Quick Picks: Kantai Collection Ep 3, Marvel Disk Wars Avengers Ep 42, Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Ep 3, Dog Days S3 Ep 3

 

Kantai Collection Ep 3: Fubuki and her team arrived at the briefing room for Nagato to brief on the operation. Mutsuki met her fellow senior, Kisaragi who is in the fourth squadron and they were excited to see each other.

After Nagato explained the operation, Fubuki was nervous of the operation and everyone tried to give her words of encouragement. Later Fubuki learned from Mutsuki that she was once like her however Kisaragi gave her encouragement and which she hope to pay back some day.

The next day, Fubuki went to train herself in the docks when she met Akagi. She claimed Mutsuki came looking for her hoping to advise Fubuki on what to do. She told Fubuki to be confident and live every day the fullest as they will never know when it will be their last day.

Soon the operation begin and Fubuki and her team observed the Abyssal from afar. However they were spotted by a scout plane and they were forced to pull back. They were suddenly boxed in from both sides and they tried their best to defend themselves with Kisaragi's team racing to aid them.

RIP Kisargi... (Sunk on 22.01.2015)

Mutsuki nearby got hit by a bomber when Fubuki rushed in to take it out. Suddenly Kongo and her team has arrived as reinforcements and chase the Abyssal away. Kisaragi was about to retreat when she was hit by a stray bomber and sunk into the ocean.

Later, Fubuki's team were welcomed by the other girls and Mutsuki was wondering where is Kisaragi. She and Fubuki went to see if she is returning back however Nagato has already reported to the Admiral that Kisaragi has been KIA and her body could not be recovered...

So if you think this show is all fun and games, think again. Already the third episode and we have our first casualty-Kisaragi and Mutsuki was about to tell her feelings to her after the operation. But now all the team have is her memories. I did some research about the actual Kisaragi battleship and apparently it really got sunk by a bomber and the operations they had was based on the battle of Wake Island which in the show is called W Island. (I know there are some Kisaragi fans which are probably are in rage mode now that she died.)

Akagi's words to the two girls also meant something serious which the Kan Musume need the will to resolve. They are girls who are forced to become soldiers and every battle they sortie could be their last. Akagi told the two girls that they should tell their feelings to the people they love and care before it is too late but now Mutsuki is probably moaning for Kisaragi who had taken care of her for so long and is regretful that she can't tell her feelings to her anymore. Overall, a good episode with a dark tone at the end but next week, Kongo and her sisters are coming in to give Fubuki and company into shape!

Marvel Disk Wars Avengers Ep 42: Blade is hunting down Baron Blood and his vampires in the city. Meanwhile, the kids arrived at a museum after closing hours which Iron Man claimed he created the first automatic security system for the museum.

After admiring a rare jewel known as the Rainbow's tears, they heard a scream and split up to investigate. Akira could hear his friends' screams after that and went to search for them. He was confronted by vampires and Ed started attacking him for no reason. Jubei also appeared and he had the Rainbow's tears together with Baron Blood.

Akira then saw his brother and his friends turning against him when suddenly Blade arrived. He told him that his friends are already vampires and there is no way to revert back to normal. Blade tried to attack them but Akira stopped him. Blade proved his point by activating the sprinklers which released holy water. The vampires and the kids were affected by it which Akira was angry that he called out Iron Man.

Iron Man destroyed the sprinklers and Baron Blood, Jubei and the affected kids retreated. The rest of the vampires started attacking the two heroes and Blade told Iron Man to attack them with "Silver." Iron Man nearby got bitten but thanks to his armor, the vampire broke his own fangs while trying to bit him. Akira threw a silver sword to him and took down the vampires together with Blade.

Later at the mansion, Blade explained to Akira that his mother was bitten by a vampire and died after giving birth to him. He swore to kill every last vampire on Earth for causing the death of his mother. Iron Man checked the security cameras from the museum and discovered that Hikaru and the rest are not bitten by vampires but were mind controlled by Baron Blood into thinking they are vampires. Akira realised they have a chance in saving the others if they can defeat Baron Blood first...

Blade is pretty cool in this episode since Toei is not afraid to show him slicing off vampires which they completely turned into ashes after killing them. Baron Blood is more of a Captain America's villain then Blade's rogues gallery. Maybe they couldn't get the right to use Deacon Frost who is Blade's adversary or Deacon is too matured for a kid's show like this. I was laughing myself when a vampire tried to bite Iron Man's neck and had his fangs destroyed and guess a normal 14th century silver sword is deadly to vampires or rather silver objects which is their weakness. So how is Akira, Iron Man and Blade going to save the other kids but instead the mind controlled kids are right in front of their door step! Can they defeat Baron Blood before it is too late? Find out in the next episode!

Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Ep 3: Uzuki, Rin and Mio prepare themselves to train with Mika but were confronted by Miku who challenged Mio to a game of Jenga. Soon their instructor and Mika arrived and they began their practices.

However the three girls were tired out and Takeuchi was worried if the girls could pull off as Mika's backup dancers. As the days goes by, the girls got better and the rest of the members were envious that the trio will be performing live. (Miku challenge Mio on a regular basics and Anya spoke in Japanese while giving them mineral water to drink)

Finally the day of the concert arrived and the girls went with Takeuchi to the venue. They met the more senior idols who are performing with Mika and they welcome them. During the rehearsal, they had a stage fright when they were evaluate up from the trap door which affected the rehearsal. They all had cold feet especially Mio who became very quiet all of a sudden.

But Takeuchi spoke to two senior idols and they gave words of encouragement just in time for them to perform with Mika. The performances went well and Mika introduced the trio to the audiences and they busted in joy on how fun it was to be on stage. After the concert, Takeuchi and the rest of the members congrats the trio and they were glad they became an idol...

Our three main girls finally got their debut to appear on stage as idols and I was thinking that they might screw up the performances but thanks to the senior idols' advices (which they suggest the girls shouted out their favourite foods before appearing on stage) and Takeuchi's keen observation, the performance was a success. I think Mio was affected the most before they went out.

Despite Mio being the most lively one, her mind went blank and was out of character before the performance. Rin actually pulled herself together and dragged the other two backstage. I had to mention that Rin has good vocal cords when she sang Mika's song which it is obvious she is a Chihaya lookalike. Uzuki is like Haruka with her positive attitude and Mio is like Miki with her energetic personality.

We also see that Miku is pretty childish since she keep challenging Mio on different games-Jenga and Rubik cube. Kanako is the nice girl who offered them snacks to eat but their trainer remind her of her waistline. Anya is sweet despite having a language barrier. She usually spurt out Russian words which confused the others but she tried her best to speak in Japanese and they were happy for her that she can communicate proper Japanese. This show also introduce the trainer's sister who look alike and Mio gave her a nickname-Rookie Trainer which I think it is a pretty dumb nickname. Overall, a good episode as Uzuki, Rin and Mio as they took their first step into becoming idols...

Dog Days S3 Ep 3: The three kingdoms assembled their troops near the dragon forest and Rico and Noir briefed everyone on the situation. Their forces are to set a defensive line to protect the three guardian dragons while the heroes and Sharu are to locate the Dragon Eater which is the source of the demons.

Everyone began to fight to protect the guardian dragons and Yukikaze has just arrived to pass something important to the heroes. After much struggle, Shinku and the others located the Dragon Eater but it's defences are too tight to pass through. Suddenly the Hero Crystal which Yukikaze is carrying reacted to Shinku's feelings and granted him his True Hero form. Yukikaze was happy to see him and she gave two new jewels for Becky and Nanami to activate True Hero form.

With their new powers, they finally break through the defences and Sharu fired her holy arrow into the exposed core. The Dragon Eater is finally destroyed and the animals were freed from the demons' controls. The sky was filled with the positive energy that the Dragon Eater absorbed before and it cause everyone's enchanted armor and equipments to be destroyed, leaving everyone naked.

Soon, everyone returned to their countries and Sharu thanked Shinku for protecting the forest. He asked if he could come again but she said it is forbidden for them to return again. However she will come to see him once everything has settled in the forest...

This is what I want to see in the previous season-a no nonsense action adventure as everyone joined forces to defeat a common enemy. Becky and Nanami also received their True Hero crystals and they turned into lovely ladies. The Dragon Eater is oddly enough looked like a giant bug with a mushroom on it's back but it was completely defeated once Shinku and company defeated it with ease. Of course being a light hearted show, everyone's clothes got destroyed which was hilarious. So now with this short arc ended, what will happen now? Sharu will probably get to see Shinku again since she is infatuated with him. (Shinku, you honry dog!) but is the dangers truly over which I am guessing this is just the beginning for our heroes!

Happiness Charge Precure Ep 49 FINAL: Happiness Forever Part 2

 

Cure Lovely became Forever Lovely with the wishes of everyone. She used her powers to free Seiji and the others as Red started battling her.

Both were equally matched and Red even overwhelm Forever Lovely in a test of strength.  Forever Lovely then realised that Red need smiles and laughter. Even when Planet Red was destroyed, Red always think about it in his heart and never forgotten the good things about Planet Red.

Forever Lovely started to overwhelm him with her feelings and Red started to feel fear. She told him that one person's strength is small but if everyone get together, they can accomplish anything and the feeling of love will last forever. She then gave him a warm hug and told him to believe in love again.

She then used her attack-Forever Happiness Shower on Red and he was finally defeated. The after effects of her attacks spread onto Planet Red and Earth where the Saiark were cleansed and retreat to the sky.

Red fell to the ground and realise how foolish he was. Cure Princess and the others welcome Forever Lovely and Red wondered what should he do now. Blue and Mirage arrived too and he is willing to help Red who is actually his elder brother. Everyone were surprised that they are siblings and explained that both Earth and Planet Red are sister planets.

Red then explained he was jealous of Blue who was able to protect Earth and he failed as a god of his own planet which got him twisted in the first place. Blue and Mirage decided to leave Earth to help Red rebuild the planet. FanFan decided to stay with Cure Honey and Mirage gave her blessings to him.

Blue told the girls that because of Cure Lovely's powers, she was able to revive the people who got corrupted and gave them a new purpose in life. He then gave the girls including Seiji five color balls as memento for protecting the Earth and entrust them in spreading love around. Blue finally send them back to Earth and they bid farewell to Planet Red.

Some time later, everything went back to normal and the three Saiark generals were reborn as humans. The girls and Seiji were walking to school and they stop at the bridge where Hime first met Megumi the first time. Yuko mentioned that Fanfan is now working as a trainee chef in her family eating house and Hime informed that she is staying on Earth despite her parents wanted her back in the kingdom.

As they continue to walk to school, Megumi and Seiji looked at the color balls that Blue gave to them and he asked what is her wish now that Blue has entrusted them. She claimed she will continue to protect the people she love and he agreed too...

We finally come to the end of this season of Precure and what an episode despite some minor nitpicking. I felt that the final battle with Red was pretty all right as there was a lot of hand to hand combat and Forever Lovely wasn't overwhelming Red in the beginning of the battle. But as the battle goes on, Cure Lovely realise that Red really need is someone to care for him. Rather than killing him, (which I don't think Forever Lovely has enough powers to become a God Killer) the power of love was a more effective way in realising his ways.

I have suspected as much that Red and Blue were connected and true enough they are siblings. When Red told them his reasons for hating Blue so much, I realised it is just a case of extreme sibling rivalry that went out of control. Red is a bad god who couldn't take care of his own planet and tried to push the blame on Blue and Blue himself did not solve the rivalry between his brother and instead entrusted young girls to do the "dirty work" for him. Worst Gods Ever!

The final scene with the girls walking to school was pretty different from most Precure finales. But it showed the girls' determination to protect the Earth when Blue is not around. Yuko is actually the luckiest one since Fanfan is staying with her and working as a trainee chef. He and Yuko can definitely get some "private time" together if you know what I mean. Hime's reason to stay on Earth is just the writers' lazy excuse in not having her royal parents coming to drag her back to the Kingdom which will become another sub plot.

Iona is the most undeveloped at the end and remain her usual self. Megumi and Seiji actually share a connection now and most likely they will get together in the future as seeing they are carrying a pink and blue ball. (which are the complete opposite colors)

Final Thoughts: After Mana/Cure Heart overwhelm with her Mary Sue personality, I was hoping for a more down to earth female lead in Megumi/Cure Lovely and true enough, Megumi is more realistic as a young girl who got thrust into become a super heroine by accident.

Let's start off with Megumi. In the beginning, she was entrusted in helping Hime accustomed into Earth's cultures and spend most of the time goofing around with Hime and her powers are the most ridiculous as a Green Lantern's Ring. However when she started having feelings for Blue and learning about his back story, she got the taste of first love. However her feelings was almost corrupted by Red but Seiji bring her back to her senses. The final battle with Red is more of showing him the good side of humans and used love and not hatred to defeat him. I will said Megumi is more of a pacifist who believe there is good in everyone.

Hime started off as a spoilt princess who has to learn the harsh truth after she accidentally released the Saiark into the world and her Kingdom was destroyed. She actually have to learn how to be a Precure with no training beforehand and her first few battles ended in failure. But after Megumi guiding her and her determination to save her kingdom, she has proven to be a valuable asset of the team. Although she still show off her arrogance in school and her peers but Hime never failed to put a smile on me when she is on screen.

Yuko has the best character development among the four girls. (Seriously, three times in a row after Cure Peace and Cure Rosetta, the yellow cures stole the show again?) She has a poker face most of the time but when the girls are having an argument, she step in as peacemaker and comfort everyone with her foods and sweets. She actually show concerns towards Fanfan when he was injured and heal him back. Fanfan tried to kill her during their final confrontation however her gentleness melt his heart and now they are staying together. (Yeah!)

Iona was a much better Purple cure than Cure Sword from last season. She started off as a lone wolf who is out for revenge after her sister got captured by FanFan. But Megumi, Yuko and even Hime whom she blamed her for releasing the Saiarks in the first place convince her that she can't fight this war alone. When her sister, Cure Tender returned brainwashed, it took everyone to work together to save Cure Tender. But once she was rescued, her role in the series became small and her relationship with Yuya was left undeveloped.

Seiji is probably the most active male lead in Precure history so far. Before that, every supporting male characters were reduced to one-off or complete useless characters. He learned about Megumi and Hime as Precures in the first three episodes and spent helping them in the sidelines. There were some episodes where he appeared but he never mentioned a single word at all but when he does do something, it is usually related to Megumi and his battles with the girls during his brainwash was pretty intense since he could easily go on par with them.

Blue is a very irresponsible god. First he got Mirage to become his Precure. Then when he rejected Mirage's love and she became evil. He tried to get rid of her by sealing her into the Axia box without thinking why did she became like that in the first place. Then the Saiark invaded the world, he spread his  "seeds" to unsuspecting young girls to become Precures to do his dirty work again. He didn't make clear his feelings with Megumi which I wonder why he couldn't sense that Seiji is actually angry with him for making "moves" on Megumi.

Red himself is like that jealous sibling you had who is envious that your sibling got full marks on a test paper and wanted to sabotage him. By means of sabotage is literately turning the girl who had a crush on him into an evil queen and destroying everything he hold dearly to. The Saiark generals are all right although Oresuki is my favourite general for this series since his actions and over the top speeches are fun to watch thanks to Koyasu Takehito's performances.

As this was the tenth anniversary of Precure, you think that the senior Precures that we all love and grow up with will joined the current team one way of another. However their appearances is only limited to the all stars movie which I enjoy it to some degree of it. Instead, we were introduced to International Precures around the world who has one lines or no lines at all which is a poor idea to go about it in the first place and a waste of undeveloped characters who appeared as stills.

Overall, the series has some good moments but a lot of wasted potential like the International Precures and the PreCards they collected in the first half of the series was totally irrelevant after that. The final scene was rather subtle than the last two seasons finale however it showed the girls' determination to protect the fragile peace they earned so hard.

Goodbye, Happiness Charge Precure! Hello, Go Princess Precure!

See you in the next All Stars Movie!

So we thank Happiness Charge Precure for the last one year and welcome Go Princess Precure next week to the Precure family! Until then, thank you once again, Happiness Charge Precure!