After Nearly 2 Years I Finally Finished Survive, All Routes. I've Had Harmony Done For A Long Time, And
After nearly 2 years I finally finished survive, all routes. I've had Harmony done for a long time, and finished Moral and Truthful like a year ago. Just finished wrathful. I love these kids so much, I'm just a busy person. Miyuki is probably my favorite, but considering Hikari is my Adventure favorite and Kyubimon is my favorite digimon, and I'm a huge fan of Renamon's line in general, that really shouldn't be a surprise. Miyuki's even an older sister.
Speaking of Adventure, I'm also halfway through rewatching Adventure (eng sub), got a vital hero (they're relatively cheap now it's been fun to mess around with) have restarted cyber sleuth, and am planning to get Next 0rder next time its on sale, so to say Digimon is on the brain would be an understatement.
I have new adventure thoughts AND survive thoughts. Okay some of my survive thoughts are old, but I didn't want to say anything until I had the full picture of the world and story and now I do.
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Why I think Ryo is the Ken of Survive.
Obviously, all the Survive kids are meant to reflect one of the 8 original Adventure kids. However, the characters aren't completely one to one, as each of the characters are in fact, unique characters in their own right. (Most evident I think is in the fact I'd assign basically every character except for Miyuki a different crest from their adventure counterpart). But they do echo the basic archetype of the role each adventure character played in the series. For the most part this is self explanatory, some more than others.
Takuma is Taichi Minoru is Koshiro (Less obvious but that's a separate point) Aoi is Sora Shuuji is Joe Saki is Mimi Kaito is Yamato Miu is Takeru Miyuki is Hikari
However, Survive has 10 important human/digimon partnerships.
The sole adult of the group, the professor, even bares some resemblance to a rather important "old man" of adventure, Gennai. An old man who knows a lot of their situation, was involved in the "inciting incident" looks after the kids to a certain extent, but is rather unreliable and has amnesia regarding some very important things he should know. Of course original Gennai isn't even really human, and therefore doesn't have a digimon partner, (Jijimon also takes on some Gennai traits imo) but Akiharu I would still say parallels Gennai.
However, Ryo doesn't match any of the original adventure cast. But I think it is fair to say he resembles Ken. Ryo has a worm digimon. Ryo has a family member whose death deeply affected him. Ryo is grumpy and aggressive, while hiding a secretly gentler and hurting side. Ryo is self-destructive, at the cost of his partner.
Ryo can't be Adventure Ken really, because Adventure Ken doesn't really exist. But Ken isn't exactly an 02 kid in the way Daisuke, Iori and Miyako are. A reoccurring theme in 02 is the difference in outlook between the Adventure kids, the Adventure and 02 kids, and the 02 exclusive kids. And so Ken is in no way one of the original Adventure kids, but there is something to be said of the fact that his (executive meddling hellscape) backstory reflects experiences of Takeru, Hikari, more than it does the other 02 original kids. He even has an associated crest. In many ways, Ken is a retroactive Adventure character, without actually being an Adventure character. Ken in the context of digimon Adventure 02 is very much so an example if a character like Takeru had been driven to the darkness, who then had to be rehabilitated by a set of characters with an outside perspective. Really that is what all of 02s Jogresses is really, the new kids helping the more experienced kids deal with their unprocessed issues. Miyako helps Hikari look out for herself, Iori helps Takeru stop lashing out in anger from keeping his emotions hidden, and Daisuke helps Ken see value in his own continued existence.
Which is why I think Ryo is a homage to Ken. It's not the "Adventure Ken" that theoretically exists, the little boy wondering around the digital world with Wonderswan Ryo or whatever did or did not happen in that unreliable backstory, but 02 Ken, the Ken after the trauma, who needs SOMEONE to connect with him to help save him. He's the sole character who is taken from 02 era rather than the first Adventure era. And 02's themes are in this character. Ryo dies in part due to hopelessness and depression. He is unsavable the first playthrough. Unsavable in the initial adventure context. The original context where the focus is on survival and connection with your own digimon. Wormmon couldn't Save Ken alone. just as Kunemon couldn't. Both Wormmon and Kunemon die in desperate attempts to try and save their partners (really from themselves). But Ryo is saved from death when you can manage to become friends with him. When you connect with him, not unlike how Daisuke managed to save Ken. And from there, Ryo manages to save other people (Shuuji) from falling into that same despair, not unlike how Ken tried to reach out to the dark spore kids. It's noteworthy that of the 3 initial endings, the moral route is the closest to the truthful route, but aside from Ryo and Shuuji has one key difference. It ends like the original Adventure did, the kids and their partners separating, while the truthful route has the kids and their partners living together, invoking the 02 ending. While the Harmony and Wrathful routes do also bear a resemblance to 02's ending, just relatively less optimistically, Harmony and Wrathful routes involve the failings of personal connections. The failure to understand each other. Ultimately the truthful route resolves peacefully, even the big bad reconciling with his sister, no longer feeling the need to lash out at others. Ryo is the factor that takes this adventure and adds a bit of 02 to it, 02 in this context being the importance of connection. 02 being what makes the happy ending.
It's not a 1 to 1, after all, all of the characters are different from their adventure counterpart, and take pieces from one another. For example, its Minoru that has the parental divorce backstory, and Miyuki is a protective older sister to the professor, not a younger sister to Takuma, and the Professor is the most curious about the digital world's nature, and is the one with the digimon partner Gabumon. Saki is the one hesitating the most about going home at all rather than being the one to bring it up the most. I'd say Ryo also has elements of Joe in his fear of his partner and for being an unreliable older kid, and Shuuji has elements of Ken in his cruelty of Lopmon, and insistence on authority and desire to measure up against an older brother with whom he has a flawed relationship. Really none of these kids match up one to one with the adventure kids, and that's great, but I think it is fair to say that as far as analogies go, Ryo does draw from Ken.
02 is an extension of Adventure, and despite their differences in plot, theme and character arcs, no discussion of Adventure will ever be truly complete without discussing certain elements of 02 in relation to that, particularly 02s epilogue and what it means thematically. Ryo is a reflection of Ken, and how his story and needs were a reflection of the themes of 02, and how those themes were built off of the themes of Adventure. How Ken needed something that was not as prevalent in Adventure. Naturally, I think the "truthful" story of survive, would have to be a route that includes elements of 02 no matter how faithful it is to other Adventure themes otherwise.
Listen, I understand why Suite isn't a popular season. Generally speaking, the best parts of it are generally done better in the two seasons that precede it. It in many ways is just a weaker frankensteining of Fresh and Heartcatch. But Fresh and Heartcatch are fantastic, so just because it's worse than those seasons, doesn't mean its bad in my opinion. And to be fair, it does deserve many of its criticisms.
But it's also one of my favorite seasons, and I think some of it's criticisms are more a matter of taste. There's just a lot I love about Suite.
Hibiki and Kanade
I also know a lot of people aren't huge fans of the whole fighting thing Hibiki and Kanade have going on. And I agree, it's not the best executed and some things don't make sense. I also understand that many people are not fond of the vitriolic best buds trope, but I don't think that makes their relationship inherently bad just not to everyone's taste. For what it's worth, we haven't had a pair of cures like them before and since and it's a tragedy to me personally because I am quite fond of vitriolic best buds, duo cures and childhood friends. We have so many cure duos and aside from these two, none are childhood friends. The CLOSEST is the fact that Saki and Mai met once, when they were 9. Several trios of childhood friends (Fresh, Doki Doki and Happiness Charge), but they're the only true childhood friend duo. I honestly want more cures like these two. They get the learning to understand each other that the new friendships have, with the wealth of intimate knowledge about each other stemming from their childhood friendship. Despite spending a year "apart", the years they spent together still mean something, and they can't seem to stay away. They're mad at each other but there is still a comfortable familiarity in the way they aren't afraid to fight with each other. They say they aren't friends but they still call each other by first name.
Their hearts naturally fall into perfect harmony. The have like the same sense of style. Kanade likes to bake. Hibiki likes to eat. Souta refers to Hibiki as "Hibiki-Nee-san", and otherwise treats her similarly to his own sister. They have a flashlight code that they use to communicate across town at night. Neither one realized that there are two entrances with Sakura trees at their middle school or tried to talk about it for a whole year. They're both so stupid.
They take after Nagisa and Honoka a lot too. Nagisa and Hibiki are both athletic redheads who are good at sports and have black as a main color in one of their outfits (Cure for Nagisa, Civ for Hibiki), and generally use pink in their outfits. Both like to eat. Both can be prone to grumpiness and disagreements with their family members. Honoka and Kanade are both white Cures with fierce tempers and a strong sense of responsibility, able to handle domestic things like cooking. Both have more academic strengths, but are relatively graceful. There are some twists of course, Kanade has the little brother who she bickers with (their little brother's even both end their name with "ta"), Hibiki is the one with a parent who is often abroad. I really like how the two called back to the original duo without at all feeling like a copy.
To be fair not communicating is the name of the game in Suite. And so, I do 100% understand not liking this plot. I really do understand it. It's more than fair. All of the plots basically revolve around miscommunication. That is like. The entirety of Suite. Miscommunications, and the breakdown and subsequent healing of relationships. A very very valid complaint. One that I can overlook, but understand if others cannot.
Siren and Hummy
So, Precure's second heel-face turn Cure (if we don't count the Kiryuu sisters). She's a shapeshifting cat who can sing. The original one.
While normally I dislike the "Brainwashed to be evil" trope. It can be very effective. Go Princess used it to great effect in which there was a level of tragedy to the years that had been stolen away from Towa, and how her motivations had been twisted. I think it has similar effect here, where we kind of get both. She was brainwashed, and I do think that does cheapen Siren's motivations and redemption a bit, but she also had genuinely negative feelings towards Hummy, that she acted on in refusing to practice with Hummy. She still has to face Hummy head on, and as much as she tries to pretend that she's hard and strong enough to live in her bitterness. Siren isn't actually mean enough to keep facing her friend and betray her over and over again.
Hummy being better at singing than her caused her to lose a piece of her identity. The most important singer in all of Majorland. The one who sings the melody of happiness. So Siren doubles down on that identity. She becomes Minorland's singer. But she also, due to her shapeshifting, spends that time adopting different identities. Testing things out, even if she doesn't realize it. Ultimately she has to completely let go of her old identity (losing access to her original form) and everything associated with it and forge a new sense of self, in order to find happiness. But she doesn't completely lose everything.
Despite not liking to be called Siren anymore, she still lets Hummy call her that. She turned her old identity of Siren into something bitter, so she had to cast it off to redefine herself. But Hummy is the only one who ever saw the real Siren through everything Siren tried to become. Hummy may have been the one who took her sense of worth, but she's also the one who always saw Siren's value as Siren. Hummy gets to use Siren because her relationship with Hummy is the only thing that survived Siren's evolution. The two have to forge a new relationship to a certain extent. But it's built on what came before.
I also just think it's fun that the bulk of this emotional arc is on Hummy. It's cat drama. Fairy drama. Usually this is the kinda of stuff that happens between the pink and the heel-face cure. But not this time. This time it's the cat fairy, and the pink is dealing with her own friendship drama. I think it also ties right back into Suites continued echo of healing relationships, actually listening to people in order to harmonize with them. Hibiki and Kanade have to resolve their bitter feelings from their estrangement. Siren has to get over her jealousy to let Hummy back into her life. And Mephisto and Aphrodite have to stop fighting a war against each other.
Major Land's Royal Family
I mean really, no one bothered to tell Hibiki and Kanade at any point that Mephisto was the brainwashed former King of Major Land and that Major Land had a princess who was in hiding? Just locked out of the loop. Both Kanon and Majorland are entirely made up of people who can't communicate.
Anyway, Ako is my all time favorite cure. I rather unpopular choice, I know. But she fits right in with many of my other favorites, characters such as Hikari Yagami, Takeru Takaishi, King Clawthorne, King Ezran, Anya Forger etc. I love kid characters. I especially love messed up traumatized kids who don't always deal with it in great ways. And kid characters with heaps of responsibility on their shoulders. Like chosen ones and royalty.
So Ako is the epitome of what I look for in my favorite characters. She's a 9 year old with high future expectations, that she can't even begin to try and live up to because she's been sent away from everything she's known and loved. Not just moving to a new town, but a new world, where the rules of what is and isn't normal are different. In addition she was forced into physically altering her appearance, wearing unfamiliar clothes, and cutting her long hair. Not only that, she now has to keep everything about her secret. Her hometown, whatever music magic she has, her real future career plans, everything that made her her, has to be suppressed and kept secret. And she was like. Six. That's tiny. And she has to construct a whole new fake identity?
No wonder she's grumpy and keeps to herself? Her alternative is just trying to keep up a bunch of lies all the time. And keeping to herself, means few friends, and trying to keep people away, because this is supposed to be temporary to some degree. She has back home eventually, she's their future queen. She really has no choice BUT to be a grumpy brat. To keep from getting found out and to keep from getting attached. Like sure she doesn't have to be a brat to Hibiki and Kanade, but she's kinda right half the time, and honestly her tempering that brattiness into being just unpleasant enough to be left alone without being so obnoxious she draws people's ire involves way more socio-emotional intelligence than should ever be expected from a nine year old. And at a certain point, after years of it, it became part of her real personality. The sweet optimistic little princess is still there. But it's under a layer of cynicism.
Ako wants her family back. So she gets the power to do that. And things still don't go her way.
I've joked to people before that Ako is one of 4 cures with divorced parents. Her parents are effectively divorced, but extra. They're not just trying to fight over a house and custody of her, but over not just an entire kingdom, but the fate of the world. And her father doesn't even know who she is anymore. Her parents are actively at war, and her mother honestly shows no qualms about letting her husband be potentially killed, not bothering to tell the people she's sent after him about their relationship and his true nature. (And then her mom asks Mephisto to kill her to protect their kingdom, Ako can't catch a break).
This ties back to a fact that is kind of brushed over in the show. Ako is the princess. In the show she's honestly just the princess because it puts her in between Mephisto and Aphrodite's drama. But we see in show that Mephisto and Aphrodite are constantly putting their kingdom's needs above their own. A- monarchs (points deducted for getting brainwashed), but like. B- parents tbh. They love Ako so, so much, but simply can't raise her themselves. In fact, Ako's parents won't look after themselves, so Ako has to look out for them instead of the other way around. We see this a lot with Mephisto.
Sometimes Ako makes absolutely stupid decisions, like releasing notes, because she doesn't want to go against her dad, even if he isn't himself right now. Because she's a child whose parents are fighting, seemingly to the death, and if she can spread out the fight, she can hopefully drag out the arrival of consequences.
Ako does eventually learn to use the power as a cure, so she can balance the needs of the many over the needs of her loved ones. So she can do both. But she has to learn to make the hard choices and be willing to stand against her loved ones.
Also Ako also gets the miscommunication based friendship breakdown with her and Suzu, and to a lesser extent her and Souta in the movie. Suite really goes hard on the whole healing relationships thing.
Ako is really a direct foil to Yuri who precedes her. Missing evil brainwashed dads. Present throughout the whole show, but only join the team in the last quarter (the latest of any Cures). Semi-awkward friendship with one of the other cure's siblings in part because their friend doesn't know about all their magical girl trauma. Already looped into the magical girl stuff before any of the other cures, so has a preexisting relationship of some sort with the grandparent mentor. Ako is pretty much just a baby Yuri, but who has just now gained the power to try and fight after years of inability to do anything, instead of having just lost her power, and having to face down her own failure and keep going. So she's an angry elementary kid rather than a depressed high schooler. How can I not love her?
So digimon has a habit of giving their main protagonists goggles, giving them brown hair, and reptilian digimon. They also often make them heroic big brother types (and quite often literally big brothers… or at least caretakers). But digimon also has a habit of having young female characters with mysterious powers and a holy digimon partner. And sometimes, the two characters are related.
Not always directly, and never really in the same way twice, but often the two characters, when both roles exist, play complementary story roles in some way. Especially as the "Goggle boy/Taichi" archetype is consistently at the center of the story, and "Holy Girl/Hikari" archetype varies in relevance. And to be clear, I'm not trying to break down every character into the basic digimon archetypes, but they do exist and they are kind of useful to look at as a point of comparison.
Of course this all goes back to Digimon Adventure (film), where Taichi and Hikari a brother and sister, take up opposing roles in regards to the digimon situation. While Hikari was originally imagined to not be a digidestined in the future, her fear of the situation after her original acceptance (as opposed to Taichi's suspicion and later cooperation) clouding her perspective, that really isn't want happened in the final product. Hikari was innately drawn to the digital world. She never forgot. The incident is potentially because of her. And where does that leave Taichi? The (relative) normie who was called because of her, but stepped up to the plate as the one everyone turned to, independent of her. Taichi is their leader, Hikari the 8th child. Taichi (and Yamato) get ultimates. Hikari (and Takeru) have Angels that grant them that power. Hikari is innately powerful, but young, and Taichi is powerful to, but in a slower way born of being the first one to do things and push forward. Consistently the first one to evolve. The first and the last. All of that to say that this is sometimes echoed in later digimon. While nothing has quite reached the levels of original Adventure there are still plot lines and sort of story roles that echo that initial storyline.
While Chika doesn't play a major role in Savers, her role as Suguru's other child, her prodigious amounts of Digisoul, and her role welcoming Ikuto and Falcomon (a la Tailmon), clearly aligns her with Hikari. Even if in show she doesn't play a role that engages with that with the priority on her brother, the Taichi archetype, the main character with the agency that drives the plot, she still echoes Hikari with her surprising chillness with digimon, and a fateful encounter with a digiegg that ends violently.
In Cyber Sleuth, Erika is easily a Hikari archetype, and while her big brother is not the Taichi, she is the driving force behind the Hacker's memory plot. Her relationship with Keisuke (the main character, who you play as) in particular is the center of Hacker's Memory. While Keisuke is absolutely a goggle boy, Keisuke isn't a Taichi, he's the Daisuke to Aiba, the real Taichi. Keisuke and Daisuke are less, larger than life ambitious world changers than Taichi and Aiba. The reason I bring this up, is that even though Aiba and Erika never really meet, they are the focal points of both story halves. Aiba is situated at the focal point where Nokia and Arata, and Yuuko reunite. The focal point between the royal knights, the hackers and Kamishiro. Sure Keisuke is the hacker's memory protag, but it's noted he's not very protagy. Erika is the story's focal point, Keisuke her Daisuke, along for the ride, with his own motivations sure, but in the same way Nokia did, and Nokia was ultimately secondary (though also very important, has some Taichi in her). Aiba and Erika are both dying throughout the events of the game as the result of an accident, but also due to the accident now have some special digital skill. It's also important to note that Erika and Aiba's group are the only two groups that had digital encounters to kick this off. They're the only ones who have been to the digital world prior to this whole situation. In reality the 6 of them are this entries only true "chosen children" so to speak. But even that has its precedent, Hikari being separated from the other digidestined in the beginning. Aiba and Erika do not know each other. Their traumas and their resolutions are both different. Aiba's unremembered trauma was resolved by a rescue and reunion. Aiba's "cyberfication" is a death sentence, despite being relatively well off compared to most victims. Erika remembers her parents death and the resolution is separation from her loved ones, the loss of their memories. Her "cyberfication" is ultimately her salvation and allows her to live on when she would otherwise die.
Of course Survive is one big callback. Takuma literally has goggles, the Ta name and an Agumon. He is the groups leader, even when there are older people he's the one whose character guides the other kids, the first to evolve, the strongest. Miyuki has a holy partner and a literal power to transverse worlds, set apart by the others by her different arrival date (though in her case it was early). Now interestingly Takuma and Miyuki are not siblings. Miyuki is for once no ones little sister and is instead an older sister. (Her little brother, ironically being the Gennai archetype). But they are tied together. Takuma is the one who manages to reach Miyuki and they return to the human world, in an echo of Adventure epsiode 21. Miyuki mysteriously provides additional context to the situation, and demonstrates power (Miyuki and her song, Hikari and her references to the first film) No time has changed at all for Takuma since his departure, though unlike Hikari (who time was flowing normally for), 50 years had passed. While both Takuma and Taichi hestiate to leave the digital world, (in most paths), they ultimately do in order to return to their friends, Agumon returning anyway. In Adventure Taichi leaves Hikari behind (with the promise to the audience she'll return soon). Takuma jumps after Miyuki expecting her to be at his side when they return, but her being taken away. But more than that, Akiharu has Gabumon, and together with Takuma forms Omegamon. Now the Yamato analogue is very much Kaito (and Dracmon even has a wolf evo), though Akiharu has a little bit of Yamato in him, a brother protecting his sister, closed off to himself, having undergone a traumatizing incident as a child. But Takuma and Akiharu are the ones who form Omegamon to save Miyuki in the Moral path. Takuma is the one (granted he has different context from the other kids), who actually got to know the real Miyuki. The one who has the most invested in her due to their brief meeting, and the one most invested in saving her, when the others fear she's a lost cause. Conversely, Takuma is the one Miyuki really calls to from the other kids. Takuma is also the one who gets closest to the professor (asides from Shuuji) and gets to start piecing together things, often finding out truths about 50 years ago before the other kids. Aside from Akiharu, Garurumon, Renamon and Miyuki themselves, Takuma is the most involved in that drama. Granted a lot of this is game play, due to being a video game, as with Cyber Sleuth, but it still is worth noting.
Digimon overall as a franchise has a lot of its own archetypes that may be related to common genre archetypes but have their own sort of flavor to them. This is rather typical of franchises like digimon, but I find its still interesting to look at, whether intentional or not. It makes sense that Taichi and Hikari's characters would
Ah, Precure dance endings. A series staple. Whether you consider the First dance ED to be "You make me happy" or "Ganbalance de dance" or even the very first "Get You! Love Love?!" the point is they've been around for a while. Generally speaking nothing but a simple fun time, but rarely has had anything to do with the show proper. Nothing wrong with that of course, but the very first Precure ED was a bit more than that.
Futari wa, as opposed to every other season, only has the 1 ending. Sure, it changes visually halfway through to accommodate Pollun and the new villain team, but that's it. (Which is more than the OP which doesn't change at all, which is also unusual). But I think people often miss the relevance of the song in between all the less relevant eds, and the iconicness that is the OP.
But the ED is also iconic and a crucial piece of the Futari wa Purikyua experience.
Episode 45, the last episode before shit hits the fan, features this song heavily. This song isn't really my favorite ed, and the episode isn't a particular favorite of mine (Futari wa has so many good episodes), but it utilizes the ed effectively, and the song that you've been listening to all this time hits harder.
Nagisa immediately falls in love with the song. The song speaks to her looking at the lyrics of course its no surprise. But it's not just "song that Nagisa would like". Though I would be remiss if I did not mention the inclusion of sweets in the lyrics. Nagisa loves chocolate. It's the go to simple important part of life for her.
They have the girls sing it. Sung by a chorus, not just Nagisa and Honoka (but they do get solos), but the whole class, many of whom appear in the ED. Because of Futari wa's small main cast the side characters hold a more important role than they do in many future series, so these are characters we know, even if just from an episode. There's a weight to the music being diegetic.
Of course the episode ends sweetly, with Nagisa, Honoka, and the fairies, singing their heart out with the rest of their class. But for a moment that wasn't a guarantee. Nagisa and Honoka being unable to sing with their class highlights the toll that this fight has taken on their normal school lives. They have to fight against someone who fully intends to kill them, and then destroy their loved ones, alone while every one else is.
Made all the more poignant by the subject matter of the song.
First of all, the title "Get you! Love Love!" is in English, and a bit nonsensical in English. But "Love Love" in Japanese, means more "lovely-dovey". It's VERY much so in your face romantic. A word used to describe Mepple and Mipple. The song is about the joy of teenage romance. While I don't really want to call it frivolous, next to world saving it doesn't hold the same weight.
Now, I recognize that may seem counter to my point that the song is important to Futari wa. I mean there's no canon romantic relationship. Closest is Nagisa's crush that she never actually confesses to. But putting aside all of Futari wa's romance elements (which is an entirely different discussion), the lyrics are still very relevant to Futari wa.
The Opening holds the iconic line "even wearing school uniforms we're unbelievably tough" and features scenes of them fighting evil in their school uniforms. The opening is an ode to how badass they are in all aspects of their life.
But the ending is the other side of the coin. It tells us how frustrated they are with the villains encroaching on their everyday life. While I don't speak Japanese, and have seen it translated a couple of ways, the reoccurring "datte yatte ran'nai jan", is either "because you can't make me do this", or "because I can't do this". IDK which is right, but either way, this is in regards to fighting, stress, and trouble, which stands in stark contrast to the opening which is very much so about how much they can and do fight. "For the sake of the earth, for the sake of everyone That's fine but isn't there something that you're forgetting?! Now!" They aren't even being subtle about the Pretty Cure part about the girls lives in the song. How much that they don't want to do it. "My heart is pounding and throbbing like a dreaming teenager An original daily life is something I won't get rid of" The lines of Nagisa and Honoka's solo. The most thematically important lines in the whole song imo. While the importance of the everyday is important in most Precure seasons, it is especially emphasized with Futari wa. The main theme of the story is about how precious day to day things are, and how unfair it is for the girls to have to fight for that.
Because ultimately that is what Futari wa Pretty Cure is about more than anything. I think it's important to view Futari wa Pretty Cure through the lens of a slice of life first. It's tone a lot of the time, focusing on poor grades and unfinished homework, lacrosse, errands, sleepovers and family. A relatively grounded slice of life from the perspective of magical girls. The value of the normal events highlighted by the desperation Nagisa and Honoka have fighting to defend them. The ED highlights it by focusing on the more "frivolous" aspects of the girls lives.
The visuals of the ED are pretty simple, but effective. They showcase the different circles the girls interact with. Their families, their classmates, their clubs and of course the villains. Because of Futari wa's focus on their community, the presence of these characters in the ED is deserved. A fun lighthearted focus on their day to day lives to contrast the OP.
Also, I'd like to point out the ED visuals humanizing the villains. While Futari wa's villains are easily among some of the franchises worst, having the unforgivable flaw of being forgettable, the show doesn't do a completely terrible job of humanizing them. And the ED contributes to that. The dancing of the villains, just being the goofy people that some of them are when not, trying to destroy the world. While I wouldn't call the behavior canonical, it really isn't off base for characters like Gekidrago and Regine. The villains, for all that they are generic, are primarily motivated by their desire to continue existing: the same motivation that drives the Cures. (Gotta love their goofy dance).
Also a guy screams at the end of it. If I have to hear it now so do you.