mrufrufin

If that really was Flea in the anime, why was he wearing a shirt?

I kinda wonder if that little gold bird sculpture was there in previous episodes and/or has any significance, other than giving something with the characters to play with and to give some dynamism to the scene by falling off the fireplace.

Mentioning killing Sade seemed a little too inconsequential? There's probably more to that whole situation.

It seems like Lailaps and Yohane's staff have a tendency to get lost in this series.... Quibbles about plot structure repetitions aside, I liked how this plotline has played out with connecting Lailaps's talking (and Yohane being the only one being able to hear her talk) with growing up (and the breaking of the "spell"). Plus, I liked how Lailaps got connected to the titular mirror and showing Yohane the magic (and sunshine) she had in her all along. It was nice having a little parallel to the Lailaps/Yohane plot event with Sakura too.

The animation when Yohane first cast her "spell" on Lailaps was nice and the music was too, think that was my favorite scene if this ep. The lyrics were probably important to the whole emotional climax and I guess I'll have to look elsewhere as to what they were...

I can't imagine the mental whiplash of being non-toddler Cure Majesty (who doesn't seem to act like a toddler) and toddler Ellee and kinda hurts my head to think about, like things she would only understand as a non-toddler but still somehow remembering in a way as a toddler? In any case, it's fun having Aoi Koga using a non-toddler voice for Cure Majesty because it's easier to imagine Kaguya saying all the lines.

Was kinda half-expecting "ora-ora-ora" or "muda-muda-muda" with punch flurries from Ellee but I guess "da-da-da-da-da-da" works too (and I guess we got "muda muda muda" in a way from Minoton later). The colored-pencil-ish coloring with the thick outlines was a neat aesthetic. Also, I guess the blurry hands she did next was a Bruce Lee reference?

I think the piano + reversed piano bits are my favorite cues in the series, I'm a sucker for the sparseness.

All the lighting this ep was nice, especially when Yohane woke up from her dream and there were the shadows cast by the moon from the window. Also apparently auroras (aurorae?) are part of the ominous fog in this anime, but as somebody who has never seen them irl but is a fan of them and aurora-infused anime, I appreciate it.

Kinda felt weird pacing-wise to go back to the cheer up Yohane bits (esp after the threats of imminent danger that ended last ep/started off this one), but the talent show was fun (I particularly liked Mari's magic show).

I kinda liked the designs for Hugo's old "buddies", they kinda look like they come from a different anime.

Interesting translation of "gyaru" to "trendy girl" (wasn't there a "trendy guy" in one of the original Pokemon games or something? I forget, it's been a long long time).

Looks like we have drawing on windows/longing for two episodes in a row.

Ellee the princess starts glowing purple and then an mysterious 5th Precure appears conspicuously with Ellee's purple colors and calling herself Cure Majesty 👀? And all of this after the whole first bit of Ellee dressing up as all the Precures and then deciding on this purple dress instead 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀? And the ep begins with Ellee drawing herself into the picture with purple 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀? Cure Majesty's identity is truly a mystery...

In other news, the show seems to be speedrunning Ellee's talking abilities, now with saying everybody's names and "I hate you" and "I love you" and cheering on the Precures. The (obviously not foreshadowing things are about to happen) reflecting of Sora on their situation and the temporality (is that even a word) of it all was nice (also, I'm pretty sure out of everyone she's the one most able to watch Ellee grow up... or maybe all of them will be able to see Ellee grown up 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀👀 👀 👀 👀 👀👀 👀 👀 👀 👀👀 👀 👀 👀 👀👀 👀 👀 👀 👀).

The animation took a big step-up today. The lighting in general was quite nice like during the car scene and Cure Majesty's hype arrival and the background art for the scene of the fight was quite detailed. Also, the fight included some angles to the Precure moves that I don't think we've seen before (could be wrong on that though). It was kinda funny to see Skearhead bring his hand to his head when he was fighting off Cure Majesty (although I suppose his sphere already turned gold so he already lost).

You being the source of rumors smh. The Yohane pan with the face and Yohane's face matching was pretty fun (Love Live is probably going to actually make them for a special event, aren't they). The cloud covering the sun with Yohane expressing her doubts (the cloud floating away when she gets help with them) felt a little on the nose hah. The music during that scene was nice (with the ocarinas it sounded like? and the golden hour sorta tint to everything was pretty (and the music at the beginning of the party with the slide guitar was nice too).

Looks like the "kokoro no oto" plotline is back. There's the thematic connections (at least with the words themselves) to what's been going on in the series (particularly with Yohane) but it'll be interesting to see to see if and how it plays out more tangibly with actual plot events.

The lion looked pretty cute with a bow. Mb the 4D joke was partly because of the 3D animation (well, I guess the characters' anime world would be 3D to them too which makes more sense). That was a nice fuzzy ending to the episode (and the piano was nice too).

i guess it shouldn't be surprising that a skylander can't swim (although i guess sora has seen lakes before? skyland has lakes? do they float in the sky and i guess letters aren't mixed up for geographical figures like everything else in skyland. also the following scene answered my question already). why does tsubasa swim like salmon jumping from rivers? how do feathers and water work for non-waterfowl?

now ellee can even walk in water. sora getting thick outlines during the floating segment was fun animation-wise (also the beach ball hitting). the fish swimming weirdly half to the side not so much. minoton's shading looks better this ep though (and having watched a versailles on bara ep right before this, the sunrays looked vaguely dezaki-esque). sora got the newtype flash (similar sound effect too? i guess it's mb an intended reference?) when locating the watermelon.

the ocean added nice variety to the fight and it resting on the ocean was pretty fun (and also all the rarararararas). probably one of the best ranborg fights of this iteration thus far and plus the non-fight events like sora not being able to swim actually played into the fight which was nice. also i'm not quite sure what the mix palette does anymore hah.

Are huge pigs pulling carts a thing? Hanamaru's cart and Shinshinoshin remind me of the traveling cart from Stardew Valley.

The transitions in the finding Lailaps montage were fun, especially the one from Kanan's eye to Chika's eye. "We're going to be together forever and ever. Right, Lailaps?" Why'd you have to ask that smh.

The OST was nice again today, I kinda wonder if the piano + reversed piano bits at the end were the same music as Episode 6. The use of saxophone in this series reminded me of Revue Starlight and so I looked up who was credited for music and sure enough Tatsuya Katou is credited for this, a lot of Love Live (including the LLS main series), and Revue Starlight (alongside Yoshiaki Fujisawa) among other things. Anyways, the lighting was nice this episode (as it has been throughout the series) and it was a nice episode overall.

Some notable guests this time around, probably the most recognizable in relatively recent anime is Jun Fukushima aka Kazuma from Konosuba as the brothers. Seems like this is a younger siblings-centric sorta ep with Walter relating to the younger heart brother and Daleth, wonder if we'll see more of those sorts of parallels in future eps. Always fun to visit the witch world with its Edvard Munch-esque looking ways.

Ah, large houses and magical girl shows, it was bound to happen in this show at some point (although the only thing coming to my mind right now is Cardcaptor Sakura, well the ranborg fight reminds me of another magical girl show but maybe mentioning the name would be too spoilery).

Look how far we've come in this series, Ellee is speaking rather coherently this episode. Now that I think about it, Sora's cape (particularly during her transformation) kinda reminds me of Takuto from Star Driver. So I guess the whole house got ranborged and also everything inside of it and also there's a suit of armor left behind in the house?

The ending was kinda weird, like when did they have time to figure out who the family was and also conveniently when that gets brought up the family shows up lol. Also what's the whole thing about Marron talking and how would a little girl end up with a sentient stuffed animal with I guess psychic powers? Does she know Marron talks? Eh, whatever, let's just say it's the power of childhood wonder and imagination. I guess the first half was nice enough and it was nice seeing Ellee have more agency and be buddies with Marron (although I guess it was kind of a Sora focused episode?), kinda feels like a continuation of Ellee's communicative abilities like what happened with the animals earlier. In a semi-related topic, Marron kinda reminds me of how Beanie Babies used to have normal-sized eyes and then I think they started getting designed with bigger and bigger eyes?