Half a decade ago I started watching a kids anime that I'd never heard a single person even mention. I found the show from fanart, and my initial reaction when starting the show was “this is kinda weird and childish,” but even then, something about it entranced me. I had no clue then that this series would become something I think about every single day, something so amazing and dear to me that I have a hard time watching more, because the thought of ever reaching a point that there's none left to watch scares the hell out of me.
However, late last year a new season was announced, so finally I'm able to comfortably watch this show without that dread of completion in mind. I just finished my rewatch of season 1, too, and I was just as emotional, no, even more emotional during those last three episodes than I was years back when I originally watched it. I hope at this point you're wondering how what looks like a silly, wacky kids show on the surface has so greatly pulled at my heart, and in this review, I hope to illustrate just that.
This review will cover season 1 only, and will be split into a spoiler-free general section, and a spoiler section covering my specific thoughts on specific arcs and episodes of the series, which, while I greatly, greatly insist that you watch the show first, will include summaries of the arcs and episodes for the naughty people who do not. So, without further ado…
PriPara truly is paradise, a world where all girls can go to, regardless of age, status, or anything else (as long as they've gotten their PriTicket) to become the idols they dream of becoming. If you're already familiar with idols, you may not see them in the same light that PriPara does. Real idols are often thought of as a corporation, a product only made to be desired and consumed, but in PriPara, an idol is the truest expression of the self. That is to say, in PriPara, you can truly be yourself, even to the extent of some characters going through transformations causing them to look wildly different inside of PriPara.
PriPara encourages making close friends you can rely on and perform with, expressing your emotions to everyone, never giving up, and always, against all odds, being true to yourself. These core aspects are summed up in the first opening, Make It!, which happens to be my favorite song ever.
I know, these kinds of morals and messages exist in so many anime, so why is this show in particular so amazing? What puts it above the rest? For those of you who know the director from her other works, you may be under the assumption that it is due to Makoto Moriwaki's tendency of using over-the-top gags and very wacky humor, which is present (to a much lesser degree than her other works, however) in this anime, and for some people that is what they look for in this show. However, in my eyes, this anime shines for another reason, and its not the visual glitter.
What shines brighter than anything visual about the anime is its lovable cast of characters, their incredibly touching character arcs, and general interactions between the cast. I don't even mean this in a “Haha, the characters are so funny and cute! I love them!” way, though that applies here too. The cast is full of wonderful individuals, most of which I would be honored to know in person, people who truly fight for what they believe in, people who never shrink from a challenge, people who always try their hardest, in a way that I find believable and lifelike. Laala who truly believes in her friends and always gives it her all, Mirei who can be relied upon even in spite of her distance. Unfortunately, I can only talk a bit about specifics in the spoiler-free section. What I can say is that PriPara's characters are very dear to me, all of them have helped me develop as a person, especially Laala, the main character of the show, whose incredibly positive and stubborn personality, and her intense love of her friends and others in general, make her someone who I can't help but look up to and aspire to be like.
The characters aren't perfect, though. That is to say, even Laala has days where it's hard for her to keep her head up. At times like these, you often can't push forward by your own power alone. In PriPara, when anyone is stuck in a rut, unable to continue, their friends, family, and even fans give them so much love and encouragement, in some of the most amazing and touching ways, so much so that it's inspiring. PriPara constantly argues, with great examples and great passion, that you should be open with your friends and family about your problems, that you should let their love encourage you. It shows that you can rest your head on their shoulders, that even though life is hard, they can help you get through it. The message of expressing yourself as is, being truly yourself, is especially important.
As I said, in PriPara, you can be truly yourself, you can express yourself as you truly are. This can be a very scary thing, it's very hard to believe that people will love and care about you as you truly are. The anime makes no attempt to sugarcoat that, specifics on this will be covered later, but in general, the show tells you to be true to yourself against all odds, showing that even though it may be scary, your friends and other loved ones will love you, in spite of any flaws you might have.
All of the messages in PriPara emanate this positive attitude that feels so hard to maintain in real life, but PriPara so convincingly argues its positive outlook, with so much heart put into it, with such a burning passion, that I personally can't maintain a negative outlook after watching this wonderful show. PriPara convinced me that there is good in the world, and that there is good in everyone. It transformed my pessimistic teenage self into someone who believes in others, who knows that friends can be relied on, who refuses to accept defeat, who will always try to make their friends smile. I would recommend this amazing series to anyone, especially those who feel lost and alone in life, who can't accept others into their hearts, who are close to giving up. PriPara wants you to know that you can do anything you want to do, and it will do everything in its power to make you understand that.
If you've read up to this far, thank you so much! While there is a little more I could probably cover without spoilers, it would be very hard to do so. I would greatly recommend watching the show before reading anything in the next section, the exact episodes covered for each mini-section will be listed, so if you've seen partway through and would like to keep reading, you can! There are many, many plot twists and surprises in PriPara, even just in season 1, so I would greatly recommend watching it first! At the least, watch the first three episodes, please!
Laala's debut into PriPara marks the start of this wonderful journey, she's instantly established as someone who has a lot of love for PriPara, but is very insecure about her ability to perform. The classic mixture for a shoujo protagonist, and as she continues to grow, she becomes the same type of overly positive protagonist you'd find in many such works. To me, she epitomizes this archetype, and it's why I love her so much. She has a bumpy start, but over time, with the help of Mirei, she becomes more adept at expressing herself and believing in herself, as well as believing in others.
Episode 3 in particular marks a huge push forward in her character, with her learning that she can rely on Mirei and that Mirei cares about her. Laala's resolve to improve at PriPara transforms from simply not wanting to make Mirei upset, to instead being fired up and wanting to express her gratitude instead. This growth is so important to me, and I feel like it helped build Laala's confidence a lot, knowing that others believe in you and care about you, even in spite of your faults, and being able to trust your friends… It's so, so important to have friends you can rely on, this episode so perfectly establishes this understanding that strength doesn't truly come from within, but by accepting the feelings of those around you into your heart. Laala's confidence isn't a fact of her existence, it's caused by her belief in her friends, who believe in her in turn. With this, Laala's hope for and belief in others grows!
Episode 2 already established the importance of fulfilling promises that you make, many early episodes are about this, episode 4 is a particularly great example to talk about, and involves my favorite side character, Eiko! Laala promises to Eiko that she'll perform, because Eiko has a tough match tomorrow and needs Laala's performance to feel energized, but Laala fails to make it on time for the performance. To make up for it, she promises to perform before her match on the day of, but due to the Headmistress, she almost misses it again. Even though it's completely out of her control, she needs to show up, she can't let down her friend. Thankfully, a helpful Non acts as a decoy! Laala's rush to PriPara so that she can perform for her new friend is great, and Eiko feels powered up because of it.
I opted to talk about this episode instead of episode 2 because of this right here, the establishment of Laala's amazing power, of PriPara's amazing and magical power, to energize the viewer. This power, of course, is very real, and even applies in real life. PriPara is just magical like that. With this, Eiko wins the match, and Laala further understands the importance of fulfilling promises.
Now, the next arc overlaps with something that I'd like to cover here, so we're going to be skipping from episode 4 all the way to episode 8, the pool episode! The pool episode is what I regard as the appetizer to the rest of what PriPara has to offer, and is the first episode that struck my heart strongly.
In this episode, Laala commits a crime! The horrible crime of double-booking, and not only that, but she's double-booked pool time with Nao and a performance, and she still hasn't even told Nao that she's gone to PriPara at all! Laala did the right thing in telling her straightforwardly about this, but she should've done it before, way earlier. Obviously, Nao is super upset about this, Laala is, too. Mirei's strongly worded advice helps push Laala to make up for it, and Laala publicly apologizes directly to Nao.
Laala… I can't help but cry in this episode, Laala's apology is so heartfelt, and it causes a Nao who feels like she's been betrayed to understand truly how sorry Laala is, and that Laala wants to make her smile again. Nao realizes she's unfairly sticking the blame on Laala, too. I'm so happy to see both of them apologize and be so honest with each other about how they feel, what an amazing episode. By now, while watching for the first time, I'd just started to realize how good this show is.
Laala's character as someone who truly loves her friends has been established, it will grow throughout the show, of course, so let's jump back a few episodes now.
Laala and Mirei decide that they'll join the Kirakira! Future Idol Grand Prix, which will take place in September, as their next step in reaching Kami Idol, this event requires a team of three, so Laala instantly decides that the famous idol Sophie is the one that she wants to team up with, resulting in Mirei instantly denying her request.
Indeed, in any way you look at it, Sophie cannot be seen as anything but a perfect, cool princess-like character. Surrounded constantly by her ~~bodyguards~~ fanclub, who do not allow anyone who isn't a super huge fan to get as far as a few meters close to her. Truly, she is the number one PriPara idol, completely flawless, always level-headed and cool. Despite the sheer difference in rank and class between Sophie and Laala, and her inability to even get close to her, she still keeps trying, even going as far as becoming a crocodile to get close to her.
Although Mirei has difficulty taking a crocodile seriously, she gives in and states that Mirei will allow her to continue attempting to get Sophie to team up with them, and gives her a tip that Sophie lives at Proud Tower Hills, the same place where the Pickled Plum Pizza Person lives (introduced in episode 3, Laala delivers pizza to her, for the naughty folk who didn't watch before reading.) Of course, it's incredibly obvious to any viewer that this Pickled Plum Pizza Person is none other than Sophie Houjou, and this episode marks the start of her character arc, with the end of this arc, there will be no going back for me. I will already be madly in love with this show.
In reality, Sophie is not a perfect, cool princess. She's weak-bodied and clumsy, she relies on her sister, Royal Guard, and manager to get anywhere or do anything. Essentially, although it is not stated as such, Sophie has narcolepsy, or something of the sort, though she can overcome it by using “Red Flash”, more commonly known as pickled plums or umeboshi. Despite this, since childhood she's been performing in PriPara, for years and years she's maintained her image as a cool idol who's capable of anything. Her cries for help are unheard, written off as her being cool. The Royal Guard has to stay so close to her because even when Red Flash is in effect, she's still clumsy and weak. Usagi, her manager, has coined the term for her usual, un-Red Flashed self as “Fancy Mode”, which is a term I refuse to ever use. Sophie has been brought up believing that it isn't okay for her to appear as she really is, that she can't show her true self to the world. Even worse, she's essentially being used as a tool by her manager, who only wants her to succeed so that he can get fame.
I mentioned earlier that PriPara doesn't sugarcoat how scary showing your true self can be, Sophie is set up as someone who has been hiding their true self for years and years, told repeatedly by everyone she knows, whether they care about her or not, that she absolutely cannot show her true self to the public. Her fear is to the point that she believes anyone who sees her as she truly is will hate her, but, of course, Laala looks into the Pickled Plum Pizza Person's eyes and nearly falls in love, finding her pretty and ironically exclaiming that she looks a lot like Sophie. Even just this small comment from Laala was enough to give her a little more energy than she had before.
I feel like, in most other shows, already this arc would be concluded. In most kids shows it seems like this kind of thing is concluded in a single episode or maybe two, the main character reaches out to someone who's insecure about showing their true self, tells them that everyone will accept them, so they shouldn't worry about it, and so they don't, they act as their true self from then on. I might be wrong about this, but at the least I know that PriPara does not treat character development this way. After all, Sophie's fear has been developing for many, many years, for Sophie to be able to get over it in a single episode would be unrealistic, no matter how positive of a person Laala is. It will take several episodes for Sophie to truly get over this fear, which most likely amounts to several weeks in time, since PriPara has a habit of paying attention to the exact time episodes air for events that happen (though this is not always the case.) However, Laala has broken into Sophie's heart, and change can begin, Sophie slowly is starting to feel less useless, shown with her working up the energy to bonk a frog in order to win the event the two were participating together in. They won all thanks to her!
Sophie has now decided she wants to team up with Laala and Mirei, and snaps Friend Tickets with Laala, but Kuma warns that even if Sophie has decided on this, another stands in the way: Usagi.
While Laala and Mirei are enjoying autumn in order to come up with outfit ideas, they come across their friend Eiko, as well as Love, who Eiko beat in tennis prior. Love needs some help, she wants to go to PriPara, but she's very tall and masculine looking, so she feels like she wouldn't fit in. Laala and Mirei convince her that she should go anyway and that it will be fine, and Laala literally drags her to PriPara right that moment! Laala is correct, Meganee comments on how Love has great proportions, and assigns her the brand Holic Trick, upon entering PriPara Love transforms (mostly by way of her hair growing longer) into a cool beauty, Cool Lovely, who instantly gets tons of fans. Truly every girl can shine in PriPara! This message of “every girl can change”, along with Kuma's maple leaf-resembling face due to being smashed by Love, helps Mirei and Laala come up with a new outfit!
As Laala and Mirei perform in their new outfits, Sophie watches them, their message that “everyone can change, like an autumn leaf” reaches Sophie and causes her to decide to try to get to PriPara on her own. A lovely montage of her attempt happens during the song.
However, it's not enough. She can't make it on her own, and she can't team up with Laala and Mirei, Usagi has already chosen who she'll team up with, and they're much more skilled than our main characters. Unable to work up the courage to stand up to her manager, she refuses their gift of assorted Red Flash, and returns Laala's Friend Ticket. In the next episode, Laala and Mirei attempt to deliver Red Flash pizza to Sophie as a gift, and end up talking to her older sister, Cosmo. After hearing about Sophie trying to go to PriPara on her own, Mirei decides to give Sophie a message.
With this, my summary of this arc ends, I can't bring myself to spoil anymore in specifics, if you still haven't seen the show, please go watch it.
Sophie's arc is incredible. When I think deeply about it, it feels like it does everything perfectly, or as near to that as I've ever seen. Laala convincing her that others will love her true self, but it not being enough even then, Laala's refusal to give up still. Mirei's strong message to her is almost more potent than Laala's words to her, stating that she needs to strengthen herself in order to fly with them. Even with all their encouragement, it's still so hard for Sophie to overcome her fear, which is refreshingly realistic. Media has always, to me, had a hard time truly portraying just how hard it is to get over despair, which is totally understandable, most people have no way to conceptualize despair, people who never grew up with anxiety, self-image issues, depression, any of that, they will just have a harder time understanding unless they truly force themselves into the shoes of those who do. Many people outright refuse to do this, maybe not as a conscious decision, maybe it is better described as giving up on understanding others. Mirei and Laala are not like this, however.
Laala and Mirei definitely have not had as much difficulty in life as Sophie has, though they do have their own personal problems, but they still can feel Sophie's pain. They're understanding of how it isn't easy for Sophie to just push past her fear and weakness, how she's surrounded by factors that prevent her from overcoming it. Where I was in life at this point, I had experienced this kind of deep-seated depression and anxiety that is nearly impossible to overcome, and thought that for others it's impossible to understand, so I could never be pulled out of my hole. Laala and Mirei completely tore apart this assumption of mine. Their great desire to team up with Sophie, to be friends with Sophie, to help save Sophie from her despair, was truly inspiring to me. The perfection of their characterization, the realistic-yet-ridiculous nature of Sophie's problems, all of it just perfectly clicked in my mind. No show could do this for me prior, and honestly, no show has done it since, not as strongly, not as truly.
No matter how hard I try, I can't fully express how important this arc, and this show as a whole, are to my very being. After watching all of Sophie's arc, she became my favorite character, and would remain as my favorite due to my ability to relate to her and her fear, until being usurped by Laala herself. Laala who never gives up, Laala who will always give her 100% in helping her friends, Laala who truly cares about everyone. At this point in the show, I had already started developing my feverish excitement for PriPara. Thank you, Laala.
Now SoLaMi♡Smile has been formed, seeming to be the strongest team currently in PriPara, but a new challenger will soon appear.
While this next arc isn't as emotional as the other season 1 arcs, it still serves its purpose well, and acts as a nice breather between the other arcs of the show. It also introduces the other three main characters, Shion, Dorothy, and Leona. This arc I previously overlooked, but on rewatching I found that there is actually a good amount to say about it. It works as a good display of learning how to treat your rivals with respect, as well as being Shion's introduction to having friends, and reflects the PriPara spirit as much as any other arc.
Shion is obsessed with black and white, disliking anything grey, and most other colors as well. She is a Go champion, and seems to not at all fit into PriPara, despite this, she translates her Go skills to PriPara skills very well, and Dressing Pafé, made up of her, Leona, and Dorothy, instantly becomes a strong rival to SoLaMi♡SMILE. Right away we're shown Shion's desire for a respectful rivalry with episode 16, where the journalist Nene Tokuda is trying to expose Laala for going to PriPara, at the request of the headmistress, of course.
Shion's development is very gentle, but also very fast, in the course of a couple of episodes she goes from refusing to snap PriTickets with Laala to forcefully snapping with SoLaMi♡SMILE. However, this development is interrupted by a few other things now. The rest of my writing on Shion will be continued later in the review as an interlude.
Dorothy and Leona West decided to move closer to and attend school at Paprika Private Academy. With this, it is revealed that Leona is actually a boy, to everyone's great surprise! There's a lot to talk about with this development in general, but the problem is most of it is actually developed more in season 2, but I would be remiss to not at least go over it a little bit here. After overcoming their initial shock and surprise, none of the main cast, no, nobody at all in the entire school really treats Leona oddly for being a boy, they're surprised, but it doesn't change their opinion of him or anything of the like. I very much appreciate this, even though it may not necessarily be true that this is how things would go in the real world, I believe showing this acceptance helps teach others that very acceptance, and I've seen it happen myself, due to PriPara no less!
Beyond that, Leona is a perfect example of someone comfortable to go against gender norms and stereotypes in my eyes, he's very soft and mellow, he's not insecure about it either, though he does remark that he thinks he needs to “shine on his own”, but as seen later in the episode, he already does. He has his own talents and charms, it just so happens that he is more interested in helping others than standing out. Realizing this also helps with Shion's understanding of her new friends and their ability to support her in her fight to beat SoLaMi♡SMILE.
There is more to talk about with Leona, but now is not the time. But look forward to it!
Headmistress Ookanda has been shown to be vehemently hateful of PriPara since episode 1, getting in the way of Laala's ability to come to PriPara and causing her to have to hide that she's going to PriPara from Nao. The tension between Gloria and PriPara is so strong, that Gloria cannot even step within 100 meters of a PriPara gate, her body just doesn't allow her to. She regularly remarks that PriPara is pointless, or even dangerous. She greatly dislikes idols, friends, and everything PriPara stands for. Despite this, Mirei pushes for there to be a PriPara live at the school festival, stating it isn't against the rules, to which Gloria reveals a secret rulebook that only she knows about stating it is prohibited. After some thought, Mirei figures out a workaround where the live can occur not technically on the campus and be allowed by a permit from the police, even Gloria cannot stop the live from happening. Gloria has had enough, she yells out “Remember PriPara!” to let the world know that she will have the last laugh. Gloria refuses to accept defeat, and now begins her strongest counterattack against the dreaded PriPara yet, but, maybe, Gloria herself is the one who needs to remember PriPara.
Taking total control of Paprika Academy, Gloria bans PriPara for all students, checkmating both SoLaMi♡SMILE and Dressing Pafé. Dressing Pafé goes on the offensive, but neither mental nor physical attacks will work on such a powerful enemy, even directly attacking Gloria's accomplice Rina only works as a momentary setback allowing the two groups to get their PriTickets back. Even being subjected to a PriPara performance changes nothing, as Gloria merely flees the scene once it begins damaging her. This act of defiance is only met with punishment. Even though Laala and Mirei decide to help Dorothy weed the grounds in an act of friendship, still the sky is grey. Our beloved main cast is cornered, and all hope seems lost, yet…
Using a combination of their unique skills, Laala and Mirei have started digging into Gloria's tragic backstory, even if only enough to know that she has gone to, and previously loved, PriPara. It is as Laala's mom said shortly prior:
While this development gives them a slight upper hand, there is very little time to lose, as at the same moment, Gloria has finally discovered proof of the secret identities of Laala and Mirei. The stage is set, the two parties confront each other, both are unwilling to give in, but Gloria humors their request to explain why she hates PriPara due to Sophie's arrival on her gallant steed, and her friends explaining that she cannot survive without PriPara. Gloria is sure that her story will convince the others that PriPara is to be hated, will Laala and her friends be able to break through this impenetrable fortress guarding her heart?
As Gloria wrote long ago, she did indeed once love PriPara, maybe even enough to rival Laala. As Sugar, she met Himeka, the two were closer than anything, true soul friends, sharing everything, helping and understanding each other. The two loved each other very much, and were truly inseparable.
Until the two decided to meet up outside of PriPara. Sugar waited for Himeka to show up long past Prism Stone's closing time, she kept coming back every day after school, whether it was rainy or windy, she still waited for her. She waited for a whole year believing that eventually Himeka would return. She never did…
Sugar now understood that the whole time she was a fool, she never went to PriPara again from then on, she never made friends again. Nobody would ever call her Sugar again, either. She left her PriPara name in the past, and decided to become a teacher to tell everyone of the horrors of PriPara. So ends Gloria's tale, Dorothy, Shion, and Mirei only look at her story through a lens of logic, considering her crazy for going to this extent over the betrayal of one friend. But Laala understands her pain. However, Laala's belief in others doesn't allow her to believe that Himeka truly betrayed her, and her insistence on this begins to break through Gloria's walls. Laala begs Gloria to give PriPara a chance, offering her summer and winter vacation in exchange, and asking Gloria to watch their performance.
This time, instead of a performance out of spite as Dressing Pafé's was, Laala, Mirei, and Sophie sing directly to Gloria's heart. Finally getting through to her in a way only Laala can, Sugar, in a daze, pushes through her mental block, and walks to PriPara, finally being reunited with her soul friend, Himeka.
All along, Himeka was Laala's mom, who Gloria had even started becoming just a little close to due to her love of Papa's Pasta. Sugar doesn't understand, she finally lets out all her pain, confronting Himeka and telling her that she betrayed her, but Himeka swears she didn't betray her, and finally the truth is revealed. Himeka, too, waited every day for Sugar.
Having never seen each other outside of PriPara, and both not knowing how the other looked because of that, they continuously ended up running past each other without even knowing. Even then, they should have eventually realized this, but just the day after the two were supposed to meet, the principal of Himeka's school forbid all students from going to PriPara, just as Gloria is attempting to do now. After graduation, Himeka returned to Prism Stone to wait for her. She continued to come there every single snowy day since, until today.
Gloria's arc is one of my favorite arcs in PriPara, the amount of times I had to take a break to cry while rewatching the episodes for this review is in the double digits, and it's only a four episode spread. This arc … what can I even begin to say about it? It's an amazing lesson about true friends and believing in those friends. Gloria finally building up the courage to return to PriPara, and finally seeing Himeka for the first time in around twenty years is such a beautiful thing, and executed in the most amazing way possible. It's so incredibly touching, Laala's mom believed in Gloria for all this time, waiting for her to show up still, loving her still. And beyond Gloria's part of this, there's still more to talk about here.
Laala once again has gone above and beyond in her belief of others. Instead of blindly hating Gloria for her hate of PriPara, Laala only ever wanted to try to show her that she was wrong, and try to understand why she feels the way she does. She reaches out to Gloria, who has been developed as a scary antagonist since the first episode, and upon hearing Gloria's tale of woe, she believes in Himeka, who she literally has no clue who is. Laala believes that she wouldn't just abandon her friend like that, that clearly something more complicated is going on here. She is hardly even fighting for herself anymore, of course her goal is to get PriPara unbanned, but hearing this story, she can feel Gloria's pain herself and genuinely wants to prove her wrong. She even sacrifices her vacations in trying to help Gloria, which mean so much to elementary schoolers like herself. Laala wants to make not just her friends happy, but everyone happy. Even Gloria, who is so clearly the closest thing to an enemy that Laala could ever possibly have. Even then, Laala wants her to be happy.
PriPara continuously shows that you don't have to use dark or adult themes to talk about heavy topics well. You don't have to be overly negative in your portrayal of a problem, there's a balance to be struck. Some people believe that good and evil must co-exist, but PriPara says that that isn't the case at all! Gloria is not irredeemable because of her banning of PriPara, she's not seen as evil because she quite simply isn't. People make mistakes sometimes, people misunderstand things sometimes, misunderstandings are seen as understandings, and then cause people great pain. Laala, and PriPara as a whole, denies that the world, that people, work in the pessimistic ways that you might think. However, like Gloria did, you need to learn how to accept these messages into your heart yourself. You can bring a Laala to PriPara, but you cannot make her perform.
There is much more to say about my love of Laala and all she believes in, but there is still another cour, another whole arc of PriPara to discuss, as well, so let's not dawdle, let's get to it!
SoLaMi♡SMILE and Dressing Pafé have combined together in order to form SoLaMi♡Dressing, perhaps the most funny name you could give this group, in order to win the Paradise Shoes, it seems that this idol unit is truly unstoppable, but just as it looks like they'll have the rest of the competitions in the bag, a new idol debuts who surpasses them in every way but one.
Falulu is everything that Sophie originally appeared to be and more, a true idol genius, her amazing debut performance fully showcases her incredible Prism Voice as well as her magnificent dancing and making drama, SoLaMi♡Dressing disbands as quickly as it formed in response. Both are going to need to work even harder separately to overcome this impossibly powerful rival. As a side note, to say more of Falulu's great talent, I very much appreciate how good PriPara is at making it incredibly obvious that she really is so far above the rest of the cast. I have not met a single person who hasn't been completely blown away by Falulu's amazing performance, I've known a few who consider her their favorite just because of how truly amazing her singing is. It really helps immerse you.
Shortly after her debut, we are introduced to the antagonist of this arc, Unicorn, who is Falulu's manager, though acts more like a mother to her. She forbids her from snapping Friend Tickets, as well as prevents her from getting too close to other girls, stating the Falulu is a vocal doll and therefore does not need friends. Her goal is for Falulu to make the Paradise Coord shine, and she is set up to, in my opinion, feel like a repeat of Usagi.
An entire cour after Shion's debut, which would actually properly translate to a whole season of time as far as PriPara is concerned, an old rival appears and challenges Shion to a game of Go. Iroha remarks to Shion that she believes she has gone soft, she has changed from the lone wolf she once was, and that that is why she lost to Falulu. It is very much true that Shion has “gone soft”, becoming a more personable person than she likely ever was, though that's not saying much, but has it really dampened her abilities?
While it appears that she has lost some of her Go abilities, she is able to bounce back once she learns how to see from an outside perspective due to help from Dorothy and Leona, with her mind's Go board becoming three dimensional. Shion now understands: “working together with friends makes me stronger than I was alone.” Shion has discovered true strength, which isn't from isolating yourself from others, but being able to rely on others as well as yourself, allowing everyone involved to be able to reach new heights that none could alone.
A lot of people have trouble understanding this kind of strength, and while maybe almost every kids show covers this exact topic, it can often be hard for people to internalize regardless. Shion's arc essentially, to me, feels like someone learning to like PriPara and what it stands for. Shion goes into PriPara not understanding the necessity of things like friends and teams, or how they could be useful to a lone wolf like her, but over time she slowly realizes that she can reach new ground with the help of others, and that some things can only be done as a team. PriPara itself argues this moral throughout its entire runtime, but kind of as an afterthought, in a way, so I appreciate Shion's arc for putting it right in front of you for you to see. Also, even in spite of Shion becoming more personable, she is still very much the same Shion, still obsessed with victory and even Go, but she has learned that there're other important things in life, like friends and sweet parfaits.
Both SoLaMi♡Smile and Dressing Pafé were completely destroyed in ParaPri by Falulu, leaving all six of them, as well as their managers, completely down in the dumps to the point of not even wanting to continue PriPara. The damage is so much that Laala can't even kashikoma! anymore. When you reach a low point like this, one of the only things that can really help you get back on your feet is encouragement from your friends, but the problem is that this has affected all of Laala's close friends as well. So who else can give you encouragement and support in a situation like this?
I think this song speaks for itself, with words of heartfelt encouragement strong enough to make me cry every time I listen to it. Cosmo, with the backup of Gloria and Himeka, performs for our beloved main cast what is, in my opinion, the most touching and amazing song in all of season 1 of PriPara. There's so much I have to say about this! I went into this performance already knowing that it exists, but even without the surprise it completely swept me off my feet! The main cast were at the lowest point they've been yet, to the point of nearly giving up PriPara, to the point of even Laala being drained of her bright and cheerful nature, so Meganii lures the six of them to PriPara, and they're surprised with this amazing energetic and hopeful song and performance by the adults in their lives that they look up to and love.
This is another case in PriPara, much like Falulu's performance of 0 Weeks Old, that I feel truly showcases the power that PriPara idols have. Cosmo is able to truly spread her love to everyone. This cool and collected older woman singing with all her heart, saying that everyone goes through tough times, and that, even so, life is worth living, that you can take back your happiness and live your 100% life. How could I not fall into a mess of happy tears from something as heartfelt as this? That doesn't even begin to cover how happy it makes me feel and how important I feel it is that this performance was specifically done by the adults that are important to the main cast. Hearing encouragement from specifically people like your mother, older sister, principal, and so on, is so important, and I very much love that this as well continues PriPara's reminder that adults are people too, even if they seem above you or in a world of their own they go through similar troubles and have hard times as well, which is part of why Gloria's arc is great as well. Of course, this performance was not just set up by Cosmo, Himeka, and Gloria, though. All of their friends worked together on this, even characters that have only appeared in one episode outside of cameos (with the exception of Ran-tan, who is currently in Horriwood), even those who are merely their fans helped make it happen. While I could talk more about the power of PriPara here, I think that would be better saved for a little bit later.
Falulu performs after Cosmo, attempting to cause the Paradise Coord to shine, but she fails to do this. With quick wit, Unicorn makes up an excuse, saying that this was merely a ruse. She puts up the Paradise Coord as the prize for next month's Shine! Next Idol Grand Prix, and says that Falulu will make the coord shine when she wins it. This gives Laala & co the opportunity to go up against Falulu once more. While Unicorn is intent on getting Falulu to make the Paradise Coord shine, Falulu has started to show that she doesn't really care all too much about that. She enjoys performing and going up against Laala, but that is mostly because she is interested in Laala herself. She also is interested in doing things that Laala and others do, such as snapping Friend Tickets and making friends, which Unicorn very much does not want her to do. Falulu is becoming more of her own individual, and wants to try out new things and learn new things, so she asks Laala to tell her about herself, and ends up learning about things like friendship, emotions, and family from her. Laala also ends up promising to show Falulu the outside world from her PriPass, since Falulu cannot leave PriPara herself.
Unicorn is not okay with this, though. Unicorn keeps telling Falulu that all she needs are fans, and that she shouldn't involve herself with friends or the outside world. Falulu does so anyway. Falulu has made friends, and she even has a toy robot that she thinks of as her little sister, lovingly naming her “Falulu's Non.” With the assistance of these newfound friends and feelings, she's made her own making drama to express what she truly feels to the world. Inspired by this, SoLaMi♡Dressing pool together all of their emotions and thoughts into words, giving them to Meganii so he can make them a song to go up against Falulu with.
After SoLaMi♡Dressing performs their new song, it's time for Falulu to perform her same old song. Unicorn insists that she should copy everyone's making dramas again instead of using her new one, but Falulu is not interested in winning anymore.
Falulu has learned to express emotions when she previously did not have any, and now she wants to do her best to get her feelings across, like her friends do so well. Falulu shines even brighter than ever on stage, finally singing for herself and her friends, instead of just out of habit. Even with this powered-up Falulu, SoLaMi♡Dressing wins the event. Falulu has lost for the first time, but is still happy because of her friendship with Laala and the others. And for the first time ever, Falulu snaps Friend Tickets, with Laala.
And dies.
Falulu was born from a PriTicket, she was never really a person with a soul in the first place. But through Laala reaching out to her, she grew a soul, and learned of things like friendship, ending up with her snapping her PriTicket, even though she was never meant to and should not be able to. It's less accurate to say that she died in this case, as Meganii explains it, it is only a bug in her system causing her to freeze up. Unicorn was aware of this, and it is revealed that this is why she was so against Falulu making friends. Falulu herself was even somewhat aware that this may happen, but even so, she still made friends with Laala.
Even though there are such incredible circumstances preventing her from making friends, she still reached out to Laala. But as I said, this is not actually death, I will let you work out whatever metaphor you want to make for Falulu's circumstances yourself, what is important is that even this is not the end.
The power of PriPara is the famous Prism Voice, mentioned all the way back at episode one. Its power is to reach the listener's very heart and soul. Laala and the others come to the conclusion together that maybe, just maybe, if they can harness the power of the Prism Voice, they could wake up Falulu.
Everyone works harder and harder, putting all of their efforts into waking Falulu up, not just Laala and the rest of the main cast, Unicorn as well, the Royal Guard as well, especially Chanko. Everyone puts all of their heart into their efforts, hoping that Falulu will wake up.
There is nothing I can do to summarize episode 37. No matter what words I use to attempt to express how amazing the Falulu Come Back Live is, nothing can do it justice. Please, watch PriPara, if you haven't seen it and you're reading this, that is very bad, go watch PriPara right now. If you have watched it, continue reading below:
Everything about this episode is the best ever. From opening up with all the main cast waking up and heading to PriPara to the Making Drama that is a Falulu version of Tokimeki! Present for You! The extended performance of Make It! by all six of our beloved idols, even their initial failure to maintain the shine of the Paradise Coord. PriPara's morals and beliefs are in full force, I can't stop crying. And then, after all hope is lost, after it seems like everyone has failed, after Laala has cried on stage… A single voice in the audience. Then more, then everyone sings together, everyone sings whether they're in PriPara or not. Everyone has Prism Voice, because Prism Voice isn't an unobtainable talent, Prism Voice is the ability to express your emotions strongly enough to reach the listeners soul. Everyone together sings with all their heart for Falulu. Everyone snaps their PriTickets for Falulu. The Paradise Coords shine brighter than ever, the graphics go crazy, everything is shining and glowing and pretty and pink and everyone is smiling. And Falulu wakes up. Falulu's making drama, Tick Tock Flower, Falulu singing Make It! Of course the biggest performance in PriPara could never be for a competition, but for the expression of love, for the making of a miracle. All seven of them performing together with Falulu as the lead, in the most crazy bright coords ever, with the funny One Piece reference that is the We Are PriPara! making drama. This episode is all that PriPara stands for, all of PriPara's heart and soul compacted into a single 24-minute episode. And of course the episode ends with all the main cast snapping tickets with Falulu.
The power of PriPara is truly the power of love and friendship. Many shows I've seen use the power of friendship as a theme, and I love it every time, but I always recount that it could be done better and that in many cases it doesn't really seem like it really is the power of friendship at all. But then I watched PriPara. Completely eclipsing shows I'd watched prior that did the same, although I still love those dearly, but PriPara does it the best. Everyone comes together and sings with all their heart. Minna tomodachi, minna aidoru. Everyone can be friends and everyone can be their best self, even if you cannot possibly make friends, you can still make friends, even if you cannot possibly be your best self, you can still be your best self. Nothing is impossible for a PriPara idol, and nothing is impossible for anyone. PriPara taught me this, PriPara made me truly internalize this, and I have been living by this ever since, and while my life may not be perfect now, it cannot possibly stop improving. This is the power of PriPara, which is really just the power of believing in yourself and others, and loving yourself and others. PriPara argues this with all its power, all you have to do is listen.
If you've made it all the way to the end, thank you so much for reading my review! I don't really know if I'd call this a review, that word sounds too professional and detached to call it that, hence why in the title I refer to it as a love letter. It really is one, to Laala and all her friends and PriPara as a whole. I was a different person before this show, a much worse person who was much less happy, I am completely genuine in saying that PriPara has changed my life. Even genuine in saying that PriPara defines me. Without PriPara I wouldn't be a fraction of what I am today, nor would I have a tomorrow that I can grasp in my own two hands. If you didn't like PriPara, that's fair, it's not for everyone. But to me, PriPara is the single best piece of media in the entire world. Nothing has ever touched me as deeply as it has, and I don't think anything ever will. Thank you for reading my attempt to explain what I love so much about this silly idol show. If you have anything you'd like to say to me about my review, please tell me here.
I love Laala. I love PriPara.
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