miércoles, 30 de mayo de 2018

THE PRINCESS AND THE WOODSWOMAN

The Princess and the Woodswoman

Work Text:

1. The Queen

Once upon a time, a beautiful queen reigned in a kingdom far away.
This queen was named Fantine, and she was famed throughout the land for the fairness of her hair and the fairness of her rule alike. Although she was not of royal blood, her good heart, bravery, and beauty made her loved by all those around her, and it was for these reasons that she was queen.
Queen Fantine had no king by her side. Instead, she drew her support from her council of viziers: three wise women philosophers named Favourite, Dahlia, and Zéphine. But Fantine was lonely in her heart. While she loved her council and her people as a queen, she wished for a child whom she could love as a mother.
Learning of this wish, a wicked man name Felix Tholomyès approached Queen Fantine. He pretended to woo her, promising to love her faithfully and to give her a child.
Too trusting and kind to suspect any trickery, Fantine accepted his offer.
However, as soon as Fantine found herself with child, Tholomyès declared that he should be made king.
When Queen Fantine realised that his courtship had been nothing more than a grab for power, she was heartbroken, but – more strongly yet – she was angered. Her kingdom deserved a better ruler than Tholomyès, and her child would deserve a better father. With the help of her council, Queen Fantine banished him from the kingdom.
Some months later, a little princess was born. Because of how happy the child made Queen Fantine (and the inhabitants of the kingdom), she was named Anne-Euphrasie, although Queen Fantine always called her Cosette.



2. The Princess

When it was time for Cosette to be christened, Queen Fantine held an almighty banquet, inviting everyone in the land…
Almost everyone in the land. On the very edge of the kingdom was a dark, dingy inn, owned by crooked innkeepers, husband and wife – the Thénardiers. Knowing them to have been supporters of Tholomyès, Queen Fantine did not invite them to the banquet.
However, the Thénardiers soon learned of the royal festivities. Refusing to be left out, they disguised themselves and set off for the palace to take revenge – not armed with pistols or swords, but with a faerie curse. You see, at this time, magic was still alive in the land, and many people had faerie in their blood. The Thénardiers were no exception.
At such banquets, it was custom for magical folk to come forth and offer gifts to the newborn child. Some offered Cosette the gift of kindness, others the gift of loveliness, every person coming forth to give a gift until there was only one man left. This man was the owner of a factory, named Jean Valjean, and he intended to give Cosette the gift of wealth.
However, before he could approach the royal cradle, there was a crack of thunder. The palace doors blew open, and there stood the Thénardiers.
“So sorry to intrude!” cried Monsieur Thénardier, although he did not look sorry.
“So happy to be here!” cried Madame Thénardier, although she did not look happy.
Favourite, Dahlia, and Zélphine leapt up to arrest the Thénardiers. But Queen Fantine, who – as we have said – was trusting and kind, and wanted always to believe the best in people, held up a hand for them to stop.
“My good innkeepers,” she said to them, her voice as smooth and golden as honey, “I did not invite you here today, for I know you to have been no friends of mine in the past. But, on this happy day, I hope that we can be reconciled. Please, enter, take sustenance, and celebrate with us.”
The Thénardiers came further into the hall.
“Of course we shall,” said Monsieur Thénardier.
“But first,” said Madame Thénardier, “we would like to give the baby a gift.”
Favourite, Dahlia, and Zélphine looked from one to the other, and then they looked to Queen Fantine.
Fantine nodded her head, “If you come in the spirit of friendship,” she said, “then I will be glad of any gift you provide.”
The Thénardiers pushed past Jean Valjean, and drew up to the baby Cosette.
“Such a beautiful child!” said Madame Thénardier, “It is such a shame that she will never be a beautiful woman.”
A shadow fell across the hall, and Madame Thénardier went on: “For, in her sixteenth year, Cosette shall prick her finger upon the spindle of a spinning wheel, and she shall fall down dead!”
Then there was another almighty thunderclap, and the Thénardiers disappeared from sight.
A chorus of cries and sobbing leapt up from around the court. Soldiers were sent out immediately to hunt down the Thénardiers – but they, of course, would be long gone by the time the soldiers had reached their inn.
“Whatever shall I do?” cried Queen Fantine most mournfully.
There was the sound of a cough from amidst the rabble. Jean Valjean stepped forward.
“Your majesty,” he said, “I have not yet given my gift to the child. I was going to bestow upon her the gift of riches, but I see now that she does not need that. Instead, I shall give her the gift of love: with the strength of our love for her, she will survive the spindle, falling into sleep rather than death. Out of love for her, the entire court shall follow her into slumber, so that she will never be alone. And, finally, it will be love that will wake her: her life will be restored by true love’s kiss.”



3. The Woodswoman

By the time Queen Fantine’s soldiers reached the edges of the kingdom, the inn that stood there was empty as air. The Thénardiers had packed their bags, gathered their children, and fled to the wilderness in the south.
Although Monsieur and Madame Thénardier had too much bad in their hearts ever to be good again, their children were – if not good – not evil, either.
The eldest was named Éponine, and she was the same age as the Princess Cosette.
Where the princess grew up to be beautiful, Éponine was not quite beautiful; where the princess grew up to be kind, Éponine was not always kind; but Éponine was strong, and clever, and unafraid, and those were gifts enough to help her get by.
When Princess Cosette turned five years old, she began to learn dance, mathematics, and the ways of the court. When Éponine turned five years old, she began to learn trapping, woodcraft, and the ways of the forest.
For her tenth birthday, Princess Cosette received a harp, from which she could draw the sweetest melodies. For her tenth birthday, Éponine received a bow, with which she could fell enough food for a month.
And when Princess Cosette reached her fifteenth year, Queen Fantine allowed her to venture beyond the court, into the kingdom, to speak with her subjects and give alms. And, at the same time, Éponine’s parents allowed her to venture beyond the wilderness, into the kingdom, to sell her hunting prizes.
It was on that day, when both young women ventured further than they ever had before, that they met for the first time. Éponine was selling a fine deerskin jacket, this caught Cosette’s eye.
“What fine needlework,” Cosette remarked. “Was it by your hand?”
“Of course,” said Éponine.
“And who felled the beast?”
“That was by my hand, too,” said Éponine.
“With whom do you hunt?”
“I hunt alone.”
“But are you not scared to venture into the wilderness by yourself?” asked Cosette.
“I am not scared of anything.”
“You must be as brave as you are skilled,” said Cosette, and she bought the jacket.
Cosette was impressed by Éponine’s bravery and skill, and – in her turn – Éponine was touched by Cosette’s kindness in saying as much.
It soon became their custom to meet on their weekly excursions. Whatever articles Éponine had fashioned, Cosette was sure to love them, and to purchase them. But Cosette was not greedy: much of what she bought, she donated to the poor of the kingdom. She kept for herself only the items that were particularly special.
Although Éponine knew who Cosette was, she did not know that Cosette had been cursed by her parents.
As a matter of fact, neither did Cosette. Queen Fantine had kept the secret from her all these years, although she had made sure that every spindle in the kingdom was destroyed many years ago. And so, while perhaps they ought to have been enemies, neither of the two young women was aware of that, and so they were friends instead.
Gradually, Éponine found herself looking forwards more and more to their weekly meetings. She would try her hardest to create more complicated, more beautiful items for Cosette’s approval.
One day, Madame Thénardier said to her, “Why are you always so excited to go out on your trips?”
Normally Madame Thénardier did not care to ask about Éponine’s trips; she was happy so long as Éponine returned with gold in hand. However, Éponine was so different of late, that even Madame Thénardier had been forced to notice.
“I enjoy the change in company,” Éponine replied.
“Ah, so there is a man? There is always a man.”
“No, mother, not a man.”
“Then, a woman?”
“A princess,” said Éponine, with dreams in her eyes.
When Madame Thénardier heard this, she knew that the princess must be the child whom she had cursed so long ago.
“And you are making a gift for her now?” asked Madame Thénardier.
Éponine was working on her greatest gift yet, for it would soon be the princess’ sixteenth birthday.
“I have an idea for the most splendid gift of all,” said Madame Thénardier. “Something so rare, that not a single one exists in the kingdom.” And then she described to Éponine the nature of a spindle.
Being so clever and skilled a craftswoman, Éponine was able to create a perfect spindle with these instructions alone. Then she wrapped the gift in bright cloth, and carried it with her that week, to her rendezvous with Cosette.
“How thoughtful!” cried Cosette, on receiving the parcel.
“Mind,” Éponine warned her, “it is a delicate gift. You had better wait until you are home to open it.”
Cosette agreed that she would. Then she leaned in and kissed Éponine on the cheek.
As Cosette rode away, Éponine watched with her heart full and one hand to her face. 



4. The Thicket

When Cosette reached the palace, she unwrapped the spindle, and – by the power of the curse – pricked her index finger upon it.
Immediately, she swooned in a deep, dreamless sleep. The people of the palace had time just enough to transport her to her bed before they too fell unconscious. Queen Fantine, her viziers, and all of her court – they all slumbered under Jean Valjean’s spell.
Around the palace, a thicket of thorns sprung up, forming a barrier to protect everyone from the outside world.
Word travelled slowly in the wilderness, and Éponine heard nothing of the events of the court.
One week later, she set out to meet Cosette exactly as normal. Well, not exactly as normal: this time she felt as light as a mote of dust, as bright as a flash of sun: her heart raced faster than she had ever thought possible. She was in love.
She reached the market where she normally traded in the swiftest time ever. But the royal entourage, with its royal leader, was nowhere to be seen.
When Éponine learned from a fellow trader what had befallen the princess, she wanted to scream at the heavens, or rip up the earth, or smash the trader’s stall into a million shards. But she didn’t. She had never been told that true love’s kiss would save Cosette, but something in her heart told her to travel to the palace nonetheless.
Already, many men had tried to breach the thorny wall, chopping it with axes, hacking it with swords, singeing it with fire: their efforts did nothing more than thicken the ticket.
By the time Éponine reached it, it had been declared impenetrable. The men had given up, and gone home to their dinners. Only one person remained at its edge: an old man with a kind face.
“Who are you?” Éponine asked him. “What can you tell me of this enchantment?”
“I am Jean Valjean,” said the man, “and the enchantment is mine.”
Éponine plucked her bow from her back, and slowly aimed an arrow in his direction.
“Violence will not help you, woodswoman,” said Valjean, “for it is not true strength.”
“Then what is true strength?” asked Éponine.
“Love – that is the key to lifting this enchantment. True love’s kiss will awaken the princess, and it is love that will penetrate this thicket.”
Then Éponine understood: the men had all failed because they had tried to fight the thorns. They had been afraid of the enchantment. But Éponine was unafraid: she had grown up in the wilderness; she knew all the ways of the forest; she understood the souls of the beasts and the plants that lived in it; and she loved it. It did not require brute force to part the thicket – indeed, the thicket could not be parted. To travel through it, one had to be clever and careful.
As if she was hunting, Éponine looked for the animal paths. With deft movements, she followed these meandering, looping tracks that led her every which-way through the thorns, turning here and there with the peculiar logic of the natural world. Finally, when she thought she could go no further, the darkness of the thicket gave way to the light of day. Éponine had reached the palace gates.
Everywhere, people slept where they had fallen, draped in odd positions along the corridors and across the furniture. Éponine navigated the palace, looking for the princess’ bedchamber.
At long last, she found it at the top of the tallest tower. There was Cosette, sleeping as gracefully and as beautifully as she did everything else in life.
Éponine crossed to the bedside. She knelt down. She looked at Cosette’s beautiful face, and wondered if she dare kiss it. Did a woodswoman like her truly deserve to love a princess like Cosette?
Then Éponine looked around the chamber, and she saw that it was decorated with many objects of her creation, and she knew that Cosette loved her too.
Still not quite bold enough to kiss Cosette on the lips, Éponine lowered her mouth and placed a kiss upon Cosette’s cheek. It worked: it is the true love that counts, not the nature of the kiss.
With a noise like a thunderclap, the great walls of thicket fell away from the windows, and Cosette stirred from her rest. She opened her eyes and looked at Éponine.
“Éponine,” she said, “I am so glad that you are here.” And then she sat up and kissed Éponine on the lips, and it was a kiss full of all the gifts she had received as a child: a kiss that was kind, and lovely, and full of love. 



5. The End

After many happy years as queen, the day came for Fantine to retire, to spend the rest of her days comfortable and content.
In her place, Cosette became queen. Just like her mother before her, Cosette ruled with fairness, with compassion, and without a king. She ruled with another queen instead.

lunes, 28 de mayo de 2018

TO ULLA, AT THE WINDOW OF FISHER COTTAGE...


TO ULLA, AT THE WINDOW OF FISHER COTTAGE
ON A MIDDAY IN SUMMERTIME
Epistle 71
Carl Michael Bellman
Translated by Sandra Dermark at the University of Valencia
in Floréal/Prairial MMXVIII

Ulla, my Ulla, say may I now offer
the reddest berries in wine and cream?
Or from the fountain a pitcher of water,
or from the lake trap a freshly-fished bream?
With the cool breeze, the doors gently part open,
flowers and pinewood give off fresh scent;
Drizzling, the skies' clouds at last now give way to the
sun's descent... 

Isn't this place godlike, Fisher Cottage, right?
So godlike to behold it is...
Those proud linden treetrunks along the promenade
with leaves and shade,
with leaves and shade...
And the tranquil inlet of the lake? For sure...
And the ditches and fields not that far 
beyond that shore?
Isn't this place godlike, this Elysian lea?
A place for gods,
a place for gods!

Skål and good afternoon, dear, at the window...!
Hear all those clocktower bells from town,
and see how the dust there will e'er stifle greenery
amidst calèches' great wheels crushing down...
Reach from the window to your weary lover,
who's stopped before you, for auld lang syne,
primo a biscuit, secundo a tankard of
Hogland wine...     

Isn't this place godlike, Fisher Cottage, right?
So godlike to behold it is...
Those proud linden treetrunks along the promenade
with leaves and shade,
with leaves and shade...
And the tranquil inlet of the lake? For sure...
And the ditches and fields not that far 
beyond the shore?
Isn't this place godlike, this Elysian lea?
A place for gods,
a place for gods!

Now is the stallion led into the stables,
hear him, my Ulla, gallop and neigh!
Still from the stable-door his clever eyes look
up at the window, right to you, straight away.
You set this lake and this woodland on fire
with one warm look from those shining eyes...
Skål at the gateway, in thirst and desire,
in paradise!

Isn't this place godlike, Fisher Cottage, right?
So godlike to behold it is...
Those proud linden treetrunks along the promenade
with leaves and shade,
with leaves and shade...
And the tranquil inlet of the lake? For sure...
And the ditches and fields not that far 
beyond the shore?
Isn't this place godlike, this Elysian lea?
A place for gods,
a place for gods!
    
          
 

A CLOCKWORK VIOLET

Hugtto Pretty Cure - Episode 17
MY OWN REVIEW
A CLOCKWORK VIOLET
 
Things took quite a turn at the end of the previous episode of Hugtto! PreCure, and episode 17 shows us exactly what that means for all of those involved.






After Papple reported to Ristle about Lulu's betrayal, she began deleting all of Lulu's memories and reverting her back to her original program-Destroy the Precures.

The episode begins with Lulu back at Cryasse HQ, where they delete most of the data she had gathered whilst being withwhere they delete most of the data she had gathered whilst being with the others.

the others are eager to rescue Lulu
At Harry’s place, Hana is insistent that they should go and rescue Lulu. Harry is against the idea, though, as he had realised Lulu was actually an enemy.

Hana and Harry argue about it, but Hugtan soon brings their disagreement to an end.

In the end, Hana gets her way and they all head out to search for Lulu.

Ristle then suggested to use the new "Iron Maid" power suit on Lulu to take on the Precures. Lulu's memories of the girls were deleted as she remembered how she was created by the Cryasse Corporation from the future as a gynoid. When she finally recovered, Lulu took the power suit to battle the Precures.

Crying her eyes out because she isn’t used to this kind of pain triggered by emotions. She perceives it as a bug in her system, complicating her perfect world, free from errors, pain, and despair. In fact, that right there may have been a critical clue behind Cryasse’s motives of robbing the future. If they steal the future away to enable people to forget time and live in quiet lives, free from suffering, in their opinion, that could be what they perceive as a perfect world.

 






Lulu appears before the others
It doesn’t take long for them to find Lulu. Hana rushes right up to her, but Lulu smacks her hand away. Lulu has no intention of talking to them.
There is only a single objective that she wants to achieve: destroy PreCures.
7Gs, those Lulunator target eyes...

Lulu’s armour
She doesn’t even wait for the others to transform. With her new battle armour, she immediately goes on the offensive. Any attempts to talk with her are futile, so the girls are left with no other choice but to transform.

Lulu is a formidable opponent

Lulu appeared in front of the girls but she had forgotten them and wore the power suit. The girls has no choice but to fight with her. Papple appeared and told the girls that Lulu has no more memories of them but still has the battle data of the girls.

As the fight rages on, Papple arrives. She reveals that Lulu’s memories of the time she spent with PreCures have been deleted, but they kept the battle data.
Lulu is able to overwhelm every PreCure, but they prove to be a lot more tenacious than she expected. She uses the opportunity to grab Cure Étoile for more data analysis, which results in the supposedly deleted memories resurfacing.


 The girls were struggling against Lulu and she needed more data on them as such she grabbed Cure Étoile and started analyzing her. But she suddenly remembered the previous encounter with Homare at the playground and all her memories were slowly coming back to her.





Lulu’s memories start to resurface
Lulu’s armour appears to start to malfunctioning, as all the memories she made with the other girls come back to here. She tries to strike at her opponents, but Ange and Étoile unleash their special attacks.



Lulu’s armour shatters
It appears Lulu has returned to normal, but she is not quite out of the woods just yet. She clutches at her chest and starts screaming out in pain; the others are naturally concerned for her, but she tells them to stay away.


In the year 200X…

 Cure Ange and Cure Étoile used this chance and destroyed the power suit. The girls tried to get close to Lulu but her programs are conflicting her emotions and she started firing recklessly. 

Lulu does her best Megaman/Rockman impression and blasts PreCures away with an arm cannon (attached to her left arm: does that make Lulu a canon sinistral?). Ange and Étoile have to defend Harry and Hugtan from an oncoming attack. Lulu tries to tell the girls to stay away from her and whips up a whirlwind around herself, but Cure Yell has other ideas.


Cure Yell approaches Lulu with a little help from Ange and Étoile


Cure Yell makes it inside the vortex, and Lulu starts pummeling her. Cure Yell wants nothing more than to forgive Lulu, but Lulu can’t bring herself to accept that. However, Cure Yell says that she has a deep pain in her chest from having to fight Lulu.

‘It’s because I love (suki) you, Lulu!’
The reason is because she loves (suki) Lulu. Lulu ends up collapsing after that, and the whirlwind dissipates.
Cure Yell tried to reason with Lulu but she refused to listen and admitted that she is a spy who brainwashed Mrs. Nono and the teachers, tricked the Precure friends (nakama) and did horrible things to them. 

 Lulu could not understand her reason and still blame herself. However Cure Yell told her that she likes (suki) Lulu and forgave her.

Just saying, but Hugtan is great
With the whirlwind gone, Hugtan is able to get over to Lulu remarkably quickly. Not that it matters much, because seeing her pat Lulu on the head is just adorable.



Lulu lets it all out


Lulu ends up just crying her heart out; the others tear up as well.


Papple, on the other hand, tries giving Lulu orders.

Lulu has no intention of listening to Papple any longer

LEAVE OR I'LL BLOW YOUR HEAD AWAY, YOU CRACKPOT BARONESS! 
Lulu fires a warning shot, and PreCures tell the Baroness/Vamp to leave unless she wants to be punished.
 Papple wisely decides that retreat is the best course of action.


Yes, Lulu; though you have not transformed yet, you are officially part of the group!

Lulu gets a well-deserved hug
With all the drama finished with, Hana welcomes Lulu back with a group hug.


And, for the first time in forever... WE SEE LULU SMILE!!


Also turns out that someone had witnessed most of what happened.


EMIRU: OMG... They are the PreCure girls after all...
Emiru saw something shocking


PreCures' fight against Lulu caught the attention of Emiru, and she just had to rush over to see what was happening. It’s not clear how much of it she saw, but she definitely seems surprised by what she did discover.
That brings this episode to an end, and what an episode it was. I was looking forward to it from last week’s preview, and it managed to surpass my expectations. The fight against Lulu was good, as too was the way in which it was resolved.
This entire arc revolving around Lulu has been some of the best that the entire PreCure franchise has to offer, and this episode continues to keep up that trend. I’m probably going to be repeating variations of that until the end of this arc, but it’s not something I would bring up if I didn’t think it was true.
All in all, an utterly brilliant episode. Next week looks like it will be another fun one as it focuses on Lulu and Emiru. Needless to say, I eagerly anticipate that one.
Finally, I just wanted to say that I really liked the end card for this episode:




MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
It baffles my mind how Papple has been reverted to the lazy villain, who just let all of this happen in front of her, without even trying anything to stop it! This annoys me to no ends because we saw her be scary last week! WHERE IS THE PAPPLE WHO WON’T HANDLE BETRAYAL NICELY? She should have at least tried to interfere! Not to mention, their colleague who made the suggestion to switch Lulu’s program to a Battle Protocol made it clear that she would be responsible for whatever happens. For a crime of a member betraying their organization, I find it terribly hard to believe Papple would simply just stand there and passively watch things play-out when she is the one who is going to be held accountable for the outcome of this fight. And then there was also that little bit where we see her “soften up” by telling the guy she wasn’t planning on anything drastic— uh lady, do you not remember the terrible things you did to Charalit!? Not to mention, she freaking SNIPED Lulu last week, and always identified her as a doll. In what way would switching her program to Battle Protocol be too much? Please make up your mind!
So we learn now that she’s definitely a gynoid, but now she has formed a “heart” (kokoro). She was able to retain some of her memories, and eventually with the help of the girls, she was able to break free and is now officially aligned with the Precure team. During this fight the girls showed off some creative new tricks with their powers, Saaya and Homare combing the two to create a ride for Hana to reach Lulu when she was blocking them out. It was neat to see, but at the same time it felt like it came out of nowhere since they have never done such a thing in a past. It also didn’t particularly help how I found the fight to be incredibly dull. The only kicker I got from it was really Hana’s tone and stubbornness of adamantly refusing to believe Lulu betrayed them and was a spy. To some extent, hearing that helped relieve some of the guilt that was eating up away at Lulu’s newfound heart. But what ultimately “saved” her was despite her betrayals, Hana accepts her back, and even tells her that she loves her. (Happy Lulu is the cutest thing!)
With this new heart, Lulu to some extent has been reduced to a child-like mindset. Crying her eyes out because she isn’t used to this kind of pain triggered by emotions. She perceives it as a bug in her system, complicating her perfect world, free from errors, pain, and despair. In fact, that right there may have been a critical clue behind Cryasse’s motives of robbing the future. If they steal the future away to enable people to forget time and live in quiet lives, free from suffering, in their opinion, that could be what they perceive as a perfect world.
And while we are on the subject of the villains, there was a not so subtle hint in regards to Harry harbouring even bigger secrets than we may initially imagined. He knows about Cryasse not being a very forgiving group, who does not treat betrayals lightly. For him to know such details, I could imagine two possibilities: Either he served as an undercover agent for a period of time, or at some point in his life, he was affiliated with Cryasse. If it turns out to be the latter, it could be his betrayal was the key to ensuring Hugtan’s survival. Anyhow, he is certainly not ready to let the girls know of all his secrets just yet. However if he is a former member of Cryasse, a defector from decadence, I wonder if there is anyone would might recognize him, or else perhaps he changed his appearance.
At this point, I am convinced it is probably only a matter of time before both Emiru and Lulu become Precures. They are certainly set to become a duo as the two have a unique friendship in a way Lulu doesn’t have with the main trio. Not to mention, since Emiru had approached the battle scene, she was able to discover they have been right under her nose the entire time.
PS: Does Hugtan have like teleportation abilities or something? How the hell does she slip out of Harry’s arms like that?!


This is probably because of their effectiveness at being foils of one another.
SEVEN GODS... LULU CRYING? We see her sob, we see her frown, we see her gasp, we see her smile; we see her dreadpan façade shattering, falling apart.





ON BADASSES AND BABIES (A SPECIAL SHOT AT VALJEAN AND COSETTE)
A great way of claiming that a badass has a heart of their own in fiction is having them raise an unrelated orphan or foundling, preferently a very young child. Gender inverted versions and same-gendered version occur, but the male guardian/female ward dynamic is the most common (see Valjean and Cosette below). This is probably because of their effectiveness at being foils of one another; girls are generally expected to be physically weaker and "purer" than men (both for being female and underage), and, as a child, the vulnerability given off to the audience is enhanced Up to Eleven. This juxtaposed with the adult, physically strong man who is in some way broken by his dark past of terrible sins, is a potent contrast.
We have here a straight classic Valjean example of a badass-and-child in Hugtto! (Harry*Hugtan), and a subversion with an underage, female (and artificial-life!) guardian as well to balance that.

ON WELL-INTENTIONED EXTREMISTS: So we finally got to know the motivation of Cryasse: and it's a page ripped not only from Elysio's book, but from many other antagonists', including real-life dictators'.
LULU'S ARMOUR / LULUNATOR - FEMBOT THEORY CONFIRMED
NEW THEORY: HARRY THE DEFECTOR FROM DECADENCE?
We should also (we never had the chance while doing Kirakira à la Mode) talk about Japanese loves a little more: ai, koi, and suki/daisuki, and the nuances that differentiate these three terms; this time aligning them with C.S. Lewis's Four Loves:
  • Hana's feelings for Lulu and Ciel's for sweetsmaking are (dai-)suki: intense liking or affection for something or someone. Both philia (towards friends) and storge (towards family members) correspond to suki/daisuki in the C.S. Lewis essay.
  • The altruistic concern for her younger sister that Akira displays and represents as Cure Chocolat is ai: unconditional love or altruism. Both storge (towards family members) and agape (towards people in general) correspond to ai in the C.S. Lewis essay.
  • A romantic relationship, such as that between Yukari and Akira, is koi: romantic love. Eros (does not have to be sexual; it simply implies romantic desire for a significant other) corresponds to koi in The Four Loves.
EMILU IN NEXT EPISODE
The two girls seem to get along quite nicely...
We'll quaff champagne if this arrangement clicks!
Emiru, Lulu, that's the point, precisely!
It's such an OTP they had to fix...


IN NEXT EPISODE (18):
EMILU!!!
And maybe a musical review as well...

 

 

Could this maybe be the next Master-and-Commander style duet? And does this mean Lulu has potential as a singer and/or lyricist?


"MELODY OF THE HEART"