since the reform of Nightmare’s Dream Collet division: their opinion of Bunbee is in the toilet, and his constant losses do nothing to change this. In fact, this is the last time Bunbee will see the battlefield this season, as the next couple episodes will be fought by Hadenya and Bloody, and then Kawarino during the endgame. It was an alright final fight, but he didn’t use the full range of his abilities, particularly his projectiles, which would have been nice to see.

The best aspect to come out of this is that the Rin and Karen do finally start to realize their future dreams. They’re not expressed out loud quite yet, but this is also a 13 year-old series so I’m going to go ahead and reveal that Rin decides to pursue making jewelry and Karen wants to be a doctor. When you look at their past, it becomes pretty clear. Rin has had a penchant for it since she showed off the bracelet maker way back when, while Karen took her first steps way back in episode 6, when she was able to transform by realizing she wanted to help everyone. That’s the spirit she’s carried all season, and now she’s figured out how she can translate that into her goals for the future. I think it’s particularly great how it was choice words from their friends that made them realize what they love doing. Sometimes it takes that external push, people appreciating your passion when you don’t recognize it about yourself. I struggled with that for a long time, and while I knew kind of where I wanted to end up, a friend’s words definitely helped point me in the right direction. It’s good to see Precure do this, and it will be enjoyable to see how these characters grow and develop their dreams from here, over the rest of this season and the next one.

Some minor aspects I enjoyed were in the opening sequence, when they’re all decorating Natts House. Urara is trying to get position some spotlights just right on a display, because as a performer she knows how the right lighting can influence opinion. Komachi sets out a poem of hers intended to greet guests, and she gets flustered when Karen reads it. It goes:

“A holy day, a holy night. What sort of sky lies above you---... Once again, I wander in search Of you in the sea of stars this night...”

translation not guaranteed to be perfect

Also, Nuts is a total Scrooge, grumbling about how he doesn’t see the point of Christmas. Coco says the girls are enjoying it so it can’t be all bad, and Nozomi informs him that it’s a really important holiday for young girls. (Christmas in Japan is a big night for couples to spend time together.)

And the last bit is a little continuity, they use a Pinky named Clearkuman to copy fliers advertising their Christmas sale. This might be the only Pinky to recur, as it was seen doing the same task way back in episode 10. Also, I don’t think I’ve commented on the cards before that they use to summon Pinkies out of the Dream Collet, so here’s a look:

It’s just so transparently a toy, with the barcode and CARD IN on it. This is about the last chance they have to get kids to ask their parents for this big ticket item before Christmas, and then in 2 months the Rose Pact will be the hot new toy to have instead. So it goes.

All jokes aside, this was a solid episode with some characters I love spending time with and seeing grow, both because they remind me of the original pair and because they’re great in their own right. Next time, we turn our focus back to Komachi and her struggles with authorship. Look forward to it, it’s going to hurt.

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 3 kettei!

[venus-says]

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo Episodes 01-12

Roses are red, but roses are also blue.

Are you all ready for a precure overload for the next few weeks?

Yes, I'm back rewatching the previews precure series and reviewing them, and gotta be honest I'm so glad I'm back to doing these. Obviously, it would've been better if I had done the right thing and got back to doing these while Healin' Good was on hiatus and not now only 2 weeks before the show is back on TV (if the information we all have is correct), but I'm still suffering from the abstinence of my weekly precure dose anyway so this will fix the problem and give me an overdose for the next month or so.

Coming back to GoGo was a funny experience. Back in March I had watched about 10 episodes or so and I was HATING the show, I don't remember what was exactly that was making me feel that way but I seemed very aggressive in my notes, but for writing this post I decided to rewatch the episodes I had already seen, take new notes and everything, and in the second way around I liked this show WAAAAAY more. Like, if you compare my notes from March to the new ones I made this time around it's like two different people talking about two different shows.

Does this mean I think GoGo is perfect? Not really. I still have some problems, most of them were carried over from the first season, but after some more thought, the things I actually dislike are more or less related to a single character rather than the show as a whole. In fact, I think I liked these 12 episodes more than the first 12 of the first season and probably I like them more than the entire season as a whole? I think that because this is a sequel, I already know most of these characters, the dynamics they have, and the show doesn't need to take its time to explain those details to us leaving more space for them to work with the new characters for the season, also another thing that helps is that there are not many new characters outside the villains which gives the new additions to the cast even more space for them to shine.

I also like this season more on the thematic level. While on season 1 the themes were hopes and dreams, the theme for this season (at least from this starting point) is conveying/delivering your feelings which I feel works better for this cast than the theme of season 1 does, especially seeing how they really want us to buy in the romantic element for these two seasons. It is a bit on the nose, yes, after all, they have a delivery boy, a mailbox mascot, and a whole lot of letters going around, some of them even being sent by animals, but I like that. It's actually very charming seeing so many letters when we live in the era of e-mail where even e-mail is becoming "obsolete".

The plot of the season is, so far, pretty much the same. It's the Evil organization wants a Magical item related to Another world, that Magical item falls in the Precure hands, and the Evil organization starts to target them. The plot is so similar to the first season that they even have those useless little fairies that have no purpose at that all need to be collected on their transformation devices, this time around they at least have the excuse of looking for the monarchs, but still is a pretty bland part of the formula. But even taking this into consideration, as mentioned, I really liked these episodes by themselves, you know? The first episode was a really strong one, they have an episode focused on Urara that is also pretty good, and there's the one who's probably one of my favorite episodes ever where they're going to eat a cake but the cake goes missing and Komachi starts acting like a detective and they go on this very fun accusation game that later gets tied in with the villain of the episode and is just very absurd and also a lot of fun.

Another point I absolutely love for this season is the upgrade the girls got in terms of designs and powers. I love their new look, it's like they're wearing uniforms of different colors and it's just a new sleek design that in my mind really works well as bringing new air to the show. I also love how the new transformations look, much like what happened with Max Heart they got more vibrant and dynamic, and the new group roll call is also gorgeous, one of the most iconic of the franchise for sure. I also love the new attacks, especially Lemonade's, Mint's, and Aqua's that are very different from their season one attacks, I also like how despite not having an incantation/spell the animations aren't so long, they hit the sweet spot perfectly. And despite being more generic, I like the new phones they use as transformation items, if I wasn't so broke I would try to get one for myself because I really dig the design.

And speaking of powers, the action in this season has been SO GOOD??? After how much Yes relied on stock footage spam I wasn't expecting the jump in quality for the fight scenes would be this big. I don't know if they changed the art director or whoever is responsible for this part in the show in-between seasons but in these episodes, it has been awesome, the animation is very fluid, the fights are exciting, and even though the attack spam has been an element for some of them because the stock animations are shorter it doesn't feel as bad as in other seasons. It's sad that the show can't have everything so in a lot of cases whenever there's a fighting scene that is more detailed it means the other points in the episode will have drawings that are off-model (the most common thing I've noticed was Eyes in weird positions), but I think it's a fair trade.

The last part of this review will be to talk about the characters, and I'll start with where I have more problems just so we can end this up on a positive note.

So, it's not a secret my least favorite characters from the Yes cast are Coco and Nuts, and well that hate from season 1 comes back here but with some aggravating factors. Starting by the easy one, Nuts so far has been useless, if he had stayed in the Palmier Kingdom I wouldn't have made any major difference, at least not for these first 12 episodes. He's just there because the team needs a hub and for some reason, Karen can't use the storages of her family that aren't in use for herself, and that's it for Nuts.

Coco on the other hand... oh gosh. Do you know when during the first season I complained that Coco and Nuts human forms seemed like different characters than their fairy forms? So what happens with Coco here is something similar but is not really related to their form change and more with the character himself. Like, in the "prologue" in episode 1 fairy Coco is pretty much the Coco we left at the end of the last season then the butterflies appear and they have to go to the human world and getting there Coco assumes a sulky personality, thinking he alone is responsible for everything that is happening, and he starts to avoid the girls because he doesn't like that Nozomi is having to fight again, and yadda yadda yadda, and then Nozomi gives a speech to him and he's back to normal AND THERE WASN'T EVEN AN ENTIRE EPISODE OF HIM BEING LIKE THAT!!!!!!!! Like, I wouldn't like it if they had kept going on this line, but I think is much worse that they put in something that seems like it could be something deep, serious, that could bring interesting things in the future, and just drop that IN EPISODE FREAKING TWO. And then after this, he also loses his purpose, because Nozomi's infatuation(?) with him only comes up again in Episode 12 where they use it to make Nozomi feel jealous (which as we saw in the first season is a great plot, am I right?). All he does is be awfully dismissive to Milk and her letters, which yeah is in-character with what was shown in season 1 but it doesn't make it any less awful.

And probably the part of the plot I like the least is the royal drama that goes on with the Four Monarchs and Coco and Nuts. And the reason why I hate this is because when you stop to think the Monarchs are right to doubt from Coco and Nuts, but the show is obviously on their side so they wanna make the Monarchs seem like pricks that don't trust in CocoNuts despite they being such good guys. But like, they're two monarchs that rule over a kingdom, and they left their people unattended during a time of crises where the kingdom is rebuilding itself when it's pretty obvious that a certain brown squirrel could've been left behind and do the things people in power should do and lead their people. And the worst thing of all is that this could've been avoided if instead of making a shot of them looking at the Kingdom in the "prologue" they could just have them in whatever reunion they were having with the monarchs because then we could be in CocoNuts defense since in the first time they were absent from the kingdom was because everyone else had been taken and in the second time they would be in a much similar situation to the monarchs that also left their people without a leader to follow because they were under imminent attack. And I know this is a kids' show, I shouldn't be complaining about this since this is a thing kids would miss anyway, but well, I'm not a kid, I'll look at these things as an adult, and I could come up with a way to make them have the same results, without major alterations, but with a better justification for everything they were trying to do, and if even I, a nobody, can think of this, they most definitely could've come with something better.

Leaving the rants behind (just for a little bit), we have probably the most important addition to this cast, Mimino Kurumi, Milky Rose, also known as our favorite butt in the ass fairy, Milk. Speaking first about Milky Rose, I love her, I've always had, her design is great, her transformation item that doubles as a weapon is a lot of fun, and she's powerful as hell. I also like how we saw the process of Milk finding the Blue Rose seed and taking care of it as the episodes would go so it wasn't something that came out of nowhere, which I appreciate. My problems here come with how they portray Kurumi because while with the other girls she still acts the same, with Nozomi is like they reverted her character to the way she was back when she was first introduced and I don't like that. It's a cheap way to introduce a conflict that shouldn't even exist. And speaking of things that shouldn't exist, why is she keeping her identity secret anyway? Like there's no reason at all for that, is just to keep the secret vibes but even that doesn't work because while the show didn't tell our protagonists he information so they are in the dark and living the mystery, we as an audience already know Kurumi is Milk so it's a secret that it's not a secret thus it's not interesting.

But here's where the positives start to appear again because we also have Syrup's (and Mailpo) addition to the cast and I really like him. We don't have much info on him yet other than a few flashes of his past/thing he's looking to find in the Cure Rose Garden, but these episodes served to establish how he'll interact with these characters and the things he has learned with them that help in building the base for his development. Another aspect of him that I like is that he's very connected to the "delivering your feelings" theme of the show, and not just because he's a delivery boy. He's something that sees the emotional value of things and these are things he wants to protect, and judging by his actions I feel like the only way he feels so keen on this is because he probably lost something or someone important to him and that will connect with his backstory somehow, and I'm very excited to see more of him (and to know if my theory is correct too).

I wanted to have a paragraph for our heroines but not a lot changed for them, they had good character-focused episodes in this first batch but none of them actually was developing anything, at least not anything that was new so there's not a lot left to talk about them. And I kinda feel the same way about the villains, the Eternal is pretty much like a museum and I like their concept as villains, but Scorp wasn't very interesting as a general, and Bumbee became Team Rocket (which is not a bad thing) so there wasn't much out from the villains just yet for me to be able to give them any more elaborated opinions.

All in all, this was a very good set of episodes and I'm feeling that the journey with GoGo will be a good one.

So, that's it from me for now, what are your thoughts on GoGo? Are you also in the team that thinks this OP slays and it's one of the best of the franchise like I am? Did you also felt compelled to buy one of those rose-scented aroma diffusers after this show? Let me know what you think in the comments down below. Stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so so much for reading until this far, and until the next time, see-ya~

[starlight-ascension]

so my friend is on yes5

I post these partly for fandom entertainment and partly so i can look back at them later.

You know the drill, reaction highlights and all that

This was a while ago and i’m not going to scroll SUPER far so i’m just doing eps 5-7

⋆⛧*┈┈┈┈﹤୨♡୧﹥ ┈┈┈┈*⛧⋆

So at the end of episode 4, she said “i’ll watch one more so i can see the intelligence one join the team”. 👀👀

She’s begun commenting on all the fights like they’re pokemon battles. “Cure Mint used protect!” “Cure Lemonade used Lemonade Flash! Cure Rouge used Rouge Fire! Cure Dream used Dream Attack! Nightmare monster fainted!”  “Kowainaa used slam! Precure avoided the attack! Kowainaa used whirlwind! Precure avoided the attack!” “Cure Lemonade used Lemonade Flash! Bug Suit avoided the attack!”

When Karen said she wasn’t lonely, the response was “are you sure about that?” and later told Karen to stop lying to herself

When they were talking about precure, she wondered “Will [Karen] believe it if Komachi tells her it’s real”

She won’t stop yelling at the villains. “FOR THE LAST TIME, THEY’RE NEVER GOING TO GIVE YOU THE DREAM COLLET”

When Karen’s magic blue butterfly appeared, the Evelyn Sader flashbacks were strong. I can’t believe I never thought about this until now.

“Wha--?? The butterfly disappeared??? Oh, well, I guess it's just that "i have to do everything myself" was kind of the wrong sentiment here, she has to realize that she's NOT alone and she DOESN'T have to do everything herself”

episode 6:

The sun is shining. Birds are chirping. I feel like making a joke about kids burning in [hell].

There was 3 heart emojis in response to the cute imagery of baby karen sleeping on the sofa

“Aww ;^; <3 <3 ToT ToT ToT ToT <3 <3 <3 <3″

She wondered how much older Coco’s human form is supposed to be (i’d put him at around being in his early 20s, so like 6-10 years older)

more ToT and <3 emoticons, 7 of each altering, when they were talking to the butler

And then...

“He still brought it with him, instead of leaving it back at the base? Is he just dumb or was it part of a plan?

It's FREE!

WAIT NO

DON'T TELL HE'S GONNA--

D~= !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He made the PINKY into a nightmare monster????”

She pointed out that if you can’t bring yourself to punch a monster made from a discount pokemon, why not just jump right to the magic attacks?

She calls this episode’s villain Bug Suit. “Bug Suit used bug shot! I don't know what move to compare this to but...a critical hit! HOLY FRIC HOLY FRICK YESSS KAREN”

She applauded Karen for coming up with the idea to take off the mask instead of using attacks that could hurt the Pinky

“YEEEEESSSS DIRECT HIT TO THE MASK FROM CURE ROUGE”

She congratulated Komachi on catching her first pinky

episode 7:

She laughed at Nozomi shoving Coco off the bed in her sleep. 3 XD’s total

“WAIT DID HE TRANSFORM JUST BEFORE HER MOM OPENED THE DOOR ...he did... Well THIS is awkward 0_0 ″

“strange boy trying to climb onto daughter's bed, how NSFW can the math there be oh my god”

She told Nozomi to tell her mom Rin gave her a stuffed animal

She mistook Kawarino for a girl

She asked Mantis Guy (as she calls him) what was in the pit and how he got out

She stole Nozomi’s catchphrase and tried to make a :-} emoticon but made a typo. In an EMOTICON. So anyways, :-}: is a new emoticon for when you have one of those lip piercings.

She got very excited at the presence of a lizard

She mentioned to take a shot every time a villain knocks Coco back into fairy form

“HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO THE SWEET TEDDY BEARS, HOW DARE YOU”  

i think i will.

She told Nuts it wasn’t his fault and he had no way of knowing it was a trick by villains. Then she commented on him saying “bastards”.

And a -_- face in response to Rin when Nuts went to human form

[melodicsiren]

A fanfic play-by-play

since my track record for actually finishing stories longer than one chapter is abysmal. I’m not actually caught up with the series either, but this idea is stuck in my head and won’t leave me alone, so here it is. 

HayaHiki hurt/comfort mostly, also bonding and fluff and such. If someone wants to take this and run with it, go for it, just link me!

The first part, and main catalyst for everything else is Hatato finding Hachiman half passed out on the classroom floor hours after school had ended (he forgot a book in his desk and went to pick it up after club) on a Friday afternoon. 

Hachiman is obviously sick, with a fever and half out of it, so Hayato manages to help him walk home, practically carrying him, and more than a little freaked out- they might not get along, but seeing him like that was scary. ALSO this is a fanfiction, in real life if someone is that sick, you take them to a hospital!

Once they get there, and Hayato helps open the door, he finds out no one else is home. Hachiman’s parents are overseas, and Komachi is gone on a club trip for a week. Hachiman promptly flops on his bed and passes out still in his uniform, and Hayato realizes there is no one else who’s going to be able to be there to make sure Hachiman doesn’t just die.

So then there’s a bit of Hayato trying to figure out how to take care of a sick person. Running off to a pharmacy to get way too many medications since he has no idea what might be needed, along with different types of foods and snacks. 

whatever food he tried first didn’t go over well, cause there’s a scene with Hachi throwing up, which is scary for Hayato cause it looks painful and there’s those moments in between where Hachi’s trying to catch his breath and coughing and it’s just intense. Once it’s over he crumples like his strings were cut and Hayato catches him so he doesn’t just crack his head open on the bathroom floor. 

There was also gonna be a nightmare/fever terrors scene but I never fully daydreamed it, so I have no details for that. Yeah. 

It’s Sunday afternoon by the time the fever comes down enough for Hachi to be lucid, and he finds out Haya’s been there the whole time, reading his books, and hasn’t slept once cause he was too worried.

Now that Hachi is actually awake, bonding can happen! So over the course of most of the next week there are things like watching TV together, laughing at bad commercials, making up their own dialogue, crying over anime, playing some video games. At one point Hachi falls asleep on Haya’s shoulder by accident and Haya texts Yumiko what you should do when a sick person falls asleep on you. Her answer is pretty much ‘risk moving them or accept your cushion-y fate’. The teacher calls her out for texting in class and she informs everyone that Haya’s currently taking care of a sick Hiki (maybe. I’m not sure about that part) So, Hachi’s friends drop by after school with homework and have a quiet visit and chat and such. 

Even though Hachi’s doing a lot better Haya doesn’t actually leave until Komachi comes home. 

Now they’re back to their usual lives, Haya hangs out with his group and Hachi has his, but there are little moments, like Haya asking to borrow the next book in a series he started, talking about playing a dumb video game together, texting each other things like that. One time Haya notices Hachi having a migraine and carries him off to the nurses office since he couldn’t stand. 

Things at Haya’s place start going south a bit, maybe some business thing that has everyone on edge. So once when Hachi notices Haya’s mask slipping he sends him a fake emergency text and they spend some time hanging out on the roof of the school. Yumiko follows them secretly with Eina and watches through a cracked in the door. 

Haya says something about how he’s glad Hachi didn’t do something that would get himself hurt again, and Hachi suddenly tries to act cold, but Haya just sort of hugs/tackles/noogies him “oh no you don’t- you can’t pull that lone wolf act on me anymore, I’ve seen you cry over an episode of Sailor Moon!” They’re both laughing “I was sick you jerk! And you were crying too!” 

So they’re cute together and Yumiko’s brain glitches and she just runs off and there’s some character development. Maybe in the Service Club room. That sounds wrong. She just ends up there by accident cause it was the first ‘empty’ room she saw to cry in cause she feels like she lost.

Later a couple of girls try to bully Hachi over Haya right in front of him, claiming that he’s clinging or something like that and Haya completely blanks and just scoops Hachi up and RUNS. Can’t make a scene, but also can’t just let that happen, so NOPE. Romance happens?

There’s a party at Haya’s place, and his parents start going on about his future how they expect it to be and everything’s still tense and it all gets too much and he runs off to hide in his bedroom closet and has an actual panic attack (yes, I’m projecting here.) He texts Hachi and it’s so off from his usual texting style that it’s got all Hachi’s attention. Hachi goes and picks him up, and Haya ends up staying with him for a while- this plot line is not resolved. I have no idea  if, when or why he ends going home. 

Finally, we have Haya’s friends being beans. They’re all hanging out talking about the festival during break, and Yumiko asks if Haya is gonna invite Hachi. He says he wants to, but knows it’s not something Hachi’d be comfortable with, and could be enough to trigger a migraine. So there’s a bit of a lull in that topic, then out of nowhere Tobe suggests they all go to an onsen. It’s quiet and not crowded and seems like it could be a lot of fun.

So everyone goes (maybe Yukino too? I think things between her and that group improved over the story, which would be a really sweet B-plot). There’s pillow fights and meals together and goofing around and Hachi having a moment cause he’s not used to Haya’s friends, but then one of them casually tosses him a can of his favourite coffee and it’s meant like a sign that things are good. 

yeah

that’s it. 

Almost every little section would be pages long and I do not have that kind of attention span.

[muthaz-rapapa]

Idol Precure Series: A Gratuitous Costume Parade

Because that is literally what this is. An excuse to dress everyone up in cute clothes. 

Not complaining, though. The girls look fabulous~

Anyways, y’all aware they were grouped together because of what their civilian identities have in common, right?

Well, that’s how I see it so I typed this up so I can use it for reference later.

Initially, it was just a companion (?) piece to this StarPre prediction post (therefore, the StarPre girls haven’t been included yet so go check out that post until they are) but now I’ll come back to edit/update it again when more new stuff is released or I find better quality pictures.

I also have some ideas for possible new groups if they ever add or mix-and-switch the current ones but that’ll be on another post altogether to avoid confusing myself, ahaha~

Anata no kokoro o mitoshi-tai (Team “I see through your heart”)

Members: Yukishiro Honoka, Hanasaki Tsubomi, Tsukikage Yuri, Shirabe Ako, Yakushiji Saaya

At a glance, it seems like they put all the smart ones together but it’s really because these girls all wear glasses.

Yep, the meganekko group.

I mean, they are smart but the key point here is clearly the glasses. Which is a tad bit of a shame because I feel like that (moe aspect) takes away from recognizing them for their intelligence first.

On another note, interestingly enough, I believe there’s a play on words with their unit name. If you say it out loud without knowing the context, it really sounds like “I want to look into your heart”. Can someone confirm this? My amateur Japanese isn’t enough to explain it eloquently.

Others who can fit into this group: Hishikawa Rikka

Bunbu Ranbu (”Martial Dance”)

Members: Myoudouin Itsuki, Aoki Reika, Yotsuba Alice, Hikawa Iona

Martial arts practitioners.

Also, I’m pretty sure Reika knows some kendo along with kyūdō since we’ve seen her wielding a giant ice sword as Cure Beauty multiple times throughout the franchise. We just didn’t see her do it in civilian form. Hmm. :/

Others who can fit into this group: ...

Eternal Moment

Members: Higashi Setsuna (Eas), Akagi Towa (Twilight)

Former villainesses who turned good and became a main heroine.

I’m so glad they didn’t forget about their evil alter-egos cuz Eas and Twilight (or perhaps just Twilight) can be considered separate characters in their own rights so it’s nice to see them show up in advertisement again every once in a while.

Hmmm, their name though... it looks like this unit might only be intended for two people (”Eternal” for Towa and “Moment” for “Setsuna”).

That is, unless they add onto it like HNMH (see below) if they plan to include more girls into this category. If so, then...

Others who can fit into this group: Kurokawa Ellen, Lulu Amour

Mystic Diva

Members: Kurokawa Ellen, Kenzaki Makoto

Haresora Concerto (”Clear Sky Concerto”)

Members: Minazuki Karen, Hojo Hibiki

Haresora Concerto with Mystic Diva (collab?)

Additional members: Tategami Aoi

Girls with strong affiliation to music...I think?

We saw Karen playing the violin in Yes!5 Precure’s OP and her parents are famous musicians themselves (just like Hibiki’s) but I can’t recall if she ever played any instrument during any particular episode in Yes! 5 or Gogo(?). Anyways...

Mystic Diva contains those who are renowned singers from another world (I don’t think Ellen sang much after she sorta permanently remained in human form but as Siren, she was one of the top contenders next to Hummy to sing the Melody of Happiness so there’s that).

Haresora Concerto obviously are for those who practice classical instruments.

Finally, the collaboration...is it a collaboration or did they really merge the two units together? If not, then Aoi will still need to be assigned to a group and if we’re going by the above criteria, she doesn’t fit into either one (Mystic Diva isn’t really her style anyway and she’s long given up the violin to play the guitar).

Maybe they’ll come up with another unit specifically focused on the rock genre in the future cuz we have Emiru and Lulu now so that’ll be enough to start one.

Others who can fit into Mystic Diva: Lulu Amour (+ guitar) [??]

Granted, Lulu didn’t sing before she arrived in present day Hugtto but she did say she’s going to bring music back to the future so...why not count that and the future as “another world”, hmm?

Others who can fit into Haresora Concerto: Yotsuba Alice (piano), Haruno Haruka (violin), Akagi Towa (violin), Kaidou Minami (violin) [??]

I don’t really associate Minami with music even though she is skilled at playing the violin. It’s just that compared to Towa and Haruka where the violin played a significant part in their story arcs, Minami and the violin is more secondary (pfft, not even) to her connection with the sea. But then again...Karen is in this group so I dunno :S

Did I forget anyone else who plays a classical instrument? I feel like I’m missing someone...

Others who can join the collab: Everyone listed above + Kasugano Urara (singing), Aisaki Emiru (singing, piano, violin and guitar)

Haruka Nozomu Mirai no Hana (”Wishing for the Flower of the Far Off Future”)

Members: Yumehara Nozomi, Haruno Haruka, Asahina Mirai, Nono Hana

The dream chasers.

And by far, the unit I find the most aesthetically pleasing. ^^

Also, I feel like some people would try to argue that Mirai “didn’t have a goal and therefore, she doesn’t belong in this group” so as she is my beloved daughter, I need to make them eat the dirt of their WRONGNESS.

Because MahoPre’s epilogue obviously showed her trying to find a way to reunite with Riko and Ha-chan, aka bring their two worlds together again, so that definitely counts as her dream (not to mention, the most ambitious one out of everybody else’s in this group). Furthermore, if you actually watched MahoPre more closely, you would know her dream of the two worlds coming together came to her gradually rather than happening at a particular moment and was solidified after she had to separate from her team after the Big Boss fight in the finale.

And you know what? Her wish was fulfilled in the end so y’all can suck it. :P

Others who can fit into this group: ...

Home Maid

Members: Kujo Hikari, Minamino Kanade, Madoka Aguri, Omori Yuko, Usami Ichika, Arisugawa Himari

Cooking or maybe, more accurately, sweets enthusiasts? *makes side eye at Aguri*

Well, besides that, they also either helped out at a restaurant or provided a service that had something to do with food (tea ceremony in Aguri’s case).

Hence, the “maid” part, I guess...

...but if so, then this is a poster for a maid cafe, not an idol unit! :P

Others who can fit into this group: Hyuuga Saki (family runs a bakery) [?], Akimoto Komachi (family runs a Japanese confectionery shop) [?], Hino Akane (family runs an okonomiyaki restaurant) [?], Haruno Haruka (family runs a Japanese confectionery restaurant) [?], Kotozume Yukari (learned from her grandmother how to perform tea ceremonies) [?], Kirahoshi Ciel (owns her own sweets restaurant), Nono Hana (grandparents ran a Japanese confectionery shop)

With the exception of Ciel, a lot of “?” cases here because similar to the Karen/Minami in Haresora Concerto, their main interests don’t particularly lie in cuisine and most of them never stated any intention of carrying on their family business. So it’s really up to whether you want them in this unit or not. Personally, I think Home Maid has enough members already so...

Oh and Hana was crossed off the list since she became the president of her own company at the end of Hugtto.

M.V.P.

Members: Misumi Nagisa, Hyuuga Saki, Natsuki Rin, Hino Akane, Midorikawa Nao

This one’s self-explanatory. Athletes. Sporty types.

Not much else to say.

Others who can fit into this group: Hojo Hibiki, Kagayaki Homare (?)

Yes, while Homare does participate in a sport, singles figure skating is mostly an individual event so the MVP title can’t really be applied to her. I guess that was the reasoning behind why she wasn’t placed in this group even though that’s what she’s most known for.

Osha-Revolution

Members: Kurumi Erika, Shirayuki Hime, Kagayaki Homare

The fashionistas!

This is my most favorite idol unit name out of all the others not only because it sounds like the most cleverly thought out but also because just hearing the word “revolution” gets the legendary Utena Revolution OP playing in my head again. *jams to the beat*

Thankfully, it’s got no connection to this idol series cuz *GAAASP*......*whispers* no.

Anyways, I’m glad it’s universally agreed upon that Erika and Hime would get along like five runways crisscrossing simultaneously at Fashion Week. Adding Homare to this lineup is appropriate because she’s always being complimented for dressing so stylishly.

Also, having someone as tall as her stand in between Erika and Hime like a giraffe hanging between two Hyacinth Macaws, lol is really...picture perfect.

Others who can fit into this group: ...

Secret Lives

Members: Mimino Kurumi, Hanami Kotoha, Kirahoshi Ciel

Mascots who can transform and became one of the main heroines in their respective seasons.

I like their aesthetic, too. Even though they give off cute vibes as much as any of the other idol groups, there’s still a “mystery” air about them.

Others who can fit into this group: Kurokawa Ellen (?)

Ermmm...Ellen was a mascot but she wasn’t aligned with the good side in the beginning. And after she became a Cure, she didn’t revert back to cat form again... *shrug*

Soushi⇄Souai (”Mutual Love with Creativity”)

Members: Mishou Mai, Akimoto Komachi, Hoshizora Miyuki, Kise Yayoi

Those whose strongest weapon is the pen (or brush) in their hand. Or something like that? I was trying to go for something more artful but I guess not. :P

This group’s name gave me a little trouble in translating but I think what I settled for in the end gets the idea across well enough. They love creating so much that they’ll be rewarded in kind with lots of inspiration.

...which sounds a bit unfair for everyone else suffering creative blocks but okay.

Others who can fit into this group: Nono Hana

Triple Heart

Members: Momozono Love, Aida Mana, Aino Megumi

The love-obsessed.

Not much else to say here either.

Others who can fit into this group: ...

Up to Me

Members: Aono Miki, Izayoi Riko, Kotozume Yukari

The Ladies.

At least that’s what I like to think them as. “Up to Me” gives off the impression of a very decisive person. Along with how mature they act, these girls fit that description to their own special degrees.

Like, Miki is very focused on her modeling career and confident she’ll go far, Riko has good work ethic and always aims for her goals and Yukari is, well, good at almost everything and is also a very “my pace” kind of woman.

...they all have purple hair, too, so I’m wondering if that’s another prerequisite for being added to this unit.

Others who can fit into this group: Tsukikage Yuri, Kenzaki Makoto (?)

Yuri would fit in no problem but Makoto I’m still teetering back and forth on...

Urara*Kirara

Members: Kasugano Urara, Amanogawa Kirara

Ra♪Raa♪Raaa♪Raaaa♪Raaaaa♪ Suīto Suīto Puri-Kyu=AH♪

Girls who aspire for the stage (acting and signing for Urara and modeling for Kirara) and have “-rara” in their names.

If that’s the case here, guess this is another unit meant for anyone who fits those limited criteria. Otherwise...

Others who can fit into this group: Aono Miki (modeling), Kenzaki Makoto (singing)

White Coat Angels

Members: Yamabuki Inori, Hishikawa Rikka, Kaidou Minami, Kenjou Akira

Those with a future in medicine.

But Minami...hmm, well, though it was never clearly stated what her profession was (I don’t think?) when she grew up, she could’ve gone on to become a wildlife veterinarian after she achieved her degree in marine biology so yea, she counts.

Others who can fit into this group: Minazuki Karen, Yakushiji Saaya

Exclusive??

Kiratto! Open to All

Members: Kira Kira Precure a la Mode

Twin Love

Members: Aisaki Emiru, Lulu Amour

Pretty damn sure the first one was made specially just for KiraPre. No other girls sport blatant animal imagery on them. Plus, there’s no point in including anymore members than how many this group already has.

As for Twin Love, it’s a canon idol pair unit in Hugtto. Adding anyone else in it would not make it “Twin” Love anymore.

So that leaves the question of where Emiru and Lulu will go in the next series, I guess. Though I’m sure they’ll stick together wherever they’re assigned.

Side B

Royal Road

Members: Kokoda Koji (Coco), Natts, Ouji Masamune, Prince Kanata

Fairy Five

Members: Amai Shiro (Syrup), Pop, Raquel, Lance, Aroma

Did anyone else think that “Side B” also stood for “Side Boys” before Dark Party was released? (And yes, I know what a B-side track is so you don’t have to tell me)

Anyways, Royal Road is obviously for the prince characters (though I don’t think they really needed to add Ouji-senpai since he’s just a minor recurring character, not supporting but whatever) and Fairy Five is for the younger male mascots who can transform.

Others who can fit into Royal Road: Prince Zeke, Wakamiya Henri, Aisaki Masato (?)

If Dark Dream can join an idol unit despite being a movie-only character, then I don’t see why they can’t integrate Prince Zeke into this unit as well. All that matters is how popular or memorable he was in HaCha’s movie because everyone who was picked out for Side B had to have had an impact on the audience one way or another. But at least Zeke makes more sense than Ouji-senpai.

Henri needs no explanation as he is the “Prince of the Ice” but if you want a prince to accompany his occasional “princess” role, including Masato wouldn’t be a bad idea. Though I still think Masato’s more of a knight than a prince.

Others who can fit into Fairy Five: Kuroro (?)

Granted, Kuroro only got a human form by combining powers with Lock in the final battle of Go!Pri and hasn’t technically earned it yet since he only begun fairy training when the season ended...but if he can, why not?

The Enemy Boys

Members: Irisawa Kiriya, Luntarou (Wolfrun), Kurosu (Close), Rio (Julio/Pikario)

Off-White

Members: Soular, Westar, Phantom, Shut

“The Enemy Boys” ...more like “School Infiltrators” since they were the few among villains to pose as students in order to get closer to the Cures.

Off-White consists of bishounen villains who eventually came around to understanding and siding with the good side. Which explains the “off white” part, I guess, since it wasn’t an immediate reform for them but a more gradual one that needed a lot of persuasion and thinking.

Others who can fit into The Enemy Boys: ...

Others who can fit into Off-White: Charaleet

Precure Legendary Heroes

Members: Cure Fire (Ban Kenji), Cure Sebastian (Sebastian)

Dark Party

Members: Dark Dream, Dark Precure, Regina, Bibury Vibry

Legendary Heroes is clearly a parody of the Precure franchise itself but since we already grew out of those jokes thanks to Hugtto, I’m hoping I won’t see any updates for this group ever again. And I will be absolutely livid if they dare to put Cure Infini in this unit because that is not funny.

Dark Party needs no extensive explanation as they were former nemesis/rivals to the Cures who never really got a “good” form even after their Heel-Face Turn (Dark Precure didn’t even get one of these). Which is fine because that’s essentially their charm. What makes dark magical girls so appealing is how awesome they are even when they’re “evil”.

Also gotta love the gothic lolita clothes that a number of them usually wear. If they didn’t keep Side B separate from Side A, I totally would’ve liked to put Eas and Twilight in this group as well.

Others who can fit into Dark Party: ...

List of updates under the cut...

[1/29/19] - Post published.

TBA

TBA

[drops-of-moonlights]

Yes! Precure 5 and Yes! Precure 5 Go GO! Final thoughts and emotions

So! Here’s the promised kinda big post about how I ended up feeling about these two seasons (aka HOW DID I LOVE THEM?) and both the things I loved and hated about them.

Also, fair warning: I more of less insult another Precure season in this post in one sentence. So if you’d rather not, I’ll recomend not reading this. (And no, it’s not Doki or HaCha, the two most hated seasons, in account I haven’t even seen Doki yet.)

So, let’s start!

Canon Het? In my Precure?

These are the few seasons with canon (and het) couples in the entire franchise, and damn, they’re weird. Ignoring the fact that Nozomi and Komachi (and Urara and Karen as well, to an extent) are essentially dating their fairy mascots who transform into humans, there’s some kind of..inbalance is the word I’m gonna use. Coco and Nuts appear to be MUCH older than the girls (to the point Coco easily passes as Nozomi and Rin’s teacher), which adds an extra layer of “wrong” in the relationships (Urara and Karen don’t really suffer from this since Syrup looks to be as the same age as Rin and Nozomi, and Milk is outright stated to be 14 in the first season).

Someone told me like, two years ago that Coco and Nuts are “supposed” to be 17, which...kinda makes them slightly better but not by much? (I have the same mixed feelings about UsaMamo). And honestly, if they had said that Coco was a teacher apprentice or something I MIGHT have minded it less? IT’S KINDA MESSY IT’S WHAT I’M SAYING.

Milk, Part 1

On the subject of the mascots, I was always told I was going to hate Milk and...No? Why would I hate her? She’s the fucking best??

No, really, why would I hate her? Was it because she was an asshole at the start? She had ALL the right to distrust the Cures when she first met them; they’re her age, and she couldn’t do anything to help her Kingdom. How were these five girls her age, who knew nothing about her home and were barely even friends at this point, ACTUALLY SAVE Palmier?

The Villains

Nightmare was really boring. I liked the whole corporation theme (and how it was so strongly associated with giving up your dreams) and Desparaiah was an interesting final boss, but aside from Bunbee, Kawarino and Bloody to a point, none of the villains had actual personalities and that made the fights kinda stale after a while. I will give them the fact that they managed to traumatize the girls so bad in the mid-season arc finale that THAT’S the thing that the girls feared the most in GoGo. Not the final fight (which was REALLY creepy, I’ll admit), but THIS.

Eternal, on the other hand, did things MUCH better. Most of the villains had AT LEAST a well-established motif (Skorp, Shibiretta and Anacondy were my favorites), and the “this is an actual job” theme was better executed than with Nightmare, what with the paperwork and the raises and other things (Also, Bunbee and Skorp’s friendship was the best thing it was so cute). The Director was a very well executed, if kinda one-note, final boss as well.

The series finale also made me realize two things: 1, that’s probably the strongest finale after Fresh and Smile’s, and 2, it made hate the Heartcatch finale’s pacing even more, and I already hate Heartcatch’s pacing to begin with.

Attacks

The first season’s attacks...were awful, honestly. Seriously, who tought DREAM ATTACK was a good attack name?! The Symphony Set attacks were better, and Precure Five Explosion was a good group attack. GoGo!’s, however, ARE SO FUCKING GOOD. All of them are tied to the girls’ personalities and are visually stunning. Also, I want a Cure Fleuret. A ROSE SWORD? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP. Milky Rose’s attacks were beautiful as well.

The Mascots (Milk, Part 2)

I really love the dorky mess of a rabbitblob Milk is and how she becomes even DORKIER as Kurumi. How much of a tsundere she was with Nozomi, how much she loved Karen, Coco, Nuts and her Kingdom, how she grew so much Coco and Nuts saw fit to leave HER in charge of Palmier while they resolved the deal with the missing regents, how the main reason she was “mysterious” was because it’s her role as the New Magical Girl in Town Who is Also Purple ™, I LOVE MILK. A LOT.

As for the other mascots, Syrup was adorable and I’d argue the true protagonist of GoGo!, Coco was a dork from time to time and being the protagonist of the ONLY GOOD DIET EPISODE IN ALL OF SHOUJO helps, and Nuts was so much of a tsundere if flip-flopped between cute and boring.

The plot and themes

The first season’s theme was The Importance of Dreams, like with GoPri, and it actually was really well handled, even better than GoPri did in some areas, I’ll admit. All of the girls solidified their dreams in this season and those carry onto GoGo! as well, and I always like the argument that your dream CAN change overtime, that you don’t have to stick with one option for the entirety of you life. Using butterflies as the motif worked really well, too.

GoGo’s theme seemed to be “The Importance of Life and what determines something or someone’s value”, and having the lesson being “nothing can put an arbitrary value on anything and especially not on a living being” was surprisingly refreshing, in a way. Also, where they specifically going for an Utena reference with all the roses? Cuz’ damn. Those were a lot of roses. The rose swords didn’t help.

Music

ALL OF THE OP’S AND ED’S WERE SO GOOD. ALL OF THEM. They actually made me want for the new seasons to not rely so much on the dancing. I love the dancing, don’t get me wrong, but damn if these endings weren’t cute as all fuck. Also, Twintail Magic. That is an actual image song title. That is said out loud in the show proper. That is ALL.

The Cures themselves

Karen was the coolest dork in existence, jesus fuck. Her development was SO GOOD. Her whole thing in Yes! was that she needed to learn that there are things she CAN’T do alone, and learning that the thing she wants to do in life is help others as a doctor was really, really cool. Also, her relationships with Milk and Komachi were cute as fuck, and her rivalry with Rin was really entertaining.

Komachi is the best, my god. She was so sweet and so calm and so FULL OF DETERMINATION SHE KILLED A VILLAIN WITH A SHIELD, how her fears about her writing seemed so realistic, how much of a dork she was with books and how much of an asshole she was with scary things, I love her so much.

URARA HAD NO RIGHT TO BE HERSELF. She was so cute and so peppy and so afraid of failing, so loyal to her friends she would reject a chance to stardom for them, so shy at first and so dorky around her friends, so glad to have friends like hers, so determined to follow in her mom’s footsteps, SO GOOD. Effervescence fits her so well.

Rin deserves a prize after dealing with pre-character development Nozomi, let’s be real. She was atlethic and cutesy, she was the sarcasm of the group, she became a Cure simply to help Nozomi, she was great, even if she was the one I related to the least.

And Nozomi. Dear lord, Nozomi. She’s probably up there as my favorite Precure protagonist, right up with Love, Megumi and Haruka. How she started as having no dream, no goal in mind (I was 17 when I watched Yes and I also had no idea what the fuck I was going to do with my life after high school, so she was relatable as fuck), how she was the first time I ACTUALLY SAW THE NEGATIVE PARTS OF THE “SUCKS AT SCHOOL” MAIN CHARACTER TROPE and how she struggled to raise her grades, how happy she was with her slow improving, how she ended up wanting to be a teacher to help people like her, how she rose up after falling in despair so many times, I LOVE NOZOMI SO MUCH.

Conclusion

These two seasons were flawed as all fuck and probably suffered from bad animation more than Fresh did (WHICH IS SAYING SOMETHING), but they’re in my opinion some of the best, and these two seasons paved the way to what Precure would become from Fresh onwards. And I can’t not thank that.

To finish, TL;DR I loved the Yes! seasons more than I thought I would and they probably tie with GoPri and Fresh as my favorite Precure seasons.

Well! Onwards to Splash Star!

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 185

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 37 - “Operation Healthy Coco” Date watched: 14 May 2020 Original air date: 21 October 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/Sc5B6vA Transformation Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6k6SzS0 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

what has been seen cannot be unseen

I might get some crap for this but I don’t particularly like this episode either. I think Bloody just had an absolutely fantastic introduction so everything after it for a while is going to feel a bit lackluster. Not to say it doesn’t have some great moments, but.... well, you’ll see.

The Plot

Coco has been scarfing down the cream puffs lately, and the girls are starting to notice when he struggles to push himself up. He appears very rotund as a fairy, but transforms human and says he’s fine. However, Nuts lifts his friend’s shirt to prove otherwise.

make of that what you will

We are never shown exactly what he looks like, but the girls responses tell us all we need to know. Urara in particular is fairly blunt, saying he had a fat and pudgy stomach. Nozomi is pretty okay with it, but she changes her tune when Karen and Rin point out that the problem is his diet and lack of exercise, not just getting chubby. Milk takes charge and puts him on a diet.

Over in Nightmare, Kawarino offhandedly mentions that Gamao was useless, which disturbs Bunbee because he didn’t realize his last employee had been so carelessly killed. Hadenya tells him to get over it and then sets out.

Coco’s diet is going well, except for all the times he tries to sneak into the kitchen in the middle of the night to grab some cream puffs, or sneak some into his lunchbox. He gets outright depressed when he can’t eat some, so the girls conspire with Milk to make him a special meal. It goes about as well as the last time they tried to cook together. One night, Coco sneaks out of his room to the kitchen for some cream puffs, and instead finds the best gag in the episode: the fridge is completely empty except for an exercise wheel.

I just imagine Nuts going through the effort to empty the fridge and store all the food somewhere else, all so he could put this wheel in there when Coco inevitably tried to sneak a bite. So yes, Nuts shows up and says getting exercise is important as well as he demonstrates the use of the wheel. A+ television here.

Another day, Coco is out walking and smells the all-too familiar scent of choux creme. He finds a food truck selling them, and the sweet lady who runs it (who is definitely not Hadenya) offers him free samples!

He almost takes it, but he thinks about the girls, Milk, and even Nuts all working hard to help him eat more healthily, and refuses. Hadenya wolfs down the plate and then turns the food truck into a Kowaina, and throws Coco into the cabin, high enough where he’d hurt himself if he jumped. The girls catch wind of this and show up to fight. They feel their hands are tied because they don’t want to hurt Coco, and Hadenya says she’ll give him back if they give her the Dream Collet. She further taunts them by saying Coco ate cream puffs. However, what is supposed to be a damning claim gets brushed aside because aside from not being true, the girls know Coco has a stronger will than that, and he wouldn’t break his vow like that. Dream persuades Coco to jump so that she can catch him, and then they safely take out the Kowaina.

Back at Natts House, the girls surprise Coco with the fruits of their labor: special vegetarian cream puffs! Coco can see the burns and cuts on their bodies as a sign of how hard they worked so he tries one, and it’s delicious! But then Milk steps in to say he shouldn’t have any more or he’ll relapse on his diet, and tries to eat the rest. Karen points out that Milk has been eating an awful lot lately, and has gotten rather chubby herself. Everyone agrees Milk should get some exercise as well, and the last scene of the episode would be great for the “Inhuman Anime Girl Sounds” Twitter, as Milk lets out a cry.

The Analysis

If you’re not aware, Japan is a very skinny culture, with an obesity rate of about 4% (compare to the US’s 40+%), and in 2008 the federal government enacted the Metabo Law which set a universal maximum acceptable waist measurement for men and women ages 40 to 75, with financial penalties for local governments and companies that had large levels of noncompliance. I couldn’t find a whole lot of information on stigma against overweight people in daily life, but in general the only socially acceptable fat people are sumo wrestlers. All of that is to say that, while they do mostly treat Coco’s weight as the butt of the joke, there is some progressive thinking going on as well, in that their concern is less purely that he’s getting fat as much as it is the fact that he’s not eating a balanced diet. It’s an important distinction to make, and the driving force of the rest of the episode is getting him to eat healthy, not JUST losing weight. It’s not a bad premise but I don’t think they make the most of the idea, the episode is largely comprised of gags about Coco trying to sneak a bite and being told “no”.

Most notably, Nozomi doesn’t seem very bothered by Coco’s weight gain. She takes it in stride, saying a little fat isn’t so bad. It’s only when they mention his unhealthy diet that she says “oh no that’s not okay” and that’s a pretty good way to take it. After all, if he’s chubby, there’s more of him to love, but if he’s not healthy, then he may die an early death. Perspective.

Now, it seems like they writers are trying to drawing a comparison between Coco and Hadenya with her remarks about eating everything, as if eating makes you a bad person, or being fat is evil, but...... it just doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. She’s evil because she takes enjoyment in the suffering of others, Gamao was evil because he didn’t care about the feelings of others and just wanted personal gain, neither of them were evil because of their eating habits. It’s a weird thing to throw in there and it doesn’t tell us anything more about Hadenya except that she’s impulsive, so...... it falls flat. Honestly the most interesting thing she did this episode was try to poison Coco..... at least I think that’s what the goal was? She ate them herself when he refused so maybe they were fine but then what was her goal? just to say “Haha you cheated on your diet and now the Precure won’t be friends with you, and they’ll hand over the Dream Collet”? That doesn’t make ANY sense, even if she planned to trap Coco in the Kowaina. And for that matter how did she even know he was on a diet? I would have assumed she was just tempting him because his love of choux creme is well-known, but when she’s taunting the cures she specifically lies and says he cheated on his diet, so...... it’s just weird. Come to think of it, poisoning him before they got the Dream Collet isn’t the smartest thing either, so it was just a bad plan all around. I applaud the plan if only for how extra she got with it, Hadenya isn’t typically one for disguises.

The highlight of this episode is easily the cooking segment. I would call that the saving grace, even. The comedy is so on point, I want to watch an entire series of these girls’ hijinks in the kitchen. The last time we got this was in episode 15, when they all cook for Nozomi’s ill mother, and well..... some of them have not learned. Karen still screws up portion sizes, Urara’s just kinda clumsy, and Komachi still wants to add youkan to porridge, although this actually works out. But anyway, the comic timing of their kitchen antics is absolutely perfect and I love how they play off of each other, with Rin and now Milk being the lone voices of reason. This is what Kirakira could have been (we’ll talk about that eventually). The payoff to it all is really good, too, the vegetarian choux cremes they make look delicious and if you check the gallery I included their detailed directions for making them. No portion sizes but it’s an idea to try out. Tag me if you do!

And lastly some bookkeeping:

The “dokkoisho” that Coco and later Milk utter when they fall is an old colloquial term, basically like “heave ho”. In general it implies putting strength towards something, and in this case suggests that they’re struggling to push themselves up because they’re heavy. From what I can tell, it originates with Hokkaido fishing villages and was popularized in their sea shanties.

The kowaina’s voice is higher pitched than normal, and I’m not sure why. It seems to be the same actress as usual.

The shot of Milk with the sign is very exploitable and my friend @precurehoroscopes has made a version you can play with:

Next time, man this series is full of ideas that would get explored fully in later shows isn’t it? Milk is rewriting the story of Cinderella with the girls as the characters and it’s..... a trip. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 2 kettei!

[venus-says]

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo Episodes 13-24

Forget about everything, this is an Urara fan account now.

Part 2 of the GoGo reviews, reaching the mid-point of the season. And I honestly don't know where to start?

Like, I'm still enjoying the season and they had some pretty good episodes in this portion I'm covering now, but different from the beginning where it seemed like there was a pretty good and coherent 12-episodes arc happening, it didn't feel like we had this progression in here. Which it doesn't necessarily hurt the series, it just hurts me because I don't know how to tackle this post since there's not much of a linear thing going on. XD Probably the only linear thing going on is the mystery about Syrup's past and how we have his arc developing, and that is pretty good, don't get me wrong, but if I would write a post based on that I would be talking about only 4 or 5 episodes out of 12. XD

When thinking about these episodes we can kinda separate them into four groups, we have four fairy tale episodes, six episodes focused for each one of the main girls, two episodes for the bigger picture, and one episode that is completely disconnected from everything and it's definitely the low point of this section and of the season so far.

Going on first at the stand-alone episode, Episode 17. The reason why I don't like this episode it's because it's one of those episodes where a famous comedian does a cameo on the show, and I honestly don't know who thought it was a good idea to make these a thing. These cameos should be just cameos, not an entire episode focused on this comedian, who most definitely isn't what the targeted audience consumes or wants to consume, so there's not an actual reason to put them there for more than a couple of scenes in the first place. Not even to mention how awkward it is having them trying to dub their characters, at least for the guy in this episode if felt like he was not comfortable at all while saying his lines, it was just a pretty bad experience.

But moving on, at the beginning of this second act, a new general of Eternal is introduced and thanks to her we have a series of episodes that watching them from the future seems like were ideas of episodes for Smile Precure. XD And I really like the addition of Shibiretta and her powers of creating these pocket dimensions or so based on fairy tales and storybooks because it helps to break a little of the usual stuff we would see happening just in their city and it's a pretty decent change of pace, I also like how she works by dividing the team because we can see more of their dynamics like this and it's all just very fun.

Like, my favorite episode of these is the episode focused on Komachi and Karen where they're brought in to the world of Hansel and Gretel with Nozomi and they end up captured in the candy house, but together Karen and Komachi get to trick Shibiretta into leaving them alone which gives Nozomi the chance of getting to the house and helping them escape, and it's just so clever and so fun at the same time, is amazing. I also love the creative ways in which they used Emerald Saucer and Sapphire Arrow in the episode, I feel like precure doesn't do that enough with attacks that have a stock footage for them so whenever that happens it always makes me very happy. And speaking of creative powers, can we talk about how versatile Mint is? Like, she's a defensive cure on her core, but in this season we've seen her attacking, defending, and giving support with her attack that is technically just a green circle thing, it's so amazing and it proves that defensive cures can work outside just creating barriers and we need more cures like her.

The character-focused episodes were a bit of a hit or miss, Urara had an excellent episode but the other girls didn't have the same luck. Nozomi's episode where she tutors Rin's siblings was pretty good and marked a very important step for her considering her dream of becoming a teacher, and it was very sweet in a lot of moments, but they added stuff in there with Syrup and Coco that didn't feel like it belonged in that episode and thus brings it down a little. Rin is kinda funny and tragic at the same time because she's the only one to get two episodes, but since them are so focused on her friendship with Nozomi and since Nozomi has such a huge presence both episodes end up being more about Nozomi than Rin so we still don't get a lot of her. Komachi's episode was cute but also a bit forgettable because I feel like they didn't use to the fullest the concept of her being concerned for her sister's future. Karen's episode also suffers from this, I feel like since they shared her episode with the Urashima Taro tale her conflict of not being able to tell her parents about her plans for the future ends up being put in the back and the episode loses itself on that a little bit. And Kurumi's episode fails because it's supposed to be the episode where her identity is revealed, but since it was pretty obvious that Kurumi is Milk the episode doesn't work in the way they thought it should.

As I mentioned Urara's episode is the only one to stand out here. First, because of the technical parts, the composition of the scenes, the use of colors and lighting, it's all very beautiful, and while the drawings and the animation aren't perfect all the time, they invested where they should and all keen scenes are a delight to the eyes. I also really like the plot of the episode, this episode is for both Urara and Syrup, but different from the episodes for Rin and Nozomi, here it feels like a more equal thing, you know? This episode is to show Syrup that affection, support, and caring for people can come in different ways, not just the obvious ones, just as much as this episode is to show how Urara's dream is hard for her to achieve but because it's so important to her she holds to it and she gains strength for keep pushing forward in order to reach it. Also putting this one in conjunction with episode 4 we can see they're drawing a relationship between Syrup and Urara, I don't know how much the show wants it to be romantic because we didn't have much about it yet, but if they want to go this route I feel like it's a pairing that I can buy, both because they seem to regulate in age and they also had this thing being developed slowly, different from Coco X Nozomi and Nuts x Komachi. Also Urara's song this time around is way better than her old song.

Now for the big picture, the things of the major plot. While we had only two episodes dedicate to moving this plot forward (23 and 24) we had small bits of this happening here and there. To begin in episode 13 we have established that Syrup is not native from the Palmier Kingdom and he has no memories of his life before getting there, which becomes important for the plot of episodes 23 and 24 to happen. Then in episode 14 King Doughnuts suddenly isn't bound to the pact anymore, he goes back to his kingdom, and in the next episode we're greeted with the next monarch, Queen Bavarois, who's more or less just used as a joke but that finally gave the girls the ability to use their phone-like transformation devices as a communication tool in episode 19. The final things to appear before episodes 23 and 24 is Syrup's quarrel with Coco and the crown of the Palmier Kingdom appearing out of nowhere to them.

And it's in that last part where most of my problems of this part reside, because while Syrup was always bickering Coco it was never so aggressive, so mean spirited as it happened in episode 22 and it felt out of place there. I think they missed putting the thing that flipped the switch and make Syrup really angry at Coco and with how he was acting so it would make the anger feel justifiable and would make the events of episodes 23 and 24 have more impact.

And speaking of those two episodes, while they were a pretty good climax for the mid of the season it also felt like some of the things that happened there shouldn't have happened at this moment but in the climax for the end of the season instead. More specifically Syrup and Coco meeting the Director and out of this encounter we getting a resolution for Coco and Syrup's relationship, a hint that Syrup has a relation with the Director and a hint that the Director and Flora also have a thing. Maybe not for Coco and Syrup, but it felt like it was too early to drop the hints, if not too early I think it got shoved way into our faces. Like, the big bad guy who's supposed to be very powerful just let Coco and Syrup go because he was shocked when he listened to Flora's name, it's already weird that the dude didn't move a finger when Syrup gets into the room with the Rose Pact on hand, then he flinches with the mention of Flora and then afterward we have a scene of him thinking of her making it obvious that there's more here, it wasn't a flinch that could pass as if it was nothing as if it was a case of "he hates her" or "his nemesis was mentioned", the way they presented it made it look very obvious that there was a previous relationship here, and if that's the case I feel like it would be more beneficial if we had this information closer to the final episodes. But we still have half of the season to go so maybe they'll work that on in a longer way for the next episodes.

My final problem with this whole thing is just how useless they made Nuts be, like he was left behind in the human world when everyone else was sent to Eternal, and at the end Coco summons the power of the crown by himself and it's framed like he's being crowned as the one and only king. It feels like Nuts was downgraded to one of the Monarchs that transformed themselves into Palmins because at this point that's how much relevant he has been, heck at this time his screen time is probably just as big as Doughnut and Bavarois, it's ridiculous. Not to mention that there's only one crown and we should technically have two kings, but they mentioned the crown was lost when the kingdom was first attacked so that's at least justifiable, but it shows just how they don't care for him at all and makes me question why is he still here, like if he's not gonna do anything here at least send him back to the Palmier Kingdom, you know?

But in any case, with the power of the crown, the cures got new weapons and a new group attack, AND I LOVE THEM. I LOOOOOOVEthe fleurets, it's one of my favorite precure weapons ever, I love their design, it's pretty much a lightsaber but gay and I love everything about it, and I also think it's pretty cool how the names of each Fleuret reflects their attacks from season one. And while the CGI roses they use are a bit odd, I love how in the attack they look like knights' stances, I know they're not really knights but there's something very Three Musketeers going on in the imagery, like if they were a royal guard of sorts, which it's pretty cool considering this power-up came from the crown of a king so it has this extra special feeling.

And that pretty much does it for now, GoGo has been a very strong and very consistent season so far, I'm loving talking about it, no joke, this is one of the few instances where I sit down to write and everything just flows naturally, it's being a joy not just to watch but also to write about it. But these are just my feelings, let me know what you think of these episodes in specific or your feelings about GoGo in general, I'll love to read them. Stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so so much for reading, and until the next time. See-ya, everyone~

[venus-says]

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo Episodes 38-48 + Movie

Bloom, flowers of life.

And we reach the end of another season! Wow, it has been a while since I could say this for precure. But we're finally here again.

The GoGo ending was a pretty interesting one, I quite enjoyed it, but before talking about it I wanna comment on the movie of the season because I wanna end this post on a positive note and if I leave this to the end I won't achieve that.

Y!PC5GG: Happy Birthday in the Land of Sweets♪

So, this movie was a choice. I feel like if you're someone who likes Nozomi and Coco you will probably like this movie, but if, like me, you're someone who sees this relationship as problematic then you will probably not care or hate this movie. To be honest, I think that even if you do like this pairing you may not like this movie as much, because even though this movie is very Nozomi focused and a huge part of that focus is on her relationship with Coco, the everything around it isn't much interesting so in the end, it's nothing really special.

I personally didn't enjoy this movie, but it wasn't even because of the Nozomi and Coco stuff. To begin I don't like that they introduced another character that is used to instigate jealousy in both Nozomi and Milk, thankfully they don't do much with that. I don't like how the other cures are useless here, like yeah, Aqua & Rouge and Mint & Lemonade fought against the minions but they didn't really impact the outcome of the movie, and they just forget Milk has powers up until the end where she's beaten down by the villain. And I also don't like how in the call to action scene they start to cheer for Dream only and not for the Precure and I don't know this kinda sounds disrespectful, it makes it look like the only important cure here is Dream and the other ones are just backup dancers, though Shining Dream is a pretty beautiful form, I can't deny that. But the thing I hate the most about this movie is one specific scene, while Coco is being controlled by Mushiban, and he corners Dream against a pillar or a wall and he gets close to her in a very predatory way and he says "Make me feel satisfied" and the way they frame the scene looks like it's something sexual and it's just very gross, and it gets grosser when you think it's a much older man behind Coco saying those words. I get that by the context of the movie he was just talking about turning Nozomi into chocolate and eating her like a snack, but the movie frames it like Coco is going to kiss Nozomi by force and it's not cool to see. I'll probably never watch this movie again.

While I'm still here in this gloomy mood let's talk about what I didn't enjoy in the actual season?

So my fears came true, we had almost like a boss rush in this final quarter which made those defeats a little less impactful, in fact, the first episode of this section we had the defeat of that pair of villains and I can't remember much about it. Mucardia's end was also kinda lame, first because we had a fake-out death and second because he was just killed away by the Director in the blandest way possible and it was pretty lame.

And speaking of lame endings, poor Anacondy. They really went to the "I'm in love with this man route" for her and in the end, she was just used and discarded by the man she loved like if she was the wrapping paper of candy, it was pretty sad. It was impactful, and it made me hate the Director more than I already did, but I wish she could have gone in a glorious way rather than by the hands of a crap man. And since we're talking about him, gosh I hate this dude. He's like those guys that get obsessed with a girl and just can't accept when they say no and instead of looking at themselves to try to find out why they don't want anything to him he just keeps forcing himself like if this is gonna change something. The Director is the concept of thrash man impersonated in a cartoon character. It was very cathartic seeing the cures whoop his ass with that giant rose.

The last thing I didn't like was the resolution for the mystery of Syrup's past. Like, seeing how this was a big thing throughout the whole season you would think his past would be more than just "he was born in the Cure Rose Garden, he was raised by Flora, and he was attacked while he was doing a delivery from Flora to the Director and that's probably what made him lose his memory". I don't know, for the amount of build-up this had I expected them to do something bigger with this. And it feels like that was the plan at some point because in the middle of the season we see Syrup meeting the Director and recognizing him from somewhere, it seemed like there was more to uncover there, but no, we just got some lame past stuff.

Before moving to the positives, I wanna quickly mention the Christmas episode that wasn't anything exceptional, but that there was some cool stuff in it, like Syrup being a fan of Santa since, when you think about it, Santa IS a delivery boy. To be honest, I was just glad they didn't have any sort of world-threatening invasion in this episode, it was very refreshing. XD

In any case, as it's usual for any precure season we get episodes for each cure's closing arc as an integral part of the final quarter. Being completely honest, I feel like Kurumi and Karen got the short-end of the stick here because while they had good episodes it didn't really give me the impression that they were concluding anything for them, different from Urara, Rin, and Komachi who got episodes where the conflicts had conclusions that tied-in more with their future aspirations and the path they've been walking through this season and also the previous one.

I think the reason why Kurumi and Karen's endings didn't feel as conclusive is that other things in their episodes stole my attention more than their conflicts. For example, in Kurumi's case, we see her feeling pressured because of her mission, which is very in tune with her whole thing as a caretaker, but this episode also shared space with working her relationship with Nozomi and that's what I was more focused in rather than Kurumi's personal thing that felt like it was more in the background. In Karen's case, the conflict was she doubting that she had what it takes to follow a career in medicine, but the show was putting more importance in King Montblanc being sick and again Karen's plot was kinda in the background. This is not to say that their endings were bad, it just seems a bit forgettable when you put that in comparison with the other episodes for the other girls.

For example, Urara's final episode was about her doing an audition to get in the same musical her mom performed before she passed, we also have a MOTW plot that works in a way to directly affect her negatively in this audition by making a Little Mermaid plot where Shibiretta steals her singing voice. This is a combination that works with Urara both in her precure life and in her civilian life. It concludes her arc and it feels rewarding to see her finally pass that audition. Kurumi and Karen didn't really have that. Actually, Rin and Komachi didn't have a conclusion that was so well rounded as Urara, but it was more centered on them, they were still in the center and able to shine in their episodes, though I wish Komachi had done more in her episode, it didn't really feel like she had much agency in that episode.

The Nozomi episode is a bit unfair to put in this comparison because while it is an episode that dwelled with her efforts in studying in order to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher, this episode was more to show the difference of power between them and the Director while Nozomi's conclusion comes around in the end during the final fight and the aftermath of the battle.

And about this finale, this was very enjoyable. I like that we had the final conflict happening through 3~4 episodes but it didn't feel like they were stretching a plotline or maybe dragging the finale for more than it needed to. It was pretty solid, it was well built, and despite the problems, I mentioned it was pretty good. I think my favorite moment of this ending was when Syrup was giving his speech to the petrified cures, and we could see that the things he was talking about was pretty much related to his growth and his development through the whole season and it was pretty moving, I also think it was hella cute when he mentioned that letter the cures sent was the first letter he ever received in his life and that he was really happy about it, and my heart just melted and all I wanted was to hug him and say "you're a good boy, my son T-T" to him.

I also liked that whole seed of life and how seeds have infinite potential discourse at the end, yeah it was a bit of a stretch after all depending on the case seeds are pretty predictable, but it was a good message for the end, it hit the points it had to hit so I count it as a win. I also like how in the end Flora turned into a seed in hopes to bloom into a new life in the future, it was a pretty optimistic and happy way to end the show and it was a good way to wrap-up this pretty good season.

And that's it for Yes! Precure 5! I gotta be honest, I didn't think I'd enjoy this season as much as I did because I wasn't the biggest fan of its predecessor and I didn't have high hopes for the sequel, but I found myself enjoying the show more and more as I would go, even with its flaws and the elements I don't like. It was truly a joy to find a new love for this season, a new love for this world, and a new love for these characters. While the original season is at the bottom of my list of favorites during this series of rewatches, this sequel sits more close to the top, and that makes me very happy. So, what are your thoughts on GoGo? Let me know in the comments down below. Next, we're finally getting to Fresh which is one of my favorite seasons and I'M VERY EXCITED!!! I can't wait to watch this season again. But that's for another day, for now, stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so much for reading, and until the next time. See-ya~

[venus-says]

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Episodes 01-24

The biggest irony of it all is that this isn't the 5th precure season.

New month, new season! And march will be another busy month as I'll have to cover two seasons instead of one. I hope I don't get crazy with it, especially considering that both my brother and my birthdays are in this month, I hope I don't get behind schedule again...

But oh well, that's not what you came here for, you came here for precure so let's talk about that.

Yes and GoGo are seasons that I have a weird history with. Much like Splash Star I never got to finish neither seasons, but I got to work on both of them back in the day when I was part of the Brazilian Subs group who takes care of everything precure related, I don't remember exactly what episodes I was involved with but I did quite a few of them, including the Yes finale, funny enough. Because of my contact with the Yes! seasons weren't of a mere spectator I used to hold these seasons in high regard, they were never part of my top 4 but they were very close, I used to say I like them a lot even though I never properly watched them. But now, after properly sitting through the entire thing... I'm more on the fence about what my feelings are.

Much like its predecessor, Yes was a season for a lot of firsts in the franchise which means they were a bit inventive with the ideas for the show, and while some of those ideas work very well, others not so much. Aside from the team of five and all the implications that come with it, the biggest difference from Yes to the past series is that this is the most episodic and more character-focused series up until now. The plot is almost nonexistent but in exchange, we got a lot of focus on these characters and the stories the show wants to tell about each one of them that intertwines with the show's main theme of hope and finding your own path in life. And that's not a problem, au contraire, this is one of its biggest strengths because the main cast is very solid and even the more overlooked of them is able to shine on its own.

The problems of the show start with more of a production level? I'm not a specialist in the matter, and I don't know much about this stuff so don't rake what I say here as fact, but I feel like since Splash Star underperformed they didn't have that big of a budget for this season and you can see that by how every single episode has some sort of fluke in the drawings or the animation. Which is a shame because this show has a great character design and the backgrounds are more often than not very beautiful. Another huge problem, at least to me, is in the action because Yes! didn't just introduce to us a team dynamic rather than a duo, they also introduced to the series a thing that haunts us until today, the stock footage finishers spam. Yes, the animation for the attacks isn't nearly as long as the ones we get today but I think it's very rare that we get a fight where not at least three attacks are used, like if the action portion wasn't already very short. Speaking of it, I don't understand why Dream is the one that finishes the monsters almost every time when it was shown that all other cures (probably only not counting Mint) can also break the masks and defeat them.

But this is more or less minor stuff, I can get behind it. My biggest problem with Yes! is the romance. They tried with Nagisa and Fujipi, it didn't work. They tried with Saki and Mai's brother, it didn't work. They should've learned with that, but instead, they decided to make it again and different from the past two cases they decide that they would sell the romances hard. Like, the first scene of this show was they already trying to sail Nozomi x Coco, and they shove this couple down your throat in a very ugly way. To begin with, it's an adult man with a high school girl and that's gross. "Oh, but he's a fairy" I DON'T CARE, in his human form he's a male adult, he's a school teacher which means everyone sees him as an adult, this shit is freaking gross. And they try to pull it twice because just Nozomi and Coco wasn't enough and they decided to make Nuts and Komachi a thing too. Thanks, I hate it.

Remember that I said the show doesn't look very beautiful all that often? Well, in episode 24 there's a scene with Nozomi and Coco and they're hugging and that shit was drawn with so much care and flare it didn't even look like the same anime. And you know what infuriates me the most? Is that right after it there's a scene that is the great moment of the episode where the whole group reunites and free themselves from Nightmare's control and that scene doesn't get anywhere near the same amount of care that the Nozomi x Coco scene got. They have transformations, attacks (I'm looking at you Aqua Stream), and the whole show looking subpar, but when it comes down to this couple they make it seem like a CLAMP manga, the only thing missing was the arabesques in the screen. I said it once, I'll say it again. THANKS, I HATE IT.

But moving on.

Going into the characters, Nozomi is weirdly enough the one who has let the less of an impression on me, but I would say a big part of it is because of all her thing with Coco. Because she has interesting going for her, like her indecisiveness about her own future, but this ends up being left behind because they wanna either focus on her thing with Coco or show just how clumsy and air-headed she is. It's a weird approach to the lead of the show, there are times that it seems like Nozomi and Dream are two different persons because when Nozomi is Nozomi they focus so much in showing how much of a crack-head she is, but when she's Dream she is very serious and mature, it's not a very good balance.

I like Rin quite a lot, she's the first one to take over the position of being the sporty one that before was exclusive to the pinks, and she has a great personality. She's just as much of a crackhead as Nozomi but she also is very grounded so she displays a full rainbow of emotion by being very funny, but also very snarky, without losing the ability to be angry and serious. She's a lot of fun.

Urara is probably my favorite, I love how the youngest of the cast is the most complex character of the group. Between dividing her life as an actress/singer with school and having to live this life with one of her parents being dead, she's probably the member who had gone through the most stuff in life, and while there are times we see that her past gets to her she does her best to never lose her smile and to always be cheerful and caring to everyone around her. She's a precious kid and I love her to death. That episode where we get to know about her mom is so strong, it's definitely my favorite of this first half.

Komachi is the only other member of the cast that already had a dream when we met her and this is great because we see her go through different situations that the other members of the cast wouldn't be able to. She's very sweet, but it's a shame the show doesn't give her a lot to do. Like in these 24 episodes only two were focused on her, one of them was her introduction as Cure Mint and the other was to try to sell Komachi x Nuts as a secondary ship for the show. She deserves so much more, I hope the second half will give her more focus.

Last member of the team is Karen and she's my second favorite. She's the stoic rich girl with a lot of responsibilities that would later become the rule of thumb for most blue cures. but she holds a lot of personality. I like how she's stubborn but it's not in the level that is annoying, it's on a level where it serves as a perfect contrast for her serious side. I also like her story about how lonely she was and how she used to hide and bottle up those emotions since when she was a kid but she started to open up more when the girls got into her life.

As a group they work very well, they all have amazing chemistry and a great dynamic, I love how they're all very different and have very few similarities between them yet they work magnificently together. I love how they were all introduced since episode 1 and all had small parts in each episode before they all became cures, it felt very natural the way they were getting close together. Another thing that I like, that I also praised this weeks' Healin' Good episode for, is that they don't click immediately, Rin and Nozomi were friends before, just like Karen and Komachi, but when they are the four together with an Urara cherry it's completely different from how they were before and they had to work that out. I would've like if this had been explored more than just Rin and Karen's small rivalry and the plot of episodes 23 and 24, but they're still great regardless.

The fairies though... they're probably the worst of this entire show. To begin with, they're not consistent between their fairy and their human forms, because they wanna sell Coco and Nuts as hot guys they make the human forms be completely different their cheerful selves as fairies, especially Coco. They're not interesting, they don't do much, I don't know why they're there. Coco is creepy, he's way too handy with Nozomi it makes me uncomfortable as hell. Nuts is a jerk, the dude is not pleasant and the fact they're trying to pair him with Komachi makes me want to hit my head against a wall. Milk is the last addition to the cast and holy jesus she's annoying as hell, much like Nuts she's a jerk as well and the show wants to make us sympathize with her by saying "she's like that just because she has gone through a lot" and that just makes me hate her even more. Also, their collectibles this season are the Pinkys and they're another thing I don't know why it's there, I also hate how there are 55 of these things, that's way too much.

The villains are a mixed bag. I like Nightmare and how it actually works as a company, I love their whole thing with the mask, I think it's a very menacing and intimidating look, it's perfect. I also like how the generals kinda work on a rotation system rather than what was the norm of the previous seasons where one general would come, do their thing, get defeated, and only then a new one would come. The problem is that they don't have that much of a personality? Like, Bumbee and Kawarino of course have a lot of character and they leave a clear impression on you, but the recurring generals not so much. I know they're a mantis, a spider and a frog, but other than that I don't remember much. But I guess that's not that big of a deal since this is more focused on developing the girls rather than the fight against Nightmare.

One last thing before I wrap-up. I love their cures' designs and I also love their transformation device, I wonder why we never got a watch or bracelet as a transformation device again. The transformations are short, just like the attacks, and it frustrates me that they have good concepts for how each one is "choreographed" but the actual drawings for them lack a lot of care in the details. Like I mentioned up there, the animations and the drawings aren't the best and you would think that at least the stock footage they would get it right, but they go off-model quite a lot of times, this gets very evident in Aqua's roll call, their group pose, and Aqua Stream's sequence. Maybe it's foolish of me to complain about this since I'm watching the DVD version and these things are probably corrected in the blu-ray, but again these reviews are about my experience so these were details that tickled me off so I have to mention them.

Well, that does it for now. This ended up being way longer than I expected, thank you so much if you read all of this. Please let me know your thoughts on the first half of Yes! in the comments, I'm enjoying the ride despite all the bad things I said and I'm excited to properly finish this season in the next week. See you all around~ o/