Flip Flappers

^It's poooooossible, and that would be one hell of a twist, but as far as I read it, the reason Mimi can clover people and has tentacle powers now is that she's able to control Pure Illusion at will. She's reached the point where she can do what Asclepius wants - she has perfect control over Pure Illusion, and can change it to the point that it can affect the real world, the way Cocona and Papika accidentally did with Iroha. Being one with Pure Illusion for that long probably didn't hurt, either.

Though it's true - Mimi doesn't have all of herself back, just the four big shards Flip Flappers had (and maybe the ones Asclepius put into their tower?). Yayaka and Papika still have one that didn't merge back in. Maybe that one's the Morality Core.

we're going full ｅｖａｎｇｅｌｉｏｎ for the finale. i'm going to guess papika and cocona are not gonna beat up mama-mecha and go drive off into the sunset to get hitched in vegas. i mean, they already have the dresses but

also, why did the pervy robot turn into a muscle daddy, that was fucked up

edited 22nd Dec '16 9:11:26 AM by majoraoftime

So I tried watching the first episode and my was it a slog. The next episode looked like it had some promise, but I dunno. Doe sthe show pick up anytime soon?

The thing about the show is that its mostly a Sakuga showcase.

There's a lot more to the show, and a lot more structure, in Episode 2 and beyond, but it is pretty monster-of-the-week and surreal for a while.

And in this episode. Yayaka turns into the green power ranger. Kicks everyone's asses and then worfs like every sixth ranger. And Mimi turns into a tentacle monster. Hentai writers, ready your pens!

So we got a recap of previously seen illusions, courtesy of Reverse Mimi.

Things looked pretty bad for a while here, but a timely intervention by Real Mimi seems to have put things on the right track, and now Papika and Cocona are ready to kick ass with the power of love and their new forms. And man are those powerful.

Meanwhile Salt... wants to go into that weird machine that drove his father mad?

The big finale should be awesome.

I gotta say, the speech real (or at least gentle side)-Mimi gives to Cocona was pretty basic, but I thought it was #relatable content. It hit home for me.

edited 22nd Dec '16 5:37:59 PM by majoraoftime

Yayaka finally transforms... then Cocona and Papika get stronger forms

Emphasizing that Papika used to be in a relationship with Mimi only makes her courting Cocona now creepy

Do wonder how much of this is going to get tied up

I still believe in a non-creepy Papicoco. I also believe in the OT3, because damnit, Yayaka's fought really hard.

Yes, I must say "I've loved you ever since you were born, in fact I listened to your fetal movements in the fucking womb" was a bit of an awkward line.

You know, the new forms look suspiciously like wedding dresses. I wonder if that's intentional.

Naaah, I'm sure that's just a coincidence! Plus, like... a young bride going off to get married is like the ultimate traditional separation and marking of independence from a young woman and her parents and that really wouldn't have anything to do with what's happening, right?

I wonder if beating up a giant monster together is a part of traditional Japanese wedding ceremony?

Of course, it is part of the traditional Kaiju extermination ceremonies. How else would they get rid of all the monsters that crawl out of the sea?

We still have no idea what exactly happened to Papika - it looks like she was broken the same way Mimi was, kind of.

She doesn't seem to have had any change in personality, though. The flashback in the beginning made it look like she reverted to a child, for... some reason.

There still hasn't been any explanation for how Papika and Cocona got back out of Mimiland in the first place, why Salt got older while Papika got younger, where all those side characters came from and why they range from completely normal human to literally a brain in a robot that operates on Wile E. Coyote physics... I'm still gonna go with "they never actually left Mimiland and that's why everything is weird." Though I'm not sure the last episode is going to explain anything. Apparently a major Art Shift will happen?

Things noticed on rewatching episode 1: The giant worm-snake-things that dove into the ocean had the same big red eldritch tongue weapons as Mimi. Papika was surprised when they opened up Bu-chan and saw the brain, as if she didn't know it was in there. I totally forgot that Cocona used to wear glasses... what happened there? They're magically fixed in the beginning of the second episode, but I don't think she ever used them again.

edited 23rd Dec '16 12:45:22 PM by Kotomikun

don't forget the most burning question of all: whether Salt and Sayuri will shack up at the end of the show.

Anyway, apparently they just haven't finished animating the last episode, so they just put the storyboards up for the preview.

It seems like a several anime this season are running beyond the usual 12 episodes. Maybe just 13, but neat!

Like everyone, I'm very confused about the relationships in this show for a while now. If Papika was just friends with Mimi, Papicoco would be not as weird but who are we kidding, that's still super weird, and I'm pretty certain they (and Salt who's totally the daddy) were a thing. Have they even explained how Papika got younger yet? I've only been half-paying attention to this series.

I'm glad that Yayaka managed to become best girl.

The real question is, why didn't he (it? they?) do it sooner, that was the best.

edited 23rd Dec '16 7:15:09 PM by Ruise

It is pretty weird but, I mean, this is a weird show. The relationships are bound to be as surreal as everything else. There's something of a Generation Xerox theme going with Cocona and Mimi, Salt Junior and Salt Senior, and Papika and... herself, apparently, so that's probably how it's meant to fit together.

Another lingering mystery: what the heck was Flip Flap doing before they found Cocona? It's not just Papika that didn't remember her, if Salt or anyone else did they wouldn't have messed around with other "candidates" while an evil robot grandma watched over her. This is one deep rabbit hole. Hopefully the last episode knows the way out.

edited 23rd Dec '16 8:16:39 PM by Kotomikun

ANN review of episode 12.

I have to say I basically agree. Psycho mama bear Mimi isn't really compelling as an antagonist, and Yayaka and Cocona are basically the only real characters in the thing.

I kinda stopped taking those reviews seriously last episode, when he basically declared the show could not be salvaged because it made too many Evangelion references.

Mimi's split personality isn't just "protective" versus "supportive." On the most fundamental level it's "embrace change" versus "fear of change." How that connects to Papika and Cocona should be obvious. Saying Yayaka and Cocona are the only real characters feels like a case of idealism equals unrealistic.

Cocona needs Papika to open up and try new things, and Papika needs Cocona to keep her reckless impulsivity under control; we established that in the first couple of episodes. The two halves of Mimi don't feel like real people because they aren't, they're two extremes of one person... that was the whole point of Cocona and Papika's devolopment, they're each less complete without the influence of the other (but their base personalities still distinguish them from each other).

edited 24th Dec '16 3:06:26 PM by Kotomikun

I think you could make an argument for Papika that her love for Cocona has allowed her to tame her wild impulses.

I don't think it's a case of scorning idealistic characters. Both Yayaka and Cocona go from disaffected to idealistic. Yayaka almost has Kyoko Sakura's exact character arc.

Also, Papika ate the placenta. Merry Christmas, everyone.

edited 24th Dec '16 8:01:13 PM by majoraoftime

Episode 13:

I'm not completely sure what actually happened, but I'm satisfied with this ending.

Best Yuri anime I watched, for sure.

Well, the show is over now!

I'll need a bit more to type up my full impressions, but here's the brief.

The episode felt rushed in terms of resolution, I think, especially near the end. It's still solid - stuff like Salt's resolve to shoot his doubts, the way Cocona hesitates a second to call him 'Salt-san' when she must have by now figured out that he's her father - but the fakeout ending meant nothing and wasn't even really convincing. Having Cocona dip back into confusion and doubt, or tempting her with a world that didn't involve Pure Illusion anymore, didn't make any sense after she'd already realized that she wanted to keep going on adventures with Papika anyway during the battle.

That said, it was a pretty good ending. We got handwaves on why Papika de-aged, and no answer on how Asclepius took Cocona from Pure Illusion where she was being raised, but most other things were pretty well wrapped up. I still hold out hope for an OT3 in the future, though.