Go! Princess Precure END
I'm always going on and on about how GoPri saved Precure for me ten years ago. After two seasons that didn't really click with me, I nearly gave up on this franchise altogether until GoPri burst onto the scene with great characters, relationship dynamics, and invoking classics like Utena and Marimite in its very premise. I was hooked from the very first episode, and that momentum carried me through to the final episode. It wasn't a perfect season, but nothing that pushed me away to the same extent that HaCha did.
The fandom also helped a great deal in my enjoyment of this season. I think 2015 was the year I really actively started building my doujin collection (so many OT3 books!!!). And while I was in the middle of my Rewatch arts, I finally found some time to draw the currently airing season—a feat not accomplished since Dokis.
GoPri was just that good.
Do I still think it's good ten eleven years later? Well, I'm coming to you four months late after having drawn an additional TWENTY things because the FIFTY I was obligated to draw wasn't enough to contain my feels.
What is there to say that I haven't already expressed through art? I still love the characters, still love how well they pulled off everyone's individual arcs, still love the music, still love how naturally the show leans into its themes. There's very little for me to complain about GoPri.
What really took me by surprise was my fervor for both HaruMina and KiraTowa. While I loved them ten years ago and still enjoy them to this day, I never really had any deep headcanons for either ship; I wasn't expecting to go into this with any fantastic narratives to draw out. There were the infamous episodes of 9, 24, and 32 where I could amp up the shipping, but that was really all I was planning to do.
The Alt for episode 9 changed all that.
Originally, I wasn't even going to have an Alt for Ep9. But as I worked through the Ep9 art, I kept feeling like I needed a denouement to address all the heightened emotions of the episode. Also, it gave me an excuse to finally draw Yui properly after ignoring her for so long. And after I drew that, everything started falling into place. I've always been in the Haru → Mina camp more than the other way around (please see: ALL MY OLD GOPRI ART) so having this as the starting point really coloured the rest of the Rewatch.
In the end, I'm really proud of the narrative I've drawn out for HaruMina—you can really feel a natural sense of progression with them. The last time I actively did this was with Miyu/Rei, and I'd like to think that my storytelling has improved since then. I wish I had more time to develop KiraTowa, but having only half a season to tell a compelling story with Rewatch constraints is difficult.
I don't know how Yui became my self-insert character but she did xD Also, I thank not only God but also Jesus for fan-favourite MeyMey. I'm not usually into isekai tensei plots, but a simply Wonderful one fell into my lap last year and I'm not one to look a gift horse sheep in the mouth. There will be a crossover comic in the future!! Intended audience: Me and Only Me lmao.
I have some lingering GoPri ideas! First and foremost, the original version of my Ep6 art. It was going to be much more confrontational, but I gave up on it when I realized trying to keep that dynamic up for the rest was going to be controversial and exhausting. But! I have a few abandoned pages and I'm all about the Drama so I wanna put it out into the world and leave the idea forever. There's also another thing that's contingent on me doing a Yes! GoGo thing so we'll see if that ever comes into fruition.