Thread:CureHibiki/@comment-386913-20171124112329/@comment-386913-20180210122515

I don't mind "chair" villains if they back it up; prove there's a reason they're sitting there and not just out there with the rest of them...or at least act tormenting when in said chair or have some horrific secret that prevents them from being out there with the troops. (such as Despariah's advance age or the fact that Moebius was a robot and the real one was the computer itself) Heck when comedic villains do it, it ends up sort of leading to a lot of great moments: I'm sort of thinking of Bunbee in early Yes! 5 or Mephisto. (one of my favorite Yes 5 comedic moments was early on when Girinma is reporting about the Cure activity to his supervisor and Bunbee's falling asleep listening to the board stuff; and we think he's the boss at this point prior to the intro of Despariah or Kawarino; speaking of which, I sort of wish we get some of that sort of thing with Criasu in HUGtto) The Chairman...just has a floating chair and an obsession with Flora that just gets maddening. He just feels like a poor attempt to create a male Despariah without what made Despariah so memorable.

The romance stuff is starting where I'm at at HapCha (24; the sub for it was bizarre but the mess is already icky even at this point); though I do briefly have to get into how crappy the end of the Hime/Iona arc was. It was building up and getting really good...and then just out of nowhere, Iona forgives her and Hime gives her the cards to wish for the new Fortune powers. Seriously, she just randomly does it without any motivation or even hearing out why Hime has her issues; heck it takes until the very next episode after the new Fortune powers are awakened before Hime FINALLY explains why she opened the Axia and thus fully reveals why she's just as much a victim in all this. Where the heck does Iona suddenly change her mind without any forewarning? And while I get why Hime would sacrifice her cards, the new Fortune powers...are just a more powerful version of the old Fortune powers. There's no explanation other than Blue saying that "she has love now" despite the implications that the Fortune Piano is much more powerful as a transformation device than the PreChan Mirrors. (let alone Iona was using her sister's mirror from day one as Fortune when a previous episode explains you have to be "chosen" both by your own desires and by the crystals Blue sends out to become a Cure!) My own theory: Tender's PreChan Mirror held Iona back from releasing her true potential; there's probably more to it but that's what I'm going with. (oh and on Honey Candy issues, it's gotten so bad that all Yuko has to do now is put one out and Hime gobbles it down...really it is a reason to watch HapCha again to see how she just descends into this drug lifestyle beyond her own control)

Thinking it over, I do think Miki/Madoka is a commentary on Miki/Cure and the whole Cure franchise in general. She ends up making her wish on good intention but it bites her in the bud until she's basically caught in it forever and becomes a witch. Maybe the aspect that she's a witch and not the others ends up being a commentary on the element that PreCure is a franchise created to be one (even if not really): it's this never-ending story of these girls who keep fighting despite the changing cast and thus it continues onwards like a supernatural being whether or not their morals are correct to those who watch it. At least by the movie, you could sort of say that Miki has come to terms with it and she ends up being an ally towards the heroes (which maybe stands for the idea that 'maybe having a long runner magical girl series isn't a bad thing') only of course to be tied up in that bizarre ending with Homura. It's not going to stop my respect for Miki Aono though...and at least the idea that with an anime for little girls, characters can still go through the ringer and come out better in the end.

As a final comment: finally started my movie watches with the first Max Heart movie. Aside more hilarious voice elements (three of the frogs become fairies later on; heck one of them is now Hariham Harry), it just continues the march of Shiny Luminous' consistent record....of failure.