A one liner that we can describe the movie: Uuuugh deym feels yow!!! ðŸ˜
Feels and jokes aside, the combination of Win Metawin and Janella Salvador is easily knocking on the park with their respective acting skills and flexing some basic words in their respective native languages, and it's just wonderful (pun unintended)!
Besides this, spending a short time with someone they love is a painful to see, so yeah it totally hurts if you ask me. The lesson here that we should make the most of the time by hanging them out while they're still alive because we really don't know about when their time on this planet will be ended, especially to our parents and pets. Also, don't you guys dare wait for them for too long like weeks, months or years coz time is constantly changing as we grow older.
Under Parallel Skies is one of the examples on crossing cultures and uniqueness between the Philippines and Thailand, a rare occurence that has not seen since the Erich Gonzales-Mario Maurer movie Suddenly It's Magic more than a decade ago, moresoever with the rise of another unexpected but very phenomenal duo in the form of Michelle Dee and Anntonia Porsild aka PorDee as well as the love for AKB48 and Japanese idols with MNL48 and BNK48 in the recent years.
Despite the respective sociopolitical issues that the two ASEAN countries face until today, their relationship has singlehandedly gave another new meaning - transcending diversity and sharing cultures with happiness, peace, understanding and love with one another even coming from the other side of the fence.
After a two-year hiatus, The Goddess' Playlist segment in this blog makes a wonderfully triumphant comeback, and yes we're so back to do impressions on our all time favorite songs, this time we go Eurovision with "Fighter" by the Israeli-Luxembourgish singer-songwriter Tali Golergant!
The first Luxembourgish Eurovision song in 31 years and also the first since the country's last participation in 1993 (of course it's my birth year, as said during the recent YKIP Live), it was released on January 9, 2024 under Bel Air Records, and composed by Dario Faini aka Dardust, who is also handling the music for another Eurovision 2024 song, "La noia" by Angelina Mango for Italy, and notable for doing the same with Mahmood's "Soldi" in 2019, together with Ana Zimmer and Manon Romiti, while the lyrics were written by the latter two and Silvio Lisbonne. The revamped version on the other hand was released on March 29, 2024 under the same label and Jo&Co.
The song was competed in the inaugural Luxembourg Song Contest on January 27, 2024 and won the right to represent the Grand Duchy in Eurovision over the runner-up "Drowning in the Rain" by Krick by 13 points as well as six other finalists. In the super final of the national selection show, Golergant had received 94 points from the juries and 84 points from the televoters for a combined total of 178 points.
Eurovision version cover
According to Golergant, she states in interviews that the song is about how humans suffer, and how people persevere through suffering, in which the singer is used as an example of living in New York City and going through series of rejections within the music industry. It is indeed in the first stanza that the singer has struggled to get a break in the big city in her 20s, the age bracket where most people often go to parties and spend their money on lavish things.
On the Overthinking Eurovision YouTube channel's interpretation of the song meanwhile, the first refrain part has the word "siren" in it because sirens are monsters that lure sailors by seducting them with their voices to impending doom. Therefore in the aforementioned, the little siren voice wants the singer to come and take its hand towards an excited yet risky path of the industry she gets used to before going to the chorus, which is in English. In it, there is an inner cheerleader who encourages the singer to keep going as a fighter until it suddenly goes away from its outer counterpart.
Speaking of which, Fighter is a song of self-doubt in French with an assurance of self-confidence in English and we love it very much whether in either version. I mean, it has catchy beats with a powerful meaning of perserverance, determination and overcome trials as humans! Definitely a top ten on my bucket list for this Eurovision season.
Yona Kuromatoki Platform 10th Anniversary version cover. From left: Cure Sky (Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure), yours truly as Seiji Sagara (Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! aka the first cosplay featured in the platform) and Cure Wonderful (Wonderful Pretty Cure!)
As mentioned in the blog's previous post, the song becomes the Yona Kuromatoki Platform's 10th anniversary song, the second non-English to do so after MNL48's "First Rabbit" aka the fifth anniversary song of the platform, then known as the Yona Kuromatoki Cosplay Page, and it is also the first time to specially feature not only yours truly but two groundbreaking Pretty Cure leaders, Cures Sky and Wonderful, although neither the former nor the latter are written specifically for themselves too like Golergant.
In the anniversary version, the first stanza is now interpreted as myself still getting adjustments on adulthood and juggled with the hobbies I still have, while also being recently lost a mother and about to receive my downfall. Then, a siren voice calls me to come and bring to something that is adventurous but also risky before moving on to the chorus. Its self-focused version has the said siren voice, aka my inner self, wanting to keep me going and knowing that I'm a fighter because of my never give up spirit until I go crazy and don't know what to do after the voice itself leaves far away from me.
Meanwhile the second stanza, usually refers to the singer's complications on deciding her path and fight to conquer the world stage, is transformed into Komugi Inukai being a dog that distrusts and hesitates in mind, and Sora Harewataru's ambitious aspiration to become a hero of all worlds. The siren voice in the second refrain now refers to Iroha Inukai and Mashiro Nijigaoka in inner forms telling the two Cure leaders to come and go towards their respective destinies that are unstoppable, as both pairs have done the same yet in different ways in their own Cure seasons.
If my self-focused version of the chorus is about my inner self cheering me to keep going, the second focused one refers to the inner Iroha encouraging Komugi to come to her and never let the latter down because the "older" Inukai knows her fursister is a fighter. The inner Mashiron, on the other hand, notices that Soracchi's heart is holding the love around everyone and she knows she's basically one, a hero as in. Then, the two leaders are going wild to grab everything and nothing at the same time like two girls that are crazily wandering in the outskirts after questioning on the whereabouts of their inner formed partners from afar.
But the bridge part is kinda complicated because it may also be refer to me or either of the two Cure leaders. Nevertheless, it also interprets as the three of us just wanting to open our hearts by resonating the sound of our dreams and not our own fears to everyone, and that's truly meaningful.
Finally, the last chorus states that my inner version, and the ones of Iroha and Mashiron are started to fade away, much like Golergant's, before returning to our heads (well I'm sure that both secondary Cures won't be affected by that crazy inner mindness lols) and go crazy like wild beasts that are nothing to do but on a rampage.
Of course, Fighter is different from First Rabbit in terms of the language, genre and musical styles, but the message is clear for both songs: keep going, never stop to reach our dreams and fight for what we believe in even if we endure so much pain and suffering. Truly remarkable celebratories for the Yona Kuromatoki Platform!
Whether either interpretation of the song may be, then it's up to you. But both interpretations are cool as heck and way beyond our twinkle imaginations. Anyways, I wish the best of luck to Golergant at Eurovision and yesh, keep slaying!
What is your own interpretation of Golergant's Fighter? Let us know in the comments section below, on our Facebook page, X, Instagram or Threads accounts. Till the next Goddess' Playlist, lads and vadengs!
Like any other industry or multimedia franchise, it is important to know about what the plans are for the upcoming months and the things that are cooked for the fans and followers, and the Yona Kuromatoki Platform is no exception. Because I'm not only doing its tenth anniversary, which is celebrated this year besides my 15th cosplay one, but I also did two special cosplay lineup series from the previous year. But how the heck these plans have been really planned from the start?
Known as the Manalili Masterplan, I came up these ideas in mind shortly after the first Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast Part 3.0 episode in 2022 and originally had plans to solely focus on my 30th birth anniversary in 2023 and the preps for the platform's first decade in 2024. But when the Pretty Cure 20th anniversary festivities were kicking off so early (Delicious Party was the season aired at the time), then I took the opportunity to bring back something that I had done before - the Ultimate Pretty Cure Cosplay Line Up! The special cosplay lineup series was the first in YKP and introduced during the franchise's 15th anniversary, when the former was known as the Yona Kuromatoki Cosplay Page (2014-19) and later the Yona Kuromatoki Page during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic before rebranding once more to its present name. Then another iconic franchise would celebrate another milestone, Doctor Who, which would be turned 60th in that year, and I thought that it'd be great to have its first cosplay lineup series too.
Plans for the UPCCLU 2.0 made clear when Hirogaru Sky! would be the next season of Pretty Cure, so the thought of adding at least one new cosplay from the show would be a good addition to both promote it and spread the wholesome agenda in pop culture cons. The then upcoming cosplans were Laura/Cure La Mer (mermaid form ver.), Takumi Shinada/Black Pepper and Nagisa Misumi/Cure Black, in addition to the active cosplays like Seiji Sagara, Yui Nanase, Pikario/Rio Kuroki/Cure Waffles and Emiru Aisaki/Cure Macherie. However, only Black Pepper made a cosplay debut in Pinoy Otaku Festival 2023, while Cure Black would be retained for the 2024 cosplans alongside Nozomi Yumehara/Cure Dream (Otona PreCure ver., currently on the canvassing stage), Ellee/Cure Majesty (currently in progress) and Nodoka Hanadera/Cure Grace (currently on the plans). There were also plans to bring back Ako Shirabe/Cure Muse for the cosplay lineup series but it was ultimately scrapped due to constraints. Fortunately, its first phrase made a huge success thanks to the constant hype over the 20th anniversary and a second phrase is currently ongoing for the Wonderful! season and the YKP tenth anniversary, so there's a possibility to push the comeback still within this year.
Speaking of which, I also considered the 15th Doctor for the first Ultimate Doctor Who Cosplay Line Up alongside Thasmin aka the 13th Doctor and Yasmin Khan, but also met the same fate as Cure Muse unfortunately.
The initial plan for the UPCCLU 2.0 would be held at Otaku Expo Anime and Manga Drawing Special 2023 day 2 to coincide with the Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure finale, but because I already debuted Hizuru Minakata on that con, it was later moved to the Ozine Summer Fest 2023 TriNoma leg on the day after EDSA People Power Day and I thought it'd be a perfect time to celebrate HUGtto!'s fifth anniversary with Macherie! The aforementioned stuff weren't the only ones to consider, the much-awaited comebacks of my Seiji Sagara cosplay and Yui-Yui's winter casual outfit were also part of my plans for the cosplay lineup series and proved to be successful with minor revamps and newly acquired props.
As for the DWUCLU, I would still push 13 and Yaz for it at least to commemorate Who's 60th and it became a success, notably thanks to Cosplay Mania 2023 day 2 and the recent watchalong party organized by the Whovian Philippines group. But also, here's to more cosplays from the silly but very iconic blue box show.
The advanced and the belated namida surprise fiestas at cons for Waffles and Black Pep on the other hand were my ideas, but what's more interesting to know that the latter also coincided with the actual one of Makoto Kenzaki/Cure Sword last Sugoi Anime Fest 2023 at Robinsons Antipolo in Rizal Province, so that's that. When All Stars F was first announced in March, I was excited and decided to take that opportunity to bring up the hype as much as possible. Three months later, the first trailer came out and the special teams had been revealed! Due to that, the idea of a helpers group was born and it was taking inspiration from the companions group from Jodie Whittaker's last regular Doccy Who episode, The Power of the Doctor, but a Cure-esque twist. And so, the three special cosplay cards featuring Black Pep (representing Teams Sky and Prism), Yui-Yui (representing Team Wing and Majesty) and Waffles (representing Team Butterfly) were released for a limited time and debuted at CosHabatsu 2023 day 2.
I even said in the YKIP Part 3.0 penultimate episode that the early plans for the YKP 10th were on the works and one of which was planning to attend a Visayas or Mindanao con first then an international one next, in addition to the continuation of the YKIP Live Panels and a theme song for the year-long party, much like the ones of the anime industry centenary in 2017 and the Pretty Cure series in 2023. The logo for the aforementioned would be the same as the podcast's current season , 4F, and it was made as early as September with little adjustments. When Wonderful Pretty Cure! was officially unveiled, sinabay ko talaga 'yun with the YKP tenth anniversary logo and poof, surprise guys! :p
And oh, speaking of anniversaries, December 2023 came out and the theme slogan had been revealed shortly after the YKIP Year End Special with "Sama-Sama I-Angat ang Lahat! Onward to the Extremely Wonderful Decade!" and a pubmat for my Cosplay Carnival 2023 day 3 lineup with the anniversary logo. Then more than a month later aka shortly after the Hirogaru Sky! finale episode, the YKP tenth anniversary song would be "Fighter" performed by Tali. Not only this is the first time that a Eurovision song, specifically the current seasonal roster from a comeback participated country Luxembourg after a 31-year hiatus, is used for the aforementioned, but this is also technically the second non-English one to do so after MNL48's "First Rabbit," which was used for the platform's fifth anniversary in 2019. Both songs are dealing with the struggles and perseverance that us humans do everyday, but just with two different genres from east and west hehe. That aside, they're also related to me and how I deal with the suffering and despair, but with multiple drops of determination and hope, and used the latter to overcome the former.
Oof, looks like we've gotta end this long-ass essay on how the Manalili Masterplan came to life! But I do hope you guys enjoy reading it from start to finish and apologies for not posting on the vlog due to busy schedules. Till the next random ramble on Yona's Blog, fellas!
Hallo everyone! I apologize again for not posting new content on my blog due to work and engaging in various ganaps for the past two months, as well as being busy for the Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast Year-End Special 2023. But we're back to business once again coz, thanks to your votes, we'll reveal the winners, and some honorable mentions, for the first Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast Fan Favorite Episode and Guest Awards!
Favorite Season One Episode (Note: Bold letters state the winner of the category)
1. "Yona's Random Rambles 2021" - 33.3% 2. "RIVER by MNL48 Fan Commentary and Impressions" - 33.3% (tied for first place) 3. "Why Do We Love Cure Grace?" - 16.7% 4. "Mid-Season Pretty Cures Look Backs! Road to Cure La Mer Part 1" - 16.7% (tied for second place)
Honorable Mentions
• "Yona's Doctor Who Fan Experiences So Far" • "20/20 Vision! Up~on the Graceful Future! The Yona Kuromatoki Year-End Special 2020 Part 1" • "#HealinGoodSakalam! The Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast Tribute to Healin' Good Pretty Cure Part 4: The Woman Who Chimed to Earth • "Girls Can Be Heroes Too!" • "#HealinGoodSakalam! The Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast Tribute to Healin' Good Pretty Cure Part 1: Our Amazing Grace"
Favorite Season Two Episode
1. "365 Araw ng YKIP x Sayonara Thirteen: The Prelude - Road to Regeneration" - 33.3% 2. "The Thasmin Effect on Queer Culture" - 16.7% 3. "#YonaXXIX and A Decade of Symphogear" - 16.7% (tied for second place) 4. "Doctor Who, Leni Robredo and the Negastar Army" - 16.7% (tied for second place) 5. "YKIP All Axezz Chapter Zero: Tropical Flux! PTAA Travel Trade Expo 2021!" - 16.7% (tied for second place)
Honorable Mentions
• "Trese and the Filipino Geek Culture" • "1, 2 Kuru Jump~! The Mewkledreamy Talks!" • "Cures Summer and La Mer Appreciation" • "Red and Blue Oceans in Modern Society" • "Anong Gentle, Gentle?! It's Cure Finale!!"
Favorite Part 3.0 Episode
1. "It's Krejza! It's Majestic! Thoughts on Our 78th Main Pretty Cure Hero!" - 16.7% 2. "The Power of JaneNella" - 16.7% (tied for first place) 3. "Is Bad Publicity Still Publicity?" - 16.7% 4. "Sayonara Thirteen! The Power of the Doctor Commentary" - 16.7% (tied for second place) 5. "What the Hell is the Eurovision Song Contest?!" - 16.7% 6. "Five Glorious Years of MNL48" - 16.7% (tied for third place)
Honorable Mentions
• "The Golf Gals and the Space Mecha Gals" • "Fukkatsu! The Road to Pretty Cure All Stars F!" • "Let Our Precious Moments Lead!! The Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast Year-End Special 2022" • "#PreCure20th Specials Part Two: The Party Goes On Forever! Our Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure Impressions and Commentary!" • "Six Decades of Adventure in Space and Time"
Favorite Recurring Guest
1. Christian Quilala 2. Andrea "Drei" Labastilla (tied for first place) 3. Jackson "Blazeix" Jordan 4. Nathaniel Vergara (tied for second place)
• Jay Agonoy • Nightcat • Usapang Cosplay Podcast • Jackson "Blazeix" Jordan • Charlie aka sheregenerated
Favorite Part 3.0 Guest
1. Philip Miguel Garcia - 33.3% 2. Leigh Craddock - 16.7% 3. JG Ramos - 16.7% (tied for second place) 4. NeraTheodore - 16.7% 5. David Seery - 16.7% (tied for third place)
Congratulations to the first set of winners for the YKIP Favorite Episode and Guest Awards despite some tie-breaks! Your contribution and efforts to the podcast won't be wasted and useless, and you also made it more interesting throughout its three-year run. You guys are very welcome to come back to this silly but amazing podcast show and hoping to hear you all again in the future episodes.
Again, shout out to those who are voted for their favorites and thank you for spending your time to do it!
See ya all at the Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast Fan Favorite Episode and Guest Awards 2024, and we will wish you a very soaring sky Christmas and a wonderful new year, YKIPers!
We are excited to announce that "Sama-Sama I-Angat ang Lahat" (Uplift Everyone Together) has been chosen as the slogan for the Yona Kuromatoki Platform's tenth anniversary in 2024 - and in the successive years. The secondary phrase of the permanent slogan itself meanwhile will be revealed sometime around late December 2023 or early January next year, just when the new Pretty Cure season's title will come out and it has became a traditional norm for the platform since 2017. But we can assure that it has the words "extreme" and "decade."
The slogan was created shortly after the release of the 2022 year-end special Let Our Precious Moments Lead!, the very first under the banner of the platform's flagship podcast show, Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast, with the phrase "Goin', Flyin' Up to the Sky!" on December 31 of that year and it was revealed on the YKP Facebook page on the first few hours of January 1, 2023.
Therefore, after almost seven years of using different slogans and as we approach YKP's tenth anniversary, it's surely about time to use a permanent one that symbolizes true unity, inclusivity, universality, equality and celebrating pop culture diversity. Moreover, it's in my native language, Filipino, and not just a kinda crazy play and spin on the two iconic and infamous slogans of the last Philippines general elections in 2022.
As the Yona Kuromatoki Platform continues to steadily evolving over the years, transforming from a cosplay page to a multimedia platform thanks to YKIP and its All Axezz expanded content series, and the inclusion of the creator's Tumblr account, YouTube channel and blog aka Yona's Blog plus the creation of the podcast's Twitter/X account under the single roof, we believe using the same slogan will help and improve our brand even further.
Even though the now permanent slogan is in Filipino, we can assure our followers and supporters across this planet about what it means, to uplift everyone from all walks of life together, with the unconditional power of pop culture love and appreciation. Plus to sum up, it's also referring to our staunch stance for proper inclusivity, equality and accessibility to all, no matter the shape, size, gender or nationality.
With this announcement, we are going to unveil the YKP tenth anniversary logo and will use for all pubmats, cosplay cards, vlogs and physical promotional materials for the entire 2024. It's different compare to the fifth anniversary logo that we used in 2019 though, but these color schemes symbolize creative diversity in the pop culture world by all shapes and sizes. The font use in it is Cyber Shape 3D, which is also used for the upcoming YKIP season 4F. Under the commemorative logo will be the permanent and secondary phrased slogans, so we're working on the other font that we're gonna be using and expecting to reveal in the coming weeks as well.
Right now, we are looking for ways on how to promote the YKP tenth anniversary year as well as other activities to look forward to such as the yearly YKIP Live, various guestings and engagements. Stay tuned to our social accounts as we're about to kick off another fiesta on the platform together with my 15th cosplay anniversary!
Wazzup everyone, Yona here aka the host of Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast, and I'm back again on this blog for a very special announcement! This year will have the first ever YKIP Fan Favorite Episode ane Guest Rankings wherein you have the power (pun unintended) to vote for your favorite episodes from Season One to Part 3.0 and the ten episodes with the most number of votes will be featured in the podcast's 2023 year-end special on New Year's Eve. Not only that, there'll be also five honorable mentions that deserve to be included in it. So, of the 40 episodes and 10+ guests of YKIP, 30 of which will be picked and voted by you guys. Yes sirs and madames, ALL 40 episodes from ALL THREE seasons and 10+ guests of YKIP that will be battling for the top ten plus five honorable mentioned fan favorite episode and the top ten favorite season and recurring guest spots!
But how can we vote? Well, I'll be posting the link provided after the last paragraph and rest assure that there'll be no cooking shows nor fabrications during and after the voting period. On the bright side though, you can vote as much as you want, just make sure that your other fave YKIP episode/s and guest/s will also count. The voting period will end on December 15, so as much as possible have your taps and clicks ready as we can possibly expect a power vote almost every hour, notably from the big and established fan clubs of course.
So what are y'all waiting for? Let's celebrate three years of YKIP and the launch of 4F, and wrap the Year of the First Rabbit with this new exciting award! Anyway, if you have inquiries or questions, you can interact to us on this blog, Facebook, X/Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. I just wanna greet a very soaring Christmas and a properly towards 2024 to all of you at home and beyond in advance!
On September 3 and 10, 2023, fans of the Pretty Cure series from all over the planet have been witnessed the birth of the fifth Hirogaru Sky Pretty Cure that is Ellee, the Sky Land princess who is also known as the Child of Destiny, transforming into Cure Majesty for the first time.
Following these two weeks of surprised excitement and anticipation, Aoi Koga (Shouko Komi in Komi Can't Communicate, Ange Le Carre in Princess Principal, Kaguya Shinomiya in Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Yuri Miyata in Two Car) has already been taking over from Ai Kayano, the woman who played Amane Kasai aka Cure Finale in the global action magical superhero show's previous season Delicious Party, as the fourth exclusive additional and the first late season Cure in the Reiwa era, and also the first since Ako Shirabe aka Cure Muse. Despite these slight changes, Ellee's birthday will still be on March 12.
Continuing the current season's groundbreaking trends as with her teammates-slash-surrogate family, Ellee is also the youngest canonically main Cure and the first mascot-turned-Cure who doesn't automatically default to a human form around the same age as the heroes.
In an interview from Anehime, Koga expresses her reason of becoming a voice actor through the franchise, and wanting to be part of it and its expanding history since childhood.
"As a child back then, I admired Futari wa PreCure, and after wanting to become a voice actor, I said to myself, 'I want to be in the PreCure series someday!', 'I want to become a Pretty Cure someday!' became my dream and goal.
That's why PreCure is a dream, a goal, and an admiration! Even now that I get to play the role of Cure Majesty, my feelings of admiration haven't changed, and I want to cherish this feeling."
The seiyuu also stresses about the stereotypes at the time of the first Cure season's airing, but then she said that with the season, it's okay for girls to be cool, refreshing to see fighting through it and it was also cool to see them working hard for their loved ones and friends.
Koga also said that her favorite Cure is Nagisa Misumi aka Cure Black, the first hero and leader, due to being lively and has a strength that makes everyone want to follow her naturally, and the coolness that makes decisions to which she admires. She even learned about lacrosse because of Nagisa and the latter was the key to steadily overcome her shyness as a kid.
What do you think about Aoi Koga as Ellee and Cure Majesty? What are your thoughts about the mythical hero so far? Let us know in the comments section on the blog, and our FB page, our Instagram and the Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast X accounts.
