Idoltime Pripara 100 and 101 Review

I have decided to combine the final two episodes of Idoltime Pripara into one review and separate Aikatsu Stars into another review.

I’ll preface with this – I actually had very low expectations for Idoltime Pripara, because I was pretty much bored by new characters and the plot in Idoltime Pripara. I always knew that Pripara has super damn epic endings for each of the season though. The ones for the past three seasons had touched me so much. With that being said, I came into the final episodes with much lower expectations than previous seasons. I should have known the taste of what is to come from last episode’s God Idol. 

What I can say for episode 100 is that it is the epitome of fanservice for the whole Pripara series. As expectedly, Laala has awakened without any issues. And well we were then treated to a performance from the current God Idols and Kami Idols , a combined performance from Solami Dressing. Solami Dressing was basically the core main cast of the original Pripara, and the performance with the new OP was so still nostalgic to me. The fact that they didn’t ignore Shuuka and just leave everything else to MyDre surprised me too. Finally we have gotten another performance from MyDre and had a complete Making Drama with basically all the Pripara cast except maybe Jewlie and Janice. Episode 100 is just destined for greatness and will be remembered by me as one of the most significant episodes in Pripara series. I watched the rolling credits and thought this was the last episode and finally oops there was still one more episode.

Episode 101 was a closure to the whole Pripara series. Although not as epic as the last episode, I would say it was a very well done final episode. The surprise of this episode was that the boys got to perform Tick Tock Magical Idol Time, while MyDre performed Gira Galactic Tight Rope, which was surprisingly good imo. I was actually complaining about Laala didn’t get to escort Yui in SuperIdolTime and wow they actually did that this episode. Three of them actually got escorted by their mentors/inspirations respectively (Laala/Shion/Aroma). It was really touching to see that ends the series here.

It’s been a long journey since now Pripara has totally come to an end. I will definitely miss Laala for some time since she was really my favourite in Pripara. I will continue watching Prichan and hopefully it will be a worthy successor to Pripara.

 

 

Aikatsu Stars 98 and Idoltime Pripara 49 Review

Aikatsu Stars 98

I think it is pretty weird to slot in a Yuzu Lily development episode near the very end. It kinda make sense based on the plot of this episode, but I still feel that it should have been explored earlier. It was surprising for them to announce an official unit YuzuttoLily in a season that was completely void of units before this though. Although they redid the animal carnival performance, no unit auras was still a pity.

The S4 results was so anti-climatic that I don’t really want to talk much about it. Poor Haruka Ruka finally get a chance to be S4 now though after Yuzu graduation.

Idoltime Pripara 49

I simply love how Pripara is always ramping up the hype near the end of season. Now Dressing Pafe finally get to be God Idol , not Kami Idol btw. I don’t know why they have to create a variation of Kami Idol just right now, but whatever the reason, it’s Pripara, and Dressing Pafe definitely deserved their new title God Idol now. Now they can unleash their God Idol powers and contribute a way in bringing back Laala.

Other than that, Jewlie and Janice performed but it was only a reused performance from S3 so nothing much to see there. Laala is always Jewlie’s mama though. 

Aikatsu Stars 97 and Idoltime Pripara 48 Review

Aikatsu Stars 97

It is quite touching to see the Venus Ark idols having a closure like this, mostly with the change of heart in Elza and Rei for this episode. It is funny to see Elza finally asking to have veggies this episode ha. Personally I think the creation and naming of Neo Venus Ark sounds really weird though.

Finally the yotsuboshi girls can wish the Venus Ark idols a safe bon bon voyage, with Alice rejoining Venus Ark. The most horrible twist of this episode is to let Yuri quit Yotsuboshi and join Venus Ark. I was like “WTHWTHWTH” when I watched the whole scene. This is something literally no one asked for and Bamco has to just surprise us in such mysterious ways.

 

Idoltime Pripara 48

I see that this is meant to be a nostalgia episode to see most of the old cast being back and though honestly this was just a filler with nothing much happened.

I am surprised to see Jewlie and Janice appearing near the end and I am really happy to see Jewlie come back to help saving her mama.

It is really shaping up to be the all stars grand finale for Pripara, with probably everyone being present. I am expecting to see Ucchari Big Bang too.

Aikatsu Stars 96 and Idoltime Pripara 47 Review

Aikatsu Stars 96

This was the episode Yume is supposed to shine the most and become the ichibanboshi but I can’t help feeling a bit disappointed in this episode overall.

Pros: 

  1. Yume finally unleashed her power and got Sun Dress and got her deserved win against Elza.
  2. The tomodachi build up before that was really heart warming.
  3. The animation for this episode is generally better than usual episodes highlighting the emotions and reaction faces better.

Cons:

  1. Yume’s 3DCG performance and Sun Dress reveal was disappointing. We were mostly expecting the Sun Dress transformation happening at the highest point of the flight, but that didn’t happen. Her Sun Dress transformation was just too fast, too underwhelming. Until someone pointed out to me that the aura burst during the Sun Dress transformation was supposed to contain elements from her friends, I wouldn’t have noticed that. And the part after that has the same bad camera angles plaguing most Stars 3DCG performance.
  2. I believe Elza deserved a closure from her mothercon stuff but overall this is still feel forced for me. Elza and her mum are just too oblivious all these years, until Rei/Kirara/Aria basically forcefully have them together for this stage.

There are still 4 more episodes for Aikatsu Stars now before start of Aikatsu Friends, and I don’t feel it for the remaining episodes. I really want Bamco to surprise me enough for the finale.

Idoltime Pripara 47

I thought Pakkun would really be the end boss of some kind for the end of this season, which I expected to be anticlimatic. But boy this episode just hit me hard in the kokoro for Laala’s involvement in this episode. It’s no secret that my favourite idol in whole Pripara is Laala. The way she protects Yui, her dreams of a grown up Laala, the song “Make It’, the way she screams “Minna Tomodachi Minna Aidoru”, everything is just right to push the tension of this episode to the max.

Now as Laala fell asleep this episode, to payback Laala for saving everyone in the past three seasons, now everyone needs to give their best to awaken her now. Now I can really hope for an epic ending for Idoltime now.