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Endorph
Jul 22, 2009
elena is a reference to the great magical girl anime, claymore

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Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Yeah, the names are probably coincidental but it's just something I picked up on. Having initially gotten into this franchise about midway through Hugtto Star Twinkle will be my first Precure series where I'll be able to follow along from the start and I like what I see so far (some of the designs for the girls are a bit generic but hopefully their personalities will make up for it). Based on her name and pointed ears I am basically convinced now that Lala is an alien and after Henri in the current series I'm confident they'll be able to respectfully handle a mixed race character as well (assuming that is in fact the case for Elena).

Both Kira Kira and Hugtto have been great so far (though they both have kind of a slow start and I'm not the biggest fan of the former's Sixth) so hopefully this will follow suit. I am sort of curious how much space will actually factor into this series though (such as if the girls will ever leave Earth for example)

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Larryb posted:

Yeah, the names are probably coincidental but it's just something I picked up on. Having initially gotten into this franchise about midway through Hugtto Star Twinkle will be my first Precure series where I'll be able to follow along from the start and I like what I see so far (some of the designs for the girls are a bit generic but hopefully their personalities will make up for it). Based on her name and pointed ears I am basically convinced now that Lala is an alien and after Henri in the current series I'm confident they'll be able to respectfully handle a mixed race character as well (assuming that is in fact the case for Elena).

Both Kira Kira and Hugtto have been great so far (though they both have kind of a slow start and I'm not the biggest fan of the former's Sixth) so hopefully this will follow suit. I am sort of curious how much space will actually factor into this series though (such as if the girls will ever leave Earth for example)

It'll be Macross, except that the idols will be punching people while the mecha sing their theme music in the background.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Darth Walrus posted:

It'll be Macross, except that the idols will be punching people while the mecha sing their theme music in the background.

If there is actually an idol aspect to it they should perform together with Aoi, Emiru, and Lulu in the next All Stars movie.

BattleCattle
May 11, 2014

There are already so many idols.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Star Twinkle details have been revealed

The story:

quote:

The story begins when the protagonist Hikaru meets aliens Lala, Prunce, and Fuwa while watching the night sky. She learns of the "Star Palace," where the 12 Star Princesses of the constellations kept the balance of the universe until they were attacked. Lala is searching for the legendary Precure warriors to help find the 12 scattered "Princess Star Color Pens" and revive the princesses. When Fuwa is captured by an enemy, Hikaru wishes to save Fuwa, and a Star Color Pendent and a Star Color Pen appear to allow her to transform into Cure Star. From then on she works to collect the pens and raise Fuwa, who is the key to reviving the princesses.

Our cast:

quote:

Eimi Naruse as Hikaru Hoshina/Cure Star, a second year middle school girl who loves the stars and constellations. She is full of imagination and curiosity. She investigates anything that interests her thoroughly, and acts on intuition.

Konomi Kohara as Lala Hagoromo/Cure Milky, an alien from planet Samaan. She is 13 years old in Earth years, but she is treated as an adult on her home planet. She goes on a journey on a rocket with Prince and Fuwa to find the legendary Precure, and ends up on Earth. She has a strong sense of responsibility, but sometimes makes mistakes.

Kiyono Yasuno as Elena Amamiya/Cure Soleil, a third year middle school student with a radiant smile. She is the most popular girl in school, to the point where she is known as the school's "sun." She lives at a flower shop in the town's shopping district, where she sometimes works, and has six younger brothers and sisters whom she often takes care of in place of her busy parents.

Mikako Komatsu as Madoka Kaguya/Cure Selene, a third year middle school student who does her best to be ladylike. She is from a family with a storied history: her father works in the government and her mother is a world-famous pianist. She herself holds national championship titles in piano and archery. She also does flower arrangement and tea ceremony, and gets excellent grades. As the student council president, she is known as the "moon" of her school.

Hiroyuki Yoshino as Prunce, an alien who once worked for the Star Princesses, and now searches for the legendary Precure. Prunce's special ability is transformation.

Hina Kino as Fuwa, a fairy who is the last hope of the Star Princesses. Fuwa is just a baby, but has the ability to release the power of the Princesses and create warp portals.

Staff:

quote:

Rie Kitagawa is performing the opening theme song "Kirari Star Twinkle Precure" and Chiha Yoshitake is performing the ending song "Papepipu Romantic."

Hiroaki Miyamoto (One Piece Film Gold) is directing the series and Isao Murayama (Maho Girls Precure!) is organizing the series. Akira Takahashi (Suite Precure, Dokidoki! Precure) is designing the characters. Series regular Ryuutarou Masuda is handling the art design along with Riho Iida. Yuki Hayashi (Hugtto! Precure, My Hero Academia) and Asami Tachibana (Haikyu!!, DARLING in the FRANXX) are composing the music.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Dec 27, 2018

SatoshiMiwa
May 6, 2007


Hair planets is a strong look

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
Interesting that they're pairing off all four Cures so clearly - Hikaru with Lala, Elena with Kiyono. Has that happened before in the franchise?

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Darth Walrus posted:

Interesting that they're pairing off all four Cures so clearly - Hikaru with Lala, Elena with Kiyono. Has that happened before in the franchise?

You mean Madoka, Kiyono is the name of Elena's VA. Yes! 5 sort of did that I guess (Nozomi spent a lot of time with Rin, Komachi was often grouped with Karen and I'm not sure about Urara and Milk).

Also I think this is the first time we've gotten a non-human Cure right out of the gate and as part of the core team.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Dec 27, 2018

Nodosaur
Dec 23, 2014

obvious pretool
wattaya mean pairing off? The group seems to be a team from the get go.

Elena and Madoka are clearly designed to parallel each other in design and story role from the get go like Chocolat and Macaron were, but it's unknown if the two of them will have any significant relationship in the actual show.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Nodosaur posted:

wattaya mean pairing off? The group seems to be a team from the get go.

Elena and Madoka are clearly designed to parallel each other in design and story role from the get go like Chocolat and Macaron were, but it's unknown if the two of them will have any significant relationship in the actual show.

I mean, it seems like the obvious way for things to go, since there's so much easy storytelling opportunity in it - while there'll surely be plenty of interaction between all members of the group, each of the two pairs seems best designed to play off each other. You've got the inquisitive space nerd and the alien, and you've got the prim and proper rich girl and the outgoing part-time worker (who both even have very different but potentially complementary relationships with flowers).

Nodosaur
Dec 23, 2014

obvious pretool
sure, and Milky and Star both have complimentary outfits. But there's been stuff in planning that doesn't always bear fruit in the show so we'll have to see. Sunshine and Moonlight are clearly meant to parallel each other but in the show they barely interact.

Nodosaur fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Dec 28, 2018

Cao Ni Ma
May 25, 2010



I mean its probably more contrasting Soleil and Selene. Soleil is probably more energetic, extroverted while Selene is the more reserved, introverted. Selene is bougie as gently caress while Soleil is poverty

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010



The "12 Princesses" (obviously Zodiac themed) that the Cures are supposed to be helping. The base forms do also suggest that each one is empowered by one of the 12 early on:

-Star - Taurus (surprised that's the base for her since that's usually the brute in other franchises)
-Milky - Couldn't find the proof but based on the hair color it could be Gemini or Aquarius.
-Soleil - Libra
-Selene - Sagittarius

Terry van Feleday
Jun 6, 2010

Free Your Mind
I wanted to watch something wholesome and naively optimistic and the bits of Hugtto! PreCure I've seen people post intrigued me, so I gave the first 23 episodes of that a try. As someone who hasn't tried any PreCure before (other than some episodes of the first one I caught with the German dub as a child) because I'm rarely fond of shows lasting more than 2 seasons, I came away with... Mixed feelings?

The show seems to struggle balancing its genuine big heart with the corporate interests behind it. It feels very focus-tested and gripped by its own formula, and the toy commercial focus on plastic knicknacks leaves its positive energy covered in this thin oily layer of cynical salesmanship. The fights suffer worst from this, feeling extremely static in spite of the beautiful animationwork because of all the pre-defined beats they have to hit. I found myself missing that bit where Hana tossed an I-beam at a dude, or looking at the brief Futari Wa girls cameo and thinking "that's rad, why can't we have more of this."

I appreciate its attempts to talk to the young audience about their futures, but am not always fond of the way it goes about doing this. In today's employment climate, the excessively rosy picture of working life feels dishonest, and with the focus on babies being the most amazing and magical miracle that everybody loves all the time forever it sometimes feels as though I've accidently put on my They Live glasses and suddenly Hugtto is just the words "WORK AND REPRODUCE" flashing on screen.
I feel like you can still create an optimistic feeling about the future without whitewashing it, and while the series occasionally leans that way with the evil corporation, it feels afraid to hard commit. On the other hand, I do love how it very much does hard commit to "prescriptive gender roles are bullshit!", the bit where it says that getting frustrated with your loved ones sometimes is perfectly normal and healthy, and its casual exploration of alternative parenting structures. Why, a family can totally be three girls, a hamster, a baby, one of the girls' adoptive robot sister and said adoptive robot sister's girlfriend!

So I was just about willing to recognise PreCure as Not For Me and make peace with the idea that I need my animes to have a bit more bite, but then Emiru and Lulu showed up on screen together and suddenly I loved it.
Every scene focusing on either of those two is a delight, and episode 15 is probably one of my favourite individual anime episodes period. It feels like the writers allowed themselves to lean a bit further out the window with their portrayal, and so we get two slightly odd girls who are consistently funny but also have real and nuanced struggles gently trying to navigate their first relationship together in a really charming way.
I normally have a poor ear for audio design in anime, but it still jumped out at me how well it is used here. Even beyond the whole musical theme, Emiru's voice actress put in some work, and Lulu's sound effects are really well utilised? Showing a character's internal anxiety over being "different" by using the audio to selectively objectify her is really interesting, and the bit where she gets lasered from orbit is really sold by the sharp mechanical clanking and wind-down noise combined with the musical sting.

Basically, I want Erutto! PreCure and am kind of disappointed that this is not just that show. I'm honestly unsure whether I want to watch the remaining episodes - I'll probably wait to read impressions of the ending before I decide - since from what I hear the series leans heavily into crossover stuff past this point which I don't particularly care for. The only other bits I'm really interested in are Hana's quietly simmering sense of low self esteem, bad memories and uncertainty regarding where she wants to be in life, which I'm not entirely sure Hugtto will be willing to treat with the gravitas it all deserves, and Hugtan finally growing up which probably won't happen until like, the last episode.

In conclusion, Hugtto! PreCure is a land of contrasts, but it got me to feel things and think about the nature of the messages we send to young girls, so I do appreciate it for that.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Actually aside from the Futari Wa appearance there's only one more crossover in Hugtto and it's just two episodes long. In my opinion you've about reached the point where the show starts getting consistently good and stays that way (it also treats its cast with more respect than most anime in general that I've seen, especially in regards to people like Henri).

If you are interested in seeing more, Futari Wa, Fresh, and Suite are all solid seasons (though the former starts to wear out its welcome a bit by the end). Splash Star is also good (and has some of the most entertaining villains in the franchise) as is Kira Kira though that one has sort of a slow start. Your mileage may vary of course.

Futari Wa Precure is also the only season so far that's available legally subbed on Cruchyroll (under the title Pretty Cure) though the sub quality there isn't the best so you might want to track down the fansubbed version anyway.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Jan 4, 2019

ConanThe3rd
Mar 27, 2009
And Heartcatch is the one that loves taking the mickey out of precure whilst enjoying every moment of being a precure series.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

ConanThe3rd posted:

And Heartcatch is the one that loves taking the mickey out of precure whilst enjoying every moment of being a precure series.

That's another good one and has probably one the darkest concepts the series has dabbled in so far (also Erika is the best and should be in more things). It should also be noted that Hugtto's concept is not really that indicative of the rest of the franchise which is generally a bit more action heavy (think Kamen Rider meets Dragon Ball with a dash of Sailor Moon and Super Sentai).

ConanThe3rd
Mar 27, 2009
Erika is best blue, yes.

Also their battleizer is Cyborg 009 approved scarfs that are far too long to prove practical. It’s amazing :allears:

Yoshihiko Umakoshi is a gift to character design.

ConanThe3rd fucked around with this message at 22:49 on Jan 4, 2019

Pikestaff
Feb 17, 2013

Came here to bark at you




Terry van Feleday posted:

or looking at the brief Futari Wa girls cameo and thinking "that's rad, why can't we have more of this."

Watch Futari Wa + Max Heart and then the movies (especially the second movie) if you want more gritty fight scenes like this.

...okay, I'm biased because it's my favorite season, but for real.

Fresh is also spot-on if you want a really well-done emotional arc.

I don't think you can really escape the merchandising but I guess it doesn't bother me very much personally because pretty much everything I watched as a kid (My Little Pony, Care Bears, TMNT, Power Rangers etc) were also just extended toy commercials, so that's just one of those things about a lot of kids' shows, I guess.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Yeah, I've said it before but the original honestly feels more like a shounen series at times that just happens to feature a primarily female cast. The designs are a lot more subdued compared to some of their successors and aside from a few finishing moves most of the fights mainly consist of the girls beating the poo poo out of giant monsters with their bare hands. There's also very little filler surprisingly, with like one or two exceptions from the second episode of Futari Wa to the finale of Max Heart every episode directly calls back to the previous one in some fashion. I kind of like this honestly and wish they'd do it more often.

Though that said, once you hit Max Heart it does sort of start becoming the Nagisa Misumi Show Feat. Hikari after a while (now granted, Nagisa is my favorite of the group but from what I can remember Honoka barely gets any real focus in the second season).

Larryb fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Jan 4, 2019

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Also, I haven't seen a whole lot of them yet aside from the All Stars films and the ones that are canonical to their respective series but what's the best time to watch the Precure movies? I think both of the Max Heart ones are post-series, Heartcatch's is roughly around Episode 43 or so and the one for KiraKira explicitly happens after Episode 37 (seeing as that entire episode's plot is devoted to setting it up) but what about the others?

Pikestaff
Feb 17, 2013

Came here to bark at you




Larryb posted:

Also, I haven't seen a whole lot of them yet aside from the All Stars films and the ones that are canonical to their respective series but what's the best time to watch the Precure movies? I think both of the Max Heart ones are post-series, Heartcatch's is roughly around Episode 43 or so and the one for KiraKira explicitly happens after Episode 37 (seeing as that entire episode's plot is devoted to setting it up) but what about the others?

Max Heart movies are somewhere near the end of the series but not after, IIRC

Allarion
May 16, 2009

がんばルビ!
Generally when the OP starts advertising the movie is approximately when the movie happens

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Allarion posted:

Generally when the OP starts advertising the movie is approximately when the movie happens

As I mentioned before, KiraKira's movie at least is really easy to place (at the end of episode 37 Ciel is encouraged to enter a contest in Paris with her friends, which is where the movie opens on. A character from said movie also makes a cameo in the same episode) do any of the other seasons have episodes that directly tie into their respective films like that? Similarly, I believe the Hugtto movie happens after the Futari Wa crossover episodes but that one probably won't be out for another month or so.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Jan 5, 2019

SatoshiMiwa
May 6, 2007


We got Star Twinkle preview at the end of this weeks Hugtto. Henshin's look super good

Julias
Jun 24, 2012

Strum in a harmonizing quartet
I want to cause a revolution

What can I do? My savage
nature is beyond wild
Here's the previews for anyone interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV3Ss7YHyYo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XReDGNpcxNI

Pikestaff
Feb 17, 2013

Came here to bark at you






I'm loving the fire, that's slick.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

I will miss the Hugtto girls but Star Twinkle's looking good so far (I heard something in there about a star princess so I'm kind of curious how big a Sailor Moon influence this series is going to have).

Also, counting the obligatory teamup episode at the end Hugtto has been confirmed as being 49 episodes in total (3 episodes seems like a rather short amount of time to pull off a decent final arc but the rest of the show has been good so far so hopefully they can make it happen). The next season begins February 3rd.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Jan 6, 2019

Waffleman_
Jan 20, 2011


I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna!!!

https://twitter.com/overtimesubs/status/1082057691831382026

Over-Time is doing Star Twinkle

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010


I haven't really paid much attention to who subbed what, is this their first time doing anything Precure related?

Larryb fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Jan 7, 2019

Waffleman_
Jan 20, 2011


I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna!!!

Yes, but they're a pretty well-respected name in tokusatsu circles.

Hemingway To Go!
Nov 10, 2008

im stupider then dog shit, i dont give a shit, and i dont give a fuck, and i will never shut the fuck up, and i'll always Respect my enemys.
- ernest hemingway

Before they finish zi-o 16.5?

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Waffleman_ posted:

Yes, but they're a pretty well-respected name in tokusatsu circles.

Oh I'm well aware who Over-Time is, I was just curious if they'd ever worked on this particular franchise before.

Hemingway To Go! posted:

Before they finish zi-o 16.5?

I should hope not, Star Twinkle doesn't start until February 3rd.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Hugtto 46: So does this mean to imply that Kurai could have literally accomplished his goal at any time? If so, what was the point of Criasu's operations up until now? Also, it seems he was once in a relationship with someone who is either Adult Hana or a descendant of hers. Good start to the finale though (I'm still hoping that Hugtan will regain her true form/powers and we'll get all 6 main Hugtto Cures for the final battle but we'll see).

Larryb fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Jan 7, 2019

Cao Ni Ma
May 25, 2010



Pikestaff posted:



I'm loving the fire, that's slick.

I like that the moon one has sleepy eyes

Fruity20
Jul 28, 2018

Do you believe in magic, Tenno?
I haven't watched the rest of hugatto and hearing all this stuff really makes me want to finish it. i rarely finish shows that tend to be 50 episodes in length but i guess this might be the first time doing this.

also is having two "pink" cures? i know power rangers/super sentai done this before but it's a pet peeve of mine with shows like these

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Not sure how well the ending is going to turn out since we've only got two episodes left (well technically three but the crossover episode at the end is usually separate from the final arc) and there are still a few plot threads that need resolving but aside from that Hugtto has been more or less consistently good so far so I'd consider it worth a watch.

Off the top of my head we've still got the following left to resolve:

-Hana has no real dream or aspiration of her own aside from being a glorified cheerleader for her friends

-Hugtan needs to regain her true form/powers and become Cure Tomorrow again

-There was a brief flashback a few episodes back showing a little girl who looks very simillar to Lulu (this hasn't really been touched on since then but my personal theory is that she's Traum's biological daughter and Lulu was modeled after her)

-George Kurai was apparently involved with a woman who may either be the future Hana or her descendant (which would explain his creepy obsession with a 14 year old girl).

Larryb fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Jan 7, 2019

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Hasbro and Netflix will apparently be dubbing KiraKira later this year:

https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/coming-soon/netflix-original-series-coming-to-netflix-in-2019/

Hope it turns out better than the last two attempts to bring Precure over to the west at least. Not sure if they've ever dubbed an anime before but generally Hasbro seems to have a pretty good track record in regards to treating its properties with respect so maybe this won't be as much of a trainwreck as the Smile and DokiDoki adaptions were.

Also while I personally like KiraKira there were probably better options available (like Fresh, Suite or Go! Princess for example).

Larryb fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Jan 10, 2019

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Silver2195
Apr 4, 2012
Something that just occurred to me: We talk about the flood of dark magical girl shows following Madoka, but were there really that many of them? There was Day Break Illusion, Magical Girl Raising Project, Magical Girl Site, and now this season's Magical Girl Special Ops. Selector Infected Wixoss was Madoka-influenced but not actually a magical girl show. Was that it?

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