Category: Pripara

Idoltime Pripara 100 and 101 Review

waijie666 Leave a comment

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 97 and Idoltime Pripara 48 Review

waijie666 Leave a comment

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

waijie666 Leave a comment

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

waijie666 Leave a comment

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

waijie666 Leave a comment

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

waijie666 Leave a comment

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

waijie666 Leave a comment

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.

Aikatsu Stars 91 and Idoltime Pripara 42 Review

waijie666 Leave a comment

Aikatsu Stars 91

Mahiru and Aria episode really feels like a filler at this point. Aria is definitely cute and all but this is essentially intruding on Mahiru’s episode. It’s pretty sad that Mahiru’s personal episodes are always burdened with Venus Ark students for now. Aria is working hard trying to copy/learn from other idols, but copying Mahiru is pretty much impossible, as she is too much of a monster. Dat boulder break was just too much for probably anyone else in the Aikatsu verse.And somehow we got a Aria performance with some slight changes and a cut Mahiru performance. Weird choice, but I am not going to complain too much at this point.

Also, Aikatsu Friends just got announced on last week as a sequel to Aikatsu Stars in April. Hopefully we will get a trailer up soon as I am usually not getting fired up by just character designs.

It’s just sad to see current cast gone just after 2 years. My precious Yume aww. They will live on in photokatsu hopefully.

 

Idoltime Pripara 42

It’s all nostalgic when Mia starts performing, with both the song Dear My Future and the making drama (prism jump) Kirameki Future. I replayed that performance 10+ times because it was such a nice song and it was very motivating. Galala in this episode also got fallen by the minna tomodachi curse so it’s a bit anticlimatic, but it’s Pripara anyways. It’s always all friendships and miracles.

Btw, Kiratto Prichan also got announced on the last week as a sequel to Pripara in April. This means Pripara is going to be over soon finally. Laala finally gets to retire now. Otsukare Laala all these time. I am pretty sure I am going to watch Prichan too.

 

Aikatsu Stars 90 and Idoltime Pripara 41 Review

waijie666 Leave a comment

This is my lucky month for mobage I suppose. I got a double PR pull from Elza event pool in a single 11 roll, and they are just what I need (Event Elza and Initial Rola). For the anniversary pick free PR, I have picked Shion since she was the only character available that I was missing. Hope my luck for Photokatsu also continue for this new year. 

Aikatsu Stars 90

Elza apparently wanted to shut down Venus Ark as Venus Ark students (Rei, Kirara, Aria) had completed their role as tools to unlock Sun Dress. Rei and Kirara apparently still obsessed with having Elza around though, being willing to do anything to bring Elza back.

The middle part of the episode is pretty fun with Rei Kirara Aria being together doing cooking. Actually I wish to see more of their interactions together instead of them sticking with Elza, because it’s so fulfilling. Aria is also being too cute for a supporting character in this episode, that I actually spent some time to make a gif of her.

In the end, Kirara won the event because Rei was letting Kirara win, so I think Kirara is likely the final one in top 4 unless Hime miraculously appear in the Aikatsu ranking. It was weird that in Aikatsu stars, they were allowed to perform with a sprained ankle though. (Remember when Rin was forbidden to perform in Aikatsu by Johnny Sensei due to the same problem?)

Elza seemed to have softened down a bit in the end of this episode and that pained look in her face suggested that she may have kept some secrets from them.

 

Idoltime Pripara 41

With the theme of Pripara being friends all the time, it kinda makes sense that the key to defeat or convert Galala is simply just using power of friends. Galala being friends with Shuuka just unlocked both of their lonely souls, and it seems like Galala will be converted much sooner now.

Galala performance is being quite nice, with someone pointed out to me that her performance is supposed to be a mirror of Falala’s performance which is true. Most of the dance choreography and even the making drama are quite similar just with the day and night opposite theme different.

Aikatsu Stars 89 and Idoltime Pripara 40 Review

waijie666 Leave a comment

Playing three mobages is really taxing me a lot but somehow Bandori and Mirishita gave me the best gacha lucks this month, while I am not getting anything from Photokatsu this month. 3 4-Stars on Bandori this month, and 4 SSRs from Mirishita (1 SSR from medal gacha, 3 SSRs from a single ten roll) this month. I really want to reduce my time on Bandori and Mirishita. It’s like they are using the gacha luck to prevent me from leaving. Arrrgh.

I really hope to get my first gacha Photokatsu PR for this year soon though.

Aikatsu Stars 89

I was actually surprised by this episode being mostly a recap. I don’t usually watch live stream because it is shortly just after my work time but this time I managed to finish my stuff early and tried to watch it and this is so anti-climatic to watch a recap.

Somehow Elza reverted back to her kind self after few episodes of being half crazy and there she is rejecting veggies from her meal. She is so unexpectedly childish when it comes to veggies.

Finally, we also got another reveal from Hime that she obtained something probably equal or even better than the Sun Dress after all the travelling around the world. Will Hime become the final boss of this season instead of Elza? I always feel like Hime should be the Yume’s final opponent though to bring a closure for Yume’s challenge towards Hime in the end of S1. Yume can’t really be ichibanboshi without beating Hime fair and square.

Idoltime Pripara 40

This is supposed to be a filler episode but there are some pretty touching scenes for Laala and Yui.

MyDre and Laala went back to Parajuku again so the whole old cast gets their cameo and appears again. It’s touching to see that Yui realized that Laala is not just her best friend and Laala is pretty much everyone else’s friend and Laala is actually influential.

I had to think for a bit for Laala most important thing, but it was so obvious, and I also did guess it before the results are out. Minna Tomodachi is basically everything that makes Laala what she is so the most obvious answer would be friend. Yui did understand enough of Laala to know what’s the correct answer for Laala too after being together all these times.