No need to hide it anymore! Toei revealed the fifth member of Tropical-Rouge! Precure team: Cure La Mer, the Precure of the Sea! Here she is:
Yep, it’s Laura! We saw that coming, didn’t we? 😛 She joins the growing list of non-human Precure, which includes fairies, aliens, an android, a teddy bear, and a spirit!
Speaking of spirits, move over, Cure Earth! I think I have a new favorite Precure outfit! This is stunning! Do you see the nods to Cure Mermaid from Go! Princess Precure? I noticed her tails first.
Laura transforms into Cure La Mer with a new item, the Mermaid Aqua Pact, which doubles as her weapon. It turns into a bubble gun! I love it!
Also, as many fans guessed from her nail art game in the Aqua Pot toy, her charm point is her nails. Guess that explains why she’s wearing sandals. Gotta show off those toes for the first time! 😁
Cure La Mer debuts in episode 17, which premieres on June 20! Are you excited? I sure am!
Cluedle-Doo was a side character in this season of The Masked Singer. Billed as a trickster, he spied on the contestants and popped up out of nowhere to steal clues from the panel. But he also gave us bonus clues they didn’t get to see.
Since he wasn’t competing, we didn’t get to hear him sing…until last Wednesday. It was one of the best performances of the night — maybe the entire season! He could have won the Golden Mask with this voice!
Fox, please make Cluedle-Doo a permanent character. Yeah, we know it can’t be the same celebrity each time, but we’ll play along. Or you can make up a backstory. Maybe “Cluedle-Doo” isn’t a name but a race of genetically enhanced roosters who love mysteries and mischief.
This show’s already crazy. We’ll accept anything you say.
Also, I love this costume. I want to see it again.
I have strong opinions. Some people like that about me. Others hate it with a passion. The latter group likes to hurl the above phrases to “remind” me I’m no better than anyone else, my opinions are mine alone, and I can’t “force” my opinions on anyone.
We all think differently, so we come to different conclusions. Respecting everyone’s opinions is just respecting that everyone’s different. Sounds like common sense, right?
It does — until you pick it apart.
What does it mean to “respect” an opinion? Agree with it? Of course not. That defeats the point. If you can’t force your opinion on someone, you also can’t make them agree by demanding “respect” for your opinion.
“Respect everyone’s opinions” usually means, “Treat all opinions equally.” What does that mean? Treat them like they’re all true? That’s what some people think. I bet you’ve heard these phrases, too:
“Opinions can’t be wrong.”
“You can’t tell me I’m wrong! It’s my opinion!”
“Don’t tell people they’re wrong.”
Opinions can’t be wrong, huh? Everybody’s right. Sounds great — until you realize what that means.
If We’re All Right, No One Is
In Pixar’s The Incredibles, the villain Syndrome’s long-term plan was to get rid of superheroes. He didn’t wanna kill them all. Instead, he wanted to give everyone on Earth superpowers.
“And when everybody’s super,” he said, “no one will be.”
Think about it. Superheroes are superhuman — that is, they’re more powerful and have more advanced abilities than a normal human. But if everyone were superhuman, what would it mean to be superhuman? To know what a superhuman was, we’d need to know what a normal human was. Otherwise, being “super” — i.e., above normal — wouldn’t mean anything.
It’s the same with opinions. If all opinions are right by default, how do we know what it means to be right? To call an opinion “right”, we have to know some opinions are wrong — or at least make less sense than others. Otherwise, being “right” — i.e., not wrong — means nothing.
But no one really thinks all opinions are right. People only say things like “it’s your/my opinion”, “respect everyone’s opinions”, and “everyone has their own opinion” when they disagree with someone. They’re shorthand for “I don’t have to agree with you”.
But disagreeing means you think the person’s opinion is wrong. If all opinions are right, how can their opinion be right and wrong?
“Well, to them, the opinion is right, but to me, it’s wrong,” you say.
That’s still a contradiction. By saying it’s wrong to you, you’re naming a condition that makes it wrong. But if all opinions are right as long as someone believes them, nothing can make an opinion wrong — not even your feelings. It doesn’t matter whose mind it came out of.
So what’s the point of having a different opinion? If nothing can make an opinion wrong, why disagree with anyone? You’re right. They’re right. There’s nothing to lose!
You still disagree with me? What makes your opinion special? No, don’t tell me. I don’t care. It’s just what you think.
Do you see where I’m going? Disagreement proves opinions can be wrong or at least make less sense than others. If something were undeniably right, everyone would agree on it! That’s why phrases like “it’s your/my opinion” and “respect everyone’s opinions” are discussion killers. They teach people you don’t have to think about why you believe something. Believing it automatically makes it right.
In a world where everyone is right, discussion can’t exist. Opinions are like fliers hanging on a pin board with no explanation. Weak arguments stay weak. Sound arguments are downplayed. Disagreement becomes meaningless and something you’re pressured to keep to yourself.
A Little Respect
I think we’ve confused respecting each other’s opinions with respecting each other. In an article titled “‘It’s just my opinion’ isn’t good enough,” teacher Mike Gershon put it this way:
Treating people equally is distinct from treating what they say with equal weight.
We should be kind to each other, but we don’t have to pretend everything everyone says is true and affirm weak arguments.
Will people get upset? Sometimes, yes. They’re human.
Will we get upset? Sometimes, yes. We’re human, too.
But which is more important: faking peace by telling objectors to stay quiet, or having the freedom to say what we believe? The former says we should respect opinions because they exist. Who cares how weak they are, how poorly they’re stated, or if they make no sense at all? It’s like giving everyone a medal just because their brains work.
The latter gives people a chance to earn respect for their opinions. Instead of saying, “I believe this, so it’s true…” they get to explain why they think it’s true. The other person says why they disagree, you say why you disagree with their disagreement, and so on.
That’s what discussion is at its core: comparing opinions. When you compare things, the strengths and weaknesses of each are revealed. What’s considered a strength or weakness might be different for each person, so that’s why we need sound arguments to back up what we think. Feelings and fuzzy logic aren’t enough.
Final Thoughts
You’ll notice I named this post “The Truth About Opinions”. It’s my opinion about opinions, and if all opinions are right, I can’t be wrong. Even if you disagree with me, I’m still right because I believe I am.
“Well, there is no right or wrong when it comes to opinions.”
It’s too late. Aisha and Nex, the most underrated couple in Winx Club, will never win the fandom over. They’ve had too much working against their love story:
She had a temporary love interest, Roy, in Winx season five. Nex came along in the next season, which made him the only Winx boyfriend to debut in a love triangle. This put him at a disadvantage right away as far as capturing the audience’s hearts.
Nex arrived 10 years into Winx Club’s run, long after what the fans consider the glory days.
Many fans dismissed Nex as a copy of the resident bad boy, Riven, especially after Riven’s temporary exit in Winx season six (after which some fans dropped the show).
Starting in season five, the creators of Winx Club decreased the target audience more and more each year. They also toned down the romance between the couples. In Winx season eight, the company changed the art style and retooled Winx into a preschool series.
Because of this, Aisha and Nex never had a fair shot at becoming popular in the Winx fandom. But I’ve told people outside the fandom about this couple, and they get it. They understand why I’m intrigued by them.
If people who haven’t watched Winx Club think Aisha and Nex sound interesting, it suggests they’re not the problem. It’s their story. Winx Club, especially as it is now, couldn’t do this couple justice. Heck, the Winx couples don’t even kiss anymore because the show is for four-year-olds now. 😞
AishaAndNex.com
Aisha and Nex need a clean slate. That’s why I made a new website for them: AishaAndNex.com. It won’t revolve around their love story in Winx Club. Instead, I’ll talk about broader topics related to their characters, their symbolism, their relationship, and creative writing.
This site will also be the home for my non-Winx Aisha/Nex fanfiction. I’m changing the setting and getting rid of all the other Winx Club characters: the Winx, Nabu, Roy, the other Specialists, everyone — except Aisha’s parents. And maybe the Pixies. And maybe her childhood friend Anne. I’ll think about it.
This way, I can give Aisha and Nex the attention they deserve without the restrictions of the Winx universe and canon. When I say I have a lot of ideas for this couple, I’m not kidding. Before I made AishaAndNex.com, I had at least four concepts for non-Winx stories that would span several chapters, and I came up with another story early this week.
It’s true: they ignite my imagination more than any other character or couple in Winx Club.
As for my other Aisha/Nex blog, The Yin-Yang Couple, don’t worry. It’s not going anywhere. I’ll put my Winx-themed fanfiction there, and you can still expect new posts and fan art. I hope you’ll bookmark and/or subscribe to both sites. 😁
Each Precure leader usually has a catchphrase. Sometimes, it reflects the theme of the season. For example, in last season, Healin’ Good Precure, Nodoka/Cure Grace’s catchphrase was, “Fuwa~ Ikiteru tte kanji!” which means, “Ah, I feel so alive!” It suited a season about health, nature, and the environment.
Another sillier example is Kirakira Precure a la Mode‘s leader Ichika/Cure Whip’s phrase, “Whip, step, jump!” Get it? 🙄 She didn’t say it often because Toei could rarely fit it into the dialogue where it sounded natural.
Other catchphrases like HUGtto! Hana/Cure Yell’s “Mechokku!” (Mega Shock!) or Futari wa Nagisa/Cure Black’s “Ariena~i!” (Unbelievable!) have nothing to do with the seasons themselves. They’re just funny lines that add personality to their characters. Sometimes, they’re also referenced in the theme songs — for example, in Futari wa‘s theme song:
ichinan satte mata ichinan Out of the frying pan and into the fire bucchake arienai Totally unbelievable!
You Precure fans didn’t read that. You sang it, didn’t you? 😛
Lost in Translation: “Tropica-shine!”
Tropical-Rouge! Precure’s leader Manatsu/Cure Summer’s catchphrase is “Toropikatteru~!” (トロピカってる～), which roughly translates to “Tropica-shine!” I say “roughly” because there’s a pun in the catchphrase, but there’s no way to recreate it in English. This was the best Toei and Crunchyroll could do.
To help explain, let’s look at the name of the season. Since “tropical” and “rouge” are foreign words, the Japanese rewrite them phonetically using katakana, one of their two syllabaries. “Tropical” becomes “toropikaru” (トロピカル), and “rouge” becomes “ruuju” (ルージュ).
Notice the first word ends with “ru” (ル), and the last word begins with “ru”. That’s why “Tropical-Rouge!” has a hyphen in it. It’s emphasizing the double “ru” sound in the middle. But in katakana, the name is written as “Toropika Ruuju!” (トロピカル〜ジュ！).
Now let’s look at the “toropika” part. The pun in Manatsu’s catchphrase is the “pika” (ピカ) at the end. “Pikapika” is an onomatopoeia meaning “sparkling” or “shining”. You might recognize it from a certain Pokémon’s name.
So, her catchphrase is a play on “toropikaru” (tropical) and “pika” (shine). The “tteru~” part is a verb tense for an ongoing action. (It’s like a gerund.) Drop the “ru” in “toropikaru” and smash everything together, and we get “Toropikatteru~!” or “Tropica-shine!” Not the best translation, but as close as we can get in English.
What do you think of Manatsu’s catchphrase? What’s your favorite Precure catchphrase? Let me know in the comments!
VERSE 1 STAND UP kao agena shikai ubau yuuutsu o yuuga ni sabaite hora BREAKFAST NAIFU ANDO FOOKU de tairageru ALL RIGHT izanae GRACEFUL na LIFE burai busui yabo wa NO THANX HAATO wa gekiatsu furumai wa COOL COOLER COOLEST magen na GET UP hanpa nanpa nekoze wa NO
gekiryuu ni sae tachimukae nagare sakarae suzushige na FEISU de kuran wa hibi o kazaru hanataba
odore hitori demo SUTEEJI no ue makuagari waku OODIENSU saa IT’S SHOWTIME mihiraite sorasu sono na me o mabushiku kokou no NYUU WAARUDO
CHORUS YEAH YEAH BUREru na HEY BOYS afuredasu omoi onore tsurenuke yo SUPESHARU o PUREZENTO ikou ze GO ari no mama de
BREAK OUT arashi okose omotenasu omae tsureteku HEAVEN e WAKE UP yowakimono yo hamidase HEY kuuki nante yobu na yo
ori yabure omae no SUTAIRU oshi taose AH VIRTUOUS KNIGHT tomo ni yukou HEY GIRL karei ni SUTEPPU ibara no ROAD
Notes:
Fun fact: Sakamoto is supposed to be 15 years old. Yeah, right.
CHORUS 1 LET’S SPARK HACCHAKEchae VIVA PURIKYUA hikari o oikake YEAH ichinenjuu KOKORO wa SAMAA te o tsunaide FIGHT nami ni notte RIGHT ON TOROPIKA RUUJU PURIKYUA
VERSE KOKONATTSU SWING GUPPII wa DANCE watashitachi minagiru yaruki ashita matenai ima hajimeyou sekkachi datte PURITI
hora DO DO otome no ganbari KIRARI PAKUTO wa utsusu yo REI no TIARA kazari aeba SUMAIRU akogare yo honto ni nare
CHORUS 2 TOROPIKAcchao minna PURIKYUA koe o ne awasete YEAH SANSAN KOKORO wa SAMAA SHAI de icha SON utaou yo SONG TOROPIKA RUUJU PURIKYUA PURIKYUA
Cuteness overload! Here’s our second heroine, Sango Suzumura, as she transforms into Cure Coral!
You’ll notice she puts on her makeup in a different order than Cure Summer. That’s because each Precure has a charm point. Summer’s is her lips, and Coral’s is her cheeks. (Wanna guess what the other two are? 😁)
