User blog:Staraptor Kwan/Aikatsu Stars! Episode 13 Review: A Tale of Woe and Underrated Hype

"Sighs" I cannot believe I spent an entire week waiting for this episode to be posted. And let's be honest, even though the sub editor in charge had a reason for being late ( visiting the LA Anime Expo), it would have been fine were it not for the fact that Episode 13 proved to be a total letdown. Well, let's get our fairytale started, shall we?

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a tiny wingless fairy named Yume and her big sis, Hime, who lived in a huge garden. One day, as Yume was looking for her big sis who had wandered off somewhere, she came across a house which humans lived in. Believing Hime to be in there, and since she was wingless, Yume decided to enter the house via some conveniently placed vines.

Once in the house, the little fairy stumbles upon plenty of curiosities such as candies and cushions. Suddenly, a human named Yuzu enters, carrying a plate of delicious pancakes and sets them on the table before leaving to brew some tea. Out pops Yume from her hiding spot, and she takes several mouthfuls. Having become happy and aroused through the partake of such a delicious treat, the tiny fairy would suddenly grow wings of her own, much to her joy.

Overcome with joy, Yume would spread her wings and fly around the room happily. Unfortunately, her joy was to be short-lived as she crashed into a flower vase, which toppled onto the pancakes. Even worse, Yuzu, who had just returned, became quite mad upon seeing her ruined pancakes and tries to swat Yume, who swiftly apologises before escaping via the window.



Flying on, Yume bumped into a female frog named Yuri, who apparently mistook the latter for her wingless, elder sister whom she met earlier. Yuri explains to Yume that the Demon Lord had taken her sister to his castle. When a worried Yume inquires for directions, the stotic yet kind frog points to a nearby forest. Thanking Yuri, the tiny fairy flies ahead in search her sister.

As Yume's search continues, a sudden gust of wind blows down, and three strange horned creatures appear. They are the Terrible Teacher trio, servants of the Demon Lord himself. They challenge Yume to a battle, but cannot decide on what kind due to them constantly bickering against each other. Eventually, the green haired Teacher, Tamagoro starts the battle with a word chain. Yume manages to keep up with the challenge until she gives a "ugly" answer, to which Tamagoro does not take kindly to due to his emphasis on beauty.

Suddenly, a handsome fairy swoops in and gives a far more "beautiful" answer, ruby. This appeases Tamagoro, who attempts to try again. Howver, the male fairy tricks him, which causes the Terrible Teacher Trio to retreat. Having saved Yume, he accepts her thanks and introduces himself as Nozomu, a fairy from the Kingdom of M4. Despite his pleas that she turn back due to the path ahead being too dangerous, Yume insists on going ahead to save her big sis. Eventually, Nozomu decides to accompany Yume to the Demon Lord's Castle. And so those two tiny yet brave fairies continued on with their perilous quest...until they came across a plump young woman named Koharudella, who without her glasses had mistakenly bumped into a rock. Yume points this out, and Koharudella manages to find her guitar-shaped glasses while thanking her. Suddenly, someone calls out her name, and two women, presumed to be her stepsisters, appear on the scene.

Our courageous and brave little Yume steps forward, attempting to defend Koharudella from being bullied by said stepsisters. In a surprising twist of events however, it is revealed that Koharudella's stepsisters have been doing the exact opposite; they have been pampering her with plenty of food, which also explains her plump figure. Suddenly, a handsome young man appears out of the blue riding on a fine horse. In his hands are a pair of glasses, which Koharudella thinks are her real ones. Unfortunately, said glasses do not fit, but in the very least Koharudella manages to make up with her stepsisters and acheive a happy ending to her story.

Meanwhile, in the castle of the Demon Lord himself, where Hime is imprisoned, the Demon Lord, Subaru smugly explains that he had captured her for the sole purpose of acquiring her wings. Since faries sprout wings when they become "aroused" by their favourite things, he attempts to do so by revealing several of Hime's favourites, such as tea parties and spicy curry. When Hime stubbornly holds out, Subaru then pulls his out his trump card of doom...

As our heroes continue to march forward, they come across various other fairytales for which they surprisingly only witness but do not partake in. These include Laura Riding Hood, who loves to play air guitar with a she-wolf named Anna, and Ako the evil Queen, whose mirror does not like telling the truth. The Terrible Teacher Trio appear again, but once again Nozomu's pragmatical trickery causes the trio to bicker and argue while our heroes escape.

Now, let us return to the real world to reflect on this fairytale.for a moment. While the beginning is actually quite acceptable, and it was quite nice to see classic stories being parodied by the main cast of Aikatsu Stars!, the problems with this episode happen right in the middle; in the last paragraph I wrote, three scenarios occured. Unfortunately, said scenarios did nothing whatsoever to contibute to the main flow of the storyline, thus ruining the pace of the episode.

Back to our story. It appears that Subaru's trump card was...taking a nap in front of Hime, which nearly breaks her down. Yet she still resists, which infuriates the Demon Lord, to the point where he attempts to exterminate her. Fortunately, our two heroes, having arrived on time, rush in and prevent him from doing so. Hime, aroused-"ahem", sorry, overjoyed at the sight of her now-winged sister, sprouts her own wings as well. Unfortunately, Subaru witnesses this and attempts to capture Yume for himself...

...and then Nozomu flies forward with his sword, which forces Subaru to take up his own blade and fight with him! As their swords clashed, one which greed and evil possessed, the other which bravery and love stood by, both Yume and the now-free Hime tried to escape. Alas! It was at that moment when the Demon Lord struck Nozomu down. However, as he attempted to deal the final blow, in came a pot of curry powder that incapiticated him, courtesy of the two fairy siblings. With Yume's encouragement, Nozomu rose, flew up to the Demon Lord-and slashed away his Giant Stone, thus turning Subaru back into a ordinary fairy. And with that, peace was restored to the land.

Back at their home, Yume brings Nozomu to Yuzu's house, where they encounter a now-reformed Subaru, and Hime herself for a congratulatory party. It is then that Nozomu reveals himself as the prince of the M4 Kingdom to Yume. With remarkable humility, he explains that he had fallen for Yume during their travels together, and so asks for her hand in marriage. Yume gratefully accepts, and everyone that has appeared throughout this fairytale so far cheers and rejoices for their well-being (excluding a very jealous Subaru and the Terrible Teacher Trio). And all of them, humans and fairytale creatures alike, would coexist peacefully and live happily forever after.

The End

(To be continued...)