Your Happening World (Anime Overload Edition)

Or, I have too many tabs loaded from Twitter and Chrome is dying.

  • Andes Chucky went to Otakon:
    D fiddled with the knobs of their prop, their patron saint—a Heybot figure, representing the most cursed children series of the past few years. A series they and C had written on multiple times and genuinely loved. “You just look like Andes Chucky,” they said. “The teeth and everything. It’s incredible.”
  • The Backlog: A Year (or Two) in Review:
    A year ago, August 2017, I came to the harrowing realization that at my disorganized, lazy pace, I would never get to see most of the shows I wanted to see. It was not a new realization, but this time was different. I had time on my hands. I set out to do something about it, and The List was born. Since then, my organized backlog has been one of the main guiding lines of my life, as depressing as that sounds, and with its anniversary coming up in a matter of days, I want to take some time to talk about it.
  • Anime Bingo:
    search for your favourites on MAL to create a bingo card showing off your good (or not so good) taste.
  • Ladies Who Punch – It’s Pretty Cure:
    The show isn’t trying to be a male-focused thing, a show about pretty girls kicking ass for a male audience, it’s a show saying that this time, the heroes who do all the cool fighting are girls. Deal with it. Hell, in episode 2 they stop a lift from crashing to the ground with raw strength, Superman style.
  • A very personal look at Clannad and its treatment of queer sexuality:
    Clannad indulges itself in four ‘jokes’ that treat queer sexuality as a punchline in its first season. The first time I watched Clannad, when I wasn’t thinking critically, just mindlessly consuming, I laughed out loud to all four of these jokes. With each rewatch of Clannad, I’ve become more and more perturbed by these ‘jokes.’
  • Why 3DCG Cannot be Allowed to Replace 2D Animation!:
    I’m not here trying to say that 3DCG anime shouldn’t exist, or that people are wrong for liking it. And there’s certainly a lot of talent that goes into creating these works. I just want us all to understand that they are not one in the same. 2D animation isn’t an old way of doing things, it’s a wholly different artform, and one that I and many others love dearly. If we allow 3DCG to be the future and not just an alternative, anime will lose something forever.

Why Precure is more mature than Graham Linehan

When a children’s anime series is more kind and insightful than the whole of socalled “gender critical” Twitter put together:

Hugtto Precure: boys can be princesses too

It all started with episode eight of Hugtto Precure, with the introduction of Wakamiya Henri, an ice skating friend of Kagayaki Homare who likes to wear dresses and who described himself as “both a refined Japanese lady and a Parisian”. Little fuzz was made about this, the real conflict that episode was about Henri wanting to take Homare back to figure skating full time. At the end of the episode he decided he would hang around alittle bit longer and transferred into the Precures’ school, but so far little more had been done with him. Until episode 19.

Hugtto Precure: girls cannot be heroes?

Episode 19 also sees the return of this asshole, the brother of Aisaki Emiru, the Precure fan who likes to hang around with Lulu. Last time we saw him, in episode 15, he was telling Emiru she couldn’t play the guitar. This time he’s telling her that girls cannot be heroes, as well as getting shook by seeing Henri wear a dress. Basically, he is the voice of conventionality in these two episodes and in both he’s quickly proven to be wrong. Girls can be heroes, boys can be princesses. Now of course Precure doesn’t use words like genderqueer or trans to talk about Henri, but just seeing a cool, handsome boy like Henri comfortable in his dress, unbothered by the censure of people like Emiru’s brother, in fact convincing them they’re wrong, is a great example for the young girls (and boys!) that are Precure’s primary audience. Such a contrast to the carrying ons of Graham Linehan, once best known as the writer behind Father Ted, currently best known as a transphobic asshole:

Graham Linehan being transphobic on Twitter

That’s him talking about trans men getting top surgery, as if there’s a cabal of trans people out there that takes innocent little butch girls and forces them to become men. Reality is of course that getting any help with physically transitioning is difficult enough for an adult and almost non-existent for those under eighteen. Note btw that his original example was of somebody in their mid twenties, hardly a child. How different this hysteria is from the calm acceptance of Precure. And no, people like Linehan may wring their hands about “unnecessary” surgery, but they don’t condone more “innocent” forms of genderplay either. Men or trans women dressing in female coded clothing: must be predators. Women or trans men dressing butch: must be brainwashed. Anything that doesn’t strictly adhere to a binary worldview where there are only men and women is suspect.

Cervical screening (or the smear test) is relevant for everyone aged 25-64 with a cervix. Watch our animation to find out what to expect when you go for screening

Case in point: this innocent tweet by UK Cancer Research, calling on everybody with a cervix to get themselves tested. Oh, that got the transphobes out in force. Starting with Labour (!) MP Anna “dumb dumb” Turley asking why have you used the term ‘everyone with a cervix’ in this tweet please? Because god forbid we pay attention to trans men or genderqueer people who may have a cervix but aren’t women. Better to use women and ignore that not all women, not even all cis women even have a cervix and need this test. Maybe you’ve already had cervical cancer and had to have it removed. But either these people don’t realise this or they don’t care, because keeping UK Cancer Research tweets ideologically pure is much more important.

So yeah, if you’re looking for understanding and acceptance, don’t look to media personalities like Linehan, look to an anime series aimed at young girls.

How is Precure so good?

No really? How is Precure this good?

Hugtto Precure: no eggs no life!

To recap: Precure is a long running series of magical girl shows that has put out a new series each year since 2004 following roughly the same formula each time, though each series bar two stands on its own. There’s a team of two or more young teenage girls who’ve gotten Precure powers from a magical talking animal mascot to defend the Earth against some sort of primordal evil, which mainly manifests in fighting the monster of the week while also having to deal with more mundane problems. For more detail, see my review of Fresh Precure, which aired in 2009. Hugtto Precure is the latest installment, started last February and so far has been rather good, episode four being a particular highlight, but I think this week’s episode topped even that one.

Sakugablog has the nitty gritty of just who is responsible for making episode fifteen so great and mentions that this is actually supposed to be a budget saving episode. Which just goes to show talented creators can do a lot even under strict limitations. But what sets this episode apart from regular episodes is not just the good use of limited animation, but the focus on two supporting characters. There’s Lulu, the enemy infiltrant now living with main Precure Nono Hana, who is sent out to buy eggs and runs into Aisaki Emiru, first seen in episode nine, who introduces herself as Cure Emi-ru protecting the world through careful prevention. Emi-ru is great, trying to do all the usual stuff Precures do, in which the show obliges her by using the same musical and animation cues it uses for the real Precures. Intrigued, Lulu follows her (or rather, Emi-ru keeps clinging to her warning her of increasingly unlikely dangers she could encounter as she makes her way to the supermarket to buy eggs) and watches as Emi-ru attempts to help people and fails. Lulu then points out that even if she failed, at least she made the people she helped happy.

Lulu and Emi-ru hit it off immensily and it’s great seeing the fired up Emiru trying to explain things to the stoic Lulu. As the former keeps going into these flights of fancy, the latter keeps shooting her down, but not in a mean way. Rather, she seems genuinely concerned for her when her brother comes in to lecture Emiru on how it’s improper for girls to play the guitar. Lulu defends Emiru by continuing to ask him who died and made him boss as well as why playing the guitar is unseemingly, doing that in the same cold, logical way she has done everything this episode. Only when the brother flees, does Lulu reveal some genuine emotion and upset. Which also leads to the most adorable pout in Precure history.

Hugtto Precure: Lulu pouting

The stoic, logical, emotionless girl is a staple in anime ever since Neon Genesis Evangelion. But what struck me here is how much characterisation and character growth the series could put in one episode. There had of course been hints before that Lulu wasn’t as emotionless as she first seemed and she’s a prime candidate for mid-series conversion to the good side, but in this episode we learned she had a sense of humour, was able to make friends and get angry on their behalf and it all happened naturally. That’s what makes this such a good episode even without the brilliant animation to go along with it. Both Lulu and Emiru gained a lot of depth in what was nominally a gag episode and while this episode was incredibly funny, it also adhered to the standard formula of a Precure episode, showing how much the staff could fit in its limitations.

A refined Japanese lady and a Parisian — Hugtto Precure

In episode eight of Hugtto Precure Kagayaki Homare, the third Precure and super talented figure ice skater is visited by Wakamiya Henri, the Prince of Skating, who comes to take her back where she belongs. It’s not an unusual plot point for a Precure series. There’s always one extra special Precure who is the best at some sport or talent or other, who either gets an offer to go study abroad or gets visited by somebody like Henri, who wants her to stop faffing about and work on her career. Normally that’s good for one episode of angst and nothing more, the guys who visit being little more than good looking cyphers, but Henri is different:

Hugtto Precure: a refined Japanese lady and a Parisian

It may go too far to call Henri trans or genderqueer just for his willingness to dress up in female coded clothing, or for him to talk about himself as “a refined Japanese lady” (yamato nadeshiko), but he certainly seems comfortable being “girly”. There is of course a long tradition in amime of handsome boys being pretty enough to dress up as girls without censure; I liked how it was only the dumb hamster sidekick who mildly objected when Henri came out in a dress with nobody else was bothered. It goes to show how accepting a kid show like Precure can be, when nominally adult anime series can’t get past cheap tr*p jokes. Representation always matters, so to have this sort of thing in Precure, one of the most popular anime franchise in Japan is important. Also, this is interesting:

Hugtto Precure: maybe I will try to be a Precure too

Having Henri stick around as somebody who knows the Precure’s secret, who is portrayed as at least a bit genderqueer and who may want to be a Precure himself? That could be fun. Note that they’re still supposed to look out for the fourth Precure, so it’s not entirely impossible that it would be Henri. In the meantime, for a more general overview of why you should watch Hugtto Precure, watch this video:



Fresh Precure: the standard Precure experience

Fresh Precure is the Precure series you want to watch if you want a typical Precure experience.. It’s not the best Precure series, but far from the worst and a such exemplifies all the strengths and weaknesses of Precure. There may be some spoilers here.

Fresh Precure: The original three Cures

Fresh Precure is the sixth Precure series, originally broadcast in 2009. By this time the overall Precure formula had long since been worked out and the series followed it closely. So it starts with Momozono Love, a bright energetic 14 year old who is always helping others, going to a dance show by her favourite dance team Trinity, only for the show to be attacked by the first of many monsters. Love saves Miyuki, the leader of Trinity and in the process transforms into a Precure, Cure Peach. In the next two episodes she recruits her two best friends. Aono Miki is the cool beauty type who is good at everything, who turns into Cure Berry, while Yamabuki Inori (Buki to friends) is the somewhat shy animal lover who becomes Cure Pine. Both also join for dance lessons with Miyuki. Finally there’s the inevitable cute animal mascot, the ferret like but actually a cute cute fairy, Tarte, with baby fairy Chiffon in tow. The first is here to explain the plot to the girls, the second is more of a deus ex machina/macguffin combo.

Fresh Precure: Love and Eas become friends

The villains are a trio of standard issue Precure punchclock villains: they show up, goof around a bit in their ‘civilian’ identities, switch over, summon a monster and try to harvest sorrow because that’s what they need for their boss’ plans. Wester, Soular and Eas are fun villains, each with their own quirks, though Eas is the most well defined: she actually becomes friends with Love in her secret identity. Their boss is Lord Moebius of the planet Labyrinth, who wants to conquor all the parallel worlds starting with the Earth. Moebius’ evil is fairly abstract: it would be bad if he succeeds in taking over the world, but as long as the Precures continue to defend the status quo, nothing really bad happens.

Fresh Precure: fighting monsters

As the series progresses, with the Precures fighting each of Moebius’ lieutenants as they summon the monster of the week, while also having to deal with their own every day problems, both the Precures and the villains power up in a slow arms race, all the way to the mid-season climax. Eas in her civilian identity had steadily become good friends with Love, leaving her conflicted about her duties, but with a new powerup she becomes more determined than ever to crush the Precures, even as her new power is shortening her life everytime she uses it. Ultimately though Love and the other Cures’ dogged persistence breaks through her shell and she does a heel turn, becoming the fourth Precure, Cure Passion.

Fresh Precure: and Setsuna makes four

The next run of episodes sees the series lose some focus, as the remaining two villains are much less of a threat and the emphasis shifts more to the Precure girls’ everyday lives. There’s some obvious filler in there, but there’s also a lot of slow burn character development in there, especially as Eas, now called Setsuna, moves in with Love’s family and adjust to normal life. This is always a weakness of any Precure series, that most of the overall plot happens at the beginning as the Cures and their enemies are introduced, a few episodes in the middle as everybody powers up and one of the villains defects and finally the last couple of episodes, as the story reaches it climax and the evil gets defeated. Keeping the rest of the episodes interesting is always a challenge: the best Precure series do so with a combination of interesting monster of the week episodes and character focus specials. Fresh Precure misses some of that, with Cure Berry and Pine getting much less focus than Cure Peach & Passion.

Fresh Precure: the power of love

The series picks up again as the final villain, Northa, is introduced, about three quarters of the way through the series. It was only then I realised that they were actual named after compass directions. As per usual, she’s more powerful and also more evil than the other two and her introduction sets in motion the buildup to the final struggle between Moebius and the Precure. Which happens after Chiffon gets captures to function as the capstone to the parallel world invasion machine thingie Moebius built. As world after world falls and Earth itself is attacked, the Precures decide to reveal their secret to their family and friends before they go on their final mission, to save Chiffon. Once they manage to convince their parents to let them go, they invade Labyrinth, set off a revolution, struggle against Wester and Soular until they get their heel turn after Moebius attempts to kill them and the Cures both, defeat Northa and reveal the true identity of Moebius before defeating him with the power of love. Unironically.

Fresh Precure: everything for Lord Moebius

The regimented life on Labyrinth, where nobody has to think for themselves and nobody has to think about others either, just follow orders, living a life without sadness but without joy too, is an old and familiar evil. It’s contrasted by the much more chaotic, much warmer community life of Yotsuba Town. Ultimately the Precures triumph thanks to the support they get from their family, friends, neighbours and even the awakened citizens of Labyrinth. It’s not a contest of individual will, but community versus the lack of it. The people of Labyrinth live a life in which everything is decided for them, which leaves no room for them to help each other. Whereas in Yotsuba Town, people look out for each other, whether friends, family or just casual acquaintances. Throughout the series you get to see small examples of this, which is what makes the finale works. You could arguably fit the actual plot of the series in a one or two cour series of 12-26 episodes, but you can only have that short of slow buildup in a long series like this. Even if those filler episodes add nothing for the plot, they allow the characters to breathe, to grow a bit.

In short, Fresh Precure has all the standard Precure story beats and executes them well. There’s the Precure origin and debut queue, the struggle against the villians in which both sides gradually up their powers, a new Cure joins the team as one villain has her heel turn, real life challenges to be met, the final battle agains the real evil, followed by a happy ever after. It has the standard Precure themes of friendship, family & community overcoming selfishness, but also of few people, no matter how evil, being beyond redemption. Almost all the villains ultimately end up redeemed after all. That’s what I like best about all the Precure series, that feeling of optimism and good will.