#daybreak illusion

[spectralreplica]

Sun and Moon girls! ☀️🌙

I know this is leaving out Cures Bright, Sunshine, Sunny, and Selene, but I decided to limit myself to one Cure each per sun and moon. Same with Chibimoon. Also left off: Sakura Kinomoto who could've been another sun/moon hybrid but I honestly associate her more with stars???? And almost definitely more...

[otori0]

unfinished wips under cut (+suggestive)

[magicalgirllapinpuff]

Daybreak Illusion Design Reviews

I was obsessed with this anime when I was 12/13. I remember being extremely sick over Winter to the point of constantly passing out and having hallucinations, and watching this show kept me going. So I guess it's done some good in the world. Otherwise Daybreak Illusion is an amazing concept with a badly-written, morally disappointing execution, the kind you can only overlook when you're the same age as the characters and recycling your chicken soup into a mixing bowl. Still, even kind of trashy magical slop shows tend to have really good concepts (and often cute designs!), and that's what makes me especially sad about the missed potential.

I love the art style, I love the Tarot theme, I love what they have with the magical girls, and if you took out the especially tryhard edge and the underage nipples Daybreak Illusion could have easily been a good and even possibly a family-friendly magical girl show. I truly think it would have been better that way, because all it would have cut are the parts I dislike. Let's take a look at the best part of this show--the magical girl designs--and politely ignore the triplets because I have nothing to say about them. They're cute though.

✧˖°――♡――✧˖°

Akari Taiyo

Akari is the typical saintly cheerful protagonist with almost no emotional range and a sickly high voice. We only get hints of her nuance and that is a pity because her design is sweet enough for me to want to like her. The little sunny bob, the striped socks and the tie with the pin are all really cute personal details, and when she's transformed they play with her having a real alter ego, more serious, confident, and willing to fight, and with a way more tolerable voice. She's even got an emo bang, and her hair flares like fire in battle. I wish this alter ego thing had carried over to the rest of the girls, because transformation bringing a personality shift is one of my favourite magical girl tropes yet you almost never see it.

I really enjoy this show's bobbleheaded moe art style, which reminds me of some 90s cartoons or something by Studio Trigger, and it's such a shame it gets uncomfortably mashed with attempts to be "sexy". In other gross magical girl shows, they tend to make the teens look like adults...still deeply wrong, but it feels even worse in this show where the little girls look especially like little girls. On that note.

Luna Tsukuyomi

Oh, Luna...really deserved better. I don't want to talk about her wolf form (conceptually an interesting twist, but done disgustingly) or the obvious reason they gave her a larger chest, but otherwise it's a darling design, probably my fave in this show. Making the Moon card girl a sort of werewolf magical girl is adorable and I wish they'd done more with that. Luna can summon plants, which is a fresh interpretation of moon powers at least. Her frilly long dress just works so so well, though a little more so in her magical form. I especially love the beret and the choppy, almost grasslike hair. She's an elegant but timid rich girl with an obsessive crush on Akari and you do get a lot of that just by looking at her--there's a slight darkness to that stare, or maybe that's just the art style lol. The crush never felt believable anyway. Luna please let me scoop you out of this show and put you in a Precure season or something. (Thinking about it, these girls really are named like Precure characters lol)

Seira Hoshikawa

Seira is a serious, smart and athletic girl who butts heads with Akari early on. She's been a magical girl a little longer and is already close friends with Ginka at the show's start, which makes for a cute little Pinky and the Brain dynamic. Seira still feels a bit generic, but I see what they were going for...designwise she's really neat looking. The bright violet hair and star accessories seem like they'd be more at home on a happier, fashionista sort of character, not one who seems more interested in brooding and working out, but I think the contrast is actually sweet. I like her magical form--she's the Star girl, with ice powers, and that's another fascinating twist. Space is pretty cold. She uses a bow and arrow, also made of ice. Makes sense for her. The ice crystals on her hands and in the new hair is lovely, though I could do without that third ponytail. It just looks silly.

Ginka Shirogane

Ginka, arguably my real favourite character of the main four because she's fun, consistent, and actually has some complexity, is cheerful and outgoing with a love of takoyaki. Her dad (who I remember liking a lot) is rich from inventing takoyaki makers, but throughout a lot of Ginka's childhood they were very poor. This translates to her Temperance card form allowing her to summon piles of coins as a weapon, which is cute...if slightly confusing. She also has a big shield. I love how noodley her civilian design is, though my favourite part is probably the hair. It's just a fun simple style. I'm less sure about her transformed hairstyle...it's not bad, but I'm sure they could have done something more interesting with it. That's my general critique. The Nintendo Switch halo and wings are neat.

Etia

Etia is the World card and the soft-spoken, Princess Celestia esque headmaster of their magical girl school IIRC. She doesn't do much, which is a shame with such a gorgeous Gothic Lolita design. I really like this shade of mint and it meshes well with black.

Ariel

Etia's coworker/possible girlfriend? or twin sister I guess?? They never go into their relationship but you've got to at least like each other to wear matching inverted outfits. The boobs look disproportionate in an art style that only allows for one body type on a height slider, but otherwise she looks just as good as Etia.

Priscilla

She's the knife-throwing jester girl with the Fool card and she's one of the magical schoolteachers, which is hilarious with only four students. She's a veteran magical girl of sorts, presumably an adult, which is cool, and is in a duo with Meltina. I think her civilian outfit (other than the wrapped hair, I like that) is goofy but it oddly works when she's transformed. The huge hair pushes it safely into an acceptably campy territory I enjoy. The outfit still needs a bit of work lol.

Meltina

The Magician (can you tell? :p) and another one of the teachers. She has bombs and a broomstick. I like this concept of taking a fairly generic base witch costume, then adding all the little abacus charms and the big eye on the hat. She has more design changes between forms than most and I love the result. The dress turning into a jumpsuit is fun. I really like her, even if she basically does nothing in the show, ha.

[mostly-magical-polls]

Best Sun And Moon Motif Characters - Round 1

Choose

Luz Noceda & Amity Blight

Akari Taiyou & Luna Tsukuyomi

Voting ended onMar 7, 2025

[manekinekocake]

[aventurinetears]

[doyouknowthisanime]

Do You Know This Anime?

Day Break Illusion (2013)

I have seen this anime in its entirety.

I have seen part, but not all, of this anime.

I have not seen this anime, but I have read an associated LN/manga.

I have not seen this anime, but I know a lot about it.

I have not seen this anime, and know little about it.

I have never heard of this anime.

Voting ended onApr 26, 2024

[justmeinabigolworld]

Let me tell you guys about the dream I had last night!

The first part took place in an old house in an old fancy neighborhood. At one point, we took a walk and looked at every house’s fancy gardens, which could get very elaborate. Cerebrum from Day Break Illusion was there for some reason, and he used his shapeshifting powers to make a false identity: a rich girl named Cera (pronounced like Sarah). Cera basically looked like Cerebrum but with a side ponytail and, y’know, feminine features. Come to think of it, wasn’t that Cerebrum’s disguise at some corporate gala in the actual anime? Idk, I watched the anime years ago and I don’t want to rewatch it because it really wasn’t good. I don’t really remember what Cerebrum was trying to accomplish with his Cera identity in the dream.

In another part of the dream, I was in a different country with my dad and this girl I used to go to school with. We were looking for a place to have lunch. We bought two slices of pizza to go, but then we immediately forgot about them and eventually went to an Indian place. It was weird, since the stuff on the menu was all unfamiliar, and everything seemed to be served with noodles instead of rice. I mean, I’m certainly not an expert on Indian food, but I’ve had it a lot in the past, and I didn’t recognize a single dish on the dream restaurant’s menu (except for the naan). The entree I remember most clearly was a “Japanese-style” curry with snap peas and honey roasted pork ribs. Yeah, I don’t know either.

The restaurant turned out to be a place where people could secretly write poetry, like an underground poetry club, because poetry was illegal in this country for some reason. I saw Tucker Carlson (eww) at the restaurant, and soon after that we decided to leave. There was more to the dream, including Disney merchandise and sneaking out through a garden gate, but I don’t really remember how it went.

Conclusion: dreams are weird, but maybe I’ll take the Cera concept, separate it from the Day Break Illusion context, and use it in a future story