Category: Aikatsu

Random thoughts June 2018

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I haven’t gotten any motivation to write any blogposts or reviews recently so I’ll just write something to just keep it somewhat alive. Currently the VPS this website is hosted on is mostly relegated to run discord bots and scripts that I have written for fun.

Photokatsu wise, I have achieved certain milestones and have pretty much stopped playing currently, waiting for its death. Thoroughly bad luck on my last few rolls didn’t really raise my motivation. No PRs on rate ups in 4×11 rolls. I enjoyed the game very much throughout almost 2 years of playing. It’s more part of my life for the past two years as I have never fail logging in since I have started playing. I have also done FC on most of the songs which I didn’t actually anticipated it would happen due to me being really crap in rhythm games. I have improved so much in this game but still my weakness still prevents me from finishing a remaining few of them but I am still happy with my accomplishments. I feel slightly empty to see it gone soon, but at the same time, it will actually release a burden from myself to try other new stuff or just rest more.

I have reached SSS Ichigo sometime in March 2018, boy this is really tiring, but it’s always worth it for my forever no.1 Aikatsu idol Ichigo.

Milestone reached: Getting into top 100 for Ichigo fanclub. 

I am still watching Aikatsu Friends/Prichan/Hugtto Precure but I am afraid I won’t be writing any reviews due to me being lazy. I still like the direction of Aikatsu Friends is going but it’s a bit too early to proclaim whether it would be great or not. I feel that it is better than what I feel for Aikatsu Stars for now.

I can’t really comment much on Prichan, because I still don’t see where the plot is going yet. There are always boring episodes mixed with interesting episodes for now.

 

Lastly, I would like to comment on a certain person who has been cloning and plagiarizing my posts. Since I am not posting much anymore, there is nothing much to be copied but I am still very pissed off for what you have done. There is nothing much we can do to stop you since you have been copying stuff from almost everywhere, but know it you will be judged according to your deeds

Aikatsu Friends 1-5 Review

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I have been too lazy to write a per episode review for Aikatsu Friends so I have decided to just write about what I feel every few episodes.

Coming from my disappointment of handling of ending of Aikatsu Stars, I have come in with quite low expectations but I have been pleasantly surprised by how Aikatsu Friends is doing so far. For me, it has been going strong for the first five episodes and I still haven’t perceive an episode where it is obviously worse than the other. It makes me hyped for every next episode.

I’ll reserve my judgement for characters for now, since I don’t really start loving characters until like halfway of first season? However, so far the characters introduced are pretty fresh with memorable traits. Aine is pretty fun for trying to just make friends with everyone she has just met. Mio is cool but has the unexpected side of being infatuated with Aine’s penguin Penne. I can also feel the passion of Maika. Penne the penguin was also an unexpected gem for being so smug. For now, Love Me Tear still seems to be a distant top idol but that’ll change as we know more about their quirks.

For the 3DCG, it was such a great improvement from what we had in Stars. I used to just nitpick a lot for Stars 3DCG, but the 3D models, the movements, the camerawork had made such obvious leap of quality. There is also the ED fully animated in 3DCG and I can get used to that.

I will still be writing my feelings on Aikatsu Friends after few more episodes, but for now I’ll just enjoy every new episode coming up.

Aikatsu Stars 99 and 100 Review

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Aikatsu Stars 99 and 100

For Aikatsu Stars, I am merging the last two episodes into one review. I was so lazy to finish up this review and delayed until even Aikatsu Friends had started airing. Finally and finally Aikatsu Stars has come to an end too. I am going to miss the old cast for some time, until I gets totally engrossed with the new generation.

For 99, plotwise it was a satisfactory closure for Yume and Hime’s rivalry. Even at the start of S2, even with Elza’s introduction, I have always feel that Hime was going to be the true final boss for Yume. With the reveals of Moon Dress in part 6, we have always been waiting for Hime for coming out to surprise Yume. Even when Yume was supposed to be ichibanboshi after actually becoming the world’s top first idol, she was still lacking something because she had one person she wasn’t able to beat and surpass. She can’t be the true ichibanboshi with that baggage. With this episode, Yume finally had beaten Hime and finally became the ichibanboshi. I feel that the CG performance for Start Line was lacklustre though. In my opinion, Sun Dress and Moon Dress with their big dresses were just the worst in almost any kind of performances. The wobbling movements in those dresses are just awful. I really really hope Aifure won’t have these kind of dresses again.

For 100, plotwise the first part of the episode doesn’t really make sense at first thought because while it was supposed to be a sending off for Rola, it certainly felt like it was a sending off for the whole main cast. For an episode finale, it makes sense though as this would be the last we would see of them. Next we had the five people person from the main cast for Aikatsu Step. Aikatsu Step was the Aikatsu song for Aikatsu Stars but somehow it wasn’t that iconic and was actually unused in S2. It just was unable to invoke as much feelings in me unlike Aidoru Katsudou for OG. In the final part, we got a glimpse of how all the main characters will fare in the future and apparently all of them have obtained the sun dress in some way. It felt like a condensed part of what the staff wanted the Aikatsu Stars to be, but for reason didn’t get the chance or resources to finish them. Overall, I do think that this episode was well done, although it was not something that makes my heart go dokidoki and Aikatsu Stars certainly do deserve a closure like this.

Finally, I am a bit conflicted on how I should feel for the Aikatsu Stars series as a whole. One thing that is certain that I was quite disappointed at the plot and individual episodes towards to the end of the series. Aikatsu Stars had potential and I really liked most of the Yotsuboshi characters. The inferior CG, the lack of high impact episodes, the lack of character development for most of the characters (mostly Mahiru and Ako), and the underused side characters left a lot to be desired. It was definitely less enjoyable for me to watch Stars as compared to OG. However, I am still sad to see this ending and it was the show I watched so passionately for whole 2 years.

 

 

Aikatsu Stars 98 and Idoltime Pripara 49 Review

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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

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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

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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.

Aikatsu Stars 95 and Idoltime Pripara 46 Review

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Aikatsu Stars 95

Elza themed episode title -> Actually Yume episode. Not that it was bad for me though. It’s just Yume on her way showing off her MC powers.

Now that Elza wanted to quit being an idol for god knows why, but why bother going into details. Yume is going to save her using her godly MC powers anyways. Elza was still being a mothercon, but didn’t actually make any real effort to contact her mother, when Rei was able to reach her mother with only some effort. Elza’s performance CG was still bad so hopefully we can see something better for Yume’s renewed Music of Dream.

Remaining time of the episode we can continue enjoy seeing Yume being cute and having fun with her schoolmates. 

Idoltime Pripara 46

I am quite surprised they weren’t any real obstacles for Yui and co to actually find the key item to awake Galala from sleep. Everything just happened so smoothly, Galala awoke and Falala/Galala just performed together. The song they performed was a real disaster though. Why would anyone think it would be a good idea to just overlap the vocals and music of two very different songs? I am hoping desperately for an epic Pripara finale for this season but this does not seem like it’ll be happening. 

Aikatsu Stars 94 and Idoltime Pripara 45 Review

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Aikatsu Stars 94

It’s the Elza vs Mahiru episode, and the results were already too obvious before we get to the end of this, so I wasn’t expecting anything much from this episode. Instead this episode was a gem only because of the all the satisfying character interactions in this episode and some pure Ako reactions. Yume and Mahiru were a bit dry as usual as Mahiru still seems to be only lacking chemical reaction with Yume among the main cast. Otherwise, other reactions including Rola/Ako/Koharu/Aria were really fruitful enough. The siscon characteristic also runs within the whole Kasumi family so that was also a fun sight to behold.

It was surprising to see a redone Forever Dream performance with Sun Dress too, now Elza’s aura has expanded so much, and it makes me hyped up on Yume eventual performance upgrade for the finale.

Idoltime Pripara 45

Instead of being minna tomodachi hax like Laala, Yui’s hax was being minna yume so she had won expectedly against Shuuka. Looks like we are going to the final arc now, I am looking forward towards the ending a lot. I want it go as crazy as it can be like the end of every Pripara season finale.

Aikatsu Stars 93 and Idoltime Pripara 44 Review

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Aikatsu Stars 93

I can’t believe a character development episode for Rei actually rushed through one round of the Aikatsu tournament. The way Rei lost against Yume was just so anticlimatic. Looking back, I do dislike character development episodes combined with losing episodes. It makes you really want to root for them, but finishing the episode itself punishes you by giving you so much disappointment. This episode is one of them being that and also the previous Rola episode against Elza.

Everything that Rei is working for this episode, suggested that she is not Subete Elza no tame ni anymore, she even spoke “Minna no tame ni” in this episode, but the cursed catchphrase before her performance still had to be “Subete Elza no tame ni”. Why couldn’t they have changed that to something more sensible now?

The impact of Yume winning is very much lessened in this episode as it feels too much as a plot device.

Idoltime Pripara 44

Once again, I am not writing much on this episode because this was mostly a plot device for Michiru’s Night Dress.

Galala and Falala also just switched their wake up time again.

Aikatsu Stars 92 and Idoltime Pripara 43 Review

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It was a hectic day today due to the presence of two big events which took up both half of my day.

Firstly, it was the airing day of the first episode Hugtto Precure. I was hyped too much by this in the previous days and in fact this was the first time I actually open the livestream and try watching it. The first episode is good enough for me, Hana and Hug-tan are just too kawaii for me to handle. First episode usually can’t reveal the quality of the whole season though, so I’ll make my verdict on this after watching much more episodes.

Next was the latest infodump on Aikatsu Friends. To be honest, it was too much for to process right now. I can’t put down most of my thoughts clearly in words for this for now. STARANIS/AIKATSU STARS disbanding, new season having Seiyuus as singers, I currently still feel very neutral to this. Even the new songs/videos that were revealed was not really helpful to me in deciding if this is good or not. I’ll just wait until the actual anime to happen to make my feelings clear probably.

Aikatsu Stars 92

So the final 4 that get into the Aikatsu Tournament was Elza, Yume, Rei, Mahiru. It was kinda expected but I feel bad for Kirara really. She was the one that stayed on 2nd position for most of the season and somehow dropping out of it abruptly near the end, even after winning an event. It reinforces people’s opinion that poor Pop idols are meant to be shafted, just like how Ako was treated for the entire of this season.

As Aikatsu Stars is coming to an end, I feel like Elza has grown a lot on me, so much that I actually ranked her above Koharu now. She used to the be last in my personal rankings. These few episodes really make me feel that she has a heart, and she does really care a lot about her idols in Venus Ark. I wonder if the last few episodes will reveal the actual reason of her closing down Venus Ark for now.

Finally, Episode Solo!!! It was surprising that Yume, Mahiru, Ako never knew about the tradition of Episode Solo being sung by every generation of S4. I wonder how though. They should have been taught of that by someone at least. 26th S4 variation of Episode Solo really has a totally different feel than the previous one. The song is now too much skewed toward Pop/Cute feel mostly due to presence of Yume/Ako. The original version is still a better one imo.

Idoltime Pripara 43

I am not writing any much for this episode, because this episode is pretty much just a plot device for Nino to get the morning dress. It was pretty innovative to have Nino perform to stealing of Shion’s crown during the performance making drama though.