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nightcitydiary · 3 years

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Entry 8: [ns/fw]

I’m loving these sidequests.

I got a text from ms corpo lady who screwed me over in the earlier main story quest; the one who had her bodyguards attack me, then gave me a rigged credit card which caused me to almost get murdered by a building full of gangsters, then swooped in to clean up afterwards. At the start of meeting her, I hated her. At the end I was angry but respected her cunning and toughness.

Anyway, the texting led to me meeting her at the no tell motel. The meeting was very brief and we had a little i-kind-of-hate-you-but-also-respect-your-strengths fuck. not quite a hatefuck. (I could tell the feeling was mutual based on the last time we met and the fact that she texted me to let me know how things went afterwards.)

Do note, that if you’re reading this and being spoiled to this possibility, that walking into her room will, afaik, be the trigger to initiate the sex scene. You won’t get a dialogue choice here. The choice happens earlier, when she says to meet you, and you can choose to say ‘sure’ or ‘no, I don’t trust you.’

Oh, but if you do go meet her, you can get this sweet dildo bat.

Of course this quest requires her to be alive, and probably requires the specific outcome I got on that earlier mission. Which was to let her virus exist on the credit card thingie she gives you, so that she gets the outcome she wants.

Anyway, on to the sidequest I got done earlier, which was to track down all of the cars that went missing from Del’s network. There were some really interesting ones on here. Like portal-reference car, which spoke only in glados quotes taken straight from portal’s files. And the one that I had to drive home carefully and slowly. (of course buddy. It’s okay to be scared. I’ll take you home safe.) And-- well okay they were all interesting more or less. I expect Del to call me in the future with more information on what happened to cause it. (I really enjoyed listening to V talk down the suicidal one. He is so inherently kind, but not to the point that its ridiculous, if that makes since? He’s real-person level empathetic, not video-game-paragon-hero level empathetic.)

Besides all that, I went to Misty again and this time told her that Johnny and I are starting to see eye-to-eye, and she said that it’s hard not to get along with me, and I was so fucking flattered. ;-;

#cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers #diary entry #entry 8

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precuredaily · 5 years

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Precure Day 128

Episode: Futari wa Precure Splash Star 30 - “Amazing Power! Precure’s Great Transformation!!” Date watched: 9 June 2019 Original air date: 3 September 2006 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/jfdQJOk Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Gohyaan forgot to look at the schedule

When we left off, Gohyaan had kidnapped Flappi and Choppi and retreated to Dark Fall, leaving Saki, Mai, Moop, and Foop in shock. We meet up with them the next day at school, as Saki and Mai are extremely dejected. However, after school they vow to search for their missing partners. They search the beach, as well as the Sky Tree, but come up with no leads. However, Miss Shitataare is still fuming over Gohyaan stealing her thunder, so she pays the girls a visit and coyly leads them to Gohyaan’s hideout. Although initially taken aback by the intrusion, he quickly slips back into taunting Saki and Mai by showing them how he’s tortured Flappi and Choppi.

Then he throws the spirits at their feet, saying he’s gotten all the information he can from them. Saki and Mai scream at Gohyaan that they’ll never forgive him. He brushes this off, because he’s not interested in their forgiveness, and asks what they will do instead, daring them to transform, but the Flower and Bird spirits are too weak to transform Saki and Mai into Precure. Moop and Foop try to apologize to their seniors but Gohyaan takes the chance to capture them instead, and then prepares to destroy Saki and Mai with a gigantic energy ball. The girls bravely stare imminent death in the face and vow that they’ll never give up, because they know if they remain strong in spirit, their wishes will always be granted! It’s a powerful speech, but Gohyaan still isn’t impressed, dismissing their chatter as cliched. Saki and Mai reiterate that the two of them are friends with each other, with Flappi and Choppi, and with Moop and Foop, and that all of their friends are precious to them and they will protect the fairies with their lives! Just as Gohyaan is about to strike the killing blow, Moop and Foop are empowered by the outpouring of love and break free of their restraints, and they fly back to Saki, Mai, Flappi, and Choppi, and encase all of them in glowing light.

Flappi and Choppi are healed and re-energized, and Moop and Foop transfer their powers of Moon and Wind into them. The two larger fairies suddenly transform into their alternate modes, but these aren’t the Mix Communes. Instead they turn into new forms: the Crystal Communes! A new power is being born! Saki and Mai are confused about the change but with no time to worry about such things, they let the spirits guide them into transforming and lo and behold, when they transform this time, they emerge not as Cure Bloom and Cure Egret, but in all new forms.... Cure Bright and Cure Windy, the precures of the Moon and Wind!

The girls don’t have much time to marvel over their new appearances before Gohyaan sets about trying to destroy them again (rude). However, they find that these new forms come with greater power and abilities than they’ve ever experienced, and they manage to gain the upper hand in the battle! Moop and Foop chip in again and give the duo the Spiral Rings, but this time the center emblem is in the shape of a five-pointed star rather than a heart. Gohyaan taunts that he’s going to show the girls a sliver of his true power, and it is strong, but they remain resolute, and with the Spiral Rings equipped, now their attacks are even stronger, even faster, even more dangerous to the beings of darkness than ever, so they overpower the imp and perform their new finisher: Precure Spiral Star Splash!

Unfortunately, he gets away before we can see the full effect of the attack, but the finisher was powerful enough to bring down Gohyaan’s entire hideout, so the girls flee back through the portal in the ceiling they came in by, suggesting Miss Shitataare left them the escape route. She’s a curious one. Anyway, Saki and Mai regroup with all their fairy partners back at the Sky Tree and the mascots thank the girls for saving them. Saki and Mai push back, though, saying they powered up because everyone’s feelings came together as one to produce a miracle, and with that the episode ends on a beautiful sunset atop the hill.

(okay there’s also some jokes about how Saki and Mai still haven’t finished their summer homework, but given the circumstances, how could they?)

Where do I start with this episode? The epic conclusion to the dramatic cliffhanger from last week, culminating in Saki and Mai receiving a powerup and becoming Cures Bright and Windy! This is one of the defining moments of the show. Although the concept of multiple forms would be revisited in a few different ways in the subsequent years, Splash Star is still the only show where the girls have two separate transformations with different names. Cure Bright, obviously, represents the Moon, while Cure Windy’s motif is pretty self-explanatory. They showcase greater ability than they had as Bloom and Egret, being able to control light and summon strong gusts of wind. Their spirit power is strong and they withstand a flood thrown at them by Gohyaan. With the Spiral Rings their power is even further amplified and they are able to send Gohyaan running for the hills even with his great strength. As the representation of the bond between the girls and fairies, and what’s possible when they join their individual strengths together, it’s beautiful.

On the villain side, the level of treachery Miss Shitataare demonstrates is almost amazing! She is so determined to be Akudaikaan’s right hand, and in denial about her own failures, that on the cusp of a victory for Dark Fall, she brings their greatest enemy into the fold just to sabotage Gohyaann. Her actions bring the girls and their fairies so close to the edge that they unlock an all-new power, which will definitely come back to haunt her soon. Animosity between villains is nothing new in superhero shows, but infighting to the degree seen here is a rarity. I’m impressed. I kind of think I might have been reading her character wrong all this time. I initially thought of her as being similar to Poisony from the first season, who was fairly good at using disguises and sneaking into places to lay traps for the Precures, but she’s really nothing like that. While she uses disguises, they don’t often serve any purpose to her plots. Miss Shitataare cares only for herself and her well-being, she’s very strong but she doesn’t have a lot of foresight. If she did, she would realize that helping the girls win this time just to spite Gohyaan would definitely come back to bite her.

Finally, this is the last episode in which the current ending theme, “'Smiling is Victory' so GO!” by Mayumi Goji plays. I have failed to talk about it for the last 6 months, and this is my last chance, so let’s dig into it.

youtube

It’s a bit more melodic than some previous tunes, though it still has that upbeat cheering going on. The lyrics are about how the future is bright even if the present is rocky, so press on and be happy. The visuals show Saki and Mai, separately, engaged in their favorite pastimes: softball and drawing. At sunset, they stand apart from each other and timidly reach out to hold hands, before running home. That night, they each look at the stars from their homes as the lyrics talk about the possibility of never being happy again, and how life is a roller coaster of emotions. Then a meteor shower starts as the lyrics turn more positive. The next day, the two are sitting under the Sky Tree, basking in nature’s beauty. Next we see them running along the beach, turn to each other, and slowly grasp hands again, this time their fingers intertwined, and they stare at each other with huge smiles on their faces.

Then they go back to playing on the beach as the sun shines on a bright friendship and future.

Depending on your read of the song and visuals, it is either about two strangers becoming friends, or it’s super gay. I like the SakiMai ship but I’m not going to weigh in on this matter any further than that. It’s a nice, mid-beat (is that a term?) song with some striking visuals, I think the most striking of any of the FW trio ending songs, and what replaces it is the start of a franchise staple.

Next time, the status quo returns, and we get some of the hardest content to translate to a non-Japanese audience: manzai comedy. Look forward to it, maybe.

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 Zekkouchou Nari!

Miracle Drop Count: 5

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Futari wa Precure Splash Star #FWPCSS30 #PCD128

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precuredaily · 6 years

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Precure Day 730 (v1)

Episode: HUGtto! Precure 22 - “A song of love for two! Twin Love Guitar!” Date watched: 8 July 2018 Original air date: 1 July 2018 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/kfRvK0g

the crossover nobody expected

Hello no you’re not going crazy, I did skip almost 700 days. I mentioned on the status blog that I’d review HUG 22 early specially because it features the FW duo so here we are.

A note about names: after some research I’ve elected to use Ruru and Emiru instead of Lulu and Emile, so if you wonder why I’m writing Ruru when the captions say Lulu, suffice to say I have my reasons.

Here’s the setup, since I won’t actually review the episode this continues on from for another 2 years: in HUGtto! 21, Emiru and Ruru were out at the park, playing guitar when Papple attacked. At one point, Cure Amour (Ruru) is trying to save Emiru’s guitar from being trampled but the Oshimaida stomps down on her. Cure Macherie (Emiru) yells at her to get out of the way, and ultimately jumps in to push her out of danger. Unfortunately her guitar gets stomped and breaks in two. After the main trio swoops in and defeats the monster with Yell For You, Ruru apologizes to Emiru for her destroyed guitar. Emiru replies that it’s okay as long as Ruru is alright and tells her not to worry, and then turns to Yell and states that if they had Melody Swords then this wouldn’t have happened, so Yell should hand hers over. Yell, taken aback by this, tells her that these wands are theirs so Emiru turns to Harry and demands a Melody Sword. Harry brushes it off with a “don’t ask me” kind of response and then Hugtan starts glowing, opens up a portal in the sky, and out fall Cure Black and Cure White. Roll credits.

Also we got this awesome end card.

HUG 22 picks up right where 21 left off. Emiru assumes Black and White are there to deliver her Melody Sword, but they’re just confused. After figuring out who everybody is, and concluding that there are other Precures out there (All Stars confirmed non-canon), they all head back to Harry’s store to regroup. Emiru and Ruru get in an argument over Emiru’s feelings about the loss of her guitar and Nagisa and Honoka give them advice, saying it’s okay for friends to fight sometimes and they certainly have *flashbacks to FW08*. Ruru can’t understand why Emiru is saying it’s alright that her guitar is broken considering how much she loves music, and Emiru doesn’t want to have to explain to her that she cares more about Ruru than a guitar. It’s not as deep as the fundamental difference in personality Nagisa and Honoka experienced but it’s something.

After the pep talks from their predecessors, Emiru and Ruru set about making gifts for each other. Emiru makes matching charm bracelets, similar to the one Hana, Saaya, and Homare wear but with red and purple heart links instead of pink, blue, and yellow.

BRIEF ASIDE: I feel like this charm bracelet maker comes up every few seasons. Is it an actual toy Bandai sells? Is it rebranded for each show or what? I need to look into this, and anybody with more info please chime in.

Meanwhile Ruru sets about making a pair of new guitars for Emiru and herself, with Saaya and Honoka helping. There’s a humorous moment where Honoka remarks that it’s easy to forget Ruru is an android..... while Ruru is cutting into sheet metal with her finger. As one does.

The next day (I think?) Emiru and Ruru meet up at a dock with everybody else looking on. They talk out their feelings and give each other their gifts, with Emiru explaining that she can replace a guitar but she could never replace Ruru or the friendship they’ve developed. Hana says it best:

Meanwhile at Criasu Corp, Papple is feeling like a failure because she can’t seem to eke a win against the Precures and Gelos is subtly putting pressure on her. She goes up to the room of her mysterious lover who is most definitely not the president of the company and the strange man Hana has bumped into a few times, but she sees Gelos in his room with him. Feeling betrayed and heartbroken, Papple flees the scene and runs to the roof of a building. Telling herself that if he loves her he’ll come stop her, she summons a bunch of negative energy and..... STABS HERSELF IN THE CHEST.

She becomes an Oshimaida and starts terrorizing the nearby Precures. The Hug gang all transforms and tries to fight her but she lays them all out, so Black and White enter the fray and they single.... or I guess doublehandedly give Papple the smackdown. She cries out, and Ruru recognizes that her former employer is inside of there. Cure Amour and Cure Macherie together vow to try to help Papple from the inside. Cheered on by Black, White, Yell, Ange, and Etoile, the duo dive into the monster’s soul...... right through her cleavage.

You can’t make this up.

Inside they find Papple crying her eyes out from heartbreak. Putting aside her personal feelings, Macherie gives her a pep talk with Amour’s help and they tell her that they will protect her love at all costs. This calms her down, and the duo emerges. Suddenly they receive two new Mirai Crystals and new weapons: the Twin Love Guitars, as a reward for their act of love. They perform their new finishing attack, Twin Love Rock Beat, which involves them strumming a tune on the guitars (despite the strings being like.... 6 inches long. I know it’s a toy and it’s magic but that is not how instruments work!) before holding them like guns and firing hearts at the Oshimaida to purify it.

The dust settles and the original duo congratulates the newest duo for a job well done, saying they make a great team. Hugtan babbles and glows and a portal opens up in the sky again as Nagisa and Honoka begin to levitate. Waving their goodbyes, they disappear back to their own world. After they’re gone, Harry asks Hugtan how she did it, to which she responds with more baby babble. I don’t know what they expected. Homare freaks out over how cute she is, and Emiru and Ruru observe that with their new bracelets they now match. We close on this image.

HUGtto! 22 was a good episode. An unexpected but welcome return by the original cures, and I do mean unexpected because to my knowledge Toei did not say ANYTHING about this prior to the broadcast of ep 21, so when Black and White fell out of the sky it was a big WTF moment. It was an important development episode for Ruru and Emiru, and while Nagisa and Honoka were prominent in mentoring them they never overshadowed them. There was a part in the fight where Black and White were kicking much more ass than the entire Hug team were able to, but ultimately it was Macherie and Amour’s ability to see beyond the surface and address Papple’s heartbreak that saved the day, and that’s admirable. Even though I’m currently still working my way back through Max Heart, it was nice to be able to get an entirely new adventure with some of my favorite characters, and see them interact with the newest team in a significant way (those end-of-series cameos we’ve gotten the last few years leave a lot to be desired). I like how they were able to relate the conflict of this episode to a similar one that Nagisa and Honoka faced back in 2004. The animation of the episode was great, this might be the smoothest the FW characters have ever been portrayed outside of the movies, and while there was some minor deviation from their original art style to suit the HUGtto art, it wasn’t drastic. I’m having trouble even pinpointing what it is, maybe their a little less squished, it’s hard to say. My only nitpick would be that Yukana and Honna Yoko sounded a bit.... off in this, but y’know it’s been 15 years and all that, their voices have probably changed. I may simply not have noticed it in All Stars films because it was gradual, but since I’m actively watching Max Heart right now I picked up on it more. It’s a very minor criticism and it doesn’t detract from a fantastic episode. Look forward to my v2 review in a couple years, if I manage to keep this project up for that long, haha.

PINK PRECURE CATCHPHRASE COUNT: 2 MECHOKKU PINK PRECURE CATCHPHRASE COUNT: 3 ARIENAI

#Precure #Pretty Cure #HUGtto! Precure #HUGPC22 #PCD730

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