#that they didn't try to include the mv design because they didn't think it would translate well into the game

[mollysunder]

My wildest theory for now is that Mel will make a pact with a demon in the Noxus show.

The eye on this sword tells me that it's either possessed by a Darkin or a demon, and either can bind with a host.

Why do think this? Well in Blood Sweat and Tears it's apparent Mel is connected with the Kindred, but the Kindred is strange here. I don't mean something like, "Oh the Lamb is black and gold and red all over". I mean the Lamb's arm seems to be permanently red here.

The only person with an arm like that , completely and fully red, is Swain, who was included in the Wolf's afterlife. Swain's arm is only like that because the demon Raum replaced it using his power.

There's also many similarities to the Lamb and Mel which I discussed in another post. If we treat the Lamb as a stand in for Mel, the reason Ambessa rejects a relatively peaceful death, for a life of ruthless ambition to protect her children (as referenced in Ambessa's bio), the connection becomes clearer and the implications become further reaching.

[project-sekai-facts]

In the last year, there has been even stronger evidence for this claim, at least from Minori's side. To start with the image above, Minori and Haruka were both put into class 2-D for their second year, since they're both taking the credit course at Miyajo. Minori's untrained Her Back That Makes Me Curious 4* shows that she sits behind Haruka, and initially struggles to focus on her lessons.

First off, here's some older hints/moments that I missed from the original post:

In chapter 3 of Let's Deliver! HOPEFUL STAGE ♪, Nanamin says to Minori that she's heard a lot about her through Haruka. Later on, in chapter 5 of Scramble Fan FESTA!, An says the same thing, telling us that Haruka talks about Minori a lot.

There's also this artwork from Colorful Palette's sketch tag on Twitter, showing Minori and Haruka in their outfits from the Welcome to the Penguin Cafe♪ set. Minori is staring at Haruka with hearts in her eyes and around her, a callback to Minori's untrained Passionate Call 4* from the same set.

Minori and Haruka also received a duet Another Vocal for Kokoro Yohou, a song in which the narrator sings about building up the courage to confess to their crush.

And in the first chapter of Cast Spell On You, MORE MORE JUMP! does a contest on their stream seeing who can pick the best outfit for Haruka. Minori wins again having won in a previous stream, and Shizuku says that this must be because Minori understands Haruka so well. Minori then states that she actually just chooses the clothes she wants to see Haruka wear. In chapter 8 of the event, she explains that the angel theming of her costume design (seen in the post above) was because she wanted Haruka to look like an angel.

Now for more recent content:

(TL by Puroeng on YT)

In chapter 6 of Over Here! Over There! Zookeeper Experience!, Minori spots Haruka from across the zoo, and recognises her because of her "sleek style and beautiful posture".

At the end of the Akuyaku ni Kiss Scene wo 3DMV, Minori and Haruka turn towards each other and move slightly closer. Whilst not hugely significant on its own, it's worth noting that in the original MV for the song, this is where Miku's character kisses the love interest.

The official Valentine's Day artwork for 2024 featured Minori and Haruka alongside Miku. Whilst Miku and Haruka are holding chocolates out towards the viewer, Minori is trying to give her chocolates to Haruka.

(TL by Project SEKAI ENG on Twitter)

Once again, they had connected voicelines for Valentine's Day. Minori was getting nervous about wanting to give Haruka chocolates, and Haruka noticed Minori staring at her, but didn't seem to realise why.

(TL by touyarn on YT)

When MORE MORE JUMP! is house hunting in chapter 1 of the The Scars Left Behind With Time event, Minori starts to imagine an incredibly domestic life with Haruka, involving the other girl cooking her dinner and drying her hair for her after a bath. Notably, the True Love Song OST plays during this imagine spot.

(TL by puroeng on YT)

In the Relax Teatime event, Minori says that when she was in middle school, she would send gifts to Haruka.

In the voice drama accompanying the February Broadcast Station episode, Rui talks about making Hinamatsuri dolls voiced by the members of MORE MORE JUMP!, and Minori immediately gets excited by the concept of a doll talking with Haruka's voice. Rui tells her she can call him for help anytime.

(TL by Project SEKAI ENG on twt)

In her 2024 Hinamatsuri line, Minori thinks to herself that Haruka would look pretty in a ceremonial kimono.

(TLs from this point onwards by Puroeng on YT)

And finally, despite Haruka not actually appearing as a main or supporting character in Minori's Wedding Live ♡ With Everyone! event, she manages to make a cameo through an imagine spot of Minori's.

At the bridal festival, there are several booths set up to advertise different wedding venues, including one based on a train. Minori fantasises about the train setting off to the "paradise of love", and about the bride disembarking from the train when it pulls into the station. The bride in question? Haruka. The True Love Song track plays again during this scene.

Additionally, Minori was livestreaming the entire thing, but all her fans have to say is that it was typical behaviour of her.

Since the start of the game, it has been heavily implied, if not outright stated, that Minori has a crush on Haruka. To a lesser degree, it has been implied that Haruka has feelings for Minori.

In chapter 17 of MORE MORE JUMP!'s main story, when Minori performs a show to give Haruka the hope she needs to perform as an idol again, she tells Haruka that the first time she received fanservice from her was the first time she ever felt the happiness of falling in love with someone (altered in official translation).

In Minori's self-introduction, she flubs a line towards the end, but Haruka insists that they keep it in because "it's so Minori". Meanwhile, in Haruka's self-introduction, Minori thanks Haruka's parents for bringing her into the world and allowing them to meet. Haruka then says that she should be the one thanking Minori's parents, for letting her meet someone like Minori, causing Minori to become extremely flustered. Minori thanking Haruka's parents for giving birth to her is also referenced in 4koma #6 and her menu voiceline for Haruka's birthday in 2021.

In the side story for Miku's Stage SEKAI 2* card, she blows a kiss to Minori during a show. Minori then imagines Haruka blowing her a kiss, causing her to blush and think that she was about to have a heart attack.

In her 2021 Valentine's menu voiceline, Minori became extremely flustered over finally having the opportunity to give Haruka chocolate. Haruka comments that Minori getting all red in the face will make her embarrassed too. Even Airi comments on Minori's bold decision to give Haruka chocolates.

In their White Day menu voicelines from that year, it was revealed that Haruka gave Minori a return gift. Minori says that she will treasure it forever.

There are multiple instances of Haruka looking fondly at Minori. Perhaps the most notable is both her untrained and trained You Deserve It 4* card.

Minori passed out when Haruka wished her a happy birthday in 4koma #41. Haruka insisted on performing the birthday show for Minori even though Airi had warned her about what would happen.

In Airi's Unyielding Indomitable Spirit 4* story, it is revealed that while Airi and Shizuku went to the picnic with Ena and Mizuki, Minori and Haruka went to Phoenix Wonderland together. Their trip is shown in Luka's Fairy Lantern ♪ 2* story.

Minori's Passionate Call untrained 4* card speaks for itself, being the first time she was depicted with 'heart-eyes' around Haruka. This card is from Haruka's first event, Break Time for the Hardworking You!, which featured the commissioned song Ai no Material, which is explicitly a love song. While Haruka and Shizuku took the duo centre of the song, Minori was the only character to receive an Another Vocal for it.

The future that you were gazing at, I don't know if I can take you there. I hope I can support you, and keep walking with you.

In Haruka's Someday, I'll Deliver Colorful Festival 4* story, it is mentioned that MORE MORE JUMP! played a game called "No Blushing - Smiling Staring Contest!" on their stream that day. Minori lost the game because she couldn't keep a straight face whilst looking at Haruka. Minori later adds that Haruka's smile has the power to "make anyone's heart race".

Haruka's fragment SEKAI is born from her reminiscing about the idol that inspired her and was able to make her smile when she was younger, and wishing she had the chance to meet this person. Haruka thinks she spots her idol in amongst a crowd, and proceeds to chase her throughout the SEKAI. Although she keeps losing track of her idol, she is determined to tell her about how she inspired her. While thinking to herself, Haruka remembers Minori telling her how she was her inspiration to become an idol. She continues to think to herself, remembering how she was genuinely happy when she met Minori and was able to get on stage again because Minori gave her hope. This makes her more determined to find her idol and tell her how much she was inspired by her.

When she runs into a dead end again, she finds a dove with a clover in it's beak. It gives her the clover and then leads her to a house filled with more doves. While it is dark inside, she thinks that she recognises the room. She feels compelled to open the windows and let all the birds fly free out of the darkness, just as her idol did for her. She then notices that all the birds have clovers in their beaks that they want to deliver to other people as they did with her, and she frees them. Haruka's idol then appears behind her and talks to her. Haruka recognises her voice and tries to talk to her, but the SEKAI disappears before she gets the chance.

It is heavily implied that the idol that Haruka was chasing around the Fragment SEKAI was Minori. From her remembering Minori's message of hope while she was trying to find her childhood idol, to wanting to tell her childhood idol about this event, to the doves that were carrying clovers (MORE MORE JUMP!'s symbol that will bring hope to their fans, that was Minori's idea). Not to mention the fact that the dove gave Haruka a clover and led her straight to where her idol was. The woman who appears in the SEKAI even looks like Minori with longer hair.

However, it could be argued that Haruka's childhood idol just heavily resembles Minori, seeing as Haruka recognises the voice as nostalgic and identifies the woman as her childhood idol instead of Minori (it was in a crowd though). However, after returning from the fragment SEKAI, Haruka only refers to the mystery woman as "her", adding to the ambiguous identity.

Minori and Airi covered the song Ren'ai Saiban, a song about someone who is trying to win back their lover after an unspecified incident. The 2DMV for the cover plays up the "winning back the lover" aspect, since at the end, after Minori and Airi free themselves from their handcuffs, they free Haruka and Shizuku as well. Miku seems to approve of this ending despite trying to sentence them for the first three and a half minutes of the MV.

In Buddy Funny Spend Time ♪, the two go on a "double date" with An and Kohane. While ultimately it is treated as platonic and Minori and Haruka are not considered to be in a relationship outside of or even in the event, An at the very least does seem to consider her half of the date as romantic (Peak Excitement 3* story), with said interpretation being supported in later stories (such as Kick it up a notch).

Still on the topic of BFST, in chapter 1 of the story, An says that Minori really likes Haruka, and that Haruka feels the same way. Later on in the event, Minori relates to how flustered Kohane is around Haruka, saying that Haruka is really cool and cute, and her heart raced when Haruka first called her by her first name. She also relates to Kohane's jealously over An and Haruka's close friendship later on in the story.

At one point during their outing, the four girls go shopping for street style clothes. Minori doesn't think she fits the look, until Haruka tells her that she suits the clothes and she decides that she will keep them forever. The event 4koma also shows that Minori is very attracted to Haruka's street style look.

At the end of the event, Minori confesses to Haruka that she doesn't know much about the real, non-idol Haruka, and that she had been trying to get closer to Haruka during the event by trying to please her (such as going on a rollercoaster when she didn't want to). Haruka tells Minori that she likes her just the way she is, and that she doesn't need to force herself to do things she doesn't like.

Haruka's trained A Street Style Idol!? 4* card from this event can be seen at the top of this post, depicting Minori and Haruka with their arms linked.

In 4koma #92, Kohane tries to understand the emotions that An an Akito felt while watching RAD WEEKEND, although she can't get a clear image since neither of the two can express it in words. Minori chimes in and explains that she understands not being able to put feelings into words, describing "emotions swirling inside of her" while she thinks of Haruka. Shiho remarks that what Minori is feeling is not the same as what An and Akito felt at RW.

Minori's Enthusiastic Talk! untrained 4* card depicts her holding a drawing she did of a costume for Haruka. The drawing is surrounded by pink hearts and one of the annotations reads "cute!".

Minori's 2022 White Day menu voiceline reveals that Haruka gave her chocolate for the holiday, causing Minori to get extremely flustered yet again.

In a flashback during the Dear Me, As I Was Back Then event, we see Minori attend an ASRUN concert, during which she shouted out her love for Haruka. In Minori's untrained Beyond the Spotlight 4* card from this event, you can see Haruka watching her in the background.

In Scream!? Welcome to the Wolf Forest!, Minori is comically blinded by Haruka's cat cafe costume. She says that she can't look at Haruka because the cat ears suit her so well, but at the same time she really wants to look, and feels like her head is going to get torn off.

A similar instance of Haruka's presence 'blinding' Minori was shown in 4koma #61.

Minori's 2023 Valentine's Day menu voiceline reveals that Haruka gave her Valentine's chocolates, rather than the other way around. Although Minori wants to eat it, she isn't sure if she wants to sacrifice the gift.

For that White Day, Minori gave Haruka three times the amount of gifts that Haruka gave her for Valentine's Day as her return gift. Haruka suggests that they eat the sweets together, since she won't be able to manage them by herself.

During MORE MORE JUMP!'s 1st live, during one MC game, Haruka tells Minori that she loves her, causing the latter to nearly faint.

Haruka: Thank you. I love you, Minori Airi: Woaaah! Knock out! Shizuku: That's amazing, Haruka-chan

The second set of birthday cards show the gifts that each character was given by the other members of their unit. In Haruka's card, you can see a handwritten letter, with an opening line that reads "I lo-lo-lo-looove you, Haruka-chan". Minori's card features a letter from Haruka in return, as well as some ASRUN photographs.

In Haruka's card, you can see that Minori also gifted her a T-shirt that matches the otter one that she wears for training, only this one has a penguin, Haruka's favorite animal, on it as well. In 4koma #15, Minori picked out a similar shirt for Haruka, featuring only the penguin.

Minori also keeps a collection of Haruka merchandise in her room.

[nerdwriting]

The Creative Directors Behind Fate: The Winx Saga Must Not Be K-Pop Fans

Also, they have a pretty wrong idea of the role fashion should play in a show.

There are a few words that will stand out across most reviews of Netflix's Fate: The Winx Saga - drab, boring, flop, flat, unimaginative. Critics and audiences consensus is that the show is not only a mediocre-at-best story, but also an atrocious (and ultimately confusing) choice of adaptation of the color pop and fairy magic cartoon it’s based on, 2004 italian cartoon Winx Club.

Fate has plenty of it's own issues - white washing and erasing characters, cringey dialogue, outdated melodrama, etc. But where it truly, unequivocally fails is as an adaptation. Fate misses everything that was magical and lovable about the original series, in all levels, from bizarre writing choices, - such as never actually developing any sense of friendship between the characters, who are based on a cartoon about…..a group…….of friends -, but it's especially and immediately felt in the art direction and costume design.

Winx Club is set on a fantastical world, Magix, where each of our main characters hail from a different planet, à la Sailor Moon. Alfea, the fairy school they attend, is the most common background: a pastel colored, futuristic high tech-meets-fantasy, art nouveau inspired castle. Alfea sets the tone for the whole visual of the cartoon: bright, colorful, futuristic meets vintage, leaning into the technological positivism of the Y2K style, uniting it with magic, DnD worthy monsters and, of course, fairy wings. Often featured are also the Red Fountain school, where the Specialists train, and especially Cloud Tower, the goth and gothic inspired witch school Alfea has an OxBridge rivalry with (How cool would that be in a live action? I guess we’ll never know…).

On Fate, Alfea is the only school we ever see, and it’s another beige boarding school in not-Britain, somehow set in a magical world where everyone has the exact same technology and even social media that we have on Earth in 2021, no transformations and, most egregiously, no fairy wings.

This lack of visual creativity is pervasive throughout the whole show, and its most heartbreaking iteration is in the characters' wardrobe. The styling has the barest bones of a color scheme, - such as 'Bloom has to only dress in red since fire, duh',- the clothes are ill fitting, bland, dark and very dated. These are supposed to be teenagers who enjoy fashion, and yet they look like varying types of soccer moms from 2010.

The series seems to operate on an old and tired vision that women and girls can’t have depth and have adventures and fight monsters while also caring about fashion, a vision that the original show played a big, big role in challenging in the early 2000's. Fashion and costume design sets as much of the tone of a visual medium as the script does; through clothes we can gauge characters’ backgrounds, passions, and personality.

Winx Club has some of the best examples of this in the cartoon sphere - Bloom’s comfortable and bright style, Stella’s glitzy and bold, Musa’s edgy and cool, Aisha’s sporty and fun, Techna’s neon and tech gear inspired, Flora’s earthy and romantic, they all work as extensions of each character and serve a narrative purpose. And that’s not even mentioning how insulting it feels that in their quest to make Winx “edgier, darker” and fit for an older audience, the creators of Fate somehow decided that was in opposition to caring about style and fashion. Most “girly” shows, including the Winx Club are just as much adventure action shows as the ones geared towards boys, and it’s emphasis in fashion, friendship and color does not detract from that. The original run of the cartoon deals with war, violence, grief, abusive relationships and even genocide; leaning into those plotlines would not require Fate to erase any integral parts of what made Winx so beloved, and the fact that they did shows that the Netflix team completely missed the point of fashion in the original show, and really, the point of fashion and costume design in the world building of any show.

That, however, is not a mistake K-Pop makes very often; (This might seem like a bit of wild swerve in topic, but stay with me here). Unlike it's western counterpart, the Korean pop scene never lost the emphasis on music videos and how the visual medium can complete and potentialize music and performance; the K-Pop culture is very album and concept oriented in a way that has been all but lost in many other pop circuits, and the music video, styling and set design of a ‘comeback era’ is a key point of excitement among fans.

As such, music videos that follow storylines, connected universes, boundary pushing concepts and visual effects are the norm, rather than the exception, and a list could be made of works that are beautiful examples of what a live action Winx adaptation could look like. In fact, and very smoothly, here is a small list of exactly that!

A Small List of K-Pop Music Videos That Are Better Winx Club Live Actions Than Fate: The Winx Saga

3. Red Velvet - Psycho

If it was a darker and more somber look that Fate wanted, there was a way to make it actually appealing. While it still feels a liiitle too grown up and elegant for Winx, (maybe this author is biased, as a full proponent for the Y2K fun) Psycho makes a very compelling argument for a witchy, mysterious, fairy tale-esque show that could look scrumptious and definitely not boring, or even a gorgeous example of what the witches in Cloud Tower could look like. Black and white, dark green, pastel blue and pops of jewel tones make Psycho's color palette. To add interest to the understated colors, the styling is heavy on textures; We see plenty of stonework, intricate embroidery, tassels, lace on lace on lace, feathers, bows, opera gloves and lots of glitter. All of that is offset by bold, dark makeup, leather accents and eerie cinematography. Needle & Thread, Marchesa Notte and Self Portrait lend their hyper feminine and intricately detailed tulle gowns, juxtaposed with the creepiness of the lyrics and the dark backgrounds; their deep berry and green fairy tale looks are built with pieces from Zara to Nina Ricci to Dolce & Gabbana to Alexander McQueen.

Red Velvet’s more edgy styling for 2018's Bad Boy would also not feel out of place on the Trix.

2. IZ*ONE - Fiesta

IZ*ONE kicked off 2020 with sweet and fun Fiesta. The MV features rooms with mismatched décor that go from retro to space opera, rocky faux landscapes that feel other worldly, and visual effects that would look perfect on the back of a transformation sequence. Mirroring the set design, the girls wear various outfits by sustainable up and coming brand Chopova Lowena. Their signature skirts made with discarded and repurposed fabrics give a cool and interesting twist on a schoolgirl look that would look very sweet for a band of school fairies that occasionally go off to save the world. Also, wouldn't those bedazzled headphones look great on Musa's fairy outfit?

1. Aespa - Black Mamba and Next Level

Aespa is what fans call a monster rookie. With only three music videos under their belt, they still have some of the most visually interesting work in the industry right now. Their concept is very tied in with high tech, featuring even AI avatars of each member, packaged in a glitzy, fantastical and futuristic aesthetic, candy pop meets cyberpunk. I think I’ve exhausted ways to say that is exactly what a perfect Winx adaptation should feature.

Their debut smash hit, 2020’s Black Mamba is truly a perfect moodboard for live action Winx. Wearing a sequined and colorful mix and match of Dollskill, Gucci, Didu and Balenciaga to a backdrop that features some alien fairy forest realness, a pyschedelic fever dream, rooms straight out of a Y2K catalog or donning lime green and black techwear inside a metro fighting the "black mamba", Aespa look through and through the part of fashion loving fairies who save the world together, while looking fierce, stylish and, most importantly, interesting.

The styling and the sets jump seamlessly from more casual colorful fits with blouses, shirts and baggy pants to barren, darkly lit backgrounds and fringe-and-glitter heavy pieces necessary to fight giant snakes, in a way so fitting to transformation outfits for magical girls we could cry.

In their third MV, 2021's Next Level, the cyber in their concept is taken up a notch (get it. because Next Level-), set to a futuristic urbanscape intersped with a planet made of crystals and the ocasional alien fauna popping up again. We get treated to Monse, The 2nd Skin Co., Johanna Ortiz and The Attico styled to fairy princess standards, sporty sky racers and a white and sequined group styling that is top ten fairy busy saving the world uniform material, or maybe even a specialist worthy getup.

This particular look from Ningning is so Techna that it almost feels as if it's mocking Netflix.

And doesn’t this Karina trapped inside the "black mamba" in Alexander McQueen feel like a perfect Dark Bloom moment?

These are only a few examples of interesting and creative designs that are in line with what a live action Winx Club should have given us. There are so many more I could list, even among other TV Shows, like Sex Education and even polemic dark Euphoria, that know how to have fun with style and design without losing the depth of their stories. In the end, it's hard to justify why Fate creators even wanted to make an adaptation that didn't even try to capture the heart of its source material, and all we can do is watch one more "Restyling Fate: The Winx Saga" video on Youtube whilst mildly dreading season 2.