#Aoi is literally perfect for the suite team

[kirric-the-fan]

Listen:

[saltiestcoconut]

Dark Templar's name symbolism

Aka why Ai is the perfect example of a knight templar

So in addition to being absolutely obsessed with Ai I am also obsessed with Ai’s deck because holy shit is that deck loaded with symbolism it’s beautiful really but the card I’m the most obsessed with is Dark Templar cause duh of course I am it looks very very similar to Decode Talked, Yusaku’s subace (Firewall Dragon is Yusa’s ace I don’t care what Konami says and this is the hill I will die on) because of course it does and its effect is similar yet opposite of Decode Talker except instead of protecting it revives but like its name (specifically its adaptation name change) is what really interested me

At first I thought it was lame that DT’s japanese name was Dark Knight while its english name is Dark Templar like Dark Knight was pretty much the perfect summary to ais character development (character reveal?) so why would they change it to Dark Templar? (aside from being pieces of shits but let’s assume they had a thematic reason) I got bored enough to find out Google essentially defines a templar as a religious knight which I thought was odd but aight an acceptable name change but then but then I came across the knight templar trope while reading through Yubel’s trope page on tv tropes (I was looking for those elusive Jewish wedding/Jaden vs Yubel fusion duel parallels if you can provide them hit me up pls) and oh boy did that trope change the game 

I’m just going to list the defining characteristics of knight templar straight from the page because holy fucking shit Ai portrays this trope to a t 

“Usually, the Knight Templar's primary step (or objective) to their perceived "utopia" is to get rid of that pesky "free will" thing that is the cause of crime and evil.”

If Ai would have won that duel against Yusaku he would have gotten rid of his free will by scattering it thus dying in the process while utopia wasn’t Ai’s endgame Ai’s existence would have led to a dystopia and preventing that is Ai’s endgame goal 

Many Knight Templars are utterly merciless in dealing with those whom they consider evil, and are prone to consider all crimes to be equal.

While Ai didn’t believe that everyone else was evil (save for Queen but he’s not wrong) he did erase those who tried to stand in his way and that’s pretty much what a knight templar does in face he doesn’t erase Aoi instead forcing her to suffer the same fate he has all because she teamed up with Akira to stop him from getting the second sol key (disproportionate punishment to crime)

It's important to note that despite being villainous within the context of the story, Knight Templars fully believe that they are on the side of righteousness and draw strength from it and that their opponents are not. Trying to reason with one isn't much good either, ...

While Ai isn’t a villain he is very much the antagonist of s3 (remember kids villains and antagonists aren’t the same!) and he absolutely could not be reasoned with because he believes that what he’s doing is for Yusaku’s best interest (a trait he shares with Yubel who is definitely a knight templar don’t get me started on the whole fusion thing) of course this doesn’t get revealed until much later on and it’s even revealed that he was doing this mainly to save Yusaku’s life so he definitely drew strength from his motivation

Indeed, it may take them a while to realize that a person with sense and good will really opposes them ...

He knew Yusaku would oppose him (while this doesn’t fit to a t his antagonism was an act so that he could get Yusaku to kill him or commit a homocide/suicide (sorry couldnt’ resist)) hence why I believe his extreme actions was an attempt to goad Yusa into chasing after him so Yusa would end up dueling him and thus forcing him to pick how he dies 

One of the few ways to actually change a Knight Templar's mind is to kick their ass down to the ground. ... They won't necessarily join you ...

While this part again doesn’t exactly fit Ai to a t these parts do at least to fact that Ai didn’t reveal the entire truth until Yusa beats him and quite literally knocks Ai down and out (gotta love high stakes children card games) even then Ai still doesn’t try to listen to Yusa’s desires (granted he couldn’t have even if he did wanted to) interesting to note that tvtropes says they’ll probably listen to your story when in this case Yusa listened to Ai’s story and this was sprinkled throughout their duel getting progressively worst as the duel continued 

The Knight Templar is often the ultimate incarnation of Light Is Not Good, and in series where Dark Is Not Evil ... If they are still nominally good, expect them to be a Hero Antagonist.

I disregarded everything that didn’t apply to Ai in between these two statements because Ai himself is the dark aspect of the series something he shares with Yusa and obviously he doesn’t believe Yusa and himself to be evil especially Yusa since you know he knows Yusa is actually a good person I included this because Ai was very much originally a hero turned antagonist and this is yugioh it’s the embodiment of light bad dark good (if memory serves me right 5ds is the only series to not follow this trope)

Sometimes, the Knight Templar is an artificially intelligent computer that took its instructions to "protect humanity" a bit too far

I couldn’t resist this was the plot to s3 in a nutshell 

... Knight Templars will insist that they're good guys, even the ones that are practically villains, they often aren't completely ignorant of the pain they cause; they simply consider it to be acceptable collateral damage, or regret the means they "must" use to achieve their ends

In this case Ai had noble intentions but insisted on portraying himself as a villain and he expressed regret at having dragged Roboppi with him and causing Roboppi’s demise (sobs)

Given how well Ai suits this trope (it’s almost every single one of their defining features) it’s no wonder that his symbolic monster counterpart is known as both Dark Knight and Dark Templar with Dark being the common element in its name change cause goddang 

I lowkey want to do an in depth analysis on Ai’s deck and how they fare against Yusaku’s code talkers cause there has to be a connection but I’m lazy and that requires so much research 

[keycrash]

im sorry, the more you talk about rp on twitter the more Curious i get about the plot and stuff so. i understand that akane ditched the ab project bc the timeline got diverted, but how exactly did the timeline divert, and how did akane realise it did? and why'd you guys decide to have the timeline divert enough that ab project couldn't happen? thanks!

under cut because. i get embarrassed.

so the timeline in general basically got muddled/diverted the second we started fucking around with the characters. because of The Nature Of Rp we have a lot of different universes interacting & justify that as the construct of a literal multiverse within the plot, and the snowball influence of it changed enough that it could no longer connect with the vlr future

for one, aoi was kind of... hanging out in a different universe when the apocalypse happened, so he doesn’t die in it. (it was most convenient for our plot that we say he was ‘supposed’ to die according to akane’s vision of the future.) a few years later, when junpei shows up, aoi (who, when he could, would help send aid to the ZEverse apocalypse) helped get junpei and carlos placed at a shelter that was just getting founded bc conditions at their old shelter were super crowded and bad (and they got aid to that one as well). at the new shelter junpei met ren, a first nonary game kid, and after they were friends for a while and junpei was aggressively restless at his job at the shelter (radio operator & translator), they volunteered together to be a team for shelter explorations, where teams would go out to check up on shelters that weren’t in their communication network & either get them set up, report them as dead shelters, report them as viable to establish a new shelter, or take supplies if it can’t be salvaged

and due to Shenanigans ztd’s bomb shelter ended up being on the list (i decided that ‘ground zero’ of rad-6 was mistakenly reported as the nearby dcom facility rather than the bomb shelter). junpei and ren went there, junpei didnt remember shit, of course, bc of memory wipe, but if you recall in the apocalypse timeline of ztd, akane, junpei, and carlos are all time clones and didnt originally belong to the timeline— their original selves were executed in the vote.

so while exploring in the pod room running on reserve power the two found the dead bodies of the original junpei carlos and akane. junpei understandably flips his shit, ren contacts aoi to get carlos, who was at a hospital shelter visiting maria. (side note— carlos had been meeting akane during those maria visits bc akane had promises of curing maria, but he had to keep all correspondence with akane completely secret; so he’d seen her alive hours before). so they figure out carlos is fine, junpei’s fine, but carlos cant say that akane’s fine bc akane kind of internalizes in him that if junpei finds out anything the timeline will be fucked and carlos is carrying guilt enough as is from the apocalypse.

anyway junpei has a dramatic mental break later, aoi has a quiet, slow burning decline bc regardless of any of their theories about if akane is alive out there, he feels that the dead akane was His (timeline’s) akane and that hits him hard. he organizes a... not exactly funeral, but some stuff to memorialize her, junpei’s there. junpei leaves the one photo he has of akane. that’s the kicker.

at carlos and akane’s next meeting akane talks about how she never got to ask her brother why he hid the truth abt their parent’s deaths because he’s dead, and carlos is like uhh, i talk to aoi all the time he’s alive. he also mentions the C team bodies and subsequent events, and that’s when akane knows shit’s fucked.

so, two factors in the diversion:

a more passive one; aoi’s death wasn’t ‘necessary,’ it didn’t contribute to the AB project, but it was an indicator of being on the right track, a necessary consequence but not cause of being on the right timeline. without it, she knows something went wrong

a more active one; junpei giving up the photograph, which is minor in and of itself but indicative of larger shifts in junpei’s behavior and development that are setting him on a different path than tenmyouji was meant to follow

anyway at the time akane realized this, diana was due to die in like, 3 months. so she had that much time to come up w a proof of concept for some new way of solving their problems; she did manage to, deciding to utilize newfound knowledge of the multiverse to try to test technology for modifying the transporters to work across universes & become easy access to any timeline you want w/o duplication. with enough confidence in that she saved diana’s life and dragged sigma diana and the pods back down to facilities on earth to begin work at creating and perfecting that technology and figuring out how to utilize it 

and as for the question of Why: basically i really wanted to RP akane and phi, but i wanted them interacting with everyone else down the line, which wouldn’t be possible if akane were to continue with the AB project. i also now have the freedom to take junpei off of the strict path of VLR without worrying what ripple effects it’d have later. whatever we end up doing it’s definitely going to be less tightly-woven and thematic than ZE/the AB project, but it’ll be better suited to a rp environment and it’ll give us some more freedom to use characters that were previously occupied for 45 years. also i’m just having fun.

[shojotachiyo]

Since there is just so much AKB48 group content out there that it’s hard to know where to start, I thought I’d put together a list of links showing performances of the 48G girls participating in Produce 48 and other content related to these girls specifically.

Links will be broken into four categories for each girl: studio/live performances, notable songs with PV, notable songs without PV + theater units that have been recorded, and Other. I’ll usually identify who to look for in studio/live performances. I’m also trying to stay “relatively” current with studio/live stuff...like 2012 and later.

Do keep in mind that a lot of the live performances are likely to feel fairly raw and the songs are likely to be extremely Japanese idol-y.

1. Miyazaki Miho (宮崎美穂) - AKB48 5th generation

Studio/Live Performances: Perfect Human

Notable PVs: Bokutachi no Chikyuu (center)

Other Notable Songs: Arashi no Yoru ni wa (center) (CD), Make Otoko (center) (DVD)

Other: Myao’s Room (SHOWROOM)

2. Takeuchi Miyu (竹内美宥) - AKB48 9th generation

Studio/Live Performances: NO FEAR FESTIVAL, Faint (short hair)

Notable PVs: Kimi ni Todoke (cover with kobasolo), Sangatsu Kokonoka (cover with kobasolo)

Other Notable Songs: Higurashi no Koi (duet) (CD), Miniskirt no Yousei (center) (CD)

Other: Song Covers Youtube Channel

Recommended Cover: Negaigoto no Mochigusare

3. Takahashi Juri (高橋朱里) - AKB48 12th generation

Studio/Live Performances: Bird (center), Seventh Chord, Namida no Hyoumen Chouryoku (3rd singer)

Notable PVs: Atarashii Chime (SR of center)

Other Notable Songs:  Namida no Hyoumen Chouryoku (CD), Hibiwareta Kagami (CD), Hajimari no Yuki (CD), Saisho no Ai no Monogatari (Koko ga Rhodes da, Koko de Tobe! Theater Ed.)

Other: Sailor Zombie (drama)

4. Muto Tomu (武藤十夢) - AKB48 12th generation

Studio/Live Performances: Oshibe to Meshibe to Yoru no Chouchou (black), Hibiwareta Kagami (center), Tomodachi de Irarerunara (SL)

Notable PVs: Show Fight! (center)

Other Notable Songs:  Subete wa Tochuu Keika (center) (Thumbnail Theater Ed.), Hajimari no Yuki (center) (CD)

Other:  Lake commercial (Party People)

5. Iwatate Saho (岩立沙穂) - AKB48 13th generation

Studio/Live Performances: Tonari no Banana (2nd singer), Kono Mune no Barcode (SR of center), Reborn (SR of center), Hibiwareta Kagami

Notable PVs:  Kimi wa Boku no Kaze, Reborn

Other Notable Songs:  Kono Mune no Barcode (DVD)

=== Rest After Cut ===

6.  Shinozaki Ayana (篠崎彩奈) - AKB48 13th generation

Studio/Live Performances: Wimbledon he Tsuretette (blue dress), Reborn (1:05)

Notable Songs: Wimbledon he Tsuretette (DVD)

7. Mogi Shinobu (茂木忍) - AKB48 13th generation

Studio/Live Performances: Tomodachi de Irarerunara (SR), Kono Mune no Barcode (SL of center), Hibiwareta Kagami

Notable Songs: Kono Mune no Barcode (DVD)

Other: I’m just gonna leave this here

8. Kojima Mako (小嶋真子) - AKB48 14th generation

Studio/Live Performances: Bye Bye Bye (center), Namida no Hyoumen Chouryoku (4th singer), Wimbledon he Tsuretette (center)

Notable PVs: Seijun Tired (center), Kangaeru Hito (w-center), Nanka Chotto Kyuu ni... (w-center)

Other Notable Songs: Namida no Hyoumen Chouryoku (CD), Wimbledon he Tsuretette (DVD)

9. Ichikawa Manami (市川愛美) - AKB48 15th generation

Studio/Live Performances: Kegareteiru Shinjitsu (center)

Notable PVs: Shuuden no Yoru

10. Goto Moe (後藤萌咲) - AKB48 Draft 1st generation

Studio/Live Performances: Itoshisa no Accel (1st singer), Kegareteiru Shinjitsu (2nd singer)

Notable PVs: Position, Accident-chuu (back row SR), Romantic Junbichuu

11. Nakanishi Chiyori (中西智代梨) - AKB48 transfer/HKT48 1st generation

Studio/Live Performances:  Koi wa Totsuzen ni, I’m Sure (Chaos Stage) (NSFW-ish)

Notable PVs:  Kimi wa Ima Made Doko ni Ita? (center)

Other Notable Songs: Kono Mune no Barcode (CD)

12. Chiba Erii (千葉恵里) - AKB48 Draft 2nd generation

Studio/Live Performances: Ashita no Tame ni Kiss wo (4th singer)

Notable PVs: Position, Accident-chuu (back row SL)

Other Notable Songs: Tomodachi ga Dekita

Other: 47 no Suteki na Machi he (draft solo performance audition song)

13. Asai Nanami (浅井七海) - AKB48 16th generation

Studio/Live Performances: Wimbledon he Tsuretette (blue dress), Cross (SR), Dakitsukouka? (w-center, navy skirt), High School Days (all white uniform)

Notable PVs: Position

Other Notable Songs: Dakitsukouka? (w-center)

14. Sato Minami (佐藤美波) - AKB48 16th generation

Studio/Live Performances: Kanpeki Gu~ no ne (2nd singer), Dakitsukouka? (orange skirt), High School Days (tan sweater around waist)

15. Oda Erina (小田えりな) - AKB48 Team 8

Studio/Live Performances: 11gatsu no Anklet,  Namida no Hyoumen Chouryoku (center)

Notable PVs: Shuuden no Yoru

Other Notable Songs: Dakara Kimi ga Suki na no ka (CD)

16. Shitao Miu (下尾みう) - AKB48 Team 8

Studio/Live Performances: Itoshisa no Accel (2nd singer), Tsuneishi Festival 2017

Other: AKBingo Dance Battle Royale 2018 (pink dress, hair down, dance only)

17. Nakano Ikumi (中野郁海) - AKB48 Team 8

Studio/Live Performances: 365-nichi no Kamihikouki, Escape (4th singer)

Notable PVs: Yaban na Kyuuai, Amanojaku Batta (center), Kegareteiru Shinjitsu (w-center), Seifuku no Hane (center), 47 no Suteki na Machi he (center)

Other: AKBingo Dance Battle Royale 2018 (red belt, dance only),  AKBingo Dance Battle Royale 2016 (pants, dance only)

18. Nagano Serika (永野芹佳) - AKB48 Team 8

Studio/Live Performances: Namida no Hyoumen Chouryoku (3rd singer), Choco no Yukue (big hat)

Other: AKBingo Dance Battle Royale 2018 (pink dress, ponytail, dance only)

19. Honda Hitomi (本田仁美) - AKB48 Team 8

Studio/Live Performance: Escape (blue bow), Aitakatta & Everyday Katyusha

Other: AKBingo Dance Battle Royale 2016 (skirt, ponytail, dance only)

20. Matsui Jurina (松井珠理奈) - SKE48 1st generation

Studio/Live Performance: Baguette, Akai Pinheel to Professor

Notable songs are literally everything from SKE and AKB from the past 10 years but if I had to pick:

Notable PVs: Oogoe Diamond (first center), Kin no Ai Gin no Ai (most recent solo center A-side), Yaban na Kyuuai, Hanshateki Through (w-center), Tenmetsu Pheromone (center)

Other Notable Songs: Glory Days (CD), Omoide Ijou (CD), Mystery Line (CD), Baguette (CD), Toy Poodle to Kimi no Monogatari (CD), Akai Pinheel to Professor (CD), Watashi Leaf (CD)

Other: Hollywood Jurina

21. Asai Yuuka (浅井裕華) - SKE48 7th generation

Studio/Live Performance: Hungry Lion (blue dress)

Notable Songs: Hungry Lion (CD)

22. Shiroma Miru (白間美瑠) - NMB48 1st generation

Studio/Live Performance: Gokai (pink), Heart no Dokusenken (pink)

Notable PVs: Warota People (center), Masaka Singapore (center), Rashikunai (w-center), Yojijukugo Girls (center)

Other Notable Songs: Nage Kiss de Uchi Otose (CD), Ame no Doubutsuen (CD), ONEW no Uwabaki (CD), She’s Gone (DVD), Mystery Line (CD), Boku wa Aisarete wa Inai (CD), Subete wa Tochuu Keika (Thumbnail Theater Ed.), Gokai

23. Murase Sae (村瀬紗英) - NMB48 2nd generation

Studio/Live Performance: Heart no Dokusenken (purple), Kuufuku de Renai Suru na (center), Zipper (blue), Renai Higai Todoke

Notable PVs: Which One?, Abata mo Ekubo mo Fuku wa Uchi (duet), Mou Hadashi ni Hanarenai (w-center) 

Other Notable Songs: Zannen Shoujo (CD)

Other: Queentet Joshiryoku Video

24. Kato Yuuka (加藤夕夏) - NMB48 3rd generation

Studio/Live Performance: ONEW no Uwabaki (pink), Dance Medley Must Be Now/UZA/Escape (center)

Notable PVs: Tomadotte, Tameratte (center); Yaban na Kyuuai; Must be Now

Other Notable Songs: Nageki no Figure (CD), Koi no PLAN (CD), Faint (CD)

25. Naiki Kokoro (内木志) - NMB48 Draft 1st generation

Studio/Live Performance: Nageki no Figure (Stage Left), Tsundere! (short hair)

Notable PVs: Sayonara, Kakato wo Fumu Hito

26. Uemura Azusa (植村梓) - NMB48 Post-Yamada Nana Audition

Studio/Live Performance: Renai Higai Todoke (center), Yuuwaku no Garter (Stage Left), Kuufuku de Renai Suru na

Notable PVs: Which One?, Sayonara, Kakato wo Fumu Hito

Other: Queentet Joshiryoku Video

27. Umeyama Cocona (梅山恋和) - NMB48 5th generation

Studio/Live Performance: Sa-sa-sa Saikoo! (Yellow)

Notable PVs: Good Timing

Other Notable Songs: Sa-sa-sa Saikoo! (Namba Ai Theater Ed.)

28. Imada Mina (今田 美奈) - HKT48 1st generation

Studio/Live Performance: Return Match (white suit)

29. Miyawaki Sakura (宮脇咲良) - HKT48 1st generation

Studio/Live Performance: Baguette, Kanojo

Notable PVs are really any A-sides from HKT48 and any A-sides from AKB48 after 2014 but in particular:

Notable PVs: Taboo no Iro (duet), Kimi wa Melody (center),  Boku no Omoi ga Itsuka Niji ni Naru Made (center), Buttaoreru Made (w-center), 12byou (w-center)

Other Notable Songs: Wimbledon he Tsuretette (CD), Yume de Kiss Me (DVD), Kiss Campaign (CD), Baguette (CD), Christmas Eve ni Nakanai You ni (CD), Kanojo (CD)

Other: Let’s Play Youtube Channel

30. Matsuoka Natsumi (松岡 菜摘) - HKT48 1st generation

Studio/Live Performance: Hikaeme I Love You, Koisuru Fortune Cookie, Melon Juice

Notable Songs: Ame no Pianist (CD)

31. Motomura Aoi (本村碧唯) - HKT48 1st generation

Studio/Live Performance: Wimbledon he Tsuretette (blue)

Notable Songs: Wimbledon he Tsuretette (CD)

Other: AKBingo Dance Battle Royale 2018 (dance only), Choreographed =LOVE’s Start!

32. Aramaki Misaki (荒巻美咲) - HKT48 3rd generation

Studio/Live Performance: Tenshi wa Doko ni Iru?, Watashi wa Blueberry Pie (center),  Daite Twintails

Notable PVs: Tenshi wa Doko ni Iru? (duet), Hohoemi Popcorn (center)

Other Notable Songs: Watashi wa Blueberry Pie, Daite Twintails

33. Kurihara Sae (栗原紗英) - HKT48 3rd generation

Studio/Live Performance: Faint (center),  Watashi wa Blueberry Pie, Daite Twintails

Notable PVs: Gunyatto Magatta (w-center)

Other Notable Songs: Watashi wa Blueberry Pie, Daite Twintails

34. Tanaka Miku (田中美久) - HKT48 3rd generation

Studio/Live Performance: Tonari no Banana

Notable PVs: Watashi no Furusato (solo), Namaiki Lips (duet), Boku no Omoi ga Itsuka Niji ni Naru Made, Hayaokuri Calendar (w-center)

Other Notable Songs: Romantic Byou

35. Yabuki Nako (矢吹奈子) - HKT48 3rd generation

Studio/Live Performance: Tonari no Banana 

Notable PVs: Ijiwaru Chuu (solo), Namaiki Lips (duet), Hayaokuri Calendar (w-center)

36. Murakawa Bibian (村川緋杏) - HKT48 Draft 2nd generation

Studio/Live Performance: Kikyou

Notable Songs: HKT-jou, Ima, Ugoku (center) 

37. Tsukiashi Amane (月足天音) - HKT48 4th generation

Studio/Live Performance: Hakusen no Uchigawa de

38. Hasegawa Rena (長谷川玲奈) - NGT48 1st generation

Studio/Live Performance: Inori wa Donna Mirai mo Shiawase ni Kaeru

Notable PVs: Junjou Yoroshiku

Other Notable Songs: Hansei Soda

39. Yamada Noe (山田野絵) - NGT48 1st generation

Studio/Live Performance: Gesu na Yume

Notable PVs: Junjou Yoroshiku, Otona ni Naru Made (SR of center)

Other Notable Songs: Hansei Soda

Other: Voice Yamada

[supersho]

Thoughts: The End of KiraPre

So Kira Kira Pretty Cure A La Mode has ended. This show was plagued with problems from the beginning. When the season first started I was really excited. The character designs looked amazing, older cures, a cute sweets theme. I was excited. Ichika was a typical Pretty Cure protagonist, but she wasn’t as ditzy and was more driven. I was all in (I was so excited for Akira’a first episode), but as the season went on one issue piled onto another. 

Below find my rant and feelings on the season 

First, I was confused over who was the villain, like who were we fighting what was this season all about. At first, it was just bad guys of the week and then I guess Rio. But then the girls solved that and the fairies were freed from the evil’s control so Rio/Julio/Pikario became the main villain for awhile until Bibury showed up. Then Rio is saved by Ceil, who has turned over a new leaf but is too weak so he’s out for a while. So this lets Bibury and a now introduced Glaive, Diable, and Elissio to start attacking the girls as well. But Diable is introduced much later and after a few episodes is basically removed as Glaive uses him, who are both then later used by Elissio, which all leads us to Noir who has been teased throughout the show but we only learn why he hates (I guess??) sweets and dreams in episode 46! And it’s not really clear and kind of just a lame, stupid reason that is never explained past I guess he couldn’t work out his own emotions. The whole season I was so confused as to why I should care about the threat. Many seasons have a tangible bad guy: Heartcatch was fighting Dune, Doki Doki was working to save the Trump Kingdom from King Mercenare, or GoPri had Dyspear. And even in seasons like Happiness Charge where we get villain swap, it still worked because we knew about a higher evil as it was alluded to well. I will say the surprise where Elissio takes over was really great and one of my favorite parts of the whole plot but the ending overall was...lackluster but still good for what the show wanted to say. Overall there were too many villains, confusing motives, and Bibury is best girl. 

Then this leads into the girls themselves. I really felt all of them had so much potential, but so much time was dedicated to the Ceil/Rio drama that the other 4 (not Ichika) were underdeveloped. Each one was so interesting: the episode where Aoi has to overcome her fear of following her dreams, Himari gaining confidence to express her love of sweets science and do what she loves, Akira working hard for her sister, Yukari...I guess learning to not be perfect? So while I think Aoi was handled nicely and Himari well enough, Akira and Yukari got, well, the short end of the stick. Episode 25 was perfect. I thought the two of them would grow closer as friends and help each other overcome their shortcomings: Akria’s need to put her sister and others first and not herself, and Yukari’s self-doubt. But after this episode we just get more times where Akira does anything for Miku (which I want to say is fine but her arc should have been her learning to love and care for Miku while also being able to find her own dream. I do feel that her ending is fitting though but the show just wasted her solo episodes) and Yukari just runs around making cat jokes. Yukari’s ending in the show by far baffles me the most. Why does she end up studying sweets? More over, why is it not Ichika who does this? = It just seems like in the ending where they re-cap where everyone’s futures is so unearned and wasted. 

And then we have the Pikario and Kirarin / Rio and Ciel plot. While I liked this aspect of family love and overcoming hardships and working out past problems why is after Pikario saved, we never get a real episode about them bonding? Also, who decided to give them so many names? HAVING THREE NAMES AND THEN ICHIKA CALLING HIM RIO AND CIEL CALLING HIM PIKARIO IS CONFUSING AND AHHHH. Why did they tease Pikario becoming a precure like warrior only to WIM OUT and just make him have a candy rod but not be a cure? Which would make sense since he was given power from Lumiere herself? Their plot took up SO MUCH TIME and I feel all we got out of it is now they run a sweets shop together. And that would be a fine ending if we had better build up and resolution to that. AND not only does Pikario get shafted in precure powers (Personally I this it would be great to see a male cure or at least a male character who is equal to a cure? I guess this is as close as we will get but like he wasn’t a main on the squad so...) but Pekorin gets to be a Precure just for trying her best? How did Pikario not do that? HOW IS SHE NOT CURE DONUTS?!?! that would have been literally so easy to do. HER WHOLE THING WAS DONUTS ALL SEASON!!! Cure Pekorin is the worst name AND now the team has SEVEN. MEMBERS. Which is really already way too big, and a major factor why the show had to make the 4 girls from before underutilized so we could learn more about Ceil's time in France or waste episodes where Akira has to save Miku for the 4th time. 

And then we have Ichika, who I feel was fine. She has some good episodes and feels fleshed out. Episodes with her Mom were particularly good and gave her depth. But her ending felt like the writers couldn’t think of an actual career and just did a cop-out. She was a good protagonist who was also a good leader but felt like another missed chance to find something, or maybe follow in her mom’s footsteps somehow... And at points, the season just felt like the Ichika Ciel show. Why have such a big cast and focus on two characters? A three-man season or even 4 would have been so much better. 

When I watched the ending I just felt so unsatisfied. Unlike the endings of past seasons (Princess Precure, Heartcatch, Suite and a few others) I didn’t feel any sense of conclusion and was left in a state of... meh. I also don’t like this new trend of last episodes being comedic instead of the epic finale they should be. Overall, I guess I’m sad because I went in so excited for the team, the theme, the show and ended up feeling like somewhere the show got too lost in its over ambition.

However, Shubidubi☆Sweets Time is my all time FAVORITE precure ending so I will always have my Boom Boom Pretty Girls 

[oumakokichi]

Do you think the NDRV3 kids would have survived if they were in DR1 kids situation? As much as I like this change of MM I can't help but feel curious how would they play facing Junko.

Now this is a veryinteresting question. On the one hand, it’s very fun food for thoughtspecifically because ndrv3’s much more grey area of moral ambiguity and ofquestions that lie outside the debate of hope vs. despair might mean they couldactually cause some sort of upset if they were forced into the same situationas the Hope’s Peak characters.

On the other hand, this is something the game actually playswith itself in Chapter 5 and tries to lure the characters themselves intothinking, and—it’s true that by getting themselves too attached to the idea of “ideals”(where is Munakata in the background to shout “platitudes” at a time like this)they do blind themselves to much more realistic problems, like the truth, andhow their ideals and preconceptions are actually a hindrance when taken toextremes.

If we judge off of Chapter 5 alone, I can’t help but thinkthey might fare very badly. Earlier chapters, long before “hope and despair”were brought into it, showed that the characters definitely had some potentialfor thinking outside the box and avoiding the kind of “despair addiction” thatJunko herself lives to get others addicted to. But the moment they do startthinking in terms of “hope vs. despair” and put themselves on the same level asHope’s Peak Academy students is the moment they start to turn astray from thereal truth of things, and as we can see, that ended very badly, with Momota andOuma getting the worst of it.

It doesn’t help either that, while Tsumugi is certainly less infallible than Junko and definitely makes more mistakes, lies her way out ofthings more, and is unafraid of cheating, Junko is also certainly willing tocheat if it’ll get her what she wants.

Many people who I’ve seen criticizing ndrv3 seem to havethis sort of perfected hindsight vision of Junko as this “perfect mastermindwho never cheated or lied her way out of anything” and I honestly don’t understandwhere this idea came from, because Junko will absolutely interfere with thingsshe’s not supposed to or cheat, as long as it’s more amusing and more “despair-inducing”that way.

People who call the Chapter 1 trial with Kaede a “hack” inndrv3 seem to have forgotten that Junko was perfectly willing to go dress up ina mask and try to kill Naegi with a knife, and that when that failed shesabotaged her own dead sister’s body and tried to push either Naegi or Kirigirito take the fall, all because the two of them were getting in the way of hergame continuing and upsetting her predictions that “everyone” would despair inher killing game. She planted fake evidence to incriminate Kirigiri, tried tokill two people who hadn’t actually broken any rules in the killing game, andhad to be literally forced into a retrial, just as Tsumugi is forced into onefor Chapter 6 of ndrv3.

Even earlier than that, Junko was clearly willing to tamperwith actual crime scenes. In Chapter 4 of dr1, she sabotaged the entire case tolook like a more “conventional” suicide, forged a fake suicide note for Sakuraspecifically for the sake of getting Aoi to despair and try to get the wholegroup killed, and then threw a huge tantrum when everyone guessed the rightculprit in the end and executed an AI program “just because she could.” Evenher backstabbing Mukuro and killing her was technically a violation of herrules, because it was premeditated and had nothing to do with Mukuro’s “violenceagainst the headmaster,” and that’s exactly why she gets put on trial for “themurder of Mukuro Ikusaba” later on.

Junko definitely cheats, when she wants to. If people aren’tdespairing the way she wants them to and things are actually going outside ofher predictions for once, she will breakher own rules in order to force them to despair. She follows her own rules solong as it suits her, and that’s why she ultimately agrees to execute herselfaccording to the rules of her own trial—because it makes her despair, and she likes it. But I have no doubts whatsoever thatshe would absolutely cheat like hell if it seemed like the ndrv3 charactersinitially weren’t responsive to her attempts to make them despair.

Seeing Junko vs. Ouma would be…particularly interesting,because while I’ve talked at length about how Ouma is undeniably a person thatputs himself against the mastermind and loathes killing and murders to thepoint that he wants to upset their plans, it would be hard, perhaps impossible,for him to take down someone like Junko. Moreso when one particular qualityOuma definitely has that those like Kirigiri and Nanami do not isself-loathing.

Ouma’s hatred for himself and the things he’s willing to dois essential to his whole character, and it’s something Junko would know wasthere and would target. For most of ndrv3, Ouma is able to convince himself ofthe necessity of his plans and doesn’t ultimately falter until he stains hisown hands by having to get Miu and Gonta killed—because as long as he’s notkilling anyone, he’s able to justify that it’s okay to do and say otherhorrible things as long as it accomplishes the right results and gets thekilling game to end.

But Junko’s perception and analytical talent is literally superhuman,and goes above and beyond even what Ouma himself can predict or analyze. She’dknow his flaws, she’d know his similarities to people like herself andKamukura, and she would absolutely try to twist it and turn it against him andrub it in that he was “just as bad as she was.” Ouma would put up a pretty incrediblefight, I’m sure, but I feel like if it were a direct face-off between the twoof them, Junko would be pretty capable of breaking him and convincing him thathe was the bad guy, moreso considering he basically convinces himself of thisat the end of Chapter 4 in ndrv3 already.

As for the other characters, it’s interesting because Idefinitely don’t think someone like Saihara would ever have had the potentialto become a protagonist if the setting were like dr1, and if Junko was the mainantagonist and mastermind. Kaede, or even Kiibo, would be much more likely tostep up to the plate instead, because a detective like Saihara can never trulyshine in a game that calls for a “representative of hope” while Junko is playingfor Team Despair.

While I feel like Kaede would be the obvious choice to playa much more Naegi or even Komaru-like role of “cheerful girl whose mainstrength is her unending optimism,” I would actually love to see Kiibo vs.Junko too, because that would actually allow for very interesting, hugelydifferent potential from most of the other hope vs. despair set-ups we’ve seen.Kiibo by the end of ndrv3 is so pissed, and tired, and ready to literallyeliminate despair off the face of the entire planet even if it means takinghimself down in the process—in a way, he’s got the same sort of ideals abouthope as Munakata, but without turning on others or, well, without fucking up majorlythe way that Munakata did.

This of course begs the question as to who Junko would “bribe”to be her traitor, or assuming Kiibo is still a robot, if she would still usehim as a bargaining chip with the whole “Kiibo blows up if all the survivorsband together” trump card. Then again, the latter doesn’t even soundparticularly despair-inducing and might be cheating too much, even for Junko’sstandards, so I think she’d much rather have a traitor who was convinced bymore “traditional” methods of despair, i.e. blackmail and bribery, etc.

The best guess I can give is that the ndrv3 characters goingup against someone like Junko would seem to go surprisingly well at first,because they’d believe themselves to be “prepared” as students of Hope’s PeakAcademy. But the thing is that with hugely varied characters in the mix—like Ouma,who was never supposed to be someone “on the side of hope,” and who would knowthis and have this rubbed in his face by Junko, or even like Kiibo, whosewillingness to protect hope means eradicating despair at the cost of his ownlife—things wouldn’t necessarily play out the same way as dr1 or sdr2 wherethere’s at least 5 or 6 survivors every time and things end on a relativelyokay note.

Junko is someone who sees even the slightest, smallest gapof weakness and targets it and crushes it like a bug, and to her, the fact thatthe ndrv3 characters would seem so much less inclined to “hope or despair” atfirst is exactly what would make her want to push them all the more.

This was very fun to write about, and I’d really be interestedin seeing other people’s takes on it or even AUs and such! Thank you anon!