LLBB Random Thoughts (1/5-1/11): Shion-sama

New Song Preview: Regain Again LLLLove

I didn’t include this in my last post of the year since I’m not good at describing music, but now I’m desperate enough to try without a release date to look forward to.

I think what caught my attention the most from the preview is the difference in mood. It’s a more serious side of the girls both in the lyrics (not just a love song but love lost and found) and how its delivered (as opposed to something like the lighthearted “no!” response to “I need a hint to happiness, is there one out there“ in their debut song). Yet, there’s also the cheers, especially the sustained “ooh” in the beginning, and the instruments that make it feel adventurous and playful.

I already praise Oyuki and Nose’s singing enough to the point it might lose meaning, but I really do love getting to hear Shion’s elegant side in this. Of course, Yukuri’s usual theatrical singing suits a dramatic song about love perfectly. Akira and Shion’s low notes also stood out to me.

Nose considers this song to be the girls singing as real-deal school idols for the first time and I really feel that. Both the title and coupling track of “What is my LIFE?” were songs about the girls feeling we could see in the story, but this feels like them singing about something outside of their experience.

Can’t wait to get more details about the song…

Satellite Original Songs Announced

I was really nervous when it appeared but it ended up being a pleasant surprise. Four new original songs announced and confirmation that there will be non-satellite groupings in the future.

The video itself was also great. I like that Polka calling Shion “Shion-sama” has already happened twice and is so unremarkable that no one reacts to it. I also liked the triangle dynamic of Polka wanting a song from Shion and Yukuri wanting to pair up with Polka in the future. Most importantly… finally, a look into the group roles and my wish for composer Shion came true!

So their solution for composing when they’re split into satellites is that the kids who can’t compose will have someone else do it. We already know that Shion will compose her own and Fukui won’t, so I wonder about the other two. No one in Chaki! seems to have music experience, but I still want them to try. I can already imagine Mai being at wit’s end, but maybe she’d unexpectedly take to working in a DAW (and trying to translate Polka’s bizarre suggestions into music). This is almost certainly my bias and greed talking, but I could see Yukuri putting her experience and passion into songwriting. Although maybe not if she’s already their dance teacher.

It’d be interesting if there was more than one composer in the group.

Also, they’re still clinging hard to calling these the “cover song units” even as it becomes distanced from its original purpose, so I wonder if they’ll really give up these names soon and introduce the traditional subunit voting. It’s just hard to believe that the satellites won’t be the main groups the way things are right now. But only time will tell what goes on in LLStaff’s decision making.

What Happened to Aurora’s Birthday??

Speaking of decision making, why did they completely skip over a birthday just because it was on the weekend? Staff’s decision to have a real time story without fully committing to it becomes silly at times…

Hirogaru Sky Precure: First 11 Ep. Impressions

Since I’ve decided to get back into Precure (at least this year for Star Detective), I made it my goal to finish two past seasons this year. I’ve heard mostly middling reviews of the season currently finishing and wasn’t hooked in with the few episodes I watched myself, so I picked Hirogaru Sky (2023) and Wonderful (2024). I’ve heard a lot of praise for those seasons and so far, I think Hirogaru has managed to live up to the hype.

As someone who has watched the first few episodes of nearly every Precure from this decade, I think this has the strongest start. It already felt like an experimental season that has a lot of faith in its viewers from the start, as the first episode opened with a girl riding a talking bird who proceeded to save a baby princess from a kidnapper. Two worlds meeting was already an interesting concept, but making the protagonist a girl from another world who came to ours was the smart subversion after all the isekai glut.

I adore the starting duo. I love stubborn and earnest hard workers like Cure Sky, especially when she’s aiming to be something as noble as a hero. I think they do a good job balancing how she’s genuinely admirable and humanizing her through her humorous flaws, like her inability to tell lies, taking things literally because she thinks everyone is as honest/earnest as her, and authoritatively correcting someone on something she just learned herself. A blue knightly leader with an assertive personality is too good.

Cure Prism’s design quickly became one of my favorites in all of Precure, so I’m glad that her character direction is also just as good so far. I think my favorite part is that her place on the team is never questioned by anyone other than herself or the villain. The people who know her consider her softness and kindness as much of a strength as Sky’s athleticism and assertiveness. I also really like the subversion that Prism had no qualms about fighting at all, but rather it was Cure Sky that was afraid of teaming up with her because she was afraid of not being able to protect her first friend and saw her inability to do things alone as a sign of her own weakness.

Another experimental choice from this season, the first boy cure! Cure Wing and his Peter Pan-like flight makes me nostalgic. I was genuinely surprised by the reveal of him having his own room the entire time to study aerodynamics. I like that he’s gentle and shy, with low self-esteem but plenty of courage. He balances out Cure Sky and Ageha’s bold and pushy personalities, but also has the hero qualities that lets him stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them.

It made me laugh that he’s so altruistic that he managed to pull a genuinely disgusted reaction out of the comedic villain. His bond with Princess Ellee also brings out his nobleness, especially the scene of him finally letting go and letting himself fall so she can get away, after failing to fly so many times. One of my favorite quotes the season so far, alongside “I’m scared because I’m not alone” was Tsubasa declaring that he won’t remember the faces of the people who laughed at him, but he’ll remember Ellee’s face as she tried to protect him.

I don’t have a lot to say about Ageha yet since I haven’t gotten to her Cure debut yet, but I’m loving her too! Not only a dark-haired gal, but an adult cure at that. She does hold a kind of funny position at this point in the anime since she’s watching her childhood friend, 4 years younger than herself, fight monsters with a girl from another world. And she’s completely chill about it. She’s genuinely sweet though and I want to see more of her.

More generally, I like that this season spaced out the Cure debuts. I also feel more invested in the setting and mysteries than usual. I think it’s still further on in the season, but I’m really looking forward to learning about the original Cure that inspired Cure Sky, Princess Ellee and her significance, and an arc in Skyland in general.

In terms of things I didn’t quite like, I’ve never liked the baby mascots and this season hasn’t changed that, as much as I like what she brings out in Cure Wing. I still prefer mascots that push the Cures further instead of turning it into the childcare show.

Also, Kabaton… It feels like there hasn’t been enough progress in learning about his or his boss’ motivations, especially since he’s the only lackey so far. Every time the OP gets to the “overcoming despair” part, I laugh because Kabaton is too comedic for that (I mean, he’s even making a silly pose when he shows up timed to that). The next episode is centered around him and Cure Sky though.

I hope the Star Detective Precure website finally goes up tomorrow.