From episode 7 – the beach episode – comes this rather unusual and distinctive design.
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It looks like Bandai Namco are gearing up to announce a new iDOLM@STER game next week.

Well, I say that, but that page does seem to confirm that an actual sequel, rather than yet another rehash of the same materials, is in production, but they may not release many details on that until the fifth anniversary next summer. Bummer.

Which kind of makes this non-news, really. I do wonder if the “Next Game Project” mentioned towards the bottom of the page will actually turn out to be something different to the sequel, though – it seems like kind of a long period for them not to be doing anything in the game-space release wise for the series, and it seems to me that they haven’t milked SPs new characters for all they’re worth yet. I wouldn’t be astonished if they actually announced a PS3 version of the game or something.

Or, of course, I could just be completely misreading the page – it’s not like I actually read moonspeak to any degree of competency.

Well, it did say Mikan in the Japanese print of the 22nd volume of the Negima manga, but for the US print they elected to translate the text on the boxes. Unfortunate, then, that they managed to mix the text between the Mikan and it’s neighbouring Ringo box, then – just check out the disparity between the pictures and the text on the boxes.
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Submitted by reader Digitalboy, apparently from the sixth episode of the show. Team Rocket have clearly been cocooned using material scavenged from a variety of cardboard boxes, including a Mikan Box.

What’s particularly hilarious about this example is that the subbers are clearly completely unaware of the visual meme displayed here, and as a result have read the “みか” as “甕” – or Urn.

It made me laugh, anyway.

From (I think it was) episode 8, not so much an actual mikan box as it is a picture of a mikan box on the front of the manga the younger brother is reading.

Woah, meta.

I’m yet to figure out a particularly valid reason as to why I’ve actually been finding myself watching Pretty Cure – “because it’s there” isn’t really a valid excuse given that, whilst I’m at Funi’s video streaming site, I could just as well be watching the new Fullmetal Alchemist (which I’ve still not started on), or Captain Harlock or Galaxy Express the like. I guess I just have too much affection for janky magical girl shows, and Pretty Cure is certainly pretty janky in so much as it’s really not a particularly great show, though it is at least diverting.

Still, I’ve got to wonder if those are really the best masters for the show that Toei could scrape up for these streaming sites. It looks, and particularly sounds, like fifth-generation VHS fansubs. I’m kind of wondering if they’ve been taken from a set of tapes they’ve been using to try and flog the show to English speaking countries for the last five years. There’s no way a show from 2004 should be looking and sounding worse than a show from the 70’s.

Which, again, makes me wonder why I’m even watching it…