#and given. precure. they should have proper names

[mapsareforbraindeads]

realizing i never gave my magical girl ocs proper secret identities

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Third Research Scientist of Love Lab

Debut: Rhythm Heaven (DS)

Another post about a Rhythm Heaven character! There are so many Wacky Rhythm Heaven characters we can talk about. But it’s not every day we get to talk about Rhythm Heaven. It’s loosely attached to Mario, through WarioWare, but it’s just enough of its own thing that it is out of our field of view. This is not Super Mario’s Super Mario World. Getting to talk about Rhythm Heaven is a major event. We must savor the Funky Fridays we get to spend our elusive Rhythm Heaven points.

We’re using this Friday to talk about some dude in a squirrel suit.

He appears in Rhythm Heaven in the minigame Love Lab, which is actually one of my favorite games in the series! That’s right! I managed to get invested in a guy and a girl falling in love, something unexpected from my usual lesbian self. I can’t help it! I just love scientists. “Weird scientist” was like, my whole online persona way back in the day. (And besides, these two are both obviously bi. Look at them.)

Anyway that’s enough time talking about those two, they’re both regular humans and while I respect them and their relationship, they aren’t nearly as interesting as the third guy who is also there.

What, you didn’t notice him? Well, it makes sense, I suppose. (iiiiiii suppose, yeah!) He’s just off-screen, catching the flasks You’re throwing. They realized it would be dangerous if you were throwing around chemicals and no one was catching them, as if throwing around chemicals isn’t dangerous in its own right, so they added this guy, and since he’s barely visible, why not make him Wacky? You’ll be so busy paying attention to the cute scientists and good tunes that you won’t even notice him.

The guy’s fully-sprited, but is tough to notice in-game considering how off-screen he is. He is so dang off-screen. Fortunately, you can get a better look at him if you get the Try Again screen!

Yeah! Good job sucking at Love Lab! Your reward is Squirrel Man face reveal!

Or if you don’t want to ruin their relationship, you can just wait for the end credits where he also pops in during the cast call.

Hello!

We know very little about Squirrel Man, but I think that’s kind of the point. They hid the guy off-screen, he doesn’t have much lore, I think his entire purpose is just to exist and be weird, which I think is delightful. I like the philosophy of whoever decided this minigame about scientists falling in love needed some guy who always wears a squirrel suit.

At least, that’s assuming this is a squirrel. Could be a chipmunk. (though scientifically speaking, chipmunks are a type of squirrel)

The main reason I say squirrel is because “Science Squirrel” is apparently a common trope in Japanese media? At least according to Mod Chikako, I know Risukuma from Puyo Puyo and Himari from Precure as a couple examples. And Sandy Cheeks from SpongeBob, though that’s probably a coincidence, given that all the other examples have Japanese origins. If we’re to go with this, then that gives a little more explanation to this guy, but not too much. I think there’s still plenty of room to theorize what the heck this guy’s deal is.

And that is EXACTLY what I’m here to do! It’s half the reason I’m writing this post in the first place! Below the cut, is various theories about what this dude’s deal is.

1. He’s a furry, that’s his fursona.

Let’s get the obvious (and boring) one out of the way first, which is that this guy is a furry, that’s his fursona, and he always wears a fursuit for some reason. I mean, it makes some amount of sense, if we assume he’s that dedicated to the whole furry thing, then sure, why not wear his fursuit to the laboratory? The thing is, this theory is just such low-hanging fruit. It’s too obvious. Look at the guy. The explanation I think obviously has to be something weirder.

2. Genetically engineered Squirrel Man

This is probably the most obvious “more interesting” direction, and it’s not like it doesn’t make sense. The whole minigame is set in a laboratory, and if we take into account the characters’ blatant lack of lab safety, this isn’t your ordinary laboratory... Who’s to say there isn’t a bunch of weird science going on behind the scenes? I mean, one day they’re trying to figure out what love is, the next day they’re building a squirrel guy. Just your average laboratory shenanigans.

While it is stated in-game in the Lab Journal that he wears a suit, this is purely from the perspective of the green-haired girl, who is said to be new to the lab. Maybe she just thinks he’s wearing a squirrel suit. Maybe she doesn’t know the full truth.

Of course, I don’t think he HAS to be a squirrel man to be interesting...

3. Back on that comment about lab safety,

Full-body protection. While these other two are throwing around flasks full of chemicals without even wearing GOGGLES, this guy is making sure to protect every last inch of his body by wearing a squirrel suit. And maybe he’s wearing goggles under the suit, just for good measure!

Maybe this whole experiment wasn’t even about love, maybe it was about lab safety. Maybe this guy noticed how much his lab partners were smitten with one another, and were too distracted to pay attention to things like wearing proper gear in the lab. He theorized that their relationship had something to do with their total disregard for safety and he was right.

4. School mascot gone rogue

His uncanny full-body uniform is weird for a scientist, but perfectly normal for a school mascot. Maybe he was originally cheering on the university sports team, but eventually got tired of sports and decided to pursue a life of high science instead. Why doesn’t he take the suit off? Tough to say. Might loop back around to the lab safety thing.

Alternatively, in the Rhythm Heaven universe, maybe schools just have mascots for their labs alongside their sports. You know! To... help keep the science fair going?

5. He’s the one dude’s ex

The idea is that he’s simply the first scientist’s ex, they broke up on good terms, and so he still gets to stick around in the Love Lab. Does this do anything to explain why he’s wearing the squirrel suit? No, not really. Maybe the first guy just fell in love with the school mascot (see theory 4) and the squirrel guy just wanted to take interest in his boyfriend’s passions and so he signed up for a job at the Love Lab. And eventually they broke up but he decided to stay around the lab because now he was invested in learning about love. Something like that.

6. He’s lonely

Do you realize how tough it is to stand out in this world? And in a lab where everyone’s researching love all the time, how heartbreaking it can feel when you see everyone around you falling in love while you remain alone? He wanted to make sure everyone would notice him, so bam! Squirrel suit!

But that isn’t to say it was effective. If we go back to the Lab Journal, it took the green-haired girl three days to notice him at all, and he spends the entire minigame off-screen! Not even the CAMERA felt like keeping him in focus. Maybe if you see the squirrel guy at the Love Lab any time soon, you should give him a hug. Maybe he deserves it.

7. He Just Looks Like That

Some people just look like squirrels. It’s rude to stare.

Maybe none of these theories are true, maybe multiple of them are. We don’t know. We’ve never gotten much lore for this guy, but I’m kind of glad about that. This sort of intrigue breeds curiosity, and honestly the more wacky theories that can be proposed surrounding this guy’s existence, the better! It’s part of the reason I fall so in love with minor and obscure characters. You’re given just enough information to get an idea of what the character is, but are given a lot of room to let the creative juices flowing. That’s why I think Third Research Scientist of Love Lab is one of my favorite Rhythm Heaven characters. Congratulations!

[loli-momo1908]

Märchen Knight Precure episodes and movie ideas (wip)

Hey, everyone! It's been a long time since I've last done some Märchen Knight Precure drawings. But now I've got my motivation for it back, it's time for some episodes and a movie I've thought up for it! Yay!~ So, here's the list of fan episodes and plot of each ones that I've thought up for quite some time.

Episode 1. The Shining Knight of Hope! Cure Holy is born!- "Finally freed from the corrupting darkness of Bad Energy as Devil and reborn with no memories of his past life in Märchenland, Isamu Akibara is now living his normal life as a 15-year-old boy. Until on that fateful day when a sudden darkness attacks the Märchenland once again and attacks the human world, Candy, the new queen after Royale Queen's passing, sends Pop to Earth along with Wolulun, Oninin, and Majorin to find Isamu, the same boy who was once the knight from Märchenland and served Royale Queen with great loyalty from long ago, and help him restore his memory as the prophecy foretold that there is a Märchen Knight Precure who will save everyone's future from the return of the Bad End's darkness. After meeting the fairies and they tried making him remember his past life, Isamu had such struggles and then, a new enemy by named Umiryu (an evil water dragon-like monster) made his appearance and created a new type of Akanbe called Twilight Akanbe to create a new Bad Ending in the city by draining the Bad Energy from the people, who fallen into total despair, in order to revive the reign of Bad End once more. Wanting to save everyone from the despair of Bad Ending, Isamu's memory returned as he gained the magical Märchen Pendant, thus allowing him to transform into the Precure Knight from the prophecy: Cure Holy, the Märchen Knight of Light and Warrior of Hope!

Episode 2. Still remembering! Isamu's tight struggle! - "After becoming Cure Holy, Isamu tried to fight, but couldn't control the Precure Knight's power as it led him to a near defeat. Knowing Isamu needs help on controlling his powers and still needs time to remember his true origin, Pop decided to retreat for now by taking Isamu and the fairies away to the mystical library as his hideout. After Pop explained carefully about Isamu's destiny from the prophecy and the possibility of the evil Pierrot might be returning after the revival of a Bad Energy, Isamu was having a hard time processing despite having his memories returned. But at the same time, he doesn't want to remember his own bad memory of how he became Devil out of ultimate despair. When Wolulun, Oninin, and Majorin comfort him by reminding him of who he truly is and that he has his own path to choose by heart now, Isamu regained confident and returns to fight against the Twilight Akanbe once more. Only this time, with some guidance from Pop, Isamu managed to control his powers and defeat the monster by using his Starlight Flash attack, making Umiryu to retreat".

Episode 3. The Noble Wolf! The Birth of Cure Ice Wolf! - "Pop deciding to help Isamu by regaining his memory of being a noble knight by teaching him how to become like one with some training course and teaching skills. However, Wolulun grew impatient thought this training was leading them nowhere on saving the Märchenland from a new Bad Ending's darkness and stormed off. Worried about Wolulun, Isamu decided to go give him some comfort after noticing how scared he was deep down of facing the Bad End once again, which gave him a traumatic memory of how he once wreaked havoc as Wolfrun. Then, Umiryu returned and created a Twilight Akanebe to attack and Isamu with Wolulun, Oninin, and Majorin along with Pop came into the scene as he transformed into Cure Holy to fight it off. However, as it gets abit rough for Cure Holy as the Twilight Akanbe attempted to finish him off, Wolulun swallowed his fear and saved Cure Holy from the monster's attack. Wanting to change and stand up against his worst fear with enough courage in his heart, the Märchen Pendant appeared before him and allowed him to become Cure Ice Wolf, the Märchen Knight of Courage and Warrior of Ice as he used his powers to fight and defeat the Twilight Akanbe".

Episode 4. The Burning Strength! Cure Blaze appears! - "Now there are two Precure Knights, Pop reminds Isamu and the fairies that there's still two more that's waiting to be awaken from within their hearts. This prompt Oninin's desire of becoming a Precure Knight as well as he wants to train with Isamu and Wolulun. However, all these trainings and knowledge of knighthood may seem abit harder than he could imagine as he began to feel some little doubt of himself. A gorgon-like villainous named Medusa made her appearance and creates a Bad End Zone to drain some Bad Energy. When Pop and the group went over to figure out what was going on, Isamu and Wolulun transformed into Cure Holy and Cure Ice Wolf to fight off a Twilight Akanbe Medusa created. Inspired of Isamu's determination of not giving up, Oninin decides to use his inner strength to help his friends and because of his inner strength and his willing of not giving up as well, he was granted with a Märchen Pendant thus allowing him to transform into a Precure Knight of Strength, Warrior of Fire named Cure Blaze. Now as Cure Blaze, Oninin used his own super strength and fire power to defeat the Twilight Akanbe and there are 3 more Precure Knights and only one more is left remaining to be awakened soon".

Episode 5. Blessing Heart. The Mage Precure of Love, Cure Magica! - "While Isamu, Wolulun, and Oninin were training themselves on how to be proper knights under Pop's structures, Majorin was the only one watching as she wondered if she could possibly become a Knight herself. As she decides to take a little stroll while she wonders, Majorin in her human form soon came across with Nao Midorikawa and her siblings playing soccer. But due to her memory of nearly harming those younger children back when she was evil, Majorin felt so guilty for what she had done and took off because she was scared of facing them again, fearing that they might recognize her as Majorina the evil witch. When Isamu and the boys were searching for Majorin, Medusa appeared and created a tree Twilight Akanbe to attack them and drain some Bad Energy from the Midorikawa siblings as well. When Majorin came back and saw what was happening, she was reminded by Isamu that she could change for the better because he sees love and kindness in her heart. Touched by his words, Majorin's willingness of standing up against Medusa and desire to save her friends and the Midorikawa siblings from anymore harm, her own Märchen Pendant appeared before her as she transformed into Cure Magica, the Märchen Mage of Love and the  Wind Sorceress".

Episode 6. Long time no see! Reunion with Smile Precure! - "When Royale Candy arrived to Earth in her fairy form and met with Miyuki and her friends, it turned out that she's been all exhausted from using her power of the queen to keep Märchenland protected with a powerful spell that granted an unbreakable barrier that keeps out the darkness of Bad End from spreading even further towards her land. She asked the girls to meet with Precure Knights as both teams have gathered together in a Library of Legends as she informed them all that a new era of Bad End is coming towards Earth to bring forth despair once more. When Umiryu and Medusa arrived to create two Twilight Akanbes to attack the knights, Miyuki and her friends couldn't transform without the Smile Pact after their final battle against Pierrot. So it was up to Isamu and his team to work together as one to fight off two Twilight Akanbes while the girls will use their wits to help them out."

Episode 7.

Episode 8.

Episode 9.

Episode 10. The Black Wolf.... I am Dark Alpha - (to be announced)

Episode 11.

Episode 12.

Episode 13.

Episode 14.

Episode 15. Wolulun, Oninin, Majorin! It's school day! - "While Isamu has to go to school and set the knight training schedule afterwards with Pop, Wolulun, Oninin, and Majorin had to watch over him as fairies without getting spotted in public while wondering what was it like to be in school. When Isamu suggested they should go join him on going to school, so they could have some experience of it, much to their surprise. On their first day in their human forms, Wolulun and his two comrades were abit nervous after their last encounter of bringing deception to many students for the vice president election one time, but they soon learned that everyone has no memories of what happened during the last vice president election as they were given a chance to understand the true experience of studying, teamwork on making school better, and making new friends. However, Umiryu appears to create a tree Twilight Akanbe to attack the school building for he thinks it's for nerds and he was much too smart for it. It was up to Isamu and his friends to stop Umiryu and save the entire school from a total Bad Ending."

Episode 16.

Episode 17.

Episode 18.

Episode 19.

Episode 20.

Episode 21.

Episode 22.

Episode 23. It can't be....! The return of Joker - (to be announced)

Episode 24. Unsheathe! The Märchen Swords appear! - (to be announced)

Episode 25.

Episode 26.

Episode 27. Rina's kind heart. Magical Märchen Wand! - (to be announced)

Episode 28.  Arrgghh!~ Precure Knight in Pirate Story! - (to be announced)

Episode 29.

Episode 30.

Episode 31. Second Stage! The Miracle Chalice appears! - (to be announced)

Episode 32.

Episode 33.

Episode 34.

Episode 35.

Episode 36.

Episode 37. Ahh, scary! The Story of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde! - "On the day of Halloween, Isamu and his group were being transported into an enchanted book and they winded up in a tale of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. Now, they must find a way out of this spooky tale and escape the the terror of Mr. Hyde. But things have gone worse when Umiryu shows up and corrupt Mr. Hyde by fusing him with the Akanbe nose to create a Terror Akanbe. It's now up to the Precure Knights to save the day and the tale of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde from falling into a Bad Ending."

Episode 38.

Episode 39.

Episode 40.

Episode 41. Tears of the Wolf. For sake of saving Kuro! - "Now that Dark Alpha's true identity has been revealed, Wolulun became determined on saving Kuro, his former old friend and rival after realizing he's suffering the same corruption from Joker as he once did. Dark Alpha/Kuro, however, became more resentful and wants to take down Wolulun in order to be the strongest of all wolf packs. Wanting to save Kuro as unlocked Wolulun's Miracle Power and used it to save Kuro and free him from his own Bad Energy."

Episode 42.

Episode 43.

Episode 44. The ultimate Hope! Cure Holy vs Joker! - "As he fears that the Precure Knights' power has grown much stronger and getting close to reach to their final knighthood stage, Joker plots to bring Isamu into despair, just as he once did a long time ago. Joker lures Isamu into a trap by creating a Terror Akanbe and attempts to break him by reminding him such terrible memories of how he failed to defend Royale Queen and she's long gone after her sacrifice. Just as it was nearly working however, Isamu soon reminded himself of how much he's been going so far after his rebrith and his strong decision of never giving up hope again. Angered by Isamu's strong will of keeping his own hopes alive no matter what, Joker battles Isamu (after he transformed into Cure Holy) until he has unlocked his Miracle Power, thus completing 4 Miracle Power for the chalice to absorb to use at the last resort."  

Episode 45.

Episode 46. A big crisis! The Reign of Bad End arrives! - (to be announced)

Episode 47. The final showdown! Precure Knight, Angel Mode! - "Now that Joker has been revealed as a new Emperor of Bad End, succeeding the late Emperor Pierrot, he has easily overpowered the Precure Knights and destroyed the Miracle Chalice, much to Cure Holy's horror as he has ultimately fallen despair. However, Cure Ice Wolf, Blaze, and Magica regained his spirits by reminding him of how much his optimistic efforts have helped them overcame their fears and sadness from their pasts that haunted them, given them hope to believe in. Willing to never give in no matter how hard the struggles are and not needing the Miracle Chalice, Cure Holy and his team has awakened their true powers from their pendants and unlocked their final stage of knighthood: their angelic, armored forms that represents Miracles."

Episode 48. As long as we keep living, a new beginning! - (to be announced)

Movie special - Märchen Knight Precure the Movie!: The Miracle of Life! Protect the Dragon Kingdom! "When a mysterious girl appears and came across with Isamu first, she fell in love with him until the dragon humanoids appeared to try and take her away. As the result, this lead Isamu accused of these "foes" are one of Joker's allies and he and his friends transformed into Precure Knights and fought them off. However, the dragon humanoids turned out to be the girl's royal guards being sent by her father and their loyal advisor to bring her back home after she took off to the human world to see what it was like living there, which therefore turns out that this girl is the princess of the mystical dragon kingdom. The lovestruck princess invites Isamu, Wolulun, Oninin, and Majorin to her home kingdom and to introduce to her father, the king himself as she plans to marry Isamu in the near future, much to his and . However, little did anyone know, the royal advisor has plans on his own and that's stealing the throne by using the power of the legendary Dragon Stone and take over the entire kingdom. Will Isamu and his team save the Dragon Stone, the princess, and the entire kingdom? Or will everything be fallen into the evil advisor's claws?"

While there are more episode plots I still need to come up with, those are all the ideas I've got and I'm planning on making a comic series of Märchen Knight Precure, including the movie, in the future. I might need some help on thinking up some more episode ideas, however. So, if you guys have any idea suggestions regarding a couple of blank episodes and plots, please let me know.

[mahou-furbies]

Closing thoughts on Fresh Precure!

Overall positive feelings. All characters were alright (as in, I didn't hate anyone) and even the fairy baby was tolerable. The pink heroine ranks second in my Pink Precure list so far. Cures Pine & Berry kind of just were there and not a lot would have been lost if they had been cut, but at least they weren't left in the dust with the pink one hogging all the spotlight. Also I enjoyed Miki's shameless confidence, "I'm Perfect" really is a great catchphrase. And Setsuna had one of the best character arcs I've seen in Precure so far. The bad guy duo was also entertaining enough, though I wish their relationship with Setsuna was developed more.

There was more filler than in my previous Precure experiences, but at least it was mostly the good kind of filler that had decent character moments. And while the first half was just watchable for the most part, I felt that the quality notably improved when Chiffon started turning into a creepy possessed mcguffin (and I don't mean just because it stopped her icky squeaking). The beloved baby the heroines had been guarding for a few dozen episodes suddenly becoming an emotionless shell at random times and not really understanding what was going on really made the story more personal and serious. 

I especially liked the long multi-episode finale because the stakes genuinely felt higher. In the other Precure seasons I've seen I haven't felt that much that the girls would grow during the story, because whenever they get a new powerup or form or whatever it would just be a different stock animation while the tension is identical to the previous episodes. But here the girls only reach their ultimate form at the very end and it actually feels like an achievement, and their opponents genuinely feel more threatening. So when the girls go on their final mission it manages to feel like they're professionals at what they're doing.

A problem I had was that I found the season to be kind of bland and lacking in personality. Like, what was the theme? Or you have protagonists who think that happiness is good and antagonists who want to spread misery, but that's some galaxy brain level theme even for a kids' show. At the very end the characters had passionate discussions about how it's important to have free will even if it can sometimes lead to sadness, but I was all "since when was this such a big thing for this show?" But let's be fair I'm not the most attentive viewer given my reason to watch Precure in the first place so it's always possible I missed something crucial.

Then you also had a bunch of motifs that didn't tie to anything. The heroes are named after fruits and also use card suits, while the villains are named after cardinal directions. What does any of that have to do with anything? And while I liked that the girls had other things than Precure stuff going on in their lives with the dancing hobby, it got so much attention that I would have wanted it to tie better to whatever the theme of the show was supposed to be.

Even if you ignore the theme issues, I found that the Labyrinth was severely underused as a location. Now when Setsuna turned to the Good Side, a lot of her drama was based on coming to terms with the bad things she did, which fair enough was more interesting than most of the Precure character writing, but feels a bit lacking after seeing the whole anime. Or at least I think that it would have been way more interesting if we had had a better picture of her past of (I assume) growing up in a totalitarian state where people are brainwashed to worship their leader when she was struggling to stay on the bad guys' side or learning to adapt to her new life with Love's family. And even for a kids' show I found it pretty cheap that the people of Labyrinth snapped out of a lifetime of indoctrination because they ate a doughnut and saw some girls in a battle at the end; if at least one of them had been a real character I probably could have tried to get into the mood, but now it feels like they only existed to make the Precure look good.

Visually the season was pretty ugly to me; The animation was super cheap and derpfaces were everywhere (and there's something disturbing about the eyes even in shots that were otherwise decent), but on top of that the dull colours were just awful. At least the henshin were animated well and the magical girl designs were top notch.

So now after seeing five Precure seasons I'd rank them like this:

1. Go! Princess Precure 2. Fresh Precure! 3. Kira Kira Precure A la Mode (stronger themes and visuals than Fresh, but weaker characters and story) 4. Happiness Charge Precure! 5. Doki Doki! Precure

Finally: While Love wasn't that bad for a pink heroine, she really lost points in the last episode. If your friend confesses their love to you, you should have the decency to give them a proper answer, even if it is "I have to think more about this". I was very much not on board how the show treated her dismissive non-answer as some kind of cute character quirk. Way to leave a bad taste in the mouth after an otherwise okay showing in the rest of the season.

[magicalgirlagency]

Okay, so I've seen a couple of posts you've made about repurposing different characters for your magical girl lore and i was curious about the story these guys are all for? The details you give are really interesting to me and I'm always down for more magical girl/boy content so I was hoping I could learn a little bit more about it?

It’s good to know that you enjoy my brainstorms!

Okay, so its premise is about a universe that was abruptly reset after two goddesses have bent the rules; one goddess BARELY changed things and contribuited to a hurtful cycle, and the other one went insane and changed everything to fit her selfish and petty ideals (does that description rings a bell to you…?)

In this new universe, magic is everywhere and everyone can see it; but only those who are considered worthy can properly use it. The Magical Guardians (or Magis, for short) are humans blessed with superpowers, assigned with the task of protecting Earth from an ancient outworldly threat, the Incubators (yes, I have no qualms in making my hatred towards MadoMagi public)

The Incubators’ goals are still the same: to gather energy through acts of entropy. However, they seem to have evolved and adapted as the time went by (let’s not forget that they have been around Earth since the beginning of the times in the original series). Their cute critter forms is now nothing but a disguise to fool innocent people and steal their energy; when a Magi discovers a Incubator, the alien transforms into a unusual looking monster. Their monster forms tends to vary; they can look like cartoony inanimate objects (like the monsters in PreCure), feral mutants (like the corrupted Gems in Steven Universe), or weird humanoid monsters (like the several monsters from 90′s Sailor Moon).

The aliens’ target are still young women; however, they are very bigoted in their perception of what makes one a woman (in other words, if you are trans, genderqueer or whatever else, they won’t target you).

The Higher Beings thought they have been gone for good when they reseted everything, but it seems that they were wrong. Afraid that history may repeat itself again, they decide to train and recruit pure-hearted and heroic humans to fight them.

The Magis can be anyone you know, no matter the age, sexuality or nationality. They are given the options to start their training at a early age or late if they want (as you can see, they work on the same vein of a Pokémon Trainer). There is also types of Magis, known as Lumi, that are born with magic within them; these types are very rare, though.

Some work in groups, some work alone. Some have mascots, some don’t. Some are young, some are old. To identify a Magi, you must look closely in their eyes; if you see stars in them, you’ve successfully spotted a Magi.

Most Magis are young women fighting to earn their space in a hurtful sexist society, and male Magis (vulgarly known as Magical Boys) are rare due sexism and humiliation, but they surely exist.

Their standard henshin speech is “Magia Transform”, and once the Magi says this, they are magically scanned into their magical persona (think of the scanning halo in the transformation sequence in P&SwG).

They are equipped with a magical compact that act as communicators, radar and GPS, and disguise materialization, and their standard powers are crystalomancy, light projection/molding and ribbon materializing (think of Happiness Charge PreCure and DC’s Green Lantern).

A Magi is trained into magic and/or fighting; some are fighters, some are entertainers, but they don’t falter from their original duties of kind-hearted helpers. They can be whatever they want to be (a warrior, a witch, a robot, a fortuneteller, a ninja, and many other aesthetics), and mascots can graduate into Magis themselves as well (like how some PreCure fairies and mascots can become Magical Girls themselves).

Planet Earth is stage to many stories, with diverse protagonists; however, the main character of the show is a young woman born surrounded by mystical energies and her unusual yet magical friends (I’m still in doubt on how many teammates the main crew should have, though…), who have decided on building a business dedicated on helping others with their magic, no matter how big or how small the task may be.

The Magis have a hub world where they can be assigned to their missions, or simply just hang out, named Wondaria. This magic dimension is a solarpunk society, constantly evolving for the good of their inhabitants (it has become a haven to safety to Earth’s minorities, as of late). Being a Magi is a job that pays in this world, too.

In the heart of Wondaria, there is the city of Artemundo, where is located the Magi Headquarters (a.k.a The Gaia Division), where Magis are sent to their missions through Warp Pads (in the same vein as Crash Bandicoot and Steven Universe). After the job is finished, the earthlings are paid with small crystals known as Credits (or Creds, for short). They can be converted into regular money for one’s convenience, too.

The plot thickens as a rebellious runaway princess comes into the scene, who has traveled through many dimensions and wants to implant a system to expand the magic dimension of Wondaria into multiversal heights by pin-pointing other dimensions and meeting ever-growing casts of non-Magi heroes, and create bonds with amicable monsters, making them allies to the Magis and protectors to the humans.

My story is basically a product of spite and self-indulgence; I wanted to throw loads of shades and jabs at edgy Magical Girl stories (specially at MadoMagi and Raising Project). Other inspirations include OK KO, Kids Next Door, Kingdom Hearts, Pokémon, Super Smash Bros., Happiness Charge PreCure, Boku no Hero Academia, Little Witch Academia, and Jump Force (scheduled to be released in February 2019).

I also want to subvert some tropes in the Magical Girl genre, and some other non-MG series. I want to do the job that Steven Universe and Voltron have failed to do.

I want a story about breaking the norm, unwavering optimism and righteous anger, having zero shame in self-indulgency, defying fate, second chances to those who truly deserve it, gradual healing, self-discovery, love in every form and aspect other than just romantic, proper development and growth, fun and exciting adventures with zero consequences and punishments for wanting to be heroes, and misfits and underdogs getting their happy endings.

I mean, I would make it if my skills weren’t so limited. If someone wants to make a collab with me, hit me up anytime.

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 060

Film: Futari wa Precure Max Heart - The Movie Date watched: 04 August 2018 Original Premiere Date: 16 April 2005 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/QoKMbB6

The Golden Girls reboot looks great!

Well here we are! Precure has finally gone theatrical! They got a big budget and a 70 minute runtime to fill! They have so much money to blow that the movie is literally filled with DIAMONDS! So how is their first foray on the big screen? Toei Animation certainly has a lot of experience, but every project is unique. Well, it turns out this one is pretty good!

After a cold open featuring an evil witch (who is never given a proper name) plotting to steal something called the “Diamond Line” from her lair, an old sailing ship, we cut to the opening theme. I checked it against the TV opening and it’s exactly the same, except that it’s been cropped to a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and the logo has an unflattering stamp beside it with the film’s registration number. I assume this is from Japan’s film bureau or something. Otherwise, no “THE MOVIE” label (in any language), no subtitle, nothing to differentiate it from the show aside from what I already mentioned. A little odd IMO.

After the opening, Honoka and Nagisa are eating at Akane’s on a Sunday morning while Hikari helps out. After teasing Nagisa about her eating habits not appealing toFuji-P, the real deal runs by and she gets really embarassed. This is the first time he’s been seen in the series in a while, as I mentioned previously, and even then it’s just for a one-and-done gag. After this, Akane sends Hikari on break so the trio head to a nearby park to hang out, when they’re accosted by a mysterious figure wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora who asks them if they’re the legendary warriors. They start to realize this character isn’t from the Dusk Zone but before they can say anything else, off comes the coat and seven frog-like beings attack them! The trio transforms and we’re treated to a dynamic fight with no dips in quality. You can feel the impact of each blow, everybody moves around a lot, and even Shiny Luminous gets in on the fun by tricking some of the frogs into running into each other. The frog gang surrenders and they explain they were just testing the power of the legendary warriors, and they need their help. They regroup at Honoka’s place where they further explain they’re from the Garden of Hope and they want Precure to protect them during an important ceremony involving the Diamond Line. Despite some protests from Hikari and Honoka, who have obligations, Nagisa says full steam ahead and after barely pausing to give them breathing room, the frogs transport them to the Garden of Hope.

This place is filled with diamonds and most of the inhabitants (anthropomorphic animals) are digging for them above ground. I’d like to make a snarky comment about the value of diamonds being undercut by how common they are, but they seem to use diamonds as an energy source, so there’s that. Good job, Habara Daisuke (the writer), you thought of everything. Anyway, they make their way to the castle, seen above, and run into the kingdom’s prince, who looks like Fuji-P with long hair, and consequently shares his seiyuu to justify getting him for those two lines earlier. Nagisa in particular is a bit flustered by this, since he’s obviously not her crush despite the striking resemblance, but unlike Fuji-P, she gets over it, and the girls are taken inside to meet the Queen. The Queen of Hope shows them the Diamond Line, which turns out to be a set of jewelry, and she explains the energy ceremony and how the balance of the Garden of Hope affects the balance of all the worlds, including the Garden of Rainbows (Earth), so it’s important for Pretty Cure to protect the Diamond Line The girls agree and are about to change into formal attire for the party preceding the ceremony when Honoka breaks off to talk with Square, one of the Guardians (frogs) who’s been antagonistic and dismissive of the girls the entire time. She tries to reason with him but he’s insistent that they don’t need the girls. Later that day, the trio arrive at the party in their fancy dresses, and they look great, but it doesn’t take long for Nagisa to start butting heads with Square, and she storms off in anger to clear her head. Unfortunately, while she’s out, the ceremony begins and the Witch swoops in on a flying boat and attacks! Nagisa tries to run back downstairs to transform with Honoka but all the party guests are running away from the witch and blocking her path, so Hikari transforms and tries to take her on with aid from the Guardians. Unfortunately since Shiny Luminous is more of a support hero than a fighter, she’s quickly knocked out, the Guardians are bested, and the Witch grabs the bracelet from off the Queen’s wrist. Nagisa finally arrives and she transforms with Honoka, but the Witch already has what she wants and she just blasts them with her shark-headed ship.

The Queen also took a heavy blast and she and Hikari are both unconscious. Feeling bad for their personal failure, Black and White set out with the guardians to the Witch’s lair to reclaim what was stolen! They cross over a yard full of half-sunken ships from various eras until they’re attacked by some human-sized bat monsters. The unusual terrain makes for a great fight, and the cures and guardians barely maintain the upper hand until the Witch herself shows up and just blows up the ship they’re on. After rescuing all the guardians from the flames, they press on. Back at her lair, the Witch reveals that her plan after upsetting the balance of worlds is to revive the Dark King! Fortunately, the girls barge in and swipe the orb containing the bracelet she stole. They give it to the Guardians to return to safety and begin fighting her. Black and White get a few good hits in, but she takes the upper hand. After remembering there’s a sale on chocolate back home, Nagisa is encouraged to push forward and Honoka quips that that’s the Nagisa she knows. Black rushes the Witch and lands a powerful blow in her ribcage, strong enough to break the wall behind her and hurt Black’s wrist a bit.

But the witch isn’t done yet, and she blasts the two at point blank range, catching them in a massive explosion before leaving them for dead and taking flight in her ship to get the bracelet back. The Prince of Hope finds the guardians and takes the orb from them, with help from a newly awakened but not fully recovered Hikari. The Witch spots them and the Prince tries to fight her off, overcoming his trepidation, but she’s still too powerful and she fires an attack at him. Hikari jumps in front of him to take the hit, dropping the orb, and dropping to the ground herself. Black and White show up, fighting off all the bat minions, before they find Hikari and get righteously mad at the Witch for hurting their friend. Black gives a big speech about believing in your friends and allies and declares that that’s why they’ll always win and the Witch, who cares for naught but herself, never will. After blowing away some more of her minions, the Witch decides to handle it herself and transforms into a giant, purple-skinned form that would make Go Nagai proud.

She effortlessly blasts Black and White in the air, and they fall to the ground. They still refuse to give up, reassuring each other that they’re alright, and Honoka even imitates Nagisa by saying “Us giving up? ‘Totally unbelievable!’” This gets them both laughing and they stand up again, and they walk over to Hikari. The Guardians, the Prince, and the newly arrived Queen all will the power of the diamonds to heal Hikari and it does, restoring her health and transforming her back to Shiny Luminous. The Guardians then offer the cures their diamonds as a powerup, and the three ascend into the air with the stones, transforming into golden forms with heart-shaped diamond earrings and brooches.

The trio can now fly around, and they effortlessly avoid the Witch’s attacks, hitting her with their own, before performing a powered-up Extreme Luminario attack on a weak spot they had exposed earlier. The Witch is defeated once and for all, the bracelet is freed from the dark orb, and the power of the Diamond Line restores the Garden of Hope to its rightful glory, but the Queen lets them know that it was their courage that allowed such a miracle to happen.

Throughout all of this, Square has come to respect the Legendary Warriors, to the point where he begs them not to leave. Honoka hugs him and says that they don’t want to go, but they have to. On the way back, Nagisa laments that she didn’t take a diamond with her after all. Hikari arrives back at Akane’s stand apologizing for taking so long, but it turns out her 30 minute break isn’t even over yet! Meanwhile Honoka rushes to bring in the laundry before the rain, while Nagisa sits and mopes. Honoka spots a frog and jokes that it’s the Kero Kero God. Nagisa says they should try to fly back to the Garden of Hope again, and they try the incantation together, but obviously they don’t go anywhere, and as they laugh it off, the credits begin to roll.

There’s a song that plays about halfway through the film between the girls’ defeat and their journey to the shipyard called “Tears of Hope ~Tears for Tomorrow~” by Mayumi Gojo, the main theme song singer for the show, and that’s really nice. It’s billed as the main theme for the movie. The ending theme is “The Power of Hope” by Shizuka Kudo, which is also nice. I’ll be honest though, I find the ending to be better than the insert theme. While “Tears of Hope” fits the mood at that point in the film, “Power of Hope” is something I’d probably be humming on the way out of the theater. You can find both songs on the movie’s soundtrack or the theme song single if you want to listen.

this is the album cover for the single. Reverse search it and maybe it’ll help.

Still on the subject of music, there’s a really aurally clever moment during the fight in the ship graveyard. Black and White are performing Marble Screw on the Witch, and it has that awesome uplifting theme to go with it. But of course she doesn’t go down there, she blocks the attack, turns it into negative energy, and fires it right back at the cures. And RIGHT when she turns the tide of the attack, the music changes to one of the ominous villain themes. It’s been a long time since I studied music theory so I can’t describe the effect in technical terms, but the switch is perfectly timed in the Marble Screw music to hit right on the beat, and it changes the key and tempo seamlessly. That was a nice touch.

Before I give my analysis I want to make a few comments. It’s not confirmed, but there’s rampant speculation that this film was originally meant to correspond to the first series, but got reworked to be a Max Heart film when that series was greenlit. A big piece of evidence is the relative absence of Hikari for half of the movie, despite her being the new character whose products you’d think they’d want to advertise. Even during the fights she is in, she doesn’t do much and her role could easily be filled by one of the guardians or the Prince. Hikari doesn’t feel tacked on, but she also doesn’t contribute a lot of significance. Her being less of a fighter than the others works in her favor for how they treat her. If this theory is even true, the change was obviously made early enough in production that they could rewrite the story to include her in natural ways, and I’ll admit the idea of her defeat being cause for revenge against the witch is an interesting one. There’s a certain level of guilt that Nagisa in particular feels for HIkari’s situation, since it was her fault for storming off and leaving Luminous as the only one who could fight, and that’s a clever writing tool.

I just learned this while doing some research for this review but apparently the movie was sponsored by one or more jewelry manufacturers and the Diamond Line is the name of an actual product they make, so the jewelry theme is an advertisement for them. I can only assume that was for the parents in the audience. It’s a bit odd, but I’ll take it over going all-in on a Halloween theme for a movie that releases ON Halloween so anybody that watches it after the first day of release gets something out-of-season. *stares pointedly at the Go! Princess movie*

Diamonds are a magical girl’s best friend

Last note, I didn’t go over all Guardians individually because this is already long, but their names are Square, Round, Marquis, Pear, Oval, Heart, and Trilliant. These are all cuts of precious stones, and they all wear those cuts on their capes.

So what did I actually think of the movie? I thought it was great! It’s a lot better than I remember it being, a strong first outing for Precure on the big screen. I’d honestly be willing to pay money if this got a US theatrical release like the Sailor Moon films currently are. (C’mon, Funimation, cut a deal with Toei.) I still like the second film better, but there are much worse Precure films out there. (looking at you, Kirakira) The plot is reasonable, the pacing is good, the animation is much better than anything we’ve seen in Max Heart so far, and especially better than our next episode. The fight scenes are very fast-paced with characters moving all over the place and you can feel the power of every blow. They used their opportunity to great effect, it’s truly a cinematic experience. It’s got the gags you’d expect from a normal episode but it doesn’t get bogged down trying to shove in EVERY in-joke from the show or a bunch of side characters. The Guardians aren’t especially memorable but Square has some solid character growth, going from the outlier who doesn’t think they need Precure to being extremely grateful for their help and their part in saving his home. If I had to make one nitpick, it would probably be that the Queen and Prince’s parts could be combined together and they would make a better character overall. The Queen doesn’t have anything to do except bless the diamonds, she’s knocked out for most of the film like Luminous, so I think if they tied the prince’s hesitancy to fight with her royal duties they’d end up with a more rounded part.

I think when I get to the second movie, I’ll allow myself two days to review it. Screenshotting, uploading, researching, and writing has taken up all of my day today, but now I know what to expect for future films. But until then, look forward to Max Heart 11, the one where the animators quit, coming at you soon.

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 3! 3 Areianai! And a bonus “Arienai” from Cure White imitating Nagisa.