mrufrufin

Yay for all the Gainax poses. Liked the animation quality jump this episode (especially with all the livelier character animation and the thinner outlines), even Skearhead in the desert looked kinda cool, or at least more expressive and rounder. A lot of quality expressions too, like when the Precures couldn't warp and when everybody came back to visit. The insert song going over the henshin scene was pretty hype (and so was the Sekai Punch, which kinda reminded me of Symphogear again).

Overall a pretty solid show (and the first Precure that I've finished while airing!). Pacing felt a bit weird throughout, but maybe half of that was that I couldn't binge episodes like I could with other Precure shows.

I think I like the name Skearhead better than Darkhead, but I like the cape he gained and the speckly animated skin. Transportation powers always make for fun fights (and always seemingly tend to be used by villains in anime, I guess due to the easy thematic extension to duplicity?). Seems like the enemy strongholds are always in dark blues and purples in this franchise. Turning Sora's ideals of hero and strength against her is pretty nice for a ending sorta-conflict (and I like her design with the black wings). Sora blended for with Darkhead made for some pretty awesome animation (and Darkhead getting more angry and flustered let his VA act with less of a subdued tone), especially that giant flaming fist sorta attack (which incidentally sorta reminds me of Symphogear but only kinda). Kinda wish dark-themed Sora lasted a bit longer and got to wreak more havoc but oh well.

Alright, I'm here. (copy/pasting my comments from the other site)

I like it how Prism Light is "gentle light" when Mashiro charges it up spirit bomb DBZ style. Mirror Pad Maintenance Mode is pretty amusing with its low-res representation of the barrier in all its pixelated glory and the cheesy "beep boop" AM/FM-synthy sorta noises, kinda reminds me of the sounds in Kraftwerk's Pocket Calculator. Kabaton's fart attack was pretty amusing too. I guess I should've seen the "strength isn't everything" realization being the turning point in the ep coming, with how much the theme has popped up.

Sort of a weird character arc to have Ellee grow up throughout the series and her learning to walk and getting a first pair of shoes be a big thing and then speed run her growing up but eh, it's nice finally getting her origin story and her being an incarnation kinda sorta of Ellelain (which kinda reminds me of several other franchises there being generational incarnations of the same hero) and I kinda wonder what happens to her after everything. Also pretty interested in seeing what sort of resolution there'll being with Empress and Ellelain's relationship, particularly since the latter is seemingly gone... I liked everybody's big eye faces when Ellee did the gymnastics tumbling routine. Skearhead's mind palace gets another mention! It looks like Ellee also got Magic Hour's End from Ellelain, which is nice because it's my favorite move name of this iteration (although now that I think about it, wouldn't it be a bad thing in general for the magic to end?)

I tend to mix up letters and sometimes letters in acronyms so maybe I would be confused with Skyland words like Strichmas or Tasan and I forget what other words they mixed up or maybe it would be no different to me. Looking at "Futari wa Precure" written in Sora's diary, I vaguely remember there was one ep with a reference or two to the original series back towards the beginning of the season? I guess the Princess comes up with her own ideas now? Anyways, sorta feels like endgame now with all the characters coming back, although the SOLy-ness kinda makes things not feel like endgame, but I guess it's the brief respite from tension before the final climactic push. Also, I guess helping out Tasan is the second time they've done their henshin for non-fight purposes? They even managed to cram two finishers in (I think the Updraft Shining kinda makes a little more thematic sense here though since it's wind related but eh). The lighting was nice with Sora and Mashiro in front of the tree, but the pacing of the cliffhanger was kinda weird but eh.

Magic Hour's End is a pretty awesome name for a move. Was that Yuu Yoshiyama for Sora's ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA (and also I guess throughout the ep)? Also, I guess this is the second time I've seen a magical girl do an ORAORAORAORA (the other time being

). The punk birds were pretty funny. Wait, Princess Elleelain isn't the Empress? Smh, 2 for 2 wrong in this series (I forget what else I was wrong about). The fight between Princess Elleelain and the Emperor was pretty awesome too (and all her yells). The ep got kinda dark for a bit (at least for Precure) with the Empress getting cut. Anyways, pretty awesome episode and pretty hype.

In other news, I finally watched Amagi Brilliant Park and so discovering Mashiro has the same VA as Isuzu is something.

I guess Skyland doesn't look so different from Earth in this series but them riding on chocobos gives it away. Looks like things are cranking up towards the ending if their transformation happens so soon in the episode. Them doing the majestic halation right off the bat kinda feels like trying to throw a pokeball right at the start of a Pokemon encounter, of course it isn't gonna work. The cutoff transformation sequences is a fun gag. The cliff the princess/Cure Noble prays at looks an awful like the cliff where the crew meets Empress Undergu HMMM.

The storyboarding at the beginning was nice with Mashiro's shadow cast over the book-in-progress and lens flare in the Battamonda scene. I guess in the general the framing was nice this ep, from the focus on the fallen leaf drawing to shoes and puddles and outlines of faces and what not. I liked the parallels between the Undergu Empire's valuing of strength and power and Mashiro's struggles (and the whole thing about how you find value in yourself in general). Interesting how they started up with mix palette, which I guess this time didn't mix anybody's powers but just worked as a powerup (or is the pink glow Ageha's power)? Prism Shine was pretty cool although I kinda expected more glowy all-outness (I guess they're saving up for the ending?). The pacing at the end felt kinda cramped with things just happening but eh. Good solid ep, probably one of the stronger eps of the series.

I like how things getting fixed after kyoborgs wreak havoc have an explanation besides anime magic. Wait, ひろがる means spreading or expanding (at least according to my internet searchesbut also sounds like Hero Girl? Sora's VA was fun this ep. I looked her up and I guess she's Charlotte in Princess Principal and Tokime in Fuuto Tantei, which are two characters pretty unlike Sora. Sky Punch was pretty awesome and I guess that was Yuu Yoshiyama again? I like Skearhead getting a bit more depth? and Sora getting a bit more character development from it.

Between this and 16bit this season, I'm appreciative of how squeaky Aoi Koga can get. Obviously Ageha is the best of the Precures this season because she can eat the most. Is Battamonda doing a hot dog/coffee combo? Or is the cup just coffee cup like? Kinda seems dangerous on the stomach. I guess Mashiro is chill with Battamonda even after that last ep with the henshin? Skearhead just happening on Monda and Mashiro kinda makes me wonder what he does when he's not on screen, I guess he just takes walks or something. Was kinda hoping kyoborg would shoot hot dogs and mustard and relish and what not but I guess those coffee cup things are good too. Looks like maybe we're getting hints of things ramping up towards end of series with the direct confrontation of Skearhead and the next ep preview.

Good to have this show back after a week break. Kinda wonder if there were dinosaurs in Skyland. I mean, they have dragons and birds so why not. Life's Journey yahoo! does seem to cover quite the range of topics though, from dinosaurs to weddings (and as we all know, being a dinosaur is such a magical part of one's life journey).

I liked the look of the opening sequence, especially with Mashiro's little glowly light. Are pumpkin ghosts actual things? They look great in their costumes anyways. I guess overall the animation looked a bit more lively than the last couple weeks. The kids are trick-or-treating during the daytime though? Wait, is Pretty Holic a Precure thing in general? Because I remember it from Tropical Rouge i think... Not a big Battamonda fan but I liked his henshin into Cure Pumpkin (also now that I look his VA up, I did like KENN in Uchuu Kyoudai and it looks like he has a main role in iDOLISH which I've been meaning to get to...). Cure Majesty getting the baby treat and having to eat it when she turns back just raises more questions for me in terms of her mental age going back and forth... but also it was a pretty funny gag.