mozillavulpix

[mozillavulpix]

i was half-right, they are doing a movie-exclusive cure idol power-up, but they're *also* doing a different cure idol show power-up at the same time.

and the toy for both is actually a separately sold thing instead of being bundled with the Q3 toy like the last two years.

the new kaito merch is still just him in his usual outfit

honestly wish satoru and daifuku had gotten precoord dolls, but hey, it's progress on Bandai's end

When they did the Cure Wing one, they didn't even include Tsubasa in his civilian form, it was only Cure Wing or his mascot form. So doing one of just A Guy (even a handsome one) is progress

it is still funny kaito is getting the most merch of the male supporting characters in precure when he's also been the least relevant to the show. They don't even have merch of Tanakhan's fairy form. and that's a fairy. those are popular!

guys, i think i figured it out

speculation about spoilers for the you and idol movie

shout-outs to actually reddit for teaching me something new - that tokullectibles puts out the toy listings even for things where they haven't revealed what they are in detail yet

anyway, i've been curious as to what these things are

Especially because we've seen the Sparkling Ribbon Baton (the Q3 toy), and there's no upgraded form in any of the PR or toy description. So where does Cure Idol "Heart Ribbon Style" come from?

Some people think maybe it's a Q4 upgrade, but I just had a thought:

What if they're doing the pink-exclusive powerup for the movie again?

I know we don't like it when they do that, but they did do it for a good stretch of movies from Fresh-Happiness Charge, so clearly someone thought it was a good idea at some point

As for why Kaito is also included in this group of merch, I had the idea just now - what if it's Kaito in his movie clothes? the tuxedo outfit he's got in the trailer

it's clearly not a transformation or anything. he looks pretty much the same as normal. but it is something that's new for the movie, so maybe that's why they're putting him in with the Cure Idol New Form. if the New Form is a movie thing, and him in a handsome prince outfit is a movie thing...I think it'd make sense!

We might not even know until the movie comes out and the spoiler ban is lifted like with Satoru and Daifuku

[mozillavulpix]

there are a lot of fic ideas I want to write, mainly satoiro backstory stuff

one being the time where Komugi and Daifuku first meet, where Iroha suggests Satoru bring Daifuku along so Komugi can learn to be with other animals because they both noticed Daifuku does so well around them

I just can't get out of my head the image of little Satoru looking into Daifuku in his pen and going "Please don't screw this up for me!"

Cause if it goes well, Satoru could then hang out with Iroha more, if their animals get along well with each other

[mozillavulpix]

If Satoru had gotten to be a Precure, I would have loved if he had a little arc/episode about feeling insecure because he's not good at sports and so maybe isn't "masculine" enough.

And one that doesn't just end in "and then he starts training and gets stronger"

because, like

Precure is a series where Precure get to be strong even if they're not very strong in real life. Lifting weights in real life or doing running practice doesn't necessarily make you stronger as a Precure. Sometimes it does, but those 'training camp' episodes were often more so about teamwork than raw exercise.

Even if you try exercise more to get better, all the other boys are going to be doing that too, and probably more often because they do it as a hobby, so it might not help you 'catch up' when they're also improving at the same rate

I think it'd be neat to explore the feelings of not just "not being strong enough", but "you're not as strong as the other boys and so feeling like you're failing as a man"

I don't really think boys shows really portray the realities of these insecurities? It's just either "accept that you're too weak to catch up and so you have to quit being part of the main cast" or "start a training sequence and become a completely different character"

(or if it's on queer social media, it's "you must be a trans girl in denial so become a girl instead")

But if it was in a 'girls show', I wonder if the solution would be something else. Because they kind of have different genre conventions and expectations.

Tsubasa was a great first step as a boy Precure, but the issue with him essentially being a fairy is they couldn't really explore 'boys issues' with him. He didn't even go to school.

Maybe they think the primary target audience of girls won't be interested in a story that talks about the difficulties of being a boy.

But I don't think that'd be the case. I think I would have really enjoyed it, because a lot of these challenges still happen to girls and can resonate with girls.

Maybe you need to hide it a bit, not make the "this is a boys episode" so outwardly obvious from the start, and then a girl isn't going to get scared off until they're already engaged and realise they want to keep watching even if it's not strictly talking about girls anymore.

The anecdote is that girls are more emotionally mature than boys, and I don't know if that's always the case, but it might mean a female audience would be more receptive to hearing stories from the perspective of the other gender than a male audience.

basically, precure talking about boys could go hard if it tried it

[mozillavulpix]

knowing that (supposedly) they tried to make you and idol a more straightforward season maybe means it doesn't really seem to be as fair to critique it for being relatively sauceless

but I still think this whole Heart Kirari Lock plot is pretty hard to get invested in.

like yeah sure tragedy and whatever but like. they chose to write it like this. they chose to make purirun and meroron need to pay a terrible price for becoming precure even though the girls can transform with no issues. and tanaka can turn human with no consequences.

and they can just undo them by singing to them enough anyway so it's not even much of a tragedy since we know it's not going to last

and what does this have to do with idols, anyway? you can argue it's almost a metaphor on how you have to give up personal relationships to be an idol, but it's the Idol Precure who undo the consequences by being Idols and Singing and Fansa, so it kind of falls flat there

The Heart Kirari Lock better have some relation to the villain plotline, otherwise it will literally be the most random and out-of-place plot device ever

[mozillavulpix]

I really do wonder if the start of Tsukihime is written the way it is because Type-Moon wanted to make a name for themselves in doujin circles, so they basically tricked people into thinking it'd be just like every doujin game that was out at the time before rugpulling the player and explaining they're in fantasy horror actually

Like, think about it:

You play as some boy who gets sent to a rich mansion after the death of his estranged father, which is filled with beautiful girls his age (including his sister) with varying personalities, there's a senpai character at school, and then one day he sees a beautiful woman on the street and follows her...

Gets to her house...

Takes out his switchblade, and cuts her into seventeen pieces.

Like they really wanted you to believe this was gonna be a different genre at first up until that point, and they made it so unexpected and shocking and violent that it tried to shock you into being memorable.

[mozillavulpix]

Once this season is over, I really wonder what fan opinions are going to be of Cure Zukyoon. Because she's such a strange character, especially if you look at her as a Precure in isolation. I just can't really imagine people being specific fans of her alone, you know? Especially because Idol Precure is all about choosing a character who you've decided is your oshi and cheering them on specifically.

[mozillavulpix]

there's something kind of ironic about how the Hundred Line route where the gang literally has to Gather the Dragon Balls is pretty boring

just like when Dragon Ball tries to do a story about Gathering the Dragon Balls

whether it be the manga, a filler arc or an anime-original story

it just never ends up being nearly as memorable because it turns out it's more entertaining when it gets into silly martial arts hijinks. Dragon Ball's sense of 'adventure' just isn't nearly as entertaining as its sense for silly martial arts fights.

[mozillavulpix]

guys, i think i figured it out

speculation about spoilers for the you and idol movie

shout-outs to actually reddit for teaching me something new - that tokullectibles puts out the toy listings even for things where they haven't revealed what they are in detail yet

anyway, i've been curious as to what these things are

Especially because we've seen the Sparkling Ribbon Baton (the Q3 toy), and there's no upgraded form in any of the PR or toy description. So where does Cure Idol "Heart Ribbon Style" come from?

Some people think maybe it's a Q4 upgrade, but I just had a thought:

What if they're doing the pink-exclusive powerup for the movie again?

I know we don't like it when they do that, but they did do it for a good stretch of movies from Fresh-Happiness Charge, so clearly someone thought it was a good idea at some point

As for why Kaito is also included in this group of merch, I had the idea just now - what if it's Kaito in his movie clothes? the tuxedo outfit he's got in the trailer

it's clearly not a transformation or anything. he looks pretty much the same as normal. but it is something that's new for the movie, so maybe that's why they're putting him in with the Cure Idol New Form. if the New Form is a movie thing, and him in a handsome prince outfit is a movie thing...I think it'd make sense!

We might not even know until the movie comes out and the spoiler ban is lifted like with Satoru and Daifuku

[mozillavulpix]

man, i wish black pepper had gotten to do more, he's such a funny character

Takumi: I guess I've got no choice. I'll become a Tuxedo Mask figure. To protect Yui!

*5 seconds later*

Takumi: I have no idea how to be a Tuxedo Mask figure-

[mozillavulpix]

upon further reflection, i maybe was overthinking things again

i love wonderful precure a lot because it has a lot of kindness and warmth, and the characters have a lot of interesting and unique dynamics with each other, because some of them are pet and owners and some are rival animals and some are childhood friends and some are in love with each other

it just makes me want to see them again and again even if the plot doesn't do everything it could

[mozillavulpix]

what i love about having a blog is if I can just post whatever stupid random facts or thoughts or opinions I have and it doesn't show up unprompted in someone else's life

i guess technically it can if i tag, but if you're searching for tags then you're asking for the opinions of random people

because one Online Behaviour I see sometimes that I that get annoyed at that I feel might be very Spectrum is when someone tries to start a conversation topic and then immediately starts stating what their opinion is before letting you get a chance to reply.

Like "What's your favourite X? My favourite one is this because of this reason and this reason."

It makes me feel like "dude, if I wanted to hear your opinion, I would have asked. Don't ask me a question and then give your own answer first; it just makes it seem like all you want to do is talk to yourself."

basically if you want to talk to yourself online, just make a blog

you don't need to get other people involved

[mozillavulpix]

reasons why I don't like idols (in no particular order)

They're not real. Even if someone wants to be an idol and their aim is to be authentic, true authenticity is impossible. You're going to change your persona when you're performing for someone whether you're conscious of it or not. And if it's your career and money is involved, it's going to influence your behaviour. You know you're not going to do something that'd risk being seen as unlikeable. It's impossible for everything to be your 'true self'.

It sends an idealistic portrayal of body image and gender identity and that probably screws up people's self-esteem.

The industry is all about manipulation of talent (especially young talent), working them to the bone and then discarding them when they get too old.

The industry also puts harsh conditions on an idol's personal life, to the point scandals erupt if they even have a boyfriend. And then they blame the idol for 'leading them on' and not the people who put them in those conditions.

It's all about really shallow surface-level consumption. "I like this idol because she makes my heart go kyun-kyun!" "What does that mean?" "I don't know"

It's really consumeristic. Like, part of enjoying idols is that you should and need to buy the merchandise to 'support' them financially.

The creepy fans who think their oshi will love them back, personally, if they support them enough

Handshake events. That just feels like a violation of personal space, even if the idol consents to it.

just all the sexual assault that probably happens in the industry

It's mostly about singing and dancing and I don't really care for that

I like the satirical idols, though. I watched a few more episodes of Zombie Land Saga S2 the other day. That one's fun because it knows idols are such an absurd idea that they just pump the absurdity up to 100.

It's also co-produced by Cygames. Who also make Uma Musume. I think remembering that gives me a better understanding of the horse game.

It's like I enjoy idols when they use it as almost like a fantasy setting. Because we don't do idols in our culture, it's like I can look at it and say "wow, that's a fascinating story concept. sure would be fucked up if it existed in real life. good thing it doesn't."

[mozillavulpix]

I think another interesting thing about You and Idol Precure is how much it's trying to integrate all the actual out-of-universe Precure stuff that they sell.

Like obviously there's the toys, and the candy (in this case the gummies), but this year we also have, like, the vocal album being an actual physical thing the Precure make, showing the cover that's used for the real-life version

Or the fact that the Precure have live events in real life, too

The idea of an Idol Precure isn't necessarily that far-fetched because Precure are already promoted and treated like idols if you're just living in Japan. Like, idols for your 4-year-old child

nothing really uniquely japanese about it, little boys get the same thing with Superheroes or Paw Patrol or whatever

it's just encouraging kids to buy penlights and choose an "oshi" to support by going to all their events that's pretty japanese

[mozillavulpix]

Idol Precure plots they're not gonna do

The girls do some "who's your oshi" promotion survey, and find out that Cure Wink is the least popular by far. The girls feel really bad and try to organise some sort of surprise party for Nana to make her feel better. (Maybe including Zakkuri, who just happened to be around at the time)

Kaito or something explains to them the harsh reality that sometimes there are idols who aren't supposed to be popular on their own and basically only exist to allow the others to shine more.

They surprise Nana with the party and start talking about all the great things about Cure Wink and tell her not to feel bad she's not as popular, but Nana realises maybe through the events of the monster attack that as long as there are still 1 or 2 people who support Cure Wink, that's enough for her to keep going.

It would be more interesting and less likely if Nana actually was upset and insecure about not being popular, but actually I can't imagine Nana acting like that. She kind of just seems happy to be there, you know?

[mozillavulpix]

Satoru and Daifuku did make it in, I've seen pictures of it.

Let me see if I can find it...

Here we go:

Maybe they just weren't included in that picture because they're not in the big group art.

I think in terms of merchandising, Kaito appears about as much as Satoru, maybe even more so, but I also don't think we can use that as hints for any future roles.

A Japanese netizen posted a compilation of Precure Lawson outfit collabs. It's interesting that Kaito made it here even though Satoru and Takumi didn't, who were more active characters. Also worth noting: the only other guy here is Tsubasa, who is explicitly a Cure.

[mozillavulpix]

like, i'm not crazy

I mean, I am a little crazy, but

Satoru and Daifuku are just such fun characters to have in a magical girl series

Satoru is basically just Himari from Kirakira; kinda shy, nerdy, they know lots of facts about the the thing that happens to be the theme of the series, so they're always there to explain things and teach stuff to the characters and audience. Since Satoru isn't a Precure, his arc is about confessing his love to Iroha rather than something only really about him, but one of the live shows has him preparing to do some sort of presentation about animals and the girls helping him with that and wishing him luck and that honestly reminds me of Himari's character focus episodes.

So even though he's a boy, he still feels like he fits into the cast because there have been characters with his personality before.

Meanwhile Daifuku is quite literally, from the head writer's own words, a character who'd belong in a shonen battle manga.

I enjoy Precure. But I also just like Magical Girls. I like them so much I don't think they need to be tied down to specific genre conventions.

Everybody else's ideas are mostly just "what if Magical Girl but dark and gritty", "what if Magical Girl but poking fun of the tropes/satire", or "what if Magical Girl but sexy". Maybe they're just the only ones they do because they're the only ones that get popular, but they always have that undercurrent of "Magical Girls are stupid so we have to destroy everything in the genre to actually make something entertaining".

But when you put a character who'd perhaps be at home in another genre into the Magical Girl genre, it makes it feel like the world has expanded. It makes it feel like actually, you're allowed to tell different stories within the Magical Girl framework without the conclusion being "Magical Girls are stupid".

Precure already broke some concepts of the magical girl genre because its main thing is "the Magical Girls physically fight instead of just waving their wands". And I think the genre still survived even with it being such a success.

So, like, with a character like Daifuku, I don't think he even needs to be there just as a joke. He can be entertaining, but he can also be earnestly a part of the story. If you don't keep specifically pointing out how he doesn't belong in this show, he probably does end up fitting in.

Instead of having a character say "I don't want to wear a frilly outfit" or "I wish I was allowed to use extreme violence", what if you had someone who wholeheartedly accepted the girly magical stuff because it can still be cool?

That's kind of what Daifuku brings to the narrative and the genre. He turns into a human and he just goes with it. He transforms and he just goes with it. He's not disappointed with how he looks or what his powers are, he takes it all and works with it.

It helps break the dissonance a little bit that Daifuku is not a human. He's a rabbit. He's basically used to being 'cute' because that's how every human treats him when they see him and his big floppy ears and squishy cheeks. So for him it's like, 'cuteness' is a sign of strength, so he doesn't have any embarrassment over it.

That's kind of what they do with Tsubasa, too.

But then on the other hand, you have Satoru, who is very much an ordinary human boy. And they don't do the Black Pepper trope of "him being embarrassed when he transforms because he looks too girly". They really do just play it straight like everyone else would and it's not the punchline of a joke.

It does help that his transformed outfit is quite a bit different to the girls, even if there's some similarities.

basically, tldr; when Satoru and Daifuku are there with the Wonderful Precure team (especially when they're transformed), the entire genre suddenly feels like it's expanded and you can tell an infinitely larger number of stories without it turning into a parody.

(Especially if you compare to, say, Kaito and Tanaka from You and Idol. What's Kaito's role in the plot? At this point, nothing but mentoring Uta on how to be an idol and showing up to look pretty. Tanaka is just there to justify how they get to do real-life idol activities without blowing their cover as Precure. It doesn't feel like they have much of their own story outside of what they can do to help the girls.)

It makes me get super excited because it makes me imagine Precure doing new and interesting things and it being actually plausible.

[mozillavulpix]

i know satoru and daifuku aren't precure, so they're not gonna be in this movie other than maybe a quick cameo

but man i wish they were here

they add so much to the Dynamic