REVIEW of Skånland (counterpart culture!)

Since today is also the national day of Sweden, when Gustavus Vasa declared independence from the Danes, I have decided to review the live action princess film remakes' newest counterpart culture, which is this time definitely counterpart Sweden - and fangirl a tad about it.
To sum up the real-life equivalences of other adjacent counterpart cultures in the Period Pieces of the Animated Canon (ps. IRL means In Real Life):

• Arendelle - (mid-nineteenth-century) Norway (IRL unified with Sweden)
• Southern Isles - (mid-nineteenth-century) Denmark
• Tirulia (Eric's kingdom) - (mid-nineteenth-century) unified Italy (having a Nordic prince and a multicultural royal castle staff -British butler and head maid, French chef- may have been the result of an adoption of a foreigner by a childless couple, Bernadotte style)
• Corona (Rapunzel's kingdom) - (eighteenth-century) Prussia and Northern Poland (IRL claimed by Prussia during the tripartition - "Frederick" is the standard name for Prussian male royals, the court dresses are Rococo-style...)
• Berk - (Viking-era/Medieval) Iceland (IRL Viking-era free republic, then claimed by Denmark from the late Middle Ages until the twentieth century)
• Skånland - Though Aladdin is set centuries before the Andersen-era (or Biedermeier-era) of the Andersen adaptations, we could try making a crossover timeline that also encompasses Eric's, Rapunzel's, and the Frozen sisters' origins as well as some more events. Adding Skånland to the table definitely leads to a lot of possibilities... <3 

Upon watching the film and reading its novelisation, I have realised that this counterpart culture has far more of counterpart Sweden than Ondalina and Galagard put together. To be more precise, Skånland is Golden-Age Sweden by another name... For starters, there's the name of this nation-state: Skåne (ie Scania) + land. Now Scania belonged to Denmark until the Treaty of Roskilde and some wars at the height of the Golden Age (halfway between Lützen and Poltava).

The friendly and handsome, though eccentric and arrogant Prince Anders of Skånland; though "Anders" was a peasant name in that era (stormaktstid-Golden Age), and his attire looks pretty Slavic (suggesting more a counterpart culture like Kievan Rus), the novelisation in particular gives me all the stormaktstid vibes...

So all we know from this counterpart culture in the film is gleaned from books as well as this prince and his boat and cannon in a foreign context. Oui, you heard it right, cannon. Skånland has firepower, for starters. And what would the Swedish Baltic Empire be without any cannons?
The first things we get to know about Skånland is that the word for yes is "ja" and of their shipbuilding technology: according to Anders himself, who sails himself in his own luxurious flagship made in that way ("luxurious?" like with an overly ornate transom astern?), their boats have such a good design that one nearly does not notice the waves. "It's like walking on a cloud or something like that..." Now I have been to the Vasa Museum (which I warmly recommend - Gustavus Adolphus' flagship perfectly preserved as the largest museum object at least in Europe - I don't recall if on Earth as a whole - and all the historical context you need!) and seen how large royal and military shipyards were (basically, complexes or compounds on the shores of Lake Mälaren that enclosed, within the palisade, villages of shipwrights and artists as well as all the vital space needed for making their crafts), as well as the fact that oakwood was reserved for shipbuilding and protected by the Crown for that use (no peasant woodsman was allowed to fell an oak and get away with murdering the navy - the punishment being 40 crowns for first time, 80 for the second, and execution for the third time one had at least hurt an oak!; the same interdiction also encompassed the Church and bourgeoisie - but in time the restrictions loosened only to allow felling oaks only for the Crown and for the nobility, for furniture I presume!). So shipbuilding was obviously key to cross the Baltic and North Seas and thus being able to both wage war and carry out trade abroad. Ditto for Skånland, in fact! (Actually, the three-master that the Genie-Simbad, Dahlia, and family see, at the start of the film, from their modest yawl reminded me a lot of the Vasa herself; though we never got to see the flag of Skånland on any masts, it's an impressive craft with an overly ornate baroque transom as gilt and colourful and as a peacock's tail -brightly-coloured sails, sides glistening in the sun as if newly-painted, a crew wearing unsullied uniforms, and elaborate ornate carvings covering all the masts and balustrades, but the transom is what catches most eyes!- while, in real life, though all the paint and gold leaf have fallen off the Vasa while she was underwater for centuries, artists have reconstructed what she, and especially her jewel of a transom, was like! See the picture of the Vasa above!)

The next facts, when we get to see his face in the novel, are from a non-fiction book of statescraft describing Skånland as a country simple and small, that has the colours of the earth/soil/land, and with evergreen forests and snow to abound. Its hard-working people content themselves with small pleasures and equally small homes without luxuries, and they prefer to live off the land and enjoy its natural beauty, drinking it all in. But the formal attire of the appreciative-looking Prince Anders (of whom a national saying says "Why has no one spoken to me about his beauty?"), made of evidently sumptuous fabrics (various brightly coloured fabrics and otterskin), call to mind that the royal family does not lead precisely an austere life. In fact, the word about is that the King of Skånland lets his people suffer hardships in order to earn their daily bread, while the court enjoys a decadent life of excesses. Opulent palaces, enormous banquets to celebrate any special day, no matter how paltry the occasion, and a queen who enjoys jewels no matter their shape, size, or colour.
This was basically what life was like for the peasant majority and the courtly minority during the stormaktstid (especially after the Peace of Westphalia, decades post-Lützen, when the return of peace to Europe and the military victories of the 30YW led to a courtly decadence -by coming into contact with French-style Versaillesque culture- that had never been seen before in Northern latitudes).
Seen from up close, Anders himself is described as having ghostly pale skin, lifeless matted straw-blond hair, and a sense of entitlement that makes him believe he has the right to everything (see the photo on top!).

The vibes he gives me are those of either young Gustavus Adolphus (not only is he blond and blue-eyed and extroverted; his formal attire looks even eerily similar to the wedding suit, above, which the Hero of Lützen wore as a bridegroom! Isn't there a similarity in both blond and blue-eyed Nordic royals in violet satin brocade, though Gustavus Adolphus wore, of course, a Shakespearean-looking doublet with puffy breeches to match!) or a blond, more slender Charles X. Of course the latter was dark-haired and already plump in his adolescence, but a lifetime of excesses in warfare and strong drink led to the pneumonia that took his life at the Province Governor's in Gothenburg (and oui, I've been there, and seen the tomb-plaque on the corner of that half-townhouse half-palace where he breathed his last). Moreover, of course Charles X came of age and was crowned three or four decades post-Lützen, when the return of peace to Europe and the military victories of the 30YW led to a courtly decadence -by coming into contact with French-style Versaillesque culture- that had never been seen before in Northern latitudes.

A final piece of Skånland we get is the cannon that the prince offers himself as a diplomatic gift. The story describes it as an enormous cannon whose black surface shimmers in the (Mediterranean) sun, accompanied by Anders' comment as he proudly points at the piece: "In Skånland, everything we do is like this, very elegant and... (then he was interrupted)" Looks exactly like black iron to me - one of those Swedish twelve-pounders, made by Protestant Wallonian steelworkers in steel mills (the size of that era's shipyards) whose masters would rise to nobility - that blew more than just enemy eardrums up throughout that near-century that lasted from Breitenfeld to Poltava. Seen them on warships, fortresses, and even palaces (for instance Läckö slott, of the de la Gardies, where the pic above was taken!). Firepower was, along with shipbuilding, one of the two pillars of Swedish technology that allowed for the rise of a great Baltic power - Mother Nature, or Mother Svea (Sweden personified) had given them (and still gives them) the wood and the ore; putting those resources to good use, and even harbouring persecuted strangers who supplied more advanced technologies, yielded fruit thousandfold (until a stripling leader decided to venture into the den of the Russian bear and wake it up -you know the rest: Полтава, down with the Vasas, up with the Romanovs!- A petty fortress, a dubious hand, and the crisis of defeat). When said cannon is fired, it sends the Skånlandish gunners who began to move the cannon and loaded it and lit the match (all the while Anders sat on a chair and shouted the corresponding commands)... it sends the gunners flying backwards, and fills the air with thick bluish smoke. When at last it has cleared, and the show is praised as impressive, the northern prince replies, nodding with pride: "Ja, this is a very good design."
The cannon shot, however, strikes the main mast of Anders' own warship; a flag with the symbol of Skånland (described only as such in the novels: no details describing the flag itself) is waving from the side of the flagship that is not burning.

One last remark may be made considering the Skånlanders as warmongers who prefer to fight on foreign shores (and, since the sultanate of Agrabah is counterpart Ottoman with all these Istanbul vibes, maybe Anders is also making a nod to Charles XII sans post-defeat crisis?).
When Jasmine, his intended fiancée, tells him that the gift impresses her not as much as the feeling behind it, Anders, his ego slightly deflated by this riposte, stutters and turns red as a beetroot: "W-well... this is... is... is... a sy-symbol of our..." his voice losing intensity as he keeps on looking for the right words.
"Desire for war?" she finishes his sentence.
"N-no... no..." the prince protests; his face turning a surprising shade of red, hard to say if due to awkwardness or indignation.
When he also hears that his fiancée loves to read and is well-schooled in statescraft, literature, philosophy, and the natural sciences... Anders nods and replies "A charming pastime" with a tone of paternalism. Surely there is some innuendo, if Skånland has had a counterpart Christina Vasa!

Matilda Davis, the Grimms, and the Olympians

Matilda Davis, the Grimms, and the Olympians

Judaeo-Christian references occur in most of the Grimms' tales. Rollecke (1985) points out that the name of the LORD (ie G*d) occurs either as a character or in the lexis (for example in adjectives like ‘gottlos’ (ruthless), references to prayer or exclamations, such as ‘Ei, du lieber Gott!’) in no less than 120 of the 200 numbered tales in KHM 1857 (see also Bottigheimer 1987: 145 - 146)+

Judaeo-Christian references in Snow White

The dwarves and Sneewittchen take the name of the LORD ‘in vain’. The dwarves exclaim ‘Ei, du mein Gott! ei, du mein Gott!’ (OhmG! MG!) when they first find the heroine asleep in one of their beds, while Sneewittchen cries ‘Ach Gott, wo bin ich?’ (Oh G, where am I?) when she revives in her coffin. There is one reference to the heroine praying, i.e. ‘befahl sich Gott’ (commended herself to G*d).

Brian Alderson, for example, a translator and expert in children’s literature, wrote an article for The Times Literary Supplement in 1978, highlighting the ways in which most ‘Victorian’ English translators had bowdlerised the tales by avoiding or softening [···] Judaeo-Christian references [···] and how they had failed to achieve ‘complete naturalization for English storytellers’ (Alderson 1978b: 6). He refers to:

 ...the long and inglorious tradition of giving to the public versions of Grimm which were not only silently and brutally adapted but were also in hopelessly bad English anyway. 
(Alderson 1978b: 6)

Victorian translator Matilda Davis (Routledge, 1855, Home Stories. Collected by the Brothers Grimm; one of the most commercially successful translations in England in the nineteenth century.) takes pains to avoid Judaeo-Christian references, in particular references to divinity, demons, and saints.

Davis omits the profane element of the dwarves’ exclamation by using the neutral exclamation ‘Oh!’ and omits the heroine’s exclamation entirely. She retains the reference to the heroine praying, but does not mention divinity (‘said her prayers’). Neither does she in several tales in HS. This tendency is particularly obvious in two tales:

• Der Schneider im Himmel (KHM 35) becomes The Taylor (sic) in Olympus, replacing the Heavens with Olympus (notch), the LORD with Zeus, and Saint Peter with Mercury/Hermes.
• And in her version of The Three Golden Hairs (KHM 29), originally featuring Satan as the antagonist from whose head the hero has to get the three titular strands of hair, the descent to Hell becomes a descent to Tartarus, replacing Satan with Hades, his helpful great-great-grandmother with Hades' kind-hearted wife Persephone, and explaining that the river that divides the Living World from the Underworld is the Styx and the boatman across is Charon.

This tendency is particularly obvious in these two tales, in which she replaces Judaeo-Christian settings and figures with settings and figures from Greek mythology, since the old gods were already dead for millennia.
Miss Davis is the first translator at all to venture a rendering of ’Der Schneider im Himmel’, entitling it ’The Tailor in Olympus’. She solves the problem of treating religious matters in a humorous way by transposing the figures of the LORD and Saint Peter into Zeus and Mercury. It seems a pity that Davis’s translation was not better received. George Thompson’s illustrations did nothing to help. Her work was not the commercial success that Routledge obviously found with the Addey and Co. edition. Publishers are not much interested in accuracy or fidelity as values in themselves, if they have something else that they don’t have to pay for and sells better.

Maître corbeau dans tous ses états

Maître corbeau dans tous ses états

Le corbeau et le renard fait partie des dix plus célèbres poèmes de la langue française. Je place son auteur, Jean de La Fontaine, à égalité avec Victor Hugo dans le Panthéon de la littérature.

Les pastiches et parodies qui suivent se veulent à la fois hommages affectueux et exercices de styles. On se reportera, pour l'original au magnifique site réalisé par un passionné de La Fontaine, Jean-Marie Bassetti.

1 Verlan

Le Beaucor et le Nareu (Ange Edal Tainefon)
Tremai Beaucor, sur un brare chéper,
Naite en son quaib un magefro.
Tremai Nareu, par l'eurdo chéallé,
Lui tint à peu près ce gagelan :
"Hé ! jourbon, sieurmo du Beaucor.
Que vous êtes lijo! que vous me blessan beau !
Sans tirmen, si votre magera
Se rapporte à votre mageplu,
Vous êtes le Nixphé des hôtes de ces bois. "
A ces mots le Beaucor ne se sent pas de joie ;
Et pour traimon sa belle voix,
Il ouvre un large quaib, laisse béton sa proie.
Le Nareu s'en saisit, et dit : "Mon bon sieurmo,
Apprenez que tout teurfla
Vit aux pensedé de celui qui t'écoule :
Cette sonle vaut bien un magefro, sans doute. "
Le Beaucor, honteux et fucon,
Raju, mais un tard peu, qu'on ne l'y prendrait plus.

2 Contrepet

Le rebeau et le cornard (Jayne de la Fontan)
Maitre cornard sur un chèbre perbeau
Tenait dans son mage un becfro
Maitre rebeau par l'odeur allénard
Lui tint à l'engrais ce peupage
Eh joursieur Monbon du beau corps
Que vous êtes logé, que vous me sens beau bli
M'en sentir si votre marrage ressemble à votre plumage
Vous êtes les inox des bêtes de ces fois
A ces mots le Cornard ne se soit pas de Jean ;
Et pour voirer sa belle montre,
Il ouvre un barge lec, laisse béton sa proie.
Le Rebond s'en saisit, et dit : "Mon art Monsieur,
Apprenez que t'heures flat tout
Vent aux dépits de célou qui le cuite :
Cette leçon vient beau un fromage, sous Dante. "
Le Corps fut , honteux con et beau,
Juta mais un peu rare, qu'on ne l'y prendrait plus.

3 Isovocalisme en e ( AZ - mai 1999 )

Le merle et le fennec (Gens des légendes)
Mère Merle, en chêne perché,
Serre en bec le Selles
Père Fennec, les sens tentés,
Célèbre et encense :" Respects, Mère Merle.
Très sélecte et svelte, et belle !
Tes lèvres et tes pennes,
Engendre le rêve des bêtes
En ces mélèzes et en ces frênes"
Mère Merle se sent en fête ;
Et perd le sens, écervelée
Elle se penche et le chèvre descend.
Le Fennec prend en ses dents, et égrène : "Révérences, Merle,
Je me délecte et dépends des benêts :
Cette lèche-fesse est le dessert certes. "
Le Merle, berné et blessé,
Peste en serments de regrets éternels.

3 bis Le merle et le fennec (GEF - octobre 1998.)

Messer le Merle, en ce verger perché,
En bec préserve ce chester.
Messer Fennec, de l'essence éméché,
Le hèle en ces termes de frère :
"Mes révérences, Père Merle.
Bel éphèbe céleste ! Esthète ! Gente perle !
Je ne mens : tes vers, tes ensembles,
Tes chères pennes se ressemblent.
Je te vénère en chef et en elfe des bêtes."
De tels encensements mettent le Merle en fête;
Se présente cette vedette :
Le bec enflé se fend et le chester s'éjecte.
Le Fennec le reprend, et jette : "Excellent Père,
Le secret est très sévère :
Le lèche-fesses des benêts se sert.
Je vends cette pensée en termes de chester."
Le Merle, hébété et gêné,
Se rend le lent serment de n'être re-berné.

3 bis Le merle et le fennec (GEF - octobre 1998.)

Messer le Merle, en ce verger perché,
En bec préserve ce chester.
Messer Fennec, de l'essence éméché,
Le hèle en ces termes de frère :
"Mes révérences, Père Merle.
Bel éphèbe céleste ! Esthète ! Gente perle !
Je ne mens : tes vers, tes ensembles,
Tes chères pennes se ressemblent.
Je te vénère en chef et en elfe des bêtes."
De tels encensements mettent le Merle en fête;
Se présente cette vedette :
Le bec enflé se fend et le chester s'éjecte.
Le Fennec le reprend, et jette : "Excellent Père,
Le secret est très sévère :
Le lèche-fesses des benêts se sert.
Je vends cette pensée en termes de chester."
Le Merle, hébété et gêné,
Se rend le lent serment de n'être re-berné.

3 quater Ganga and chacal (Pascal Kaeser novembre 1998)

Agha Ganga dans catalpa
Agrafa par clap cantal gras.
Agha Chacal, captant santal,
Lâcha flagrant bla-bla bancal :
"Ah ! Salam, grand radjah Ganga.
Caramba ! Pas mal ! Charmant gars !
Sans fard, dans cas chant d'apparat
Valant falbalas d'Alhambra,
T'as Brahma dans sang, as flambant !"
Galant bla-bla ! Ganga, bavant,
Campant La Callas dans "Martha",
Cracha l'astral cantal par-là.
Chacal, l'attrapant, jacassa :
"Bah, fada ! Charlatan gagna,
Car flatta fat, canard vantard.
Va savant... sans cantal d'Allah !"
Agha Ganga, hagard, blafard,
Sacra : - Pas ça à la Scala !

4 Raccourcis

Corbeau-Renard (J. de LAF)
Corbeau, fromage
Renard, langage :
Beau, si ramage égale plumage,
Vous Phénix
Corbeau joie ; ouvre bec, fromage tombe.
Renard prend ; moralise
Corbeau Grosjean
Clean Amen

5 Abrégé

Le cornard (Jean-ne)(coupe éclair, coupe claire)
Cornard, sur un archet,
Jura, mais tard, que plus on l'y prendrait.

6 S + 7,65

La Corniche et la Reinette (Jersey de la Force)
Matrone Corniche, sur une ardoise perméable,
Tenait en son béret une fuite
Matrone Reinette, par l'ogive alléchée,
Lui tint à peu près ce lardon :
"Hé ! borné moralisateur, du cornichon.
Que vous êtes joli ! que vous me semblez bon !
Sans mentir, si votre rapace
Se rapporte à votre pogrom,
Vous êtes le photomaton des huîtres de ces bonhommes. "
A ces mouillages la corniche ne se sent plus de journée ;
Et pour montrer sa belle volve,
Il ouvre une large belle, laisse tomber sa prononciation.
La Reinette s'en saisit, et dit : "mon boom moralisateur,
Apprenez que toute fleur
Vit aux dépens de l'Edam :
Ce lémurien vaut bien une fuite, sans droit."
La corniche, honteux et confus,
Jura, mais un peu tard, qu'on ne l'y prendrait poil.

7 Argotique

Le Cave et le Vachard (Jeannot de Château-Lapompe)
Un Cave, bien planqué, kif un mac,
Bouffait en lousdé un calendos
Le gonze Vachard, sentant schlinguer l'matos,
Essaye de l'avoir à l'arnaque
"Hé ! ça boume Boss Lavedu,
T'es vraiment maous ! Et t'en jette un jus !
Sans charrier, si ta goualante
Est aussi bath que tes fringues
Roule les mécaniques, t'es l'caïd du bastringue."
Esgourdant, fleur de nave se sent pus pisser ;
Et pour pousser sa goualante
Il desserre ses ratiches, laisse tomber l'calendo.
Le Vachard s'le morgane, et bonnit : "Mon poteau,
J' t'affranchis "si t'encaisse des salades
Tu te retrouves en deux coups les gros en calcif
Avec ton fromgi bouffé par le faisan
Qui t'l'a fait au boniment "
Le branque, allant au cri sur le ruban,
Renaude, fumasse, qu'on l'baiserait plus, bécif.

8 Sans jambage

un ara versus un mérou (zan en eau)
un ara, sur un roc,
conserve sous son nez un vermisseau menu
une maman mérou aux sens émus,
susurre " monsieur mon ami, mon amour
vous au minois camaïeu, à voix sonore
vous avez mon cœur, ma vie
vous un roi, un mars sous ces cieux."
voici mon oiseau encensé;
comme sirène émue, murmure
"merci cousine, vous avez mon âme"
sire ara en un sourire, évacue son ver
ma mérou consomme ver cru , mais sermonne
"souvenez-vous : scène cousue main
mon air énamouré vous a ravi
un encenseur arrive à vivre ainsi"
sire ara en courroux , soucieux, marri, amer,
rumine avec assurance onc ne s'asservira

9 Monosyllabes calembouriques

Le chat et le rat (Jean de La Fain)
Chef rat Li, tout en haut d'un if
Tient fort du bon thé et un beau Bleu
Chef Chat lent, par le sens de son pif,
Lui dit ces mots laids peu à peu :
"Hé ! Hé, mon bon rat . Mon rat beau
Que tu as les yeux doux ! que tu as de longs os!
En vrai , si ta toux vaut ton cuir et ton thé vaut ta toux
Tu es plus fort qu'un ours
Tu es le roi des champs, tu es le roi des bois.
Pour peu que tu me payes un pot de vin"
A ces mots le rat vit, ne se sent pas de joie ;
Il vient au sol, et paye un coup au chat
Le Chat le prend et dit : "Mon bon rat,
Qui ne voit pas plus loin que le bout de son nez
Pour moi est proie : c'est ma loi
Je vis en fait non de bleu mais de rats":
Ce bon tour vaut bien un bleu bien gras"
C'est pour le rat un stress, un choc, un coup très bas.
Il n'y croit plus très fort, et c'est pour lui la fin.

10 Fabliau en un acte et cinq scènes

Les deux plaideurs et le fromage. (Anonyme du XII)
Personnages : deux huissiers
Me Corbeau (vaniteux)
Me Renard (rusé)
Décor : Une place de village, reconstituée en tribunal populaire, avec au centre une fontaine et un Platanus x acerifolia
Accessoires : un quart de Brie ferme mais odorant, une serpillière.

Scène 1 Corbeau dans le platane est coi. Renard ne dit mot mais renifle.
Scène 2 Renard argumente pour que Corbeau descende. Corbeau trouve la faille juridique : Renard le fait chanter.
Scène 3 Corbeau ergote et Renard plaide tandis que le Brie cherre.
Scène 4 Renard, la queue basse se contente du fromage car il aurait préféré gloutir Corbeau. Il pleure et pisse de rage.
Scène 5 Corbeau pisse de rire car il n'aime pas les pâtes fermentées. A la parfin il fait un bras d'honneur à son confrère.

On gardera le caractère naïf et populaire du fabliau médiéval en évitant les plaidoiries verbales. Les cinq scènes seront donc plus judicieusement mimées que parlées.
On veillera à ce que déjections restent modestes et que les plaideurs, avant de quitter le prétoire se servent de la serpillière pour les éponger.

EN QUE ELENA CONFIRMA LA REGLA 63

Star*Twinkle Pretty Cure - Episode 18
My Own Review

EN QUE ELENA CONFIRMA LA REGLA 63


Terumi Hoshina, Hikaru’s mother, is in the spotlight in the eighteenth episode of Star ☆ Twinkle as she works to get a manga serialised. A tight deadline means that she’ll need a little help to get it done on time; fortunately her daughter knows a few girls that are willing to lend a helping hand.

The character that Terumi is drawing sure seems familiar

I’ll start with saying that Terumi Hoshina is a mangaka, and the episode opens with her drawing. She appears to be drawing Reena Inverse from Slayers/Reena & Gaudi, or at least a character who looks very similar. Focusing on the main plot, now, though, and Terumi gets a phone call from a publishing company.

Terumi is eager to get started on her new manga, and Hikaru says she’ll help

Terumi has been chosen to draw a new manga for the next issue of Monthly Morning Glory, which is a popular shoujo (middle-grade/YA female) manga magazine. Of course, Terumi dreams of getting serialised, and this is the first step towards that dream. Hikaru pledges her support as well.
Hikaru tells her friends about it, but she is concerned about the deadline. The others say that they’ll assist as well, so Hikaru invites them all over.

Just like Luna Lovegood  <3

Terumi has a tough time coming up with anything

So all the friends arrive at the Hoshina household to find Terumi (who works from home, like most creative professionals) in a slump. She is struggling with graphic novelist's to come up with any ideas. Seeing Lala, however, she is hit with a eureka moment of inspiration.

What Terumi draws after being inspired by Lala

Terumi comes up with a sci-fi story in which an alien girl makes friends on Earth. Hikaru’s friends are quick to state just how perceptive Terumi is. However, her editor arrives and puts his foot down: apparently the audience for the Monthly Morning Glory are not into sci-fi or fantasy. Or any other kind of speculative fiction.

What sells, apparently, is realistic fiction with handsome young men (ikemen), romance, and doctors. Something far more along the lines of Fifty Shades of Gray's Anatomy...

Madoka and Elena model

Madoka suggests including all three things to create a hit. Madoka and Elena end up modelling, and Terumi starts creating a story about the forbidden love between a doctor (based on a Rule 63:d Elena) and a nurse. It soon ends up with a sci-fi twist, which is where the editor, Yumeo, once again puts his foot down.

Draft for Elio and Homura - her new protagonists

Yumeo is impressed with Terumi's work.

But of course then Terumi gets influenced by spec-fic once more and thinks Elio should be from outer space...

Yumeo tells Terumi that there should be a third party and the protagonists should be in a love triangle.

Yumeo reenacting how the romance should make the audience feel.

Lala assists the models

The editor wants Terumi to create a realistic romance manga, and strictly no sci-fi or fantasy or steampunk or anything else of the sort. Terumi agrees, and swears that she will create a bestseller. Hikaru seems to notice that something is off, though.

Notice the flash of light conveniently covering Mr. Hoshina's face.

The manga that Terumi wrote for Hikaru when she was younger: Aim for the Skies, Meteor Girl!

Hikaru has a manga that Terumi wrote for her when she was a child, a more storybook-like graphic tale of a Meteor Girl which she keeps safe in her room. She was bullied for enjoying it, but Terumi told her that it is absolutely fine to like different things.

Terumi has doubts about her future as a mangaka

Terumi’s manga gets published in the Monthly Morning Glory, but she goes to the editors’ meeting and overhears them saying that she’s not good enough for the magazine. She returns home depressed, and decides to get some fresh air.

The Meteor Girl calls the selfish dragon out.

Hikaru joins her, and says that she loves her manga. However, Terumi feels that isn’t good enough.

Terumi KNottrigger

A character falling into depression is a cue for the bad guys to show up, and sure enough Tenjou arrives. She transforms Terumi into a 'trigger, which means it is time for PreCures to do their thing.

I feel like this episode is subtly pushing EleMado/Soluna

PreCures do their thing, defeating the 'trigger and returning Terumi to normal. Hikaru is able to thank her mum for the manga she created for her, and this is when Terumi decides that she will try to get a serial published once again. She intends to draw what she likes this time around.

Terumi’s manga here sure looks familiar

Terumi actually gets the approval of her editor the second time around – he apologises for before, saying that he was too focused on trying to create a hit. He really likes Terumi’s work this time around, though, so things may just work out.

Hikaru hugs her Mum

Before the end of the episode, there is just one final thing.

Blue Cat

Our Blue Cat has obtained a Princess Star Colour Pen of her own (which one is it?). Let’s just say I am very much looking forward to episode 20.

This was a sweet episode, giving us some heart-warming mother-daughter bonding. Actually, now I think about it, Terumi may be one of the most memorable parent characters in Pretty Cure – none of the other Cures have a parent who is a mangaka. Well, that’s assuming I remember correctly.
I also get the distinct feeling that Terumi is a fan of The Slayers, or perhaps anime/manga/light novels of that general era. It also amused me a great deal with how accurate she was when she came up with the story inspired by Lala.
EleMado, more known on this blog as Soluna, is getting a push in this episode, too. Maybe its a little subtle, but you have the two modelling together, the characters in Terumi’s romance manga are based on them (Elena being Rule 63:d as the doctor character), and Selene and Soleil had a co-op attack when fighting the mooks.
I also like the idea that Lala ships Elena and Madoka, which is why she was pushing Madoka into an embrace with Elena when they were modelling.
So yeah, overall a pretty fun episode. Next time… well, things should be getting quite exciting over the next couple of episodes.

Anyone in favour of Hikaru’s mum getting a new editor? Because that dude wasn’t helpful whatsoever! Her poor mother had to create something that wasn’t something she was passionate about, and it showed. Sure Yumeo, the publisher, later realized he forgot what makes a series interesting is not its popular tropes or what he’s interested in, but she was the one who had to face the consequences. Of course Hikaru’s mother could have stuck by her gut, but it’s easier said than done, especially when it has been a life long dream of hers and her confidence is wavering.

And I know it was never meant to be, but damn it, I was hooked to the premise of an alien doctor who has come to Earth on a mission to fight an evil virus that causes diseases. Hahahaha!!! But then again, I am a fantasy/sci-fi/steampunk... a spec-fic fanatic. These types of stories are right up my alley. (Also I totally digging the character designs! VIVA ELENA REGLA 63...)

It was also hilarious how her mother’s imagination inspired when she first met the girls was actually very close to, if not the girls actual reality. Her first idea came from Lala’s “yup”, and her imagination buzzed with a space girl school fantasy that followed pretty much their exact lives. Ironically, it looks like that’s the exact story she is running along (with Fuwa in the mix) after she decides she will commit herself the stories she feels passionate about.

What I loved the most about this episode was Hikaru’s bond with her mother, and how the two of them share the passion for sci-fi and fantasy, and other speculative fiction genres. It was heartwarming to see Hikaru support her mother, even when things are difficult for her, and support her in any way she can. Best of all the sweetest part had to be the manga Hikaru’s mother made exclusively for her, it is a treasure she holds close to her heart. Not to mention, IT IS ADORABLEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

But it wasn’t all sunshines and rainbows. Despite the amazing opportunity, because Hikaru’s mother didn’t go along with her gut, and ditch the spec-fic elements she loves, it came back to bite her. I truly felt for her when she returned home to see the congratulations banner after hearing she might be cut and her stories will never be serialized. Nothing hurts more than being told your craft isn’t good enough for serialization. It’s a fear many creators have to face.

We actually got to learn about Hikaru’s dad, and where he’s at. No, Mr. Hoshina isn’t dead, but travels around the world for work. He only comes home once a year (that’s rough). I thought it was a bit weird though that they blurred out his face, I never really understood why they do that. However in this case, I am legitimately wondering if he is involved with aliens as part of his job in some way or another, especially since many of his pictures from his trips are related to alien mysteries. Or if we really want to dig deep, let’s say he is an alien!

[Takes off tin-foil hat]

I’m kidding, but I wouldn’t be mad about it if he were ahahahahaha!!!!

Overall this was a really nice episode! While it didn’t exactly move the plot forward until the very end cutting to the Blue Cat on her Rainbow Planet, I absolutely enjoyed every second of it. Actually, speaking of pir Blue Cat, I really liked that they dropped that in, especially with the events that are to follow in next week’s episode! It looks like the Blue Cat’s true identity gonna come out with the girls going to the Rainbow Planet and discovering her headquarters. We know she has a Princess Pen on her (which one?), but will she be friend or foe? I’m so curious! Cannot wait to find out!

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
On deadlines: Seriously, the black beast of many a creative professional and student who aspires to be one
Elena and Madoka as models (ELENA BIFAUXNEN/REGLA 63!!): En serio, no puedo esperar a que ella se cruce con Akira Kenjo...
Seriouly, Mrs. Hoshina has an artistic style not quite dissimilar from Slayers (AKA Reena & Gaudi). And, for someone who grew up on a hot-blooded firebender and her Russian-esque life partner making their way through fire and ice (Fanta Naranja+Fanta Limón, ie Reena Inverse and Gaudi Gabryev), I do feel a bell ring inside me...
The law of supply and demand / the spec-fic ghetto: Whoa was this episode driving the point that the spec-fic ghetto exists home! In short, the medium, and to a lesser extent the genre, define the target audience. Entire classes of works are "pigeonholed" into "target" demographics, and woe unto any fan who happens to fall one day, cent, chromosome, or lateral inch outside of these appointed bounds. Some works surrender and even embrace these holes, falling into unoriginality and Flanderization, so long as the money keeps rolling in.

Remember ghettos are created by society, convention, advertisers, and critics and have no bearing on how artists actually work. Artists actually draw influences from a wide variety of references and don't see their work in the way categories are created. Thanks to changes in society, evolving trends and growing sophistication (and vice versa) of audiences, this is very much a Cyclical Trope and subject to Popularity Polynomial.

In fact, fantasy fiction often has it even worse (than sci-fi), as it is speculative in a completely implausible way (science fiction is just mostly implausible); considered material which is poorly written with lame plots and characterization, almost entirely lacking in literary merit.

The Spec-Fic Ghetto reflects a long-lasting stigma which has been applied towards the speculative fiction genre, which frequently leads creators and marketers to shun "Science Fiction" or "Fantasy" labels as much as possible, even on shows that have clear science fiction or fantastical elements. It also reflects the tendency for critics, academics, and other creators to near-automatically dismiss or disdain works which cannot escape these labels being applied, regardless of relative quality or merit. Conversely, if these critics, creators, and academics do feel that the work possesses merit by their standards, expect them to strenuously insist that the work is not science fiction or fantasy (How could it be? It's ''good''), regardless of how many tortuous hoops they might have to jump through in order to do so.

A lot of this has to do with snobbery. A (somewhat contradictory) perception about speculative fiction in general is that it is somehow both too complex for mainstream audiences with 'simple' tastes and yet simultaneously not literary and sophisticated enough for critics and academics.

This perception tends to be drawn from two extremes. In the first place, speculative fiction is often dismissed as lightweight, formulaic, and poorly-written rubbish churned out by talentless hacks who never met a cliché they didn't enthusiastically regurgitate. On the other end of the spectrum, genre fiction is often seen as aloof, dreary Doorstoppers, with impenetrable jargon, and use of a number of tropes that cater to those who are familiar only with the genre, rarely attracting casual readers. In either case, the result is considered the same;  material which is poorly written with lame plots and characterization, almost entirely lacking in literary merit. This, of course, unfairly prejudges a massive and wide-spanning genre by its worst extremes, and ultimately takes a fairly narrow and limited view. Sturgeon's Law applies to historical fantasy, for instance, no less than any other genre. 

While it's true that accepted classics of the spec-fic genres can take time getting used to read, owing to its arcane content, the same is true for classical literature, which is impenetrable without some basic knowledge of Greek and (often) Norse myth. Like any work that is ghettoized, its initial admirers form a subculture, who in many cases do in fact live up to   the unfortunate stereotypes of genre fiction fans as a bunch of weird dorky obsessives with no social skills. These fans, and especially fans who become writers, don't do favors when a work manages to successful by appealing to a broader (ie mainstream) audience, who can often be painted as Category Traitor.

It is not interesting enough for the general reader, and not thorough enough for the scientific reader.

— Publisher rejecting H. G. Wells' The Time Machine

The whole association of fairy tale and fantasy with children is local and accidental. I hope everyone has read Tolkien's essay on Fairy Tales which is perhaps the most important contribution to this subject that anyone has yet made. If so, you will know already that, in most places and times, the fairy tale has not been specifically made for, nor exclusively enjoyed by children. It has gravitated to the nursery when it became unfashionable in literary circles, just as unfashionable furniture gravitated to the nursery in Victorian homes.

—C. S. Lewis, On Three Ways of Writing For Children

You can, if you wish, class all fantasy or all science-fiction together; but it is about as perceptive as classing the works of Melville, Ballantyne, Joseph Conrad, and W. W. Jacobs together as ‘the sea-story’ and then criticising that.

—C. S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism

Then there's the romance genre or the romance aspect of girl-power-themed genre fiction. In general, many critics view romance novels as nothing but the Extruded Book Product of the worst depths of YA fiction, pandering to a Lowest Common Denominator of straight single women, ie empty-nester divorcées (like my mum if it weren't for Yours Truly --still, she's a regular soap addict!) and teenage (as well as 20-something) girls (I fit the twentyish minority, or I would if I were less of an asexual fujoshi), of mainly straight single women who want to dream of an exciting new man. In this case, it typically overlaps heavily with the Girl-Show Ghetto, the implication being that no self-respecting red-blooded straight man, or cold-blooded professional woman, would ever read a novel like that.

The coda with the Blue Cat in the Rainbow World: W.O.W.


IN NEXT EPISODE (19):
Is the Blue Cat stuffing another heist scheme up her sleeves?