#Nozomi (Air Doll)

[misscammiedawn]

Penlight - Spoiler Analysis/Review Post 1 (Nozomi Route)

Download Penlight (Pay what you like) from Itch.io here

My other Penlight reviews: Quick Review - Sayori (Part 1 - Doll) - Sayori (Part 2 - Alter)

Turq's reviews: Hiroko Robot - Hiroko Tickling - Nozomi Zombie

So I had reviewed the game Penlight before and wanted to give some more praise on its narrative choices and themes. I felt the best way to do that was to break down the routes I enjoyed and what I learned from them.

Before I begin I wanted to say much of the discussion here breeds in from @spiralturquoise and I going back and forth on this game for weeks. Turq is writing a post as well and though we share many viewpoints we come from different angles. We are also aware that we have our own biases and headcanons which we may present as fact, Nozomi being AroAce for example. This post represents a read of the game and we actively encourage people to have their own reads and share them so we may read them.

My posts are going to be plot overviews with analysis. Turq had a fantastic bit of commentary on my first post and I wanted to keep the conversation running.

This post is from the perspective of someone who either has already played and enjoyed the game or someone who isn't going to be convinced to play without having been spoiled first.

If you're on the fence, play the game, come back. It's a few hours commitment and so worth your time.

The post will be here when you get back <3

So as of the latest public release this is the route map:

It sort of looks like the map of Dracula's Castle.

Also this post and any future posts will only feature content from the public release. Nozomi Reversal route is actually polished as of writing for Patreon members with a better script and CG for the ending. This is using version 0.1602.1.

As you can see the game is pretty broad. The map is color-coded between the Brown (Nozomi), Blue (Sayori), Pink (Hiroko), Purple (Consequences) and Salmon (Villain) routes.

Ignore the green, those are just to highlight the latest changes to the map from prior versions.

So I thought I'd handle my Spoiler posts the same way. Brown, Blue, Pink, Purple and then... I think I'll skip Salmon. I have no real desire to play the villain routes.

Though I was happy to see this in the Q&A segment of the Discord:

I am glad this game continues to deny any attempt at vindicating unethical choices.

Anyway. With that preamble. Let's get started with Nozomi's paths...

To begin the Nozomi route Kyou will mention that he has been studying hypnosis and this will trigger Nozomi meeting with him at a cafe after school to ask about his experiences.

She admits that she has been into hypnosis for several years, fluctuating between shame and pride in her interest, admitting that she had not intended to practice in real life until she found herself volunteering for the hypnosis show during the previous cultural festival, an impulsive action that was driven by her repressed desires, she notes that she did not plan on volunteering until her hand was already in the air.

Nozomi regrets that she did not get a chance to bond with the senior who ran last year's show and is now admitting it to Kyou.

From the offset the power dynamics are skewed. Nozomi views Kyou as a stalker and knows he has no friends to practice with. But she is also quick to keep things even by admitting her fetish, overtly admitting she "gets off" on the topic, noting how giving this information to Kyou is a risk.

In showing too much of her hand, Kyou, who does not himself have a hypnosis fetish, despite his study, gets a window into her fantasies.

Nozomi enjoys hypnosis and is excited by it.

Nozomi fantasizes about giving up complete control.

But she is aware that such scenarios only exist within the realm of fantasy and she understands hypnosis enough to know that such a thing could never happen and because she knows this. Because she has found someone who knows how hypnosis works. Because she regrets not being able to make a connection with the last person she could connect about hypnosis with, she tells him she wants him to hypnotize him.

What comes next is the first hypnosis scene, which takes place in Kyou's home.

Every route of the game follows the same timeline for the most part. Most of them keep to a week or two time frame where some others stretch out over months. But the facts of the timeline are always true. Many of these facts will come into play later on but it's important to note them because the writing around these "canon events" is tight.

Kyou's father works until late and will always have a business trip to excuse his absence for weekends. I believe I have only seen him show up one time in the entire visual novel, referenced in text as Kyou speaks about his previous night.

So with an empty home Nozomi comes over and sets down the ground rules.

Sessions are to be discussed in full before approaching hypnosis. All sessions are to be recorded. All suggestions are going to be tidied up at the end.

Kyou performs a quick down-up with a simple number amnesia suggestion (albeit there is a blank choice for a future route where you break her consent at this time) before Nozomi realizes that she needs to go home for dinner and heads out leaving Kyou feeling that the scene had no adequate deescalation and he's left to feel things were left off without a conclusion or understanding with where he and Nozomi stand in their freshly ignited entanglement.

I want to get into the canon events a little more later on, but there is a level of beautiful dramatic irony that DeMille tends to take when it comes to how she approaches similarities in the routes and consistency of the characters or timeline, particularly in how Kyou's choices impact the characters. Hiroko is the most notable example as her tennis scholarship can be at risk even if the surrounding events of the week cause her to worry. Her emotional state mingles in with how she plays tennis, after all.

I explain this as each character is well written on their timelines and depending on how early or late you play Nozomi's route in your exploration, you may find that Nozomi's evening actions are more flexible than the other girls. With Hiro and Sayori there are external factors at play with their tennis, study club and cram school commitments. With Nozomi the amount of time she gives or refuses to give, with very few exceptions, is her choice alone. She also denies Kyou justifications, though they tend to mostly be around her not wanting to explain herself to friends and family. Sometimes we know from other routes why she is unavailable, sometimes we do not. It helps put the player in Kyou's perspective. Not knowing if they can trust if Nozomi is getting her fill and abandoning Kyou or if the pair are doing a poor job of planning their scenes to include deescalation, debrief and aftercare.

Kyou's confusion grows the next day when Nozomi refuses to associate with him at school the next day. A theme which grows larger in two of the routes. Feeling like he is a shameful secret, much like Nozomi's interest in hypnosis, Kyou is forced to wait until Nozomi returns for more sessions, completely in the dark as to where he stands.

When he asks for clarification on this topic Nozomi makes it very clear.

She has no intention of dating anyone.

From here you are given the option of either respecting her boundaries or pretending to. Pretending to locks you in to a bad ending from the Delusion route.

Agreeing will begin the divergence in the tree to chose from 3 options. From here on I'll be focused less on plot outlines and more on plot analysis as it is at this point the themes of the game begin paying off.

Trance: Kyou introduces a reinduction trigger and the pair explore the kink with increasing levels of thrill seeking. We get to see the risks of abandoning safe framework, the hurt that comes from compartmentalizing your kink and social lives.

Reversal: Nozomi is offered the penlight and becomes the dominant. We get to see how the girls must have felt under the penlight's sway and experience Kyou being unambiguously mistreated without the fallback of "it was his own fault"

Zombie: A massive abreaction happens and the focus of the story falls upon safety and mitigating damage in hypnosis scenes.

So let's do them one at a time.

Trance:

One of the biggest themes of this game is that hypnosis is a collaborative action that takes place with communication, trust and caution. As I had mentioned in the initial review post any of the endings which are considered "good" involve the penlight being broken as it represents a "one way" process of hypnosis, whether it be overriding agency, skipping communication/feedback or removing safety.

It's my personal view that the penlight represents the toxic elements of a hypnotic relationship and compress the timeline of damage from years into a single week. It's one of the few things that Turq and I diverge in from our reads. It's also why I think Turq's review of the Nozo-Trance route is going to be the definitive one, in the same way I intend my analysis on the Sayori-Alter route to be definitive when I get around to writing it. My history with the toxic elements of hypnosis all revolve around a lack of safety in hypnosis itself, after all and that is the lens I approach things from.

The reason I say that is because the Trance route is firmly based in the relationship aspects of hypnosis and how trust, communication and collaboration need to be established.

Nozomi continues to treat Kyou as a trance dispenser in this route, disappearing when their scenes are concluded. She also intends for hypnosis to only work when they are in Kyou's home as a way to ensure it is secret from the world and no one can know the things that she is interested in.

This leads to the route being divided between scenes at Kyou's home where the pair slowly erode their safeties to introduce more and more exciting ideas into their mix and school scenes where Kyou is ignored by an increasingly standoffish Nozomi who refuses to acknowledge Kyou's existence outside of sceneplay.

Kyou even says it himself in narrative "I might be the one hypnotizing her, but it's really me following her suggestions around here."

When Kyou stands up for himself and says that he didn't even know if he needed to prepare for Nozomi's arrival her reply is nonchalant.

At the start of the route Nozomi was eager to be fully communicative of all things and yet as her comfort with this arrangement has continued she has assumed more and more that Kyou would be willing to go along with anything she wanted. The divide between them grows more as Kyou finds that his day-to-day life hasn't really shifted as much as he would hope.

So... if "good communication and mundane hypnosis" is part of the condition for a good ending, what is a condition for a bad ending?

Outside of the obvious outcomes such as being expelled or punished, a decent number of endings have Kyou given the responsibility of caring for another human being who no longer has agency.

The game is always clear that when collaboration breaks down but the hypnotic relationship remains then one party is having to do all of the work and it is not a good thing. There is no ending in the game where Kyou is willing to or enjoys having a mindless and controlled partner.

That's important to note because with the understanding of Kyou's comfort there we know that collaboration and a relationship (not dating, just a relationship) is what he desires and in this route he is not receiving that because Nozomi stonewalls him.

What's worse is that she's not even put any thought into the fact Kyou may feel this way.

But hey. It's not like he's a mind reader or anything...

Oh by the way the suggestions have subtext to them. We'll get to that a bit more with the Nozo-Reversal route.

From here Nozomi has Kyou say her trigger phrase (and almost crashes into the floor because there's no safety in place for how she flops) and Kyou has her come clean.

Nozomi is finding it increasingly more arousing how little control she feels she has when she is in Kyou's home and much of her fantasies involving hypnosis revolve around a complete helplessness.

The fact that the penlight is overriding her caution, repression and agency is something that she finds actively enticing and even the act of being forced to confess her "shameful" kink is alluring to her.

This squicks Kyou out enough that you are forced to make a decision on if you even wish to pursue a relationship with her. A sign that even the person enabling her fetish isn't fully accepting of it. A bad ending will occur if Kyou decides not to continue, but to continue he now finds himself on the slope and catering to her desires.

The problem is, they're not communicating.

Nozomi told him all of this under hypnotic compulsion. She is no closer to reconciling the shame from her sexuality but now she has revealed the depths of it to Kyou and he has taken it as instructions. In exchange Nozomi will try to include Kyou in her life more.

Kyou then goes online and begins reading ReadOnlyMind stories and learning what he thinks a hypnofetishist would enjoy and has come away from the encounter believing that Nozomi actively desires having her agency removed. The lack of communication allowed him to know what Nozomi desires and he has mistaken it for what she wants.

Further up the slope and with some dangerous new ideas of what their fun and games should be, Kyou visits Nozomi's home on Saturday and discovers that his post hypnotic suggestions still work on her outside of Kyou's home.

In every route Kyou is a believer of the "essential lie" of hypnosis. "No one can do anything under hypnosis that they didn't want to do."

That will come up a lot. The Delusion path is a thorough takedown of the idea in general.

Here it informs Kyou that Nozomi is eager to surrender her agency and removes another layer of safety. The rule that the suggestions only impacted at Kyou's home has eroded.

The pair commit to some kinky shenanigans and Nozomi's mother almost catches them doing some hypnotic rope play that is well handled in CG art and I shall not deprive you the enjoyment of seeking it yourself (the game is "pay what you want" on itch) but stands to show two things.

Kyou is having more fun like this and Nozomi is becoming increasingly comfortable with her desires and allowing for more risk taking.

Also there's a choice between spanking and tickling and I firmly believe that this is the most overtly erotic scene in the entire game. Kyou keeps testing her limits and whether it be via the penlight or Nozomi being free to explore her kink without any shame, she keeps on matching his challenge at every turn, seemingly enjoying every second of it, even when they court the danger of discovery.

Kyou even notes a few times that she never breaks scene at any point for her own comfort or security.

...I will save my personal commentary on hypnotee agency until Sayori's review... But I have thoughts.

At the end of the day in which Nozomi insists Kyou needs to head home, Kyou suspects he is being brushed off again because Nozomi had her fill from the scene and no longer wishes to be around him. She says that she has no more time for the weekend and will see him on Monday.

Kyou decides to press back and hypnotically forces her to come to him the next morning. They even stay up online to discuss their next scene.

Unfortunately Sunday is, in every single route of the game, Hiroko's tennis tournament and Nozomi must dedicate her day to being with her bestie and throwing her a karaoke party afterwards.

But her compulsion commands her to go to Kyou and so she does, abandoning her friend.

The next morning they have a roleplay scene that is increasingly high stakes and Kyou continues to press his advantages, unaware of the sheer power of the penlight. She even gets Nozomi to her underwear with very little effort.

Though the scene requires a little bit of management afterwards, Nozomi forgetting that her clothes are her own, it was an enjoyable experience for them both.

But then her phone pings and she is informed that she is missing Hiroko's game. She insists she has to leave and Kyou, not understanding the importance of this event, pushes back and assumes that she is once again ditching him because the scene is over and she does not want to deal with Kyou outside of their play.

There will eventually be a route where you get to hypnotically command her to stay but for now Kyou accepts that she has to leave.

Having let down her best friend, Nozomi withdraws and goes back to the former arrangement, scolding Kyou via text message for attempting to pester her during school and says that she needs to take some time to focus on study, leaving Kyou feeling abandoned again.

Something they both fail to do as they fail their mock exams hard and this leaves Nozomi feeling yet more shaken and wanting to retreat from kink.

However she believes that if they just "get it out of their systems" they'll be free from their obsessions. Leaning further into the slope that the pair are on.

The safety and sanity have long since vanished off of the horizon in their risk profile and consent has been on a broken foundation since the start.

What follows is a scene where they bring their kink into school hours. Creating an open trigger (with no safeties) that will reenact the tickling/spanking trigger from the weekend.

It goes poorly. Regardless of the effect Nozomi will feel it continuously for the full lunch hour and it gets worse with every iteration of the trigger.

That night the pair attempt to mitigate the damage and once again the thrill of the high is placed above the detriments it is having on their social lives.

So Kyou decides to escalate instead of deescalate.

This is not a good idea.

The scene escalates until Nozomi is on her knees wearing nothing but her underwear and unable to speak above a whisper, exclusively referring to Kyou as "Sir". The further into the scene the pair get the more Kyou shapes himself to become the type of hypnotist he believes Nozomi dreams of.

At this point you are given your final options for the endings:

Make me a cheese omelet - Become my girlfriend - Become mindless for me.

Nozomi actively resists the penlight and tries to physically restrain Kyou to prevent him snapping his finger or pressing her forehead to force her to be his girlfriend. This is the one boundary that you had to accept at the start of the route to allow things to get to this point. You literally cannot reach this moment without Kyou agreeing to respect that boundary and breaking it is a guaranteed bad ending. Either Kyou steals Nozomi away from her friendgroup and the pair will sink into their kink exploration with no allowances for their school, career prospects or external friends to interfere or Nozomi will succeed in stopping Kyou from robbing her of her agency and leave him for breaking her one rule.

The "mindless" ending is... dark. I'd rather not go over it as it doesn't make additional points other than having Kyou finally understand his penlight robs people of agency, which he does not learn in this route until the very end.

The omelet ending is a sweet and tender scene between the pair which has an ethical jumping off point.

The next day Nozomi slips and refers to Kyou as "Sir" during school hours and her friends instantly get on her case about it.

I should note here that Sayori knows Nozomi's fetish in every route. These little bits of characterization that remain constant through all of the routes really add flavor to certain interactions.

The true growth comes when Nozomi, seeing Sayori interrogating Kyou and thinking the worst of him, comes in and offers to invite her friends to Kyou's house to tell them everything.

Once there she discovers all the programming tied to being at Kyou's home kicks back in to both party's surprise. Kyou agrees to remove all suggestions so they can talk.

The subject of the penlight is raised and they finally realize that it is a bit special...

Kyou puts it eloquently here:

The penlight is destroyed leading to the golden ending of the route. Nozomi, realizing how much damage the pair had done in their chase of thrills, cuts off from hypnokink to focus on her studies.

After a timeskip she meets up with Kyou after exams and says she has been watching hypnosis videos again recently and asks if they can start exploring again without the penlight.

She accepts that she still does not want to date but she may end up treating Kyou as a trance dispenser again if she approaches without an arrangement and Kyou says he doesn't want to push her. The pair communicate and agree that they just want to explore out of friendship and interest.

Nozomi kisses Kyou on the cheek and it is clear an establishment of trust has been made and the pair will find something more healthy this time.

Now... I'm the type of person who enjoys watching "analysis" videos that just tell the plot beat for beat and I would need so many more hours to even attempt that for the entire game so I'll be more swift with the other two, especially as a lot of similar ground is covered. I'll likely do a more full breakdown of Alter route for Sayori but let's get through the other two a bit faster...

Reversal:

One of the main reasons I wanted to do Trance route in full and show off how the entirety of a route plays out is that the knowledge of how other routes play out help so very much with the retelling and expanding on the themes.

If Nozomi takes possession of the penlight then Kyou will become her plaything for the duration of the route. Her behavior is not altered, however. Her risk profile is, however.

In the Trance route Nozomi wants to put strict safety and restrictions on early play because she is afraid of being discovered and does not fully trust Kyou to play with her mind. She does not hold the same reservations in reverse, however. So what happens when someone who ditches scenes without deescalation is running the scene?

A constant "Bad" condition on any route is an open trigger/suggestion that bleeds outside of play spaces. We say a lot of that with the restrictions of Kyou's hypnosis only supposed to work within Kyou's home in the trance route and how things get worse when that restriction is tested and broken. In other routes one of the absolute worst situations is the impact of a suggestion exiting the scene and stretching out into the world.

God I should have started with Sayori...

As a sidenote, Hiroko's route actually has some mildly positive impact (at least not inherently BAD) of play stretching out beyond scenes. But Hiroko's routes are a little more light hearted than the serious lectures on communication, safety and abreactions that Sayori and Nozomi's routes deal with.

So Nozomi's first command is to perceive her as invisible and she runs off to her evening plans without closing out the suggestion.

As I said earlier, the suggestions are symbolic at times.

One of the most interesting things about this route is that we get to see what the girls experience with their time going under for the penlight. Most of the inductions involve Kyou starring at the penlight for a few text boxes and then waking up with no clue as to what happened.

Kyou also likes asking his hypnotee their opinion on topics and finds that they're always accommodating and accepting of his playstyle. Nozomi was remarkably good about all of the events that transpired in the Trance route after all...

Sorry, Kyou...

The penlight makes it so enjoyable to go into hypnosis that you cannot really advocate for yourself. Hypnotee Agency is not a thing in most of these routes and the Reversal route makes this clear. There is only one actual choice you can make in the entire route and it's only there because Nozomi tells Kyou to make it.

Incidentally the bad ending of the route (newly added as of this update) is unlocked by making the insignificant choice of "pat head" or "striptease".

Turq and I have a mild disagreement on this moment. I believe that when Nozomi sees that Kyou is willing to and incapable of stopping himself from getting naked for her she is so turned on (sexually or otherwise) by her level of control that she is pushed over the edge of morality. Turq's read is that she dehumanizes Kyou in that moment and loses empathy for him that leads to the good ending.

Odd that the sex-repulsed asexual has the read that she was turned on.

Anyway...

Nozomi continues to ignore Kyou at school and come to his house at night to brainwash him and selfishly steals him away for Hiroko's tennis match, asserting that she is going to take him with her for the celebration.

Funny. In Trance route Kyou subvert's Nozomi's agency to have her skip the tennis match, in Reversal route Nozomi subvert's Kyou's to force him to attend.

In this route she doesn't mind associating with Kyou with her friend group because she is in control and doesn't feel like the association will out her or be a mark of shame for her being a "freak" (her word, not mine).

She puts Kyou through a mortifying scene and bullies her friends around to get her way with making it happen, the power of the penlight having brought up some bullyish tendancies within her. She wants to check in that Kyou is okay but as before he is only allowed to agree.

During school she continues her unempathetic behavior and starts a big fight with her friends when they attempt to talk to Kyou and she continuously talks over him and at one point she even commands him not to say a word.

Nozomi's behavior is fairly toxic at the end of the fight, going as far as to pull a guilt tripping "I'm horrible" as a way to distance Sayori.

The controlling behavior and lack of communication, trust and safety bleeds out once again as she commands Kyou to tell her the truth about if she is a horrible controlling monster and he does.

He tells her she has not been fair. That she stopped cleaning up her suggestions the moment she took over. She took Kyou's stated limit (not wanting to sing karaoke) and instantly overrode it. She forces Kyou to hang out with her friends but does not extend him empathy or kindness. She just treats him as a toy.

Like. Literally. He tells her outright.

This causes Nozomi to get defensive and demand that if Kyou was so upset then why did he chose to continue obeying. We are then lead to the good end or bad depending on the earlier scene.

In the good end Nozomi breaks the penlight realizing what she has done and in the bad she becomes Miss Akemi and makes full use of the penlight.

The deprogramming scene that follows is actually remarkably tender and sweet with all the tenderness of someone's first hypnosis scene, checking back and forth if the other is okay, Nozomi knows she has gone too far and is so careful in this sequence.

To add in to how tender and connected the hypnosis scene is, this time there is no brutal cut between penlight and waking. We are in Kyou's perspective the whole time as his eyes slip closed and he follows Nozomi's voice through the experience. We get to see Kyou reacting to Nozomi's words and experiencing the delightful relaxation and trust he has in Nozomi during these moments. He wonders if he is actually hypnotized while agreeing in thought to go with it.

Eyes open and close for fractionation and each time the artwork fades in and out, Nozomi's expression becoming more serious and/or concerned as it continues.

Questions of if it's working become certainty and Kyou even notes "I can't resist" not because his agency is overridden but because he tests his eyes and knows he cannot open them and that's okay.

"I just want to listen."

This is by far the longest hypnosis sequence in the game and it is essential that this be the case as it is the thesis statement of the game being played out. We are not witnessing the trust and tenderness of a well communicated and safe hypnosis scene, we are experiencing it.

The ending even has Nozomi accept the consequences of her behavior and make-up with her friends, admit her fetish which is one of the hardest things to achieve in any given run and Kyou is earnestly and honestly part of their friendgroup. Nozomi notes that she may wish to buy a pocketwatch in the future.

In terms of "good end" this is one of my favorite because Kyou gets to be friends with everyone, Nozomi comes to terms with her repressed desires and we get one of the most pure displays of hypnosis in the entire experience.

I am curious about other people's feelings on this one.

I'm running on fumes for the remainder so maybe I'll cover "Zombie" route later.

All I will say is that it is a route that is begun by Kyou having Nozomi imagine herself as a zombie, likely thinking of the Chinese Zombie trope of arms stretched outright and looking dehumanized. Nozomi takes it literally and tries to bite Kyou's flesh off.

This entire route is punctuated by abreactions and hypnotic safety. We are reminded of our fuck-up throughout the route by a giant bruise on Nozomi's character model (and lack of glasses for much of it) and it is the only route where all three of the main girls get involved with the experimentation around hypnosis right from the get-go.

With everyone clearly communicating and trying to accommodate for safety we still, in the mock stage hypnosis scene, get an abreaction despite every suggestion being very well laid out. It's almost weird how well packaged they are in this route and highlights how sloppy the suggestions are in the rest of the game.

The idea being that no amount of safety is going to cover everything. When we play with hypnosis we cannot possibly know every single thing about every single person we play with and mistakes can and will happen and we have to both own that and minimize the amount of harm we do by being tidy but also by talking out suggestions first and not springing them on people.

No matter how careful we are there will always be mistakes and it is better to deal with those mistakes before the scene than during it.

It's actually a remarkably good fable and makes a stunning point. I think that erasing all the barriers (Nozomi's shame of being discovered, Hiroko assuming the worst of Kyou, Sayori being involved enough to be the sane one in the room who has researched enough to know what is true and not attached like Kyou and Nozomi enough to not let things slide) and showing Kyou make sensible suggestions is the best way to approach this.

Even in the best possible timeline where there are no external factors and everyone is on their best behavior you can still mess up.

...and boy howdy we are going to mess up a lot in the rest of the game.

Next time I'm going to trauma dump on you all and type more than is necessary about Sayori's routes and reveal why my Penlight tag is "Sayori is best girl".

But for now... I have typed a lot and I do not wish to type any longer.

Eagerly awaiting Turq's post.

[rhys-bae]

Doona Bae in Cannes

2006: 괴물 The Host, dir Bong Joon-ho- Quinzaine des Réalizateurs (Directors' Fortnight) 

2009: 空気人形 Air Doll, dir Hirokazu Kore-eda- Un Certain Regard

2014: 도희야 A Girl at My Door, dir July Jung- Un Certain Regard

2022: 브로커 Broker, 2022

Dir Hirokazu Kore-eda- Official selection

Proud AF!

[iconnoteven]

Nozomi (Bae Doona) from Air Doll 🎎

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 211

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 13 - “The Nightmarish Fairy Tale World!” Date watched: 11 May 2021 Original air date: 27 April 2008 Screenshots Precure Metamorphose Gallery | Sky Rose Translate Gallery Project info and master list of posts

This episode does more with its premise than the entirety of Smile Precure

Remember the Cinderella episode of the last season? Well, this is kind of like that again, but now with more backstory dumping. When a new villain shows up and sucks the protagonists into the world of Pinocchio, it’s going to take all their resourcefulness to get out of it. And just what is Kurumi hiding, anyway? Let’s explore.

The Plot

Syrup is having a dream about visiting the Cure Rose Garden as a young child, but it disappears and he wakes up. He tells Mailpo he had the same dream again and to not worry about him, and then takes off flying as he thinks about how he can fly anywhere except the Cure Rose Garden. The opening theme plays and then the usual Eternal scene occurs.

Anacondy is presenting a collection item to the Director and, after a back and forth, explains the issues with retrieving the Rose Pact. He tells her to send Shibiretta, which Anacondy clearly does not want to do, claiming she’s practically retired, but the Director insists. Anacondy acquiesces, but her face betrays her feelings on the matter.

Over at the clock tower, Syrup is watching some normal birds fly around and starts brooding about how alone he is, but his self isolation is interrupted by Nozomi and Coco, who came to check on him and offer him some snacks. He almost accepts, but the mere presence of Coco sparks his snarky side and he says he doesn’t want anything. The camera pans down a level to reveal Kurumi eavesdropping on them and planning how to make an entrance today, which is definitely something that normal people do.

snoopers gonna snoop

In Eternal, Shibiretta, a witchy figure with a giant mushroom for a hat, cackles and conjures some sort of dark mist from a book, which then materializes at the clock tower and sucks in Syrup, Nozomi, and Coco just as Kurumi is about to round the corner for her grand entrance. She panics at their disappearance.

The trio find themselves outside a house with lots of chopped wood, wearing vaguely European work attire: Syrup is in lederhosen, Nozomi is in overalls, and Coco wears a vest and pants. They’re confused but Coco, ever the voice of reason, says they should stay calm and figure out what’s going on. Syrup scoffs. Nonetheless, they explore a bit and find the house filled with dolls and puppets, and nobody around, until a woman walks up behind Syrup and declares herself the Star Goddess. She deduces that he’s troubled, but he denies this, so she waves her wand and makes his nose grow for telling lies because, as you may have guessed, this is the story of Pinocchio.

Syrup isn’t familiar with it so Coco briefly summarizes it, for the benefit of any audience members who also don’t know it. When the Priestess states that his nose will grow if he doesn’t obey her, Nozomi protests that this isn’t how the story is supposed to go, so the priestess cackles and reveals herself as Shibiretta from Eternal, declaring that she makes the rules in this world. She demands they hand over the Rose Pact, and when they refuse, she makes Syrup’s nose grow some more, until he loses his balance. Both Syrup and Coco revert to their fairy forms, and notably, his beak is its normal length, which is a bit of a missed opportunity. Nozomi steps forward to protect both of them, so the witch turns a marionette into a giant four-armed Hoshiina.

Nozomi transforms into Cure Dream, so Shibiretta transports them all to a seaside location instead. Dream tries to fight off the Hoshiina, but she’s unable to land a hit as she dodges its flurry of punches and grabs, and it soon captures her and the fairies in some string. Shibiretta asks again where the Rose Pact is, and scans them with glowing red eyes only to realize that they really don’t have it.

While all this is happening, Kurumi has run to Natts House to alert the other girls about Nozomi, Coco, and Syrup disappearing. It takes a few minutes for her to explain what happened, but they all immediately leave to track their friends down, with Nuts specifically stopping to grab the Rose Pact. However, as soon as they go through the door, they all find themselves on a small boat in the ocean, wearing 19th century clothing. A giant whale Hoshiina leaps out of the water with Shibiretta on its head, demanding they hand over the Rose Pact. Naturally they refuse and transform.

However, they can’t really do much from their precarious perch, which Shibiretta takes advantage of as she shoots black lightning at them, causing Nuts to revert to his fairy form and let go of the Rose Pact. Shibiretta then catches it while the whale Hoshiina swallows the boat and its crew.

At this point, Shibiretta should just return to Eternal, but because there are still 35 episodes left in the show, she sticks around, teleporting back to shore where Dream, Coco, and Syrup have watched this unfold.

Dream manages to break free of her bonds, free the fairies, and confronts the witch. Syrup demands they return the Rose Pact, to which Shibiretta retorts that he should return to working for Eternal if he wants it. She then taunts him by explaining his backstory to everyone, how he doesn’t remember anything prior to his arrival at the Palmier Kingdom, and he felt like an outsider as he was the only one who could fly. He wants to go to the Cure Rose Garden because of his dreams, he believes it holds the truth of his identity, so he began searching for it when he was at Eternal. Most of this is new information to the heroines and when she notices this, Shibiretta mocks him for not trusting them enough to tell them his story. However, Dream is undeterred, and delivers this banger of a line:

“I do not know who Syrup used to be, and although there are things he does not want to tell us, he trusted me, and he saved me, so I trust him.”

Annoyed by the outcome of this, Shibiretta decides to stick around some more and teach Dream and Syrup a lesson. The other Cures and Milky Rose manage to escape from the whale through its blowhole, whereupon Syrup flies over and catches them and then regroups with Dream, declaring that he will never work for Eternal anymore as he continues to seek the Cure Rose Garden. Now that the whole squad is assembled, they take down the puppet Hoshiina, with Dream delivering the finishing blow via her Shooting Star attack. Shibiretta tries to escape, but Milky Rose kicks the Rose Pact out of her hand, and the whole fairy tale world begins to disappear.

I guess this includes the whale Hoshiina as well, because that’s never dealt with. Anyway, everyone finds themselves transported back to where they were in the real world. Kurumi hands the Rose Pact over and boasts to Rin, Urara, Komachi, and Karen that she really saved them today and they should be thankful, and then makes her exit. As she walks out of the room, she gloats to herself that she got the best part again, just as the mysterious heroine should. However, Nuts has overheard this, startling Kurumi, and he comments on her remarks.

She denies saying anything and hastily leaves. Nuts recognizes this personality, but doesn’t say anything further.

Over at the clock tower, Nozomi reiterates to Syrup that she wants to go to the Cure Rose Garden together with him, not out of pity but because they promised. He smiles, but becomes irate again when Coco makes a move towards him. The teacher hands off the snacks they brought (tea and a cake) and invites Syrup to come stay with them at Natts House, since they have a spare room. Syrup is annoyed and protests that he never asked for this. The pair walks away, Nozomi promising to visit again tomorrow. Syrup eats the cake anyway and admits to himself that it’s pretty good.

In the credits, like the last two episodes, Kurumi is still listed as Milky Rose and the seiyuu is just a question mark.

The Analysis

Since the team gets dragged into the story of Pinocchio, let’s take a quick look at what they pulled from that story. Much like when they were placed into a Cinderella story last season, they don’t really play by the narrative, but the plot of the story kind of happens around them anyway. Aside from Syrup as Pinocchio himself and Shibiretta disguised as the Fairy, none of the other characters have clear analogues, they’re just citizens in this world wearing rural 1800s western European attire. Maybe Coco is supposed to be Geppetto, with Nozomi as Lampwick, but I can’t pin Rin or Coco and there’s not any notable female characters in the story beyond the Fairy that the other girls could be. The whale hoshiina is clearly meant to be the one which swallows Geppetto and Pinocchio. In the original story it’s evidently described as “a terrible dogfish” but in most adaptations (not just the Disney one) it’s updated to a whale or a shark. Monstro is a name invented for the Disney film. Traditionally the characters escape through its mouth, but in this episode they exit through the blowhole instead. It’s assumed that the shack Nozomi and co discovered belonged to Geppetto, since it was filled with puppets and surrounded by chopped wood. Syrup’s nose grows when he lies per the character, but it’s because the “Fairy” Shibiretta explicitly and maliciously grows it as punishment for not giving her what she wants, rather than a passive spell meant to teach a lesson. Beyond these aspects, the story is just set dressing.

Everyone’s outfits when they’re transported into the story are very intricate. I have no idea how historically accurate they are, but they look period appropriate to my untrained eye. (for context, Pinocchio was written and usually takes place in 1880s Italy.) For designs that will probably never be reused, they’re all made of distinct parts and generally fit each character. Nuts gets a suit while the other characters are all in working clothes, Rin and Nozomi wear boyish outfits while the other girls have skirts and dresses with aprons.

Casting Syrup as Pinocchio fits as he does need to be more honest about his feelings, and he takes the spotlight in this episode. More of his backstory is revealed after it was first shown in episode 8 that he used to work for Eternal. This time it’s explained that he showed up at the Palmeir Kingdom one day with no memory, but left shortly thereafter. It’s still unclear exactly what transpired between him and Coco that led to his current attitudes, but we do find out that he feels alone because he’s the only fairy who can fly, and his sense of isolation is on full display in this episode. He tries to mope about how alone he is, but Nozomi hilariously interrupts him. However, throughout the episode, she shows kindness to him and is not troubled by the revelations about his past. She remains resolute about her intentions to go to the Cure Rose Garden with him, not out of pity, but because she promised. This level of trust helps him warm up to her a bit. Notably, whenever she shows kindness to him, he’s receptive to it, and he begins to open up a little bit. He only turns up his nose when Coco steps forward. It makes me want to see him hang out with Nozomi and the other Cures some more, because he has no past trauma with them to get in the way of a sincere conversation and bonding experience. Then they could coax him into working out his differences with Coco.

Despite all this, Kurumi is acting extremely suspicious and seems to think she’s the main character. She’s introduced stalking Coco, trying to find the opportune moment to make her grand entrance. She’s annoyed by Nozomi’s presence, continuing her obvious dislike of her from the previous episode. Despite being frazzled by their disappearance, she still manages to prioritize getting a good role in the fight, and gloats about how she saved the day once everything is restored. Nuts is clearly onto her, and we’ll see the results of this in the next episode. I don’t have much to say about this without completely giving away her identity, but I do hope that she overcomes her desire to be the star attraction in favor of helping the team however necessary. I assume that’s going to be her character arc for the season. Also, point of note, she knows where Natts House is and that the girls hang out there, despite (as far as we know) never going there herself, per the previous episode. So that’s one more hint towards her big secret.

Here’s an etymology note: Shibiretta is named after the hikageshibiretake mushroom, also known as Psilocybe subcaerulipes. It’s a type of psychedelic mushroom. So yes, she’s named after shrooms. Make of that what you will. Sucking people into fairy tales is her primary method of attack in this series so that kind of makes sense, especially if they ever do Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Visually, she appears short, with a stereotypical witch appearance: old, sagging gray skin, and a long, hooked nose. She wears a green dress and carries a cane and a book of stories with her at all times. However, instead of hair, she has a giant red mushroom cap on top of her head, which almost resembles a large wide-brimmed hat. It has some smaller brown mushrooms around the fringe of it which more look more like the actual mushroom she’s named for. When she gets particularly mad, the mushroom cap inverts for some reason, kind of like hair standing on end. Unlike the previous generals in this show, she has no alternate monster form, since witches already ride the line between human and inhuman, so she’s literally always the witch with the mushroom head, unless she’s in disguise as a fairty tale character.

And honestly, I liked her, for the most part. She’s a credible threat as far as they come. Her plan to trap the team worked, she captured the Rose Pact, her fatal flaw was in not leaving after she did this. I should probably stop harping on villains for this, as it’s been a thing in every series with a Macguffin that both sides need, but it was especially silly in this instance. She had the Rose Pact, she could have absconded back to Eternal and presented it to the Director and been rewarded handsomely, and the show would be over. Instead, she chooses to stick around and lecture everyone, riling them up and resulting in her ass being kicked by the power of bonds and true friendship.

I love the animation here. The art quality is strong throughout barring some scant moments of quality dip. There’s a good level of detail on everyone’s faces and clothes, the monster designs are both good, backgrounds are suitably detailed. The lighting is suitable to the scene, particularly in the closing sunset. I’ve said before I’m a sucker for sunsets, the way the orange twilight changes the dynamic of a scene is magical.

Dream’s battle with the first Hoshiina features a particularly impressive shot of her flying through the air, dodging its strings as it tries to capture her. Observe:

Even though it ends in her getting tied up, the fluidity and grace of that shot cannot be understated. I love how Dream dips in and out of the foreground, always moving, repositioning herself. It looks like an animation loop but when I reviewed it frame by frame there’s not any reused frames that I could identify. The episode was storyboarded and directed by Kawada Takenori, with key animation done by Miyamoto Emiko, both of whom have some strong credits to their name. I’m going to assume Miyamoto is more directly responsible for bringing this scene to fruition but there’s less information on her involvement in the show than there is of Kawada. Regardless, both of their work together results in a visually attractive episode with several strong sequences.

There are a couple moments that bring the animation quality down, notably when Nuts releases the Rose Pact and it just kind of floats into Shibiretta’s hands, and later when the team sans Dream escape from the whale, but by and large it’s great.

Some minor continuity and franchise notes: the cake that Nozomi brings Syrup is from Celeb Dou, the same place that they got the cake in the glorious ninth episode.

A piece of background music that plays over Coco’s explanation of the story of Pinocchio is reused from back in Futari wa Precure, it’s called "Strange Occurrence” by Sato Naoki.

The title in Japanese is  悪夢のメルヘンワールド！or Akumu no Märchen World! “Märchen World” is derived from “Märchenland”, the German name for Wonderland or more generally fairy tale land. You’ll hear it again in Smile Precure as the name of the world that all the fairies come from, and in fact several of the ideas in this episode seem like prototypes of that show. I’m not sure if Märchenland is the general name for a fairy tale type world in Japanese as an adopted loanword or it’s something they settled on for Precure, and my attempts to Google it showed me a theme park named Märchenland, but little beyond that.

It’s a strong episode, interspersing fun character dynamics with a clever plot gimmick as a tapestry to delve into the history of the character who most needs it. There’s a good balance of humor and drama, the stakes feel suitably high for a new villain introduction, and there’s just enough intrigue to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Aside from an exposition dump towards the climax, the episode paces itself out perfectly and manages to deliver on all its promises. on top of that, the animation is consistently very good, with some stand-out sequences. Almost movie quality.

Next time, Nuts is acting really weird, the girls realize they haven’t heard from Milk in a while, and Kurumi’s secret is finally revealed as the Blue Rose Arc reaches its epic conclusion! Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 kettei!

[ogradyfilm]

Recently Viewed: Air Doll

On paper, the premise of Air Doll (an inflatable sex doll somehow develops sentience and proceeds to wander the streets of Tokyo) sounds absolutely absurd—the kind of story you’d expect to encounter in a particularly exploitative hentai magazine. Leave it to Palme d'Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda to transform such a sleazy concept into a legitimately compelling allegory about the search for community, compassion, and genuine relationships amidst the spiritual decay of urban isolation.

After awakening one morning to discover that she has inexplicably grown a "heart," the eponymous Nozomi (an identity assigned to her by her first owner; according to the packaging in which she was sold, her manufacturers christened her “Candy”) realizes that she is merely a “substitute”—an inanimate object designed to simulate the act of love without burdening her “companions” with the complexities of emotional baggage—and therefore embarks on a quest to learn what it means to be “alive.” Unfortunately, the various lost souls that she encounters—a ragtag collection of introverts, outcasts, and misanthropes—are just as empty, hollow, and insubstantial as she is.

Anchored by Doona Bae’s captivating performance and Katsuhiko Maeda’s mesmerizing score, Air Doll is a masterpiece of magical realism, utilizing subtle supernatural elements to explore universal themes of humanity, loneliness, and longing.

[lonelypond]

Nico Attacks: A Campfire Tale, Ch. 1

Love Live, NicoMaki, 1.8K, 1/4

Ayase Eli, Sonoda Umi, and Nishikino Maki are making their way through the woods around the Nishikino mountain camp during the annual Muse Autumn camping trip. Will they be tripped up? How afraid of the dark is Eli? What will happen next?

Chapter One

The sun had set. Late September warm light was done and October chill had crept in. Soldier Game, braving the night, had set out, backpacks and thermoses, to track the trail left...Eli’s jaw throbbed. The shivers would start there. Tighter grip on the flashlight, speed up to be closer to Umi and Maki. Too close, Umi screamed and jumped back, batting at the air over her head.

“What happened?” Eli screeched.

“Nico.” Maki hissed, as she pulled at something, her voice grim, her flashlight shining on the thing in her palm.  She held a small doll, dark blue black hair, empty eyes.

“Of course, Nico. She never forgets anything” Umi groaned. “This isn’t going to be fun, is it.”

“Not for us.” Maki sighed, as music, a slightly out of tune piano playing Bach, started to filter through the trees.

“I need a drink.” Eli sat, grabbing the thermos, pouring out dark liquid with a shaky hand, but screaming and spitting it out as it touched her lips. “That’s not hot chocolate.”

Maki took the mug with a smile, “That’s because my wife packed the food, not yours. And I love cider.”

“Stay alert.” Umi ordered, her eyes still on the forest. She’d switched her flashlight to the red bulb, “We don’t know what we’re walking into.”

Eli rifled through her backpack, finally finding a chocolate bar, “Just give me a minute.”

“C’mon, Umi. This is a joke. We don’t have to worry. Eli gets a little scared…”

“Hey!” Eli grumped through a mouthful of chocolate.

Maki continued, pouring herself more cider. “We find where they’ve camped, have a laugh, kiss and make up, see what our children have carved into their pumpkins.”

Umi was creeping ahead, testing out the path cautiously. “Nico’s taunts and texts seemed more...devious than other years.”

Eli swallowed her chocolate, “What did you do, Maki?”

“Everything is fine between me and Nico-chan.” Maki sounded shrill.

A howling wind noise started intensifying and the music picked up a chorus of howls.

“Sure it is.” Eli zipped up her jacket. “Hey, Umi, are you liquid proofed?”

“Why?”

“Just a feeling.”

“This is ridiculous.” Maki bulled ahead, swinging her backpack over her shoulder, strides confident until she tripped her way through a pile of leaves, twisting as she stumbled down the path. Suddenly orange flickering eyes lit in the gaps between the trees, so many Maki couldn’t immediately count them. She’d barely registered that they were carved pumpkins when they started to foam, fluorescent green fizzing as it seeped out and spread from both sides. Then there was a rustle a few steps ahead, and a huge pop, Eli screamed, and Maki heard things speeding through the air. And before she could figure out what was happening, Umi had tackled her from behind, and Maki was face down in a fluffy pile of sticky sweet soda foam.

Umi held them both down until she was sure there was not going to be another explosion.

“I think she left.” Umi whispered.

“She?”

“Someone had to dump the Mentos.” Umi had managed to avoid a facefull of the foam Maki was scraping off her cheeks. “What did you do to annoy Nico this time?”

###

“Mom!!! Wait!!!” 8 year old Dia was rushing as fast as she could, while trying to be quiet and keep up with Nico, who was nearly hopping with glee, giggling, as fellow 8 year old Tora danced along next to Nico, having inherited some of her mother, Hoshizora Rin’s speed.

“Don’t drop the camera, bun.” Nico stage whispered.

“I won’t.” Dia’s indignant tone carried.

Nico figured they’d gotten far enough away from the trail that they could slow down. She didn’t want to be near Umi’s deadly aim when there were pumpkin guts close at hand. She crouched down, pulling Tora in and waiting for Dia.

“That was so cool.” Tora spun, arms in the air, “Let’s do some more. Auntie Maki looked so silly.” Tora dove at the ground like Maki falling into the pumpkin foam.

Nico glanced at her watch, “I promised your moms I’d get you back to camp. It’s time for roasted sweet potatoes.”

“Those are Ruby’s favorite.” Dia announced as she pulled Tora up.

“Nico knows.”

“I can lead us back. It’s that way.” Dia flung out an arm, in a direction Nico realized was the opposite of the camp thanks to trail signs she’d left. Dia wasn’t the best with directions. She’d gotten lost in Tokyo’s train station recently.

“C’mon this way, Dia.”

“What about Mama? Won’t she be lost?”

“Nico has a few more tricks. But we need to get you back to camp.”

“I’ll take them.” A low growly voice boomed out of the trees near Dia and Tora, as hands grabbed their shoulders, Tora jumped and grabbed Nico, Dia running behind her mother.

Nico squeaked and jumped, “NOZOMI!!”

Nozomi laughed, hugging Tora, while Nico turned to embrace a shaking Dia. “Can’t let you have all the fun this camping trip, Nico-chi.”

“Just get them back to camp, okay.” Nico knelt next to her daughter, taking the camera, “Give Ruby a kiss for me, bun.”

“Okay, Mom.”

“Nico loves you.” A hug and Nico watched two little miracles follow Nozomi back to where the rest of 𝝁’s was having a more fireside adventure.

###

Maki had gotten most of the pumpkin off. Umi was searching for traps and Eli was searching for a reason.

“So, you don’t remember, Nico, your wife, a walking neon sign of emotions, being annoyed at you. Spent any nights on the couch recently?”

In this light, it was hard to read Maki’s face for a blush.

“Maki?”

“Not recently, all right,” Maki kicked through pumpkins, further soaking her boots. “For some reason, Nico got upset a couple of months ago when I mentioned Ruby was growing up and we were slowing down. I thought we were past that.”

“What EXACTLY did you say?” Eli knew part of why Nico was a walking neon sign was that Maki was sometimes impervious to hints or clues.

Maki rubbed the back of her neck. “Nico was maturing. And being a mother was a good look on her.”

“You said Nico was maturing?”

“An obvious lie.” Umi deadpanned as she returned to the group.

“It was romantic.”

Eli shook her head.

“It was supposed to be.”

“Okay, the trail seems clear ahead.” Umi prompted, as the conversation lulled, “We let Maki take the lead…”

“Why?” Maki whined.

Eli and Umi glared in response.

Maki sighed, “Right.”

“And we proceed as if we have everything under control, no matter what happens.” Umi decided. The rest of Soldier Game nodded their agreement.

Three flashlights, three friends, three sets of boots stepping bravely forward. The illusion of confidence lasted until Eli’s flashlight flickered out, followed by Umi’s, then Maki’s. There was almost solid darkness blanketing everything, wind creaking whistling warnings, and Eli suddenly had Umi in a bear hug from behind.

“I am not carrying you.” Umi grunted.

“Or holding your hand.” Maki snarled.

“NOZOMI!”

###

Tora was back. Hanayo relaxed. Nozomi had brought her back to the campsite, along with Dia, who was stacking a s’more, sitting next to a sleepy Ruby. The Kurosawa née Yazawa-Nishikino family had been camping over much of the world, and the American camp staple, s’mores, was one of the girls’ favorite treats. Now, Hanayo only had to worry about Rin, who had just taken Eli and Nozomi's oldest twin, 10 year old Vik, into the woods to meet Nico for some more mischief.

“It was so cool, Mom.” Tora was bouncing, too revved up, but Nico-time was a shot of adrenaline, “We dropped the Mentos, there was fizzing and WHOOOSH.” Tora spun, “Goop everywhere, Auntie Maki looked so silly, sliding” Tora went to leap, but Hanayo caught her, reflexes honed from decades of keeping up with Rin.

“Auntie Hanayo.” Dia was in front of Hanayo, frowning.

“Yes, Dia-chan?”

“When are my parents coming back? Ruby’s tired.”

Ah, Hanayo had planned for this. “You both are going to sleep with Tora and Rin and me, tonight.”

“Oh cool! PILLOWFIGHT!” Tora grabbed a stick and some marshmallows, “Make me a s’more first, Dia-bolical.”

Dia hesitated, staring at Hanayo. “Ruby might get scared.”

“We’ll make sure she doesn’t, right Dia-chan.” Hanayo soothed, “I know some good stories.”

“Ruby likes stories.”

A worried Teddy threw open the tent flap where she and Kaito and Kotori were playing Animal Crossing. “Mommy, Aunt Nico’s new video message is about Mom’s flashlight dying. She sounds mean”

Nozomi growled and grabbed her phone, texting, “NICO-CHI? No flashlight?”

A quick answer.

N: Have a plan. Stand down. Don’t text me.

Kotori, her hand on her 5 year old son Kaito’s shoulder, followed Teddy out. “Is there a problem?”

“Just Nico.”

Kotori giggled, “Good. Umi needs some inspiration.”

Smiling, Hanayo shook her head, surprised by how even now, surrounded by their children, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the woods, sometimes, just sometimes, it still felt like those sunny afternoons in the Idol Research Club.

###

Screw it, Maki thought, once she was near the main house, it was going to be a bath. A long, hot bath. Alone. Soda mixed with pumpkin guts was --no surprise - disgustingly sticky and if Nico, the person responsible for this, thought Maki was planning to get anywhere near her any time soon, she could think some more. Maki was going to be alone, in a flannel bathrobe, watching cartoons, eating leftover lasagna as soon as she could.

“Maki.” Umi hissed in her ear.

“What?” Maki snapped.

“This is your property. What’s the quickest way to camp?  Staying on the trail is only making us targets.”

Maki was pretty sure there was a small clearing coming up, one they’d often used to camp when it was only family. From there, it would be easy to plot a path to the house.

Light flickered ahead. Eli suddenly sped up, pushing between Umi and Maki. Umi grabbed for her and missed, hissing, “It’s a trap.”

“Don’t care.” was Eli’s reply as she rushed by.

Umi grunted, “We need to be more careful.”

“Yeah, Nico-chan’s tricky.”

Umi snorted, “Devious, diabolical, duplicitous. These are all more precise choices.”

Maki ignored Umi, grabbing a stick to prod the ground in front of them.

“HE…” Eli started to shout and then there was no voice.

Umi and Maki glanced at each other, hearing dragging noises, watching the light flicker ahead of them, shadows of movement obvious as the path narrowed, trees leaning in with a prickly tease, before they stepped in to the clearing.

In the middle of the clearing, on a slight hill, stood a tilting scarecrow, leering face carved out of a pale gourd, spotlight illuminating Eli’s coat draped over its shoulders.

A/N: Thanks to the IdolFanfic Heaven Discord server for an October full of prompts. I'll be posting these in 5-7 days chunks so enjoy. If you want to check out the server, here's a link: https://discord.gg/SGfJm6

The children are the same as in my Idol Protection Program AU, although Eli and Nozomi's twins are only two years older, not five.

[recentanimenews]

Gekidol Project Unveils Main Cast Visuals for Its Stage Play

    In addition to the TV anime started airing in Japan this month, Odd Entertainment's mixed-media project Gekidol has also planned to hold a stage play at Theater Sunmall (capacity: 294) in Tokyo from March 3 to 7, 2021. Following the advance sale by lottery between January 15 and 24, general sale of the tickets will begin on February 7.

  A teaser visual for "Gekidol the STAGE" and its seven main cast members' visuals in costume are revealed on the play's official Twitter account today. Please check out how the actresses in the stage version differ from or resemble the characters in the anime version.

    Teaser visual:

    Seria Morino: Momoyo Koyama 

    Doll: Yu Ito / Mayuri Nakamura: Sumire Ichimura

    Makoto Higuchi: Momoko Suzuki / Nanako Sawada: Yuina

    Nozomi Wakashimazu: Nana Uchida / Performer: Ren Hinago

    Meanwhile, the TV anime Gekidol is now available on FUNimation. Shigeru Ueda (UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie) is attached to direct, alongside chief writer Keiichiro Oochi (The Quintessential Quintuplets) and anime character designer/chief animation director Hijiri Tateishi (Val × Love). Foods Entertainment (3D Kanojo Real Girl) works on anime production.

    Story introduction:

  Five years after a mystifying disaster decimates cities across the globe, Seria Morino receives an invitation from a mysterious woman to join Alice in Theater, a small stage troupe that takes it upon themselves to brighten the world through their performances using 3D hologram technology. As Seria settles in, she begins to uncover unexpected truths about herself and the world around her...

    Key visual:

    1st PV:

      Source: "Gekidol" stage play official Twitter 

  ©Gekidol Production Committee

  By: Mikikazu Komatsu

[jujugeek-blog]

Air Doll

Synopsis : Une poupée gonflable prend vie et découvre le monde qui l'entoure.Tel un nouveau-né,elle s'émerveille devant chaque détail de la vie.

C'est en entrant dans un vidéo-club qu'elle va faire la connaissance de Jun'ichi et en tomber amoureuse.

Mon avis : À la fois tendre et cruel,Air Doll dépeint l'image de la solitude urbaine de plus en plus présente.

Le film fait penser à Chobits,l'une des nombreuses œuvres de Clamp,pour sa relation entre un humain et un objet capable par la suite d'aimer.

Le personnage de Nozomi (la poupée en question) dispose de cette fraîcheur propre aux personnages innocents.Une pure merveille du cinéma japonais ♥️

#japon #doll #movies #movie #cine #cinema

[dispensemiracles]

(( A Jojo Drabble on Nozomi dying and seeing Junai Lens disappear along with her (bc I’ve been reading fics where Nozo dies and also rewatched death scenes from Stardust Crusaders)

Under cut for length))

The metallic tang of blood bitterly stained her tongue. It’s stench permeated the air, clinging itself to her ripped clothes. It dug into her skin, burrowed deep into her lungs. She coughed dryly. Her cry was weak. The color drained inch by inch from her cheeks as the strength fled her legs. She slumped against a grimy wall. Her teeth chattered and her body jiggled and the searing pain spiked; but she did not cry. It’d all grown too numb for tears. Her muscles slackened, her arms slumped by her sides. Every ligament burned, scathed, throbbed. A sigh escaped her as she felt her heart weakly thumping; wheezing as it struggled for life. Her legs were haphazardly sprawled like a doll’s.

The hole in her stomach was drilled clean through. The severed ends of her tissue stuck up like rebars. She rolled back her head. Her chest lifted stiffly as if a rusted machine with each breath. Her lungs burned. Biting her lips, her face pinched as a sharp spike of pain sawed its blade in every direction. Suddenly her eyes bulged, her body doubling over. With a lurch forward, she coughed out a puddle of blood. Sweat trickled down her face. It dripped and pooled onto the tattered, stained remains of her uniform. 

She slumped back over, propping herself against the wall. Her body tilted dangerously, seeming ready to topple with a breeze. In an instant her shoulders sagged. Her vision grew hazy, her eyes glassy. In the stagnant air she saw a muddled shimmer. Her eyes widened. Junai Lens formed before her on its knees; it’s body murky, resembling a paint smudge. The light in its eyes burned dull. No longer did it pierce her heart with pride. Tears bubbled, then quietly slipped from her eyes. As they cascaded down her cheeks, her lips quivered. Choking back a sob as her heart leapt into her throat, she lifted an arm. Her hand shook, her fingers trembled. Tenderly she stroked its face as it knelt. It remained still.

A gasp wheezed out among her ragged breaths. Her jaw slackened as she watched her fingers pass through Junai Lens with ease. The shade waxed and waned. It sputtered and let its colors fade without struggle. Clenching her hand into a fist, her shoulders heaved as she cried. Its essence was heavy like a block of lead. It faintly pulsated with great struggle. 

“Junai...Lens. This feeling...is...”

Her throat itched and cracked, her voice grew pained and labored. Burying her face into her palms, she curled into herself. The hand that had touched the face of a once proud giant tingled. A chill raced up her spine, the sensation of ice creeping over her veins. It seeped into her blood as it in turn fled her body. She closed her eyes, the weight on her eyelids fit to match a thousand bricks. Her brain buzzed, her arms were locked by her sides. 

“Not you too.”

Junai Lens fading body let burst a weak aura; a mirage of greens and blinding whites. Her body grew heavy, her tongue dry, her muscles melting under fatigue’s poison. It seeped down to her bones. A cold wind roared as the sun arched below the horizon. She felt not a mote of it. Her eyes remained shut, her skin dyeing a stark pale shade. With a final drawn sigh, she slumped onto the ground. Junai Lens colors blazed in defiance; a bastion of lights flashing against the encroaching night. It dissipated as quickly as it had appeared, shattering into dust that swirled toward the sky. 

[rethinker]

ฉันน่ะ พูดโกหกออกไป เพราะว่าฉัน มีหัวใจแล้ว ฉันจึงพูดโกหก

Nozomi, Air Doll (2009)

[pompadxur-archived]

"Josuke!!! Josuke!!" She sprinted toward his limp body, sliding and slipping over the pooling blood and collapsing by his side. Pressing her head to his chest, his heart faintly beat in her ear. Resting there, her mouth dry and eyes saucer wide, she gripped his clothes into iron like fists, shaking as she felt the tears fall. "Big Bro!!!"

MEME - ( Accepting ) 

my character takes a fatal blow intended for your character. how does your character react?

                    IVORIES GRIT, HE GAZED OVER AT NOZOMI, hand traveling to the place where the bullets had pierced his lung, fingers groped FEEBLY at his own ribcage, hot, crimson blood leaked past his fingers, soaking his clothes & dribbling down his chin. RAGGED BREATH AFTER ragged breath, at this point, he only had a few minutes to live. The SOUND OF THUNDER CRACKED IN THE DISTANCE as he did nothing but watch her sob over him. 

     THEY SAY THAT YOUR LIFE FLASHES IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES IN JUST A FEW MINUTES WHEN YOU ARE ABOUT TO DIE, & in this case, he knew it was coming too. JOSUKE had won his fair share of battles in his life, HE HAD survived situations that MOST normal humans would never have been able to. And yet, this was the ONE TIME his clever wits and determination couldn’t save him, unless there was a miracle.

                   YET, HE HAD NO REGRETS. Even with his youth, he still accomplished things that NOBODY ELSE COULD HAVE. He’s SAVED COUNTLESS others that couldn’t be saved by any other means. OF WHICH he had just done.           HE HAD SAVED SOMEONE ELSE FOR THE LAST TIME. HE DIDN’T KNOW how to describe the feeling. IF HE FELT ANYTHING at this moment, he felt ANGRY at himself, as there was so much more he still wanted to set out to do, YET satisfied. If he could have one last person to save, it would be his own sister. 

               TIME SEEMED TO SLOW DOWN, his heartbeat POUNDED in his ears like the beating of heavy drums, a melody to greet his entrance into the other world, VISION BLURRED, his body limp in her arms as she shook him. HE COULDN’T RESPOND, his head rolling to the side like a limp rag doll. HE REMEMBERED EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY THAT WAS EVER IMPORTANT TO HIM. His CHILDHOOD HERO, his best friend Okuyasu, Koichi, Yukako, Rohan. His FAMILY MEMBERS, his mother & father, Jotaro, Nozomi, his baby sister Shizuka. HE HAD SO MANY REASONS TO LIVE. 

Come to think about it, he’s always wanted a dog. He never DID get to buy the new pair of shoes he was eyeing at the store, the ones he’d been saving up for. HOW TRIVIAL, of course NOW, Josuke was thinking about shoes. AFTER ALL, he was JUST A KID.

JUST A KID. 

                   JUST A KID WHO WANTED A NORMAL LIFE, just a kid who was feeling the life leave his muscles & his heartbeat, millisecond by millisecond. This was finally it. 

                         “ N-No…zomi… “

                        HE UTTERED, FORCING ENOUGH AIR from his broken lungs to speak, dewy ocean blues rolling up to meet her eyes, weakly touching her long, strands of hair, accidentally smudging the ribbons that held her pigtails with blood. 

      WAS IT REALLY yesterday that they were playing video games together ? It was, wasn’t it. AMAZING how much your life can change in just the blink of an eye. He almost WISHED he never went anywhere with her today. NOBODY WOULD HAVE TRIED TO SHOOT HER, NOBODY would have shot him instead in his impulsive move of defending her.

                       “ Don’t worry… yeah? Come on, sis…                          Please… take care of everyone for me.                                  Especially Okuyasu, and mom.                                   They… need it more than anyone. Sis…

                                   I trust you.  “

              HIS BREATHING STOPPED. CHEST FELL AS HE TOOK HIS FINAL BREATH, LONG EYELASHES FELL OVER HIS CHEEKS. He almost looked PEACEFUL in death, as he KNEW Nozomi would not let him down. THE DECISION to save her might have been RASH on his part, yet he took the bullet for the right person. HE ALWAYS saw potential in her, he saw a light that would never burn out. That would FIGHT UNTIL HER LAST BREATH, just as he himself did. 

                                  HIS HAND slowly fell from her hair, to lay on his chest.

[xemphimhay89]

Búp Bê Hơi – Air Doll

A special kind of toy is suddenly introduced to the real world around her in this artful fantasy from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda. Hideo (Itsuji Itao) is a middle-aged man who doesn’t have many friends, but he wards off loneliness with his companion Nozomi (Bae Du-na), who joins him for dinner each evening and in bed afterwards. But Nozomi is actually an inflatable love doll that can’t speak or move on her own — or she can’t until one morning when she discovers she’s developed the heart, flesh and soul of a human being. Unfamiliar with the world outside Hideo’s apartment, Nozomi tentatively learns to walk, dress herself and venture out into the neighborhood, where she mimics the speech and habits of others. Hideo is surprised when he discovers his “air doll” has come to life, but he soon adjusts to Nozomi’s new form. But Nozomi begins learning about the pain and confusion that having a heart can bring when she gets a job at a video store and falls in love with one of her co-workers, Junichi (Arata). As she struggles with her feelings, she seeks out her creator — Sonoda (Joe Odagiri), the designer who invented the model of doll she used to be. Kuki Ningyo (aka Air Doll) was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the “Un Certain Regard” program. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The post Búp Bê Hơi – Air Doll appeared first on PhimHay89 - Xem phim hay online - Phim mới trực tuyến - phim nhanh vietsub.

source https://xemphimhay88.com/bup-be-hoi-air-doll/

[iconnoteven]

Nozomi (Bae Doona) from Air Doll 🎎

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 171

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 23 - “Crisis! Invitation to a Nightmare!” Date watched: 10 January 2020 Original air date: 15 July 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/nZFAArO Transformation Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6k6SzS0 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

This is the first part of the two-part mid-season climax and while that makes it high stakes by necessity, this one stands out even among the shows we’ve seen so far. Nozomi causes an accident that drives a wedge between all the other girls, just as Kawarino makes his move. We have to plunge our girls into the depths of despair so they can discover their true strengths and come out more powerful than ever. Let’s dig in!

The Plot

The girls are making an elaborate butterfly bead decoration for Natts House, but when Nozomi and Milk start to fight, the fearless leader accidentally knocks it over, destroying days of hard work. Instantly, Rin and Karen start yelling at her, while Komachi and Urara are also upset but try to placate the others. This only results in more infighting, until Nuts puts his hand down and demands that they clean up the mess.

Over in Nightmare HQ, Bunbee presents Girinma with two choices: termination, or a mysterious black paper, with the heavy implication that whatever it is is life-threatening. At the same time, Kawarino speaks to Despariah about his own plan to separate the Cures from each other, isolating them and taking away the advantage of their teamwork. It’s very sinister.

At school the next day, Nozomi sits alone during lunch, because everyone else had excuses for not being there. Coco comes over and explains that he believes her strong spirit will be able to bring everyone back together, as she is the glue that unites them all. He also hands her a keychain made of the beads she was working with, symbolizing the bond of the five girls and three fairies.

After school, Karen and Komachi make their way home with a sizable distance between them. They try to make conversation but it’s very stiff and awkward. They are interrupted by the arrival of Girinma, who dons a black Kowaina mask and transforms into a monstrous, feral version of his mantis-man form. As Cure Mint and Aqua, they try to fight him but he throws them around like nothing. Kawarino then catches them in a dark energy ball that negates their movements and causes them to recede into their own nightmares.

Inside Aqua’s mind, she awakens facing the student council, who are all wearing Kowaina masks, and their leader reports that Karen’s intellect causes her to feel isolated from her classmates and she has no one she can truly call a friend; she’s all alone. Aqua demands to know how they would know this, and the leader removes her mask to reveal that she is Karen herself. We see her reflected in Aqua’s eye, sinisterly...

Meanwhile, Cure Mint finds herself surrounded by a horde of tiny Komachi dolls, representing a character she drew for a picture book when she was younger. She says she has to help her friends but the dolls insist that it’s pointless, she tried to placate the argument and they just attacked her as well and called her indecisive. They say that everything can be the way she wants it to be in this world, and she gets sucked under the pile of dolls.

Shortly afterwards, Rin is seen walking home when Urara catches up and asks about Nozomi. Rin is very curt with her and snarkily asks if Urara has any other friends, which causes the young actress to start angrily crying. Before they can continue their disagreement, a pinky appears, and they both follow it. The Monster Girinma suddenly attacks them from behind, while the pinky flees and transforms back into Kawarino. The two transform into Cure Rouge and Lemonade but like their teammates before, they’re no match for the monster. Rouge is almost instantly caught in Kawarino’s trap, while Lemonade keeps jumping around.

Rouge’s nightmare sets her on the street where Nozomi got hurt as a child (from episode 2), but this time she’s the one who’s hurting. A small child, revealed to be Rin’s child self, approaches her, lamenting that they’re always trying to protect Nozomi and getting hurt for it. The young Rin suggests to Rouge that their life would be better off without Nozomi in it.

Back in the real world, Lemonade finds that her attacks aren’t affecting Girinma, and soon she gets captured as well. Inside her nightmare we see Lemonade sitting in a chair in a dressing room, looking at her reflection, but her reflection is of Urara with longer twintails. The reflection begins talking to her, convincing her that she should quit being a Precure to pursue acting full time like she promised she would. Lemonade doesn’t want to leave Nozomi behind, but Urara reminds her that it’s a highly competitive field and she’ll be hurting herself if she divides her time. The reflection then comes through the mirror to Lemonade’s side and stares her down, encouraging her to forget her friends and go all-in on acting.

Finally, we come back to Nozomi. She returns to Natts House, hoping to make amends with everyone, but only Nuts, Coco, and Milk are there, saying the others haven’t returned and warning her of an extremely powerful evil presence. At that moment, Kawarino appears in the shop and introduces himself. He informs them all that he has the other four Precures in custody, and will trade them for the Dream Collet. Instead Nozomi takes it and threatens to break it, with Coco and Nuts backing her up. She demands to see her friends before she’ll hand over the Collet, and the villain acquiesces, bringing her to Nightmare HQ (which we finally learn is in another dimension, not just downtown). Coco and Nuts join, and Milk sneaks along as well against orders.

Kawarino brings Nozomi and the fairies into the board room, startling Bunbee, but before any explanations can be given out, Despariah appears on the monitor. Nozomi and the fairies are all taken aback, but Nozomi qickly recovers herself and demands to know where her friends are. After feigning ignorance, Kawarino presents Cures Rouge, Lemonade, Mint, and Aqua, all wearing Kowaina masks.

The episode then closes on a haunting shot of the Nightmare Cures all reflected in Nozomi’s eyes. (the header image)

The Analysis

This is a chilling episode. While we’ve had rifts within the team before, such as Rin and Karen’s little feud in episode 8, this is the first time the whole team has broken up like this. And it’s sort of understandable: the girls had been working on that decoration for several days, so when all that work went down the drain in an instant, tempers flared. Karen and Rin said some mean things and snapped at Komachi and Urara when they tried to mediate, and then everyone (including Milk) felt bad and had some unresolved feelings the next day. It’s a great setup because all you want is for them all to talk things through and make up, but before they can, the villains sneak in and overpower them. In-universe it’s completely coincidental that Kawarino happens to strike while the team isn’t united, but he certainly seizes the opportunity. I’m sure he would have found a way to divide them anyway, like he did the duos, but it helps him that they aren’t all walking home at once.

Thus far in the season it has felt like Nightmare has been a lot of talk when it comes to their employees. Sure, Bunbee and Kawarino have threatened Girinma and Arachnea, but this time we finally see some real consequences. Girinma puts everything on the line for Nightmare, even giving up his own sapience, and being reduced to a mindless creature. It’s an incredibly desperate move and the first sign that this episode is going to be serious.

One thing I really love is how the girls all act the day after the fallout. Karen and Komachi apologize to each other, but are still walking quite far apart and their conversation is stilted.

For some further context, during the big argument, Urara was defending Nozomi from Rin’s scolding and asked Komachi if she agreed with her. Komachi responded, timidly, that she could see Urara’s point but also Rin and Karen’s side, which resulted in Karen calling her indecisive and naive, which hurt Komachi a lot. So now, even though they’ve ostensibly apologized, there’s still some emotional distance between the old friends, and they have visualized this by literally distancing them from each other. They’re together, but they’re not close.

Conversely, Rin acts incredibly dismissive of Urara when approached, and seems to have no time for either her or Nozomi. Rin has taken the destruction of the ornament very personally and believes that scolding is the only way Nozomi will learn from her mistakes, and she isn’t very interested in hanging out with Urara. These two are physically close in space but emotionally distant. It’s less of a strain on their friendship as a reduction in how much of a friend Rin considers Urara to even be. I think Rin is very used to being able to bounce back from arguments with Nozomi. She gets mad, they don’t talk for a few days, they make up. But Urara isn’t used to this or willing to put up with Rin’s passive aggressive bullshit.

Within their nightmare worlds, each girl is presented with a version of herself that preys on their insecurities in order to mentally isolate them from the others. It’s very clever, albeit dark. The way Karen is manipulated into thinking she’s too smart and no one likes her, Komachi is told that her “friends” just walk over her, Rin is fed the notion that Nozomi doesn’t care about being protected, and Urara is reminded that she decided to forego friends for her career. Each of them is manipulated into isolation and convinced that they have no use for friends. This allows Nightmare to actually get inside their heads and bring them together at the very end of the episode for the Nightmare Cures reflected in Nozomi’s eyes.

Speaking of which, as you may have noticed, seeing eerie reflections in each girl’s eyes was a fantastic visual theme throughout the episode. Forcing them to reflect on themselves, watching as they slowly succumb, it’s haunting and amazing. I want to point out that the reflections show the true extent of how disturbing each manifestation is, compared to how they present themselves. We see Karen without her Kowaina mask, the Komachi doll has a creepy smile, young Rin has that haunting expression, and Urara has a faux-innocent grin that masks her less than admirable intentions.

With all her friends captured and turned into Nightmare’s lackeys, Nozomi is at an all-time low, but only she can find a way out of this. Next time on Precure Daily, the epic conclusion to the mid-series climax as Nozomi has to rescue her friends from the clutches of evil and escape Nightmare. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 kettei

EDIT: quick comment on something I forgot, I just wanted to point out that Nightmare Urara’s hair is significantly longer than the real deal, and it’s the biggest deviation of the four. Karen’s doppelganger is just Karen, Komachi’s are characters she made up as a child, and Rin’s is her younger self. It’s not clear why Urara’s is that way. Maybe it’s how she sees herself or wants to be.

[phimnhanhtv89]

Búp Bê Hơi – Air Doll

A special kind of toy is suddenly introduced to the real world around her in this artful fantasy from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda. Hideo (Itsuji Itao) is a middle-aged man who doesn’t have many friends, but he wards off loneliness with his companion Nozomi (Bae Du-na), who joins him for dinner each evening and in bed afterwards. But Nozomi is actually an inflatable love doll that can’t speak or move on her own — or she can’t until one morning when she discovers she’s developed the heart, flesh and soul of a human being. Unfamiliar with the world outside Hideo’s apartment, Nozomi tentatively learns to walk, dress herself and venture out into the neighborhood, where she mimics the speech and habits of others. Hideo is surprised when he discovers his “air doll” has come to life, but he soon adjusts to Nozomi’s new form. But Nozomi begins learning about the pain and confusion that having a heart can bring when she gets a job at a video store and falls in love with one of her co-workers, Junichi (Arata). As she struggles with her feelings, she seeks out her creator — Sonoda (Joe Odagiri), the designer who invented the model of doll she used to be. Kuki Ningyo (aka Air Doll) was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the “Un Certain Regard” program. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The post Búp Bê Hơi – Air Doll appeared first on Phimnhanhtv - Xem phim nhanh tv online trực tuyến vietsub.

source https://phimnhanhtv88.com/bup-be-hoi-air-doll/

[hentaihunblog-blog]

Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 2 Episode 13: Our Own Radiance (Final Impression)

New Post has been published on https://hentaihun.com/blog/2017/12/31/love-live-sunshine-season-2-episode-13-our-own-radiance-final-impression/

Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 2 Episode 13: Our Own Radiance (Final Impression)

It’s not over! Not just yet!

Aqours’ story comes to a close, but only temporarily as a movie was announced right after the finale aired. Which probably surprised absolutely no one. But I’m sure fans are scratching their heads wondering what could possibly happen next. Sunshine received a much more final and finished ending compared to LLSIP’s ending which was a hook to the movie. There’s no “IT’S BIG NEWS!” at the end, just smiles and rainbows. I just hope for the movie they don’t go to New York. I’m still holding out on Italy. International school idols, anyone?

Really long review, coming up!

This episode was definitely a finale. It’s the last day of school at Uranohoshi and we see Aqours saying their goodbyes to the school. The graduation ceremony is held, the students grab paint brushes and write out happy messages on the school walls, and of course we learn that Aqours had won Love Live. We saw the girls in rooms significant to them, the first years it was the library, Riko and You in the music room, the third years in Mari’s office, and of course the club room. The girls closing the doors together was a nice touch, especially when they closed the gates of the school together. It was pretty bittersweet, where at first everyone was pretty happy but memories of their time in the school came back. Another very touching scene was when Dia and Kanan gave Mari her diploma in her office. Handing her a special diploma like that was basically their way of saying “Thank you so much for all that you’ve done. You shouldered so much for us and fought until the end, and we appreciate it”. More on that later.

The episode itself is pretty straightforward. Chika still struggles with not knowing Aqours’ radiance and her mother gives her a little push to not give up and figure it out. Chika throws the paper airplane, which was there as a symbol in the show that many fans couldn’t figure out (the path to their “radiance”), and it flies so far it lands on top of the school’s roof. As Chika walks the halls she hears her friend’s voices from memories in certain areas and when reaching the roof, finally starts to cry. After hearing a noise, she heads to the gym and finds all the students there, even the third years even though they were supposed to be gone? Wanting to sing together one last time, that’s exactly what they do, and Chika realizes that the radiance she was looking for was always there with her, in their struggles and singing and dancing. It was literally “Maybe the radiance was the friends we made along the way”.

I hadn’t felt emotional until that point. The way the final song was constructed, with going back to Aqours’ beginnings and showing them in every single outfit and performance they ever did, it definitely made me emotional. Seeing how far they’ve come made me smile. Plus, the song’s lyrics were really sweet.

Aqours isn’t completely done as of yet, but we won’t be seeing them for awhile until the movie releases which I’m guessing probably won’t be until the end of 2018. So now, we need to look back on this season and Love Live Sunshine in general.

This season was easily much better than the first season. It goes to show how much more enjoyable the show can be when they completely drop the Muse references. In the first season, and I know this was the whole point, Aqours was too dependent on Muse and trying to emulate them, that Aqours didn’t even feel like an actual group. They didn’t have their own identity so in some ways it was hard to really care for them. However in season two that’s been rectified and you can see how Aqours is their own group now. We’ve seen their struggles and how they still continued to have struggles when it came to interpersonal relationships, money issues, winning Love Live, and their school. Some characters got to shine and show different sides to themselves with some much needed growth, and we also had the treat of getting to have a connection with the rival group! There were things that this season did right, but not without its shortcomings.

One glaring issue I had with Sunshine was the plot: the closing of the school. For LLSIP I understood the significance Otonokizaka had, such as the school being a tradition for the females in Honoka’s family, it would mean Kotori’s mother would lose her job, and so on. When it comes to Uranohoshi…why? Why do they care so much about the school? What is so significant about it that they want to save it so badly? Their school is being combined, it’s not like they’re going to be separated. There was never this huge reason why us as viewers can understand why they wanted to save the school. While of course the third years would leave, the second years and first years would still go to the same school and still be friends, so why was this so hard for them? I guess the only reason would be a sense of community. They live in a tiny rural town where all the kids that live there go to the school. Uranohoshi was one of the few things they felt that really belonged to them and made them special, but this was never outright said making the message unclear or just not powerful enough. And speaking of the school, it felt like that was more of the plot than Love Live was. So much more attention was placed on saving the school than on the actual Love Live, showing significantly less idol activities. Which is pretty funny to say considering that we had a huge number of insert songs, but not all having to do with the actual Love Live competition. I really felt this way in last week’s episode with their finals performance not having enough emotional backup because so little time was spent on building up to their song. In a show called Love Live, there was…so little Love Live. Drama could also be a little cheesy, and there were moments that I didn’t like (look at my review for episode 7).

One of the main things that I had wanted when coming into this season was more development and intermingling among the girls, and to an extent, that’s what I got. Many characters had gotten their time to shine, with much needed episodes for Dia and Ruby and a bonding episode. But I felt like the series didn’t push enough.

Everyone knows that Hanamaru’s character was completely twisted to something else, and that You was basically insignificant but I’ll touch more on that later. While there was development for some of the girls, there was still a lack of unity. And by that, I mean that the girls still stuck to their year groups and didn’t branch out. While we did have the first and third years bonding in episode two, it still stuck with the usual pairs of Kanan/Mari and Yoshiko/Hanamaru with the Kurosawa sisters in the background. We did have that wonderful Riko/Yoshiko episode that was a step in the right direction, but that was the most we got. The first years stuck with each other, the second years stuck with each other, and the third years did the same. This is something the original did much better, where I thought of Muse as a little family. We had Nico and Hanayo as the ultimate idol experts, Nico, Honoka, and Rin as the baka trio, Eli and Umi watching over the group in practices, Nozomi and Maki having their moments when Nozomi helped her fit in with the group, Honoka and Hanayo’s solidarity of loving food and having to diet, Nico and Kotori working on costumes together, we had the subunit episode, and we also had that episode where they acted like each other. They didn’t just stay in their groups, they actually spoke and interacted with one another. Aqours was not like that. We could have had You and Ruby work on outfits together, Riko and Dia being the responsible ones of the group, Chika and Yoshiko being the baka duo, or something! But they were just so separate and clung to themselves that there was this sense of family that I didn’t feel from them that I felt from Muse. This could also be seen in their songs where the second years would sing together, the first years would sing together in another part, and so on. It’s too late to fix this problem, and it’s pretty disappointing.

Now, when it comes to individual characters I’ll leave that to my rankings.

Enough with the bad, there was still a lot of good in this season. Visually, it was stunning. The animation was starting to dip in the last few episodes and I don’t blame them considering how much work they put into this series. It’s amazing how much the CG has improved from the original series. I felt like each performance was more beautiful than the last, with sparkles and shiny and colors. The CG models look fantastic, not having the problem of porcelain doll face the original had and instead having natural expressions. It looks almost seamless with the 2D animation so that’s a major win, especially with more and more CG shows popping up trying to achieve quality like this. And when it comes to music, Love Live always nails it. This had to be the best set of songs we’ve ever gotten. I know I said at first that I wasn’t a fan of MIRACLE WAVE, but the song has grown on me a lot. However, my favorite song is still MY Mai TONIGHT and the full version is great. We also got the full versions of Saint Snow’s songs and…they left me speechless. The girls are cute and shiny, their outfits are cute and shiny, it’s all just cute, colorful, and fun. It was always a treat to watch their performances because of all the work that was put into it. So, shoutout to the animators.

And just like with my final review of the first season, I have to give my rankings on the girls. I’ll try not to make it too long as I talk about them individually, but man my ranking sure has changed.

Riko continues to be best girl. Previously Mari was my number one but after the anime I had this sudden realization of my love for Riko. I’ve always identified with her and see a lot of myself in her. I love that she she’s polite and sweet but also isn’t afraid to show a more assertive side, and in this season we also see a more silly side to herself. We knew she had her little guilty pleasures, but seeing Yoshiko kind of rub off on her was entertaining. She finally was able to get rid of her fear of dogs, and knowing people in real life that do fear dogs, I’m so proud of her! She was able to conquer her fear and move on, so much that she actually has her own little dog now! Riko had nice moments, her little discussion with Yoshiko being my favorite. She had most of her development in the previous season, but Riko was still there to put a smile on my face and make me happy. She’s cute, silly, responsible, and just so sweet. I just love Riko to death.

Dia shoots up from her previous seventh spot to second, surprising me still. I hadn’t liked Dia last time because I thought she was too rude and harsh to the girls, even though I knew how she was watching out for them. I didn’t find her likeable and I thought her sudden change to the silly character was off putting. However, that changed completely in this season. It turns out that Dia is awkward as hell and can’t really make friends easily. She’s strict, sure, but she puts up this responsible leader type because she felt like she needed to act that way. Because of that, it shaped her to be distant among her peers. Dia is socially awkward, something to which I relate to, and I found it endearing when she tried so hard to get the others to call her Dia-chan. Under that harsh exterior, she’s an incredibly sweet person. She’s also a great older sister to Ruby. Just like Riko, she’s responsible, sweet, and a little silly and her episode made her one of the most relateable characters in the show.

Ruby was in dire need of another episode, because while I always loved Ruby and had her in fourth place last time, she still had this baby side of her personality the anime kept shoving in our face that made many people just dislike her. Again, I always loved Ruby but her two episodes with Saint Snow had to be the best episodes this season and made her even better than before. Ruby was given this opportunity to really shine and step forward by herself. She was always dependent on her older sister and she knew this herself, and she also knew that her sister would leave. Ruby took the initiative to console Leah, a person Ruby normally wouldn’t associate with (at least alone) and decided to make a song with her. Ruby stood on her own two feet, learned to be more self-reliant and independent, and even more confident. She’s grown from little shy Roobs to the more grown Ruby we know now. I’ve seen more people love Ruby more and it makes me real happy. She’s a great character that deserves a lot more love.

It hurts to move Mari down two places from second to fourth, but it’s just that Dia and Ruby shone brighter than her. Yes, other people shone more than Ms. Shiny. Well, only slightly. Honestly, I love Riko, Dia, Ruby, and Mari pretty much equally. They all make me feel so happy the same way, which is how I feel with the Muse third years. Now, Mari didn’t really get her own episode but she got lots of great moments. Sure we had the fun meme-y Mari we all know and love, but we also got lots of serious moments. Serious moments where she showed her vulnerable side. Mari was one hell of a trooper this season as she carried ALL of the stress and weight of the school’s closing. She tried her hardest to convince her father to give them more time, to not close the school, etc. What Mari didn’t want to do was disappoint everyone in the school, so the school’s closing probably hit her the most out of everyone as we saw her shed tears many times. Seeing this caring side of Mari was great because my one fear for Mari coming into this season was that they were going to make her into the meme character and nothing else, and thankfully they did the exact opposite. She’s a strong girl that dealt with so much stress that I wish the anime had mentioned maybe a little bit more, but either way I’m happy with how they treated her. Also, no washi washi! Thank god!

Kanan went from third to fifth. I’m disappointed that she didn’t get her own episode, I still think MIRACLE WAVE should have been about her but whatever. I wanted Kanan to get an episode because she had the least amount of time in the first season. I liked Kanan a lot though because I thought she was really cool, I liked her simple design, and her friendship with Mari and Dia was nice. This season Kanan had good moments but it wasn’t enough. We did see some surprising funny moments with her, such as her being afraid of heights and the dark, giving her a suddenly cute side. I still think she’s cool and her friendship with Mari and Dia is still great, but I just wish there was more to her.

Yoshiko actually stayed in the same spot in my list at sixth, which is kind of hilarious. Yoshiko is a disappointing case. I had wanted her to get more development, which I thought we had gotten in the dog episode. In that episode she explained why she stuck to her fallen angel persona, believing in invisible forces, and destiny and all that. And it was all to cover up, or explain her bad luck. It showed this sad and vulnerable side to Yoshiko we had never seen, and I thought that would have been the start to her gradually letting go of her chuuni side and working her way to accept herself. Because using her fallen angel shtick to cover for her bad luck isn’t exactly accepting or loving herself, it’s more of an escape. Yoshiko putting her chuuni side away would have done wonders for her character, but instead she stayed completely the same and stayed in the background as the comic relief character with dumb one liners who never really contributed to anything. It’s sad because I was starting to like her a little more but seeing as how she’s stayed completely the same, she’s staying the same in my list too.

This is a surprise as You was previously “worst girl” but now she’s bumped herself up a couple places to seventh. Last season You was at the bottom of my list because I thought she was boring and bland. Her episode was terrible and there wasn’t much You content other than her being a good friend and being good at pretty much everything. Unfortunately this season did her wrong. Let’s be honest here, if You was taken out of this season it wouldn’t change the show in any way. That’s how insignificant she is. It says a lot when the rival characters get more development and spotlight than You. It’s just…really sad. I feel bad for the fans though I never understood the popularity in the first place. But, believe it or not, the very few You moments we got in the last few episodes bumped up her ranking for me. The way she stood on the box when they were preparing for the closing festival and acting like Chika did on the very first episode, and her response to Chika’s question in episode 12 were good additions. She has a strong bond with Chika as they’ve been friends since childhood and she always wanted to do something with her together but Chika was never good at sports. So to finally do something with her best friend made her really happy. She loves Chika a lot and always watches over her, so yes, she’s a good friend. But I like that we got to see how strongly she felt about being in Aqours. It’s small, but it’s something at least. It’s just sad that You was pretty much ignored this time. It’s so telling how ignored she was because it took me awhile to find a You screenshot to use here. I only found this one. Yikes.

Hanamaru took the biggest dip from being fourth/fifth to eighth and this is another sad case. She suffers pretty much the same problem as Yoshiko as being the comic relief character in the background, but much worse. I liked Hanamaru in the first season because I could relate also to her social awkwardness and her love of books. She was a little snarky but she showed a strong side to her when she confronted Dia when it came to Ruby wanting to be a school idol. She was sweet and a little naive, but at the same time very mature with her love of difficult literature. But for some strange reason, the anime decided to change her character completely to be nothing but the girl that says zura and eats. all. the. damn. time. There’s nothing wrong with eating, we had Honoka and Hanayo who loved to eat but that trait wasn’t their entire character. Hanamaru was literally only there to eat and talk with her mouth full, and also there to play off of Yoshiko. Speaking of which, I thought she was really mean to Yoshiko. There’s nothing wrong with playful teasing among friends but sometimes her teasing was just really mean, like talking shit about Yoshiko being fat, how she’s bad at talking to people, that she’s weird, etc. Sometimes she would really just cross the line and I found myself getting really annoyed with Hanamaru. And again, that makes me sad because I had liked her before but now sometimes I don’t want to even look at her. Why? Why did they have to do Hanamaru so wrong?

And, it comes to no surprise that Chika is dead last. I never was a fan of Chika honestly, as she was eighth last time. I never like characters like Chika who are too loud, brash, a little dumb, and impulsive who don’t think before acting. Now don’t get me wrong, I know Chika has a good heart. She cares about others. One thing I always liked about Chika was that she thought herself as a normal girl, to which I can relate. She found something where a normal girl like her can shine in, but the thing with Chika is that there was an oversaturation of her and not much development. I know Chika thinks she’s normal, I know that she wants to save the school and make others happy, but what else is there to her? The anime would constantly tell us this about her but it just because repetitive and boring, and instead of seeing more interesting sides to her, I just kept finding how annoying and selfish she can be. The episode where the school didn’t get enough applicants still bothers me because of how easily Chika was ready to give up the Love Live because they didn’t save their school. Again, read that review to understand. And just because Chika is the main character, she gets the most screentime, she gets the most centers, the most solos, so much that she sometimes takes up too much screen time. Like, get out of the way! There are eight other girls there, give them a chance! This is more of the anime’s problem and not exactly Chika, but I’ve already made it clear why I can’t just stand her.

It bugs me to hear people say that it’s hard to give equal development to nine characters, when the original, while not perfectly, did a much better job at it. There’s some decisions in this season that were very questionable and aggravating, but I still had fun watching this season. I’m looking forward to the movie because we still don’t know what’ll be of Aqours. Will they continue, or disband to give us a chance at the Perfect Dream Project girls? That…seems like the best bet. All in all, this season was better but I’m still unsure of the rating I’d give this. For now, I’ll stick with a 7/10 and give myself more time to think. Hopefully the movie will come soon, but until then this’ll be the last one. Thanks for reading this far!

Aqours! Sunshine!

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