btw I finished rewatching sophie's intro arc and I decided it's still good and she's still perfect
15 year old already suffering from burnout
I like how this is mirei's message to her but I wish that the sentiment had been explained clearly for the sake of the kiddos. it's a fine line between "you have to push yourself extra hard bc of your disability" and "change has to come from within so you need to be the one who comes to us for help." I think it definitely lands on the second but I don't know if kids can pick up that nuance without it being spelled out
sophie's first attempt at kaihou otome valkyrie ends with her still trapped in the birdcage bc the key is just out of her reach. cosmo realizes that this is a 100% accurate metaphor for sophie's feelings and is pretty upset about it. I don't think she says "I thought I was protecting her but I might have been hurting her" but you can easily read that sentiment. she's a good big sis
laala and mirei argue with laala saying that they should do everything they can to help sophie join their unit bc it's what she truly wants and mirei saying this, which is a crazy thing to say. she means that sophie has agreed to form a unit with annoying twins instead of them. this is kind of the annoying twins two-parter bc dorothy and reona are also first introduced here. reona's an angel but dorothy is annoying enough for both of them
laala refuses to listen to mirei bc she has protagonist power and mirei is a nerd who believes in her calculations and not the power of friendship. she disrupts sophie's team formation ceremony (which is like a wedding with organ music playing? system desu kara I guess) giving sophie the chance to have second thoughts and jilt her annoying twins
turns out that her fanclub loves the messy unmedicated sophie as much as they do the stylish idol sophie and they want her to be the person she wants to be
she runs to laala and mirei, taking a break to sit down in the elevator bc she's so exhausted. very cinderella to have her in this sparkly dress with her hair all loose and shaggy. and now we see the complete kaihou otome valkyrie
laala and mirei hand her the key so she can unlock herself and in return she grows wings and flies the two of them away with her <3 it's soooo cute and the visual metaphor is so strong. sophie can do things on her own, she just needs a little extra help to get there. it would have been perfectly cute for laala to unlock the cage for her but this scene of them giving her the power to free herself is what's stuck in my mind for over a decade now. I love sophie <3 I love pripara <3
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I was thinking about how I have such fond memories of sophie's intro arc in pripara but I haven't watched it in 10+ years
sophie is a super talented young idol with a cool persona but that's pretty much only when she's on stage. in her daily life she's like this
traits that don't point to anything specific but could apply to a variety of disabilities. when she eats umeboshi she becomes the cool and collected sophie but the effect wears off and she often gets exhausted again without any plums on hand. this can be read as a metaphor for medication. she has a fanclub (pictured above) a manager (the rabbit with sunglasses) and a big sister (not present) who love her and try to protect her but it has the side effect of making her feel over-reliant on them and ashamed of her messy everyday self. she wants to be able to do more things on her own. I remember that this is eventually symbolized by her breaking herself out of a giant cgi birdcage but I don't remember the specifics of the story leading up to that. so another time I will check back in on how this storyline goes
returning to my pripara journey of reminiscence. there's so much i forgot including the canon explanation of how fancy mode sophie has messy bangs that cover her eyes but when she performs she has shorter straight bangs
it's the short pieces that frame her face on either side getting mixed in with her bangs
didn't screencap usagi's reaction to this bc he just no-sells her. he's like "huh? did you say something?" and moves on. I completely forgot what a bitch he was to this child he manages
even in the flashback where he first scouted her he was like "the kid is useless if she hasn't eaten her pickled plums"
also, totally forgot this piece of the lore
she really is a child genius
but the highlight of the episode is this scene of laala and sophie in the middle of an obstacle course
no one has ever said this to her before :< bc her manager is a little piece of shit and while her sister and fanclub do ultimately love every side of her they only praise her for the performances she can only do when medicated (eating pickled plums)
also several references to the fact that while sophie says and does weird shit all the time and is typically spaced out, since usagi has built up a cool persona for her people just assume she's being aloof on purpose. which becomes a running joke as the series goes on but at first it's definitely part of the role being forced on her
meganii has been rollerskating around pripara with a light strapped to his head pretending to be a police car and when he stops he pretends to open the door and get out of the car, bc pripara is a stupid show
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