Blog Archive

Saturday, October 7, 2023

Otona Precure and Idolm@ster Million Live:

These aren't first impressions because both of these series are spinoffs of older shows, but I'd still like to discuss them.  The good news is Million Live is a great series, the bad news is Otona Precure isn't.

Million Live is a little 'more of the same', unlike the cool and new U149 anime which dealt with the trials and tribulations of trying to succeed in the industry while still a child, but they're nonetheless charismatic idols I can get behind.  It's also cg instead of U149's proper anime, but it's really good cg.  Sometimes so good I forget it's cg entirely.  I won't be too hard on it when they put so much budget into the product.  Basically from what I've seen it's the worst Idolm@ster anime (aside from Side-M which hardly counts), but still well within the 'great' margin.  Idolm@ster is such a great brand and the people behind it are hardworking geniuses, they wouldn't put a product on the market that would shame what came before.

I can't say the same of Otona Precure.  According to this anime, Nozomi grew up to be a boring person, teaching government propaganda lies to helpless trusting children about global warming exterminating mankind, abandoning her lifelong friends who she never talks to anymore, and staying single instead of marrying Coco or even staying in touch with him.  I completely reject this future Nozomi, she's nothing like her middle school self who never would have done these things.

Otona Precure is filler, I don't care if it's by the same authors, it's a complete deviation of the storyline the original created and foreshadowed, and no one has the right to scuttle what came before, the true Yes! Pretty Cure 5.  I have a crystal clear picture in my head what Nozomi's soul looks like, and I know it's much more brilliant than this.  When Nozomi looked at Coco at the Christmas tree she was a girl in love, she never would have tossed that aside, it's completely unbelievable.  She fought for her dreams to come true, and marrying Coco was one of those dreams.

Nozomi stood up to tyranny and fought for the little guy.  She wouldn't be an instrument of government lies.  She would have investigated whether global warming is true or meaningful and concluded it was all nonsensical fearmongering.  There is no data that suggests global warming will do more harm to mankind at any point in the future than the harm that comes right now from attempting to stop global warming (which probably won't work anyway because the Earth is always either warming or cooling naturally, and currently we're still recovering from an ice age.)  Anyone with any integrity can see this, and Nozomi is a woman of integrity, she doesn't give in to blackmail like 'if you want to keep your job you'd better teach these lies.'  She never gave in to the blackmail of dark zone.  So what changed?

It's the same for Urara and the others.  Urara never would have forgotten all about Nozomi, she loved Nozomi.  Urara made future plans to work together with Komachi, and yet now they're total strangers?  It's unbelievable.  These people went through hell together, they're the closest hearts can be, that bond would have lasted forever.

They haven't introduced Mai and Saki yet but I'm sure they mangled them too.

As far as '100 Waifus' is concerned this series never happened.  I would never demean Nozomi, Urara, Mai, or any of these girls to say a future like this is true to form.  Their life history stopped as angelic middle schoolers and then warped directly to Eden with their beautiful hearts and souls intact.

As a series taken in isolation, I wouldn't say Otona Precure was that bad.  It's watchable, it's nostalgic, they did get some things right.  It's probably as good as, say, Seiken Gakuen.  I'm willing to watch it on the same basis as I'm watching Hirogaru Sky Precure, reluctantly because it has the name 'Pretty Cure' in its title.  But Yes Precure 5 was magical, it presented an all-star cast of maidens akin to the all-star cast of Final Fantasy 7, and produced two wonderful seasons and two wonderful movies that will fill your heart with love, compassion and joy.  It's the only Pretty Cure I honored with not just one but two waifus, so in that sense you could say it is the pinnacle of Pretty Cure, a franchise I rate as the second best anime of all time.  If you go back and watch the real deal you'll immediately notice the difference.

Now I'm dreading their plans for Mahotsukai Precure 2, I'm sure they'll mangle Riko too while they're at it.  Ugh.  But on the bright side, I don't have to worry about needing to edit '100 Waifus' to reflect these new releases.  I might have to edit the book if I learn more about Emily or Kudryavka, but as far as the Pretty Cure go I can say 'case closed.'  This raises the potential for the 39th edition to genuinely be the last.

Ironically, by upgrading 16bit Sensation to a great anime, I temporarily reduced my great anime count below 10,000 again.  So in a week I'm going to have to cross that iconic threshold yet again.  Right after I said I would never have to.  Oops!  Forgive me!  I had no idea 16bit Sensation would be that good.  I was totally blindsided.  But I'd rather honor 16bit Sensation than stick to the hobgoblin of consistency, which everyone knows is the last refuge of little minds.

In completely unrelated news, Palestinians have attacked Israel again, indiscriminately killing armed forces and civilians alike.  I despise Muslims and will always side with whoever is fighting them, but I especially despise terrorists who target civilians.  I wouldn't mind if Israel killed every last Palestinian after this.  Israel offered Palestine their own country in the Camp David agreement, but Palestine refused and launched another intifada against them instead.  They have absolutely no excuse for this violence, they're just bloodthirsty genocidal maniacs following their bloodthirsty genocidal maniac religion, doing what Muslims do best, which is making the rest of the world miserable.  It is impossible to coexist with these people, it's either us or them.  I choose us.

No comments: