Yayoi is shy and easily embarrassed, but she also carries a bubbly energetic atmosphere around her. Part of it might be due to her bright yellow hair, but a lot of it can be attributed to her cute smiles and the energy that radiates out from her embarrassed reactions. It’s as if all the energy she saved by being shy and reserved is let out in a cute burst. I’m glad to see that they didn’t overdo her crybaby tendencies, and they’re just enough to make you think she’s cute and not too much that you feel like punching her in the face.

Becoming the third Precure, Cure Peace runs away and trips over a stone like most Precure initiations though Cure Blossom still holds the award for Dumbest First Battle. She still manages to pull through and kill – I’m sorry, I mean “purify” – the Akanbe with a lightning beam, with all the best reaction faces. 

Cure Happy gives her approval of cuteness.

There’s one moment that really resonates with me in this episode, and that is how Yayoi was too shy and lacks the confidence to make the poster and needed a little push from Miyuki and Akane – specifically the moment she was about to be pulled out by Akane.

Those two had nominated her for the job, and she decided to accept it. Afterwards she shows them the other people in the school who have a lot of artistic talent, stating that she can never compete with them. 

Akane saw how concerned she was and was going to withdraw her out but Yayoi becomes startled and wants to tell her not to do that. Deep down she wants to make a poster, but she’s too unsure of herself. Miyuki notices the reaction, stops Akane and encourages Yayoi to do it. Yayoi eventually pulls through with the help of the others, and makes the fabulous Clean Peace Man poster.

I say that this part resonates with me because sometimes I feel this way too. Some people are confident in themselves and can pull through with their work, some people need friends to push them. I fall in the latter category most of the time. There are many things I want to do but can’t, either because I don’t have the confidence for it, don’t feel like it would make a difference if whether I did it, or some other reason. Sometimes I want guidance and advice, sometimes I just need someone to tell me to shut up and work.

That’s why I like this episode, though it does have its other fabulous moments. On a related note, the guy who won the poster competition is such a douchebag plus his poster is UGLY.

There were a lot of great reaction faces, and Cure Peace’s transformation is just so cute!

See you next time! 

Yes… see you next time… ufufufufufufufu.

The second Precure appears!

Hino Akane / Cure Sunny is the sporty character of Smile, and finally makes her debut! While playing volleyball together Miyuki sees that Akane and Yayoi would make good Precures, and tries to recruit them. However, Candy, through some sort of Precure-mascot-logic wouldn’t let her talk to others about being Precure even when they have no idea how to find Precures and ends up smashing her in the face and crashing her into walls.

Akane aims to be the ace in the volleyball team, but is overshadowed by another player. Miyuki comes across her practicing under a bridge by the river with a grassy slope – like every other athlete character ever – and thought that she was crying and tries to cheer her up. It was just sweat falling to the ground, but Miyuki  still offers to help Akane train as she saw how determined Akane is and was also starting to think of her as a friend.

Smile! Smile!

Soon Wolfrun appears again and summons an Akanbe, and Cure Happy screws up her Happy Shower by missing the target. Apparently in Smile, the Precure can only use their finishing moves once. Happy gets caught by the Akanbe, but still keeps a smile on her face while a few tears dropped down her cheeks. D’aaawwwwwwwwww. With the power of yuri love friendship, Akane wakes up from her slumber and tries to help Cure Happy while still a human. Luckily, her burning passion allows her to transform.

Like Nagisa from the original series, she goes WTF over how she said a weird catchphrase out of nowhere. 

Adding a new Precure to the team doesn’t get rid of their hilarious terrified faces either XD

One of the things I really love about Precure series are the over exaggerated reaction faces ^^

After throwing away the Akanbe, Cure Sunny uses her finishing move.

It was nice to see these two become friends, and that friendship helping them fight their way through their problems. It really makes me look forward to next week’s episode (which would come out soon since this post is so late, heck might even be out by the time I hit publish) to see how Cure Peace joins them.

Cure Peace is so cuteeeeeeeeeeee >.<~

And since I did that whole Burning Finger thing, might as well…

Love is in the air~<3

As I stated in the earlier post, let’s celebrate Valentine’s Day together instead of sulking alone! Though I’ve just been rejected and want to sulk in bed all day… I’ll hang around with you guys!

So! The event will be from 6pm-8pm EST, 3pm-5pm PST. We’ll just get on skype, talk, eat our chocolate, maybe share embarrassing stories :3 and for anime watching I was thinking we can watch parts of Itazura na Kiss and B Gata H Kei, so get the first 4 episodes or so for each of them (I doubt we’ll see all of that, but just get them anyways). If enough people are interested we can hop on Teamspeak and sing cheesy love songs in karaoke too ^^.

And remember how I mentioned “couples”? Either you bring a date or I’ll randomly set you up! There’s not really anything that can be done as a couple in real time (feel free to give me ideas if you have any), so the coupling will be outside of the event. This means that people who aren’t in the event can participate in this part too if they want, it’ll be a nice way to get to know other bloggers.

The “couples” will have to write a mock-confession letter to the other person! If you get paired with someone in a gender you’re not attracted to, you can write it to a genderbent version of that person. Or maybe you can decide who to be the guy and who to be the girl, whatever you guys feel comfortable with! Then exchange the letters and publish them on your blogs! If you don’t have a blog I can host them on mine.

If you really don’t want to do the letter exchange I won’t force you, but come on it’s fun~

Since it’s a confession letter you should get to know them a bit (if you don’t know each other already) so you can write about what you like about them =)

Sorry the post came out so late ^^” I’ll see you at the event!

Meh, the dude in the mirror’s answers always suck. – @Aftersh0k

@mefloraine @8C Meh, the dude in the mirror's answers always suck.—
Aftershok (@Aftersh0k) February 09, 2012

Love is in the air~ It’s in the anime and it’s in twitter~ Everyone seems to either be developing a twitter crush or talking to others on twitter about crushes. And it seems our cute little Karuta-chan has a potential suitor that happens to be an annoying brat. That crush was what led them to set up a stupid competition to go around the Ayashikan to collect signatures of other inhabitants, and introduce us to a bunch of minor characters that we’ll all forget (except for the cute little chibi that turns into the big breasted maid, HNNNGHHHH). There’s barely anyone there, I don’t know why they felt they needed to make a HUGE ASS building.

And that creepy evil person. Rule of anime: if it smiles all the time with its eyes closed, it’s evil.

Even the dog became jealous after the creep talked to Ririchiyo. Though he doesn’t really need to worry, Ririchiyo likes him (but confuses her excited heartbeat for heart arrhythmia).

But all this is irrelevant. We all know the only thing worth thinking about in this show is THE YURI SHOWER SCENE!

HHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY BODY WASN’T READY FOR THAT O_O

Serious Thoughts:

Inu x Boku really needs to start moving its plot. The dynamic between Ririchiyo and the dog isn’t really there anymore now that she’s stopped being tsun, so the main gag is getting old. There’s still the awesomeness of Nobara and Karuta, but since they’re just side characters they can’t hold up the show by themselves. The entire Ayashikan cast seems to have been introduced, and from the preview we’ll get to see a bad guy next episode. However, I still have no idea where the story with this is going, and if it weren’t for that yuri bath scene I would’ve lost interest in the episode. Hopefully the show will pick up better!

Twitter-crushing is amazing. You stare blankly at your keyboard, and the keys become wires on a bomb, and you don’t know which ones to cut. – @krizzlybear 

Twitter-crushing is amazing. You stare blankly at your keyboard, and the keys become wires on a bomb, and you don't know which ones to cut.—
kriz (@krizzlybear) February 07, 2012

How do you deal with twitter crushes? Do you have your own twitter crush story to tell? Let me know in the comments!

The hyped up latest series in the Pretty Cure franchise is finally here! Smile Precure is fairy-tale-themed, bright, bubbly and tastes like the rainbow. Like its name, it puts a Smile on my face! If you heard a lot about the Precure franchise (I certainly talk about it a lot) and never got the chance to get into it, now would be a good time to follow a series!

Smile follows the ‘leader’ Hoshizora Miyuki, who carries on the Precure Leader tradition of being hit in the face by the mascot within the first few minutes.

We’re introduced to the main cast pretty quickly, as they’re all coincidentally in the same class and seem to already be close friends with the exception of Miyuki who just transferred. The characters all look very likeable to me, even Akane (orange haired one) who’s the tomboyish type that I usually don’t like. Yayoi, the yellow one, is a crybaby and looks very cute and adorable. Like Ako/Cure Muse, she just makes you want to pick her up and take her home. Then there’s Nao (green), who has a ponytail LIKE A BOSS. She looks pretty cool and confident, and will probably be my second favorite character. Not really a fan of her hairstyle as Cure March though.

Of course, my favorite is the ojou-sama Aoki Reika, Cure Beauty!

Beautiful, graceful, elegant ojou-sama that doesn’t seem to be a brat, there’s no way that I won’t like her! From the OP she also has an ice sword, which is very cool and I FINALLY get to see a Precure with a sword (supposedly there’s one in Yes Precure 5, but due to production quality I’m moving very slowly in watching that series).

Unfortunately we only see Miyuki transform into Cure Happy, and won’t see the others transform until later episodes (seems like Cure Beauty won’t debut till the 5th episode or later T^T). As usual there’s a group of bad guys that want to make people sad for one reason or another to collect Bad Energy, and drive the world towards a Bad End (I guess the Pierrot guy saw his waifu in his favorite VN die too many times and wants everyone else to suffer too). They turn normal everyday objects into monsters-of-the-week, which in Smile are called Akanbe.

The transformation item is called the Smile Pact, and has buttons with colors that correspond to the current 5 known Precure. There’s also a purple and red button, which could possibly mean an addition of 2 newer cures later as is the trend in recent series. Yes Precure 5! Go Go had 6 Cures, so 7 doesn’t seem that far-fetched. It would start to get crowded and give individual characters less airtime though, and would really be a mess with the already-crowded Precure All Stars movies that bring in all the Cures from all the series. Similar to Heartcatch and their perfumes, the Cure transformation involves Miyuki using a blush brush powder applier ish thingy (as you can guess, I don’t use makeup) to ‘apply’ her costume to various parts of her body. She also uses it to apply actual blush to her face, a process that made Honya really excited on twitter.

Well it is pretty adorable ^^

I really miss hearing Suite’s awesome transformation soundtrack Let’s Play! Precure Modulation! though. Really, nothing can ever replace that song. Ah right I still need to open and rip the Suite OST2 cd I imported.

Again we get a really cute CG dancing sequence for the ED! It’s even better that it has 5 very brightly colored Cures, especially with the addition of another green cure – Yes Precure 5 didn’t have a CG dance sequence (and its ED sucked).

The aesthetics of Smile really remind me of Heartcatch, with the bright bubbly colors and character design. The colors are very bold, and have a slight 3d/cg effect to them from the shadow and lighting contrasts especially in their hair. It’s something you don’t see in Suite but is there in Heartcatch, at least from my memory of it. And there’s the aforementioned ‘application’ of the costume in the transformation sequence. The mascot Candy looks a lot like Potpourri from Heartcatch too (that is to say, very cute!).

Next episode we’ll see the appearance of Cure Sunny. I’m looking forward to it!

What about you, what do you think of Smile so far? If you haven’t watched it yet, are you planning on getting into the franchise? Let me know in the comments!

UPDATE: FINAL DETAILS HERE !

Valentine’s Day is coming up in a few weeks! Why am I, someone who’s forever alone, talking about it? Because I’m proposing an internet event!

You don’t have to be forever alone or single to participate, you can join in even if you’re in a relationship (though I suspect many in this position will have other plans).

Instead of sulking with forever alone-ness, let’s gather on Skype or G+ or something and eat our store-bought chocolate together while watching a romantic comedy anime, perhaps maybe even valentines-specific episodes like B Gata H Kei ep5. I’m open to suggestions!

This will NOT be for sulking, it’s for being happy together!

To make it different from just a normal livewatch, I’ll put you in a couple for a day =).

I want to encourage you to “ask someone out” (this is just a fun little activity and not serious, so don’t think too much and just ask someone ^^) maybe you have a fun little twitter crush, or an aniblogger you can’t stop thinking about. Or someone just has a really cute avatar. Tell them about this event, and invite them to be your valentine <3

People who come without a partner will be semi-randomly paired up by me, though if you don’t want to I won’t force you (but come on, it’s Valentine’s, have some spirit!).

With the power invested in me, by the Church of Magical Girls, I pronounce you husbando and waifu. Or husbando and husbando or waifu and waifu,  magical girls are lesbians so we don’t discriminate.

So far the ‘couple’ part is just a cute addition, though I want to have some sort of activity to encourage people to ask others to be their valentine. Maybe exchange of letters/blogposts? Karaoke duet? I’m taking suggestions if you have any ideas!

Also, please spread the word (even to people you aren’t asking to be your valentine) because the more people there are that are interested, the higher the chances of it being a success!

Tell me if you’re interested, and what times you’ll be available on 14/2 so I can see what works out best! Don’t be shy, let’s share the fruit of fate on this day!

Shalalala suteki ni kiss~

I really hated the opening scene before the OP in this week’s episode. I hated what happened to Ririchiyo, I hated the family and I’m absolutely disgusted with her father. Which is to say, it’s a great scene for its ability to invoke emotions. The situation is pretty common, a girl in a rich family is overprotected for one reason or another and wishes to be treated normally. What really struck me (pun not intended) however, was the father saying that Ririchiyo was selfish for not seeing how advantaged she is, and not understanding her sister’s pain of constantly being compared to her. The short dialogue shows a lot, both for how the father cares more for the sister and his sheer ignorance of Ririchiyo as anything but a family trophy.

The maids of the Shirakiin household always treated Ririchiyo with fake respect and empty smiles, with absolutely no sincerity behind them. Considering that was the majority of contact Ririchiyo had with humans, it’s no surprise that she has a deep distrust in people. Even outside of the household, many of the people who interact with her only do so for her family’s fame and money.

We see the dog kiss some random unknown girl, probably made Ririchiyo jealous, but angered her most of all because he did it without authentic feelings. Can’t really blame her, even without her past I’d agree that it’s a pretty nasty thing.

Like Ririchiyo, I have a strong distrust in people (especially when they say I’m cute) and suspect that they’re hiding what they really think. Apart from a small handful I don’t even know who I can trust is really my friend, both online and off. Inu x Boku shares in my cynicism of human nature, at least for now.

A part of Ririchiyo that I like is that while she can’t be truthful towards others, she at least stays truthful to herself and admits that she’s bothered and worried about the dog. In most cases the girl will say something like “Why am I thinking about him it’s not like I care about him baka”.

I think the parts with the water splashing feels like a ceremonial swearing of an oath, a serious in-joke that only the parties involved will truly know the significance of the gesture. It reminds me of other oaths in anime, such as exchanging sake glasses or crossing swords together. They do make a more slightly-formal oath later, with a verse and pinky-swear, though I prefer the water/tea splashing.

While I like the father’s dialogue in the beginning for short yet showing a lot, the dialogue of the nameless bad guys that was used as a plot device to describe Ririchiyo’s situation was rather bland. It was just straight up telling us point by point.

And the best parts of the show are…..

Of course! Nobara <3!

Definitely my favorite character of the series, the perverted lesbian Nobara drives a lot of the awesome that makes me love this show. The other characters are also awesome and I love them, but Nobara takes it further for me.

I really like the hairdressing scene, and while Nobara shows off her perverted side as usual she also shows her insight and the care she has for Ririchiyo and the dog. It also looks like a very warm sisterly scene to me, which I really like to see since I don’t have any siblings of my own. I like these feelings of having a “home” with a close familial relationship with a group of people, and since I can’t seem to get that I have to rely on anime like this for my fix. I envy you people with Twitter families and groups of close friends IRL ;_;

It has its good parts and bad parts, but I really like Inu x Boku and can’t wait for the next episode. I have some qualms though, mostly that the dog won’t change and the joke will get old, and that there’s no indication of any plot so far. More characters will be introduced next episode, but from the previews it doesn’t seem like they’ll be adding to the plot much. It probably won’t matter if they start the plot a little late, I like just watching the characters and atmosphere for now. I don’t know how many episodes there’ll be though and hope they don’t rush things in the end.

Now it’s my turn to ask, what do you guys think of this episode?

Instead of cutting directly against the piece, use the side cutter to leave a few millimeters of plastic left, as shown above.

Take your knife and place it at the base of the nub and start slicing it, in a slightly upwards curve away from the piece. Keep doing it until it is smooth. You have to be careful, as you may accidentally scratch a place you don’t mean to or slice off too much plastic.

There’s no way to truly cover up all marks without painting, but if you do this process properly then the mark should be considerably less noticeable than direct cutting with the side cutters. It takes some practice to get it right.

When building a model, I usually cut off all the pieces for a few sections in the instructions with the side cutter, then go through each of them with the knife, then start putting them together. It takes a long time and is really repetitive, which is why I usually build while watching anime.

As usual, if you have any questions or comments, let me know!