#but my mind always goes to hugtto

[whorenerdking]

Precure All Stars movie but it’s just one big therapy session

god all of those girls need therapy but some of them REALLY NEED THERAPY like jesus christ the fact that most of not all of them have seen someone die or get severely injured in front of them

[reversemoon255]

Healin' Good Precure

I finished another season of Precure; yeah! It's not that I didn't watch Hugtto or Twinkle, but I had issues with the sub groups I was following during both seasons, and fell off half-way through. Which sucks because I heard Twinkle ended up being really good. I do have all the episodes I haven't watched saved somewhere, but whether I'll get to them or not is up in the air as I'm really bad at binging shows.

But we're not here to talk about those seasons, we're here to talk about the latest season, which I quite enjoyed. It was definitely on the more mellow side of the spectrum, but it had a very well-rounded cast of both humans, faeries, and villains, which fits the more slice-of-life attitude the show rolled with. Is it my favorite? No, but I think it still had a lot of positive things going for it.

The Good: Let's start with the characters. Nodoka was a very chill pink, which is a nice change of pace. Pinks are usually very energetic and outgoing, and Nodoka still has those characteristics, but a much more laid-back personality. Her backstory is also very poignant for the series, and how it ends up tying into the plot was not unforeseeable, but still well executed. Chiyu is a standard cool blue with chinks in her armor, but like Nodoka is usually very laid back which helps her stand out amongst the crowd. Despite how generic she seems on paper, I can't really think of another blue that acts like Chiyu, which is a point in the positive. Hinata has the quirky yellow thing down flat. In terms of general personality, she acts more like a pink than Nodoka does. She's also two character tropes we haven't seen in Precure yet: Gyaru and Dumb. I don't mean anything bad by that, but Hinata definitely acts very anime-gyaru, which is very funny to me as I feel like Gyaru are typically not portrayed as role models. She's also not smart; and don't get me wrong, there are plenty of Precure that aren't geniuses, but Hinata actively tries and doesn't have the attention span to do it. It makes her far too relatable as someone who was not the biggest fan of school. Asumi was an interesting take on the fairy-turned-Precure idea, basically being a husk that has to experience emotions for the first time. She is also very mellow, making it 3-for-4. It's a very laid back team.

Rabirin, Pegitan, and Nyatoran are all very good faries. They can carry entire scenes and episodes on their own, and despite their cute appearances are able to do it with as much weight as a human character. Latte may also be my favorite fairy ever, as she's a non-talking dog, and just acts like a very smart dog. It's both adorable and hilarious. The Pathogerms are also pretty well done. They all have very standard personalities and drives, but there's nuances to how they act and do things. When we get to them evolving, each of them creates their own way of making more powerful Mega and Gigapathogerms. And the fact that none of them are redeemed is very different for Precure, but not unwelcome. They have their funny moments, but they were bad guys through and through.

I'll also say that the character development for this season was very different than what we normally see. Like, most of the time it's "I'm shy and want to be more outgoing," "I'm aiming for my dream job," or something along those lines. Here, other than maybe Pegitan, nobody really goes through that type of standard, measurable progression. Nodoka's big character moment is realizing she doesn't have to put herself at risk to help others if she doesn't want to. Chiyu's is realizing she can have multiple interests. And Hinata is just realizing she's ok as she is and doesn't need to try and change. None of them are bad revelations, it's just none of the characters really go through anything that fundamentally changes them as a person; they're all pretty much the same from start to finish. Which, they're all 14. It's not super weird.

The plot feels very in-style with what Toei's been doing for a bit now. It's very episodic. Not a ton of huge shake-ups, and those that we do get are resolved pretty quickly so people tuning in for the first time or skip episodes don't get lost. It's the type of show that feels formulated to attract new viewers, and I'm ok with it since everything was well written. I can't think of an episode I didn't think was at least decent, and there were a few gems sprinkled throughout. The one-off characters from all those episodes have very distinct personalities, and nothing ever felt too rushed.

One thing though; I get this is the doctor series, but I find it strange that they went with the usual Earth-Water-Sky motif, and not have any aspects of the animal partners be incorporated into the actual costume design. They didn't have to go all out, like in Kira Kira, but I don't think they even had a paw-print on anything but their weapons.

The Bad: So I mentioned one-off characters earlier, and one of my problems with this show is that it's filled with one-off characters. Other than the parents, there are no real reoccurring characters. No other friends they all hang out with. It's just the main cast most of the time. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it allows more time for developing the characters you care about, but at the same time it makes the focus of the show very narrow, to the point that  near the end of the series you can't help but think "Oh yeah, this takes place in more than a small town." And while I feel for the characters when they're going through something tough, there weren’t that many moments like that. There’s a lack of overall investment. Even near the finale, I never walked away from an episode begging for more. There were plenty of times where I'd just binge through a month's worth of episodes while doing other stuff. And, again, that's not a bad thing, but, even if I didn't finish it, I got that feeling of investment from Star Twinkle, from Kira Kira, from Maho. Maybe it's because the Precure themselves were seldom attacked? The only mess-with-your-character moment I can think of is when Nodoka get infected, and that was just because she stumbled onto Daruizen; he wasn't actively targeting her. It's more that the chill nature of the show has a double-edged nature to it. It's cute and fun and easy to watch, but you're not going to walk away with it changed in any way, like I was with Go! Princess.

And on the ending, it was very abrupt. I know a few episodes got cut, but that would have been known near the start of the series, and there was plenty of filler. As much as I complain about the time issues associated with the epilogues in accordance to new series and crossover movies, this felt like a season that could have used it. In fact, I think it's the first since Princess to not have one.

Overall, I'm fealin' good ‘bout Healin' Good. It's a nice, easy watch with some fun characters. It's just not very meaty, and I could have used a little more. I'm looking forward to Tropical Rouge. It's already starting out with some interesting premises, like having Summer copy the Zenkaiser color scheme, staying away from the typical colors, etc. Also, whenever I try and design a Precure season (because I get bored at work and do that sometimes) I always do an ocean theme in a seaside town. In fact, Coral is usually the name I give my pink. But enough about how my mind wanders; let's hope the next season is just as fun, but a bit more compelling than this season.

[muthaz-rapapa]

Precure S.H. Figuarts Waitlist

As much as I hate thinking about it, need to post this to make sure I’m not the only one bemoaning Bandai’s horrendous track record of exclusive, non-releases. 

*sobbing* (; _ ;  )

Tbh, I really prefer scales but like that’s going to ever happen again. Even Hugtto’s success wasn’t enough to bring back the prize figures. Or even trading figures! :P

Missing Cures:

Cure Ange - Prototype pics already up, just no release date yet.

HaCha team [Lovely, Princess, Honey, Fortune] - Now this is just ****** unfair! Yes, I understand that they’d want to capitalize on the more recent and/or popular seasons first but it’s been almost six years and these girls should be given their due. Just because their season was polarizing doesn’t make them any less deserving members of the franchise. >:(

Maho team [Miracle, Magical, Felice] - Only Miracle received a proto but the photos of her are hardly flattering. Still, at least she and Magical have been announced so there’s still hope for improvement and eventual release dates and of course, though it might take another eternity Felice. I can say with 80% certainty they’ll probably be released before the HaCha team, though. *more sobbing*

Star team [Star, Milky, Soleil, Selene, Cosmos] - Being a more recent season, expect them to be announced (not released)...2 years from now? And that’s just me being optimistic. I don’t know how popular StarPre is but I’m pretty sure not as much as Hugtto was during its run so it’ll likely take a while to finally get started on this line. Not to mention, with current production being delayed due to the pandemic and all (just to be clear, this I have no problem with because always safety for the workers first!!). And that’s just for the first Cure, too, which will undoubtedly be Star. Then after, it’s a matter of the most to least popular in the team which I suspect goes something like this: Milky, Selene or Cosmos, Soleil.

Heal team [Grace, Fontaine, Sparkle, Earth] - Can’t expect any announcement when the season isn’t even halfway done yet. Nah, the soonest I can expect to see any confirmation will have to be closer to the end. As for order of release, probably this: Grace, Sparkle, Fontaine. I’m leaving Earth out for now since she hasn’t debuted yet so can’t really judge when there’s no reception to judge on. *shrug*

Other potential releases (no guarantees, though):

These are mainly recurring, supporting characters. At least those who were popular enough that some fans would want to purchase them so Bandai might be convinced to keep an open mind for?? Maybe?? I dunno.

There was a poll a few years ago but(with the exception of Twilight) I’m not sure the ones I listed here were on it. Anyways, too lazy to look for the link and translate the results atm.

Not strangely, they are also mostly villains.

Dark Dream - Ok, so she’s movie-exclusive but Dark Dream’s still receiving a lot of love today. If any other character from Yes!5 had the chance of getting the figure treatment (ignoring the Renewal version of Dream), it’d be her.

Regina - I’m not really big on Regina so I don’t know how many would want to buy a Figuarts of her but I’m sure a good chunk of people would love to include her with the rest of the Doki team.

Twilight - She is my greatest grail. Who do I have to kill to get her? (⊙◡⊙ ;;) In all seriousness, though, Eas and Dark Precure got theirs so don’t see why Twilight can’t get one either since she was one of the best parts of Go!Pri.

Pikario/Rio - All the YES. I mean, I’m not collecting Kira merchandise but hell yea, I want to see him part of the line-up anyway! And they’ll likely go with his purified form over his villain form (Julio). Simply because it’s the most fab out of everyone else’s.

Lulu Amour (Criasu version) - Sometimes I think I love this look on her more than I like Cure Amour. Just sometimes, though. Anyways, Lulu is easily the most popular girl among the Hugtto team so would not be surprised if she got another Figuarts. But honestly? Not really that hopeful for it. At least, priority for her is lower than the main Cures who haven’t gotten released yet.

Would be nice but 0.00000000...1% chance of happening:

Form Changes. I mean, the only alternative forms that got Figuarts were Cure Angel (Peach only, the other Fresh girls were shelved), Heartcatch Super Silhouette...and yea, that’s it.

Really, though, that was a different time altogether so don’t hold your hopes up. If it takes a miracle to get one of the main characters finally released, it would take another dozen lifetime of miracles for a Form Change to just be considered.

*SIGH*

Go!Pri Mode Elegant - A proto of Flora’s Mode Elegant was showcased years ago but since she’s never been announced for mass production, then she probably was only made for the showcase. So yea, sadly, none for the other girls either. :’( If there were Figuarts, though, I’d only want their first Elegant forms. The other ones like Rose, Lily, Bubble, Luna, etc, I don’t really care for since there’s not that much difference from the initial forms.

Maho Form Changes - This is me we’re talking about so frickyea, I want the Ruby, Sapphire and Topaz forms! I also wouldn’t mind Alexandrite but hah, in my far off dreams probably.

StarPre Zodiac Forms - ...actually, I am more saddened by the fact that Cosmos has 4 forms while the other girls only have 2. Yes, STILL upset about that and will be forever upset about that so leave me the hell alone and let me sulk! xP

......

That’s all, I suppose.

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 165

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 17 - “Love Story of a Pure-Hearted Maiden” Date watched: 12 December 2019 Original air date: 27 May 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/md9kwKC Transformation Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6k6SzS0 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Remember the Prism Love Checker, the Takoyaki Handy, or the Charm Pencil Case from the last three seasons? Yeah, it’s that time again! Time to loosely base an entire episode around a toy that doesn’t fit the theme of the series.

The Plot

Natts House is sold out of everything, and for some reason there’s an implication that Rin should be doing something about this, but instead she’s crafting a bead bracelet, ignoring her surroundings, and generally acting strangely. Nozomi recalls that only other time she’s seen her friend this way was when she had a crush.....

Later, the girls pay her a visit at her mom’s shop, and see her giddily selling flowers to a handsome young man, and blushing. They confront her and she doesn’t admit to having a crush on this guy, but doesn’t deny it either. Since she agreed to deliver a flower to him, they urge her to make the delivery now while they mind the shop, and dress nicely to do it.

Nuts gives her a blue bead bracelet to match the red one she’s wearing (again, toys) and she sets off. However, the girls are curious to see her shoot her shot, and after some debate Karen justifies it by saying she’s just looking out for the students, so they follow her in secret. Rin arrives at his residence but hesitates, unsure what to say. Meanwhile, Girinma watches ominously from a tree....

As she’s just about to knock on the door, he opens the porch door and sees her. She gives him the flower and is just about to confess her feelings when a lady comes over and he introduces her as his girlfriend, for whom he buys the flowers. Rin goes from crushing to crushed, but manages to hide her feelings long enough to give them both the bracelets and wish them well before running off and breaking down. She sits on a bench and reflects on how she met him, as a patron of her shop, and starts to cry. Girinma shows up, taunting her dream for being pointless, and he prepares to attack her. The other girls catch up, declare Rin’s feelings to be precious, and they all transform. Girinma turns a nearby water fountain (the large, decorative kind, not the ones you drink from) into a Kowaina, which tosses the girls around. Even Aqua, who is supposed to be able to manipulate water.

Despite being overpowered and heartbroken, Rouge declares that she still wants to look forward to good things in life, and refuses to give up. The Kowaina suddenly weakens and it turns out Coco and Nuts have cut off the water supply to the fountain. Lemonade, Mint, and Aqua handle Girinma while Rouge and Dream take out the Kowaina, and the day is won.

As they all walk home, Nozomi, Urara, Komachi, and Karen suggest activities to cheer Rin up, but she knocks them each down in turn because they’re impractical or not to her tastes. Then she realizes that with all of them there, including Nuts and Coco, nobody is watching the shop, so they have to get back there as soon as possible, and the episode ends with a still frame.

The Analysis

First off, if I haven’t established this by now, I’m a sap for romance episodes. Always have been. So seeing Rin crush on someone warms my heart, even if I know it’s not going to end well for her. Also, she’s really cute when she’s like this. I mean, she’s always cute, but more cute. Actively cute.

I have to give props to her actress, Takeuchi Junko, for this. She sounds a bit more high-pitched and aloof than normal. Also there’s a sequence where she’s roleplaying in the mirror as herself and the guy, switching between personas and voices and it’s hilarious and a good show of skill.

I can’t really say her taste in men is great, this guy’s only notable feature seems to be “he comes to her shop, is personable, and is moderately attractive” but since she’s modeled after Nagisa, the bar isn’t exactly high. And of course, young love is rarely rational. It’s less about who she likes as much as the fact that she likes someone, and the writers’ ability to craft an episode around that. As far as episodes of this show goes, this one isn’t very good, especially coming off the fantastic Komachi focus episode, but it’s still fun overall. In this series, even the bad episodes are still pretty solid. They spend just the right amount of time showing Rin as lovestruck, doing silly things, and then getting heartbroken, before they move into the battle.

Now, the elephant in the room here is the Pop’n Beads Maker. It will appear again, and I know it appeared in HUGtto under a different name. This is a toy that was released in the Precure 5 toyline with branding from the characters, but it doesn’t have any plot relevancy. We’ve seen this before, but the previous items they were plugging were a bit smaller than this.

In stores now! Wait, I’m 12 years late.

Based on translated Amazon reviews it seems it was well-liked. I don’t have much to say about this. It threads beads onto a string for you so you don’t have to do it by hand. I read mixed reviews of how good it was at doing this. It may feature the least into the story of any of these gimmick items. For reference, the Prism Love Checker was used by Nagisa to see how compatible she was with Fuji-P.... or would have been if she hadn’t chickened out. The Handy was shown to be useful at Akane’s takoyaki cart, and Honoka used it to control a slideshow as well. The pencil cases in Splash Star were used to share messages about how Saki and Mai cared about each other and were sorry for upsetting one another. The bead maker is shown once, as Rin makes a bracelet, we see Nuts hold one more bracelet, and then it’s never seen or heard about again in this episode. Very weird. It’s preferable to forcing their whole relationship to center around the bead maker, but then it comes across as a less effective toy plug. I feel like there’s a middle ground for effectively marketing your product and integrating it into the plot in a non-hamfisted way, but I don’t want to waste time coming up with one.

I would like to point out that, despite being portrayed as sporty and tomboyish, they always take care to show that Rin also has feminine interests as well. She’s happy making flower arrangements, and here she is fawning over a boy. Her friends make note of this, and I’m not bringing it up to say it’s unusual for her. I like that she’s able to express all aspects of her personality mostly freely (she feels a little embarrassed about the crush, as people are wont to do).

I really like how they showcase Rin and Nozomi’s old friendship. We know they’re second generation friends who have known each other since they were very young, and we know they always look out for each other, but I love is how they show it in this episode. Nozomi recalls Rin’s previous crush that got her acting all giddy, and wants to support her wholeheartedly. When she gets her heart broken, Nozomi gives her some space, but when Girinma mocks her, she jumps on the offensive and declares how important Rin’s feelings are. When it’s time to strike the final blow, she works in tandem with Rin and says “Don’t make a maiden angry! You wouldn’t like us when we’re angry!” She has no time for anyone who upsets her friends, especially Rin, and that’s admirable.

Komachi, Urara, and Karen don’t have a whole lot going on this episode. It’s not about them. They’re mostly moral support, and encouraging poor decisions. All of them know they should leave Rin alone to go talk to this guy herself, but they’re also curious to see how she does. Karen is initially the voice of reason, saying they should give her her privacy, and Nuts backs her up. However, when Nozomi insists, she comes around and says as student council president, it’s her responsibility to look out for the students, and comes along. This is a pattern of behavior with her, she acts reasonable at first but then she makes poor decisions. I kinda like that about her, it shows that she’s not the unflappable student council president they all think she is, she’s just good at logic-ing her way into situations. And then when they’re all coming up with ways they can cheer her on, using their unique skills, Komachi suggests that she could write lines for Rin and Urara says she’ll be her stunt double!

she is unique.

They’re a bunch of dorks and I love them.

Also over on the villain side, Girinma isn’t doing so hot. Bunbee handed him his termination papers and threatened to fire him if he didn’t improve his performance, so he’s especially cynical of Rin’s misadventures when he spots her, but it doesn’t really relate to his attack. It doesn’t seem to amount to much of anything, except to show that Bunbee is at the end of his rope with his employees, which will come into play in a few more episodes.

To wrap it up, it’s a filler episode with the intention of plugging a toy they couldn’t advertise any other way. No Pinkies are gathered, but we see a little insight into Rin’s softer side, and some machinations behind the scenes. It’s not a bad episode, but if I had to recommend ones to skip for time, this would be one of them. I do understand the importance of fleshing out your cast so the audience cares about them and appreciates the bond between characters, which is what this does, but ultimately it’s not especially relevant. I would rate it a 7 on a scale of 10.

Next time, Masuko Mika interviews Karen at home, and we see spring uniforms! Look foward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 Kettei!

[ashitomarisu]

PRECURE SOUND PARTY: Hugtto! Precure Vocal Albums (Thoughts)

((How did I not talk about this sooner?))

Recently, I got to listening to the OP, ED, the character album, and the first vocal album for this season. From the 10-15 songs I chose, here are my opinions on each.

“We can!! HUGtto! Precure”: I’m pretty surprised at this opening. It’s a breath of fresh air from the previous OPs I listened to. The score feels much mellower and down-to-earth. 

"HUGtto! Future✩Dreamer": Honestly, this was somewhat underwhelming from last season’s earworm. I still cannot find myself adjusting to progressing onto the next season without having Shubidubi Sweets Time in my head. DX

Hooray Hooray! I'm・A・Cheerleader!!:  Rie Hikisaka outdid herself. Case closed. *clap clap*

Wings of an Image: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS SONG, BECAUSE I’M GETTING HUGE EFFING DEJA VU FROM IT.

The composition brings me back to the days of the OG Sailor Moon, which is super freaking weird, because Ami Mizuno’s image songs never sounded like this, but Makoto’s did. WTF?! Damn you, Sato.

Once Again, To The Sky Ahead: Where Hikisaka pulled off her character’s voice, Ogura-san couldn’t. I was expecting a tomboyish voice, but no. I’m getting odd cross between Sunshine and some other cure. Then again, the song’s lyrics are great. It may take some time to get use to it.

Friends With You; Big Love∞Infinite POWER: Those Tamuras are killing me with their cuteness, although I prefer Friends with You over the latter because of its emotional content. X3

A Miracle Called Friendship: I admire Saaya and Homare with this, but as an up-tempo song? Eh.....idk yet.

It'll Always Be Here: ... I cannot comment at this time. 

It is too early to consider since thnere is a new ED (that sounds better IMO), and more image songs to come. So far, though, this is shockingly meh for me. My mind is always up to seeing it differently as time goes on. Maybe it’ll not be as bad. For now, I’m calling this a slight disappointment?