Leave it to your onee-chan!
Impression
KIRA KIRA MAIODORU
MAIODORU
KOMOREBI NO PIRUETTO
KURU KURURI
Ahem. I’m still not over that ED. I think I can memorize most of the lyrics now, which is a little embarrassing. In other news, I won against Chino in Episode 5, but lost to Megu in Episode 6. It was also Chino’s birthday a couple of days ago, so a happy belated birthday to the warm and fluffy Chino-chan. I wonder if the manga will ever get to the point where Chimame-tai enter high school? I hope not
| WIN | LOSS | DRAW |
| 2 | 2 | 1 |
I’ve been relieved of my weary real-life duties for the holidays, so I should be able to get these posts out on a more regular basis now. I seem to remember that Gochiusa didn’t air its first season around this time, but that there was a really wonderful Christmas episode back then – it was one of my all-time favourites, alongside that one episode where they brought in a different key animator and the animation quality became perfect beyond words. Now that it’s actually Christmas in real-time, will they do something to mark the occasion? After all, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the first episode of Aria the Avvenire is being released on Christmas Day.
This pair of Mocha-centric episodes were super comfy and super wonderful. Mocha was… well, not as eccentric as I thought she might be, but she is definitely a genuine onee-chan. She makes Cocoa look like an unevolved Pokemon. I wanted her to stay as a permanent cast member actually, but I guess the dynamic between the main cast would be interrupted – it’d be relegating Cocoa to an imouto-type character, and everyone would collapse under the warm, comfy mofu-mofu exuded by Mocha. In other words, her onee-chan game is too stronk.
It was hard to pick a best scene for Episode 5. The one that made me laugh immediately was when Mocha was subjugating Chino and Rize to her reign of terror inside Rabbit Horse, and Cocoa was outside going ‘… san shimai…’ with dead eyes and her voice cracking. Oh Ayaneru, never change. The Rize headpatting scenes came in a close second. It… it was too much. Too hnnnggg. I had to stop and pause a little while after the headpats and again after the hug. When did Rize become too cute?! Someone tell me when! And I was super jealous of Mocha too, especially as she got to hug Chino.
As for Episode 6, it was again a super-Mocha episode. I was unsure of how I was feeling about the whole Cocoa-Mocha dynamic until I realized all of a sudden: this is exactly what sisters are like! It’s so beautiful ;_; For some reason, it felt like the whole thing turned awfully shounen for the first half. Cocoa and Mocha were first fighting a Shokugeki with Chino as the prize, and then it became a sports shounen with Sharo dramatically slapping Cocoa and Cocoa screaming ‘this is the battle where I’ll finally surpass onee-chan!’ to encouraging music.
Also, Sharo a cute with Anko on top of her. A CUTE. SHE’S TOO CUTE.
I may have said something non-committal like ‘everyone is best girl’ in one of the season previews. I think that really is the case for Gochiusa, because I genuinely cannot decide. Even characters with a weaker best girl game like Chiya (although some may disagree) have been stepping up. Her pouts and Anko are strong weapons. And I used to really like Rize, but that sentiment dipped a bit in the latter parts of the first season and again in this season (until Episode 5 at least). It was replaced with a rising fondness for Sharo and Chino, which in turn made way for Cocoa at some points. I haven’t even counted Chimame either, who deserve a mention purely on the strength of the ED. And all these episodes have been top-tier. I remember there were fluctuations with this year’s Kiniro Mosaic, and to a lesser extent Non Non Biyori as well. But so far I’ve had no complaints with any of Gochiusa this time round, save for the fact that at the time of writing I have a mere six episodes left, and I DON’T WANT IT TO END WHY DOES IT HAVE TO END?!
“Mocha-san, here’s an iced cocoa to welcome you.”
“It’s ice-cold… just like she is right now…”
These were greta episodes. Aside from Mocha herself being delightful, meeting her suddenly brings so much about Cocoa into a new light, going all the way back to the first episode of the first season, really. Mocha is clearly Cocoa’s role-model, and Cocoa has been trying to be like her for as long as we’ve known her. Sadly, the presence of the real thing reveals her attempts for the imitations they are.
I really wanted to hug poor Mocha in the latter part of episode 6. She loves her sister, and hasn’t seen her in over a year so she wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, yet Cocoa stayed distant and cold for the entire rest of Mocha’s visit. Sure everything ends well because this is GochiUsa, but still I didn’t like seeing her unhappy like that.
PS: SHARO IS ALWAYS TOO CUTE. AL.WAYS.
Cocoa must have been a rather… impressionable child. Also a slightly odd one (‘onii-chan, let’s count prime numbers together’) but she was the youngest child, so there you go. I’m sure she’ll become a splendid onee-chan to Chimame-tai when they fully succumb to her special brand of fluffiness. The way Cocoa acted was definitely sad for Mocha, but it was a surprisingly realistic depiction of insecurities in sibling relationships, so I found it sweet in its own sort of way.
Sharo is cutest when she’s being teased or otherwise in uncomfortable situations. She may not appreciate it, but it’s a necessary side-effect. Based Chiya is doing god’s work.
Okay, apparently I also managed to watch this weekly, after Kiniro Mosaic and Go Princess Precure. Let me try to express my thought.
Like Kiniro Mosaic, actually this is the same, very light show as from season 1 and this season. Coincidentally, Rize voice also the same as Ayaya. For the town, I think the winner would be Gochiusa, because we shown many scenery porn and detailed background of the city compared to bland Kiniro Mosaic. Although of course both of those had their own charm point.
About these 2 episode, I think I’ll try to tell what I’m got from those episode by point, although I may remember detail wrong(Well, it’s been 1 month ago for episode 5) and not much
1. Apparently Cocoa very nervous that Moca still not come yet, so she tried to search her.
2. Both sisters very easily distracted by rabbit, had siscon, and like to use cheesy disguise.
3. I think the one who enjoy Moca hug the most only Chiya(Other from Cocoa). Sharo, poor her(Although I like to see how terrified Sharo when she got cuddled though lol). Rize, I think if she was in Shin Megami Tensei(SMT) or Persona game, she was inflicted with fear and one cast Ghastly Wail from enemy soldier will surely take her life lol(Search Fear SMT or Ghastly Wail SMT in google if you didn’t get what I mean. Sorry, just a little fired up)
4. Chino also got to know what the sisters would be like.
5. Is Moca could get drunk from lactose by the way? I mean usually she would order wine or beer I think if feel depressed.
I think I only remember those. Sorry
For episode 7, here’s a warning. I think if you like Chino because she was very cute as you said, you better prepare for blood transfusion arrangement after watching episode 7, with you as the receiver, because I think you’ll need it lol. Sorry. Oh for the op and ed I prefer both from second season, because 1st op was I think set the atmosphere but quite bland, but I prefer 2nd op because it sounding epic imo. And for ed, 1st ed was very bland and the credit was very lifeless, while 2nd ed was full of cute and more lively, so 2nd op. About rock paper scissor, nah I’m too lazy to predict it, so I don’t care too much, although it remind me back in Smile PreCure, that was one cure who like to pose using different hand(obviously rock paper scissor), as if the cure invite us to play with her. I think it’s interesting concept actually.
That’s all from me about Gochiusa.
PS
Sorry for OOT, but did you still not watching Go Princess PreCure yet? Your Miyuki Sawashiro was there you know?. And more serious issue about Fate Ilya. I think it’s safe to assume that Silver Link will have very hard time to make season 3, so maybe you could easily treated season 2 ending as anime ending imo. Well, actually it depend if Sapphire had role in season 3 manga or not, but if yes, well good luck Silver Link if you still insisted. In case you didn’t catch it, I’m talked about Matsuki Miyu death at November, and she was the seiyuu for Sapphire. RIP Matsuki Miyu, it’s too bad because she still young(38) and she should have very long future. One again sorry for OOT.
Kiniro Mosaic and Gochiusa are both in the iyashikei genre (my favourite, although heavily under-appreciated). If you like this sort of stuff, other top-tier recommendations include Non Non Biyori and Aria. Beyond those, we start to move away from ‘pure’ slice-of-life stuff and towards iyashikei as one of multiple genres in a show – like in Mushishi or Sora no Woto. Any ‘cute girls doing cute things’ series will usually qualify, although the latter (a bit like Kiniro Mosaic actually) tend to focus on comedy. I think Gochiusa wins out over Kiniro Mosaic in general – it seems to have a larger budget, and as it’s fluffier it’s more within my strike zone. But as you say, both have their charm points.
Chiya probably felt left out after realizing she was exempt from instant hugging. I have a feeling Chino quite enjoyed hers too. As for the lactose, do you mean when Chiya gave her the iced cocoa? I’m pretty sure that was just Chiya being extremely savage. I’m sure Mocha could have found some alcohol elsewhere, as Rabbit Horse doesn’t turn into a bar until night-time, but this isn’t that kind of show! It’s pure and fuwa-fuwa, we shouldn’t be seeing adults immediately try to drink their problems away!
As for the OP/ED, I’m undecided between the two OPs. I’ve got nothing but good memories from Daydream Cafe (aka KOKORO PYON PYON) so I’m unwilling to judge between that and No-Poi. ED2 is, however, surely an objective winner over ED1. I don’t think you’ll meet a single Gochiusa fan who prefers Poppin Jump to Tokimeki Poporon. It’s interesting you say ED1 was lifeless, because I remember reading something about how there were complaints that there wasn’t enough movement in ED1. So this time they far surpassed all our expectations with this lolicon-converting, heaven-sent miracle of the universe. I’m still not tired of it.
How can you pass up a chance to play rock-paper-scissors with Chino, Maya and Megu?! I heard about its use in Precure, I remember asking Eva about it when I first heard of this innovation through the grapevine. I think it’s super cute, I always forget about it when I start each episode, but I remember again when the ED starts.
P.S. I haven’t no. But you have a good memory! It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned Sawashiro (or blogged anything she’s been in, aside from recurring stuff like Monogatari) but yes, I do like her. I hope her diminishing role aren’t a side effect of her recent marriage. If Precure has Yuuki Aoi in it as well, then you have yourself a deal! I know each Precure is technically a whole different series, but it’s difficult to break into an established franchise. And as for Prisma Illya, you’re assuming that S3 would be a good thing. Given how Herz went down, as well as the recent quality of what Silver Link have been producing, I’m actually very wary of them continuing the franchise whenever they get round to it.
Matsuki Miyu’s death was very sad, yeah (it was the biggest seiyuu-related news since the Takabe Ai scandal). I remember reading about how her last tweet was about her telling her fans she’d try her best to get married after she fought off her illness. And she never did ;_; It won’t really be difficult to replace her for Sapphire, especially as it’s a minor role – she’s left a bigger, irreplaceable gap with her roles as Hisui in Tsukihime (now we’ll never get a Tsukihime anime) and Anna in Shimoneta. Anna was truly legendary. It may have even become her breakout role in the industry, were she still alive and well.
Re: lactose – I think the comment is referring to Mocha acting like she’s drinking her troubles away (rather, acting like a weepy drunk) while drinking a mug of milk at the Rabbit House bar.
Re: Precure – You really can start Precure with any of the series, as long as it isn’t one of the two that are direct sequels (those are Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart, and Yes! Pretty Cure Five GO!GO!). Some of them are better than others, though. I technically started with Heartcatch Precure, but stalled in the middle (through no fault of the show itself), and by the time I got back to it it was a few years later, and I had finished up watching all the other Precure series and was catching the last half of Heartcatch so it wouldn’t be hanging there. It IS good, a lot of people tend to call it the best out of the Precure series. I can’t make that judgement because of the odd way that I watched it.
When I got into watching the Franchise as a whole, more recently, going into it with the intent of actually WATCHING all of the series, I started with Suite Precure. TVTropes made that one sound like a series I would enjoy, so I chose that as a jumping off point, and it worked. It spends a bit too much time on monster-of-the-week episodes without plot progression in the middle parts, but that’s kind of par for the course for the genre. I really like the powerful focus on friendship in Suite. Friendships are always important in Precure series, but in no other case has it felt so powerful and direct to me as it was there. And Suite was the first series to explicitly spell out that the stronger the girls’ frinedship was, the more powerful they became as Precures.
Re: Matsuki Miyu – She was in a lot. A LOT. I hadn’t realized before I looked her up on ANN and MAL just how many roles she’d played that I KNEW. There are now a number of series that I’m going to have trouble watching again.
You can just pick any Precure series right out of the hat! (Except for:Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart + Yes! Pretty Cure Five GO!GO!)
I agree with Heartcatch being one of the top favourites. I recommend to look at the synopsis and watch a few episodes to get a feel whether or not the series will click with you. But alas, never fear! There are over ten series to choose from, and then the ALL STARS movies and independent series movies on top of it! 😉