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(きらりん☆レボリューション) 2006
Kirari (voiced by Koharu Kusumi of Morning Musume!) is a middle schooler who LOVES her food. So much so that it's scary! While girls her age swoon over idols, Kirari swoons over her dad's cooking, and couldn't care less about the life of a celebrity. But when she saves the pet turtle of Seiji of pop group SHIPS and falls in love, she decides to become an idol herself so that they can be together (or so she hopes).
Episode 79:
Hiroto is still lingering on GEPS, and can't seem to concentrate on everyday activities. Kirari has a new radio show where she reads letters and gives advice, so he asks her what she would tell someone if they wanted to follow their dreams at the expense of disappointing others. She of course says that the person should go through with it, and hopefully their friends and family would understand. If only our young idol understood just what she was starting at the time - now Hiroto wants to seperate from SHIPS and go to New York!
Episode 80:
Kirari has had a manga published, which everyone assumes (as that's how it appears, with Kirari's "everything I create becomes a mushroom" curse) is about a mushroom. Soon a mushroom fad has swept the nation, and she's selected as the world mushroom ambassador. During her various jobs, a troubled looking businessman presents her with a fancy mushroom and asks a favor of her. His son hates mushrooms, and as it's the father's life's work, such a thing is unheard of. It's up to the spokesperson for mushrooms, one who believes they lead to happiness, to convince the boy they aren't so bad. At last, we finally get another Hiroto/Kirari episode! Still, I'm very frustrated that we've only taken maybe a baby step towards them finally coming together. And now Hiroto is in another country, only to get passing mentions, and we don't know when he'll be back at this point. Seriously, this has been stretched out enough. Enough is enough! Just put them together already and do away with it! ARRRGHH!
Mushroom ambassador? Oh brother. If Kirari met me she probably wouldn't like me much - I hate the things, I don't care how you gussy them up! A boring and pointless filler episode with a few references to an absent Hiroto. I do find the fact that she made a Hiroto doll to ease the pain adorable, though.
In this episode, Lina and the Gourry literally scoure the forest looking for any signs of Pokota. So far unsuccessful (and injuring several forest animals in the process), Lina prods Zel into putting effort into the cause by telling him Pokota may hold the key to his chimera cure, and after that he becomes crazily determined in locating the little weirdo. We also learn that Pokota has a mission to destroy all mage-tanks, but won't give the real reason why.What I liked:-Amelia and her constant beating on/grabbing Zel-I couldn't stop laughing-No Wiser-Just letting the characters run around, being themselves, with no "Lina! You're under arrest!" nonsense
What I didn't:-There isn't really anything. Maybe the almost instant Amelia/Pokota friendship? Poor Zel has a rival now?
(コメットさん) 2001
12-year-old Princess Comet has no interest in her royal duties. She'd much rather play with little stars in the Haromonica Star-World system than fulfill anyone's expectations. On the evening of a ball meant to introduce Comet to the prince of Tamborine Star-World, he runs away, and the only way to know him is from the "twinkle" in his eyes. Now it's been decided that Comet will go to Earth to find him and set things right - but can she make the time between having so many fun adventures?
In this episode, Comet's host mother is debating what to throw out in her shop, and Meteo walks in, determined to buy anything Comet likes (in order to own what she can't have, thus holding "victory" over her pink-haired rival somehow). With everything gone, now they have to think of what to fill the shelves with that will sell, and not just from luck. Rababou won't let Comet get away with not searching for the missing Prince this time, so they take to the beach. There they run into a man who mysteriously collects garbage that washes up to the shore (like driftwood and bottles). Comet's twinkle detector goes off just as the kind man leaves - could he be the prince?
This time around, Comet learns that "searching for the twinkle" doesn't have to be a chore - there are wonderful people out there for her to meet as a result. That gives her inspiration and determination, and she doesn't fight it as much. Meteo spends her time waiting for Comet to do the clue searching, while filling her house with various things she buys.
(きらりん☆レボリューション) 2006
Kirari (voiced by Koharu Kusumi of Morning Musume!) is a middle schooler who LOVES her food. So much so that it's scary! While girls her age swoon over idols, Kirari swoons over her dad's cooking, and couldn't care less about the life of a celebrity. But when she saves the pet turtle of Seiji of pop group SHIPS and falls in love, she decides to become an idol herself so that they can be together (or so she hopes).
Episode 77:
Hikaru has decided (no, refused) to sing anymore due to the recent cruel incidents involving fans. Disheartened, her former team prepares to cancel the concert, but Kirari insists she wants to sing alone. What good would it do to disappoint the fans? Not even Wataru, who is frustrated that she's so ready to give up on their promise, can talk her into giving it another go. If it's like this, KiraPika will be over before it could properly end.
Episode 78:
Hikaru is free and on her own, leaving Kirari to focus on the fact that she and Hiroto subconciously held hands while rushing to get Hikaru to the concert. Now she can't even look at him without blushing. And Wataru even confessed to Hikaru soon after, presenting her with roses! But perhaps the big drama of this episode is good old Tina Garland (the American celebrity featured in a past episode) who has come to visit. She brought along her backup dancers, who go by the stage name of GEPS (*snort*), and Kirari spontaniously volunteers to come up with a big surprise for their Japan concert. After several hours and balls of paper later, flustered and unable to think up any ideas, she goes to Hiroto for help. But he may just have his own little problem, which seems to involve GEPS.
I never thought I'd see Tina Garland again! I'd have the say she's one of the very few cases I've seen where a foreigner is actually put into a flattering light. Her backup dancers are just as nice, but have the most AWKWARD accents I've ever heard (well, that's not true. Anyone who has watched that one episode of Mini Moni's Brementown Musicians will know what and who I'm talking about). I know they were trying to sound like Americans trying to sound Japanese, but yeesh. It looks like Hiroto is bothered by the fact that GEPS was able to master their dancing so quickly, and in the preview of the next episode (I only saw the first two seconds, though), appears to be going to New York again (this time alone, I think). Something about his dancing at Tina's surprise concert made him happy, and when GEPS mentioned the fact that dancing connects them to the world, he looked very thoughtful. Hmm. Also, Wataru + Hikaru = Awwww! Why haven't we seen Erina hook up with magic boy yet? XD Additionally, I kind of adore the new ending sequence :)
South Carolina resident siblings Carrie and Chris face a huge dilemma. A heartless tycoon, Mr. Practer, has bullied local businesses into selling their property so he can build a country club - and the family shop is the only one left who hasn't relented. If their mom can't come up with $300,000 in the course of three weeks (due to an accounting error made in the 60s, as pointed out by Practer's IRS accomplice) they'll lose it to Practer and have to move. But perhaps all hope is not lost. Leaving the kids under the care of their grandmother, the mom throws herself into meetings with people hoping they'll be willing to lend money to the cause. And with Carrie and Chris' best friends, oddball inventor Jesse and preppy girl Natalie, along for the summer-time visit, the kids soon come across an old ghost story that may have an answer. It seems a woman named Carolyn dropped an expensive bracelet in the forest surrounding Grandma Lenny's home years ago, and her spirit haunts the grounds, seeking it out. If they can find it, perhaps their money woes will be over. Carrie, the amateur ghost hunter (who doesn't really do much more than walk around and talk into a recorder) of the group, can't resist making real contact with the beyond.
This movie, while not exactly on the same level of painful and bad as Max Magician and the Legend of the Rings, is still pretty B-movie. Warning, spoilers below!-99% of the cast barely count as actors, reciting their lines with an awkward stiffness you'd see in an elementary school play. -Jesse has an incredibly strange sounding voice that I swear must be dubbed. No kid talks like that.-While it's always referred to as "the shop," we are never told what kind of shop it is. The vague (and rather cheap) decorations give no clues and no more than one table is ever full at a time. How do they stay in business?-The whole "a poor nurse and her daughter living in a cabin in the woods" thing was just confusing. Why was she running home? Didn't she have a car or couldn't she take a cab? Did she usually walk to the hospital? How did she die, exactly? So many questions!-Don't even get me started on Gus, the weird old guy who claims he met "the Queen" and conveniently remembers at the end he has a bag of $300,000 worth of cash just sitting around his house. What the heck? If he had the money, why didn't he help them earlier?!-I think it's a little disrespectful to take something your great-grandmother died trying to deliver, and put it up on Ebay (or whatever that was supposed to be) immediately. Sure it was to save "the shop" but, geez. And how convenient that it was worth exactly $300,000. -Apparently, slight breeze = ghost!Overall, unless you're a fan of bad movies or have a cousin, sibling, or child who eats this stuff up, I'd stay clear. Watch Ferngully or something. Buy the DVD at Amazon
-Nina is deeply confused by Zero's confession to have stolen her first kiss - but she doesn't have much time to think about it, because immediately after, Diamond shows up to try to capture her. She's unsuccessful, but something has changed about Nina. Why is she suddenly experiencing witch-like powers? Could it have something to do with that kiss?-Zero is becoming more affectionate and friendly towards Nina, causing the blushing schoolgirl to wonder if it's Zero she's in love with, and not Ichi like she previously thought. But then Clover, the youngest of King's clan, traps Nina, Ichi, and a few other former fighters-for-the-Pearl in a strange box. The only way to get out is to find your "special someone," a person you're emotionally connected with. If Nina can't come to terms with her feelings, she'll never get out (and they will have indeed captured her for their purposes). And Ichi has a heart-stopping confession of his own to make.-A final showdown is about to take place. The conclusion will be in volume 7.So, I guess we had our "love showdown" in this volume - Zero and Ichi both confess to being in love with Nina (well, Zero doesn't so much as confess as calling her "his girl") and the poor girl (psh, please. I wish I had her problems) just doesn't know where her heart lies for quite some time, until near the end. Then and there she rests her forehead on Zero's back, blushing, and we know her decision (who called it?). Because Nina was captured, our wizard boys run off to rescue her, with Forte, Rokka, Sun, etc. in tow (because apparently they're all friends now). Fighting will be hard for Zero, though, since his magic was stolen.
In this episode, Lina is automatically blamed for the mysterious disappearance of several pets of the wealthy. So, she drags inspector Wizer and her friends to an island almost impossible to reach, to once again claim her innocence.
What I liked about this episode:
-Gourry making friends with that giant, mutant jellyfish. For some reason, Gourry was almost at maximum adorable this episode
-Amelia and Zelgadis being "eaten" and later licked by the jellyfish
-Lina kicking Wizer, but forgetting she'll fly through the sky as well (being attached to him through the handcuffs)
-Lack of Pokota
What I didn't like:
-No Xellos yet
-Wizer. He's just... I don't know, he gets on my nerves. Could we please have one episode that he isn't in?
