I liked the first episode... Where are the subs?

http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=torrentinfo&tid=361430

CG could have been worse, but still looks a bit weird.

Ichigo is just adorable in every frame she's in.

What demographic is this show even targeted towards?

>>11841
little girls of course.

First of all I really dig the artstyle. On the surface it's your run-of-the-mill simplistic shoujo but I think the pallete is somehow subdued which makes it look nice. I'm sick of the oversaturation that's present in 19/20 series out there. Ironically using this palette makes the series feel more 'hand drawn' to me.

The OP is rather weak, it sure can't compare to 'Are you lady I'm ready'. The ED on the other hand is very nice, I like the bassline.

While the noodles didn't bother me as 2D (they are noticeable but I'm pretty fond of noodles so I'm fine with that) they looked outright creepy in CG sequences. I totally mean it. Give those girls something to eat. The rubber limbs syndrome was strong in this one, too.
I wonder if they're simply reusing stuff from the game? It doesn't really bother me as it looks 2D enough to me but I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to those needle limbs.

Somehow it didn't feel like this ep was 24 minutes long. Which is of course a good thing. I'm kinda looking forward to next week's ep, this could turn out to be suprisngly decent.

Also side ponytails, best hairstyle or bestest hairstyle?

>>11854
>they looked outright creepy in CG sequences.
I agree, while I think the CG doesn't necessarily look that bad at first glance, when in action it becomes disturbing.

Good show episode 2 soon I cannot wait.

I had to close it once 3D started. I just can't handle it.

The 3D was a bit unexpected.

This has been an unexpectedly boring, bland and simply disappointing season so far but this show looks suprisingly decent, I'll definitely keep watching. I'm lucky lately, it's the second time in a row where I ended up watching a show I was 50/50 on (I usually have like 3-4 of those and pick one of them) and it's my favorite of the season (Joshiraku in Summer).

But considering the target demographic it's a little surprising how open they are about the fact that idol industry isn't all fun and games. Even the scene from ep 1 where Ichigo and Aoi are rejoicing after the exams and you can see everyone around them with their heads hanged low made me raise an eyebrow but they didn't even dance around the issue the least bit in ep 2. It's a harsh world out there, even in 2D realm.

Even though she had a small role before this could be considered Tadokoro Azusa debut role and I like her a lot so far. Been a while since I even bothered to look up a rookie's name.

>>12040
>But considering the target demographic it's a little surprising how open they are about the fact that idol industry isn't all fun and games.

ther eis a bit from the last episode where someone comments 'oh my i hoe they enjoy the short time they can remain friends' which seems to imply there will be some kind of problem creeping up in th efuture.

>>12042

The fact that Aoi's, Ichigo's and that-third-girl's friendship won't crumble just because they all want to be idols will probably be the main focus of the series. Or at least that's how I see it now, I can't really imagine they'll grow apart considering the target demographic. Power of friendship etc.

The more I listen to Morohoshi Sumire (Ichigo's seiyuu) the more I think she sounds like Mikami Shiori. Expect Sumire is actually 13 so that's her natural voice and she doesn't have to force herself so hard (I still like Mikashii more~).

Loved the last episode a lot.

Can't have a yuri show without ANGST AND DRAMA...

... just like you can't have a shoujo show without DOUSHIOs (and Aikatsu certainly delivers in this aspect, I'm very pleased by this).

And so a new OT3 is born.

I love the ED.

I can't believe I'm liking this show more than I thought I would.

Now we learn the importance of signatures.
Outside of the video game style performances, they sure do take a much more realistic approach to becoming an idol than I would have expected. dare I say, it seems so far more in depth than the likes of idolmaster

Post edited on 19th Nov 2012, 6:52pm

Are idol powerlevels similar to mahjong powerlevels?

Aikatsu! OP/ED:

http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=torrentinfo&tid=376472

Gotta love Ichigo's and Aoi's fangirling.

I wonder why she didn't question why a janitor would have those things.
It's pretty obvious he's part of that boy band, but they're not supposed to make it obvious right?

I have lots of newfound respect for idols after watching this ep.

>>12715
Somehow I doubt real idols go through half this shit. (but to be fair, they do have to deal with plenty of crap you wont see in a kid's anime for obvious reasons.)

I really love that Spicy Ageha premium dress. It looks so nice...

Anyway, awesome latest episode! Kind of sad how we didn't get to see the other two brand designers

>>12715

Climbing a steep cliff in heels.
That's hardcore.

This was one time when I think the 3D looked pretty damn nice.
But I still think they need to eat something, desperately.

Post edited on 23rd Dec 2012, 11:50pm

It's kind of nice how they gave all the background characters a bit of individuality, maybe it's just becuase they're based off characters who appeared in the game, but it's still nice compared to the norm in anime which is making everyone who isn't a main character look like generic clones of each other( >>11496 ),
hell in some anime they don't even bother to draw the other classmates and just use human shaped silhouettes.

Damn, I had to dig for this one. Anyway, latest episode wasn't so great. There's something about seeing Ichigo fat that just doesn't bode well with me. Maybe it's cause she loses that shit right away, and I'm drawing connections with wanting to lose weight as well. Either way, I like how serious it's going to get with the duo.

>>13287

It's okay, she'll do her best! ... Starting tomorrow.

Got kinda used to the 3D, the more I look at it the more 2D it looks, it just caught me off guard in the first ep.

Also Ichigo should drop the bow, she looks much better without it if the CG scene(s) are any indication (looked much better with that ribbon she uses nowadays).

Oh no, be careful Ichigo, your sandwiches are getting cold!

>>13287
I don't think she really looked 'fat' so much as swollen, as if she ate something she was allergic too and it made her cheeks puff up.

I'm kind of surprised she stuck around as a main character, I was sure from the OP/ED that it would be just the 3, at least for a while.

Sora and Layla? I never saw these two in such light before before but if you squint hard enough their personalities are similar and so is their relationship and the dynamics thereof. The hair colors are reversed, though.

>>13742

I think they simply didn't plan that far ahead. Personally I'd probably perfer it if Otome were a character that would appear every now and then (like the cleaning guy) instead of hanging out with the group in ever ep but I guess I'm fine with it either way.

This kid has the right idea. And I don't mean just Aoi (best girl), rather than that it's about hitting on older girls period.

Why is this show so good anyway? It's by far my favorite show from last season, my favorite from this season and I can see it being my favorite in Spring and Autumn, too.

Best. Idea. Ever.

H-How bold...!

Sure is context in here.

They sure made a big deal about "appeals" in that two part ep.
I don't get it. they made such a big deal about Ichigo being able to do one during her first performance, but then she's a disappointment for doing two during a performance when no one else is doing any at the time. I don't know why anyone expected her to do 3 right after they explained only pros like Mizuki could do 3, and then Mizuki went and did 4...

I was getting used to the 3DCG, but the stock animations used in appeals makes it all a bit much in my opinion.

>>13988

>they made such a big deal about Ichigo being able to do one during her first performance

Precisely because it was her first performance. Hell, she didn't even know what a Special Appeal is nor did she aim for it. As such it's hard to consider this anything but pure talent.

Dem drills.

But wow, last week I was about to say that as much as I like the main cast it'd be cool if they could introduce some new flavor of the week characters and that's precisely what I got in the very next ep!

Loved Yurika's theme (as in BGM), I'm pretty happy that she won't get bused after this ep and I'm looking forward to her appearance in ep 20.

>>14069
I was hoping she'd get a regular position in the show, and seeing as they gave her a 3D model, I'm sure she'll get it.

>>14084

Yup, it's pretty much official now. Which makes sense since we needed someone who'd represent the Gothic Lolita brand.

I'm very pleased by this development~

But does this mean those two girls who get cameos in the OP will become regulars after a while, too?

>>14164
I think it's safe to assume it does.

>>14164

2 clovers and no spade?

Anyway, I'm very much disappointed in the lack of Ran lately, while I'm hearing RABU YU every 5 seconds. Also, I wish Shion got a spot as a regular, too bad. Looking forward to the other two from that image, though.

>>14172

Those symbols aren't completely random, they are related to the cards used in the arcade game. Each suit represents a different type of cards. Not like you have to know that or anything but here's a breakdown if anyone is interested:

• Spades: Sexy - Spicy Ageha - Ran
• Hearts: Cute - Angely Sugar, ? - Ichigo, mysterious girl A
• Clubs: Cool - Futuring Girl, Loli Gothic - Aoi, Yurika-sama ♥
• Diamonds: Pop - Happy Rainbow, ? - Otome, mysterious girl B

So for the time being Ran is the only one with a 'brand of spades' , maybe they'll intoduce another character which will use Spades cards later on, though.

Damn nice.

>>14177
I think you got Clubs and Diamonds mixed up.

>>14400

Yeah, brainfart, I didn't notice that before. Should've been fairly obvious either way because you can see the 'suits' clearly in >>14164. My bad.

>>14438

Also in case there's someone who didn't notice Aikatsu airs on Tuesdays now.

>>14172

>Anyway, I'm very much disappointed in the lack of Ran lately

Looks like we're getting a Ran episode next week.

So /an/...

Ichigo with Aoi or Mizuki?

Ran with Yurika or Otome?

>>14164
>>14172
>>14177

Well, this screenshot pretty much confirms that there won't be a second 'sexy' brand.

OTL I said that and I forgot to attach the picture properly.

>>14641

Or not. After digging a bit I found out that this girl's name is Sakura Kitaoji and she uses a brand that's not on that pic - Aurora Fantasy.

I honestly thought they were gonna kiss for a second there...

>>14648

Looks I'm not the only one then.

>>14648
But that's forbidden love!

>>14680

>But that's purest form of love!

FTFY

Aaand it's been moved again, starting in April Aikatsu will air on Thursdays.

Some food for thought: Ichigo's dad is Dio Brando. Just so you know.

I really liked this ep, It was really nice to see them take a brake from the idol thing for a change. They really wasted no time getting the obligatory song and dance out of the way in this ep.

Oh God all this screencap gold from this week's ep, why can't I hold it.

And as expected we got a new OP/ED combo this week.

Except these ships...

... there's just no way I could get on any of them.

Fortunately, it was just a ruse and they included the proper pairings at the very end.

Aoi x Ichigo Yurika x Ran OTP

Last week I couldn't quite put my finger on it but this OP reminds me of Tonari-no-Kaibutsu-kun's, it's because of all those trumpets I guess.

Also I didn't realize until now but they really went out of their way to make sure each girl has a different hair and eye color, now that I look at it I find some amusement in how hard they're trying, it's a bit ridiculous.

Look at this badass VW, can Johnny get any more awesome? Each week I think he hit the limit and then each week he finds some way to one up himself.

>>15074
That looks sexy. I feel like watching the episode just for that scene.

It took almost 30 eps but...

ｷﾀ━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━!!

AOI WITH HER HAIR DOWN

This self-depreciative meta humor, heh.

'I-it's not like we're a canon couple by now or anything...'

I was wondering, if they have this big acadamy turning out hundreds(I'm guessing) of idols every year, wouldn't the market become over-saturated and destroy the demand for them leaving most without any work?

>>15248

Google 'seiyuu schools in Japan' or something of the sort. There are hundreds of those, too. The amount of graduates every year is staggering and only 20 or so of them have a chance to turn pro. Not to mention seiyuu earn next to nothing and often get a part time job to stay afloat.

So yeah that's about the last thing that's actually unrealistic about the setting, heh.

The first years...

... aren't very straight it seems. Why am I not surprised.

I've said it a number of times before but I really dig the BGs in Aikatsu!.

Sakura's BGM is awesome. And somehow it never really caught my attention but so is Ran's. Did I telly you how much I like Yurika's theme yet?

Might be a weird title to bring up but they somehow remind me of Gyakuten Saiban. They are so over the top and yet they don't feel the least bit out of place. We've had a bit of quality issues animation-wise lately so I won't praise Aikatsu's overall production values but the OST is superb.

sleepovers sure are fun.

>>15362

Gotta love Ran's high heel slippers.

Why was did Ichigo think she'd have a problem with teaching a class in heels if she has no problem dancing in them?

>>15438

It's about the overall image. While she's dancing other than the high heels she's also wearing a fuwa fuwa sweet loli pink dress. She had a problem with maturity of an 'office lady' look which the high heels would emit (at least according to her), not the high heels themselves.

>>15462
So why then did they show her tripping?

>>15463

Because she's clumsy and wearing such clothes made her nervous.

This week on Aikatsu: Otome proposes* to Sakura.

Not even my final form.

References? In my Aikatsu?

Unfortunately, this is where the Strawberry Panic references end this week...

... Or maybe not?

Last but not least, everybody's favorite VW makes another appearance.

Next week on Aikatsu: more Aoi with her hair down. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ

Aoi in a hoodie, the HNGGG levels are off the charts.

Lots of stuff happened this week and yet it's hard to find something to actually comment on. ╮(╯▽╰)╭

The real reason why Mizuki decided to hold this audition.

Kaede's personality summed up in one image.

F~A~B~U~L~O~U~S

;_;

Not sure which is more tragic between this and ^.

Great ep this week either way!

Lots of Ran badassery this week.

Some could argue that being shown as someone who is struggling to keep up made her look weak but I was impressed with her 'like hell I'd let myself become a burden' attitude

Just a wee bit closer...

Looks like the Ichigo/Mizuki ship has sunk.

Sugoi sugoi sugoi

Come on Ran, what's up with getting this homesick after like a week?

Ran sure cries a lot lately.

But I like this kind of Ran, too~

They sure look like they're used to it.

Ran and Aoi have endless amounts of unwavering faith in Ichigo.

Ran sure has tons of surprising moments lately.

And Mizuki picks the members for her own unit based on their 'talents'.

I was wondering what they're gonna do about the 'transformation sequence' considering the location but it looks like it wasn't a problem afterall.

Hazukashii serifu kinshi~

They aren't even hiding it anymore.

Aoi spin-off when.

Loli Aoi GET!

W-what.

Third girl from the right... Just where is her left hand?

I can't believe they made Yurika the third member of tristar. I like her but she just seems like such an odd choice and seems really out of place.
Kaede and Mizuki are like master level pros, Yurika is no where neat as fit and is frankly kind of lazy. I don't see how she could possibly keep up with them if ran couldn't. Her devotion to her image is nice but is that really enough to keep up with top idols?
what happened to the finalists from the audition? why not pick one of them? Didn't Yurika fail relativity early on in the auditions?

>>16759

Unfortunately pretty much all of recent developments have been nothing but eye-rollers. Things were going relatively well until >>16078 and then everything stopped making sense.

I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks now but I always forget to mention it. It looks like the

>>12040
>>12042
>>12045

'they can't be friends if they are rivals competing in the same industry' plotline was dropped altogether. Makes me wonder how they planned to pull it out originally.

Not that I'm not glad they ditched it, though.

Come on Sunrise, please stop reminding me, Natsuiro Kiseki was a terrible show that shouldn't have ever happened (or at very least not in that form).

Pomf~

>>16869
What are we doing on the bed, oneechan?

Can't begin to stress how much Ran has grown on me. At first I didn't really think much of her at all but after those 30+ eps with her around I like her more than any character not named Aoi. Her character got fleshed out the most - she was supposed to be cold and professional and turned out to be a softie who gets lonely easily, she was supposed to be serious and turned out to have lots of quirks and memorable moments, she was supposed to be the third wheel in my Ichigo-Aoi OTP but now I'm actually glad she didn't get bused.

What do you mean, it's not awesome?

This girl...

>>16866
>Unfortunately pretty much all of recent developments have been nothing but eye-rollers

yeah really. If I was a idol fan in their world, I was view starlight academy as being run by indecisive idiots who don't know what they're doing.
They form an idol group tristar, made from the best of the best and that's all cool. but then one of the members drops out after like two weeks to join another group they decided to also form Sola, and replace the member with someone who is a nobody in comparison to the other two members. then another week or two latter they decide to make yet another idol group out of what seems to be just random idols who recently became friends and didn't even bother to tell them about it until during the press announcement. Then in that same week they decide to combine tristar and sola (and the new group?)
Someone should sit that headmaster down and tell her to cool it with the idol groups already, because it makes them meaningless and hard to keep up with when you change them up every week.

I found ep 41 very interesting.
For a while now I've been convincing myself the bad CG dance numbers were really just them stepping into a augmented reality program. so it's nice to see that's actually cannon. although it doesn't explain why some characters still look 2D when zoomed in on.

this recent development now makes me wonder why they -need- the Aikatsu system and never perform the old fashion way. be it for small short notice concerts on tiny stages or for auditions. for that matter why don't they ever train using the aikatsu system?
inb4 product placement.

... That's kinda gay, too, but I don't think it's the right kind of gay.

Also surprising precisely noone S2 has been confirmed. What I do find a bit surprising is that they will keep Ichigo and Co.

So they have a alice in wonderland themed ep,and they don't have ichigo play the part of alice. ...what were they thinking?!

It really seemed to me like every character there was miscast.

Only three episodes left..!

Ichigo, I am your mother.

No halloween episode? I'm disappointed Aikatsu. You used to be cool, back when you had holiday themed episodes on or around the holiday they aired. Dang it, that could have been Yurika's chance to really shine.

You don't love Aikatsu anywhere near enough /tc/ and as such you don't really deserve these but whatever, time for a dump.

>>17857

>>17859

>>17859-17860

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>>17859-17863

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>>17859-17865

>>17859-17866

>>17869

>>17869-17870

>>17869-17871

>>17875

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>>17903
I'm not sure whether I should report you for making /pic/ out of a /an/ thread or compliment you for the good yuri stuff.

>>17904

Come on, it's an imageboard. Not to mention this is a dead thread. Heck, /an/ isn't doing that well nowadays period.

Anyone else think Sakura kinda got gypped in terms of screen time and outfits and stuff? it's like she got one or two ep focused on her then tossed into the background.

>>18105
better than what Kaede got

Best ep in weeks (if not months). Wish they had used this formula (a single ep focused on side characters every now and then) since Day 1.

Which release do you guys go with? I've been following it with mezashite and they seem really poorly encoded.

Best girl.

>>18191

I use [Mezashite]. Their releases are rather subpar (encoding, translation, quality checkers seem to fall asleep sometimes) but they get the job done overall, it's not like they are bad enough to give you cancer.

I wonder if this is how kids watch this show.

Just bumping to say Aikatsu is getting a movie. And this is pretty huge because the movie will air in December which pretty much means Aikatsu will be around for another year at least (after this one year cycle will be over in September).

>>18562

that's how kids watch TV in general if they aren't properly trained. They will get so close they have to turn their heads to keep track of something moving from one side of the screen to the other.

>According to Bandai's latest financial report released on February 4 the year around sales (April 2013 to March 2014) of the Aikatsu! franchise in Japan is expected to reach 14.1 billion yen (about US$141,000,000), which was 6.3 times more than that of the previous year. Surprisingly, it surpasses the sales of the Dragon Ball series (11.7 billion) and PreCure series (10.2 billion). Aikatsu! has become the 5th top-selling brand of Bandai following Gundam, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, and One Piece.

> it surpasses the sales of the Dragon Ball series (11.7 billion) and PreCure series (10.2 billion). Aikatsu! has become the 5th top-selling brand of Bandai following Gundam, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, and One Piece.
wow, for real?
no wonder PreCure tried to muscle in on the clothing card racket this season.

Is it just me or does it feel like there's a severe lack of variety in outfit styles this season? I know the designers had that collaboration thing a while back, but it feels like everything looks a little to much the same.

>>18937

If anything I feel like they've been really overdoing them this season. They are too cluttered and they make sure to splash them with all colors of the rainbow. Really hard on the eyes. Compared to the usual S2 designs I liked their simple units designs (from eps 72-73) much more. Frankly the outfits in the OP pic might be my favorite ones yet.
The first Bohemian sky dress was the only design from this season which I kinda liked.

>>18941
I agree, the outfits are clusterfucks of colors. that's why I say they look alike, becuase most look like a rainbow threw up on them. and whats up with almost every outfit having wings? made sense with the angle themed outfit but now they all have them. it's no wonder little girls love this show so much, the outfits are starting to look like they were designed by five year old girls. I really think each character's original outfits were the best.

>I can't see what they would possibility see in each other or have in common.

This is what makes things interesting in fact - opposites attract. True even from scientifical point of view.

>Yurika comes off like a loner who keeps to herself a lot where as Kaede is out going and eccentric.

Again, precisely what makes it work. Having two loners in the same room doesn't exactly lead to a lively interaction. A girl like Yurika would need somebody who's quite the extrovert. Kaede fits that criterion. Her straight forward nature makes her far more likely to actually make a move compared to a tsundere like Ran.

>>19041
I have nothing against yuri or shipping, but I think this is an instance of trying to hard. I Don't think there's really anyone in the cast that would go together with yurika. I'm someone who think it's better to not ship a character than to force them into a relationship that doesn't work. As I said she's a loner so she should be left alone, at least until an appropriate match comes along. It doesn't need to be a 'lively interaction' just as long as they like each other. As a loner I can safely say I'd find a hyper random extrovert to be kind of annoying. They might work as a friend but in a long term relationship long run they'd eventually drive you insane. yurika wouldn't be able to keep up with her pace and wouldn't last a week with her before getting burned out. It'd be the same problem my father is having with his new wife. He's constantly wanting to jet around the world and can't live in the same house for more than two years, and it's driving her nuts. She's completely fed up with the guy and his inability to slow down and take it easy. It's just too much for her and yurika would be stuck in the same situation.
I think Kaede would work well with many of the characters in the show, just not so much yurika. I can't see it as anything more than a short sighted random mash up by people who can't accept a character has no good match.

But again that's just me and if you're the type who believes opposites attract and being shown standing next to each other sometimes makes them offical soul mates then so be it. To each their own and what not.

>>19042

Oh, I didn't make it clear but I don't care for Kaede x Yurika actually. I just kinda see where it's supporters are coming from since I feel there's some logic behind this pairing.
Of course it's not like you don't have a point either but in the end it's something that can't really be proven either way. I don't mind fans having some fun matching up characters, even if the pairings make absolutely no sense whatsoever and even if they are made simply for the sake of matching up all the characters.

The bit about opposites attracting isn't a complete asspull, all animals (including humans) tend to seek out partners which are very different from them genetically in order to create healthy offspring. Standing next to each other doesn't make them an official couple in any way (and for that matter Ichigo and Aoi aren't the least bit official, either), I just said Sunrise does realize there is a fanbase behind that pairing so they are willing to throw them a bone (Kaede is literally the only character Yurika interacts with in the new OP).

>>19044
Well that wasn't the only pair up I had a problem with. Otome with anyone other than Sakura seems crazy to me.

The outfits used to all be so nice... What the heck happened Sunrise?

I wonder why mal lists this as being one long continuous season.

Ichigo got herself such a cute stalker..

Looks like >>19041 wasn't just completely random. I feel it's kinda likely they'll use that setup for Partner's Cup.

How good to have Mizuki back. The whole DreAca fiasco arc is finally over and now Aikatsu is back in style.

Watched this week's ep just now and while I'm not exactly as disappointed as I was when I heard who ended up with whom (got spoiled) I'd still vastly prefer this-> >>19041 setup. As it is right now it's obvious that the final showdown will be between Seira/Ichigo and Mizuki/Mikuru. If they would go with >>1536294 I could delude myself into believing there are 4 legit contenders: Mizuki/Mikuru, Ichigo/Akari, Seira/Kii and Ran/Aoi.

My OTPs got ruined. OTL

>>19042

You're gonna love this week's ep.

>>19096

Weekly reminder that anime designs won't ever be this good again and we'll keep getting random rainbow blobs instead.

>>19167
With any luck, the show's unexpected massive popularity might inspire them to put more effort into it in the future. I'd just like to see more variety in outfit designs, rather than everyone having different colors of the same basic pastry chef style outfits that look like they were ripped right out of Mayoi Neko Overrun, even if it is for symmetry.

>>19174

See, the thing is they do have some good designs. The first dress in >>19167 is a Premium Dress (I think?) Aoi used for a longer while early on in S1 but the second one is a pretty old design I bet but it never made it to anime. Much better than anything they had in S2 (although I kinda like Sora's first Bohemian Sky dress).

>>19042

This is probably the part where I should gloat but again, I wasn't much of a fan of KaedexYurika to begin with (although I certainly warmed up to the pairing after 79). Yurika simply needs somebody proactive who will pursue her (literally what Kaede has done in 79, even though she was sort of turned down initially). If it'd be somebody less pushy than Kaede it'd turn into an endless tsundere cycle
with no progress (pic very related).

;_;

>>19194
ep 79 did leave me feeling better about their relationship. I currently do feel that they'd make for good friends but I'm still not convinced anything past that work would out in any long term capacity. I don't see what's to gloat about when they only ended up together as left overs. no one else wanted to pair up with. As I've said before, not having a good match doesn't mean you should just force yourself into accepting whats available, and that certainly doesn't mean they're a good match. Just look at otomie, her otp is clearly sakura but she was busy so otomie just had to move on to the next available person.

I stand by what I've said before. I still don't believe a relationship between those type of people would last. Kaede in an extrovert, Yurika is a introvert.
I think people who insist on preaching 'opposite attract' are short sighted individuals who are misunderstanding the concept. The idea refers to animals spreading genes for maximum diversity and healthy offspring and spreading genes is not something that two girls have to worry about. besides, most animals aren't monogamous which is what people forget when they go on about opposites attract. 'opposites attract' is just that 'attraction' it has no baring on staying power. It's easy to be attracted by something new and different, it's another thing for it to hold your interest.

Besides all that, if I remember correctly this discussion was basses on shipping. something that often tends to ignore cannon, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. Even if they're officially depicted as going steady I wouldn't accept it. It may sound like sour grapes but there's plenty of media that tries to force characters together even though they don't work. All the piss poor forced writing in the world wouldn't make them work in reality. They were clearly overcompensating for the character's incompatibility. Having Kaede drag Yurika around town for a day doesn't make them lovers. If anything the end of that ep felt more like a case of Stockholm syndrome than anything else.

I really like this hairstyle, it makes her look girly, and by girly I mean girly, not more feminine. It's a bit of a gap moe I guess?

Those air basses were a nice touch. I bet Ichigo and Seira like slapping, too.
And that new high contrast dynamic lightning looks pretty good.

It's a bit of a shame they went through all the pairs in one ep. I was kinda looking forward to some of those performances, too. I think they should've gone at 2 pairs/ep pace for a while with everybody getting 70%~80% scores and then inject Double M somewhere in the middle (with their almost perfect score). That'd spice things up I think. Again, Aikatsu can't get it's competetive aspect right and that's a damn shame. Where's all the excitement?

I for one have been hoping we'd get past these pairings as soon as possible. While some kind of work, others feel so random and forced it's almost funny.

This was a pretty dang nice performance. Nice ep in general.

>>19536
cute outfit design but I really wish they'd give the wings a rest already. It made some sense with more angelic designs and even the vampire like ones, but now it's like -eveything- has to have wings on it.

>>19538
>it's like -eveything- has to have wings on it.
Yeah seriously. I don't know whats up with that.

Last week on Aikatsu: Shoujo Kakumei Ran.

While this is pretty far-fetched I couldn't help but keep thinking about it. Ran getting ambushed at school reminded me of the duels and while Sora's 'I don't want to be nothing but a damsel in distress' wasn't exactly the same as Utena's 'screw princesses, I'm gonna be the prince' there were some similarities there, especially since Sora kinda said she looks up to the prince.

Best ep in a while. Aikatsu has been rather uneven lately.

>>19676
>Aikatsu has been rather uneven lately.
It's becoming obvious they don't know what to do with the show at this point.

>>19678
With that in mind, why can't they just do something with all the backup character they've had sitting around doing nothing?
( see >>13205 )

>>19676
Yeah it was a pretty good one. It was the first time in a while we've seen the characters legitimacy train and work towards something and it paid off decently. Helps they didn't feel the need to shove in a performance.

With this recent Aikatsu 8 thing I'm curious how much correlation if any there is to actual fan favorite characters.

>>20325

Quite a bit but they timed the polls poorly so it's not the same as the fan votes (as in, the polls were still ongoing after they were done animating the ep it seems). They ran the polls in two phases I hear, first they picked the Top 4 from the poll: Mikuru, Mizuki, Maria and Yurika (who all made it into anime version of Aikatsu8 so I bet that actually got concluded before they started animating stuff) and then they... somehow picked the remaining 4. More polls I'm guessing. Too lazy to even read up on it.

Here's the Top 8 from actual fan votes.

And here are the actual poll results. Not sure how credible this is, just found it somewhere. It looks legit, though.

The graph is a bitch to read (use more colors goddammit) so here are the results in text form (unless I misread something, seriously, screw that graph):

1 Mikuru 26005
2 Mizuki 23564
3 Maria 15012
4 Yurika 12500
5 Ichigo 11250
6 Akari 9000
7 Aoi 8500
8 Sora 7250
9 Ran 6250
10 Seira 6000
11 Otome 5750
12 Hikari 5500
13 Shion 4500
14 Sakura 4000
15 Kaede 3250
16 Kii 3250

I love how Hikari still places above several regulars even though she made like 3 appearances over the course of last 70+ eps.

Too bad Orihime is seating with her back to the screen here, shopping Kamina glasses would've been that much easier if it was a frontal shot, feels like too much effort as is.

Ichigo actually looks very good with this ponytail, much better than her normal hairstyle.

>>20447
At first glance I thought they had died their hair.

No Aoi, you mustn't! Think of Ichigo Ran!

Sleeping Aoi get!

Here's something fun to think about:
WM will compete against 2wingS in Twinkle Star Cup which will be the climax of the second season. The thing is Mikuru/Mizuki got 49569 votes combined in the recent poll while Ichigo/Seira got 17250. That's a ratio of almost 3 (potential) WM fans for every 2wingS fan.
Obviously making 2wingS win would be the logical course of action and a somewhat logical conclusion to everything that happened over the course of last 100 eps. But doing that is akin to shooting oneself in the foot as that's not what the audience wants most likely.
I can almost smell another forced tie here.

And here's a S3 poster. Quite similar to the S1 poster in the OP.

The girls are (left to right): Hikami Sumire (Loli Gothic), Oozora Akari (Dreamy Crown, new brand) and Shinjou Hinaki (Vivid Kiss, the brand Mikuru is using).

>>20468
Do the brands really matter anymore when they all look the same now?

>>20469

Eh, maybe they'll go back to S1-like designs. I hear the actual cards still look okay and you could tell what brand you're looking at even if the logo wasn't there; it seems they pick all the worst designs and use them in the anime.

>>20445

I found this graph in a slightly higher res. Turns out I misread it because everything was so small. It's Hikari who finished 10th, not Seira. So the positions should be like:

(...)
10 Hikari 6000
11 Otome 5750
12 Seira 5500
(...)

In somewhat related news I rewatched ep 8 yesterday. As far as general remarks go I've gotta say Ichigo and Aoi gave off very strong newbie vibes, you could tell they have just entered the showbiz world(/Aikatsu). There were several manzai moments, some of them were even kinda amusing, I wonder if they cut down on those because kids couldn't care less either way.

More importantly I completely forgot Hikari had that kind of setting. Being the top idol of the grade for x years running I mean. Back then I was under the impression she'd be a recurring character. Sigh.
I also kinda forgot how big the gap between Ichigo/Aoi and Ran seemed to be back then, both skill-wise and experience-wise. No wonder she was a mentor of sorts for them.

They lied. ;_;

>>20474
If Seira ranked so much lower than aio, why are they forcing Ichigo together with Seira instead of with aio?

I was surprised they brought this guy back.

Whats the point of focusing completely on akari at this time if she's going to be the main character of the next season anyway? wouldn't it be better to used these last few ep to introduce the other two characters that will become mains next season? Instead they're wasting material that could be used next season.

It seems like they're trying to downplay her forced/rushed training into a top idol so they can pretend she still has a way to go. I guess they realized they need to pull back her level a bit or there wont be anything for her to work at next season.

If nothing else the shaggy hair style looks really cute.

How in the hell did they get stuck with such horrible seats? Does being a headmaster at an idol academy count for nothing?

>>20475
At least someone remembered her.

Well, this was rather disappointing. All the old characters deserved a proper send-off and that's what I hoped for and instead we got a transitory ep between S2 and S3. Bummer.

>>20733

Three one second cameos and not a single word. Sigh.

>>20749
>disappointing
Second season summed up in one word perfectly.