#captain tsubasa 4

[flydotnet]

WHUMPTOBER 2023 DAY 4: “I see the danger, It’s written there in your eyes.” Cattle Prod | Shock | “You in there?”

Well, would you look at the anomaly: for once, I'm not making Matsuyama eat the floor! He gets to be a bit of a caretaker this time, and not in a WY fashion, just in a "taking care of your soccer buddy" way.

I was originally going to write this one with a very similar premise but also with an OC, but my brain decided it wasn't Ziggy time - it was platonic JunMatsu time instead. To be fair to my brain, they're my favourite parallel in all of CT, and I don't write them nearly enough as their canon selves (the HSAU being another thing altogether in that regard). To say this all started from watching France 24 and seeing a weather forecast for Amsterdam, London and Paris one morning last week…

It may just be me, but God the idea of those two being roommates during international tournaments lives rent-free inside my head. It's done so since I first discovered Mikono's work on Twitter like a year and a half ago, but man, she makes a compelling argument.

Midway through writing this, for some reason that I can only call "JY Anime Is Ongoing Syndrome", my Misugi decided to become an assistant coach instead… when I was trying to set this fic during either the U19 tournament or U23 Olympics. So that was weird, but I guess this means this story is set in an alternate timeline where Misugi did end up becoming coach instead of a useless-ass defender one of Japan's flagship players. I like writing this guy as a bit more aloof and loopy than he'd be in canon, just because I like that characterization from doujins. It's a fun way to write what's otherwise a very serious character! Misugi can be a bit silly, as a treat.

---------------

A Dulled Blade Can Never Win

Summary: Fatigue, roommates and a bit of a bad heart day.

Fandom: Captain Tsubasa

Word Count: 1.3K words

AO3 version available here.

-----------

His heartbeat is irregular, today.

That’s the first thing that came to Jun’s mind when he woke up. Live for over twenty years with a sham for a heart and you’re bound to be attuned to its overly demanding needs, even while half-awake. The discomfort is an instinctive thing, like the sting of a bug bite or the sensation of needing rest. He doubts anyone not in his shoes would understand this to the unconscious level he feels. Who even thinks about their heartbeats? It’s like breathing, to normal people.

Well, maybe normal people do think about their heartbeats when they’re abnormal. They’re just not as used or attuned to their pulse as he is. Now, he only has to find out why: it could be regular arrythmia, it sometimes happen, but it could also be a lot more devious.

The thought remains on his mind for the rest of the morning. He follows conversations about strategies, tactics and who gets to be a starter player this time around. Coach Kira asks for his opinion and all he can provide is surface-level pleasantries, he’s sure of it. Or maybe he did just spew out whatever ideas he had brainstormed during the night. Who knows; not him, unfortunately.

It’s all very fuzzy and beyond him, at times, in this strange way that shouldn’t be the case anymore. You don’t live for over twenty years with a faulty heart to get distracted by its symptoms anymore. He’s swallowed the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy so long ago, why is it now biting him back? Can’t he just do his job properly?

Eventually, they’re back in their rooms. Somewhere in the haze of his heart bothering him for the nth time this week, he remembers he should research their next opponent – Spain, maybe? Or was it Brazil? Too familiar. Portugal, then? No, no, they’re already eliminated, have been for a while judging by the fact he can’t even remember… God, this is starting to look bad on his front.

Why can’t he focus? Even the lines in his book are starting to swim and make no sense. His heart is still beating too fast, and his head feels light on his neck. Perhaps he is about to slip into an attack and isn’t realizing yet. Maybe that’s what the haze is. Perhaps he should see Coach Gamo about this? Wait, no, he’s the med school student here, what is he even think –

Hey, you in there?

The voice is loud, strong and perhaps a little frustrated; yet it nonetheless remains calm and controlled. It snaps him out of that… was it a pensive trance? Or was it something else? Who knows, who knows… He didn’t even know he had slipped into one. That’s… weird. What was he thinking about? Ah, dammit, the page of the book is cornered, he must have done that when he jumped.

Right, yes, there is someone right in front of his face – his roommate, as it turns out. He hadn’t even heard Matsuyama come in, how long has he been here? Questions for another time, he supposes.

“Oh, it’s just you,” he nonchalantly replies. “What can I do for you?”

“You were zoning the hell out, so I was wondering if you were okay.” His eyes squint. “You don’t look like it to me.”

Oh no, not this spiel again.

“Why thank you for the concern, but I’m quite alright. I was merely just deep in thought.”

Of course, it’s now that Matsuyama has chosen to be a sceptic.

“Oh really? You’ve been like that all morning-long, man. What were you thinkin’ about?”

“Uh…” Good question, isn’t it! “Our next opponent.” Yeah that sounds good – what?

Somehow, during that very short snap of inattention, somehow, his suspicious teammate has found the time to lean in front of him and put a hand on his forehead. Soon enough, he’s started gritting his teeth, eyebrows knitting.

“Wait, you’re burning up!” He yells out immediately thereafter.

“That’d explain some things,” Jun thinks out loud with half his mind operating. “Wait.”

Goddammit. It’s not how you reassure someone like Matsuyama. Once he’s onto you, he’ll never let you go. If only he could’ve kept it shut…

“What do you mean, that’d explain some things?”

This is a good way to buy a one-way ticket to the infirmary, yes.

“Things being fuzzy, for lack of a better term. I thought it was just my heart playing tricks on me.”

“You sound awfully unconcerned about that.”

“You do tend to become used to things like this. I’m pretty sure you’d know what I mean by that.”

He has a chuckle at his comrade’s expense.

“Point granted, after some time, it must just be an annoyance.” His eyes squint again. “You’re sure you’re –” oh, now they’re wide open, “hey, wait, you’ve still got a fever!”

Well, looks like his diversion plan has failed. That’s the issue with trying to convince Matsuyama of all people: this guy never forgets. It’s like he has a built-in radar for people’s discomfort and he will do something about it, no matter the price and no matter how harsh his tone has to get (he usually apologizes about fifteen minutes later, twenty if you’ve really worried him. Don’t ask Jun how he knows that). Oh well, he’s tried.

Maybe that’s the reason why they keep sticking the two of them in the same bedroom, even after all those years and fine-tuning who goes along with who (and his roommate would be able to chart it all out, if you could read his handwriting). They just figured he’d pay attention to Matsuyama’s numerous bruises and he’d keep watch over his tendency to… embellish the truth, yes. Habits die hard and if those two aren’t the living showcase of that, then what is?

“It does sound like it, if you say so.”

“Well, you’re the future doctor of us two, so… Where do I bring you? The infirmary?”

“You could also let me be, Matsuyama. It’s just a—”

“I’m not doin’ that, no, not when I know who you are.”

“You can’t ask for a doctor’s advice and just ignore it.”

“That’s not medical advice and you know it.”

Oh… He isn’t even smiling.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry yourself about it,” Jun tries saying with a hand on his chest (force of habit).

“There aren’t a lot of guys you could be saying that to here, but I’m certainly not one of them.” He kneels back down to his level. “Especially if it’s about your heart, then I’m not lettin’ that shit pass.”

Stupid force of habit.

“You don’t completely zone out like that, usually,” he continues. “You’re sure you sleep at night?”

“I do, yes.” Perhaps not much, but yes, he does get some winks in… when insomnia doesn’t hit, that is. “Although I’ll agree with you, I’m usually sharper than that.”

“To the infirmary it is with you, then.”

Jun sighs. For all intents and purposes, it’s very much affectionate.

“You really aren’t gonna give up anytime soon, won’t you?”

“Nope. It’s either you go willingly or I’m getting someone with bigger arms than I am to put you there.” Matsuyama sighs as well. “I hate that phrasing, but it’s for your own good.”

Eventually, Jun feels his shoulders lower.

“Fine, fine,” he replies as he gets up. “It’s an off day and seeking medical assistance for non-urgent situations is better than letting something potentially dangerous fester. I’ll go.”

His roommate follows, far more relaxed than before.

“Good. I’d have hated forcing your hand.”

“I know.” He walks to the door. “See you later, then.”

Before he can open it, however, Matsuyama follows.

“Wait, Misugi! I’m coming with you.”

“If you want,” he replies with a shrug.

Maybe one day he’ll be able to admit he likes having someone to rely on – but for now, they just make their way out of the living quarters in silence.

[ultimate-anime-tournament]

THE ULTIMATE ANIME TOURNAMENT BEGINS! featuring 384 shows spanning 60 years!

all matchups are listed below the cut, and the first polls will be going up shortly 👍

edit: made a google spreadsheet documenting all matchups and their wins/losses!

left side:

Majokko Megu-chan VS Soul Eater VS Turn A Gundam

Noragami VS Ranma 1/2 VS Shadows House

Captain Tsubasa VS Barakamon VS Ojamajo Doremi

Dr Ramune: Mysterious Disease Specialist VS Joshiraku VS Concrete Revolutio

Maya the Honey Bee VS Bocchi the Rock! VS Senyuu.

Angel Beats VS Golden Kamuy VS Initial D

Lucky Star VS Mononoke VS Assassination Classroom

Go! Princess Pretty Cure VS Shirobako VS Space Pirate Captain Harlock

Golden Time VS Death Note VS Ao Haru Ride

Food Wars VS One Piece VS Space Battleship Yamato

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K VS Blood Blockade Battlefront VS Poco's Udon World

Space Patrol Luluco VS Yu-Gi-Oh! VS Your Lie in April

Slam Dunk VS One Punch Man VS Candy Candy

Doraemon VS Akame ga Kill VS Black Clover

Space Dandy VS Sazae-san VS Bloom into You

Show by Rock!! VS Pokémon VS Restaurant to Another World

Uchouten Kazoku VS Tetsujin 28 VS Miracle Girl Limit-chan

Sally the Witch VS March Comes in Like a Lion VS Ground Defense Force! Mao-chan

Day Break Illusion VS Heidi, Girl of the Alps VS Zombie Land Saga

Yuri is My Job! VS Kimagure Orange Road VS The Seven Deadly Sins

Akudama Drive VS Future Boy Conan VS Land of the Lustrous

BanG Dream! VS Rin-ne VS Serial Experiments Lain

Snow White with the Red Hair VS Juni Taisen: Zodiac War VS The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Ranking of Kings VS Osomatsu-san VS Odd Taxi

Flying Witch VS Bodacious Space Pirates VS Shugo Chara

Yuki Yuna is a Hero VS Super Dimension Fortress Macros VS Spy x Family

Magic Kaito 1412 VS Kaguya-sama: Love is War VS Kingdom

Aikatsu VS Cells at Work VS New Game!

Blue Exorcist VS Sound! Euphonium VS Ashita no Joe

Re:Zero VS My Hero Academia VS Pani Poni Dash

Ouran High School Host Club VS Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai VS Children of the Whales

86 vs Erased vs Demon Slayer

Mashle vs Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt vs Bakemonogatari

Skip and Loafer vs Shiki vs My-Hime

Laughing under the Clouds VS Naruto VS Sakura Wars

The Vampire Dies in No Time VS Dragon Ball GT VS Fist of the North Star

Shadowverse VS Blue Lock VS Tamako Market

Legend of the Galactic Heroes VS Lycoris Recoil VS Tanaka-kun is Always Listless

Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple VS Sonic X VS Samurai Champloo

Cutie Honey VS Tokyo Revengers VS Parasyte

Kaiji VS Deca-Dence VS Clannad

I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss VS Digimon Adventure VS Charlotte

Kageki Shojo!! VS Majuu Senshi Luna Varga VS Stars Align

Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions VS Gintama VS Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits

Bubblegum Crisis VS Air VS Made in Abyss

Touch VS Fire Force VS Love Live! Sunshine!!

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer VS Sket Dance VS Himitsu no Akko-chan

Zatch Bell VS Little Witch Academia VS Gal & Dino

Parappa the Rapper VS Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout (Fabiniku) VS Talentless Nana

Nyanbo! VS Bomberman Jetters VS Do It Yourself!

Kochikame: Tokyo Beat Cops VS Nobody's Boy Remi VS Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

Chika Ichiban VS Squid Girl VS Anne of Green Gables

Ikkyuu-san VS The Case Study of Vanitas VS Free!

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story VS Chihayafuru VS So I'm a Spider, So What?

Aggretsuko VS Hakumei and Mikochi VS Mou Ippon

What's Michael VS Kimono Jihen VS Kiratto Prichan

Mushishi VS Uma Musume VS Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Sabikui Bisco VS Dorohedoro VS The World Ends With You: The Animation

Un-Go VS The Case Files of Jeweler Richard VS Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure

Sonny Boy VS Tiger & Bunny VS Black Butler

A Place Further than the Universe VS Lupin III (all Parts) VS Tsuritama

Tari Tari VS Maoyu VS Buddy Daddies

Horimiya VS Akiba Maid War VS Cap Revolution Bottleman

Helck VS Play it Cool, Guys VS Revolutionary Girl Utena

right side:

Gegege no Kitarou VS Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood VS Urahara

D.Gray-Man VS Bakuman VS Devilman

Violet Evergarden VS Death Parade VS Speed Racer

Skull Face Bookseller Honda-san VS Mazinger Z VS Planetes

Aim for the Ace! VS Futari wa Pretty Cure VS Saiunkoku Monogatari

Comic Girls VS Galaxy Express 999 VS Dr. Slump

Wedding Peach VS Ronja, the Robber's Daughter VS Haikyuu!

Saint Seiya VS Mahoutsukai Chappy VS Yuri on Ice

Hikaru no Go VS Yona of the Dawn VS Mega Man NT Warrior

Black Lagoon VS Nichijou VS Space Cobra

Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles VS Stop! Hibari-kun VS She and Her Cat: Everything Flows

Space Brothers VS Gakuen Alice VS Dragon Ball Z

AKB0048 VS Kino's Journey -The Beautiful World- VS Musashi no Ken

Flip Flappers VS Hamtaro VS Daily Lives of High School Boys

Another VS Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju VS Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

Gurren Lagann VS Hana no Ko Lunlun VS City Hunter

Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water VS Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun VS To Your Eternity

Kiteretsu Daihyakka VS Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun VS Noir

Bungo Stray Dogs VS Soreike! Anpanman VS Moomin

Hajime no Ippo VS Paranoia Agent VS Mobile Suit Gundam

Maison Ikkoku VS Yuru Camp VS Sherlock Hound

Great Pretender VS Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress VS World Trigger

Little Princess Sara VS Ghost Sweeper Mikami VS Keep Your Hands off Eizouken!

My Next Life as a Villainess VS Kirby: Right Back at Ya! VS Air Gear

Saint Tail VS Haibane Renmei VS Astro Boy

Crayon Shin-chan VS Tokyo Ghoul VS Hell Girl

Heaven's Design Team VS Neon Genesis Evangelion VS Kiznaiver

Servamp VS Akane-chan VS Yo-kai Watch

The Vision of Escaflowne VS Tsurune VS Sk8 the Infinity

The Promised Neverland VS Hime-chan no Ribbon VS Fruits Basket

Urusei Yatsura VS Dr. Stone VS Shaman King

Star of the Giants VS Cardcaptor Sakura VS Angelic Layer

Berserk VS Kodocha VS Ping Pong The Animation

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's VS Boys over Flowers VS Otherside Picnic

Monster VS Sgt. Frog VS K-On!

Aria VS The Rose of Versailles VS Beyblade

Natsume's Book of Friends VS Planet With VS Detective Conan / Case Closed

Nodame Kantaabire VS Kyou Kara Maoh VS Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

Duel Masters VS Shounen Ninja Kaze no Fujimaru VS Hunter x Hunter

Mahou Shoujo Lalabel VS Carole & Tuesday VS Powerpuff Girls Z

Big Windup! VS Heartcatch Pretty Cure! VS Fighting Foodons

Gosick VS Ace Attorney VS Inazuma Eleven

Given VS The Prince of Tennis VS Cowboy Bebop

Code Geass VS Teppen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VS FLCL

Wolf's Rain VS Reborn! VS Princess Tutu

Magic Knight Rayearth VS Romeo x Juliet VS Oshi no Ko

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo VS Bakugan VS Jujutsu Kaisen

Yu Yu Hakusho VS Love Live! School Idol Project VS Trigun

Kimba the White Lion VS Waccha Primagi VS Toradora

Ultra Maniac VS Mahou Sensei Negima VS Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

Visual Prison VS Steins;gate VS Inuyasha

Vinland Saga VS Assault Lily Bouquet VS Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

Pop Team Epic VS Gingitsune VS Tokyo Mew Mew

Blue Period VS Higurashi When They Cry VS Fairy Tail

Chargeman Ken VS Shin Sekai Yori VS Chainsaw Man

Beyond the Boundary VS Silver Spoon VS Hyouka

Stitch! VS Mobile Suit Gundam SEED VS Symphogear

Kuroko's Basketball VS Pokemon Horizons VS Gatchaman Crowds

Ghost Stories VS Non Non Biyori VS Samurai Flamenco

Fushigi Yuugi VS Psycho-Pass VS Azumanga Daioh

Bleach VS Dragon Ball Super VS Ace of Diamond

My Neighbor Seki VS Mob Psycho 100 VS No. 6

Full Metal Panic VS Princess Principal VS Ya Boy Kongming!

Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei VS Puella Magi Madoka Magica VS Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song

[animenostalgia]

News - Youichi Takahashi, creator of the iconic soccer manga Captain Tsubasa, announced that he will be retiring from serialized manga. From the article above:

Takahashi explained that he had been thinking over the past few years about whether he would continue or finish drawing the manga. He calculated that it may take over 40 years to finish the story. As such, instead of pushing his body to the limit, he concluded that it would be better to stop serialization. Takahashi is over 60 years old, and he considers himself to be in good health. However, due to presbyopia, the gradual loss of the eyes' ability to focus on nearby objects, he is experiencing poorer eyesight and dizziness. The combination of his condition, COVID-19 affecting staff structure, the switch to digital methods for drawing manga, and the death of Dokaben baseball manga creator Shinji Mizushima in January 2022 all factored into his decision. Takahashi is considering drafting storyboards that continue the story past the manga's final chapters.

While the original Captain Tsubasa manga ended in 1988, Takahashi has been making sequela, one-shots, and spin-off manga for it consistently since it's "ending". The series is popular all over the world (especially where soccer/foot ball is the reining sport), and has been released in multiple languages. Sadly, the original series was never released in the US (though we have gotten some of the spin-off anime and video games). Captain Tsubasa is a titan of sports manga and anime, so thank you Takahashi-sensei for your years of hard work and inspiring manga!

[dee-toraburu]

Respecting Artists: Proper Usage of Fanworks in the Fandom

For those wondering why you've been blocked, it's because you use Japanese artists' fanarts despite them stating they DON'T WANT their fanworks used without permission in their bios. This applies to profile pictures, header images, Instagram stories, and more.

The same goes for MY works!...

I don't want my fanarts and other creations reposted or used as profile pictures or in any other form without my permission.

I've been trying to kindly explain not to use fanworks without permissions FOR YEARS, but I feel like it's falling on deaf ears!!

***

⚠️ For the last fucking time, here's why using fanworks without the permission of the doujinka/artists is PROBLEMATIC:

1. RESPECT FOR CREATORS: Artists put significant effort and creativity into their work. Using their creations without permission disregards their rights and undermines their control over their own work.

2. LEGAL ISSUES: Unauthorized use of fanarts can lead to copyright infringement, especially in Japan, exposing artists to potential legal consequences...!

3. DISCOURAGEMENT OF CREATIVITY: When artists see their work used without consent, it can be discouraging and demotivating. This disrespect can lead to less content being created, harming the community as a whole.

4. VIOLATION OF TERMS: Many artists clearly state their terms of use in their bios or descriptions. Ignoring these terms is a direct violation of their expressed wishes!

***

Now, some of you might have questions:

How to Ask for Permission from Artists if I Don’t Know Their Account?

-> I imagine the artwork that caught your eye was likely found on platforms like Pinterest or Instacrap.

This is where reverse image search tools become indispensable. I often use Google Image Search, which is highly effective (I've managed to track down my drawings this way quite easily). There are many other effective tools that can help you identify the original source of the artwork or find the artist’s account. Ideally, having several fanarts by the artist increases your chances of finding their account.

What if I Can’t Find the Artist Using Reverse Image Search Tools?

-> If you cannot find the artist’s account, then DO NOT USE THE ARTWORK. Period.

How to Contact an Artist Who Only Communicates in Japanese?

-> Most of the time, an online translation tool like Google Translate, or better yet, DeepL, can easily translate your requests. However, the sentences will often be grammatically awkward because Japanese is a nuanced language (a.k.a. DIFFICULT!). Alternatively, most Japanese artists can reply in basic English, but it might make them uncomfortable.

Here's a Tumblr user who wrote an excellent post on how to contact artists in impeccable and respectful Japanese: Raspomme's template messages.

***

Anyway...

I understand that some of you might not use/repost fanarts without permission out of malice, but rather out of ignorance (I've noticed a new wave of young fans who seem uneducated on this matter). I hope these brief explanations will help you understand my stance better.

Over my many years in this fandom, I've witnessed numerous artists I adored stop posting their drawings or even delete their accounts because, despite issuing firm warnings, Captain Tsubasa's "fans" continued to repost and use their creations without permission (*cough* 99% of Instacrap users *cough*).

I recognize that this is a small fandom, and it can be VERY frustrating not to find much content, making it tempting to reshare fanarts with just a few clicks. However, I implore you to change this behavior, as it leads to the decline of a fandom that is already nearly dead/inactive.

Instead of stealing others' content, try contributing.

This doesn't only mean creating fanarts or fanfictions. Post memes, shitpost, create edits using images from the original media—anything, as long as you don’t steal someone else’s work.

Everyone is capable of creating with a little effort!

-> Users who I have blocked and who want to interact with my posts again (= be unblocked), then STOP USING fanworks without authorization.

/rant's end/

If you have any difficulties or other questions on this topic (or anything else), I'd be happy to answer!

P.S.: For those who wish to communicate respectfully with Japanese, Chinese, or Korean artists, I highly recommend reading this masterpost written by Raspomme (my hero~♥)

[gifmourningu]

Hirogaru Sky! Precure Watch Guide

A list of episodes that let you know which episodes are less interesting and skippable.

Note that this season had very uneven pacing and tone. Most episodes are largely slice of life, but occasionally it would dip into extreme drama territory, most notably episodes 14-15 and 22-23. The villain situation is not explained for 90% of the show.

Plot is bolded. Recommended filler (character development or background -oriented) is italicized. Skippable episodes grouped in block quote.

1 — Cure Sky

2 — Settling into Human Realm

3 — Some Lore Stuff

4 — Cure Prism

5 — New Finisher

6 — Gearing up to get Sora to school (watch if you like Sora/Mashiro) 7 — Sora goes to school 

8 — Cure Wing leadup

9 — Cure Wing

10  — Cure Wing welcome party (Tsubasa & Mashiro focus)

11 — Ageha meets Tsubasa (Ageha & Tsubasa focus)

12 — Sky v. Kabaton 

13 — Potentially Parting Ways

14 — Back at Skyland

15 — Skyland part 2

16 — New Mirror Pad Function

17 — Sora & Mashiro relay (Mashiro focus)

18 — Cure Butterfly

19 — Wing & Butterfly finisher

20 — Finding a dream (Mashiro focus)

21 — No knowledge is wasted (Tsubasa focus)

22 — Captain Shalala update

23 — Hero Crisis

24 — Princess Elle background 

25 — New Villain (not that notable, you can see him in a future ep) 26 — More propaganda for our airline sponsors  27 — More propaganda for our mirror pad toy

28 — Ageha’s fashion show 

29 — An abandoned cat stuffie 30 — Beach episode 

31 — Cure Majesty Part 1 

32 — Cure Majesty Part 2

33 — New Finisher

34 — Mashiro deals with rejection (Mashiro & Battamonda focus)

35 — Sora does baseball

36 — Why Ageha wants to be a teacher (Ageha & Tsubasa focus)

37 — Ageha & Mashiro backstory 

38 — Tsubasa to the rescue

39 — Halloween 40 — Elle and Tsubasa Play Wedding

41 — Mashiro counsels Battamonda

42 — Sora decides on the type of hero she wants to be

43 — Mashiro purifies Battamonda

44~45 — Empress backstory 

46 — Christmas  Only relevant part is that Tsubasa sets up the barrier. There’s also a nice Sora/Mashiro segment but the rest is skippable.

47~50 — Finale 

[muthaz-rapapa]

Hirogaru Sky Impressions (3/5)

Alright~

So we're more than halfway there. Excited for leaks season yet?

Show is still going good despite the last 10 episodes being mostly filler. I don't have anything to really complain about since as far as fillers go, the quality of HiroPre's is definitely better than those of previous seasons.

But me being me, of course there is going to be some form of criticism so let's gogogo~ and get that over with.

Again, the fillers are quite enjoyable but ever since the recovery of Captain Shalala, doesn't it feel like we've gone too long without any plot-related episodes?

Thankfully, it seems they're getting back to that with ep 31 next week. But even so, the lack of clues or hints about the Undergu Empire and the reason for its antagonism dragged the show's momentum slightly. So it felt longer to get through these 10 weeks.

"Filler doldrums" as I'd like to call it because tuning into Precure weekly became more of chore than something to look forward to.

But it wasn't that bad so let's hope the next 10 episodes will be more balanced.

Moving on.

I spoke too soon on not having to worry about the handling of Mashiro's character arc anymore. Why am I surprised, though? Whenever I let my guard down, my expectations are always betrayed. Oiy.

But honestly, they got me all hoping and excited since they actually gave her potential content to work with. Like her taking an interest in creating picture books. Or even her cooking skills or passion for makeup. Or her long distance relationship with her parents. That's quite a bunch of material to expand on for her.

Instead, she's been regulated to the passenger seat again to let Sora drive.

On one hand, I understand and can accept that Sora would receive more focus since the she is the main character of the overall story. Her coming from another world and therefore being a fish out of water bird out of Skyland when it comes to most things Earth-related...along with being someone who's never had friends before due to spending most of her time training are all prime real estate for development.

However, you can't deny that there is a blatant amount of lead favoritism.

It's not as bad as previous seasons since the writing for HiroPre is a lot better. But when the rest of the cast individually gets one episode of spotlight for every five or so the lead gets, it can be tiresome or even suffocating to sit through.

...on another note, my theory about Captain Shalala possibly being a double agent for the Undergu Empire turned out to be wrong after all. But I think having the enemy take Shalala hostage was the more suitable direction to go for breaking Sora down in order to let her renew and restrengthen her resolve as a hero. The loss of respect for your idol can be a really difficult thing to bear and that might be too harsh a topic for Precure's target audience. It achieved similar effects to the Broken Pedestal trope anyway so no complaints there.

Anyways, we may have broken the Pink trend this year but I'm not optimistic it will stay that way as long as there's always one primary lead in each group. Frankly, I think we're going straight back to special Pink treatment for another 4 years before 25th anniversary but that's a thing to worry about later.

As for Tsubasa and Ageha, I was more satisfied with their focus eps. Mostly.

Tsubasa's always teaches you something new. I really liked the one about branching out your dream, which is something we all need to hear should we ever reach our goal or get stuck on what to do next. And Ageha's most recent one with her older sisters and her parents' divorce when she was younger provided more depth into how she became the person she is today.

But I wasn't pleased when the Peach airline promotion ep that should've been about Mashiro spending time with her parents went to Tsubasa instead. I mean, Tsubasa showing off his airplane knowledge is always amazing but...ngh, they really don't care for Mashiro, do they?

Another thing. I became a little concerned about the portrayal of Ageha. She is shown to be consistently confident and composed in most things she does...but most 18-year olds aren't like that. So I worried for a bit if that might've sent an unintentional message that "you should be as competent as Ageha when you reach adult age" which is like ehhhh......not true.

Though it's only a flaw you notice if you're incredibly scrutinizing like I am. And given Ageha's personality, there's nothing wrong with presenting her as such cuz she wouldn't be Ageha without those traits. But definitely think of her more as a role model instead of one to emulate, that's all.

Right so, next week...is not the debut of Cure Majesty.

YET.

But very soon. Maybe even the week after? September titles haven't been released yet (as of checking right now) but with only...wow, 18 more episodes to go, they better make the best of it.

I don't think Ellee-chan suddenly getting older will become too much of an issue with pacing...as long as they don't put her in school if she still largely retains the mind of a toddler.

Or maybe she'll only grow older when transforming into Precure and return to being a baby during off-hours? That'd be interesting...it wouldn't be as fun as seeing her more grown up, yea, but it'd be unexpected, at least.

Whatever. Just give me more lore and I'll be good.

Finally (haha), let's talk about the future of Precure for a bit.

This season is obviously not going to be the last of 'em. If it was, they wouldn't try to scare you with it in an All Stars movie preview of all things. They'd likely do it the boring way by just announcing it in the news. :P

Anyways, we can definitely expect the franchise to continue for another 5 years. 25th anniversary is something Toei absolutely has to aim for because it will be a double milestone.

Quarter of a century run for the Precure franchise.

And (if my projected calculations are correct), if we keep to teams of 4-5 every year up until till 2028, we will hit over 100 Precure total.

Pretty exciting, yes?

With mixed-gender teams no longer being just a dream (look, Cure Wing even made the news! WAAAAHHH!!! xD) and upcoming projects like the Otona Precure series and the all-male Precure stage play in the works, it's definitely a confirmation that this franchise has no intention of ending any time soon.

If you want more consumers of your product, you need to accommodate for a variety of people and all sorts of new and different ideas, aspects and tastes.

Formula they probably won't budge on too much (not for the main tv series anyway) but there always will be other rooms to explore, y'know?

Ok~ So Precure won't be ending but summer is~

Hope everyone enjoyed it in spite of the heat and best of luck in school or whatever your future endeavors are!

See you in another 10 eps! (^ _ ^)/"

[kain-achilles]

╰╮✾╭╯ Cute/Child-safe Anime to watch ╰╮✾╭╯

Here's my personal list of anime I like to watch when I regress ^^. Feel free to tell me what you think! :3

🌸 Gakuen Babysitters/School Babysitters (13 years and older)

🌸 Pokemon (7 years and older)

🌸 Chi (All Age)

🌸 My Neighbour Totoro (4 years and older)

🌸 Ponyo (4 years and older)

🌸 Yo-Kai Watch (7 years and older)

🌸 Doraemon! (All Age)

🌸 Avatar: The Last Airbender (5 years and older)

🌸 Kiki's Delivery Service (4 years and older)

🌸 Captain Tsubasa (5 years and older)

🌸 Haikyu!! (10 years and older)

🌸 Digimon Adventure (5 years and older)

🌸 Spirited Away (8 years and older)

🌸 Inazuma Eleven (7 years and older)

🌸 Howl's Moving Castle (8 years and older)

[tempenensis]

Extra pages of jjk tankobon vol 21 (read right to left) part 1 (part 2 here)

Translation under the cut 

[2] Okkotsu’s score breakdown

At the principle, when he takes points from players, he leaves 1 point. Thus, they can still live, but they can’t kill other people*.

(*Player with 0 points will get killed based on game rules)

[3] When I was in elementary school, I read a certain scene from Captain Tsubasa where I thought Tsubasa-kun kicked and broke Kanda-kun’s neck and somehow I was convinced inside my own head that “This guy surely will die” (he still might die). Recently, when I asked my editor to check it, he said “it was not stated (in the manga), but after that, Kanda-kun appears while holding his shoulder”. It was his shoulder. Apparently.

Bernard: “No way… but!! It looks… like his head!”

[4] Akutami has interest in spec*, but I myself often have been cheated by the maxed device. When I had no money, Link (maybe my lucky day) and Lupin (maybe the erased Lupin) saved me. Also, it might be a good thing that I “have been saved” by gamble, but other than this I want everyone to remember that (gamble) can “kill you”.

Charles’ technique is great, but he doesn’t want to pursue that ability (doesn’t want to develop his technique). I want him to feel like he is one of the “awakened” type players. It looks like the software part is working fine, but the hardware part can’t process.

(*Device specification. He is talking about pachinko machine)

[5] Character designs for chapter 185

[6] My editor asked “What is this about” in various places where the story are shortened.

If I give the answers after being asked ‘what is this about’, this the compassion of this world; but I just don’t know anything to say other than “the inside of Panda”, little boy.

By observing each other to collect information from each soul, the three souls of Panda reach stability, however the information from the two souls have lost. How will he turn out after this?

[7] It’s fine if you skip reading for Hakari’s technique. Once he pulls a win, he can directly pull a win again, or otherwise too. That’s all.

Kirara: “Kin-chan used to give me snacks all the time. When I knew it was prize for the extra balls, that was the first time… First time I hit Kin-chan…”

[8] It* probably comes from the Mage (chonmage)

(*the canon hair of Ishigoori)

[9] Below is Akutami’s personal segment, I just want to say meaningless things so you can just ignore them.

In Chapter 189, much like in Dr. Stone, Kurare-san supervised the science.

Actually, I also asked a lawyer to check Higuruma’s case.

I told the lawyer jujutsu regulations which I made from bare image and the lawyer told me to just made them like that. I’m thinking that I can introduce them in the future.

Hakari: “Be excited!!”

[10] Kashimo: “Aren’t there too much water torture in this manga?” Akutami: “You think so?”

[nomorerww]

radblr doesn't read (the ppl who should read this stuff don't, at least) but here's some discourse™️

Keywords: BL; Boys' love; Fujoshi; Manga; Sexuality

Symposium

[ 1] In this essay I examine Japanese criticisms of yaoi (note 1) as antigay discrimination and the reactions to these criticisms from Japanese yaoi fans. I include both readers and creators among yaoi fans, and I will refer to this group as fans throughout the text; today, these fans are also referred to as fujoshi (note 2). Japanese fans are often described as apolitical, and their apolitical attitude has been the subject of much controversy. Here, I identify the most salient aspects of fannish reaction to the charge that yaoi constitutes antigay discrimination. The so-called yaoi dispute (yaoi ronso) of 1992 and the writings of Hitoshi Ishida are my main points of departure. I want to reconsider criticisms of fans' reactions via an argument centered around people's conceptions of reality and fantasy, which gives more weight to the status of yaoi as a part of popular culture.

[ 2] Manga in Japan can be divided into two types: commercial manga, which are original works, and dojinshi, which are often derivative works based on existing media. The dojinshi convention Comiket was first held at the end of 1975. At that time, commercial manga magazines aimed at girls were already serializing a genre called shonen ai (boys' love) that featured romantic relationships between boys (note 3).

[ 3] In the middle of the 1980s, fannish dojinshi based on the manga Captain Tsubasa exploded in popularity, and yaoi dojinshi circles proliferated accordingly. This caused dojinshi conventions to grow as well, to the point that commercial manga magazines could no longer ignore the existence of the major dojinshi circles. These major circles consisted of woman creators who, although amateurs, had often amassed large fan followings of their own. Publishers reasoned that they could save themselves the effort of cultivating new artists if they let these popular fan creators publish in commercial magazines. They began to scout popular yaoi fan creators, and commercial manga magazines that focused solely on boys' love were launched one after the other. With the availability of yaoi in regular bookstores, a massive expansion of yaoi fandom ensued. However, a less desirable consequence of yaoi's commercialization was that a hobby that had previously been underground was now thrust into the public eye.

[ 4] Around the same time, support organizations for Japanese gay men began to be established as a result of the spread of the AIDS epidemic. In the 1990s, antigay discrimination began to be challenged in Japanese courts of law, and gay rights were increasingly foregrounded as a social issue. As Japanese popular culture experienced a gay boom with popular magazines at its center, yaoi broadened its readership through both dojinshi and commercial boys' love; many women became very open about their liking for gay-themed films and novels (note 4), and many openly stated that they wanted to be friends with gay men. Reactions to this boom varied considerably. Yaoi was a genre in which men belonging to the homosexual minority were being depicted in a purely fantastical way by and for women belonging to the heterosexual majority, and it began to attract criticism from support organizations for homosexuals and from individual gay men. It was one of these criticisms that became the starting point of the 1992 yaoi dispute.

[ 5] The yaoi dispute was a debate held in the pages of a feminist zine (note 5), beginning when one gay man criticized yaoi stories as discriminatory against gay men. A female fan wrote a rebuttal of the criticism, the original critic responded, and other readers got involved in the discussion.

[ 6] The fan who first responded pointed out that gender inequality was still pervasive in Japanese society, and that using a male-male relationship in their fiction allowed female fans to write stories that would be impossible to write (and enjoy) if they featured a male-female relationship. She explained that enjoying "fantastical" yaoi stories was a very important part of female fans' lives, and that such stories gave them comfort in a way that male/female romances never could. Yaoi novelist Kaoru Kurimoto expressed a similar opinion. Writing under an alias, Kurimoto said that women "are constantly classified based on how they look, how they fulfill female-gendered functions, how they perform as home maintenance machines, how much 'added value' they're perceived to have, or how 'fresh' they are," and speculated that these women imagine yaoi to be "a place where the gaze of men and society doesn't exist, and where they themselves-always the objects of that gaze-don't exist either" (Nakajima 1991, 100, 191).

[7] During the yaoi dispute, the fan who responded to the initial criticism wrote that "yaoi does not depict real gay men" (CHOISIR 1994a, 14). This assertion ended up inviting even more vehement criticism; some felt that she was basically arguing that yaoi fans are just taking peeks at gay romance in order to escape from their own gender-related problems.

[8] Of particular interest is the contribution of another woman in the debate. She had been a yaoi fan at one point, but had stopped reading yaoi works by the time the dispute erupted. This former fan emphasized that she felt it was shameful that she had once used gay men as fuel for her own fantasies. She had been both a yaoi fan and an okoge (fag hag) (note 6), but as she got to know gay people she became aware of her own discriminatory attitude toward them and stopped reading yaoi works as a result. The yaoi fan who had argued that yaoi is purely fantasy replied that she couldn't "just let go of yaoi altogether, even if it's discriminatory" (CHOISIR 1994a, 29), and she explained that yaoi meant something special to her because she herself could never be entirely free, no matter how hard she tried to resist gender boundaries. In response, the gay man and the former yaoi fan wondered, "Why is an intelligent feminist like you choosing such a politically incorrect stance?" (CHOISIR 1994b, 11).

[9] Gender was one of the most important issues under discussion during the yaoi dispute. Some participants attested that as women, they could not enjoy fantasies tailored to their desires if they were expressed through stories about heterosexual romance. This claim is based on the idea that a fictional romantic relationship between equal partners is much more likely to appeal to, and be plausible to, female readers and creators if the relationship is between two men. In a society with a marked power imbalance between men and women, it's hard to suspend disbelief and imagine that romance might somehow be the one exceptional context where men and women can be equal.

[10] Other participants in the dispute countered that yaoi works contain power imbalances too (Hori 2009). The gay man argued that "yaoi completely ignores gay realities," and that a system in which members of a majority group (straight women) write stories of romance between members of a minority group (gay men) is inherently discriminatory (Hori 2009, 4). Besides gender and sexuality, a wide variety of other politically significant issues were eventually raised, including more general problems of representation (who represents, who is represented) and feminist critiques of pornography (specifically, how yaoi inverts the relationship of watching versus being watched to make gay men an object of the gaze).

[11] After the yaoi dispute wound down, the expanding Internet gave a boost to the boys' love market, the word fujoshi came into use around the year 2000, and yaoi began to draw the attention of the mass media. Yaoi and fujoshi also caught the eye of researchers, but as Hitoshi Ishida notes, the yaoi fans who were the subject of such research tended to respond with "Leave us alone" (Ishida 2007). Ishida points out that yaoi fans-who imagine a gay romance that is not apparent in the original works on which yaoi is based-usually don't react to hearing their activities called disgusting or yaoi denounced as antigay discrimination.

[12] For Ishida, the fact that yaoi always already references real, existing gay people means that it is a mistake to see it as no more than a fantasy or fiction that has nothing to do with reality. Wondering if "yaoi may be misappropriating gay symbols" (Ishida 2007, 114), Ishida mentions that Japanese fans tend to look the other way when confronted with a serious issue like antigay discrimination, or say things like "Real gay people and yaoi have nothing to do with each other" (Ishida 2007, 116). This attitude stands in stark contrast to the tendency of yaoi fans in other countries to associate their love of yaoi with support for the LGBT movement. Japanese fans have no doubt noticed critiques that they are apolitical. Why is it, then, that they still tend to stay in their shells-or seem to do so?

[13] I argue that fans' attitudes are related to their tendency to emphasize the divide between reality and fantasy. For example, it used to be common for male characters in yaoi to tell their lovers, "I'm not gay or anything. I just love you because you're you." Such a claim (which is somewhat less common in contemporary works) has been criticized as discriminatory. However, it can also be interpreted as reflecting the obviously fantastical nature of yaoi, because in real life it's probably rare for a heterosexual man to fall in love with another man despite his own sexual orientation.

[14] Because popular culture is popular, it is rooted in mainstream norms and values. Antigay discrimination and the heterosexual, gender, and sexual norms associated with that discrimination surround yaoi creators, readers, and works. Individuals may subscribe to these norms or try to ignore them, but they will always carry those norms with them into fictional works. However, unlike the okoge, who want to interact with real gay men, most yaoi fans are keenly aware that their fantasies are exactly that-fantasies, and nothing more. I suspect that this strong awareness of the dividing line between reality and fantasy is what leads yaoi fans to attest that yaoi has nothing to do with real gay men.

[15] Yaoi can be conceptualized as a subculture that is centered on fantastical works that remain rooted in mainstream values, but that nonetheless resists those values. (I wonder how many yaoi works are basically thought experiments in which the creators try to depict love that overcomes their own sexualities.) Culture should not limit itself to acknowledging only politically correct creations. All political and social issues exist along an axis of reality and fantasy, and the reactions (or lack thereof) of yaoi fans to claims of antigay discrimination are a fascinating example of this axis at work.

Acknowledgment

[16] Translated by Nele Noppe.

Notes

1. I use yaoi as a general term for works about male-male romance that are aimed at a female audience. Such works can also be divided into yaoi (fan works) and boys' love (commercial works), but I use yaoi to describe both.

2. Fujoshi means "rotten girl." The word is a self-deprecating expression that refers to the practice of imagining male-male relationships where none exist in the source works. Fujoshi used to refer only to women who created and enjoyed fan works, but these days, readers of commercial boys' love are also called fujoshi.

3. Examples include Moto Hagio's November Gymnasium (1971), The Poe Family (serialized from 1972), and The Heart of Thomas (serialized from 1974), and Keiko Takemiya's Song of Wind and Trees (serialized from 1976).

4. Examples of gay-themed films include Another Country (dir. Marek Kanievska, 1984) and Maurice (dir. James Ivory, 1987). Examples of gay-themed novels include A Boy's Own Story (Edmund White, 1982) and Valley of the Shadow (Christopher Davis, 1988).

5. This feminist zine, Yaoi ronso gohon (CHOISIR 1994a, 1994b), is privately published and is now out of print. See Hori (2010) for a detailed account of the discussion contained within it.

6. Okama, a slang term for homosexual, literally means "pot," and okoge means "burned rice," which sticks to the bottom of a pot.

Hori, Akiko. 2013. "On the Response (Or Lack Thereof) of Japanese Fans to Criticism that Yaoi Is Antigay Discrimination." In "Transnational Boys' Love Fan Studies," edited by Kazumi Nagaike and Katsuhiko Suganuma, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 12. doi:10.3983/twc.2013.0463.

Works cited

CHOISIR, ed. 1994a. Yaoi ronso gohon 1 [Yaoi dispute collection, volume 1]. Zine. Privately published.

CHOISIR, ed. 1994b. Yaoi ronso gohon 2 [Yaoi dispute collection, volume 2]. Zine. Privately published.

Hori, Akiko. 2009. Yokubo no kodo: Manga ni miru sekushuariti no danjosa [Codes of desire: Differences between male and female sexuality as seen in manga]. Kyoto: Rinsen Book Co.

Hori, Akiko. 2010. "Yaoi wa gei sabetsu ka? Manga hyogen to tashaka" [Does yaoi discriminate against gay men? Manga portrayals and the creation of others]. In Sabetsu to haijo no ima 6: Sekushuariti no tayosei to haijo, edited by Yoshii Hiroaki, 21-54. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten.

Ishida, Hitoshi. 2007. "'Hottoite kudasai' to iu hyomei wo megutte: Yaoi/BL no jiritsusei to hyosho no oudatsu" [About the expression "Leave us alone": The misappropriation of yaoi/BL (boys' love) autonomy and symbols]. Eureka 39 (16): 114-23.

Nakajima, Azusa. 1991. Komyunikeshon fuzen shoko gun [People suffering from imperfect communication]. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo.

~~~~~~~~ By Akiko Hori, Kyoto, Japan

[ecargmura]

Hirogaru Sky! Precure Episode 36 Review - The Greatest Nursery School Teacher

This episode is an Ageha-related episode and it’s actually quite essential to her development and character. Throughout the show, she always professed to want to be the greatest nursery school teacher. What “greatest” meant was never elaborated until now and why she wants to be the “greatest” is actually handled well! It’s the best Ageha episode by far!

What Ageha means by the “greatest” nursery school teacher is just to be the best teacher she can. She was influenced by a nursery school teacher she once had. During Episode 28, Ageha was revealed to have divorced parents and it was revealed that the divorce had affected her emotionally during that time. Had it not been for her nursery school teacher at the time cheering her up with kind words and demeanor, she wouldn’t have recovered. That experience was what caused her to become like her idol. I think this was super well-written. Sometimes, dreams come to be when you meet someone you admire. It’s like how Sora wanted to be a hero after Captain Shalala rescued her in the past.

Like with Sora, a person’s heart wavers. This episode showcased the wavering aspects of Ageha’s character and goal. She’s always seen as confident and cheerful. However, throughout this episode, Ageha is vulnerable, frustrated and helpless over a situation regarding her favorite student Takeru. Since his debut in Episode 18, Takeru has become quite a caring child. He cares for the other children and plays with them too. However, Takeru’s family decided to move—a situation he cannot control. Because of this, Takeru becomes sullen for days and Ageha, his favorite teacher, is unable to do anything about it. No matter what she says or does, his mood never gets better and this stresses Ageha out. It feels like a mirror of Ageha’s situation, only that Takeru’s situation involves moving away and not dealing with a divorce. Fortunately, everything gets resolved at the end and it turns out that Ageha’s source of inspiration happened to be Takeru’s grandmother! What a coincidence!

What I find interesting is that Tsubasa of all characters is the one encouraging her. After their troubling start in Episode 11 and them finally communicating well in Episode 19, Tsubasa makes an effort to be the one to encourage and support her. I do like the role reversal. Ageha has always been the one to encourage and support others, whether it be for Mashiro during Episode 4 or Tsubasa in Episode 19, so to see her being on the receiving end this time around makes it really nice to see. Ageha can’t always be the one with the most wisdom of the five Precures. She’s only 18, so it’s normal that she’s flawed and lacks power to control a situation she cannot control. I’m glad that his words were the catalyst for her mood to get better and for her to find a way to soothe Takeru.

The opening has changed from Minoton to Skearhead now. However, I do notice that Skearhead is behaving a bit passively compared to the previous villains. It’s as if he’s trying to calculate something. I can foresee something very dangerous looming in the future. I can tell that despite Skearhead is now the new recurring villain, he is to be taken seriously because of his demeanor. Like, he was smart enough to go after just Ageha in this episode.

Speaking of which, the animation in this episode was rather amazing. The action scenes were rather high quality compared to previous episodes. Like the way Butterfly moved was fluid. The way she also used the palette to summon butterflies was also animated well. I do wonder why they chose to have high quality animation for this episode. Are they Butterfly-biased?

I apologize if this review got a bit too analytical. Anyways, I’m a bit confused after watching the preview for next week’s episode. Since Episode 34 was a Mashiro episode, 35 being a Sora one and this episode being an Ageha one, I thought next episode would be a Tsubasa one, but it seems to be focused more on Mashiro and Ageha. I’m a bit disappointed honestly. Are they not going to give Tsubasa any more focus now? I just hope that he gets a focus episode this month. What are your thoughts about this episode?

[darkershining]

DarkerShining's thoughts on Pretty Cure: Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure

Hey everyone! It's time for me to share my thoughts on Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure.

The story begins on the birthday of Skyland's princess, Ellee. However, the infant princess is kidnapped by a purple pig man named Kabaton, working with the Undergu Empire. Sora, a Skylandian girl who had just arrived in the town with the intent of joining the Azure Guard, sees what is happening and rushes in to try to save Ellee. During their chase, Sora and Ellee wind up falling through a portal to Sorashido City, where they meet a girl named Mashiro. Kabaton chases after them, and as Sora explains her wish to be a hero, Ellee grants Sora the power to become Cure Sky, allowing her to fight off Kabaton.

Mashiro takes Sora and Ellee back to her place, where they soon learn that Mashiro's grandmother Yoyo used to live in Skyland, and she allows Sora and Ellee to stay with them until a way to open a portal back to Skyland is prepared. Along the way, Mashiro becomes a Pretty Cure herself, fighting alongside Cure Sky as Cure Prism. They are later joined by Tsubasa, a bird-like fairy who can take on human form, who becomes Cure Wing, and Ageha, a childhood friend of Mashiro who is working towards becoming a nursery school teacher, who becomes Cure Butterfly.

Together, they protect Ellee, discover what it truly means to be a hero and try to uncover what caused the conflict between Skyland and the Undergu Empire.

And with the basic summary out of the way, there'll be spoilers for the entire series under the "Read More".

(Previous parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)

Sora Harewataru/Cure Sky

Our lead Cure for the season. Since this season tries to mix up the usual formula a bit, we have a blue Cure instead of a pink one as the leader. In addition to this, Sora is a native of Skyland rather than Earth like most previous lead Cures. She is quickly established to be an athletic girl with ambitions of becoming a hero, rushing in to save Ellee from Kabaton. We later learn that Sora's desire to be a hero stems from an incident in her childhood, where she was rescued by Captain Shalala of the Azure Guard, inspiring her to become a hero herself someday. Sora was initially on her way to the town to apply to join the Azure Guard, but while trying to save Ellee, ended up getting sent to Sorashido City.

Sora writes down the things she learns about being a hero in a notebook, her initial notebook getting torn up by Kabaton shortly before first becoming Cure Sky, before Mashiro gets her a new one while showing Sora around the city. Since Sora didn't have a lot of friends when she was younger because she spent so much time developing her athletic skills to become a hero, Sora ends up becoming quite attached to Mashiro. Sora also has difficulty at times opening up about her feelings, keeping things to and trying to figure it out herself in attempts to not worry her teammates. When Mashiro becomes Cure Prism, Sora is initially reluctant to let her join the fight out of fear she'll get hurt, but Mashiro/Cure Prism eventually manages to get through to her that they can work off of each other and support each other in battle.

Sora also has a tendency to occasionally rush in without thinking, which a few of the villains take advantage of to lure her into traps. She's also not that good at keeping Skyland a secret from her classmates or others who don't already know about it, often requiring Mashiro's help to maintain her cover story. Over the course of the series, Sora often struggles to find the answers to what it truly means to be a hero. Over the course of the show, she gradually discovers the strength within herself, and how much she can accomplish with the support of her friends and allies.

I like Sora. She's a fun protagonist, and it's nice to see them experiment by having the lead Cure not be from Earth for once, as well as having her be one of the rare non-pink lead Cures. I really like her designs both in civilian form and her Cure form. I particularly like her Cure form's color scheme and the blue cape thing on her left shoulder and how it resembles Captain Shalala's cape. She's pretty cool, and I think her character arc is pretty good.

----------------------------

Mashiro Nijigaoka/Cure Prism

Next, let's talk about Mashiro, the first person that Sora meets upon arriving in Sorashido City. Mashiro is out on an errand for her grandmother, Yoyo, when Sora and Ellee fall out of the sky. Both Mashiro and Sora initially wonder if their encounter is a dream, until Kabaton arrives. After Sora becomes Cure Sky and fights off the Ranborg that Kabaton summoned, Mashiro decides to bring Sora and Ellee back to her place since they don't really know where else to go. Yoyo has no issue with them staying over, having secretly found out about their arrival through her Mirror Pad.

Over the next few days, Mashiro learns that Yoyo originally came from Skyland, making Mashiro 1/4-Skylandian. Mashiro and Sora bond as Mashiro helps Sora out, showing her around the city and helping her pick out some new clothes to help her fit in around Sorashido. Mashiro grows to admire Sora for her courage, while Sora appreciates Mashiro's kindness. When Kabaton manages to lure Sora into a trap and prevent her from transforming, he also picks on Mashiro's insecurities, but thanks to her friend Ageha's encouragement, Mashiro is able to find her own resolve and with Ellee granting her the power, Mashiro becomes Cure Prism and is able to save Sora.

However, Sora is initially reluctant to let Mashiro join her, having nightmares about Mashiro/Cure Prism potentially getting hurt in battle. However, after Cure Prism confronts her about it and gets her to open up about how she hasn't really had any close friends until meeting Mashiro, she manages to reason with Cure Sky, pointing out they both want to protect each other and so they'll be stronger by fighting together. This also grants them the ability to use the Updraft Shining finishing move together.

As the series continues, Mashiro tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life and who she wants to be. As her friends encourage her to try new things, she discovers new sides to herself and she is eventually inspired to start writing picture books to help teach Ellee concepts such as sharing and the joy of making new friends. As she gradually becomes more confident, she also comes to realize that her kindness remains her greatest strength.

I really like Mashiro. She's such a sweet girl, and I like how they sort of made her the audience surrogate, but still manage to give her a fairly solid character arc, realizing that everyone has different strengths and coming to understand what her strengths are. Her design is really nice, and I particularly like how certain elements of Cure Prism's outfit are sort of a match with Cure Sky's outfit, having touches of pink and blue in it much like Cure Sky's has touches of white and pink. Also, it's been a while since we had a Cure with white as her theme color, so that's nice too. And as someone who likes to write myself, I also naturally got invested with Mashiro's arc involving her discovering her interest in making picture books.

----------------------------

Tsubasa Yuunagi/Cure Wing

The third Cure to join the party is Tsubasa, who while not the first male Cure seen in the franchise, is the first male Cure to be part of the main team. He's actually a member of the Puni Bird tribe, a type of bird-like fairy from Skyland that long ago traded their ability to fly for the ability to shapeshift into human form. However, one day, Tsubasa's father managed to temporarily regain the ability to fly in order to save his son from falling out of the sky. Ever since that day, Tsubasa gained an interest in figuring out a way to fly himself, but the other Puni birds had no faith in him and his father couldn't figure out how he managed to fly that one time.

Eventually, during one of his failed attempts to achieve flight during a storm, Tsubasa wound up falling into an opening leading to Sorashido Town, where Yoyo found him and brought him home. Thanks to the Mirror Pad, Tsubasa was able to stay in touch with his family back home, but he chose to remain in Sorashido for the time being in order to study aerodynamics and air planes in hopes of getting closer to achieving his dream of flying. He and Yoyo also developed a close friendship during this time.

When Sora and Ellee move in, Tsubasa befriends the young princess in secret, until Sora accidentally spots him and mistakes him for an intruder. Even after Yoyo explains the situation, it takes a bit longer for Sora to warm up to having him around Ellee until the two spend a day babysitting her together, during which he opens up to her about his reasons for staying in Sorashido, leading Sora to realize they some things in common when it comes to pursuing their dreams.

When a Ranborg starts attacking the city, Sora and Mashiro leave Ellee in Tsubasa's care while they go to deal with the situation. However, Ellee decides to follow the Cures, so Tsubasa has to chase after her. By the time Tsubasa catches up to her, Kabaton has noticed Ellee's presence and is trying to capture her. Ellee refuses to leave Tsubasa behind and save herself, leading to both of them getting captured by the Ranborg. Kabaton tries to throw him off the Ranborg, but using Ellee's flying cradle to stop his fall, he manages to get back inside and has to figure out what to do next.

Waiting for the right moment, Tsubasa manages to take Ellee back from Kabaton while he's distracted asking the Empress about his reward for bringing Ellee to the Undergu Empire. Once they make it outside, Tsubasa once again tries urging Ellee to go on without him, but she refuses. Ellee's flying cradle can't fly well with both of their weights, so Tsubasa tries letting go so Ellee can get away, but she catches him with her powers. As Kabaton attempts to capture her once more, Tsubasa's wish to protect Ellee causes a new Mirage Pen to begin forming, with Kabaton rushing to catch Ellee before Tsubasa can gain the ability to transform into a Pretty Cure.

Luckily, Cure Sky and Cure Prism, having been having trouble reaching the Ranborg due to it being so high up, manage to interfere, allowing Ellee to grant Tsubasa the power to become Cure Wing. Gaining the power of flight in his new form, Cure Wing finally achieves his dream of flying, and is able to take down the Ranborg.

After becoming a Cure, Tsubasa dedicates himself to protecting Ellee and starts looking for a new goal to pursue, eventually discovering ways he can use his knowledge to aid Skyland with the help of Yoyo and the other Cures.

I really like Tsubasa. For starters, it's cool to have a male Cure who is part of the main team. I like his dorky personality, being really intelligent and kind, trying his best to look good as Ellee's knight and yet often getting easily flustered when praised for his skills. I like his various designs too, as a cute chubby little bird, as a human and as Cure Wing, him also being one of the rare orange Cures in the franchise.

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Ageha Hijiri/Cure Butterfly

Next is Ageha, an old childhood friend of Mashiro. We first meet her when she stops by for a visit while in Sorashido City to apply to be a student teacher at a kindergarden. Over the course of the series, we get the details on Ageha's backstory, and how her parents divorced, with Ageha being split up from her sisters when her mother took custody of her while her father took custody of the sisters. When Ageha's mother then got a new job and had to move away, Ageha didn't want to be separated from Mashiro as well, and tried to run away, but Mashiro managed to make her feel better simply through being her kind self.

After meeting Sora and Ellee, Ageha soon learns about the Pretty Cure when Kabaton attacks and captures Sora, preventing her from transforming. When Kabaton makes Mashiro doubt herself, Ageha manages to snap Mashiro out of it by reminding her of how she tried to put on a brave face for Ageha when she was about to move away despite not wanting her to leave either. By helping Mashiro realize the strength of her kindness, Ageha helped Mashiro become Cure Prism so that she could help Sora.

Ageha continues making visits to the Cures, helping cheer up Sora while Mashiro is at school and giving her advice on what to say to her when she returns, leading to Sora deciding to attend school with Mashiro, and later befriending Tsubasa after he joins the team. Ageha is generally a cheerful and energetic young woman, but sometimes she also puts on a smile to hide her worries, which the other Cures start catching on to.

When Battamonda attacks the kindergarden Ageha is working at, Ageha ends up becoming Cure Butterfly when the other three Cures are trapped and unable to fight, and Cure Butterfly uses her newfound power to protect the others with her butterfly-shaped barriers. During this battle, one of the children at the kindergarden, a young boy named Takeru, ends up witnessing Ageha becoming a Cure, the two becoming closer as he agrees to keep her secret.

After becoming a Cure, Ageha ends up moving in with Mashiro and the others to make it easier for everyone involved. She continues to act as an older sister figure towards the other Cures and working towards her goal of becoming the best nursery school teacher, often putting her knowledge to good use when it comes to understanding what Ellee might be thinking.

I really like Ageha. While not the oldest Cure seen in the series, she is at the age of 18 the oldest to be part of the main team of Cures, being one year older than Yuri Tsukikage from HeartCatch Pretty Cure. (while Cure Earth from Healin' Good may be physically 20, she was basically born partway into that series.) I like her energetic personality, that she's good with kids and how well she plays into her older sister-like role among the Cures, usually having the intuition to know what she needs to do to get them to find ways to solve their problems. Her design is great, and it's cool to have a pink Cure who isn't the leader of the team for once. I also like how well her backstory explains why she is the way she is, having been inspired to become a nursery school teacher thanks to the kind teacher who looked out for her during her time in kindergarden after she had to move away from her sisters and Mashiro.

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Ellee/Cure Majesty

And for the final member of the team, we have the adorable mascot herself, Princess Ellee. After being kidnapped by Kabaton and rescued by Sora, she is able to grant the Cures their powers, in the same way it was believed that one of the past princesses of Skyland did for the Legendary Cure. Since they can't return to Skyland right away due to Yoyo lacking the necessary ingredients to open a portal, Sora, Mashiro, Yoyo, and later Tsubasa and Ageha end up looking after Ellee. The Cures are at least able to make contact with Ellee's parents via the Mirror Pad to let them know Ellee is safe.

While Ellee is scared of the Undergu Empire's generals, she also proves to be protective of her friends, refusing to let Tsubasa sacrifice himself for her sake and using her powers to save him during Kabaton's attempt to capture her with the drone Ranborg. While Ellee is generally a friendly toddler, she can have occasional moments of selfishness and is shown to be somewhat picky when it comes to picking out new clothes for her.

After the Cures save the King and Queen after they were rendered comatose from one of Battamonda's attacks, the Cures learn from them that Ellee isn't actually their biological daughter. She was born from the Morning Star shining over Skyland, which delivered her to them while telling them of a prophecy that Ellee's power would be needed to protect Skyland from a certain threat in the future. After revealing this, the King and Queen request that the Cures continue to look after Ellee until she has fullfilled the prophecy and saved Skyland.

When Skearhead eventually makes his first move, he nearly succeeds in bringing Ellee to the Empress, dropping her off in the Undergu Realm while going to finish off the rest of the Cures to prevent them from chasing after her. However, as she watches the battle take place, her desire to save her foster family allows Ellee to escape on her own, granting herself the ability to take on an older form and become a Pretty Cure herself, Cure Majesty.

After her initial transformation, it takes Ellee a bit longer to figure out how to make it happen again. But once Ellee recalls her desire to protect her loved ones, she manages to gain her own Mirage Pen, allowing her to transform into Cure Majesty once more and join the team. Shortly after gaining the power to become Cure Majesty, the Cures are summoned to Skyland to investigate a mysterious ruin that appeared. Ellee is able to guide the others to where the Majestic Chroniclon is. However, while fighting a mind-controlled Minoton, the Cures can't activate the Majestic Chroniclon due to Cure Prism still having some reservations about letting Ellee fight alongside them. After she and Cure Majesty talk it out, they manage to unlock the Majestic Chroniclon's power and purify Minoton.

Towards the end of the series, Ellee gains the ability to take on her teenaged form even when not transformed into Cure Majesty, after Elleelain decides to pass on the remainder of her power to her as a Christmas present of sorts. This also allows her to use Cure Noble's finishing move "Magic Hour's End" as Cure Majesty along with a general power boost.

Ellee is adorable! I'd say she's probably one of the cutest baby characters we've had in the franchise so far. It took me a while to piece together that she'd be the fifth Cure, but once I put together the pieces, namely that the name of the fifth Cure was Cure Majesty, along with the theme colors of each Cure this season being based on the sky at different times of day, meaning the fifth Cure would most likely be a purple one, I realized it had to be Ellee. I like the design of her older form as well, and she looks good as Cure Majesty. I particularly like the little touch of her skirt having images of the Morning Star on it.

Ellee is also one of the youngest Cures in the franchise, being a toddler who can transform into a Pretty Cure. She's not the youngest Cure in the franchise, however, since there are a few other Cures who like her were born under mystical circumstances, and while they are physically older than Ellee, they're still technically younger than her, such as Aguri Madoka from Doki Doki Pretty Cure (physically nine, was born shortly before the events of that series) and Asumi Fuurin from Healin' Good Pretty Cure (as mentioned earlier, physically twenty, but was actually born during the events of Healin' Good).

I like how while she is mostly a sweetheart, she does have those moments of selfishness and stubborness, reminding us that while she may be quite intelligent for her age in some aspects, she's still a toddler who may act up at times due to not knowing any better.

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Princess Elleelain/Cure Noble

There's one more Cure to discuss before I move on to the next category, since I feel it makes the most sense to include her here. Namely, the Legendary Pretty Cure, Cure Noble. When the Cures initially learn of her, they are lead to believe that one of the past princesses of Skyland granted someone the power to become a Pretty Cure, much like Ellee did for them. However, when the power of the Majestic Chroniclon gives Sora, Mashiro and Ellee a look into the battle between Skyland and the Undergu Empire 300 years ago, they discover that the princess and the Legendary Cure were in fact the same person.

While in the past, Ellee ends up coming across Elleelain while briefly wandering away from Sora and Mashiro, before the two catch up to her. After meeting Elleelain and realizing what has happened, the two decide to explain the situation to her and what will happen in the future. While Elleelain finds certain aspects of their story to be difficult to believe, she chooses to trust them and lets them stay the night at her castle.

When the Undergu Empire lead by the Undergu Emperor attacks the town, Sora, Mashiro and Ellee help out evacuating the people of the town despite not being able to transform into their Pretty Cure forms while in the past. As Elleelain prays for a hero to arrive, she becomes Cure Noble. With her new powers, she is able to fight off the Ranborgs invading the town, with Sora, Mashiro and Ellee continuing to assist her.

Eventually, she meets Empress Undergu and saves her from a pair of shady birds harrassing her. After the Empress reveals her identity to her, Elleelain decides to hear her out, learning how the Empress has grown to dislike fighting. Agreeing with her that strength isn't everything, the two decide to figure out a way to resolve the conflict peacefully, with Elleelain relaying this information to Sora, Mashiro and Ellee. She makes plans to meet with the Undergu Emperor and try to talk things out.

However, during the meeting, the Emperor reveals he had no intention of backing down peacefully, as Skearhead releases a bunch of Ranborgs into town. Enraged, Elleelain transforms into Cure Noble and a fight breaks out between her and the Emperor. The fight continues, until the Empress, having been trapped in a forcefield to keep her from getting caught up in the fight, breaks free and blocks Cure Noble's attack on her father.

Cure Noble is horrified when she sees what she has done, but she manages to help the Emperor find a way to save his daughter. With this, Skyland and the Undergu Empire declare peace. However, the friendship between Elleelain and the Empress doesn't last long, as sometime after Elleelain's birthday, the Undergu Empire suddenly cut off all contact with Skyland, with Elleelain not knowing what happened.

Many years later, towards the end of her life, Elleelain decided to leave behind her power with the Majestic Chroniclon to aid the Cures in the future, likely remembering the warning from Sora, Mashiro and Ellee, and knowing they would need its power. After her death, Elleelain's spirit became the Morning Star, watching over Skyland. Eventually, she would send Ellee to the King and Queen of Skyland, sensing that her power to protect Skyland would be needed soon.

Finally, Elleelain's spirit decides to pay Ellee a visit during Christmas to grant her the remainder of her power, before finally deciding to move on and entrusting Ellee and the other Cures with finding a way to resolve the conflict. After saying her good byes, the Morning Star disappears as Elleelain's spirit moves on.

While we only really got to know her for a few episodes, I really like Elleelain. I like how while she looks similar to Ellee, who is essentially her daughter, there are some differences in their designs. I think Cure Noble's design is really cool as well, and again, I like how it's different from Cure Majesty's design.

I think the reveal of Elleelain herself being both the Legendary Pretty Cure herself and the Morning Star was well-executed. And while she does only appear in a few episodes, she's one of the most important characters in the story, considering the stable time loop caused by Sora, Mashiro and Ellee going back in time allows Elleelain to ensure that the Pretty Cures will be around to protect Skyland in the future.

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The Villains

Since Ellee is the mascot of the season, and I've already talked about her, I guess we can just move straight on to talking about the villains. This time around, our villains are from a place known as the Undergu Empire, a realm in which strength is everything.

The first villain we're introduced to is Kabaton, a vulgar and greedy purple pig-like man. He tends to employ dirty tricks when it comes to his plans and his fights, whether it's using his farts to momentarily stun/distract enemies or trying to disguise himself to get closer to his targets. He kidnaps Ellee on orders of Empress Undergu, but thanks to Sora's intervention, he's unable to bring her back to the Undergu Empire.

He continues trying to kidnap Ellee, often disguising himself (poorly) to try to get close to the Cures. Despite repeatedly being defeated by them, he still refuses to acknowledge the Cures' strength. Shortly after Cure Wing joins the team, the Empress loses her patience with Kabaton, giving him one last chance to capture Ellee. He challenges Cure Sky to a one-on-one battle, promising to give up on kidnapping Ellee if she wins. Of course, Cure Sky does win, but Kabaton goes back on his word and makes one last attempt to capture Ellee. Failing once more, the Empress prepares to have him eliminated via lightning strike, but Cure Sky intervenes, saving his life. Kabaton finally acknowledges the Cures' strength after this, and resolves to make a new life for himself in Sorashido City.

We eventually find out he moved into an apartment, and took on a few different jobs, including running a sweet potato stand and working the night shift somewhere.

Kabaton is an okay starter villain. Nothing too special, but he does come up with a couple of clever plans that mainly fail due to Cure Prism and Cure Wing gaining their powers. He also does get a few funny moments, particularly when the Cures after a few episodes of dealing with him start treating him as more of a minor annoyance than anything else.

The next villain we are introduced to is Battamonda, a more humanoid member of the Undergu Empire with a bit of a grasshopper motif. He tries to come across as calm and collected, but when things don't go according to plan, he'll quickly lose his composure. He is also quick to establish himself as more dangerous than Kabaton, creating a giant Ranborg-bomb that threatens to spread Undergu energy all over the city in Skyland, putting the King and the Queen of Skyland into a coma, and the bomb-Ranborg nearly killing Captain Shalala of the Azure Guard, who Battamonda then goes on to trap inside of another Ranborg.

Over the course of his confrontations with the Cures, his goal seems to go from kidnapping Ellee to getting back at the Cures for outsmarting him and such. When he reveals to Cure Sky what he has done to Shalala, he manages to break her spirit to the point where Sora loses the ability to transform. However, once Sora regains the will to fight, the Cures are able to put a stop to his plan and rescue Shalala.

Battamonda disappears from the plot for a few episodes after this, but we soon learn that he went into hiding in Sorashido City to avoid the wrath of the Empress, taking on a human form. We find out he's living in an apartment, in the same building as Kabaton in fact, and he's trying his best to make ends meet. While he tries putting on a pleasant persona in public, we see his inner thoughts that he secretly looks upon everyone with disdain and he still wants revenge on the Cures.

When he happens to encounter them again, he tries approaching Mashiro in his human form, pretending to be an art student named Monda. He plots to ruin her confidence in her ambition to be a picture book writer, but ends up unwittingly giving her actual useful advice, helping her realize that not everyone is going to like her stories, and that that's okay. As he interacts more with Mashiro, we gradually learn how Battamonda's life was back in the Undergu Empire, and how he was looked down on since he's not as strong as Minoton or Skearhead, which clearly took a toll on his self-esteem and made him grow bitter. Mashiro's empathy and kindness gradually starts getting to him, even if he won't admit it.

Eventually, due to Skearhead tracking him down and putting pressure on him, he reveals the truth to Mashiro and steals her Mirage Pen after tearing up a picture book she wanted his opinion on. While Mashiro is initially hurt by the revelation, she can tell that not everything Battamonda told her as Monda was a lie. When the Cures later confront Battamonda again, he informs them he doesn't have Mashiro's Mirage Pen on him due to Skearhead taking it from him. Battamonda is reluctant to use the Undergu energy that Skearhead offered him, knowing it'll turn him into a mindless beast. However, when Skearhead shows up again, he pressures Battamonda into accepting it, turning into a monster.

Mashiro refuses to back down, having had a conversation with the other Cures earlier that has strengthened her resolve and made her realize that only she can decide her own self-worth. Mashiro's words seem to get through to Battamonda, who tired of being bossed around by Skearhead, manages to regain his sanity long enough to turn on him and get Mashiro's Mirage Pen back before the Undergu energy overwhelms him once more.

During the fight, Cure Prism is able to unlock a new power, Prism Shine, which allows her to get through to Battamonda so the Cures can purify him. After the Cures rescue him, Battamonda decides to start making an effort to become a better person and apologizes to Mashiro for tearing apart the picture book she showed him earlier.

I really like what they did with Battamonda. He starts out establishing himself as a much bigger threat then Kabaton was, threatening all of Skyland, putting the king and queen into a coma and nearly killing Shalala and turning her into a Ranborg. However, once Shalala has been rescued, Battamonda goes into hiding and the next time we see him, we see how far he's fallen after losing his place in the Undergu Empire, with his next few schemes simply consisting of trying to make Mashiro lose confidence in her picture book writing and trying to ruin the Cures' reputation by dressing up as one for Halloween and going around stealing everyone's Halloween candy. And not only do his schemes fail, but in the former case, he ends up achieving the opposite of what he intended to do since he ended up actually giving Mashiro some decent advice.

I also like how they handle his redemption arc after he reaches his low point, where we can see that Mashiro's kindness is starting to get to him, but he continues to deny it, needing a lot more convincing to finally put the past behind him and work towards improving himself. And I do like his designs.

The next villain we meet is Minoton, a strong bull-like man who spends a lot of time training. It is quickly established that he's quite different from the previous villains once he gets into his first fight with the Cures, as Minoton actually has a code of honor, actually protecting Ellee from his own Ranborg, since he wants a fair fight against the Cures before he takes the princess. He's also the only one of the villains who is willing to give innocent civilians nearby time to get to safety. He does also seem to have a tendency to jump to conclusions, such as assuming the Cures went to an airport to try to escape him, when they were in fact there to wait for Mashiro's parents to arrive.

However, the Empress' patience is starting to run out, so after a few episodes, she has Minoton forcefully sent back to the Undergu Empire and sends Skearhead out to deal with the Cures. The next time we see Minoton, we discover that Skearhead had him turned into a Ranborg. Under Skearhead's control, he's no longer abiding by his code of honor. The Cures manage to purify him, only for Skearhead to drag him off and turn him back into a Ranborg later.

The second time the Cures fight Ranborg!Minoton, he keeps infusing himself with more Undergu energy, in a process that seems quite unpleasant for him. Thankfully, the Cures are able to save him for real this time using the power granted to them by the Majestic Chroniclon, and the Cures part way with Minoton on good terms, with him acknowleding their strength.

As you might know, I tend to like the villains in Pretty Cure who have their own code of honor, and Minoton is no exception. After the two villains before him, its sort of refreshing to have a villain who isn't just a jerk. Plus, with the Undergu Empire's focus on strength, I feel it makes perfect sense for there to be at least one member who is like him. I like Minoton's design too.

Now, let's talk about the Empress herself. She's the one in charge of the Undergu Empire, and towards the end of the show, we discover that she used to be quite a sweet person in the past. During the conflict between the Undergu Empire 300 years ago, she grew disillusioned from watching the battles take place, noting how the fighting only seemed to make people miserable and starting to feel like the belief of strength being everything was wrong.

After meeting Elleelain, who shares her views, the two plan to find a way to put a stop to the fighting. However, when the Emperor (likely having been talked into it by Skearhead) launches an attack on the town, a battle breaks out between him and Cure Noble, while the Empress can only watch after her father traps her in a forcefield to keep her safe. Despite not being as strong as her father, the Empress, not wanting either him or Elleelain to get hurt, manages to free herself from the forcefield and interfere in the battle, taking a hit from Cure Noble meant for her father.

Wounded, the Empress notes with relief that if she was able to pull this off despite her lack of strength, then maybe she was right about strength not being everything after all. Wanting to save her, Cure Noble manages to help the Emperor work out a way to use the Undergu energy to close his daughter's wound. Thanks to the Empress' actions, Skyland and the Undergu Empire decided to declare peace.

Unfortunately, it would not last. Sometime after Elleelain's birthday, while the Empress and the Emperor were discussing what the Undergu Empire should believe in now that they've put the idea of strength being everything behind them, Skearhead, still believing in it, snuck up behind them and fatally stabbed the Emperor with an energy lance in front the Empress. Skearhead then used a device to manipulate the traumatized Empress' memories, leading her to believe that it was Cure Noble who killed her father and thus starting up the conflict between Skyland the Undergu Empire once more.

The Empress spends most of the series in the Undergu realm, leaving most of the heavy work to her minions, which may be partially due to her old wound being at risk of opening if she were to battle herself. She is also willing to punish the others for their repeated failures, with the exception of Skearhead, her tutor. However, after the other three villains quit, she doesn't try to do anything else to them.

Eventually, the Empress does decide to confront the Cures herself, threatening to send an army of Ranborgs into Ellee's hometown. Sora, Mashiro and Ellee learn about the Empress' past from the Majestic Chroniclon up until the point where Skyland and the Undergu Empire declared peace, leaving them wondering what happened after that. The Empress isn't in the mood to tell them, however. After a fight breaks out, the Empress' old wound opens up, so Skearhead takes her back to the Undergu Empire to recover.

After Skearhead is seemingly killed in his next battle with the Cures, the furious Empress breaks out of the device Skearhead put her in to speed up her recovery and goes to confront them once more. She tells them why she's doing this, with the Cures realizing something must be wrong since her version of what happened doesn't match up with what they heard from Princess Elleelain's spirit. The Empress takes the Undergu energy into her body, giving the Cures' their most difficult challenge yet as they have to find a way to bring her back to her senses and protect the city, splitting into two groups to accomplish this.

They finally do manage to get through to her, but before they can talk, Skearhead suddenly stabs the Empress with his energy spear. As another fight breaks out between the Cures and Skearhead, the Empress manages to recall her repressed memory of what really happened to her father. Skearhead admits the truth, revealing that he never truly cared about her, and was only invested in her potential as a vessel for the Undergu energy. The Empress is nearly broken at this revelation, being left wondering if there's even anything left for her to believe in. However, the Cures refuse to give up on her.

Skearhead drags the Empress back to the Undergu Realm in order to lure in the Cures with the intent of making Cure Sky into his new vessel. As Cure Sky and Cure Prism reach her, the Empress attempts to warn them about Skearhead's plan, but he interrupts her. She watches the battle between them unfold, until Cure Prism helps Cure Sky overcome the Undergu energy and even heal the Empress' wound from Skearhead's attack in the process. As the other Cures catch up to them, Skearhead makes one last attempt to possess the Empress, but now knowing his true colors, she rejects him immediately.

I really like the Empress. She has a cool design, and her past self is adorable. The glimpses we get of her throughout the series certainly make her seem intimidating, but once we learn her story, we realize she's not the true villain. Poor girl was manipulated by Skearhead into believing someone she had befriended ended up betraying her and killing her father, basically brainwashing her into becoming a ruthless ruler all for the sake of making her into the perfect vessel.

So it's really satisfying when she rejects Skearhead's final attempt to use her as a vessel, and seeing her find something new to believe in by accepting the Cures' offer of friendship, along with the other three former villains deciding to stay by her side to reform the Undergu Empire.

And then there's Skearhead, who initially appears to be the second-in-command to the Empress. He's much more stoic compared to the previous three villains, and is quickly established to be the strongest of them all. He claims to do what he does because he cares about the Empress, and refuses to elaborate when the Cures try to get more answers about the conflict between the Undergu Empire and Skyland out of him.

The truth, however, is that Skearhead is the embodiment of the Undergu energy itself. He originally manipulated the Emperor into attacking Skyland, and also acted as a tutor to the Empress. His true motive was to find a suitable vessel for his energy, having initially planned to use the Emperor, before deciding the Empress' heroic act during the duel between the Emperor and Cure Noble would make her the best vessel. To ensure that she'd become his ideal vessel, he killed the Emperor and rewrote the Empress' memories to make her believe Cure Noble did it. He even goes as far as fake his own death in battle against the Cures towards the end of the series.

When the Cures manage to bring the Empress back to her senses, he reveals himself to still be alive by literally stabbing the Empress in the back. Declaring her a failure, he soon sets his sight on Cure Sky as his next potential vessel. Dragging the Empress back to the Undergu Empire, he explains his plan to her as he waits for the Cures to come after him to rescue the Empress.

With Cure Wing and Cure Butterfly, and later Cure Majesty splitting off from the rest of the group to deal with threats along the way, Cure Sky and Cure Prism reach the deeper parts of the Undergu Empire where Skearhead awaits them. Having fought him enough times to know his usual strategies, the two initially seem to handle the situation well, but they soon begin to grow weaker as a result of the strong concentrations of Undergu energy in the depths.

Taking this oppurtunity, Skearhead threatens to throw Cure Prism into the abyss, telling Cure Sky she might be able to save her if she accepts the Undergu energy. He temporarily succeeds in turning Cure Sky into a darker version of herself, taking control of her body. However, his plan falls apart when he tries to have her attack Cure Prism, as the bond between them is strong enough to let Cure Sky regain control of herself, allowing Cure Prism to return her to normal and force Skearhead out of her body.

As the rest of the Cures arrive, and begin to overpower him as he takes on his dark serpent-like form, he makes one last attempt to possess the Empress, only for her to reject him. In desperation, he flees to Sorashido, with the Cures soon following. The Cures tell Skearhead he won't find another vessel, and together they finally defeat him, after which he disappears to an unknown fate.

Yeah, Skearhead's the true main villain of this series, and I think he does it pretty well. I've noticed some interesting paralells between him and Butler from Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure. Both of them are seemingly working for a female villain, but are secretly manipulating them and the other villains for their own agenda. However, while Butler actually did care about the Witch of Destruction despite taking advantage of her failing memory to try to get her to fullfill her original goal that she abandoned a long time ago, Skearhead on the other hand only saw the Empress as a means to an end and only pretended to care about her.

Since he barely shows any emotion throughout his appearances, the sudden shift in his demenour when he thinks he has succeeded in securing Cure Sky as his new vessel is quite unnerving. It's unclear what happens to him after the Cures purify him in the end, but I guess with the Undergu energy gone, he's no longer a threat regardless.

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Other Characters

All right! Now that we've got the main heroes and villains out of the way, let's talk about the supporting cast. I think it makes sense to start with Yoyo Nijigaoka, Mashiro's grandmother. She quickly agrees to let Sora and Ellee stay with her and Mashiro when they are brought to her house, and it quickly becomes apparent that Yoyo knows more about the situation than she's letting on. She soon reveals that she originally came from Skyland, but ended up settling down in Sorashido fifty years ago after coming there to study Earth as a scholar. She uses the Mirror Pad to check in on what's going on in Skyland from time to time, and she offers to help make a portal so Sora and Ellee may return home.

She is also close friends with Tsubasa, taking him in after he ended up falling through a portal in Skyland during a failed attempt to fly and helping him study. Throughout the series Yoyo offers her support to the Cures, and often gives them a little nudge in the right direction when they're trying to find their way, trusting them to figure out the rest on their own.

I really like Yoyo. She reminds a bit of past Pretty Cure characters like Kaoruko from HeartCatch Pretty Cure and Otokichi from Suite Pretty Cure, who are also a grandparent to one of the Cures who is aware of their mission and helps support them in some way. Unlike Kaoruko and Otokichi, Yoyo hasn't previously fought the villains the current Cures are dealing with, but she still manages to provide good support through her knowledge and intuition. I also like how she trusts the Cures enough to know they'll be able to figure things out on their own if she just gives them a slight nudge in the right direction.

Next, let's talk about Sora's family. When Sora first brings them up, we learn that in addition to her parents, Sora also has a younger brother. We get to see glimpses of Sora's parents in the flashback of when Captain Shalala saved her, and we eventually do get to see them when Sora returns home after she loses confidence in herself after discovering what happened to Captain Shalala.

Sora's father, Shido, seems to be somewhat stoic, but clearly understands Sora quite well. Sora's mother, Remi, seems more gentle and doesn't want to pressure Sora, gently telling Tsubasa and Ageha to give her some time to herself when they come over to check on her. When Sora regains her dream after reading a letter from Mashiro, Shido and Remi see her off with a smile.

Sora's younger brother, Red (not to be confused with a certain character from Happiness Charge Pretty Cure), is an energetic young boy who clearly admires his sister and wants to be a hero like her. When she briefly gives up on her dream, he is initially upset and not knowing what had happened, accuses her of being a coward. He is happy when Sora manages to regain her powers and resolve.

Since they don't really have any major roles in other episodes, mainly showing up for smaller roles, we don't really get to know much else about them, but I do like them from what we do see. I feel we get a solid glimpse of the family dynamic.

Next up are Mashiro's parents, Akira and Mahiru Nijigaoka. Most of their appearances are made through video calls with Mashiro, as the two are working overseas. It is clear that they both really care about their daughter, and they can tell if Mashiro has something on her mind, even if Mashiro can't always share all the details about the Pretty Cure stuff and all that. One of them is also half-Skylandian, but it isn't ever revealed which of them it is. If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably Akira, since he seems to have the same eye color as Yoyo.

They eventually do come home to visit Mashiro for a weekend, but we only really get to see the visit through a montage since most of the episode takes place at the airport waiting for them to arrive, with Tsubasa befriending the young daughter of one of the pilots and the Cures later getting into a battle with Minoton that threatens to delay the flights.

I like them. It's clear that they're loving parents to Mashiro, and I sort of wish we'd gotten to see more of their visit in episode 26 and how they interact with Mashiro's friends. I still liked what we got to see, but it would've been nice to have had more of the episode dedicated to it.

Next up, Tsubasa's parents, Kakeru and Puwa. Like Tsubasa, they're from the Puni bird tribe who are capable of taking on human form. They're loving parents, although Tsubasa sometimes feel they can be a little too affectionate. Kakeru is also an artist, and proves to be quite brave when he tries to rescue a free-falling Tsubasa in the past, temporarily regaining the ability to fly in the process. However, he's unable to figure out how he did it, but the event inspired Tsubasa to find his own way to fly.

I like them too. They have some funny interactions with Tsubasa, when it comes to him being embarrassed when they get overly affectionate, or them initially mistaking Mashiro for Tsubasa's girlfriend when they first meet her. Again, might've been nice to see more of them, but what we got is still nice.

We never actually meet Ageha's parents, so let's talk about her two older sisters, Maria and Kaguya Saotome. When Ageha's parents split up, the sisters were separated as their father got custody of Maria and Kaguya, while their mother got custody of Ageha. Because of this, they have different surnames, which is why the other Cures don't initially realize they're related to Ageha when first meeting them.

When they happen to meet up, we learn that the two of them are models. We also learn that Ageha also had a brief stint as a model with them, with their manager asking if Ageha would be interested in taking it up again. With Ellee taking an interest in a dress they made for a line for children's clothes, the two ask if the Cures would be willing to let Ellee model the dress for their upcoming fashion show. When Ellee gets nervous up on stage, Ageha goes to calm her down, and since she's already up there, decides to join in on the fashion show with her sisters introducing her as a special guest.

After the show (and the Cures having to fight off the Undergu empire when they inevitibly interrupted the show), Maria and Kaguya comment that seeing how well Ageha was able to help calm down Ellee earlier, that it's clear that Ageha has made the right career choice in deciding to become a nursery school teacher.

Once again, I like what we got to see of these characters, but I wish we could've gotten a little more.

All right, next up is the King and Queen of Skyland. The Morning Star sent Ellee to them, asking them to look after her until the right time. Continuing the tradition of Pretty Cure characters letting the mascots who are babies name themselves, they name the baby Ellee based on her verbal tic. After the Cures and Yoyo manage to establish contact with them through the Mirror Pad to let them know Ellee is okay, they recognize Yoyo and trust her and the Cures to make sure Ellee makes it home safely.

When the Cures finally do open the portal to Skyland, the King and Queen are happily reunited with their daughter, and are willing to offer the Cures any reward they might want in exchange for having kept Ellee safe. However, after Battamonda unleashes a Ranborg that threatens to explode and spread Undergu energy all over the town, Battamonda eventually gets into the castle and puts the King and Queen into a coma, his attempt to kidnap Ellee in the process only being thwarted due to Cure Sky's intervention.

The Cures spend the next few episodes gathering the energy from purified Ranborgs in order to make a cure that can wake up the King and the Queen. Once they finally have enough Kira-Kira energy to make the cure after saving Captain Shalala, the Cures are able to wake up the King and Queen. Shortly after, a sudden burst of energy from Ellee leads to the King and Queen deciding to tell the Cures the truth about Ellee's origins, and asking them to look after her a bit longer.

I like these two. They may not have the biggest role in the story beyond what I've already mentioned, but they do what they do well. They have a good dynamic, with the King occasionally being sort of a goofy dad, particularly whenever waiting for Ellee to show up when the Cures travel to Skyland, and the Queen being a bit calmer, albeit occasionally showing she's not so above it all either.

Now that I've talked about the Cures' families, let's move on to Captain Shalala. She's the captain of the Azure Guard, and said to be the best swordswoman in Skyland. She once rescued a young Sora in the past, leading Sora to be inspired to become a hero herself. Sora also gave Shalala a heart-shaped Sky Jewel she had found as a thank you for saving her, which Shalala had made into a necklace and kept with her since.

When the Cures finally get the portal to Skyland working and bring Ellee home, Sora also reunites with Captain Shalala, who still remembers her. Sora is given the chance to join the Azure Guard, although one of its members, a girl named Beryberie, has some doubts about letting Sora join out of the blue. After Sora proves herself in a battle against Beryberie, Shalala explains to Sora how much Beryberie had to push herself in order to finally join the guard, even while recovering from a hand injury. While Shalala suggests giving Beryberie some time to herself, Sora insists on going to find and apologize to her.

Shalala sees great potential in Sora, and has her help out the Azure Guard both in her civilian form and as Cure Sky. When Battamonda unleashes the time bomb Ranborg on Skyland, Shalala seemingly sacrifices herself to give Cure Sky and Cure Prism enough time to purify it, going missing shortly after. However, she left Sora a letter to encourage her, along with the necklace made from the jewel Sora once gave her.

Shalala's fate is left unknown, until it is discovered that Battamonda had her turned into a Ranborg. The revelation leaves Sora quite shaken, knowing there's a chance Shalala might die from her wounds re-opening if they purify the Ranborg, or that the Undergu energy she's being exposed to while trapped in there might finish her off first. It is only after Sora temporarily loses the will to fight, and later gains it that the Cures are able to defeat and purify the Ranborg Shalala got turned into, just barely managing to save her with the healing power of the Mixing Palette.

After she recovers, Shalala urges Sora to start finding her own path as a hero instead of just following in her footsteps. Shalala has a few minor appearances after that, but has a supporting role in episode 42 when she goes to Sorashido to hear about the research Tsubasa has been doing on finding ways to help protect Skyland, making the town a safe space by creating a barrier, and making new equipment for the Azure Guard that will allow them to purify Ranborgs on their own.

With Tsubasa needing some time to finish his research materials before giving them to Shalala, the Cures decide to show her around Sorashido City to pass the time. After the tour, Shalala invites Sora to train with her, claiming she wants to try out the track suit she bought while the Cures were showing her the mall. She admits she noticed something was on Sora's mind and asks her about it, with Sora explaining what happened during the most recent battle with Skearhead. Shalala hears her out, before the other Cures step in. After receiving the research material from Tsubasa, Shalala then returns to Skyland.

During the final battle, she's seen leading the Azure Guard against the Ranborgs invading the city, instructing them on when to activate the new mode of their weapons to let them purify the Ranborgs.

I really like Shalala. She has a cool design, and I really like her role in the story, being Sora's inspiration to become a hero and all that. I guess her character also sort of feels like a contrast with Fennel from the previous season, Delicious Party Pretty Cure, in that Fennel initially seemed like an ally, but was evil all along. Shalala on the other hand, is just as heroic as she appears to be, even if there were some theories she might secretly be working for both sides.

I personally didn't think so, but when she went missing after the battle with the time-bomb Ranborg, I assumed she'd likely been captured and would eventually turn up as a brainwashed minion of the Undergu Empire at some point. And I was sort of right, except she got turned into a Ranborg instead.

Speaking of the Azure Guard, there are two other members of the guard I feel are worth mentioning. First is Ariri, the second-in-command to Shalala. He seems fairly serious, and takes charge of the group when Shalala goes missing until her return. His serious demenour occasionally slips when he gets into little arguments with Beryberie.

I don't have that much to say about him, since he doesn't really get his own episode dedicated to getting to know him or anything. But he's all right, he does his job as the second-in-command well.

Anyways, let's move on to Beryberie. When she was younger, she suffered an injury that caused her to fail the test to join the Azure Guard. It took three failed attempts and a lot of training before she finally got accepted. When Sora initially joins the guard, Beryberie is skeptical at first, questioning how big of a role someone that young really played in rescuing the princess. To prove herself, Sora accepts a duel against Beryberie.

Beryberie puts up a good fight with her electric glove, but Sora ultimately wins. Sora later learns Beryberie's backstory from Shalala and goes to apologize for a comment she made after their duel, while Beryberie trying to calm herself down has an encounter with Battamonda, who turns her glove into a Ranborg.

Cure Sky comes to Beryberie's rescue, thus earning her respect. After this, Beryberie comes to see Sora as a friend and worthy rival.

I really like Beryberie. I like her friendly rivalry with Sora, and her electric glove is pretty cool. Before I concluded that Ellee would be the fifth Cure, I briefly wondered if Beryberie might be a candidate for their identity, but I soon realized it probably wouldn't be her. Still, she's a cool supporting character.

Next up is Takeru, a young boy attending the kindergarden that Ageha ends up working at. After Cure Wing rescues him from a Ranborg, Takeru comes to admire him and the other Cures. After Ageha lets it slip that she knows the Cures, she delivers the kids' fan letters to them and then the Cures' replies to the kids. However, in trying to be like Cure Wing, Takeru ends up taking the wrong approach and being too harsh on his classmates for misbehaving. Ageha tries to reason with him, but he still doesn't get it.

When a Ranborg attacks the kindergarden, Takeru gets separated from the other kids, and witnesses the Cures getting trapped. When the Ranborg threatens him, Ageha steps in to defend him. Her wish to protect the children leads her to become a Pretty Cure herself, and from witnessing this, Takeru realizes what being a hero really is about. He also promises to keep Ageha now being a Cure a secret from the others.

Takeru plays a role in another one of Ageha's focus episodes, when it is revealed that his family will be moving away soon, leading Ageha to trying to figure out how to handle the situation and make him feel a little better. After a few failed attempts to reach out to him due to Takeru trying to avoid everyone, Ageha eventually comes across him trying to finish a tunnel in the sandbox he started making with a classmate. While helping him out, Ageha opens up about her own feelings, allowing her to get through to him.

In an interesting coincidence, Ageha later discovers that Takeru's grandmother happens to be the teacher who helped her out back when she was in kindergarden, inspiring Ageha to become one herself. When Takeru is leaving with his family, Ageha, as Cure Butterfly, goes to use her Mix Palette to put on a little light show of butterflies for him to see him off.

Takeru's a sweet kid. I really like the friendship he develops with Ageha and how they help each other grow a little.

Most of the remaining characters are one-shot characters, and while there are a few more characters that come to mind, such as the two baseball club members Sora ended up helping out in one episode, I don't think I can really think of much to say about some of these characters.

There is one more character I sort of do want to talk about, though. One episode has the Cures accidentally getting pulled into the Mirror Pad when Ellee accidentally activates a hidden function, where the Cures encounter an enthusiastic little pig-like fairy named Pinkton, who offers to train them. Each Cure pick out a training course that suits them, but Pinkton accidentally mixes up Sora and Mashiro's, as well as Tsubasa and Ageha's courses.

After some initial trouble with the mixed-up training courses, the Cures each take a moment to consider how the other Cure would solve it, gaining a better understanding of how the other thinks as they each make it through the training courses while Pinkton offers moral support. After the Cures all clear their training courses and prepare to return, they discover there are in fact multiple Pinktons, and that it wasn't just Pinkton putting on different outfits to coach each of them. Also, Pinkton accidentally turns the exit door into a monster, giving the Cures one final challenge to clear before heading back.

I guess the reason I wanted to talk about Pinkton is, well, I sort of feel like the end of the episode sets up for her to appear again, with the Cures promising to bring Ellee along next time they decide to use it to train, but we never see them do this. I guess the line was just one of the bits of foreshadowing towards Ellee becoming a Cure herself in the near future. Might've been interesting to see what kind of training she would've done.

As for my thoughts on Pinkton as a character? She's okay, I guess. Just sort of a quirky and kind of clumsy little coach who lives inside the Mirror Pad.

----------------------------

Overall Thoughts

I really enjoyed this series! I really like the animation style, and the soundtrack is great too. A lot of the recent Pretty Cure series have done little twists on the formula in their own ways, and in this one, they try to take it a step further, like having the leader Cure both be a non-pink Cure and being from another world, and having a male Cure as part of the main team. In addition to this, they also bring back certain plot elements we haven't seen in a while.

For example, in most series since Go! Princess, the Cures have in some way just stumbled upon their major group attack power-up, some common ways being gaining it through some character development, or being given it by someone significant. And it usually doesn't take long for them to figure out how to use it either.

Here, the Cures must go on a quest to find the Majestic Chroniclon and then prove that their hearts are united in order to activate it, basically testing them before they can unlock its power. It's been a while since we had them do this, and I'm glad they brought it back for this series. Also, the Cures don't get a new outfit with their power-up like they have been getting in the recent series, which I'm also fine with. In fact, for the first time since Yes! Pretty Cure 5, the Cures don't get an outfit upgrade with any of their power-ups. I have to respect them for that.

Also, it taking until episode 18 for Cure Butterfly's debut, and then Cure Majesty not making her debut until episode 31, reminded me of HeartCatch and Suite Pretty Cure, which both had one mid-season Cure join at first, and then a second one at some point after the thirty episode mark. Of course, it does it a little differently from those two series, as Ellee only then becomes a Cure, while in the former two series, Cure Moonlight and Cure Muse were already established, and had some things they needed to sort out before joining up with the other Cures.

And like you'd expect from an anniversery series, this series also has a lot of other little nods to previous Pretty Cure series. All in all, I think the mix of old and new story elements make for a pretty good series that explores its themes of heroism and what true strength really is pretty well.

Of course, it's not a flawless series. In my personal opinion, at least, I feel that the show tends to focus too much on the pairs of Sora and Mashiro, and Tsubasa and Ageha, giving less time to explore certain other character dynamics within the team. At least this show isn't the worst offender when it comes to that, and they do at least show some interaction between every possible combination of characters in the main team to give us some indication of their relationship. Plus, I do understand that the bonds of these pairs are a major plot point, particularly the one between Sora and Mashiro, but I'll get back to that a little later.

I also felt that the school that Mashiro and Sora attend in Sorashido was underutilized. We only really get two episodes focusing on Sora's school life, namely the episode where she transfers in and the episode where she ends up helping the girls' baseball team prepare for an upcoming tournament. I really wish we could've seen more of Sora and Mashiro's interactions with their classmates, and more of Sora's life at the school. It might've made the scene where Sora says her good-byes to her classmates in the final episode as she prepares to return to Skyland a little more impactful if we actually got to see her spending more time with them.

Getting a few more interactions between the villains might've also been nice, since the interactions between the various villains in the franchise often gives us some insight into their characters or some funny moments depending on how well the villains get along. While the show does get a little better about this later into its run, giving us at least some idea of how the villains see each other, with the other villains sort of finding Kabaton annoying or Battamonda developing a bit of a complex because he's not that physically strong compared to some of the other villains. It's still pretty cool seeing the reformed villains turn up during the final episodes to help defend Skyland, having apparently put their differences aside off-screen and learned to get along better.

Speaking of the last few episodes, I like how everything they've built up to plays out. With Tsubasa's research allowing them to put up a barrier around the town, the Morning Star being revealed to be Elleelain's spirit, who grants Ellee the ability to change into her teenaged form outside of being Cure Majesty, Cure Prism developing her Prism Shine move for freeing those corrupted by Undergu energy and the reveal that Skearhead was the true big bad all along.

When the Cures then take the fight to the Undergu Empire after learning Skearhead's true intentions, we get a pretty epic moment when Cure Sky is momentarily possessed by the Undergu energy in order to save Cure Prism. We have not have gotten a last minute outfit upgrade power-up, but I think Dark Cure Sky makes up for it, since I didn't expect it and her design in that form was pretty cool. And how she returns to her senses after the Undergu energy overwhelms her is pretty amazing too, with Cure Prism not needing to do anything else except simply trusting in the bond between them as Skearhead tries to force Cure Sky to attack her.

Once Cure Sky returns to her senses after refusing to attack Cure Prism, it only takes a small amount of Prism Shine energy to fully return her to normal. And she even manages to heal the Empress' wound while at it! Once the rest of the Cures arrive, we get a pretty cool sequence of the Cures fighting off Skearhead in his serpent form, and at this point, it's clear that Skearhead is starting to realize that he has lost, since he first makes one last attempt to possess the Empress, which as I mentioned earlier, she rejects right away, not letting him manipulate him anymore.

And once he heads to Sorashido, the Cures spell out to him that he won't find a vessel there either. After the battle is over, the other three redeemed villains decide to stay by the Empress' side, forgiving her for what she did due to Skearhead's manipulations, with the Undergu empire seeming much more tranquil now that Skearhead and the Undergu energy has been purified for good.

Sora, Tsubasa and Ellee have to return to Skyland, saying their good-byes to their friends in Sorashido, but at least they can visit each other whenever they want. Even knowing this, it's still a little hard for them to say their good-byes, particularly for Sora and Mashiro, but in the end, they manage to part with a (tearful) smile. Mashiro decides she'll write a picture book based on her adventure with Sora and the others.

The final scene is of Sora, Tsubasa and Ellee showing up for an unannounced visit, Tsubasa sheepishly admitting it feels a little awkward since they literally just said their good-byes yesterday, but Mashiro and Ageha are still happy to see them and invite them to join them for breakfast. The end credits also feature drawings for the picture book Mashiro is now working on based on the Cures adventure, giving sort of a nice little recap in a cute way to wrap things up.

I think I like this series better than both Happiness Charge and Hugtto Pretty Cure, which celebrated the tenth and fifteenth anniverseries of Pretty Cure. While I did enjoy those too, there were certain plot points in those two series that could occasionally be a bit too... distracting. I'm not sure how high I'd rank it when it comes to which Pretty Cure series in general are my favorites, but then again, trying to figure out how I rank each series is a tough decision in general.

At this point I think I've said everything I wanted to say, so I'll wrap this up now. Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure was really great, and I'm curious to check out Wonderful Pretty Cure. I've got a little bit of catching up to do, since I once again decided to finish up this post before I moved on to the next series. From what little I've seen about the premise, I'm guessing Wonderful Pretty Cure will have a more light-hearted tone, continuing a sort of pattern of the more serious Pretty Cure series storywise usually being followed by one with a more light-hearted tone.

But I'll find out soon enough, and share my thoughts after I watch each episode as usual. Looking forward to seeing how the Pretty Cure franchise may continue to evolve in the future!

[sailorstarr-chan4]

Anime & Manga Updates: 2023 Master List

Anime/Manga Master Lists: 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

~~~~

Manga, All Included:

Kiss Him, Not Me! (finished; vols 2-14)

Shinobi Life (compete reread; 13 vols)*

Ceres: Celestial Legend (finished; vol 5-14)*

Kobato (finished; 6 vols)

Skip Beat! (vols 38-40)

Full Moon wo Sagashite (complete reread; 7 vols)

Alice 19th (complete reread; 7 vols)

From Far Away (vol 1)

Mao (vol 16; later reread vols 1-16)

Rin-ne (vol 12)

Sakura-hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (finished; 12 vols)

Sekirei (vol 10-12)

Noragami (vol 1-2)

Oh My Goddess! (vols 4-7)

Captive Hearts of Oz (finished; 4 vols)

Cantarella (vol 1-3)

[Note: * means I did not read the series all in a row, but overlapped them with others, particularly with the ones I ended up finishing.]

Finished:

5 series (Kiss Him Not Me!, Ceres: Celestial Legend, Kobato, Sakua-hime, Captive Hearts of Oz)

3 complete rereads (Shinobi Life, Full Moon, Alice 19th)

Anime, Finished Only: 27

Dragon Goes House-Hunting (12 ep)

When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace (12 ep) 

The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat (12 ep)

Jing: King of the Bandits (13 ep)

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (13 ep) 

Made in Abyss (13 ep)

Kobato (24 ep)

My Dress-Up Darling (12 ep)

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (52 ep)

Ceres: Celestial Legend (24 ep)

Baccano! (16 ep)

Taisho Otome Fairy Tale (12 ep)

Wedding Peach (51 ep)

Komi Can't Communicate (24 ep)

Okami-san and Her Seven Companions (12 ep)

Kakushigoto (12 ep)

Love Tyrant (12 ep)

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S (12 ep, +1)

Brothers Conflict (12 ep)

Plastic Memories (13 ep)

Descendants of Darkness (13 ep)

Code:Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ (12 ep)

Code:Breaker (13 ep)

Meiji Tokyo Renka (12 ep)

Kokoro Connect (17 ep)

Rozen Maiden (12 ep)

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You! (12 episodes)

Incomplete titles below cut:

Anime titles started/restarted yet unfinished: 22

***: restarted (7 series)

Trigun Stampede

Noir

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor

X

Bleach***

Moriarty the Patriot

Black Jack OVA

Kekkaishi***

Spy x Family

Cardcaptor Sakura***

Rurouni Kenshin***

Urusei Yatsura***

Saiunkoku Monogatari

Gakutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

Maison Ikkoku***

Hunter x Hunter

Mushi-Shi

Code Geass

Requiem of the Rose King

Bungo Stray Dogs

Rumbling Hearts

Hanyo no Yashahime*** (finished in 2024!)

[jose92gt]

Captain Tsubasa : Junior Youth Arc 6

Prácticamente el capítulo se centra bastante en el partido Bayern-Japón, en un partido que tuvo sus momentos pero Tsubasa y compañia lograrían la victoria por 4-0, Wakashimazu, Matsuyama, Izhisaki también tuvieron su momento de brillar

Morisaki entro unos minutos y atajo una buena

En los demás partidos de gira lograrían ganar 4-0 a Países Bajos y 3-1 a Bélgica, Tsubasa en campo cambian mucho las cosas

[fullcatkryptonite]

20 QUESTION GAME

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

24

2. What's your total AO3 words count?

485,411

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I'm pretty monothematic. I only write for the x men fandom. In particular, I write exclusively about Erik Lehnsherr.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Lost control

Plumbing Problems

Unfaithfull Love

Innocence Lost

AU - Gust Collection 2023

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

As soon as I see the notification email.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm not a big fan of happy endings. The fics with the most tragic endings are probably not yet completed and remain WIPS of mine. Perhaps the saddest ending is that of Dangerous Liaison but in my head there are definitely worse ones.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Surely Plumbing Problems, but because the whole fic was created to be decidedly light..

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No. At the moment I have only met kind readers.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do, but I find the results rather disappointing. I'm not a native English speaker and I find it particularly difficult to translate this kind of story properly. I try because I like it, but I'm aware that I'm absolutely mediocre.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No. As I said, I'm pretty monothematic in my stories.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Cherik is one of my favourite ship but I also love rare pairings and I think I can ship Erik with everyone.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I hope to finish them all but at the moment I'm not very inspired with this one

16. What are your writing strengths?

There aren't many but I like to think I come up with quite original plots.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

These are many but the biggest difficulty I have is expressing myself in a language that is not mine. I love using idioms that are difficult to translate into another language. Lexical poverty is also one of my problems and obviously grammatical errors.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

No. Tackling another translation could send my brain spinning.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I was very young. The Captain Tsubasa fandom.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

None for now.

[dee-toraburu]

Captain Tsubasa S2 - Junior Youth: The Importance of Hyuga and Wakashimazu's Hospital and Car Scenes

While the Shin Captain Tsubasa OVAs were of high quality, in my humble opinion, they omitted several scenes probably due to time constraints. One particular scene that I eagerly wait to see animated, either in today's episode or the next two, is the one where Hyuga visits Wakashimazu in the Hamburg hospital and their subsequent conversation in the car. While not essential to the main storyline, this scene provides crucial insights into the bond between Hyuga and Wakashimazu.

1. The Enigmatic Relationship of Hyuga and Wakashimazu

When reading the manga or watching the anime, there are few scenes centered solely on Hyuga and Wakashimazu.

Most of their encounters happen on the football field, where words are scarce. The exceptions are few, with the third Nankatsu-Toho finals being a standout. But still, questions linger: What lies beyond the surface of their camaraderie? Do they share interests beyond football? Can their contrasting personalities coexist peacefully? The answers are found in two key scenes within the Junior Youth arc: the hospital and car moments, which offer a glimpse into their off-field interactions and shed light on their dynamic.

2. Context and Significance of the Hospital and Car Scenes

To truly grasp the significance of these scenes, let's revisit what led up to them. Wakashimazu injures his hand, defending against Schneider's powerful shot, requiring a trip to Hamburg Hospital.

Meanwhile, Japan faces a humiliating defeat against Schneider and Wakabayashi. After the match, a heated altercation erupts between Hyuga and Wakabayashi, resulting in a physical confrontation. Following these events, a disheartened Hyuga relinquishes his captaincy.

Wakashimazu, accompanied by Katagiri, leaves the hospital and finds his captain waiting for him, battered but smiling. Hyuga had gone out of his way to be by Wakashimazu's side.

The two young men share a car ride, during which, for the first time in Captain Tsubasa history, we witness a conversation between Toho's captain and his goalkeeper.

3. Unveiling the Relationship

The first question that arises from this scene is why Hyuga decided to visit Wakashimazu. The answer lies in his genuine concern for his goalkeeper and the emotional comfort Wakashimazu provides him. Normally, Hyuga is known for his fiery, arrogant demeanor and suspicion of others, but his attitude changes dramatically in Wakashimazu's presence. He exhibits a side of his personality reserved for those close to his heart—smiling, caring, relaxed, and even vulnerable.

In return, Wakashimazu reciprocates, displaying an even more surprising and blatant change in behavior. His expression is entirely relaxed and, dare I say, CUTE when he interacts with Hyuga. This departure from his usual stoic, composed demeanor, with furrowed brows, is very notable.

YO LOOK AT THIS ↑↑↑ who's that angry young man on the left and this young maiden in love on the right KEK

While we've seen him smile at Hyuga during the national middle school tournament final, this goes beyond that.

In addition to his gentle smile and soft demeanor, this manifests in his choice of words as he attempts to console a deeply disheartened Hyuga. However, these nuances often evade translation, underscoring the intricacies of the Japanese language.

4. Language Subtleties in Captain Tsubasa

Captain Tsubasa exemplifies the subtleties of the Japanese language perfectly.

For exemple, Hyuga addresses Wakashimazu informally, using his last name without honorifics or "omae/お前", a second-person singular pronoun considered familiar in this context.

In contrast, Wakashimazu uses "keigo/敬語", a polite language form, to address Hyuga due to his position as captain and out of immense respect. He primarily calls him "captain/キャプテン", occasionally using "anta/あんた" (a polite second-person singular pronoun in this context), and very rarely addressing him as "Hyuga-san/日向さん", using the last name with an honorific suffix.

Conclusion:

The hospital and car scenes between Hyuga and Wakashimazu offer invaluable insights into the characters' relationship, personalities, and the subtleties of their interactions.

While not central to the main storyline, these moments enrich the Captain Tsubasa experience and provide fans with a deeper appreciation of the intricate dynamics between Hyuga and Wakashimazu's unspoken camaraderie or more if you like to interpret their relationship this way.

PRAY FOR THE SCENES' ANIME ADAPTATION!!...🛐🛐🛐

[tatakaeeren]

Don’t worry about it, i hope you had an amazing trip, even if it was just for work, and glad to hear you safely made it home. 🤍🫶🏽

Alright! My top 10 childhood anime. I’ll skip over sailor moon as i recall i have mentioned that one to you in a previous conversation or if i haven’t my profile icon is sailor mars so that one is an obvious fave, no point in giving it a shout out. Cardcaptor Sakura, and things such as pokemon, digimon, etc are obvious titles everyone has seen at some point so I’ll leave those out too.

1. Saint Seiya (you may recognise it as Caballeros del Zodiaco, it was my first anime in fact)

2. Lupin 3rd

3. Ranma 1/2

4. Captain Tsubasa

5. Gokinjo monogatari ( otherwise known as neighborhood stories)

6. The rose of versailles (Also known as Oscar/lady Oscar)

7. Case Closed (Also known as Detective Conan)

8. Doraemon

9. Crayon Shin Chan

10. Kimagure Orange Road

There are SO many many more but thats 10 for ya. Giving away my age there, lmao Recognise any? What are your top 10? -Flor

Aww, thank you! it was super nice (having work outside of the normal space was really refreshing!) and my day off was the best 💖 kjahskdshad 7/ 10!!! .... I am not surprised tho hahaha, the other: lupin, gokinjo monogatari and kimagure orange road, I didn't watch them as a kid but years later I found out about them. What sucks about my experience is that I solely relied on what my country and tv could get access to so I was limited in the range and variety of anime...But I had a great anime experience as a kid so, I won't complain. Excluding the already mentioned sailor moon, sakura Cardcaptor, pokemon, digimon, hamtaro, dbz , evangelion,yugi, slam dunk, etc... here are my top 10:

yu yu hakusho

slayers

Zoids

Kaleido Star

Magical Doremi

Monster rancher

Metabots

Ghost Sweeper Mikami

Tokyo Mew mew

Jurassic Tripper ( as someone obsessed with dinosaurs back in the days this was THE BEST!haha)