Your Week in Anime (Week 669)

[u/Soupkitten]

This is a general discussion thread for whatever you've been watching this last week (or recently, we really aren't picky) that's not currently airing. For specifically discussing currently airing shows, go to This Week in Anime.

Make sure to talk more about your own thoughts on the show than just describing the plot, and use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you disagree with what someone is saying, make a comment saying why instead of just downvoting.

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Archive: Prev, Week 116, Our Year in Anime 2013, 2014

[u/VoidEmbracedWitch]

Star Twinkle Precure was a really charming Precure entry with its space focus and thematic handling of communication across (not just intergalactic) cultural boundaries. The main cast here has no weak links. Hikaru fills the role of a leading Cure well. She's an upbeat and high-energy character as most leading Cures tend to be, which in her case is channeled towards boundless curiosity and desire to understand what's unfamiliar to her. So in effect, she's the perfect subject for first contact with Lala, a humanoid alien and my favorite in the cast. What makes her so standout is how her self-serious attitude and initial lack of understanding for human customs allows for exploration of resonant themes of othering. The sheer disparity in social values and following struggles allow for lots of interesting episodes, culminating in one where Lala finally manages to get accepted for who she is. The handling of her, for all intent and purpose, by the villain forced coming out is excellently. All her anxiety and following relief when her friends back her up and her classmates ultimately back her up was in made for a truly powerful storyline. The remaining human Cures, Elena and Madoka, are great too. I really appreciate that the series keeps one thing consistent with these two: they're middle school girls with their own struggles tied to their diametrically opposed home lives first, heroes protecting earth and the entire universe second. Both Madoka's struggle with the responsibilities and expectations for a daughter of a politically powerful family and Elena's chaotic cross-cultural family environment cause their fair share of situations where they're simply busy or have other priorities. Who has time to hear about what a "Precure" even is after becoming one when they have siblings to take care of?

One part of the overall story that stuck with me was the visit to Lala's home planet Saman. Their whole society is coordinated by a central AI and the population relies on it for stuff we consider basic skills. Unlike the pattern repetition algorithms branded "AI", this one is actually capable of reasoning and logic rather than spitting out stuff that looks about right based on training data. Except even with those obviously flawed algorithms people are already very willing to throw out their autonomy. So ultimately the two-parter set on Saman ends up giving me quite a bit to chew on with regard to dependencies in life as well as erosion of basic skills. They have the structural issue of a single point of failure that leaves them completely helpless when it's turned against them, but even without that, how much reliance is too much? Plain idealistically any is the answer, but working backwards from there, I actually outsource a ton of my work and organizing. Hell, a lot of my ability to communicate and write hinges on a single device. And I'd never get my writing in any kind of order without an Obsidian vault. I digress, all of this is far off from the actual episode that was not written with the assumption humans would fall for a cheap imitation of the fictional technology presented only half a decade later back in 2019.

Having unique modes of MOTW fights for each member of the villain lineup makes the back half of regular episodes feel quite a bit more varied than it usually is for a Precure series. There's less of a cohesive image behind the villains using people's twisted imagination than there is in for example GoPri's holding dreams hostage, but in turn it gives each of the Notraider's leader a fighting style in line with their character. For example, Kappard comes from a planet that was colonized and drained of its resources, so his channeling of others' imagination into his own weapons makes sense as a manifestation of his values, regrets and frustrations. Something similar goes for Tenjou with the falseness of her tengu alien society making her choice of direct control over powered up Notraider soldiers a logical choice for her. Ultimately, this makes for pretty diverse action scenes in the context of a monster of the week show with a rather strict identity and formula while also fleshing out the Cures' opponents more.

All in all, Star Twinkle is easily up there for one of the best Precure series I've seen. Not quite at the height of Hugtto, but a strong second place for now.