Pika pika pikariiiiin! It's Cure Peace! How electrifying!

Yayoi Kise, Cure Peace, is a very interesting case in the PreCure fandom. From one look on pixiv and zerochan, it appears that Peace has the most fanart of all the Cures so far. Implying a relationship between fanart and actual fan following, it is interesting to note the positive reaction towards this character despite not having any particular spotlight episode to date leading up to this week’s episode. She intrigued me in this regard, and her entrance into the Cure franchise turned out surpass my initially low expectations from this character.

Synopsis

Miyuki and Akane discover Yayoi’s interest in drawing superheroes, and nominate her to draw her class’s poster in an upcoming contest. Yayoi enlists the two to help her with her painting, and puts significant effort into its completion. The poster only wins a consolidation prize, and after being teased by art club’s president and his posse, Yayoi rips her poster off the wall and runs away. She is attacked by Red Oni, who creates a Bad End aura around the school. Miyuki and Akane transform, but are unable to defeat the Red Oni’s Akanbe. Yayoi awakens from the Bad End aura and discovers the girls’ identity as PreCure. Despite her fear, she gathers courage to come to their protection, awakening as Cure Peace in the process, using PreCure Peace Lightning to vanquish the Akanbe.

As always, here are five thoughts on this week’s episode.

1. Yayoi more than surpassed my expectations as a crybaby character.

Yayoi's hilarious take on electric powers shouldn't be too much of a shock to the genre-savvy.

Like the idiot hero Miyuki, I was a bit apprehensive about having a fragile flower archetype in the show (a character who is quick to burst into tears). A few tears here and there for a normal character are fine (see Tsubomi in Heartcatch PreCure), but a character defined by crybaby tendencies immediately raises red flags for me.

This wasn’t the case with Yayoi. She has a quick trigger for tears, sure, but a lot of the triggers that caused her to cry so far have been of reasonable substance. Her crying because of the overwhelming feeling of happiness from befriending Miyuki was very straightforward and reasonable. It wasn’t like she was crying because she spilled a glass of milk, or because she fell over and scraped her knee. She didn’t show similarities to Usagi from the Sailor Moon anime (the character that made me grow an aversion to crybaby characters in the first place); Yayoi is a girl who reacts to her emotions and frets over her goals and dreams.

One particular Yayoi moment that I liked was the way she came to Happy and Sunny’s rescue. Her facial expression was hesitant, and she eventually decided to run after them. That single action had more impact character-wise than Yayoi explaining herself later that she would protect them. I suppose that sort of writing is unavoidable in a kids’ show, since it’s easier to present aesops to kids that way, but it’s nice that her actions back up her words.

It is said that two is company, and three is a crowd. With the introduction of Cure Sunny, we were able to see an initial glimpse of the cast dynamic between her and Cure Happy, and the focus was adequately split between the two of them. With Peace joining the fray, we’re finally starting to see roles form within the group of three. Miyuki is showing competency as a leader-type character, encouraging Yayoi to participate in the poster contest using an interesting speech about art as a mirror into the soul. For a kids show, it’s quite profound, especially coming from someone as airheaded as Miyuki herself.

With Akane out of the spotlight, she is brought back down to a supporting role, but still manages to command attention with strong lines from her seiyuu, Asami Tano. Akane’s boisterous nature stands out with minimal screen time, but doesn’t hog the spotlight in any way. Sunny fans were served rather well this week, and should look forward to similar performances in the future.

Another seiyuu performance I actually overlooked up until now was that of Yayoi, who is voiced by Hisako Kanemoto, best known for her roles in Ika Musume and Sora no Woto (as Kanata Sorami). She is remarkably talented despite her short list of character credits. She uses Ika Musume’s voice and replaces Ika’s stubbornness with a more grounded, reserved personality for Yayoi’s character. When Yayoi transforms into Cure Peace, I can hear the invader’s confidence come through wonderfully. I can see Hisako playing around with Yayoi’s character a bit more in future episodes, best fitting for her dynamic in the group going forward.

With Marina Inoue’s episode coming up next week, I am looking forward to what she can possibly bring to the table. With great performances from Peace and Happy, I am relieved that March doesn’t have to carry the talent load in this show. The voice acting overall is great and very balanced so far. I am a huge fan of Marina, so I’m more curious of Reika/Cure Beauty’s seiyuu, Chinami Nishimura, known best in the titular character in the Aria series.

3. Aka Oni isn’t any better of a villain than Wolfrun.

Yet another villain without personality, Red Demon should join Wolfrun's club.

I had some sliver of hope that the giant red bruiser would display some sort of personality compared to the flat performance that Wolfrun gave. Red Demon was just as generically menacing as his lupine counterpart, though he does have the edge with regards to actual abilities. His club is used to a small extent in his encounter with Happy and Sunny, but other than a wind gust, he didn’t really inflict any particular harm compared to Kumojacky’s various Big Bang attacks or any other Heartcatch henchman for that matter.

I’m mostly disappointed in Smile’s henchmen with regards to their personality, for the most part. The writers could have played the sluggish bruiser character as straight as any other of the archetype, and made Aka Oni a bit more imbecilic, but instead his lack of intelligence seems to stem from simple incompetence as a villain. Wolfrun’s appearance gave him no particular indicator of personality, but there was plenty to be had from Aka Oni, but nothing was followed through in that regard. The henchmen are regrettably forgettable in this series, and compared to Suite PreCure, even trio the minor had more personality. At least with the trio, their incompetence stems from personality, not the other way around. And they eventually did grow on me eventually; I just hope the same goes for the bad guys in Smile. Still, there are plenty of episodes left to turn things around.

4. The Art Club posse is full of assholes.

Trolling is an art form.

When it comes to actual antagonism, I saw most of that from the art club posse than from the actual bad guys in the series. In a short little exchange between the art club Presdient’s cronies and Yayoi, they easily made themselves out to be terrible people. Its execution is as simple as it comes, since bullying the main character (in this case, a lovable crybaby in Yayoi) by telling her that her art sucks is the equivalent of kicking a puppy. It’s so easy to do, and yet its occurrence here in the episode came as a bit of a shock either way.

Firstly, I never really saw it coming from the first place. The art club president was first depicted as an eccentricity along the lines of mad scientist Rintaro Okabe during Yayoi’s initial description of him. But seeing him with a posse later was a bit of surprise, and the gesture of having his underlings bully for him is an extra touch to how much of an asshole he is. I’m still reeling from it, and it’s because he betrayed my initial impression of him as a cool mad scientist; instead I got a sunovabitch.

5. There was a lot more derpy character animation this week than what I’m used to with this franchise.

Art by Daik

Dear Yuki Nagato,

This is quite embarrassing for me to write this, considering the public nature of this letter’s publication, as well as the general concept of writing a Valentine’s day letter to a fictional character, but in the spirit of creative writing, I’ve decided to present my thoughts regarding love and Valentine’s day from my personal experiences through this form.

Simply put, I consider you to be my waifu. You embody many characteristics that I find ideal in a real girl, and that your mere existence and exceptionality as a character makes me watch with baited breath every time I see you on the screen in my numerous viewings of the Haruhi Suzumiya anime series. At the most fundamental levels, you motivate me to become a better person in real life, because I believe in the odd chance that I just might meet a girl who embodies similar characteristics as you.

I cannot love a cartoon, but I can appreciate characteristics that a character displays. What I love about you as a character, Yuki, is that you are simple in your approach to everyday life. I see you in the club room with Kyon and the others at the SOS Brigade, nearly invisible, often reading a book, but always observing everything. You’re not always noticed by them, but you’re always there. You always devote your time and efforts to your friends, Kyon especially.

Most of all, I love how the smallest gestures you make can have the hugest meaning behind them. As an individual that doesn’t do or say much, or show much emotion, those little things that you do, which you would normally hardly ever do, contrasts so much with your normal self that the contrast makes the action mean so much more, even if it were expressed in a straightforward way by other people.

In that regard, you remind me of a girl I used to date in University. She was quiet and kept to herself, even though she was probably more sociable than you were. She caught my eye, and even long after we started dating, her feelings about me were very tightly reserved. It would frustrate me sometimes, but whenever she showed the slightest bit of appreciation, or made some sort of gesture that would hint at what she was feeling inside, it was like I had been exposed to something way beyond what she showed at face value.

When I first told this girl I loved her, she said nothing at first. It was on a bus ride on the way home from an amusement park. I planned that day to be the day that I would drop the L-bomb. I spent all day so utterly frustrated by my inability to find the perfect moment to do so, that I simply gave up and told her at the last possible moment. She said nothing, but she held me right after, saying, “I am unable to say it, but I’m able to feel it. If you don’t hear me say it, just believe that I feel it.” Or something like that.

I believe that love can be felt, even though it might not be expressed. You remind me of her in so many ways that every day, I see a bit of her in you. I still miss her sometimes, but I can no longer have her. She’s gone. But I’m not saddened by it. The impossibility of getting back together with her due to her having disappeared completely from my life is no different from the impossibility of physically being with you due to the constraints of fictionalization and the barrier between spatial dimensions and mediums.

No, I’m not saddened by this. Instead, I live my life even more resolved. The mere fact that she existed in my life gives me hope that there is indeed someone out there capable of bringing out the best in me. I haven’t met her yet, but until the day I do, I’ll always have the idea in my mind that I have worth as a human being, and can live every single day with every ounce of burning energy that I channel from the infinite cosmos. Thanks to you, I feel like I can do the impossible. Thanks to you, I feel unstoppable. Thanks to you, I can finally move on.

At the end of the day, I still find the concept of having a waifu to be rather silly, but there’s still some genuine meaning behind it. I used to be dismissive about it when I heard about it on 4chan, but there was that moment when Kyon first walked into the literary club room, and saw a quiet unassuming girl reading a book, and it changed the way I looked at myself, probably for the better.

Since then, I’ve engaged in social activities with other like-minded individuals for the fun of it, including taking a picture of me spending time with you on Valentine’s day. I enjoyed last year with you as much as one would enjoy reading a book in front of a picture of a girl reading a book, but it’s all in good fun and good spirits. Unfortunately, Yuki, It is my deepest regret that I won’t be available tonight, as I will be watching a basketball game by myself, alone and single, on Valentine’s day.

And I won’t feel uncomfortable about it in the slightest bit. And it’s all thanks to you. Happy Valentine’s day, Yuki Nagato.

I get it, because you're Cure Sunny! BAHAHAHAHA! Joking aside, I love Akane.

After stealing the show in episode 1 with her outspoken exchange with Miyuki during her self-introduction, we get to take a closer look at the passionately optomistic Akane Hino as she awakens as Cure Sunny. She didn’t disappoint, as her debut as a PreCure was filled with bits of fluffy friendship as well as hot-blooded superpower. Overall, I really enjoyed it, and Smile, despite its potential challenges with balancing out the cast throughout the show, has been reasonably maintaining a solid standard of watchability for PreCure fans and newbies alike.

Synopsis

Akane shows off her volleyball skills in gym class, prompting Miyuki to recruit her and Kise as PreCure. Akane is confused by the concept of PreCure, but invites Miyuki to volleyball practice to watch her in action. She doesn’t live up to the ace billing that she displayed in class, and practices under a bridge due to her disappointing outing. Miyuki sees the passion in her practice, and helps Akane out. Akane’s improvement significantly shows in the next practice, but is interrupted by Wolfrun, who captures the bad energy of the volleyball team. Miyuki transforms into Cure Happy, but is unable to defeat the volleyball-shaped Akanbe monster. Akane escapes the clutch of Wolfrun’s bad energy, and defends Cure Happy from the Akanbe, and awakens as Cure Sunny in the process.

Hoping to establish a bit more structure into this episodic coverage of Smile PreCure, here are my five thoughts on this week’s episode:

1. Miyuki is remarkably idiotic, but not yet lovably idiotic.

Bu-bu-buuuuuuuu....

I’m not that big of a fan of the idiotic hero. For me, I personally like my main characters to be somewhat competent, but the odd moments of clumsiness here and there help show that as a main character and hero, he or she is still has plenty of room for improvement, even though they’re remarkably strong from the get-go. Such examples include heroes like Maka from Soul Eater and Sosuke Sagara from Full Metal Panic.

As the first and foremost PreCure in the series, she’s clearly the star of the show, but the responsibility of taking up the most screen-time requires that she doesn’t come off as too much of a dunce, since too much of it can work against her. I’ve said before that the seiyuu’s overacting is much better than under-acting, which makes Miyuki an interesting case to observe with regards to how much she can balance her clumsiness with her responsibility to lead a band of five girls. As the secondary and point-of-view character in this episode, I’ll give her a passing mark this week; since she readily defers the spotlight to Sunny, while supporting her in helping with her awakening as a PreCure.

2. My Heart Burns for Akane/Cure Sunny.

"What's this CurePre that you're talking about?"

That said, Cure Sunny is everything I thought that she would be from what was teased from last week’s episode. As a girl who’s outspoken and passionate about things she cares about, her disposition is appropriately sunny. And I hate myself for having written that just now.

Akane’s awakening as Cure Sunny is all about setting off the fire in her that was stoked from the embers of developing friendship, which I will comment later. What I really love about Sunny’s character is that she really does care about her friends, old and new. Akane is already friends with Kise (Cure Peace), and readily accepts Miyuki as one as well. Her passion for volleyball also brings out a competitive spirit in her in which she wants to show off her abilities to Miyuki, but her failing to do so initially shouldn’t be overstated. As far as Osakans go, they’re often characterized as boisterous braggarts, which comes into play quite effectively when Akane fails to live up to her big talking. She falls pretty hard, but doesn’t give up; she’s immediately seen doing spiking drills by herself. I really admire that, and the scene progression was a nicely executed touch.

3. The big bad wolf is more bad than big.

No Hope? No Problem, thanks to Cure Sunny!

I understand the concept behind wolfrun, but as far as first impressions go, his appearance in episode 1 left a pretty distinct distaste in my mouth. There are a lot of inconsistencies in his abilities as an evil henchman, since he talks pretty big despite not showing just how menacing he tries to be. Compared to other baddies like the Desert Messengers, Wolfrun is not menacing at all. The hot-blooded Kumojacky is remarkably strong and trains relentlessly. Sasorina takes her insecurities out on the PreCure with her snarky laugh and potent scorpion hair. Cobraja’s extreme vanity is backed up by his prowress with his card projectiles.

Wolfrun has nothing. All he’s shown to do, power-wise is conjure up the Bad End aura from his book (which by itself is actually really neat in its presentation compared to cop-out negative aura powers like in Fresh and Suite) and summon Akanbe monsters. He doesn’t show any other abilities with regards to fighting, and depends too much on his summons. At least with the incompetence of Trio the Minor from Suite, they were purposely bad due to their role as comedic relief (not that they were effective at that role anyway, to say the least). If Wolfrun is intended to be played straight as a villain, then he’s not doing a particularly convincing job at doing so.

I disapprove of him to the extent that I’d rather have Cure Sunny as the feature picture for this particular segment. Cure Sunny is just that awesome.

4. Lucky Seven? I’m convinced that there are most likely Seven PreCure in the series.

There's probably seven. Count the jewels.

It’s a rumor circulating in fandom that the original cast of five PreCure will be expanded to seven, due a few hints dropped in the show already, as seen above. There are seven coloured jewels on the Cure tact, as well as seven colours in the rainbow, which seems to be one of the visual tie-ins with regards to the structure and dynamics of the cast. Furthermore, the name of the theme-named village is Nanairogakura, which loosely translates to “Raibow village.” As it stands, five of the seven colours are already represented by precure withOrange, Yellow, Blue, and Green represented by Sunny, Peace, Beauty, and March, respectively. Loosely speaking, Cure Happy is visually pink, coinciding with the pink jewel in the cure tact, but dynamically falls under indigo with regards to the colour spectrum, since indigo is often regarded as the miscellaneous colour.

Colour-wise, we’re already seeing the relationships between the characters that represent them, with Orange and Yellow hanging out together, and Blue and Green often seen together, relatively speaking. That leaves Red and Purple, which are also chromatically close to each other in the rainbow, allowing for a logical opportunity to introduce the 6^th and 7^th PreCure later on. This is a casting decision that I support, despite my worries about the show’s ability to balance out an already large cast. Will it actually happen, though? I’m not certain, but I believe for the most part that it will, and I’ll look forward to it happening later, rather than sooner. It’s too early to make any judgments here, since we’re yet to see March and Beauty in any considerable spotlight at the moment.

5. I’m a huge sucker for the Power of Friendship.

Friendship comes before saving the world, much to Candy's dismay.

Smile PreCure has the potential to be the most troperiffic show in the PreCure franchise, very much due to the show’s fairy tale motif, which by itself naturally involves the concept of archetypes and self-realization of unconscious connections with different forms of imagery and narrative. It also provides the opportunity for this show to laugh at itself with regards to all of the PreCure stock elements that it uses. We’ve already seen it with Miyuki’s inability to use her PreCure powers, as well as her remarkable failure to do so in this episode. It continues to be a hit, but at the same time, it still manages to play some tropes fairly straight, and fairly effectively.

Enter the Power of Friendship, which is the underlying premise of pretty much every PreCure show (and magical girl show, for that matter) in existence. What I like about PreCure is that they really emphasize both aspects of the trope, which is simply the proportional relationship between the Friendship between the characters and the prowess that they exude. Both manage to increase gradually because we get to see them become closer to each other throughout the show, and the believability of those bonds rest on how likeable the characters are. If we as an audience are capable of liking these characters, then we are then capable of liking them liking each other. It’s the core selling point of the show, and Smile does not fail in the slightest bit.

There’s a wonderful scene as shown in the picture above, where Miyuki tries to cheer Akane up when the latter is practicing her volleyball drills. Even though Miyuki is barely new to the school, her comfort level with Akane, built from the previous episode’s self-introduction scene naturally progresses to a genuine concern. At first she tries to pull off the somewhat tired “I want to protect my friend’s sadness” card, but Akane wants none of that. Instead, we’re treated to a nice little heartwarming moment where Akane instead enlists Miyuki to help her with her volleyball practice. A simple reversal like that is what I truly love about this show and its approach to the tried-and-true elements of friendship; it takes a realistic, yet still fluffy approach to the scene, while at the same time, introduces a humorous element with Candy, who brings up Miyuki’s short attention span surrounding her search for new PreCure members. The simultaneous foreground/background dialogue is present here, somewhat, which is a recurring method used in several scenes in this show already, which is another handy touch.

Genre savvy isn’t limited to simply pointing out the occurrence of genre conventions; it’s also about being capable of playing them in different ways, including straightforwardly. Smile is capable of doing this for the most part, at least with regards to the fundamental elements of PreCure.

PreCure Power Rankings

1. Akane/Cure Sunny – spotlight episode. Didn’t disappoint.
2. Kise/Cure Peace – Got to see more of her. She’s a really nice girl with lots of potential.
3. Miyuki/Cure Happy – I can’t stand idiot heroes, but she’s got other redeeming qualities that makes it worthwhile.
4. Nao/Cure March – Victim #1 of early cast balance issues, but she’ll get her day in the sun eventually.
5. Reika/Cure Beauty – Victim #2 as mentioned above, but she didn’t really do much this episode either.

A fated encounter. A cute start to a highly anticipated show!

With Suite PreCure but a distant memory, Smile PreCure finally arrived much to my own personal hype regarding the show and its interestingly assembled cast (MarinaInoue and Hisako Kanemoto in particular). The first episode aired to much of my own rejoicing, and possibly others as well; it lived up to all of the hype with a very strong beginning, which provided a wealth of interesting possibilities to explore throughout the show’s run.

Synopsis

On her way to school, Miyuki Hoshizora meets a mysterious and cute little creature named Candy, who is looking for the PreCure. Candy disappears, leaving Miyuki with a book that carries a strange magical aura. Miyuki’s self-introduction at school is thwarted by her own nerves, but her classmate Akane Hino steps in and jokes around with her and the rest of her class, letting her calm down and introduce herself properly. After school, Miyuki tries looking for Candy again, and accidentally discovers a portal network between bookshelves in the process. She finds Candy, who is chased by an evil henchman named Wolfrun, and comes to Candy’s rescue. Miyuki awakens as the legendary PreCure, Cure Happy.

As an introductory episode, Smile PreCure was very effective at starting out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, as shown through the episode’s spotlight character and main protagonist, Miyuki Hoshizora. Unlike previous PreCure leaders, Cure Happy is exactly like her name describes. She’s an eternal optimist, and full of hope. She’s written like this in such a way that the only fault that I can give her is that her voice actor, Misato Fukuen, tends to overact in a number of scenes, but it’s something that I can live with for a PreCure series.

It’s a nice change of pace compared to Fresh’s Love Momozomo, who is without any particular standout qualities, or Heartcatch’s Tsubomi Hanasaki, whose shyness holds her back as a character (and letting Erika Kurumi take all of the spotlight in the process). One of Misato’s more notable roles include Yin from Darker than Black, an emotionless doll-like character, which makes the seiyuu’s role as Miyuki a nearly polar-opposite character.

Miyuki's inner-monologue during her self-introduction was both amusing and charming.

As the main character, Miyuki’s interest in books and fairytales is reflective of the series’ motif. While Heartcatch and Suite had flowers and music respectively, Smile takes on a storybook approach, not only with the PreCure philosophy of defending the world’s happy endings, but also with regards to visual cues as well. In the opening theme sequence, Miyuki’s fascination with fairy tales is depicted through a sequence of Cinderella scenes featuring her as the princess.

Books also have a particular visual (and potentially story-wise as well) role in Smile. There’s a wonderful scene in the school library where Miyuki is looking for Candy, but accidentally opens a portal into what will probably be the PreCure’s quest hub for the series. The portal reacts only to Miyuki, who carries the book that Candy left behind in the cold opening. Intrigued by the way the books glow and react to her, she unknowingly moves them across the shelf in a particular order, like a secret lock sequence, and the way the bookshelf reacts to her series of book movements is like that of opening a magical vault; a pitch black void with only the singular glow of a book sliding to the proper spot, and locking into place with a resounding click that echoes through to the audience’s ears. It’s that kind of attention to detail that really impresses me for a show like PreCure.

The portal system is just one of many different examples that indicate the high quality of Smile’s production. Animation is superb and fluid throughout. Right from the very start, we see the entire group soar through a dark background, leaving a beautiful trail of colour, as they land and make their trademark entry announcement. Dazzling the Stage, Galactic Pretty Boy! Smile PreCure!

The CGI ending dance returns. The choreography isn't as great as previous iterations, but gosh, the production is *lovely*

The series’ new cast of villains is also varied as well, taking cues from the fairy tale angle. The first henchman that makes his appearance is the big bad wolf character, Wolfrun. It’s a logical choice, which will surely get an illogically negative response to furry-haters. Let me get this off my chest: Wolfrun is NOT a furry-only character. People with the fur fetish are furries, and for the most part, are nice, respectful people who keep their fetishes to themselves. Their fondness for animal anthropomorphism is no different or unique from an outsider’s perspective than my own fondness for anime.

It would be quite a shame that a character like Wolfrun would be dismissed simply based on demographic appeal rather than other legitimate reasons, like flat characterization, which is actually a valid argument in this case. While he isn’t a unique personality like Sasorina was in Heartcatch, this is still only a first episode, and maybe we’ll learn a bit more about him through his interaction with the rest of the quirky miniboss squad, which consists of an ogre-demon, a creepy puppet, and a jester as the dragon character. It’s a kind of neat array of villains that I haven’t seen since the Dark Masters in Digimon (with Puppetmon and Piedmon among them).

The franchise’s hot-blooded background music, now a staple of the series thanks to Yasuharu Takanashi, makes a bold return with Miyuki’s transformation, though I did notice that they recycled a track from Fresh PreCure during Miyuki’s introduction to her class. It’s funny that I mention the quality of music here as part of the show’s commitment to reasonably good production, since Smile will probably have a hard time following Suite’s excellently arranged soundtrack, and will probably fail to live up to it but still have a good showing, just like how Suite failed to live up to Heartcatch as a PreCure but was still a decent show in general.

PreCure Kamehameha! This is what draws me to PreCure, amazing animation and action!

Music aside, everything that you come to expect from a PreCure show makes their signature return in this iteration. Cure Happy’s transformation is appropriately short and sweet, taking the transformation time of the other Cures into consideration. Happy’s finishing move, PreCure Happy Shower, is a beam attack with stock animation that puts Goku and Ryu to shame.

The opening sequence also suggests that the PreCure team has a suite of elemental powers, with Cure Happy as the purifier/healer of light; Cure Sunny as the hot-blooded fire-user; Cure March as the courageous airbender wind manipulator; Cure Beauty with her elegant and artistic mastery of water and ice; Cure Peace with her clumsily effective electric prowress.

It makes for some interesting comparisons to Sailor Moon, which also features the same types of elemental powers. Already, I can see some differences between the two, mostly between Peace and Jupiter; even the hotbloodedness of Cure Sunny and Sailor Mars seems to have some variation between the two on the surface, and I can’t wait to see how Akane is portrayed throughout the show.

Akane steals Miyuki's spotlight during her self-introduction, but she comes off as a really cool character!

That said, this will be the first PreCure series since Yes! Pretty Cure 5 that takes the sentai-squad approach to its cast. I’ll be taking a close look at the cast dynamics throughout the show, as well as the development of each of the five central characters. Despite being a Miyuki-centric episode, Akane (Cure Sunny) plays a major role during Miyuki’s self-introduction. She is highly likeable due to her in-your-face clowning (and Kansai-ben to boot), but is nicely grounded by Reika and Nao (Beauty and March). Even though I’m a bit put off by the over-the-top shyness of Kise (Cure Peace), which surprisingly makes Tsubomi’s shyness pale in comparison, I’m intrigued by her potential as a character; inside that oft-wilting shell, there lies a passionate artist and mangaka, which hopefully will be brought out later. I have high hopes for the character that I like the least.

Overall, the first episode was pretty much everything I had expected to see from the first episode of Smile PreCure. I am really excited to blog this show for the duration of the year, eliminating any particular problems with deciding what to blog about each season. There’s a lot of characters in this series, which makes for a potentially decent amount of material to talk about. I’ve probably said a lot already in this post, since there’s so much to cover right off the bat, but I’ll eventually talk about it. I hope that PreCure fans will enjoy this show just as much as I do.

PreCure Power Rankings: Episode 1

At the end of every post, I’ll rank my favourite characters based on their appearance in the episode. It won’t necessarily reflect my overall ranking of each character, as each episode will spotlight different characters.

1. Akane/Cure Sunny – Her depiction as a loud and proud Osakan is straightforward and effective. The way she was written to say Merci Beaucoup when exchanging props with her classmates was a very nice touch. Her hot-blooded nature fits the philosophy of PreCure, which makes her a potential dark horse fan-favourite.
2. Miyuki/Cure Happy – Naturally at number two because she’s the first to get the spotlight episode. I love her cheery disposition and positive outlook, especially after she managed to gather the confidence to make a proper self-introduction. A bit too much overacting cost her a number 1 spot in her own episode, though.
3. Nao/Cure March – Marina Inoue has limited lines in this episode, but she made every single one count, especially when she reacts to Akane’s introduction of her as a gangster boss character. The tone she has when she asks, “Banchou?” is hilarious.
4. Kise/Cure Peace – As I mentioned before, I’m a bit put off by crybabies, but her line, “I’ve only cried 3 times so far!” combined with the look she gave while saying it, was a nice way of having her make fun of herself. It’s kinda cute.
5. Reika/Cure Beauty – Even though I like Beauty’s character design more than Peace’s, she hardly had any presence due to having nearly the least lines in the episode. I can see the potential in an ojou-sama character, though. Ice powers are an ice touch, as well.

By nature, prequels are initially looked at with immense skepticism due to the potential for retcon, the tendency for supplementary stories to be of much lesser quality, as well as the tendency for western media to milk franchises with an absurd amount of sequels and spinoffs in general. In anime, however, prequels (even sequels, to an extent) are not as common. Fate fans were treated to a highly successful prequel series last season with Fate/Zero, which is set to resume this Spring. Various mecha franchises such as Gundam and Macross naturally have prequel series as well.

Sadly, my opinion remains that anime could use a few more Zeros and Gaidens, since season 2′s are becoming more common in the industry. Here are a number of series that have sufficient potential for prequel expansion, in which I would be very interested.

Sunflower Champloo

In Samurai, Fuu, Mugen, and Jin, go on a search for the Fuu’s father, the Sunflower Samurai. In the prequel, we get insight on the origins of the Sunflower Samurai, as well as the history surrounding the Shimabara Rebellion and the Hidden Christians of the Edo Period. While the original series is wildly anachronistic, it still retains a sense of historical legitimacy in its inclusion of a large number of historical features of Japan, depicted in fascinating contexts. My personal favourite part of Japanese history is that of the christians in Japan, which is something that was only mildly hinted at in Champloo.

By centering the prequel on the Sunflower Samurai, there’s an opportunity to focus specifically at this aspect of history, creating a radically different approach to the depiction of history that its preceding series used. Having read Shusaku Endo’s Silence, which is highly detailed and interesting but surprisingly bland in its presentation, infusing those accounts with the stylistic champloo for which the anime is well-known could potentially result in something riveting to watch. Also, inclusion of Nujabes’ posthumous album would be icing on the cake.

Garden Gaiden! Heartcatch PreCure!

Heartcatch PreCure was nearly perfect as a series due to its ability to play a large number of magical girl tropes straight, yet still ride on the execution of those tropes, fantastic animation and unforgettable characters, to a highly enjoyable climax that still sits well in the hearts of its fanbase. However, there still lies potential for supplementary story, particularly with regards to the previous generations of PreCure. As the only continuity in the franchise that contains cross-generation of PreCure, I’d love to see a spinoff series that delves into the life of Tsubomi’s grandmother, Kaoruko Hanasaki.

Kaoruko is a fascinating character in her own right. In Heartcatch, her eyes show wisdom beyond her years, and her abilities as Cure Flower are largely hinted at (and even fully realized towards the end of the series). I’d love to see GGHCPC showcase her beginnings and development into a strong PreCure warrior, coupled with development alongside her fairy Coupe, as well as her future husband. We’d also get to see the backstory of Dune, one of the more interesting (if not most interesting) villains of the PreCure universe.

Simply put, Garden Gaiden would catch people’s hearts!

Puella Magi Cleopatra Magica

From a straight-up magical girl series in PreCure, to a highly LOLGRIMDARK subversive show like Madoka Magica, we have a series here that, through only a few seconds of footage in the final episode, opens a window to infinite potential. When it was revealed that Magical Girls and Witches have existed for centuries, the fandom went wild with speculation as to how these historical women lived. One interesting piece of fanfiction even pursues this idea, and presents some highly interesting possibilities. However, instead of the multi-angle approach that the fic takes, I would like to see a spinoff series that focuses solely on a single character in history.

And what better character to examine than Cleopatra VII? Considered the greatest of the Egyptian queens, the idea that her contract with Kyubey’s species turned her into a magical queen is remarkably fascinating. What was her wish? How was her relationship with Antony while she was a magical girl? There are a multitude of ways to inject the Puella Magi element into this little slice of history, including a sphinx-like Kyubey that speaks in riddles, witches that take the form of animalistic monsters similar to Egyptian gods, and story of Cleo’s death, caused by a bite from a Cobra (or in this case, a Cobra-themed walpurgisnacht).

I would definitely make a contract just to have this series come to fruition.

Last Exile: The Grand Stream

Even though my wishes for a sequel to Last Exile were answered with Fam, the Silver Wing, there’s still plenty of room to examine the historical continuity of Last Exile in general. This just goes to show how vast the world is, and how effectively it was fleshed out in detail throughout the entire series. How great would it be, then, that we look at a prequel that follows the lives of Hamilcar Valca and Georges Head, the fathers of Claus and Lavie?

One of the main connections between Claus and Lavie are that of their dads, which results in their dream to one day cross the Grand Stream. Unlike Fam, which heavily takes a “cute girls doing cute things in space with steampunk” approach to the story, Grand Stream would involve a younger Ham and Geo in an utterly bro-tastic cast. Slash pairing from fangirls is a foregone conclusion, which is something that this franchise doesn’t see a lot of outside of Dio and Lusciola. A historical look at Anatoray-Disith relations would be also rather interesting.

Death Devil!

Even though the K-ON franchise still continues in manga and movie formats with its currently-running university arc and “British Invasion” film, there still lies a prequel idea that I’ve always wanted to see back when the first series ended. Death Devil, the gothic heavy metal band in which club advisor and school alumna Sawako Yamanaka performed as the lead guitarist, is an extreme musical departure from the pop-rock stylings that Hokago Tea Time is known for. While two of Death Devil’s songs, Love and Maddy Candy, are featured in the original series, this number is two too low for my taste. I want more.

Sawako as a high school girl is an interesting story that was told in dramedic fashion in the original series. I’d like to see the same approach taken with this pre-generational iteration. The same slice of life format can still be used, but as some bits in Nichijou have proven, dramedy can be used to full effect in anime. Sawako’s heartbreak and downfall into the “dark arts” can be played for laughs, resulting in a very intriguing depiction of Death Devil as a combination of Hokago Tea Time andDetroitMetalCity.

Links to the Past

The prequel can be an effective storytelling method due to the inherent benefits that it provides. It can make use of dramatic irony, since the audience already knows the consequences of the story’s actions, and it can also make neat references to the original work, which can be highly appreciated by the fanbase of the original series. As Fate/Zero has generally shown, prequels have potential to be even more popular and successful than their source counterparts. All that is required is a fresh, interesting approach to the canon, as well as precise execution through effective animation, character design, and even voice acting.

I only mentioned a few series here that I would personally like to see prequels of, but they certainly aren’t the only ones that have viability. Which anime prequels would you be interested in?

Synopsis: the magical musical world of Major Land is threatened by Mephisto, the ruler of Minor Land, when he steals the Legendary Score containing the Melody of Happiness. Before he gets a chance to transform it into the Melody of Sorrow, Major Land’s queen, Aphrodite, scatters the score’s notes and sends them to Kanon Town, back on Earth. She sends the melody’s songstress, Hummy, to Kanon Town to not only find the notes, but the Legendary PreCure as well.

Unlike Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which I’ve described before as a series about magical girls, Suite PreCure is, for all its successes and failures, a magical girl show at heart. Just a mere mention of that, combined with the fact that it’s part of a storied Pretty Cure franchise, is more than enough to convince most fans of the genre to give it a shot. Suite PreCure is a unique musical spin on the Pretty Cure magical girl concept, and incorporates musical motifs, both visually and thematically, in the most straightforward, yet effective way. Despite its great soundtrack and somewhat likeable characters, the show in itself is as average as it gets for PreCure.

The musical aspect of Suite is its greatest strength. Everything from the theme to the setting of Kanon Town and Major Land, takes some sort of visual or audio cue from the whole idea of music. The main conflict, for instance, while as basic as good versus evil can get, uses a straightforward connection to music; good is associated with the major scale, while evil is associated with the minor scale. It’s remarkably simple, but when layered with further nuances such as the series’ macguffin, the Legendary Score, can be manipulated to create either the melody of happiness or sadness, which are both compositionally similar, except for the scale in which it is played. The variance is remarkably simple, yet fascinatingly crafted.

Tied closely to the motif of music is the main cast of the legendary PreCure, which consists of Hibiki Hojo (Cure Melody), Kanade Minamino (Cure Rhythm), Ellen (Cure Beat), and Ako Shirabe (Cure Muse). The series starts off only revealing the first two PreCure, Cures Melody and Rhythm, and gradually introduces the other two later on in the story. Hibiki and Kanade’s relationship with each other is a lot closer than other recent series such as HeartCatch and Fresh, as indicated by their polar opposites as well as their identities as Cure Rhythm and Cure Melody. The ties to musical naming are closely related and well-executed; as rhythm and melody are the two main components of music itself, Hibiki and Kanade’s friendship is the driving force behind their powers as precure.

There’s a bit of a problem with cast dynamics when the other cure join in, however, since the duality of melody and rhythm is somewhat lost along the way. There’s nothing wrong in defining characters mainly by their relationship with each other instead of individually, but with the addition of the other cures prevent this idea of partner-based PreCure power (a concept that is more prominent in earlier iterations of the franchise) from becoming more important than it ended up being. Nonetheless, the other two main characters, Ellen and Ako, both have their own individual backstories, as well as their own strong personalities, that they are individually more interesting than either of the two main Cures. Ellen’s addition to the Cure cast takes on the same dynamic as other past cures who joined their respective casts under similar circumstances, but in Ellen’s case, her newfound role in the group as Cure Beat helps energize the cast going forward; her Cure name is aptly named as a result.

Ako is the youngest character in the Pretty Cure universe to become a PreCure. In the same vein that Yuri became the oldest Cure as Cure Moonlight in HeartCatch, Ako’s connection to the cure as Cure Muse runs throughout the show, but never solidifies until toward the end, when the trio finally needs her. She is distant, and has her own tragic backstory much like Yuri, but unlike her HeartCatch counterpart, Muse doesn’t fit as well with the other Cure due to the age difference; as a result, it’s much harder to be a junior member than it is to be a senior, like Moonlight.

Character dynamics issues aside, the plot is straightforward, with the formulaic monster-of-the-week approach that all Pretty Cure series take. It’s a difficult slog for people who aren’t part of the fandom, as they will definitely drop the show out of frustration surprisingly early on in the series. Even for PreCure fans, there’s a sense of being spoiled by the greatness that was Heartcatch that leaves the approach that Suite takes with its writing as something to be desired.

Individual stories don’t have as much emotional pull, the animation isn’t as fluid as its predecessor, and the villains that are introduced aren’t threatening at the least; in particular, the goofy henchmen group known as Trio the Minor, are not only overbearingly incompetent, but are also wildly annoying with their constant out-of-tune musical flourishing of dialogue, which seems to happen every third or fourth line. Mainly, the show has a serious problem with overusing the heel-face-turn trope, making the actual defection of some of the antagonists have a lot less impact than it should have.

As a result of this series-long struggle to maintain some sort of standard of excellence as a PreCure show, the final climax is not as impactful as other iterations of the franchise, not just HeartCatch. The Cures’ eleventh hour superpower in the final episodes didn’t feel like a real bump in power level, since the associated transformation sequences and designs didn’t feel like a radical step from the norm. It certainly didn’t live up to the action sequences that preceded it, which were very well-done compared to everything else leading up to the final arc of the show. At the end of the day, I’m a bit disappointed that the show couldn’t live up to its premise, yet still disappointed that it had to end at all. 

Despite all of the show’s shortcomings, Suite PreCure rides on its greatest strength throughout the entire series: its soundtrack. As a show that is primarily tied to music, it only makes sense that the soundtrack needs to be a reflection of its importance. As such, Yasuharu Takanashi’s compositions in Suite are his best since Fairy Tail and Mononoke, and are easily the best in any PreCure show to date. He takes the hot-bloodedness that is trademark of traditional PreCure music, and infuses it with orchestral sounds, creating a symphonic rock collection that simply has no rival, even compared to mainstream bands in the genre.

Yasuharu’s greatest piece in the show is easily the music for the PreCure’s transformation, Let’s Play! PreCure Modulation!. Transformation is empowerment, and the arrangement is powered by choir shots and flourishing bass. The energy comes from the shredding of electric guitar, driving the rest of the orchestration. When the string melody kicks in, woodwind instruments playfully mingle for a pleasant, exciting sound. The final fanfare blares out gloriously with the girls announcing their entrance as Suite PreCure. Let’s Play is the best transformation music written in years, if not of all time.

Suite PreCure has the unfortunate distinction as the show that failed to live up to the accolades that were garnered by HeartCatch PreCure. HeartCatch, in all of its accomplishments, is a remarkably tough act to follow, and Suite PreCure held its own with its unique musical theme and fantastic soundtrack. Despite its straightforward approach to weekly episodes, it rides on its strengths throughout its entire run, making it a show that is not only watchable in its own right, but highly enjoyable to those who appreciate music in general. Suite PreCure is a mixed bag, but there’s enough good in there to overlook the bad, especially if you’re a fan of the series. It’s definitely worth watching, and especially worth listening to.

Rating: 7/10

Yumekui Merry, Daydream Syndrome

Due to wordpress formatting issues, I can’t seem to embed videos and have them start at a specific time, so I eschewed embedding for simple links to each of the videos. In Yumekui Merry’s Daydream Syndrome, the instrumentation is surprisingly heavy on the rock emphasis, but incorporates some really neat piano instrumentation in some spots making the song quite dreamlike. In the solo, however, we’re treated to some good ol’ dirty guitar distortion, with wah pedal effects to boot. Wah is an effect that makes the guitar sound like, well, it’s going WAHHHHHHHH. The first part makes good use of the effect, and ends with a neat arpeggiated section. Arpeggio is a way of going up and down a musical scale by only skipping notes in a particular pattern.

Hanasaku Iroha, Hana no Iro

Hana no Iro was a hit and miss opening for viewers because of the varying degrees of opinion on the lead singer’s voice. To some it was nice and fitting, but to others her voice was simply grating. Thankfully, guitar solos are meant to leave out vocals entirely, and we are left with a very nice, clean guitar effect. It doesn’t go too crazy with the method, but has some nice movement up and down the instrument’s scale. The really neat part about this solo, though, is the syncopation in the second half, meaning if you count along with the beat of the song, 1-2-3-4, you can hear some notes played in-between those beats, not on the beat itself. It’s fairly common in music, especially Japanese music, but the guitar solo makes great use of it.

Working!, Someone Else

I know that Working!, at least season 1 of it, aired in 2010, but I’m using this as an example of pointing out chord progression. If you’ve ever listened to axis of awesome, then you probably are aware of the I-V-VI-IV chord progression that exists in almost every song ever made. In Somone Else, there’s another type of chord progression that goes I-VI-IV-V. It’s a popular chord progression that also exists in rock, and the guitar solo here is played to that particular progression, which goes to show that chord progression may be commonplace, you can still do a lot of really neat things with it.

Chihayafuru, Youthful

And thus brings me to the reason why I mentioned Working’s first season OP. Chihayafuru’s Youthful also features a very short guitar solo that uses the very same chord progression. Perhaps we should gather all of the I-VI-IV-V songs in OPs and put them into one song, and call it Axis of Anime. That would be pretty cool. The guitar solo here is actually pretty basic and boring when you listen to it by itself, but it fits the basic nature of the song itself, which isn’t a bad thing at all. Many people absolutely love this song, myself included. The guitar solo is an added bonus. A small cherry on top, but a cherry nonetheless.

Softennis, Rulebook wo Wasurechae

There was a point raised on twitter the other night when I was writing this post, regarding how there is a correlation between how moe-moe and otaku-pandering a series is and how utterly awesome its guitar solo is. There is a specific reason for this, and his name is Koike Masaya. Koike is a lead guitarist, and has worked in MOSAIC.WAV, ULTRA-PRISM, and many other musical groups, but the common denominator here is that he is involved with almost anything and everything otaku. In 2010, he contributed an awesome solo to Ika Musume, and this year, his entry for softennis was nothing short of remarkable. He also did the solo for My Pace Daiou, the opening for Genshiken. This guy is a beast on the axe, and it clearly shows.

A-Channel, Morning Arch

With Yuru Yuri being the 4-girl slice of life series to watch last year, A-Channel was all but an afterthought after its reasonable showing last year. However, it has one thing that Yuru Yuri doesn’t: a pretty nice guitar solo. Throughout the entire song, you can hear the lead guitar do a two-note repeated pattern in the background, and it has a nice sound to it, but it never really amounts to anything in the TV-size version. However, it really comes out in the full version, right after the bridge section. When the vocalist ends the section with a dramatic “Morning Aaaaaarch,” it transitions tidily into the guitar solo, which continues off that sustained note. Even afterwards, it transitions again back into the last iteration of the song’s chorus. Really fun solo to listen to.

Wandering Son, Itsudatte

Itsudatte is one of my favourite opening songs this year. It could very well be my favourite, and its guitar solo would one of the main reasons why. The section starts with a really awesome drum fill that leads to the solo. It’s played in octaves, meaning that the note that is played is accompanied by the same note one whole scale above it. It’s a common technique used in many simple solos, but it doesn’t settle for simple. A quick two chord strikes in succession, (heard like “BUMPBUMP”) and the soloist finally goes off into some quick passages through notes. The section ends with a really nice build up to the chorus using a second guitar player playing the same solo but in harmony to the first. It sounds really nice, and leads to one measure of a capella from the vocalist. All you hear is “Itsudatte” from the chorus before, but this composition choice really makes for an awesome musical effect, especially right after a very nice solo.

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?, Ma Ka Se Te Tonight

The solo in this song is that it starts off on high end of the instrument’s range, and hovers there for a good part. Harmonized sections occur here, just like in Itsudatte, which is a welcome addition. The best part about this solo, however, is that the rhythm really changes throughout. There are some parts where there are a lot of fast passages with a lot of notes going up and down, but it slows down and plays longer notes for emphasis, and is immediately brought back to quick movements before the listener can get used to one particular style of play. Ma Ka Se Te truly is a fitting song for Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka. I can’t wait to hear the solo for the season 2 OP sequence; let’s just hope that the song is not called Ma Ka Se Te of the Dead, or something like that.

[C], Matoryoshika

Lead Guitarist of NICO Touches the Walls, Daisuke Furumura, uses a neat little technique with the guitar called bending. Due to the stringed nature of guitars, when you hold down a string on the guitar’s fret, you can bend the string as you play it, causing the note to slide up in pitch in a controlled fashion. In Matoryoshika’s solo, the guitarist bends one string so that it becomes the same note as the second string that is played alongside it. The result is a unison interval, two voices (or in this case, two strings) playing the same pitch; however, due to the bending of one of the strings, the guitarist can ease off on the bend, causing the two notes to go out of pitch with each other, causing a really neat sound when distorted by guitar effects. It’s a really easy technique to do, and is one of the first ones taught to musicians who are beginning to learn how to play the lead guitar style.

Suite Precure, La-La-La Suite Precure

As I’ve mentioned before in a post about Suite PreCure’s soundtrack, I really enjoy listening to this show’s OP, probably more so than any of the other PreCure opening songs. Primarily, it’s because of the driving rock feel of the overall song. The rhythm established by the guitar throughout is straight on the beat, reminiscent of 60′s and 70′s rock. But when the solo comes right after the chorus, the rhythmic pattern of the chords changes up dramatically alongside the introduction of the lead. Using “K-ON terms,” normally one would hear janjanjanjanjanjanjanjanjan… as the rhythmic pattern, but in the solo, the pattern changes to jan-jan! jaaaaaan, jaaaaaan. It’s a very brief section, but brings a really nice variety into the song.

On an unrelated note, if I ever become a music teacher, I probably should avoid using the Yui-approach to describing music. It would probably be best for both the teacher and the student.

Toriko, Guts Guts!!

Toriko is a hot-blooded Shonen anime, and it only deserves an OP that fits that style. It makes sense, then, that the title of such a song would be titled, Guts Guts!!. Sentai specialist Akira Kushida leaves his mark in this show, earning his due as a shonen singer that is worthy of mention alongside other notable artists such as Masaaki Endoh and Crystal King of YOU WA SHOCK fame. What makes Guts Guts so great, though, is its solo. Or at least, that’s what it wants you to think. When the second chorus is finished, you’re teased by what appears to be the beginning of an epic solo, but the song wraps its hands around your neck, screaming “FUCK NO, YOU’RE NOT YET MANLY ENOUGH FOR A SOLO.” It tells you to sit the fuck down, and goes about with a ridiculous vocal breakdown that leads into the greatest guitar solo from this year. Just fucking listen to it, and affirm that your balls have dropped once again (even if you’re a girl, this song is so manly, that you end up growing a pair of balls anyways). Screw music theory and guitar method, this song fucking rocks.

Looking Ahead: 2012 and Solos to Come

Frankly, 2011 was an amazing year for anime rock songs, and it will be hard to follow it up. I can’t wait to get my hands on the full versions of the openings of all the anime airing this year, and skip directly to the utter bliss that is a musician and his guitar.

Yes, I am fully aware of my decision to use comic sans as a font for this image.

Actually, if SOPA and PIPA pass, that would be pretty much the end of Baka Laureate and anime blogging in general. I’d encourage my readers to voice their complaints to their MPs/senators/etc., but at this point I’m just preaching to the choir, and mostly trying to find an excuse to post Fractale porn, which to my dismay, is a fairly common search term for my blog. Seriously, what the fuck?

My new year’s resolution was to be a better time manager, so that I could actually put some time and effort into improving my life in multiple areas. I want to become fit and exercise more; I want to re-write edit one of my manuscripts to the point where I don’t feel embarrassed about sharing it with someone, namely editors and literary agents; I want to blog more consistently, I can’t do all of this when I am on the verge of picking up more than 10 currently airing anime this season, on top of the myriad of blu-rays that are set to arrive at my house in the near future.

Unlike the blu-rays, which seem to be on indefinite hold due to one pesky back-order of Full Metal Panic, my Japanese/light novel order came during the middle of last week, and I seriously need to put a dent in that, and blog about it at the same time.

I’m in an awkward position. I have a full-time job and am a productive member of society, unlike the stereotypical image of an otaku that both Western and Japanese society have created. I want to watch more anime, but as a salaryman with a 2+ hour combined commute by train, I know that I don’t have the same amount of time available as a college student who lives 5 minutes away from campus, or a high school student who only has to go to school from 8:30 to 4. I need to drop some anime, and fast.

In order to free up time, I have to put my foot down and only watch 2 hours of new anime per week. That’s approximately five series per week, meaning I can only keep up with 5 currently airing anime, including carryovers from last season. After careful deliberation, here are the shows I will be watching, and shows that I regretfully have to skip out on.

Last Exile

Time has become such a limited commodity that I’ve since dropped blogging Last Exile in favour of Smile PreCure. I feel absolutely horrendous about it, considering my track record with dropping episodic blogging projects, I can’t find the time to blog three things at once, let alone a single show at that. However, that shouldn’t take away from how much I simply love Last Exile. It’s going in a fantastic direction, and even though I’m still behind on the show even after going on a NaNoWriMo-related hiatus, I am determined to keep up.

Chihayafuru

Speaking of catching up on shows that I fell behind on while writing, Chihayafuru is also an unfortunate victim of my constantly shifting lifestyle. I was in a Skype call on Sunday with AJtheForth, PzKpfwCrusader, and DreamKatari while watching the Packers/Giants NFL playoff game. As it turns out, there was a more spirited debate about shipping between Taichi and Arata than football-related debate between the Packers and Giants themselves. I’m not exactly sure whether or not that would be attributed to how intense Chihayafuru is, or simply how poorly the Packers played. Even if it was the latter, I’d still be watching Chihayafuru anyway.

Smile/Suite PreCure

Suite is winding down, and while it appears that it won’t have the same level of impact as Heartcatch PreCure’s ending, I am fully satisfied with my time investment into this show, and remained pumped for Smile either way. Suite was typical enough for me to have possibly burned out on it by blogging the show week by week, but I feel it has to do with Heartcatch being a tough act to follow. I think blogging Smile will definitely keep my interest level high.

Moretsu Pirates

After deciding to use two series spots on shows that have been airing since last season, I have only enough room for two(-ish) new shows this season. One of them simply has to be Miniskirt Space Pirates, or Bodacious/Moretsu Pirates for short. I don’t really understand the fan moniker of MSP that much, since the skirts worn by the girls on this show aren’t actually that short. Even the magic skirt effect applies here, which was sorely needed in order to maintain some semblance of integrity on a show that could easily be ruined by the slightest usage of fanservice via pantyshots and sexualized middle-schoolers. I’m looking at you, Nisemonogatari.

Danshi Kokosei no Nichijou

A.K.A. Daily Lives of High School Boys, A.K.A. Nichibros, A.K.A. a totally awesome and hilarious show featuring Tomokazu Sugita. I once said that SKET Dance was simply Gintama, if Gintoki went to High School. I was wrong. High School Boys is even more extreme with its comedy, and even features the same voice of Gintoki as a high school student, and a remarkably hilarious one at that. With such little time available to watch anime, I need something that won’t get me to think about plot and writing. I need mindless laughs and blatant disregard for the fourth wall. Dashi does that for me, and I’m utterly delighted to pick this one up.

Thermæ Romæ

I was actually lying when I said I only have time to watch five airing series this week. If you skip opening and ending credits, there’s enough time to fit in a 13-minute show, meaning that Hot Tub Hetalia gets the nod for me. Other than Nichibros mentioned above, no other show right now is as funny or as charming as Thermæ Romæ. Ever since the letdown that was Hen Zemi, I’ve been looking for a 13-minute series that could potentially succeed that ofCromartieHigh School andDetroitMetalCity. This show could very well be it; even if it isn’t, it’s guaranteed to be an efficient use of anime-related time-consumption.

Goodbye, Potentials

Unfortunately, due to the above decision, a few shows that I would have otherwise watched this season have to be dropped.

Kill Me Baby: Contrary to the majority’s negative opinion, I actually enjoy this show without any shred of irony. There are reasons behind community disapproval, however, and it’s those particular points that makes this show lose out to other comedies such as Sugita Goes to School and Hot Tub Time Machine: the Anime.

Anything Mecha/Sci-Fi: there are some interesting shows right now, such as Rinne no Lagrange, Aquarion EVOL, Symphogear, and the like, but my thirst for futuristic anime is already quenched by The Galactic Adventures of Maka, Nadeko, and Heroman. I have no regrets!

Ano Natsu De Matteru: I told someone that I dropped Ano Natsu after loving the first episode. He asked me, “What’s the matter?,” to which I responded, “Nothing, what’s de matteru with you?” I don’t deserve to watch this show after making such a terrible pun.

High-Five

That’s my five for this season. I can’t afford to watch anything else. All that’s left now is to not be on twitter as much, which now threatens to become the number one time waster. I’d like to know what anime people are watching this season. Feel free to comment and whatnot, because I’m definitely interested!

As it turns out, the concept of relationships with girls with disabilities is handled much more maturely than one would expect from an online community perceived as an Internet hive of scum and villainy. Give Four Leaf Studios a lot of credit for treading carefully and adding whole lot of care to a sensitive subject. Whether or not the lives of these girls are glorified or depicted with any sort of accuracy is left to one to judge for themselves, but personally, I feel there’s an underlying tone in the various routes and stories that fascinates me so much simply because of the fact that the characters in this game are disabled.

Enter Spoon Theory, a piece written by Christine Miserandino, which shares a personal story and an analogy about what it’s like to be sick. If you play and enjoy Katawa Shoujo, I think it’s definitely a worthy read, not just because it provides a more realistic idea of disability, but it also puts the girls from Katawa Shoujo into perspective, as well as the relationships that they have with Hisao.

In Spoon Theory, Christine writes about how, while eating at a diner with a friend, she was asked about what it is like to live with a lifelong illness such as Lupus. She responds by grabbing a large number of spoons from her table and others, and gives it to her friend. Essentially, when you have an illness or disability, you have a limited number of spoons, and every single action that one goes through in a day costs the person a spoon. Every mundane activity that requires some semblance of effort can have the largest costs in energy. Anything from making breakfast to buying groceries to even shaving one’s legs (something that seems to be a non-issue for the heroines in Katawa Shoujo) require a spoon.

People with such conditions have to be more conscious of the spoons they have, compared to normal individuals. Us healthy folk take our spoons for granted, and just go on about our day with this unlimited supply of cutlery currency, and don’t have to think about the choices we make throughout the day. The conscious choice to have to reserve your effort to do things, even though you are fully able to do them, is the a very stark definition of what it’s like to be held back by a medical condition.

“Its hard, the hardest thing I ever had to learn is to slow down, and not do everything. I fight this to this day. I hate feeling left out, having to choose to stay home, or to not get things done that I want to. I wanted her to feel that frustration. I wanted her to understand, that everything everyone else does comes so easy, but for me it is one hundred little jobs in one. I need to think about the weather, my temperature that day, and the whole day’s plans before I can attack any one given thing. When other people can simply do things, I have to attack it and make a plan like I am strategizing a war. It is in that lifestyle, the difference between being sick and healthy. It is the beautiful ability to not think and just do. I miss that freedom. I miss never having to count ‘spoons’.”

Christine’s personal reflection on living a life of conscious choices regarding her spoons is remarkably grim, but there is a silver lining to it. After explaining her spoon analogy to her friend (and consequentially bumming her out to no end), she cheers her up by saying that the spoons that she has are more valuable to her than anything, and that by sitting in that diner with her is essentially a spoon that she used up for the purposes of being with her friend.

In Katawa Shoujo, it’s hard to see the spoons in the lives of Hisao, Emi, Shizune, Lilly, Hanako, and Rin. Because of the wide range of conditions that these girls have, they each have a different amount of spoons, and they all choose to use them on different things, things that they feel are important to them. These girls pair up with each other because they get more out of spoons that they share with each other, than ones that they otherwise have to use on their own.

When Hisao and his mate get together, the relationship takes so much more value than one between normal individuals, because Hisao uses his spoons to spend his time with the girl he loves, and the gesture is returned in kind. Upon realization of this, I fell in love with the game even more.