HA! ON TIME! Pretty big backlog otherwise, but at least the Shugo Chara! post is finally on time. Even though I actually had quite a bit to say. I guess episodes that start to conclude an arc are like that. Especially when it’s a filler arc and I have to give my final critiques. I definitely think they do better this episode and last week wasn’t really that bad (aside from fail end).

The realy problem is that Lulu’s “fundamentals” as a character just aren’t good. So any episode with her can only be so enjoyable from a blogging perspective.

But at least there’s just one more week and then we can move on! Hurray!

The only thing left to be concerned at this point is if Lulu will still be involved after her arc ends. Even if she ends up more likable when her arc ends because she’s no longer being stupid, selfish, etc. she still doesn’t really fit with the cast. Her look is too different and she still feels kind of more “ridiculous” than the rest of the characters. I don’t know, maybe it’s just feels like that because she still just doesn’t feel like she fits in. There’s no character that really compliments her. She sorts of seems to clash with everyone if you know what I mean. So her working together with them would feel odd I suppose.

Well, we’ll just see what happens I guess.

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Thoughts

The episode’s not really bad actually. But it’s not good either. It’s only as good as it could be with them messing up Lulu’s whole situation every step of the way, so it’s hard to feel like the emotions are really genuine. After all, I don’t really know anyone with a real attachment to Lulu.

We start off with a pretty good scene. Lulu and Amu confrontation and Amu being her awesome mahou shoujo self saying all that, “It’s awful to use other people’s dreams” and such stuff while still looking for a reason why Lulu would do it. Because Amu believes in Lulu since she’s not really a bad person and…stuff.

Well, we know the drill. It’s really not going to be anything special because Lulu’s stuff was just a filler arc. Things can usually take two routes and Lulu’s follows the route that’s similar to Utau’s. You know, the basic “befriending” route. Kick your friend’s ass (as nicely as you can) and then help pick her back up. Of course with Amu, who doesn’t like to fight her friends, there’s more talking than kicking ass (which is a last attempt and really the speeches are more like Amu’s final move).

Ooo. That’s messed-up Lulu. That’s your precious mama!

So Lulu, being caught in this situation and backed into a corner, does the usual last desperate “evil” stuff (meaning full bitchiness!) even taking stuff out on those she loves most. The first stage of befriending! Desperation on the part of the future friend (who could have sort of been a friend, but then had to go all poser evil when they were discovered, like Kairi). That way they can go off and do ebil things so there can be a fight and stuff.

Lulu was especially bitchy because she’s an ojou-sama. Ah…I actually like her more when she’s full out bitchy. She doesn’t do nice very well if you ask me. Her poser tsuntsun-ness annoys me. As did her comical ojou-sama-ness actually. The desperate villainy suits her quite nicely. Lulu might have been a better character if they didn’t try so hard to make her silly.

lol. Back to the emo park when bad things happen.

Look! Amu had the time to put up her hair before leaving.

See like last week I still think that Amu and Lulu getting closer right before the bombshell was dropped was good (despite how I feel that Amu’s friendship with Lulu lacks proper feeling. Not sure what it is, but it feels forced and a little off like most things involving Lulu), but that reveal…god that was stupid. I hate “serious” moments being handled comically. Any feeling that you could possibly get from it is destroyed.

Because I can’t get that stupid “oops” moment out of my head I have a little harder time taking the whole thing as seriously as I should. They have the usual dramatic or sad music playing in the background and I can’t help but roll my eyes and think about how it’s all “oh so dramatic.”

Also, Doki seems more fond of Amu going emo on stuff rather than getting more angry and demanding answers. My Amu-chan is an upfront girl about people’s dreams! You’re telling me that she can yell at Ikuto way back in episode 13 (as much as that sucked on its own), but then only leave Lulu’s house at her request. When Lulu said it wasn’t any of Amu’s business she should have said, “That’s not good enough” or something and demanded an answer. She’s Amu-chan!

*sigh~* But then again, I guess she just needed a little time to feel better about it. I guess it’s not developing that differently than from when Kairi did it, but thinking back to episode 22 with Utau helping and then having to switch to fight Amu…Amu demanded answers from Utau right away, even if she didn’t get them.

Just a personal complaint I suppose. I guess it all comes down to how Amu and Lulu just don’t feel that close. With all of the fillers we’ve had, there could have been so many more times when Lulu and Amu met on the street. It feels like any friendship stuff happened just last week (the main example for Lulu being “good” that the charas gave was Lulu nursing Nana back to health) so the “emo-ness” (it’s not quite “emo” so I shouldn’t be saying that I suppose) feels unnecessary.

And of course the whole thing was solved pretty quickly about Lulu being a good person and Amu deciding to help, which is actually fine by me. That scene was pretty “typical” but I liked it well enough.

Also…damn cute smiling. This sort of thing is fine~ It feels like Amu’s “cute” smiles have grown up a little…or something. It’s hard to explain. At least in this situation where Amu smiled genuinely with her charas, but sort of purposefully still. Like she can be optimistic purposefully, without it being fake.

HAHAHA! Knew it. Lulu’s mom prefers doing variety shows right now~ I think she loves acting, but probably wants to focus on being Lulu’s mother because that’s what she enjoys most. Awww. How nice that would be.

Waiting for this was agony! And Lulu still didn’t get it. It’s really about time for Lulu to find out that her mom is happy doing what she’s doing. Making wishes for other people is bad. Especially in something like this. I’m sure Lulu’s mom would have wanted to do things on her own anyway if she did want to do movies again. And Lulu obviously didn’t know the lesson Amu learned with Dia, that you make your own shine!

So. Another piece is in place. Lulu lost her reason for searching for the embryo and is going through denial and will reach more desperation. She’s almost a properly lost child. Now go do evil things, have the guardians find you, get incredibly upset when Amu smacks you with some good hard truth, reach MAXIMUM DESPERATION and ? yourself, and then get befriended. Hurry, hurry!

Psh. Guardian’s being so shocked is…okay I guess. Though as an outsider it’s kind of like, “Come on! Anyone that gets involved with Easter at all is always someone you know.” Though even so the shock feels overdone because I’m kind of sitting over here going, “Why is it surprising? Lulu never struck anyone as selfish or bitchy?” Sheesh. Mahou shoujo character are so trusting.

XD Yoru~! *glompin’* That’s why he wasn’t hanging around. Oh god it makes perfect sense. If the guardians were discussin the ?-eggs while Yoru was around, he would have known who was responsible and told them. Satelight was taking care of a plothole I never even noticed. DAI SHOCKU!

Rima’s mildly outraged face is just the best. Rima does not like people having secrets! Especially when it means her time is being wasted! She needs that for date time with Nagi.

New Rima expression makes me smile, kyaa, and overall very happy. (Oh and Nagi’s got the same expression~ Except less outrage because no one can be more outraged than Rima!!!)

Serious Rima (note: not srs there’s a difference) is also very nice. My Queen~

I am most amused by Amu actually completely explaining the befriending sequence of events and planning how she will go about it. “We have to stop her, but Lulu must have a dream and is being used by Easter. So I’ll tell her I’m behind her and stuff!” Hey, it’s worked before, so it’ll work again. Go for it Amu-chan! Though now I’ll miss you just doing stuff as you go along.

It’s okay though, Amu does her best “make it up as I go along” plan in the future. Of course with a tsundere that’s the only way that future event could proceed and…ohohoho~ We’re getting closer, aren’t we?

Aww, after annoying me last week by being selfish and overly-dramatic (really my two only pet-peeves with characters), Nana earns all her love back this week by being…well a shugo chara. So cute. Explaining herself and how she loves Lulu and all the charas understanding, because that’s how they are! All charas!

Of course Eru is still the best because she was the first one to show the full extent of chara love…and while she was being ignored and mistreated by Utau too. Oh Eru~! DAISUKI! (Why isn’t she here!? I want to hug my favorite adorable chara who I miss so much!!!)

This didn’t happen. I’m ignoring it. Aside from the memory of Kanae-san’s sweet voice…that’s always nice~

Anyway, Dia’s dramatic entrance is reset again at a lower setting than ever because this has happened in one way or another three times now. It was fine when Dia was just popping up in Amu’s dreams, but this is ridiculous. I don’t like how Dia got turned into this, “guardian chara of other charas” who can solve all other chara’s problems and stuff. It’s ridiculous. Charas are supposed to exist for the one they were born for and they can’t be hatched until their time comes. That’s how it works. I hate that Satelight randomly changed those rules.

Now when Dia comes out, it’s just going to be like, “So what?” Really, I’m sure some people like this because they’re fans of Dia and I like her too, but come on. This is ridiculous. I know every anime has differences from the manga, but I really wish this wasn’t one of them. Change something else that doesn’t have to do with the main theme of the story.

Ah. So the reason why we can’t figure out what the heck Nana is, is because Lulu’s dream was to do pretty much everything. And that’s why she has that power when she chara-changes I guess?

The clothes are so incredibly random for a chara that’s meant for “fun” though. I guess it’s just because Lulu kind of always dressed in that old fashioned way though.

LAWL. I forgot what random powers the x-eggs used to have when they were a whole bunch of them so I had no idea what to expect from the ?-eggs. I believe we’ve had a x-egg worm before. So two giant ?-eggs is pretty tame compared to that.

Woot! Full group fight. It’s been a while! And it looks like it’s gonna last a while too!

Cute Yaya image is cute.

So they went through and had Rima and Yaya kind of do their own little battles with dreams…that was pretty cool actually. Couldn’t do it with Nagi for obvious reasons though and I guess it would be hard to turn Tadase’s dream into an object. Still pretty cool though.

One thing I never expect to dislike are the big confrontations in Shugo Chara, but those were always manga material before now. Though I guess you could say that Yua’s handled it pretty well (though it was mostly one on one with Amu and Yua). Glad to know that Satelight can handle that pretty well on their own.

The most baddass clown you’ll ever seen

What moves will those who dare challenge Rima try!?

Ah. Comedy. (Muahaha, excellent~)

“I see. You must belong to a child who loves comedy.”

“However, that doesn’t make me laugh one bit.”

Yeah. You guys better f—ing watch out. “Comedy is serious business and you better not be using it against Rima-tan”…spam is here.

“You lack discipline. Start again from the start.”

RIMA-TAN!!!!!111 I love you so!!!11

It’s been to long since I got to see Rima show someone just who is the Goddess of Comedy! Don’t misuse it bitches or else you’ll get owned Rima-tan style! Rima is the Goddess of Comedy you fools! And so learn already that you don’t stand a chance!

Oh god, and this time it wasn’t silly so I got to hear Rima’s Queen voice while she lectured on comedy. Oh Rima~ I love you~

Yay~ Slightly different speech-ing  from Amu. It was actually more of a conversation, which is good. People just haven’t been asking Lulu the right questions and pointing stuff out to her. Like I’ve said before, sometimes obvious thing slip by someone because no one else has pointed it out and they’re too distracted to notice.

But the real mahou shoujo speech is coming up next week. Because…

The biggest thing in the preview doesn’t happen until the very end of the episode! Lulu willingly ?-ed herself. Kind of made me think she was a bitch again because she knew it wouldn’t be good for Nana. Bitch. You better do enough crying next week.

Now then…is it going to take all episode to get Lulu befriended, or are we getting a mini-epilogue? Epilogue or a very epic fight would both make me pretty happy. Just as long as we don’t get any bullshit recaps after this. Let’s move right along to important stuff, kay?

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Preview

It looks like it’s all really just epic fighting with Lulu’s ?-chara-nari, but an epilogue after this is always at least a little bit inevitable, so I hope we get it in this episode or else…*sigh* Another recap. Do not want.

Oh but there was this:

KYAAA!!!!!!

Hell yeah! *squee* Kyaaa! OMG~! And etc all the way to the moon! (lolwut?)

Looks like we’re getting the best “Nagi protecting Rima” moment yet. So I am quite looking forward to next week. Ehehe~ Gawd it looks so adorable in the previw. Ehehe~ *off into dreamland~*

Tags: befriended, drama!!!, emo

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Episodic, Shugo Chara!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.