Super GALS

[heavenly_pearl]

I had a bit of a second season Super GALS marathon last weekend, since the boxset I ordered ages ago finally came in. It wasn't quite as good as the first season, in my opinion, but still pretty awesome. Super GALS will most likely keep its second place spot on my list of favorites, just barely squeaking past Fruits Basket.

I think the main reason why the second season wasn't quite up to par with the first is that it focused a lot more on romance, rather than the wonderful friendship between Ran, Miyu, and Aya. It didn't really help that of the four main couples -- Ran/Tatsuki, Miyu/Yamato, Aya/Otohata, and Mami/Yuya -- the only one I really liked was Miyu and Yamato, who didn't get as much screen time as they did in the first. While I also think Ran and Tatsuki make a good couple for the most part -- I still think it's cool that for once, the lead girl didn't end up with the lead guy -- Ran's reluctance to show any kind of real affection toward Tatsuki, even going as far as to punch him every time he wanted a kiss, got on my nerves. Sure, it's nice to have a shoujo lead who isn't the romantic, mushy type, but, really, I felt sorry for the poor guy. All he wanted was to be lovey-dovey with his girlfriend. Was that too much to ask?

As for the other two... I honestly don't see what Aya sees in Otohata. He's the world's worst boyfriend. Heck, he even told Aya as much when she asked him out, but she didn't listen and ended up spending most of the second season depressed and crying, which I hated. Aya was a very cool character in the first season. For once, here was a smart girl who would rather spend her time shopping and having fun, instead of studying, which was a great twist on the Mizuno Ami-cliche. Aya was still the "good" girl of the group, preferring more "mat gal" (mature gal) fashions and such, but she also didn't mind blowing off cram school in order to go have fun with her friends. At the very beginning, before Ran set her straight, she was even going on subsidized dates, definitely not good girl material. Yet, in the second season, it seemed like Aya lost a lot of her spunk, mostly because of Otohata, the jerk. What a shame. She used to be my favorite character after Ran, but not anymore.

And Mami and Yuya... Well, they ended up cute at the end, I suppose, but I didn't really like how their relationship began. Yuya still had a major crush on Ran, but just because he was nice to Mami, she decided to declare him her boyfriend (pretty much without his permission) and proceeded to cling to him like a drowning swimmer to a life preserver. If there's one thing I hate, it's clingy significant others. It's all fine and good to want to be with your boyfriend or girlfriend as much as you can, but when said boyfriend or girlfriend obviously has other plans, it's just not cool to pretty much hold him/her hostage. Here's another case in which I don't really understand why Yuya started to care about Mami, but I have to say that the episode when he finally realizes that he's over his crush on Ran and actually likes Mami is really sweet.  

Thoughts on the new characters

I thought Naoki, Tatsuki's little brother, was going to be really annoying based on his introductory episode in which he steals a photo sticker of Ran and Tatsuki and declares that he's in love with Ran, but, luckily, that was resolved by the end of the episode, so I didn't have to suffer watching him continually trying to steal his brother's girlfriend. After that, he wasn't annoying at all. He was even cute, with how he was always falling in love at a drop of a hat, and he made a good addition to the junior detectives with Sayo and Masato. I felt kind of bad for him when he finally realized those two were a couple, ending his dreams of being with Sayo, another one of his "destined"s. 

Towa...was kind of just there. I don't really have a opinion on her one way or another, although it was neat that she went to school and was good friends with the star of "Odaiba Cop", Sayo's idol. Now they would have made a cute couple, but Towa was a bit oblivious to the crush he had on her. Also, I really wish we could have found out what secret Towa had on Ran. She told Kasumi, but the audience didn't get to hear it. *sigh* Coming up with one would make for a good fanfic, however...

Bah, don't need more fic ideas!

And speaking of Kasumi Tsukino, she definitely annoyed me most of the time with her pathetic attempts to run Ran out of Shibuya so she could become the number one gal, but she kind of made up for it with the hilarious Sailor Moon parody episode in which she ran around in a fuku-style cos-play outfit and called herself Maru-Q Moon. With her last name being Tsukino and the fact that she always carries around a bunny-shaped purse, it was just too perfect. (Ran looked better in the costume, though.) Also, the episode when Kasumi tries to save up for a coat was the only Super GALS episode that made me cry, which also gives her extra points.

Comments

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

The magical girl tradition continues. :-) Every decade has at least one.