Posts in Futago Hime Gyu Category

Futago Hime is apparently being shown on Chinese TV during primetime as 神奇星球luan生公主 (luan is a Chinese character not in Japanese) and is causing quite a stir on the Chinese side of the interweb among Chinese otaku, according to 「日中文化交流」と書いてオタ活動と読む. Only Chinese-made shows are allowed to be shown during primetime, so how does Futago Hime get around that? Easy -- by saying that it was made in China.

 
Left: China, Right: Japan

As you can see, the credits for genga (along with everything else) have been changed from Japanese names to Chinese names. Apparently the show is being pretty much broadcast as-is (dubbed in Chinese, but no edits to the content) with a Chinese OP/ED.

The Chinese "production" company behind this is 大連東方龍動画発展有限公司, of which TYO, the parent company of HAL Film Maker, owns a 31% stake in. That could make it "Made in China" in a rather stretched definition, but claiming others' work as your own is certainly out of bounds. Why lie when it's obvious it's made in Japan, and why go so far as to change the credits?

Staff: 脚本家：土屋理敬　演出：大脊戸聡　コンテ：大脊戸聡　作画監督：上田幸一郎

The students of the school are all lined up to get a shot, something Fine and Rein definitely aren't looking forward to, trying to get out of it any way they can. Luckily for them, something happens -- a crash and a scream comes from Ban Jo's room so they rush to investigate. Tunba Rin is there, but she can't open the door since it's locked (could she open it even if it were unlocked?). Shade bashes the door open and there's Ban Jo, passed out on the ground. Seems that he's lost a very important watch that his teacher gave to him when he became a teacher. So where is it? That's no problem since detectives Fine and Rein are on the case, using that new special ability to cosplay as detectives. So whodunit? The door was locked, and the room's on the 3rd floor so nobody could get through the open window... the first suspect that comes to mind is Bibin, for good reason.

Bibin, as usual, is enjoying a parfait along with Ed-chin, blaming everything that's gone wrong on him when she gets a call from the very eeeeeevil principal of the black academy, wondering where the unhappy fruits Bibin was supposed to gather are. Bibin seems pretty scared of her and says she'll do her best... Fine and Rein show up demanding that Bibin hand over Ban Jo's watch -- she doesn't have it, though if she did she wouldn't give it back. Fine and Rein do a pat down, but she really doesn't have the watch. Fine and Rein apologize and run away.. but that's given Ed-chin a good idea. They should plant an unhappy seed in that watch since it has so many happy memories to Ban Jo...

So, where do Fine and Rein look next... but before that, they should get their shots, Chiffon says. Fine and Rein are already gone by the time she finishes (^^;;) Fine and Rein ask Bright about the watch, but he doesn't have time to chat since he's got a fencing match. Fine and Rein follow, and hoping to speed things up, change outfits into cheerleaders to cheer him on. He wins. Rein's very impressed as you'd expect (^^;;) After the match, Bright says that since everybody's getting shots they should check with the school nurse to see if she knows anything about Ban Jo's watch...

Tauri and Kalori are going on a date!? (duh, they're a couple) Just going out to eat something, that's all, Kalori says. With the mention of a date Rein-chan goes off into her own little world again fantasizing about her Bright-sama... there's no saving her once she goes there (^^;;) Chiffon-chan suggests that if she wants to go on a date with Bright then Happy Park is the place for couples. There's a fountain in the park that people throw their wishes into.. One of Leonne's senpais got a boyfriend after she wished -- for a second I was surprised and thought Leonne had said that she had gotten a boyfriend (^^;;) Altessa's got a charm filled with the heart-shaped sand in the fountain.. for what? We know ;) Of course, hearing that, Rein wants to go to Happy Park...

But Ed-chin has been listening in on everything -- Bibin'll probably be happy to hear his report and get really pissed off. mu-ka-tsu-ku. Yup, she's pissed off and plants an unhappy seed in the fountain just before Fine and Rein come. Fine wishes for yummy food, as you'd expect. All of a sudden, a big dump truck backs in and starts unloading coins into the fountain. It's Elizabert -- that's a bit too much, you'll plug up the fountain (^^;;) Pumo does convince her to stop and take it all back with her, though Fine would've liked to use the money for food (of course). Fine and Rein carry back some of the heart-shaped sand from the fountain with them...

On the way back to school, Fine and Rein run into Bright of all people, who asks Rein if she'd like to go shopping with him for a present for his mother the next day. Rein interprets that to mean they'll be going on a date, and there she goes again.... So, what to do on the date... Chiffon-chan, as usual, has an answer, a dating book that Rein studies that night. Number one -- find a sunny place with a nice view to meet. A sleepy Fine suggests the roof... no. Pumo suggests the observation deck on top of a tower. Nice.. Number two -- eat a place where you and your partner can get close. Not a tent, Fine.. Of course, the classic juice with two straws would be good.. doesn't look like Rein-chan'll be sleeping much tonight thinking so much about her date (^^;;) The sand that Rein got from the fountain turns darker...

Staff:脚本家：福嶋幸典　演出：吉田俊司　コンテ：青木佐恵子　作画監督：内原茂

Bibin, pissed off as usual (chou mu-ka-tsu-ku) with Fine and Rein getting in her way happens to run across what's left of our old friend Edward. Bibin offers to team up with him to go get Fine and Rein and he accepts, and after Bibin casts some "flat" magic.... Edward's back, but not quite as he would've liked -- as a cute little pig with a crown, though his voice hasn't changed (guess it's that rule that mahou shoujo have to have cute mascots). He's now Ed-chin (-chin being extremely cute) to Bibin. Not quite the image of a dark prince (^^;;)

Back at the school, a movie director famous for making uplifting films, Rush, has come to the school to make his next one. He seems to be modeled on the director of Futago Hime, Jun'ichi Satou ;) Anyways, Fine's a big fan of his, but she's not going to have the lead role -- Pyupyu's going to play the lead as a fairy delivering happiness, and Fine her helper. Oh well...

While Bibin eats a parfait (guess that's her favorite food), she explains how the unhappy fruits work to Edward. But before that, he'd like to be back to his normal form. Nope, he's cute as is -- she makes him dance around with her magic. Who does he think helped him? And it's Bibin-sama. After they get some Unhappy Fruits she'll turn him into whatever he wants, but until then he works for her. Poor Ed-chin...

Filming for Rush's movie is underway and everybody's come to watch (even Miruro!), though Fine's having some trouble with those bouncy shoes. Would be rather hard to run with those... Elizabert's there in an angel costume, wanting to be the lead... even got a wire up to fly on (^^;;) Anyways, Pyupyu (as a fairy) and Fine (as the fairy's helper) deliver a birthday present to an old lady (Camelot) that came from her grandchild, played by Miruro (yay). Bibin and Ed-chin look on from above -- she's found her next target. She plants an Unhappy Seed in Rush's megaphone...

Rein announces on the news that she's going to be taking letters and answering people's issues with things... such as love, as she tells Fine and Chiffon. As we all know by now, Rein-chan is the last person you'd want to ask for love advice with that overactive imagination of hers (^^;;) Anyways, Fine's pretty busy, too, helping out all kinds of clubs. Only problem is that she said yes to all of them, so Chiffon is now her manager to remind her when things are happening. Meanwhile, Bibin floats over the school, pissed off as usual at all the happiness around. chou mu-ka-tsu-ku

Rein checks the mailbox, but there's nothing that interesting to her in there... something from Yayan and Rarau, a letter about food obviously from Fine... but then there's one from Miruro -- she received a love letter, but she doesn't know who sent it to her. As you'd expect, Rein-chan is excited about this one (^^;;) She goes to the art room and gets Miruro to find out what's going on. There's also a guy in the art room with Miruro... hmm... Miruro gives her the love letter: "I've always liked you. Just looking at your wonderful smile makes me happy. Please keep that smile forever ~from someone who's always been watching you". It wasn't me, really ;) Anyways, since the person who sent the letter didn't write their name she can't reply and she doesn't know what to do...

Pumo says the person must've been shy. Rein says no... and here we go again. It was obviously some space pirate that fell in love with Miruro at first sight, but if she were to find out who he was she'd get involved in everything, but Miruro wants to fight together with him to the ends of space, and so, holding each other, the two of them fought the bad space pirates and then got married and... I don't think so, Rein-chan (^^;;) But I do like Miruro in the wedding dress. GJ ;)

Ahem... Rein notices the picture Miruro's been working on and asks who it is. Miruro gets pretty embarrassed and says it's what she thinks the person who sent her the love letter looks like. Turning red, she says she'd like to meet that person and find out what he's like... kawaii~ :) Rein's going to help her find that person, so they go out to search.... Bibin's been watching Miruro and Rein and plants an Unhappy Seed in the love letter...

Staff: 脚本家：土屋理敬 演出：奥野耕太 コンテ：奥野耕太 作画監督：若山政志

 
Opening: Same song, but swapped out Toma for Bibin and changed the transformation bank to the new Grand Universal Princess one.
  
  
Ending 2: "Churucchu☆Rock" by Wonder☆5 - Well, the song is a bit easier on the ears than the previous ED, but still, I'd much rather have Fine and Rein sing it (^^;;) Other than that, extremely cute as Fine and Rein dance some, then do a bit of cosplay. I figured it was Keiji Gotou that did the storyboard ;)

With Edward gone, the school is once again at peace and the mood has definitely changed from what it was, now quite cheerful thanks to Fine and Rein. But someone is there and doesn't like what she sees at all... Fine and Rein are super popular now, and even the iyaiya dance has spread to other students. Carla and Shasha aren't too happy that Elizabert isn't the popular one, but Elizabert is okay with it -- shows how much she's changed since we first saw her. Anyways, Pyupyu and Kyukyu are pulling on Pumo as usual when he does his usual nice tsukkomi to give everybody a good laugh. Lemon writes it down in a notebook of some sort. She writes all of the jokes she comes up with or hears down in that notebook, and even though Fine and Rein really want to see it (doing the "We want to see it!" dance), no looking. Chiffon suggests that Lemon put on a show so that Fine and Rein can hear some of her jokes, and Lemon thinks it a great idea, too. Sophie wants Altessa to do her best, too ;)

Floating above the school in a very majo-ish outfit is a girl who is a superb student, a super evil genius from the Black Planet (yes, that's the name, seriously) who needs to harvest unhappy fruits to graduate from school and become a very evil queen -- Bibin. She gets started by planting a seed (fancy bank included) in a soccer player's lucky shoe, making it fly into a tree, then into a volleyball, making it fly away, then into some poor unsuspecting guy's pants, making them fall down -- how embarassing (^^;;) However, the fruits the seeds bear are rather small, too small...

Meanwhile, Lemon practices her jokes in front of Fine and Rein, who laugh away. All of a sudden, Lemon's brother, Melon shows up, noticing that Lemon's still got her joke notebook. She's got a lot of memories and all of the jokes she's collected over the years in it, so it's very important to her. Seeing this, Bibin plants an unhappy fruit in the notebook. Instead of laughing at the next joke Lemon does, Fine, Rein, and Melon start crying and keep on crying no matter how hard Lemon tries. Has she lost her touch? Rein goes through the usual overreaction and shakes Lemon, telling her to keep it together. Why did they start crying when they were laughing so hard before, though? Hmmm... Fine's got an idea of what to do at this kind of time -- she pulls out her happy bell and makes Lemon do the iyaiya dance... I seem to remember a particular item from the first season that had this rather powerful (and quite scary) capability... Guess it got upgraded when Fine and Rein leveled up to Grand Universal Princesses ;) Anyways, Rein's going to announce the performance on the news, and Lemon is ready to go.

Staff: 脚本家：福嶋幸典 演出：吉田俊司 コンテ：奥野耕太 作画監督：内原茂 制作協力：動画工房

Fine and Rein are going to be late to school, as usual, so they run at full speed, almost hitting a girl, but thankfully, Fine was able to do quite a jump over her. The girl, Torowa, princess of the Step Planet (another quite inventive name there...), was very impressed with Fine's display of physical ability, so she wants Fine to be her partner in the upcoming dance contest. Last year, Team Wonder (looking very much like that Wonder 5 group that sings the ED) won the contest, so she absolutely wants to win this year. After that, she trained and trained and trained more, but her teacher said that something very important was missing from her dance, but she didn't say what it was. Torowa knows what that is, however -- the signature move of her teacher, the maboroshi no oowaza puribaua.

Rein tells Altessa, Leonne, and Chiffon about Fine's entry into the dance contest. Chiffon calculates their chances of winning at 0.3% (^^;;) Rein runs off, ready to get some footage of Fine and Torowa practicing for the news... perhaps that wasn't such a good idea, though, as the practice Torowa is making Fine do is rather ridiculous -- jumping from moving platform to moving platform high off the ground, running 100km in a day, climbing walls, tightrope walking, or jumping through these cutouts of positions or whatever. And on top of that, no more eating all the food she wants for Fine. Fine is out of it by the end of the day... Poor Fine (^^;;)

Fine ends up sleeping until noon the next day, late for practice with Torowa. Torowa's in a rather dark mood when they arrive -- she thinks that Fine's going to quit since this is exactly what happened when her previous partners quit because her practice regimen was too rough. But Fine's not going to quit since she promised to win together with Torowa -- it's fun, too (que the instrumental version of the 1st season 1st ED... very nice song). Fine suggests they practice outside since it's a really nice day. Fine takes Torowa up to a place with a very nice view of a lake since she thought it'd be more fun to practice there -- they're going to do it!

Staff: 脚本：吉村清子 絵コンテ・演出：藤本義孝 作画監督：南伸一郎 制作協力：スタジオフラッグ

After breaking the statue of Unchiku last time, Fine and Rein have lost enough points to get them expelled. What are they going to do now? Luckily, Chiffon has found a way for them to avoid being expelled. There's a rule on the books that gives them a one day grace period to earn enough points to go back above -100. To earn those points, they'll need to do something that would gain praise for the school... News of Fine and Rein's impending expulsion goes around school and reaches Elizabert. Shasha and Carla would be happy to be without them, but Elizabert would like them to stay around -- she still hasn't learned exactly why Fine and Rein are so popular, after all.

Fine and Rein go out into town and start picking up trash to try and earn some points back, earning praise from passersby. Edward (in the usual butterfly form), can't let this continue, so this time.. he possesses an old lady. I don't get it, but anyways ;) The old lady asks Fine and Rein for directions to some shops since she's buying presents for her grandchild's birthday, then jumps on Fine's back, ready to go. Once they arrive, the old lady uses the chance to bump into Rein and cause the cart with garbage to fall over. March is there, ready to go with a -1 card for littering (^^;;) And the old lady's not done yet, asking Fine and Rein to show her around to more shops...

Staff: 脚本家：中瀬理香 演出：大脊戸聡 絵コンテ：青木佐恵子 作画監督：川元まりこ

Fine and Rein and the rest arrive back on the Royal Wonder Planet for the coming term of school. Elizabert's got quite a lot of luggage (what the heck could be in it?) that Fango kicks down from the train. More flags up for those two again ;) Everybody else is back from summer break, too -- Lemon practiced her tsukkomi technique, and Noche was in his father's orchestra.. not playing, carrying stuff around ... and Chiffon won lots of awards. There's one thing Fine and Rein have completely forgotten about, though -- homework. Go figure.... If they don't turn in their homework before tomorrow it'll be -10 points, bringing them down to -37 points.. Out of nowhere, March shakes Fine and Rein's hands -- it was a boring summer for her, not being able to give out penalty cards, but now that Fine and Rein are back she's got her -10 card ready to go. Too enthusiastic there, March, really (^^;;) Chiffon will do what she can to help Fine and Rein get their homework done.

While Fine and Rein carry stacks of books along with Chiffon and Noche, they ask if they could just copy Chiffon's homework. -1 cards come flying and pierce the wall behind -- sharp cards there (^^;;) -- copy homework and they'll lose points, March says. Fine and Rein run ahead and Chiffon follows, leaving Noche behind. Edward, in usual butterfly form, comes along and does the "When our eyes met" thing and takes control of Noche. He'll see that Fine and Rein are expelled... In the library, after Fine and Rein have overheated from trying to comprehend their homework, evil Noche suggests copying Chiffon's work, but it doesn't work since more sharp -1 cards come flying. March seems to be rather trigger-happy today (^^;;)

Since his plan didn't work at all with Noche, Edward takes aim at Solo next. Solo suggests going out to the garden for a change of mood, and there he makes Fine and Rein trip and fall into the roses. March has her -1 card ready -- but it doesn't work as planned since Creyson is such a nice guy and covers for Fine and Rein. Even though they've still got a lot more homework to do, Fine and Rein want to help Creyson with the garden since they messed it up. Finished with Solo, Edward leaves him... Solo has no idea what's been going on -- Bright and Shade notice this, and think that whatever had controlled Toma must've done it.... Edward next flies toward the statue of Unchiku the philospher...

Elizabert isn't too impressed by the food at the royal table, but it isn't that bad (^^;;) While everyone eats together, Touluse asks Fango if he ate together with his family like they're doing now. Fango gets up and leaves without saying a thing. Fango doesn't seem to be having all that much fun.. perhaps he doesn't like the Fushigiboshi. Fine and Rein have to do something to get him to smile. Elizabert thinks it's rather boring -- it'd be nice to go to a beach resort or something. Good idea, Beta-sama! ;)

Fine and Rein track down Fango and talk about going to the beach, and eating all the yummy food there (Fine, really...), but he's not interested. Pyupyu and Kyukyu seem to have gotten an idea.. they go find Fango, who's sitting by himself with that "G" coin out, and take the coin away, leading him to the airship. Ain't got a choice but to go now (^^;;) Edward (in butterfly form) also sneaks aboard... Pyupyu and Kyukyu seem to have gotten smarter -- they realize that Fango might do something to them ;)

They arrive in the Flame Kingdom (cue the samba music) and meet up with Leonne and Tio, who have a nice spot on the beach ready (though it's smaller than Elizabert's private beach.. of course). Edward won't let them have fun, though.. after everyone else goes ahead he possesses Leonne.

On the beach, Fine and Rein are getting ready for some good ol'... watermelon fishing? Never heard of that (^^;;) Leonne, now controlled by Edward, says she'll get it ready and takes the watermelon away. Soon, the watermelon is in a pool with other assorted things. Elizabert has her golden rod ready -- she's apparently the "Goddess of watermelon fishing -- and tries to reel in the watermelon. She gets a teapot instead.. but when she did it before she always got it... surely since Shasha and Carla put it on there for her (^^;;) Fine and Rein take their turns, both not getting the watermelon. Rein must be doing the airhead thing on purpose... or maybe not ;) Fango finally comes and takes the fishing rod, easily hooking and reeling in the watermelon. It's really heavy though... Leonne says that it's really a stone painted as a watermelon and blames Fine and Rein. Fine and Rein wonder what could be going on.. oi, Leonne's the one who last had the watermelon so it must be her ;) Anyways, Elizabert's had enough of this and wants to do something else.