I don’t particularly like making posts like these, since I’d rather be talking about anime, but due to the blog coming to a slow crawl recently, it makes sense that I talk about it briefly instead of leaving my readers in the complete dark. Without further delay, here are a number of blogging-related and/or anime-related announcements:

Baka Laureate is on a break until June.

I don’t like using the word hiatus, since the word itself, to me, gives off the impression that the abrupt stoppage in activity is prolonged to some expected extent, or has no clear schedule for resuming said activity. That said, I will be taking a few weeks off blogging to prepare for a move to a new place that I’m renting downtown. I’ll still be reasonably present on twitter, most likely complaining about said preparations for the move. My weekly blogging commitments will also be put on hold for the time being, which leads to the next announcement.

Smile PreCure posts will be delayed for the time being.

It might take a while for me to actually catch up with this show, blog-wise, but for the most part, the only episode that has yet to be posted is 16, which aired last weekend. It involves some delicious Reika, and I really, truly, want to write about her. But I will hold off until I get back, which by then, I will also be behind on the episode after that, episode 17, which once again features Akane/Cure Sunny. Smile is my highest priority at the moment, so I’ll get to those right away as soon as I’m settled into my new pad and the blog is active again.

I’m interested in some blog collaboration for when I return.

For the most part, Baka Laureate has been a single-author blog, and I expect that it will continue to be as such; however, I am opening up the doors for whoever might be interested in wanting to write a post for this blog. It doesn’t really matter to me what you write, but feel free to leave me an e-mail if you would like to collaborate on something, or if you’d like to have this blog host a post of yours that you would otherwise be unable to put up (either because you don’t have your own blog, or if the post doesn’t fit in with the theme/premise of your already existing blog). While this blog has in the past put some emphasis on fiction writing and took particular interest in the Pretty Cure franchise, feel free to talk about anything.

Likewise, I’m also interested in writing guest posts for other blogs as well. If you’re the owner of a superfabulous blog, then I have a unique perspective offer with regards to insights into a particular topic. If you’re interested in my services, let me know by e-mail and we’ll talk some stuff out.

Fiction Friday is dead. Long live Wordtaku!

The biggest problem with naming a writing segment after a day of the week is that it comes with an expectation that it will only be posted on that day, or that it will be posted every week during that day. Ever since I started using Fiction Friday, I’ve only written 2 posts. Unacceptable. By removing the day restriction and renaming it to something else, I can be free to write about writing any time I like.

That said, I’ll be renaming these series of posts to Wordtaku. It’s a straightforward portmanteau of word and otaku, which hopefully captures the concept of being not only being a writer with a particularly heavy anime influence, but also developing a crazy lifestyle centering around a love for writing. Hopefully, this blog will eventually become primarily writing-centric, as I plan on shifting towards writing more outside of the blog, at least in regards to my own writing projects.

I will be at Anime North 2012!

Anime North is a convention held in Toronto at the end of May of each year. While, in my opinion, the convention itself has gotten a tad stale with regards to panels and events and whatnot, I’m particularly excited to go this year because it will be the first year of attending for the purposes of meeting up with a bunch of like-minded anime friends that I know through twitter.

For the most part, I’ve managed to make arrangements to meet with a number of people, but if you’d like to come say hi or hang out or whatever, I’ll be available for most of the event, including before it opens up on Friday and after it closes down on Sunday. Just hit me up on twitter or in the comments section or by email. Whatever. I’m a pretty nice guy, and I won’t bite.

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And that’s pretty much it for me. I’ll be on twitter in the meantime, but expect this blog to be back up and running when June comes around. Fifty bucks says I’ll resume activity before the aniblog tourney does. Man, that shit is messed up.

Miyuki and her mom share a nice little moment at the end of the Mother’s Day episode.

This week’s episode of Smile PreCure was a damn fine piece of work. It made use of its air date to create a topical episode surrounding Mother’s Day, much like it previously did with its April Fool’s Day episode, as well as Heartcatch PreCure’s Mother’s Day episode back in 2010. Not only was the warm relationship between Miyuki and her mother in show, but Toei’s great fight choreography as well.

Synopsis

Miyuki notices the other girls making presents for their mothers and realizes that she forgot that today is Mother’s Day. She discovers that she has no money to buy a present, so she tries to help her mother with chores around the house, but fails at most of her tasks. Later, she tries to make a necklace back at the secret base, but the end product turns out to be too plain, by her own standards. She visits a card store with the girls, only to run into Wolfrun, who casts Bad End on customers at a flower shop. He turns a carnation into a red-nosed akanbe, and the girls transform and fight it. Cure Happy saves Candy from an attack, but drops her mother’s present. Wolfrun takes Happy’s necklace and berates her for doing a crappy job in creating it. Cures Sunny and March come to her defence, engaging in combat with Wolfrun. Sunny knocks the necklace away, and Candy retrieves it. The rest of the PreCure go on the offensive after Happy comes to a realization about her feelings regarding her mother and Mother’s day. She uses Happy Shower to vanquish the Akanbe. After the battle, Miyuki gives the present to her mom, and they walk home together happily.

This week introduced us to Miyuki’s mom, who, like most other PreCure parents, are noticeably present in the girls’ lives as they grow and mature as PreCure. Let’s take a look at 4 other notable moms in the PreCure franchise.

Nanami’s mom, Heartcatch PreCure

Nanami’s mom is not physically present in the show, but makes a big impact in the mother’s day episode.

Nanami’s mother is an interesting example in the PreCure franchise, most notably for the fact that Nanami is one of many side characters in that series, and by extension, not a PreCure. However, it is a fitting example, since Nanami is the focus of the franchise’s only other mother’s day episode. In Heartcatch, Nanami’s mother passed away long ago, and as a result, she is determined to fill in the motherly role in her younger sister, Rumi’s life.

However, Rumi has little memory of her mother, and weeps when she is only able to give a carnation to her as an offering. Nanami advises her to overcome her loneliness by always smiling (the line “Smile, smile!” was used in Heartcatch long before Miyuki used it in Smile). The two sisters end up fighting, and Rumi runs away. Nanami’s heart flower becomes a desertarian, and when Blossom and Marine save her, the two reconcile after Nanami remembers that her advice to always be smiling came from her own mother.

This Heartcatch episode still remains as emotionally gripping as it was when it aired, and it really touched upon the love that Nanami and Rumi have for their mother, which they show through their love for each other as well. It is only after the events of mother’s day that Nanami is able to move on in her life and become more than just a mother figure to Rumi. She joins Tsubomi and Erika’s fashion club, and becomes a mainstay in the show.

Love’s mom, Fresh Pretty Cure

Love’s mom has more than enough love to go around. Even Setsuna gets to be a part of her family.

Love’s mom, Ayumi Momozono, is probably my favourite mother figure in the entire PreCure franchise, and is one of my favourite mother characters in all of anime. She is very much involved in Love’s life as a mother would be, but she goes the extra mile in her duties. After Setsuna makes her heel-face turn and awakens as Cure Passion, she is left in a vulnerable position, all alone without a home. Love invites Setsuna to live with her parents, and becomes a part of the family, and Ayumi eventually accepts Setsuna as her own.

In episode 40, Ayumi plans to make a bracelet for Setsuna as a gift, but gets kidnapped by Northa, who uses her monster-of-the-week to impersonate Ayumi and infiltrate Love and Setsuna’s home. While Setsuna learns early on about the imposter, her accusations create a riff between her and Love, but eventually the two manage to come to an understanding and save Ayumi from Northa’s evil organization, Labyrinth.

A touching scene at the end of the episode has Ayumi admit directly to Setsuna that after her stay at the Momozono residence, she refers to her as her own daughter. Likewise, Setsuna responds by calling Ayumi “mom.” This episode serves as a wonderful message from PreCure that families come in all shapes and sizes, and even those who aren’t related by blood can be the family that they truly deserve. Setsuna, despite being a villainous person at the beginning of the episode, is finally able to make peace with herself, thanks to her new mother.

Nozomi’ and Rin’s moms, Yes! PreCure 5

Like mothers, like daughters.

Megumi Yumehara isn’t the most fleshed out character out of all the moms in Pretty Cure, but don’t tell that to her daughter, Nozomi (Cure Dream). Nozomi looks up to her mom so much, and does everything in her power to make her happy, even when her mother catches a cold in episode 15. Like Miyuki after her, Nozomi’s klutziness prevents her from being truly effective in assisting her mother. She spills water in the hallway in an attempt to bring a washcloth to Megumi’s room. She slips on said puddle repeatedly. She drops plates and glasses while washing them. She burns her own cooking. She overloads the laundry.

Potentially harmful despite Nozomi’s efforts, her friend and fellow PreCure, Rin Natsuki (Cure Rouge) takes it upon herself and her friends to come to Megumi’s rescue, knowing that  Nozomi has a history with her friends of messing up terribly. However, it’s Rin’s mom, Kazuyo, who visits the Yumehara household to help Nozomi tend to her mother. It is her best friend’s mother who encourages her to persist, and that her efforts will be acknowledged. A single, genuine “thank you” from Megumi at the end of the episode is more than enough to brighten up Nozomi’s day, and her daughter’s happiness becomes that of the audience as well.

Not only is it really interesting to have this type of encouragement come from another adult, but the friendly relationship between Kazuyo and Megumi as adults serve as a really great parallel between Nozomi and Rin. The apple does not fall far from the tree, but in this case, these two particular apples are just as close as the trees from which they fell.

Hibiki’s mom, Suite PreCure

Hibiki’s strength lies in her bonds with her mother, despite being thousands of miles apart.

Maria Houjou, Hibiki’s mother, is a world-class violinist, and spends most of her time touring the world and performing on a grand stage. Unlike most PreCure parents (save for both of Honoka’s parents in Futari wa Pretty Cure), Maria is mostly absent from Hibiki’s life, but does make a brief appearance in episodes 16 and 17.

In episode 16, a small riff between the main characters Hibiki and Kanade results in a plot by their fairy companion, Hummy, to have the two girls change places and live at the other’s house and gain perspective on their partner’s lives. Kanade discovers via video call with Maria that, unlike her own family, Hibiki is often lonely due to her parents being out of the house. Kanade acknowledges Hibiki’s strength, and in a kind gesture, secretly arranges for Maria to see Hibiki’s piano recital. Hibiki accepts Kanade’s kindness, and the two gain a new Precure power, Music Rondo Super Quartet, when they fight the monster-of-the-week.

In episode 17, before she leaves for her tour again, Hibiki share a last moment with Maria at the top of a hill overlookingKanonTown. Both reveal that the hill is their favourite place in the entire town. Maria tells her daughter that she got her name from the wonderful sounds of everyday life that can be heard from the spot where they sit. Of all the one-on-one moments between mother and daughter in PreCure, this one was definitely the most heartwarming.

PreCure Power Rankings, Episode 15

1. Akane/Cure Sunny – despite not having too many lines throughout the episode, the way she stepped in and defended Miyuki made her stand out as a true bro.
2. Miyuki/Cure Happy – this week really showed that Miyuki can have her serious and heartwarming moments without having to chew the scenery with her overacting.
3. Nao/Cure March – following Sunny’s lead, March’s fight with Wolfrun was just as intense as her words with Wolfrun. Led by example.
4. Yayoi/Cure Peace – Using her PreCure power on wolfrun on the streetlight was quite shocking to say the least. I won at jan ken pon this week, it must be a sign!
5. Reika/Cure Beauty – She was mostly in the background, but she was strongly in-character throughout, especially regarding the porcelain teacup that she made for Mother’s Day.

The PreCure settle into a nice serving of Takoyaki, and have settled into a groove in their own show.

After 14 episodes, we’re well past the first quarter of Smile PreCure’s televised run, and settled into what to expect from the show. With a wave of introductory character episodes, a cycle of spotlight episodes, and a recently wrapped-up vacation arc, we’ve come to know quite a bit about what this show can and cannot do. At times, it lacks punch, quite literally, in the action scenes, but the cast has a lot of personality and is well-balanced, as seen in this week’s foray intoOsaka.

Synopsis

The girls arrive atOsakafor the final half of their class trip. They begin their day with a self-guided tour ofOsakaCastle, but the group is separated during the visit. Nao, Akane, and Reika continue onwards while Yayoi and Miyuki are left behind. Yayoi and Miyuki try to continue on with the tour plans and hope to catch up at Tennouji Zoo, but are constantly sidetracked by their interactions with a number of local Osakan women who give them candy.  While the two girls visitTsuutenkakuTowerin order to get a beter view of the city, the other three continue their exhaustive search and are stricken by hunger. Majorina appears inOsaka, looking for candy, and when she is unable to obtain the local delicacy, she casts Bad End on the city and transforms Tsuutenkaku into a blue-nosed Akanbe, trapping Miyuki and Yayoi inside. All five girls transform separately, and Cures Sunny, March, and Beauty break out Cures Happy and Peace after using the Butterfly décor, granting them the ability to fly. They disorient the Akanbe and force it to spit out the two trapped Cures. Finally together, they vanquish it with Rainbow Healing.

As mentioned above, we are already a quarter of the way through Smile PreCure, so let’s take a look at each of the girls and their contribution to this episode as well as how they’ve progressed throughout the series so far.

Miyuki/Cure Happy

Miyuki genuinely enjoys her role as the leader of the PreCure.

Miyuki has certainly grown on me throughout the show’s run, so far. My initial impressions were that her hamminess would take up most of the spotlight as a result of her being the designated leader of the group. However, with strong personalities across the board, coupled by the carefree nature of Smile PreCure itself, Miyuki’s overacting is hardly noticeable, if she does so at all.

This is especially the case in this episode and last. She was the centre of the story in Kyoto, but the other characters stood out more. This week, she took a step back and let the other girls run the show. She still gets face time as the leader, and has presence by default, but it was a nice change of pace compared to last week. Going forward, I would definitely like to see her take on bigger leadership role, probably towards the end of the series. Fairy tales are Miyuki’s forte, and I will definitely buy into whatever plot twists that relate her to the fate of Marchenland and the Bad End Kingdom.

Akane/Cure Sunny

Akane is the cornerstone of the group with her kooky personality.

Akane is a very interesting character, even this week. She has a remarkably goofy personality that lends well to her boisterous Osakan background, but again, it balances well as part of an ensemble. I wouldn’t be able to take her seriously as the leader, even though she does have some genuine moments in her own spotlight episodes. Her passion gives her great presence in the group, even if she doesn’t have major involvement in a particular episode.

In this week’s episode, it was interesting to see this in play. Taking place in Osaka, and with the appearance of a number of Osakan side characters, Akane fit in well within the setting, possibly to the point where the backdrop serves as a natural extension of her personality. I particularly enjoyed the moment during the Akanbe battle where she gets the butterfly decor powerup and taunts the Akanbe while flying around. The voice acting for the three girls were top-notch in this segment.

Akane is the rock of the cast, adding a very strong dynamic to the team that really defines who the PreCure are. She, along with Yayoi, are audience favourites, and she definitely deserves that recognition. As a character, there are a lot of sides of her that can be potentially explored. While she deeply cares for her friends, I’d like to see her continue to explore her individuality, as she did in the Okonomiyaki episode.

Yayoi/Cure Peace

When Yayoi is excited, the audience is excited as well.

Holy. Mother. Of. Crap. Yayoi. Is. Too. Cute. Is this the era of the moefication of pretty cure? With the advent of Kise Yayoi and the infinite droves of fanart on pixiv and the like, there’s very little to change the minds of naysayers who predict the cancerous death of this magical girl franchise. While there is some cause for concern in this line of thought, Yayoi does have a lot of personality traits that I don’t see in your typical database moeblob.

For one, her fascination with all things superhero and other games makes her a unique and genuine brand of nerd that is relatable, but doesn’t flirt with the line of otaku-ness. This particular fawning was in full display in Osaka, comparing her and Miyuki’s situation as an RPG. There’s an immaturity coupled with that geeky passion that the audience just loves, but with immaturity comes the potential for maturity down the road. Can she truly take on the responsibility of being a superhero? Can she bear the weight of people who put faith in her in the same way she does in her tokusatsu role models? I love seeing these kinds of character progressions in a long-running series like PreCure.

Nao/Cure March

There’s a lot to love about Nao, but there’s a lot that she’s yet to reveal about herself.

I have a special place in my heart of hearts for Nao, in regards to having her as my favourite character in Smile PreCure, and with it comes high expectations, not only with regards to what she brings to the PreCure team dynamic, but also overall performance and believability of character. I raised issues early on about her being somewhat redudant compared to Akane, but recent developments have set Nao apart from her fiery friend, particularly with regards to their relationships with others and themselves.

Nao is slowly but surely coming to grips with who she naturally is, compared to this image of being the family-first, strong leader of a woman that she sets out to be. She’s afraid of bugs, she succombs to hunger. She is more of a girly-girl than her athletic tomboyish reputation led on in her introductory episode in episode 4. I’d love to see her strive to find out who she really is, where she fits in the world of PreCure, and have her accept the role that she plays in the struggle ahead. There’s a lot of potential within March, and I can’t wait to see the rest of the iceberg.

Reika/Cure Beauty

Prim, proper, and just a slight pinch of preposterous.

Speaking of ice, Reika is the iceberg of this cast of characters, who seems to get hardly any focus or screentime. As I’ve complained before, her supposed spotlight episode was overshadowed by Candy and the Rainbow Healing upgrade, and we never really get to know much about Reika other than her student council exploits. Her intelligence has been pointed out numerous times, but in the spirit of how silly Smile PreCure is, her intelligence is often coupled with a slight lack of common sense, just enough to allow her to be the smart one of the group, but still show potential for silliness.

This week did a great job at highlighting the contrast between her cool, smart, exterior and what she could potentially be when she eases up on the princess act. Desparate to find Miyuki and Yayoi, Reika let her guard down, particularly during one exchange where she chides Nao for complaining about her hunger, only to have her own stomach grumble just as loudly. I really enjoy this side of Reika, but I can understand why the writers may be holding a bit back. She’s the high-strung type who is easily prone to defrosting the ice queen treatment, which, combined with the nonsensical approach that Smile takes, can have interesting possibilities in its execution.

PreCure Power Rankings, Episode 14

1. Yayoi/Cure Peace – I lost at Jan Ken Pon again, but her enthusiasm really carried throughout the episode.
2. Nao/Cure March – Getting dragged around Osaka was out of her comfort zone, and was highly entertaining.
3. Reika/Cure Beauty – I really loved her playful teasing during the Akanbe fight. “Kocchi desu yo!”
4. Akane/Cure Sunny – Cure Osaka was literally at home with this episode. She fit the setting like a glove.
5. Miyuki/Cure Happy – She took a back seat to Yayoi’s antics, which wonderfully balances out last week.

In anime, this prominent aspect of culture in real life is portrayed appropriately, with characters mostly using the iconic razor-style flip-phone, probably with accompanying decorations and dongles. Look no further than 2011′s Steins;Gate, set in the heart of Tokyo’s Akihabara, which uses the text-message functionality of Okabe Rintaro’s cell phone to change the future and affect countless parallel timelines.

Times have changed, however, and 2012 has seen a massive shift in the mobile industry in Japan. As recent as February of this year, smartphones finally became the leading source of mobile phone sales, edging out the incumbent feature phone. While the emergence of smartphones may persist and finally become the leading mode of telecommunication in Japan in the future, we are finally starting to see its penetration in anime as well.

Sengoku Collection

Still using the default twittor client, Seiichi? Might want to switch to Twootdeck instead!

It makes sense that smartphones appear in Sengoku Collection. After all, the show itself is an adaptation of a mobile social networking game of the same name. Its appearance is rather brief, but is utilized rather interestingly in the show. The main character, generic everyman Seiichi Ota, makes a tweet on his phone after having to deal with spending a day with a manic pixie dream girl version of Oda Nobunaga. The feisty feudal femme has been a huge drag on his everyday lifestyle, and he resorts to his phone as an outlet for the stress that built up over the course of a day, as well as the trouble that is to come.

This little moment has a lot going for it in regards to how well an audience can relate to it. It’s no secret that the Internet has become fully absorbed in social media and social networking that something as mundane as making a ragetweet or something equivalent has yet been depicted in fictional media, let alone Japanese fictional media. Placing this scene in the context of the outrageous premise of chickified sengoku characters makes for an interesting contrast that really made the show stand out when it could have very well been a quick drop for most viewers. Being produced by Brains Base doesn’t hurt, either.

Polar Bear Cafe

It is perfectly safe for animals to handle smartphones; the screens are made of Gorilla glass, after all.

If you want to talk mundane, look no further than Polar Bear Cafe, where the most ridiculous is commonplace, starting with the very social coexistence of animals with humans in what appears to be a normal world similar to our own. The setting and mood of the show is as fluffy as some of the critters that it stars. In last week’s episode, we saw an entire bit devoted to the usage of smartphones by the cast. Penguin shows off his phone, but is unable to use it. However, the other animals’ prowress of smartphone usage are a sight to behold, Llama’s tongue dexterity being perhaps the most impressive.

What fascinates me about this particular example is that the whole concept of a smartphone is mentioned explicitly. Characters refer to the device via loanword, and discuss it fairly matter-of-factly, and even manage to sell the idea of owning a smartphone to one of the main characters, Panda. Many common features of smartphones, including capacitive touchscreens, pages upon pages of apps, mapping, and weather widgets are put on show for Panda to swoon over; however, the selling point for him is that of the personalized protective case.

Of note, the only human present in the scene, Sasako, is the only character that doesn’t own a smartphone.

Space Brothers

In the year 2025, Japan finally adopts the smartphone as its mobile device of choice.

It’s a bit weird mentioning Space Brothers as an example of an anime that utilizes smartphones, given the fact that not only does the show take place in the year 2025, and that the replacement phone that Mutta purchases still utilizes what looks like number keys on the front face. The keys could actually be for texting, like Blackberry phones, but the android-like interface and metro-style fonts of the phone itself make for a strange combination.

The reason why I mention Space Brothers is due to a humourous incident that took place in a previous episode where Mutta drops his phone in the toilet and accidentally flushes it away. The interesting part about this particular event is that Mutta isn’t screwed until the phone actually goes down the drain and is lost forever. Had the toilet not flushed automatically, it is most likely that he would have been able to save it with minimal damage. After all, waterproofing is a standard selling point in cellular phones in Japan, and smartphones are no different. As recently as this year, Japanese phone manufactures have managed to develop waterproof smartphones:

“In Japan, you can’t sell a phone if it’s not waterproof. About 90 to 95 percent of all phones sold now are already waterproof,” Panasonic executive Taro Itakura told AFP at the Mobile World Congress.

“Why? This is very unique — young Japanese women prefer to use their cellphones even when taking their showers,” Itakura said.

Forget about going to the moon. Waterproof phones are the real deal when it comes to futuristic technology.

Black Rock Shooter

It’s a cute android-esque homescreen, but does her phone have Ice Cream Sandwich?

For the most part, I did not like Black Rock Shooter. The single feature that it had that kept me watching throughout the series’ run is the intense animation and combat choreography during the action scenes, which were far and few in between at times. Regardless, this particular scene in episode 1 caught my eye, when the main character, Kuro Matoi, takes particular interest in Yomi Takanashi due to having seen the design of her smartphone’s homescreen. It contains the cover of a picture book titled Kotori Tori, in which both girls share a common interest.

This scene in particular made me think about the customizability of phones today, and that something as simple as a phone wallpaper can serve as a conversation starter, regardless of whether or not the individual taking interest in the phone can recognize its contents. As expected of a PreCure fan, I currently have Erika Kurumi/Cure Marine as my current wallpaper. I chose it particularly because of my fondness for the blue colour scheme, though I would be surprised if I ran into someone randomly on the street and they immediately recognized the character in question.

Then again, I’d be surprised if I actually went out often enough for that to actually happen.

 Tsuritama

Even Tsuritama has bought into the smartphone craze, hook line and sinker.

From one Noitamina title to another, Tsuritama is the last of several series that I’ve noticed recently that incorporated the use of smartphones into their stories. In episode 2, the socially inept Yuki Sanada takes a rather high-definition picture of a lure that he finally learned to tied properly. He shows the picture to aloof fishing prince Natsuki Asami to prove his worth as a pupil of fishing tutelage. Yuki earns Natsuki’s approval in the first of several fishing tests, which will probably go a long way towards…saving the world somehow. This show is pretty weird, but I fucking love it.

Either way, Yuki’s smartphone is depicted above in a very interesting fashion, since the angle of the shot allows the picture preview on the phone to blend in with the rest of the background. It’s a really nice touch, considering how wonderful the art style is in the show. The palette is vivid and surreal in usage, but amidst all of that is a fairly standard and recognizable picture of a smartphone taking pictures. Super cool.

The Future of Smartphones in Anime

I admit that I don’t have the requisite wizard hat and crystal ball to forecast the future full integration of smartphones into Japanese mobile culture, but I would be pleased if that were the case. The look and feel of a smartphone gives the user a sensation of power, as a wealth of functions are avaialable in the palm of his or her hands. As we’ve seen in anime, the flip-style phone has a notable presence in series with modern settings, and can serve as very intriguing plot devices. With the addition of smartphones and their numerous functions, the possibilities for weaving them into plots can serve as a step forward for new and strangely interesting stories.

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Bonus: Tablets in Saki Episode of Side-A

Watching Mahjong tournament streams? There’s an app for that.

As per Omo’s request in the comments section below, I have added a special bonus section on tablets in the new Saki series, featuring another tech-savvy electronic device reliant on similar data infrastructures as smartphones. The girls team from Senriyama High School, by virtue of being a seeded entry in the national high school tournament for team mahjong, make use of their reprieve to observe the matches of the teams that they are set to face in the upcoming round. They use tablets to browse the recorded match history, which are capable of interfacing with the television in their hotel room.

This type of tablet functionality isn’t entirely out of the question for hotels. Right now, LodgeNet, a company specializing in prividing hotel room television content, have already integrated an application that allows users to interface with hotel televisions using their device of choice, whether that be a smartphone or tablet. Whether or not this exact type of service is what is being depicted in Saki, but the functionality is there, and the novelty of it is quite indicative of the rapid integration of these devices into everyday life. For a show like this, set in the not-too-distant future, it can certainly give off a feeling of slight futurism, but we’re a lot closer to it than we think.

This week was bad luck for Miyuki, but we are the ones who were blessed with good luck and a great episode.

This week’s episode of Smile PreCure brings us to the ancient capital of Kyoto, where the girls are on an adventurous field trip. This type of episode is hardly new, as other PreCure shows have field trip episodes  of their own, including Max Heart (Kyoto, in episode 34), Fresh (Okinawa, in episode 39) and Heartcatch PreCure (France, in the movie). Smile brings a special spin to their version of the field trip, which is executed with resounding success. Healing Prayer has actually grown on me a bit since its somewhat anticlimactic introducion, but that’s the least of my praises for this week’s episode.

Synopsis

Miyuki and her friends arrive at Kyoto for a class field trip, but after accidentally falling into a koi pond, Miyuki suspects that she might have bad luck. Her fears are realized when she picks out a fortune that indicates that she will have terrible luck. She is befallen with misfortune throughout the first day of the trip, but after curfew, she connects with the others and is reassured that things will brighen up. Unfortunately, Miyuki’s luck gets even worse the next day, which is topped off by the appearance of Aka Oni, who comes to Kyoto after reading about the storied connection between demons and the ancient capital. He casts bad end on the PreCure’s classmates and summons a blue Akanbe in the form of Miyuki’s fortune reading. Its attacks are thwarted by the other PreCure, but end up indirectly hitting Cure Happy anyway. Cure Happy becomes fed up with her bad luck after dropping her smile pact into a nearby river. She jumps in to protect her friends, and the PreCure’s desire to support Cure Happy activates her missing pact. They ward off the Akanbe’s finishing blow and vanquish it with Rainbow Healing. After the battle, Miyuki comes to terms with her bad luck, and the girls are rewarded by having their picture taken with a pair of maiko.

Here are my thoughts on this simply fantastic episode!

Miyuki’s bad luck is played out during the entire episode, but remains fresh throughout.

I used to be a PreCure like you, then I took an ice cream cone to the fa- *is shot*

It’s quite fitting that this week’s episode featuring Miyuki’s brush with misfortune would fall on the 13^th iteration in the series, despite 13 being more of a western superstition. Regardless, Miyuki is stricken with one unlucky event after another throughout her excursion toKyoto. Let’s recap how bad she had it:

1) She fell into a koi pond, soaking her school uniform, and had to wear a gym uniform that day.
2) She received the worst fortune possible from her omikuji.
3) A bird pooped on her head.
4) Her camera ran out of batteries after numerous attempts to take a picture at Togetsukyo Bridge.
5) Little kids accidentally bump into her, causing her to get ice cream all over her face.
6) Her souvenir for her family broke.
7) She tripped and rolled down the slope of Kiyomizu temple.
8) She accidentally walked over a pond, got chased by a dog, had boxes fall on her.

It’s one bad event after another, which would have had anyone completely bummed out. Her bad luck even extends into her PreCure fight with the Akanbe, who even takes on the form of her omikuji. She gets a number of unlucky breaks during the fight, but overcomes it by simply accepting her luck and enjoying her experiences anyway. After defeating the Akanbe, she ends up keeping the omikuji as a souvenir. Her ability to turn her misfortunes into memories was a really great turnaround in the episode, and makes for a nice little lesson that everyone takes for granted sometimes: when life gives you lemons, become Cure Lemonade make lemonade.

Miyuki was the focal character, but all the girls stood out strong this week.

All the girls had their moments of fun, not just Miyuki.

Even though Miyuki was the individual who was the most affected by the “bizarre happening of the week,” all of the other girls were given great opportunities to really express themselves in this field trip.

Yayoi arguably had the fewest lines out of the five, but her inability to contain excitement throughout the trip made her really noticeable; her reaction to seeing the maikos at the end of the episode was hilarious, despite not saying anything at all. Nao contributed a lot to trying to alleviate Miyuki’s misfortune, and really looked out for her throughout the episode. She had a great “heroic aesop” line during the Akanbe fight as well.

Reika was in full trivia-queen mode, and was crazy-prepared during the trip. During the scene at the hotel, she really let loose, which was a great touch. Akane was probably the least present in the show, but she was highly entertained by the trip, but at she stepped up against the Akanbe and used Sunny Fire in a futile moment of glory. Candy stole the show with three great moments despite being otherwise absent: stealing Miyuki’s snacks on the train, pretending to be Princess Kaguya from the tale of the bamboo cutter, and using the lipstick décor to impersonate a maiko.

Despite all of these great appearances from the ensemble in a supporting role, Miyuki was in her usual hammy mode, and I’ve fully come around on her overacting ever since episode 1. When she has a great cast around her, Misato Fukuen does a fantastic job taking the lead role in such an comically nonsensical series.

As a field trip episode, Smile PreCure really brings out the sights and sounds of Kyoto.

Even Aka Oni gets caught up in all the tourist-y fun!

Pretty Cure has a really good track record of bringing out the setting during class trip episodes, with Fresh PreCure’s depiction of Okinawa being particularly lovely. There were a wide number of locales in Kyoto that were referenced during the trip. Kyoto Tower was the first landmark seen, followed by a visit to Kinkaku-ji, where Reika dropped her trivia about the temple’s gold appearance. The girls repeatedly tried to take a picture at Togetsukyo Bridge. Miyuki tripped and almost rolled downhill to her demise at Kiyomizu-dera. They visited Gion during the second day, and ended up fighting the Akanbe somewhere nearby, and most likely, Cure Happy dropped her Pact into theShirakawaCanal.

Kyoto culture was also fully present in the episode, ranging from the Kansai dialect from shopkeepers, the appearance of maikos, as well as the episode’s central theme of bad luck taking place in what is arguably the fortune-telling capital of the world. Not to stray from the series’ overall theme of fairy tales, the tale of the bamboo cutter, which took place in bamboo forest, a ecological feature commonly found inKyoto. Everything about the city was displayed in full force in Smile PreCure, but the bad luck storyline took the forefront, allowing the scenery porn to make for a wonderful backdrop for the episode to happen. I can’t wait for next week’s episode, which takes place inOsaka.

Miyuki’s nighttime conversation about her secret crush revealed some really neat information about what the girls like in a boyfriend.

Nothing sets a PreCure's heart aflutter more than a late-night confession session.

As much as the magical girl genre is heralded (and likewise lauded) for its romantic subplots, Pretty Cure has done a fairly good job with emphasizing the power of friendship, while still maintaining just enough of an undertone for shipping, whether that be het- or yuri-shipping. Smile PreCure’s late-night girl-talk during their field trip made for a pretty great spotlight into the girls’ tastes in the opposite sex.

Yayoi values a guy who’s bright and cheerful, which goes really well with her own peaceful disposition. Akane looks for someone who’s close to her, and is studious and popular. Her preference for an thoughtful boy contrasts really well with her passionate nature. Reika looks up to an older man like the student council president, but likes someone with heart. A passionate person contrasts well with her intelligence, essentially the inversion of Akane’s preference (by this point, yuri-shippers have discovered the wonders of Akane/Reika). Nao’s thoughtfulness makes her go for the less obvious candidates, indicating that her preference is very wide, and that she doesn’t go for superficial features.

As for Miyuki, her ideal mate is Peter Pan. Yeah…good luck there, Miyuki. I’ll be sure to ship Happy/Peter Pan from now on. As long as it’s not Happy/Wolfrun, I’m okay with this.

Smile PreCure has the craziest art style in all of Pretty Cure.

Instead of spending a few paragraphs explaining this point in detail, I’m just going to leave these screenshots Miyuki drawn with a fish-eye lens effect. That is all.

This show is the greatest thing ever.

Precure Power Rankings: Episode 13

1) Miyuki/Cure Happy – She was the focus of the episode, but didn’t steal the spotlight at all. Perfect episode from her.
2) Yayoi/Cure Peace – She had very little lines, but her presence was felt, especially at the end with the maiko. I won at jan-ken-pon this week, meaning SUPER LUCKY!
3) Nao/Cure March – She played a very good supporting role, and had quite a number of lines that Marina Inoue executed quite perfectly.
4) Reika/Cure Beauty – She didn’t have that many moments, but she was nicely in-character throughout, even during the Akanbe fight.
5) Akane/Cure Sunny – She was probably the odd one out, but didn’t really disappoint either. Someone had to be fifth this week, really.

I will gladly give you my number, Serika.

Recently, I’ve been going through a weird phase in my life where I compare myself to people in my age group. Having recently graduated from University, I’ve finally been thrust into the world of “adulthood” and thrown into the working world, greeted by a wide number of people from different stages in life. Now that I’m no longer amongst my peers from the same graduating class, it’s become a novelty to run into individuals who are around my age group. It’s even weirder that I would make such comparisons at all.

That said, what makes Space Brothers so interesting is that, despite the uncommon circumstances of being part of a space program, the show generally not only depicts people in real life, but also depicts people who are around my age. One of the space program applicants, Serika Itou, is described to be “around twenty-six” years old, which is the age that I will be in only a few weeks time. It’s very rare in “real life” anime for me to see a character who is the same age as me, and is not depicted as a high school teacher or as a Christmas Cake, or both.

Serika Itou is something special, something that I admire in a woman. She is mature, responsible and career-driven, as indicated by her performance so far in Jaxa’s selection process. Her physical, psychological, and interview evaluations are top-notch, but despite this supposed perfection, it’s all rooted in a dream that she has been chasing since childhood. In that dream lies a special, genuine quality in her character that draws me to her. Her attachment to this memory of visiting Jaxa with her parents is a reflection on a value that she places on herself with respect to not only her family, but the validity and seriousness of her aspirations at such a young age. She’s in touch with both her responsibilities and her inner-child. Despite reaching for the stars, she keeps herself grounded.

Who needs Jaxa when you can see the depths of space just by looking into Serika's youthful eyes?

It’s no surprise, then, that the main character, Mutta Nanba, has a huge crush on her, despite being in his 30′s. Age is just a number to Mutta, since for him, he’s essentially starting all over again, re-kindling his dream to go to space with his brother, Hibito. While I cannot say that I can identify with what it’s like to be thirty and still be chasing a dream, I can definitely feel the rough pang of reality, of being in a situation where you’re not initially able to succeed in obtaining those dreams.

I’m not sure whether or not my childhood dream to become a doctor was my own or my parents’, tiger mom and all. The disappointment at home that I had to live with when my University marks weren’t up to par with what was expected of med school was not at all pleasant. However, I still find myself adapting to new things and new scenarios, finding out new things and learning of talents that I never knew I had. Despite settling down to become what is known in Japan as a salaryman, I still have reasonably lofty, but attainable goals of becoming a recognized writer, a goal that I’m realistically working towards, one novel manuscript or blog post at a time.

If I were to meet someone like Serika Itou in real life, I would probably ask her out. Maybe to coffee or something. In our conversations, I would ask her about her career aspirations. I would ask her about her family. I would ask her what it’s like to face an open world that can be socially ruthless at times. I would ask her how she deals with all of that, how she keeps her head on her shoulders when her dreams don’t feel like they’re as attainable as they were the day before. I would ask her where she was when 9/11 happened, how it changed the way she thought about herself and the world. I would ask her what kind of man she is looking for, what kind of companionship she seeks in order to make herself feel whole as a person.

There's nothing more attractive than confidence. Serika has it in spades.

I would ask a lot of things, because somehow I feel that I can connect a bit easier with people my own age. With twenty-six creeping up uncomfortably soon, I’m at a weird stage of my life where I’m past the career-planning stage of high school and university, but yet still not exactly at the point of being in a career that I can call my own. I’m still adjusting, as if I’m on a cusp between two entirely different places in life, which makes it hard to interact with people who are on either side of that awkward cusp. It feels lonely at times, but knowing that people like Serika exist, who are humming along and maintaining that drive and passion, I feel that I’m not straying too far behind in my own attempts to chase my ever-evolving dreams. In the words from Chiyoko from Millennium Actress, it’s the chasing that I love.

Reika and Candy have a heart-to-heart talk, probably about sharing screentime.

This week’s episode saw the introduction of a new Akanbe, a new PreCure finishing move, and a little bit of spotlight shared between Reika and Candy. It was also the first episode in this year’s continuity that chronologically leads directly into the next episode. All that aside, however, I found this week’s installment of Smile PreCure quite disappointing in several regards. It’s mostly due to the absence of the antics that fans are used to seeing, which makes me wonder if this show is capable of being serious when it wants to be, and not come off as overly corny. It’ll have to try a few times throughout the show’s run to get it right.

Synopsis

The girls begin to make preparations to go on a class field trip toKyotoandOsaka. Candy is excited to join, but is told to stay home, much to her disappointment. She confides in her Pop in a conversation via the Cure Décor. When the girls continue to prepare for the class trip, Candy accidentally spills coffee on the guidebooks that they were assembling, further increasing tension between her and the other girls. She runs away and is sought after by Reika, who has a heart-to-heart talk with her. Afterward, Candy separates from the group, but is captured by Wolfrun who traps her inside a cage. Wolfrun appears in front of the girls, casts Bad End on nearby townsfolk, and summons a new blue-nosed Akanbe that is invulnerable to the girls’ finishing moves on it. They get trapped by the Akanbe’s bubble attacks, and Reika is forced to fight for her survival. Candy escapes her cage and meets with the cornered PreCure, who defend her from Wolfrun’s verbal attack. Candy’s feelings bring out a new power that allows the PreCure to escape from their bubble traps and use a new finishing move called Rainbow Healing to defeat the blue Akanbe.

As eventful as the above synopsis may be, there are a few nitpicks that I want to discuss.

1. Rainbow Healing is a pedestrian powerup as far as Pretty Cure goes. 

Rainbow Healing was a bit of a disappointment.

Leading up to this episode, I was reasonably hyped up for the appearance of the new precure group finishing move. The name of the finishing move, now known as Rainbow Healing, was known in fandom circles for a while due to advertising leaks, but it was only now that the audience was able to see it. Personally, it was a bit anticlimactic. The animation sequence of the powerup had some interesting elements to it, like the gesture of the girls to raise their free hand in the air, harkening back to the original Futari wa Pretty Cure team finishing move, Pretty Cure Marble Screw. Other than that, however, it was a bit weak compared to the group’s individual finishers. Not enough flashy effects, hardly any explosion, just a bright rainbow light that engulfs dissolves the Akanbe.

It doesn’t bother me too much, though, since this is just the first team finishing move that the girls have acquired. There’s still plenty of time and episodes for the girls to obtain necessary power-ups to defeat the steadily growing evil, as well as the appearance of Pierrot. For now, I’ll shrug whenever the precure use this move in their arsenal, but will wait eagerly for the upgraded version. There’s nothing wrong with wanting more girly explosions, right?

2. Reika got shafted big time with regards to spotlight episodes.

"Calm down, everyone. I'm sure Toei will make up for it when I get my Ice Sword."

A few weeks back, when leaked Smile episode titles were all we had, it was wildly speculated that there would be an imbalance of character exposure with a bias towards Miyuki, Akane, and Yayoi. This was due to the fact that the Rainbow Healing episode was assumed to be a general episode, and that the PreCure shrinking episode be the same as well. The previews at the end of Yayoi’s episode assured fans that Nao would get her spotlight, which led to assumptions that the Rainbow Healing episode would likely be Reika’s. It was an interesting plan by Toei to kill two birds with one stone, especially in Reika’s case.

However, Reika got shafted pretty hard, as the focus was on Candy this week, as it was during Miyuki’s switcheroo episode. The difference between the two, however, is that Miyuki is the leader of the group and will naturally get her lines in. Reika, being the 5th member of the group, is likely to be overlooked in cast balance, and it really showed this week. We didn’t learn too much about her in this episode, though she had her moments, especially in the screenshot above, when she clearly struggled to wrangle the class back into order. It was an interesting display of Reika’s tendencies to defer attention away from herself, despite taking on a large load of responsibility. This is further shown in her role as Cure Beauty during the Akanbe fights, which I will bring up in a later point in this post.

3. Candy’s drama was a bit of a drag on the episode, though it could have been much worse.

"It's okay-kuru. When I cheer up, you will all get special powers-kuru!"

I’m actually quite glad that I like Candy as much as I do, as far as PreCure mascots go. Her verbal tic isn’t quite as annoying as Hummy’s in Suite PreCure, and the timbre of her voice isn’t as grating as the earlier iterations of  mascots in the franchise. Candy does have a serious emotional side, as shown in her episode with Pop, but that development was more natural because of the way her relationship with her brother was shown in the episode.

Likewise, Candy’s drama with Miyuki was more acceptable because of the relationship dynamic that she has with Miyuki, on account of actually living with her. It was interesting that Smile attempted to show Candy’s relationship with the girls as a group, which didn’t have much to work with. It reminded me of Milk from Yes! Pretty Cure 5, whose relationship with the girls was rocky simply due to her own lack of likeability. Candy is much less annoying, which made her connection episode a bit less agonizing to watch. I did like the moment where the Smile PreCure girls defended Candy from Wolfrun’s verbal attack, which indicated what Candy means to each of the girls individually. It could have been done better, but there wasn’t really any other opportunity to do so other than during the Akanbe fight and right before the new finishing move happened. 

4. Cure Beauty is the most competent fighter in Smile PreCure.

Beauty is the backbone of the team. She's always bailing everyone out.

I only took notice this week, during Reika’s own spotlight episode, that Cure Beauty was my favourite PreCure in the series in regards to her fighting ability. She’s been actively involved in a number of Akanbe fights so far, and has had the most presence in battle despite only joining in episode 5. She saved March’s behind in March’s own episode last week, combined Beauty Blizzard with Sunny Fire to free Sunny from her syrupy snare in the episode prior, and even had the best fighting chance against the playground-themed Akanbe in the switcheroo episode before Cure Candy showed up. Quietly but surely, Cure Beauty has shown that she has been one of the more integral members of Smile PreCure, at least as far as combat is concerned.

And despite her quiet nature in civilian form, I can appreciate Reika’s quiet strength that seems to be kept in check. As the brains of the group, it makes sense for her to keep her emotions and opinions to herself. It allows her to let loose when she becomes Cure Beauty. This is a similar parallel to Cure Aqua in Yes 5, who got a lot of perks in combat, including an Aqua sword as well. In an episode featuring Karen (Cure Aqua) and her relationship to horses, she even battled on horseback and jousted with her Aqua sword against the monster-of-the-week. Now that is pretty damn badass. I expect no less from Cure Beauty this time around.

5. Joker’s presence in the show is unsettling in a very good way.

Looks like Joker has a case of blue balls.

In a timely manner, Joker finally makes another appearance in this week’s episode, and this time he has a new addition to the developing lensman arms race between the Bad End kingdom and legendary PreCure warriors. This is a very common trope in Pretty Cure, as the week-to-week formula of bad guy getting vanquished by the same finishing moves does get a bit stale. The deciding factor in not making this recurring element too tired is to make sure that the upgrades on both ends are sufficiently interesting. Rainbow Healing was a bit of a letdown as an answer to the new Akanbe, which clearly showed its invulnerability (in a rather straightforward and boring way, to be fair).

However, Joker himself is the wild card in all of this. He is yet to show his hand in regards to the actual plans surrounding the Bad End kingdom’s attempt to revive Pierrot. Pierrot himself is ominously waiting in the distance, with hype building week by week, but Joker’s abilities and powers are relatively unknown, which makes his eventual foray into combat all the more exciting to look out for. He strikes a really great balance of craftiness and a flaming fabulousness not seen since Moerumba from Pretty Cure Splash Star, who is flaming in every single meaning of the word. His presence in the group ensures that the dynamics of Bad End kingdom doesn’t stray too far into wacky-yet-incompetent territory.

PreCure Power Rankings, episode 12

1. Reika/Cure Beauty – She made the most of having to share her own episode with Candy. Boo, Candy!
2. Miyuki/Cure Happy – She’s really lucky that she’s the leader, otherwise she’d be invisible.
3. Akane/Cure Sunny – 3^rd by default, but really, outside of Reika and Miyuki, the others were quite absent this week.
4. Nao/Cure March – I blame Candy for the girls’ lack of screen-time.
5. Yayoi/Cure Peace – It seems that whenever I lose at Jan-ken-pon, Yayoi always places low on the rankings. It can’t be helped, kuru.

That spider is pretty huge. I really don't blame Nao for freaking out.

At 12:11am on Monday, this is easily the latest I’ve ever started on writing for a Smile PreCure post. However, don’t let the tardiness of this post be an indicator of the quality of this episode. It was remarkably fun, and despite a lot of silly nonsense that would shatter most people’s suspension of disbelief, there’s enough laughs and Fuck Yeahs to not make it a big deal. Nao fans were treated to a delightful show this week.

Synopsis

Nao trips over a tiny hammer that resembles that from the fairy tale, the Inch-High Samurai. Candy plays with it, but the hammer causes the girls to become tiny. Candy runs around the school looking for the girls, and they follow her to try to get her attention. The girls face several gigantic obstacles that obstruct them from catching up with Candy. The girls also discover Nao’s fear of insects, which are found everywhere. Nao is overcome with fear and faints. When she comes to, she notices the community of insects and bugs around her. Majorina appears, who has been looking for her hammer that makes things small. She discovers the girls in the grass, casts Bad End on the bugs, and summons a flower-shaped Akanbe. After transforming, the PreCure get roughed up by the Akanbe, but March defends the bugs and leads a counterattack against the Akanbe, finishing it off with March Shoot.

It’s late night right now, but not too late to post! Five quick thoughts on episode 11!

1. Marina Inoue is doing a fantastic job as Cure March in this series.

I never liked Marina Inoue as much as I did watching this episode.

Back in episode 4, I gushed quite a bit regarding Marina Inoue’s performance as Cure March during her character episode spotlight, and it seems like we’ve come full circle again to yet a different side of Nao’s character. While I’m a bit suspect as to how well Nao’s fear of insects in relation to her other personality attributes, I feel nonetheless that Marina did a fantastic job showcasing the different side of Nao’s emotional spectrum. This seemingly over-the-top fear of insects is not unexpected in such a show, but Nao’s seiyuu takes to task. Her reactions are wild, her whining complaints are expressive but not too annoying, and like the Miyuki and Akane, Nao knows how to chew up the scenery.

However, this isn’t necessary the full extent of Marina’s vocal range this episode. When Nao comes to her character realization during the Akanbe fight, her speech feels very heroic, and that justice-seeking side that Nao was initially promoted to have comes out in spades here. This week’s episode was quite effective at showcasing March’s different emotional sides, though this unseen side of her would have been more believable if it incorporated more of what we already knew about her, such as her strong sense of familial ties. Her interaction with the pillbug family after the eyecatch should have touched a bit more on this, but at this point, it doesn’t make that much of a deal for me. As a hopeless Marina fanboy, I can’t really help it.

2. I’m growing really fond of Cure Happy’s seiyuu.

Misato Fukuen is really hitting her stride in her portrayal of Miyuki.

On the other side of the Smile seiyuu spectrum is Misato Fukuen, who plays Miyuki. Leading up to the show’s debut, Misato’s defining role in her career was arguably Yin from Darker than Black, which is a complete departure from the scenery-chewer that is Miyuki Hoshizora. It took a while for me to warm up to her, but apparently, her ability to ham up her lines has bode her well in other roles. She’s currently working on a number of roles this Spring season, most notably as Momoe Okonogi from Dusk Maiden x Amnesia and Baabu from Sankarea.

In Dusk Maiden, Misato’s portrayal of the energetic and easily startled Momoe Okonogi is very similar to Miyuki in Smile. However, the supernatural/suspense element of Dusk Maiden really lends well to a hammy style of acting, since Momoe’s character is understandably prone to overreacting to the concept of the supernatural. I have absolutely no problems with Misato Fukuen’s role here, since it feels more natural given the genre of the show. The best part is that she took what she learned from her experience so far in Smile and made that style work in other shows. In Sankarea, she has a more limited role as the main character’s zombified cat, Baabu. Her lines are limited to cat meows, but with Misato’s enthusiasm towards the lines she has, she really…brings that character to life.

3. The action in Smile PreCure really stepped up this week.

Just one of many really great angles during the action sequence of the show.

Not since the remarkably awesome sequence in Miyuki’s switcheroo in episode 8 have I seen a pretty great fight scene. However, where episode 8 featured Cure Candy and a well-choreographed individual fight, this week’s Akanbe fight featured all of the girls, with March at the lead. This teamwork-based fight really made use of the environment in which they fought, jumping around flowers and avoiding the Akanbe’s spores, which were shot out like macross missiles.

The fight, despite taking place between a miniature PreCure squad and a miniature Akanbe, made use of what would normally be small props and making them much bigger than what they would be. In particular, Sunny and Happy’s tag team attack with the soda can was a pretty nice touch. It is reminiscent of a super-hero fight with the brute strength character throwing a car, bus, or other large vehicle. Throwing a soft drink instead of a soft drink dispenser really puts emphasis on the scale of the fight. It was a lot bigger than what it was, but the action was as frantic as PreCure fights go.

4. Majorina makes the show passably, yet entertainingly stupid.

Majorina is face-palmingly stupid. I wouldn't have it any other way.

This week’s episode of Smile PreCure really cemented Majorina’s role in the show. The inclusion of a trickster witch allows for such . This is the second time that she had a hand in putting the girls into strange circumstances, the first being the body switch between Miyuki and Candy, which made for some humourous antics. This week brings a similar situation, this time with the girls magically turning tiny. Given the nature of the magical fighting girl genre, one would think the presence of magic would allow for more odd magical twists that would form the basis of a one-off episode, but genre conventions would lead us to believe that the rules of magic in these particular universes only govern the girls’ powers and nothing else.

PreCure is pretty good with this, though in Fresh’s case, the justification of outrageous magical effects was that they were due to the magical effects of the Nakewameke monsters, causing utter chaos and thus filling the sorrow gauge. The burden of justification falls solely on Majorina in Smile, but the potential of her abilities are obfuscated by her own stupidity and ineptitude, making these odd occassions much more amusing than they really should be. Smile hits the perfect balance between plain unbelievability and ridiculousness. Handwaving is easy as ever in PreCure, thanks to this show. Something impossibly stupid happened to the precure? A wizard Majorina did it.

5. Where are the recurring side characters?

With a lack of side characters, I'm forced to ship this guy with Majorina.

I’m a bit concerned about the lack of major supporting characters introduced into the show so far. We are already 11 episodes into the series, which is reasonably close to 1/4th of the way through, and no single side character has yet to have a spotlight episode. I’m a bit surprised that Smile would go so far as to include two cycles of main character spotlight episodes (1-5 and 8-12, though calling episoden 12 a Reika episode is a bit of a stretch), since it effectively passed on an early opportunity to introduce a recurring character.

In Fresh, we had a number of characters introduced relatively early on, including Love’s dance instructor (and incorrectly speculated 4th PreCure) Miyuki Chinen and donut-retailer Kaoru Tachibana. Yes! Pretty Cure 5 had the scene-stealing photographer/journalist with a puntastic name, Masuko Mika (derived from masukomi, Japanese for mass communications/media), who had her own spotlight episode before the second round of main character spotlight episodes. The monster-of-the-week format of Heartcatch PreCure lies on the showcasing of its many side characters. Considering all of this, smile is surprisingly absent in this regard, and I have a bad feeling it will end up being one of the show’s major faults.

PreCure Power Rankings

1. Nao/Cure March – Made good use of her spotlight episode. Not too much at the forefront, but a good amount of attention was paid to her.
2. Miyuki/Cure Happy – Definitely her strongest episode in a non-spotlight role. A great balance of having presence as the leader character without taking too much attention away from the spotlight character.
3. Reika/Cure Beauty – Her interaction with Nao during the episode was nice, and showed lots of chemistry. Her save during the Akanbe fight was pretty damn baller, too.
4. Akane/Cure Sunny – The delivery of her manzai reaction was a bit off this week, though her dialect carried her throughout the episode. She did have that cool moment with the can during the Akanbe fight.
5. Yayoi/Cure Peace – Had a few cute moments while small, but did pretty much nothing after her transformation. Losing to her at Jan-ken-pon sealed her fate at 5th place.

When a performer is in the zone, it's all too easy to draw observers into it as well.

There’s something magical that takes place within the span of a few minutes of a live performance. The expression and passion put into one’s craft somehow manages to reach out to an audience and sinks deep into the soul. From the perspective of someone observing artistry in real time, the experience itself is fleeting; time slips away and suddenly, the performance stops, but in the same amount of time, the memory slips away into a place we hold dearly for the rest of our lives.

In Sakimichi no Apollon, we are treated to such a moment, perhaps a defining one, in the life of an awkward, introverted Kaoru Nishimi, as he takes in a drum solo that eventually captures his soul. Initially repulsed by the piercing noise, the rhythm and raw power of the performance gradually seeps into him, and it opens him up to a world that his less-than-ideal life at home could never provide. Even more striking is the person on the other end of the performance, truant and delinquent Sentaro Kawabuchi, who embodies the spirit of 1960′s jazz music in Japan.

The connection between Kaoru and Sentaro is founded on this single performance, and say what you will about the originality of a story of two polar opposites, the moment that set the relationship between these two characters into motion took place in the basement of Welcome Records. A drummer did the only thing he knew to do, and a pianist would never forget.

What makes this moment so genuine in the eyes of the audience is that the individuals involved with the creation of this scene knew exactly what it meant to capture that moment within a frame, both visually and audio-wise. Every angle was cut perfectly, and the sound of the performance was all that was present. The audience saw everything from Kaoru’s view, and his memory becomes our own.

But to some, myself included, we already have our memory, our one moment where the music played, and everything else just stopped mattering. We already have that memory that we hold dear to our hearts even though we’ve since moved on from those carefree phases in our lives. But the ability to keep them is something that leaves us so grateful for having them, that we either desperately cling onto them for ourselves in fear of eventually forgetting, or we share them with others, so that we pass on the same gesture that was done to us long ago.

For you, my dear readers, it would be a pleasure for me to do the latter. The next section was written in its entirety, without edit, within the span of listening to Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8, 1^st movement. It is a song that was performed to me by my high school sweetheart, who had captured my heart with a single performance. I encourage you to read along with the music itself, which is embedded below.

Pathétique

That C minor chord at the beginning of Pathetique is a sound that I will remember forever. It rang sharply into my ears as my girlfriend of barely three or four months began her performance. While I still remember the piece and her performance of it very fondly, I had somehow lost track of how it came about, over time. She sat down at the bench, and I sat cozily off to her side on a velvet chair that was owned by her father. And by this I mean owned, the way one owns his own moustache. He would sit there and listen to her play her entire lifetime, and I was lucky enough to sit there for one song.

It was slow, and fast, and everything at once. She was expressive, and I often leaned in to get a view of her face. She had closed her eyes in some sections, and I wondered to myself whether or not she was trying to be expressive, or trying to show off, especially during the fast passages. I felt an aura coming from her, as if she were commanding the energy of the entire room, and bringing it out in a flurry of notes, scattering them in every single direction. It was wild, chaotic, but intense and carefully built up and relaxed as the score instructed.

One moment had her eyes crossing mine in the middle of the piece, when the music would simply stop out of nowhere, and repeat the slow c-minor introduction. She would glance up, and then glance back. I was no longer aware of myself. I surrendered myself to the colours of the notes that played. I could have closed my eyes, and the room would not have changed its appearance. My ears became the window into this world that only existed in sound, and I was next to a goddess of its creation. She controlled me in every single way, and thinking back, I wonder now if that was something truly special, or simply a siren song. I would have to organize my feelings and my reactions to what had happened. When she had finished those final chord shots, I sank into my chair and made sure my sweat had not stained the material.

It’s such a weird exercise to try and reach into your memories and just write about them. It’s almost like re-tracing the steps you took whenever you get lost and try to find your way back home. Sharing those steps with others is like giving directions to them. You give a general description of how to reach a certain place, but the journey that they eventually take there is never the same as the one that you took yourself.

Which is why I read over this little writing experiment and smirk fondly at the prospect that whatever keys I had punched resulted in this description that doesn’t come remotely close to what I actually felt and what I actually saw and what I actually heard. It’s so hard to describe the experience of music, but it’s pretty damn amazing how different people’s experiences are. I shared mine to the best of my ability, and even if it ends up being a complete lie because I actually don’t remember anything at all, and I’m just being delusional, it’s still something I shared with people.

I think that’s the magic that came with Apollon’s first episode. That one moment that was shared between Kaoru and Sentaro felt so genuine, but had this been an actual thing that happened between a person named Kaoru and a person named Sentaro, and had this all happened way back in the 1960’s inJapan, it probably would not have been the exact representation of it.

A memory is a mountain, and time erodes the grandest of them, but there they still remain, and they are still a wonder to behold. I feel for Kaoru when he experienced that for the first time in his life, and his mountain of a memory will remain with him for as long as he knows. It makes me wonder what that mountain will be in his old age, should he choose to share it with people.

Should he choose to blog about it.

Even for a series like Dusk Maiden, premise is paramount.

One of the most important aspects to effective creative writing is the subject matter that an author writes about. While it is true that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, a prospective reader nonetheless will nonetheless examine the back cover and read a summary of what the book is about. Those two to three hundred words written in the back (or in some cases, the inside cover) can mean the difference between a purchased book and a one-way trip to the bargain bin barely three months after release.

This is apparent even in anime, where in instances such as this year’s spring season, rife with a large number of watchable shows, the allure of a really great hook is enough to get people to choose your work over others within the same medium. But what exactly makes for a great premise? Let’s take a look at a number of Spring Anime, and see what works about their premise.

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia

Premise: A young man tries to help the ghost of a girl to rediscover her memories in life.

What makes the premise work? In John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story, a well-received premise is often paired with a thoughtful designing principle. A designing principle is the means of which the premise will be executed in an interesting way. In the case of Dusk Maiden, the concept of ghost amnesia is not exactly new. What makes the story intriguing, however, is the relationship that is set up between the characters. While most anime would involve a paranormal investigation club, Amnesia goes one step further by making the ghost the president of the club. Also, while romances between ghosts and mediums are also fairly commonplace, setting up numerous love triangles with other individuals who cannot see the ghost makes for some interesting possibilities.

Mysterious Girlfriend X

Premise: A boy and girl are connected romantically through the latter’s saliva.

What makes the premise work? Romances are a dime a dozen, and a lot of them involve some amount of spit swapping, but not to this degree. Mysterious Girlfriend X takes what is commonplace, and cranks it up to eleven (or socially speaking, the other way around). The driving force behind the main couple’s relationship is way out there, which is more than enough to not only turn a few heads, but to keep them glued to the screen as the episodes air.

Sakamichi no Apollon

Premise: A boy transfers to a new high school during the 1960′s, and develops a friendship with a delinquent kid through a shared interest in Jazz music.

What makes the premise work? Other than the association of Yoko Kanno in the series’ soundtrack, the milieu of a 1960′s jazz-influenced Japan is tantalizing by itself, and may not even depend on an original story. However, the added dimension of exploring the relationship between the two contrasting main characters through the duality of classical and jazz music is also an interesting concept by itself. Marrying the two together, however, makes for one of the most unique approaches to storytelling that I’ve ever seen in a particular anime series.

Shirokuma Cafe

Premise: A panda becomes a regular customer at a cafe owned by a Polar Bear.

What makes the premise work? The old adage of  “It’s X-genre with a Y-twist!” rears its hilarious head with some unconventional choices. If you were to do an exercise where you think of as many Xs and Ys as possible and combine them together, chances are low that you would mix Slice of Life with talking animals. To take this twist even further, these talking animals are integrated into human society, where the humans are not bothered at all by the presence of talking animals. As a cherry on top, give those animals the most fitting of personalities, and the result is a very intriguing show that’s sure to garner at least some attention.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

Premise: A moe anthropomorph of Nyarlathotep is sent to Earth to defend it from a doujin smuggling ring.

What makes the premise work? Aside from the obvious unconventional pairing of moe with Lovecraftian mythos, the main draw of this particular concept is the way the Cthulu universe is integrated into the story’s own universe. As a gag comedy, the existence of a moeblob Nyarlathotep breaks down the our literary expectations of Lovecraftian horror without fully throwing out the notion of the nature of horror itself. The very thought of a cutesy crawly thingamajig is enough to drive any person insane, otaku or otherwise.

Perfecting the Premise

A great premise provides a novel idea or concept, and asks questions that makes audience want to find an answer to. An even greater premise seeks to execute that novel idea using an even more novel way. The designing principle is the core ideology that the author must come up for him or herself, and must adhere to throughout the creation of a particular piece of work. When trying to break out into the business of writing, authors who have yet to prove themselves or become recognized through a unique writing style or voice, and as such, rely on a single hook to draw prospective audiences in.

When it comes to anime, it’s particularly interesting that due to the nature of the medium and fandom, a lot of hardcore fans are prone to giving most anime a shot. The “database animal“ nature of anime and manga fans lends well to the notion that all a premise needs is to hit on the essential tropes-du-jour in order to sell. This makes sense in the short run, but general consensus in writing circles is that authors cannot write with the market in mind. What’s hot now may not necessarily be so in a year or two, and that current fashions can change drastically within the span of a book’s development.

“What’s the most resilient parasite? A bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? … An idea. Resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold in the brain, it’s almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed, fully understood? That sticks.” – Dom Cobb, Inception

The premise is essentially the fundamental idea that an author aims to plant into an audience’s brain, and hopes to grow into something that transcends the notions of trend and fashion. Before you get around to writing the next Haruhi Suzumiya, be sure that you have the right ideas in mind first.