This is a sequel of sorts to my last post where I announced that I had ended the current project and was starting over.
I said there that I had restarted watching Precure from the beginning and would make posts on weekends. The truth is this was hastily conceived and I didn't have a concrete plan, though I had more or less mapped out my course of action, this time building in break days to stop and collect my thoughts for potential blog posts, and planned vacations where I knew I wouldn't have time to do anything. I also schedule the movies to be watched specifically on weekends instead of explicitly when they aired in sequence. In 5 days I got through episode 5, which is the end of Pisard's arc and the introduction to the series, and had planned to do a little write-up before continuing. Good plan, right?
Well, a few things happened.
I didn't make any notes, take any screenshots, or do anything along the way to make compiling a blog easier in a hypothetical new format. (yes this is supposed to be simpler but I still need a plan) So even though I was enjoying the series on round 2, and picking up on little tidbits I didn't remember or notice the last several times I watched the early adventures of Nagisa and Honoka, I wasn't keeping track of them, which is like the whole point of this project.
I had the idea to start watching the dub as well, especially since it got a re-airing on Toei Animation's summer block on youtube last year. I've never seen the Pretty Cure dub in full, only a few clips, and it would be interesting to compare/contrast. But I wasn't doing that, and the more episodes I watched, the more dub episodes I would have to find time to rewatch for the sake of completion as I hadn't planned this from the outset.
I had also had the brilliant idea to combine the Precure rewatch project with two other rewatch projects for other franchises, meaning that instead of 1 episode a day I now had to watch 3 episodes, plus keep up with the things I like to watch just on my personal time. I had no intention, and still don't, of writing about those other shows like I do for Precure, but it's still a commitment.
This is the biggest one. The Zombie Land Saga movie: Yumeginga Paradise was announced for a one-night theatrical release in the US and Canada for January 19. If you're not familiar, Zombie Land Saga is a Mappa original anime series about a group of girls from various parts of Japan's history who are revived as zombies and become an idol unit to revitalize the dying Saga district of Japan. It's a silly premise but it's super fun, and I've loved the series since I was first introduced to it. (incidentally, for the Precure connection, it stars Tano Asami, who played Akane/Cure Sunny in Smile Precure; Mitsuishi Kotono, who played Hummy in Suite Precure, Usagi/Sailor Moon in Sailor Moon, and a shit ton of other things outside the scope of this blog; and Hondo Kaede, who will play Mikuru/Cure Mystique in this year's Star Detective Precure) Anyway with that news, I wanted to rewatch the series since it had been a few years since my last full viewing, and so I put the Precure rewatch project on hiatus.
So with all that in mind, I need a little more time to put together a coherent format for this project going forward that strikes a balance between my desire to share my passion with the knowledge of where I went wrong last time, before jumping back in. So I'm going to re-restart the project on February 1, which happens to be the anniversary of both the premiere of the original Futari wa Precure series in 2004, as well Fresh Precure! (2009), Go! Princess Precure (2015), and the premiere of Star Detective Precure this year. My first post for the new project should, in turn, go up the following weekend on the 7th or 8th, depending. Look forward to that, if and when it happens! And go watch Zombie Land Saga if you haven't, and rewatch it if you've seen it before, it's super fun.
Happy new year folks. It's time to address the elephant in the room.
I have not made any meaningful progress on my review of Precure 5 GoGo episode 45 and beyond for well over a year. I don't think I'm going to. I said I was going to keep going, to finish that series before I quit, and I truly wanted to. But after I actually finished watching, it seems my motivation just..... dissipated. I, too, am a victim of the GoGo Curse. After delaying the inevitable for far too long, I decided today to just call it: I am ending the Precure Daily review project as of Yes! Precure 5 GoGo episode 44.
Behind the scenes, I've been considering how to revamp this project for a while. To continue writing in a way that doesn't exhaust me and make me dread continuing. As you probably know, even during my active years I tried several ways to streamline the process, including a clear layout for the plot description and my actual thoughts, limiting myself to bullet points, automating the screenshot process, and so on. But none of that matters when I can't find the motivation, when I'm no longer enjoying the project and the work that goes into it.
I am 35 years old now. I was 27 when I began the project. I discovered Precure at age 16, and started watching it at 19. I have seen the franchise grow, change, and evolve so much over the years. It's had its highs, and its lows. And I, too, have grown, changed, evolved; had highs and lows in my life. I'm not the same person now that I was when I began the project, because how could I be. My love for Precure overall is as strong as ever, but the way I approach it is not.
Today, January 1 2026, I decided to take the plunge and rewatch episode 1 of Futari wa Precure. I had considered waiting until February 1, the actual anniversary, but starting on new year's just makes it easier to track. Despite me having seen this episode a number of times over the years, I still picked up on little things I had never noticed before, since I was just watching it to watch it and not to review it. I look forward to watching episode 2 tomorrow, and episode 3 on the third, and so forth.
I don't want to completely abandon this blog, the little community of followers I've built, and the enjoyment I get from sharing my love and insights and knowledge, the information I find out while researching for the project, etc. But I cannot write an essay every day, take 100 screenshots (even automated), and do all of that. I have teased a future for this project a few times already, and I'll lay out my ideas. What I will try to do is a little weekly recap or something where I briefly talk about a batch of episodes that I've watched, all in one go. But if that becomes a burden, I will not maintain that either, and instead explore other avenues of sharing my passion.
This is not the post I ever wanted to make, but it has become increasingly clear that I'm not going to be able to finish what I started. Thank you all for 7 years, and I hope to be back next weekend with a little bit of PCD 2.0.
Seven. Years. I never fathomed this. Granted, it's not that I've done a whole lot in the last year except make empty promises, but I'm still alive, that counts for something. Precure was in an entirely different era when I began this, and now we are halfway through the third decade of the 21st century, and the third decade of Precure.
I know I say this every year but I didn't think I'd still be around this long when I started. The reason why has changed, but nonetheless, I didn't think I'd be here, and I'm still here, and that's pretty cool. I only published a handful of reviews last year, and have been kicking the last 4 episodes of 5 GoGo down the road for the better part of a year, but I have a plan.
I know I've spoken about my history before, but if you're new here, it goes something like this. I had the idea of watching all of Precure from the beginning kicking around in my head for a year or two before it finally came to fruition. As the 15th anniversary at the time, HUGtto felt like a good time to start going back April 10 was not a special day by any means, it's just the day I decided to sit down and watch FWPC episode 1. Initially I was just sharing my thoughts in a Facebook group, but I wanted it to be searchable and easily archived, so after about a week I moved over to Tumblr. FWPC season 1 is the only series I was able to watch consistently on time, around the time of Max Heart I began slipping a little more, Splash Star was hard to juggle with a new job, and I'll use COVID as my excuse for 5 and GoGo taking as long as they have. Also, the increased screenshots and desire to say more and contextualize more... it all got out of control, it's a beast of my own creation, and that's also why it fell apart. But I'll see it through to the end of GoGo.
As for what's happened in the last year of Precure for me....
Me and my friends finished Delicious Party as promised. I was being overly hard on it, the last arc was pretty good. I still don't think I'd rank it in the top 10, but it's fine. I didn't like them completely sidelining Black Pepper for the final fight, he could have been their Tuxedo Mask, but it we would get Wing the next year, so as a half step it's at least good that he was around for a lot of the show.
I was initially very dismissive of Wonderful, but even by this time last year I had started to warm up to it. I said then: "I don't think it's going to crack my top 10 but it should be a solid middle of the road series." I don't know where I'd place it, ultimately, but it's a quality series that broke some boundaries for the franchise. I haven't seen the movie yet, I hear it's very good.
Precure celebrated 1000 episodes! That's incredible. It's up there with One Piece and Case Closed in length now.
I still have not watched Otona Precure, I intend to watch if after I finish the reviews for GoGo and maybe share my thoughts on this blog as an epilogue. I HAVE watched....
Maho Girls Precure Mirai Days. I should rewatch it, in fact, because I kind of lost the plot at the end, but the central message about growing up and not getting stuck in the past is nice. I needed it. My main complaint are that the short length means the new designs for Ruby, Sapphire, and Topaz style don't get much time to shine since they so often go back to their primary Pink Diamond style; and that their young adult designs do not look different enough from their middle school designs, despite how drastically people tend to change between those ages.
I also rewatched Go! Princess Precure with my friends recently, which I consider my personal favorite series. It holds up quite well. Maybe I'll write about it someday.
I watched up to episode 3 of You & Idol Precure, but have not yet had the opportunity to continue. I hear good things about it, and it seems like a nice return to form for the series. I'll try to pick it back up soon.
Since I haven't seen much precure, I'm going to go ahead and talk about another project that's consumed a lot of my free time. I actually began this in 2024, but didn't mention it last year. I have been on a daily binge, watching the first entry of every tokusatsu franchise in order, since January 2024. I've gotten through Ultra Q, Ultraman, Kamen Rider (1971), Goranger, Kikaider, Red Baron, Space Sheriff Gavan, Gridman, and I'm currently working on Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, the 2003 live action series. This has certainly contributed to the delay in PCD. I haven't been 100% consistent with watching every episode of that project ON the day, I've fallen behind and caught back up, but what's important is that I HAVE caught up and been able to maintain the schedule. It helps that I'm not writing about it. It makes me think of an alternate timeline where PCD never moved off of facebook, or where I kept watching but stopped writing about it, maybe I would have caught up. But whatever. I don't regret the choices that brought me here, I made some real friends through this project, and I'm forever grateful for that.
Lastly, here's my TV and film recommendations from the last year.
Dan da Dan
Delicious in Dungeon
Brave Bang Bravern
Girls Band Cry
Look Back
Flow
Thanks as always to my friends that I made through this project and those who continue to support me: SailorZombieStar, VertixScribe, Painted Outlaw, Amara Wolfe, and Nono-Bunny; as well as all my followers. I wouldn't be here without you.
Hey, I finally got around to watching Star Twinkleās Christmas episode so itās time to add to this! This isnāt the update I promised for today, itās not the one I expected to work on either, but itās the one weāre going to do.
StarāTwinkle Precure 44 -Ā āSurprise ā Santa is an Alien!?ā
Original air date: 15 December 2019
Oh boy, it's been a few years since I've done one of these. Let's play catch up.
There was no Christmas episode in 2020, because the COVID-19 pandemic wrecked the production and broadcast schedules, and delayed Healin' Good by a number of weeks (which led to my July On Christmas post for beach episodes, incidentally), causing any potentially planned Christmas episodes to be cancelled. In fact, the episode that aired just before christmas was about fall.
Curiously, despite Tropical-Rouge appearing to air on its intended schedule with no obvious delays or interruptions, it also did not receive a Christmas episode, instead spending most of its December episodes setting up the finale of the series. That brings us to...
Delicious Partyā”Precure 41 - "Merry Christmas! Something Fennel Holds Dear"
Original air date: 25 December 2022
A lot happens in this episode, but very little of it is really related to the holiday. Rosemary, along with Takumi, and his father Cinnamon go on a macguffin quest that leads to a big villain reveal at the end. Yui goes ice skating with her father, where she runs into Fennel, who they invite to the Nagomi Diner Christmas Party. True to the spirit of the series there is lots of delicious looking food at this party, and the centerpiece is an enormous tuna that gets served raw. When Secretoru steals an onigiri recipipi, the team engages her. Despite the girls saving the day, Fennel shows up and reveals that he is Godatz, leader of the Bundoru Gang, and he now has everything he needs to make a Special Delicioustone for EVIL. This is a return to the tradition of setting up the final boss in the Christmas episode, and I'm here for it.
Hirogaru Sky! Precure 46 - "The Heroes' Christmas"
Original air date: 24 December 2023
Another episode building up to the endgame, this one reminds me of Suite almost where they are very aware that the final confrontation with their enemy is coming. Sora and friends are going to Skyland over the holiday to protect their citizens from an attack by Empress Undergu and the Undergu Empire. The beginning shows everyone in good spirits in the human world, and then in Skyland they get roped into preparing for a holiday called Strichmas, because there's a running joke in this show that the names of things in Skyland are just syllable-swapped. They end up running into Tasan (not-Santa), who is an owl in this world, and that catches them all off guard. They end up helping Tasan on his nightly deliveries for Strichmas and it's all very cute. There's no villain plot in this episode, but the heroes transform into Precure to save Tasan from..... small twisters. There is a lovely scene at the end where Sora and Mashiro exchange gifts with each other, and they both end up getting each other the same notebook from Pretty Holic (buy our stuff). The romantic undertones are not subtle. There's also a dramatic hook for the last arc of the show, per tradition.
Wonderful Precure! 46 - "Meeeerry Christmas!"
Original air date: 22 December 2024
This episode really surprised me. It's a mix of several different elements but it centers around everyone's favorite tsundere cat, Yuki. She remembers spending a Christmas alone in the cold snow as a kitten, before Mayu rescued her, and keeps coming back to this memory. They go to a Christmas Party in Niko Garden, where Satoru and Iroha end up giving each other presents as a couple: she gives him a scarf she made, and he gives her a necklace shaped like Komugi. Yuki helps some of the Kirarin Animals fix some cookies they broke, with her signature "it can't be helped", and they say she's so friendly and helpful. A flustered Yuki makes a hasty escape, saying she has another party to go to, and Komugi follows her. It turns out she's meeting with the group of cats from earlier in the show, and she even persuades them to let Komugi join the snuggle party. Later, as she's passing by Pretty Holic, she sees Zakuro looking wistfully at the Christmas Tree in front, wanting to tell Gaou about her feelings, and Yuki tries to encourage her, even though they're enemies. The wolf girl is clearly struggling to reconcile her conflictied emotions, and when Iroha, Mayu, Niko, Meymey, Satoru, and Daifuku show up in Santa's sleigh (yes it really is that sudden), she creates a Gaogaon from the reindeer. The cures all ward it off and try to appeal to her, to no avail YET, and she retreats to Gaou's side once again. Then Niko reveals that she knows Santa and loans him the flying reindeer, because of course, and they go out delivering presents. Following Go Princess almost a decade ago, this is the second Christmas episode to focus on a blue cure, instead of sharing the love across the full team, or the leader.
And with that we are all caught up on Christmas episodes once again. No new trends are apparent in this run of episodes, despite this being Precure's boundary pushing era. The shows are starting to lean back into "Santa is real" territory, but also still having the Precures play as Santa. For Christmas romances, there's the heavily implied relationship between Sora and Mashiro, and the established relationship between Iroha and Satoru, which are notable but do not take the focus of their episodes.
There were no specifically Christmas cakes on display, but there was a cake in HiroSky, in Delicious Party they had a feast of tuna sashimi and so, so much other stuff, and there was a lovely food spread in Wonderful, so here they are.
I have an announcement about the future of this project, but it will come in the new year. Until then, look forward to the last few Yes! Precure 5 GoGo! episode reviews soon. Merry Christmas!
Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 44 - āDeliver Them! Everyone's Presents!"
Date watched: 10 June 2024
Original air date: 21 December 2008
Screenshots
Precure Metamorphose Gallery 1 Ā Gallery 2 |Ā Sky Rose Translate Gallery
Project info and master list of posts
"He does exist!"
"They do exist!"
Itās the most wonderful time of the year! (ignore that itās the middle of June when this comes out [I am not changing that line, thatās how long Iāve been working on this]) Yes, itās Christmas in the world of Precure 5, and historically, that means drama! So put on your Santa suit and rev up the reindeer, weāre going delivering!
The Plot
āTwas the day before Christmas, when all through Natts House
Everybody was stirring and bustling about;
They all, except Nuts, dressed in fine Santa wear
In hopes that their customers soon would be there;
Then Mailpo cried out, and with a sense of dread
Nozomi looked up as bags fell on her head
Her friends showed concern as she stood up from the rubbleĀ
But Mailpo cried out that they aren't out of trouble
When out from the fairy, there emerged such a list
Of which Kurumi and Karen gathered the gist
Away to Eternal the plot then did shift
Mucardia realized something was amiss
Much about Syrup, Anacondy was hidingĀ
Then the snake found the bug, chastised him for prying
And warned him that not even he will get mercy
If once again she finds his results unsavory.
Mucardia absconds, but Anacondyās lips purse
She knows the director, and she must move first
Back with the girls, the truth comes to faceĀ
The bags contain toys and the list contains names
The girls must play Santa within their fair town
And deliver the gifts to children up and down
So into three groups they split to fulfill their objective
North, east, and south, going in every directive
Now Nozomi, with Rin-chan! Urara with Syrup!
Fly Komachi with Karen, and away right this instant!
To the houses they run! To apartments they trawl!
Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!
While the heroines scurry hither and yore
Milk, Nuts, and Coco all tend to the store
The Natts House is full with countless patrons
And the Palmier trio try their best to placate them
During their scuttle, ātwas a strange figure
Whom Urara and Syrup found in their vigor
With his pants crimson red, and his beard snowy white,
And his stature quite portly, heās truly the sight
Of the man called St. Nicholas, so the audience knows
But to the ensemble this remains to be shown.
The man collapses with a fever quite high
So Syrup brings him to the shop on the fly
While Karen attends him, Urara proceeds
To continue her task on this strange Christmas Eve
The red man awakes in the back of the store
Declaring that he must return to his chore
For he too delivers parcels around
And needs to get his quest back off the ground
But his sleigh he still needs to perform his task
(Somehow the staff donāt find this an unusual ask)
So out to the streets Syrup quickly makes
To find the manās sleigh, whatever it takes
Syrup scours the town, leaving no stone unturned
While no sleigh is found, a bug makes him squirm
Mucardia shows up and taunts the young man
Whose past holds a secret thatās the crux of this plan
Anacondy keeps this secret close to her chest
So Mucardia wants to make Syrup confess
In order to weasel his way next to the boss
Because Anacondy, you see, is hiding their loss
As he torments the boy, the heroes hit the scene
Mucardia scoffs and prepares to make them scream
He summons a sleigh heās been planning to store
(The very same sleigh the old man is looking for)
Then a large Hoshiina the sleigh manifests
So the girls must transform to see it suppressed
They clash and they duel against this most fearsome opponent
While Mucardia still interrogates for his missing component
As is often the case, the fight is a distraction
As Eternalās most loyal tries to force recollection
The Pretty Cure punch and they kick and they mug
Trying to get to Syrup to give him a hug
The monster simply gets in the way
So Milky Rose leaps in and enters the fray
WIth a powerful kick, she topples the foe
And the Precures cause Mucardia much woe
He pleads with Syrup to try to remember
Why he came to Eternal before being a courier
But Cure Dream says to let him stay fogged
For at the Cure Rose Garden his memory will be jogged
Mucardia sics the Hoshiina upon his opponent
But a Rainbow Rose Explosion destroys it in a moment
With much frustration, the villain departs
And Syrup gives Nozomi his sincere regards
At Eternal HQ, disinterested in the loss
Anacondy ponders a letter meant for her boss
Sheās kept stashed away inside of her desk
With the seal of a rose suggesting the rest
Back at Natts House, night has now arrived
And everyone has gathered around outside
To reunite the old man with his possessions
And see him off on his annual obsession
He explains how he fell and lost his apparel
And this left him stranded and sick and in peril
But thanks to the generosity of all around
He was able to recover, safe and sound
So itās to his deliveries he must return
And inside everyoneās heads, the wheels begin to turn
A man dressed in red with a beard snowy white
With presents to spare and a sleigh that takes flight?
Nuts offers his coat to protect from the cold
And everyone observes that he looks quite bold
Nozomi remarks that he has Santaās visage
Causing Rin to explain that yes, thatās who he was
As they all finally realize and see their guest off
Nozomi remembers a task she forgot
In all the commotion, no cake was acquired
But Mailpo points to a gift that Santa retired
It turns out to be just the cake they wanted
And they all thanked the man as he departed
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sightā
āMerry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!ā
The Analysis
So, quick recap in non-poem form in case it was hard to follow, hereās the gist: Santa was delivering gifts when Mucardia attacked him with the intent of adding the sleigh to Eternalās collection. He fell from the sky, lost his coat and hat, and became ill from the cold, so his strong feelings of wanting the gifts connected with Mailpo, who brought the gifts and the list to the team. They take up the task of delivering his gifts and in the process find Santa, looking sick and out of sorts. They donāt immediately recognize him, but they tend to him and he has a talk with Syrup and regains his motivation. Mucardia, who was snooping in Anacondyās desk, learns that Syrup has visited Eternal before becoming a courier and Anacondy is hiding something from the director, so he tries to interrogate the boy to find out why, but Syrup canāt remember his past before the girls dispatch the villain. At the end, Anaconda ponders the letter and decides she needs to take action herself because the Director is drifting too far away from her in his obsession with Flora. The team returns Santaās sleigh and bags of presents and they watch him depart on his deliveries and then they finally realize that this fat old man with a long white beard dressed all in red with a flying sleigh is, in fact, the real Santa.
What I Liked
Aside from digging into the depths of Syrupās memories and Anacondyās manipulation, it is actually a fairly light episode, compared to the last two Christmas episodes, and some of the ones that will follow. I enjoyed seeing the girls playing Santa for a day, that led to some fun scenarios, and thereās some good gags that come out of it too:
It was funny how civilians repeatedly pointed out that itās the middle of the day on Christmas Eve when the girls show up in Santa outfits delivering presents. (also, letās be real, if some random person came to your front door on Christmas Eve with a present claiming it was on behalf of Santa, you would be at least a little suspicious)
Komachi gets really into the part of Santa, stroking her imaginary beard at one point.
Nuts weaseling out of putting on his Santa outfit by always finding a distraction is amusing, and then at the end he just gives it to the real Santa. That was cute.
Speaking of which, I appreciate that, while itās immediately obvious to the audience that this old man is probably literally Santa, it takes the characters a long time to put the pieces together, and he doesnāt come out and say it either.
Also alsoā¦.. Santa is real in this universe. The concept of Santa has remained unspoken in the franchise prior to this, and suddenly heās here. Itās kind of amazing. To date there are only two shows that explicitly show Santa (the other being HUGtto), and a few others put spins on him like Maho Girls saying āitās actually wizardsā and Star Twinkle saying āitās actually a race of aliens.ā See my Christmas Episode post for more on that.
Kurumi makes a good coordinator for the group, and we also see Karenās medical studies in practice as she nurses the man who is definitely not Santa. (As Iāve said before, she is 15-16 years old and still in middle school, she, hasnāt started any formal medical training or internship, so sheās just applying basic first aid, but itās a nice gesture).
What I Didnāt Like
The art style is just a bitā¦ off, this episode. The art director was Iijima Shuichi, who I have called out before. (GG33, GG25, GG17, GG09, GG02). His faces can be really weird. In some places I think it kind of works, but itās more miss than hit. (I've hit the image limit on this post so skim the gallery)
Despite all the buildup, itās still not spelled out just what Syrupās past is. He has a revelation but itās only half a reveal. The full truth is yet to come to light.
Miscellaneous
So this episode is a little more fresh in my mind than the rest of the series, since I last watched it 5 years ago for my Christmas episode retrospective. I mostly remembered it in comparison to the Christmas episodes that sandwich it: Yes! Precure 5, and Fresh Precure. Both of those are pretty heavy, down to earth episodes, compared to the lighter tone of this episode, and so it entrenched itself as lessā¦. Significant, for lack of a better word. But seeing it in the context of the show, itās more heavy than I realized or remembered.
Itās revealed that Anacondy actually intercepted a letter from Flora meant for the Director, and hid it, which could have dramatically altered their relationship and prevented the show from happening. We know that she has an obsession with the Director, possibly sheās even in love with him, and hates that heās so obsessed with Flora. She has been trying for years to steer him away from that obsession, to no avail, and this shows just how far sheās gone. Itās dubious what this has to do with Syrupās latent memories, although that mystery will be addressed soon enough. His big reveal is that he went to Eternal before officially becoming a courier, in order to deliver said letter (which Anacondy then stole).
Conclusion
This was a really fun and enjoyable Christmas episode, and sets the stage for the endgame of the series. It blended fun hijinks and gags with a feel-good story about Santa and some drama about Syrupās past. Next time, itās the beginning of the end. Look forward to it!
Today (for a few more minutes at the time of writing) is July 30, which means it is once again my very own birthday, as well as the birthdays of two characters from 2017's Kirakira Precure a la Mode: the twin fairies, Kirarin and Pikario, or Kirahoshi Ciel and Kuroki Rio, or Cure Parfait and Julio. The sibling pair had their struggles, but overcame them, and Julio even got something of a hero transformation of his own, however briefly. So happy birthday to them, and to me, and to anyone reading this who happens to have a July 30 birthday. While I don't talk about myself much on this blog for obvious reasons, I allow some exceptions on this occasion, so I'll tell you I had a good time riding roller coasters. Here's some art and a selfie to celebrate:
(art sources are linked to the respective photo)
The last 5 reviews of 5 GoGo are on the way, I had an absurd idea for episode 44 that's taking me a while to compose, after that I should be able to get through the rest in short order. This project will be completed by the end of the year. (Preferably sooner)
Friends, loyal followers, the wait is almost over. I've finally finished my rewatch of Yes! Precure 5 GoGo for this project. I'll have reviews for the last 5 episodes out in hopefully short order.
Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 43 - āTerrifying! Eternal's Director!"
Date watched: 14 April 2024
Original air date: 14 December 2008
Screenshots
Precure Metamorphose Gallery 1 Ā Gallery 2 |Ā Sky Rose Translate Gallery
Project info and master list of posts
face/off
The moment has arrived! Eternalās Director finally steps out of his office and reveals himself to Nozomi and the Precures for the first time! Are they ready for this encounter? Letās find out!
The Plot
Eternalās Director dreams about his first visit to the Cure Rose Garden, where Flora rejected him and locked him out because he wanted to take control of it. Knowing that Flora has given Nozomi the access he was denied, he decides to finally see her for himself.
All the girls except for Nozomi are hanging out at Natts House, doing homework and studying for an upcoming exam. Nozomi has chosen to study at the library instead, so she doesnāt end up relying on her friends too much. She struggles and they miss her, but they let her do her thing.
When Nozomi finally leaves, she notices itās very gusty outside. She stops to ponder a large tree, and is joined by Otaka the principal/lunch lady, who tells her it used to be small and weak, but it withstood and grew big and strong (this is a metaphor). Nozomi then realizes she forgot something and rushes back to the classroom, where she stops at the teacherās desk and acts like sheās presenting a class. Coco shows up to give her some encouragement, but they keep getting interrupted by more wind. Suddenly they detect a powerful presence like theyāve never felt before, and rush outside.
In the schoolās courtyard is none other than the Director of Eternal, in all his masked giant chair glory. He interrogates Nozomi, asking why she wants to go to the Cure Rose Garden, and she says itās because Flora invited her to do so. Coco tries to defend her honor, but is attacked, and so Nozomi transforms into Cure Dream.
The Director uses shadows to blow holes underneath Dream and Coco. Dream attempts to punch him, but he blocks her with an energy field and strikes her with his shadowy wings. He makes a speech about how everything in the world can be classified as either something of value, or of no value, before destroying Otakaās tree, and then the entire school and surrounding forest, leaving nothing but a giant crater in the ground.
Cure Dream is in shock, and the director declares her to have no value, but just then the other Cures and Milky Rose appear to back her up. The Director turns his shadow wings into five Hoshiina orbs that plant themselves in the shadows of everyone aside from Dream, spawning color-coded Hoshiinas shaped like demons. The girls use their special attacks, but the Hoshiinas absorb them, distort them, and return fire, leaving everyone strewn about. Dream steps forward, giving an inspirational speech that all the items and places he erased were things that could have grown to become much greater, and that he does not get to universally decide the worth of anything, especially them.
Coco gives them power and the Cures all perform Rainbow Rose Explosion on the Director. He turns the Hoshiinas into a dark rose to counter their attack, and it seems that he can repel the attack, but Mint turns to Dream and reminds her, via the metaphor of the tree, to hold to her beliefs so she can grow and support her friends and teammates. This is the encouragement she needs to push through the Directorās defense. He is overwhelmed, and moves out of the way of the attack. He stands up, weakly, but before he can try to attack again, Anacondy shows up and teleports him back to Eternal. As he reflects on what just happened, he thinks to himself that maybe the cures do have some value after all.
Over at Natts House, everyone is looking at the still sleeping King Montblanc and worried about the futureā¦.. Except Nozomi, who reiterates that she can grow and become unshakeable for the team, while eating a special pancake that everyone made for her earlier. Everyone is cheered up by her positivity and that ends the episode.
The Analysis
What I Liked
As we near the endgame, things are starting to escalate. The Precure have faced many formidable threats so far, but this first taste of the danger posed by the Director is different. His absolutist attitude towards things of value is fearsome and his only desire is to impose his will and control everything.This is of course why Flora denied him entry into the Cure Rose Garden, but he believes he has the strength to impose his will. While he doesnāt wipe the floor with the heroines like weāve seen evil leaders do before, he is able to match their energy without great effort.
Feeding into his ideology, the Director fights mostly by erasing things and copying or reflecting things. He removes things he perceives to have no value, and doesnāt have the creativity or desire to use his own attacks so he just copies the curesā abilities. He doesnāt even see them as having value enough to destroy, so he just wants to remove them as an obstacle.
I admire Nozomiās drive. She recognizes she has been a bit lackadaisical in her studies previously, so now sheās overcorrecting by trying to do it alone. She struggles a lot with it, but dang it sheās trying. Otakaās speech to her is also positive encouragement, and builds into the lesson of the episode: lay the foundation today so you can grow strong in the future. This is going to be the push that she needs to make it as a student and a future educator herself, and itās enough to give her the confidence to overpower the Director during Rainbow Rose Explosion.
On a lighter note, there are several clever scene transitions in this episode, one that stands out is during the Rainbow Rose Explosion, the Director sees a vision of Flora, which turns into Cure Dream. Thereās also a cute one where one of Syrupās pancakes transitions into the sun.
What I Didnāt Like
Nothing.
Miscellaneous
I think I speculated earlier in the show that the mysterious relationship between Flora and the Director was romantic. This certainly seems to squash that theory. As Iāve said before, I did watch this show once before, but that was over a decade ago at this point and I binged it while working on a craft project so I clearly didnāt retain many of the finer details.
At first it looks like weāre getting a new Dark Precure 5, but itās actually a group of Hoshiinas that absorb each cureās abilities and warp and reflect them back. Interesting footnote on the list of copy and evil cures.
Milk does not appear in her fairy form in this episode.
King Montblanc is still asleep.
Conclusion
This is a thrilling episode, the transition point between the bulk of the show and the endgame (with a bit of a pause for the Christmas episode in between). We finally get our clearest look at the mindset of the Director and he makes himself known to the heroines. Unknown to him, they have been given the necessary tool and encouragement to overcome his destructive, isolating nature. The two sides will come to a head very shortly. But firstā¦
Next time on Precure Daily: Santa Claus is coming to town! Look forward to it!
Once again the calendar has reached the lovely day of April 4 (three weeks ago)! That means it is (was) the birthday of my favorite Precure, Yukishiro Honoka! 20 years after her series she would be about 34 years old today, if she were real.
It's no great secret that the formula for the original series was taking two girls from opposite walks of life and teaming them up, to represent the strength of friendship. Honoka's charm was her intelligence and pursuit of science, while remaining kind and fairly humble despite her wealthy background. Without Nagisa's influence she probably wouldn't be taking many risks, and without Honoka's influence, Nagisa would probably be dead. Well, neither of them would be Precure so probably not, but both would definitely be worse off.
I haven't actually watched Otona Precure yet, but it is my understanding that Black and White appear at the very end of the last episode, looking the same as ever. I'm not clear if they have any dialog. The Kamikta Twins (the most consistently quality part of this fandom) released a piece of artwork that included aged up designs for Nagisa and Honoka. I have to assume they're official and Toei-sanctioned.
Last year, I said I hoped for an Otona-style sequel to FWPC. The middling to negative reception of the series has me second guessing that. But the art is nice.
As always, enjoy the gallery and congratulations to Honoka, and of course thanks to everyone involved in creating and bringing her to life: Character designer Iganami Akira, series director Nishio Daisuke, series composition/head writer Kawasaki Ryo, voice actress Yukana, and more.
TL:
p1
N: Happy birthday Honoka!
H: Thank you Nagisa!
N: Isn't it nice, you're older than me. It's not fairā¦
H: Come on, that's not really something to be jealous of, is it?
H: But when I think about it
p2
H: If I'd been born 3 days earlier, I'd be a grade higher than you.
N: That's trueā¦ it's really closeā¦
N: *stare*
N: Thank goodness we're in the same grade! Thank you! *squeeze*
H: Eh, um, yā¦. y-y-y-y-you're welcomeā¦?
On April 10, 2018, I posted the first review in the project that became Precure Daily. It wasn't actually on tumblr at that time, but on Facebook. The plan was to watch an episode every day and just post some thoughts, but it evolved into reviews and screenshots and that necessitated a whole blog, and here we are. That was six years ago today!
Six years. It's hard to believe. I honestly, truly didn't think I'd still be doing this. Whether I petered out before the end, or managed to get it all done in the 2-3 years I anticipated, I figured I'd have stopped by now. But somehow I haven't given up yet! I'm still watching, still writing, and still getting new fans to share with, and that makes it all worth it.
The past year was slow, I will readily acknowledge it. I only got about 7 reviews out in that time, including the one that just went up earlier today, but one of those was the Go Go movie. That was a whole undertaking, it took me nine months to get out. Granted, for about 6 of those 9 months it was just sitting there unchanged. I'd open it occasionally to poke at it but then not end up getting much done. Maybe it still wasn't the best it could have been but I'm proud of it nonetheless. It was a good review for a good movie. Also, I got to review the very first All Stars, even if it was a short film. Having recently wached the most recent All Stars brings that experience full circle and it's real nice.
One small hiccup is that, at the time of writing, I haven't yet gotten out the traditional Honoka birthday post. I just haven't had time to sit down and gather artwork for it. Hopefully that'll come out in the next day or two!
Outside of the blog, let's look at the wider world of the Precure series over the last year
I said last year that I hadn't finished Delicious Party, and that's still true. When it was on air, I was watching it with a friend and she was really into it; we are going to resume watching together to finally push through it.
HIrogaru Sky's second half was good, it lacked a little bit of the driving power of the first half and the villain plot never properly came together in my opionion. I still love the characters, I think they're my favorite cast in a good while.
I did not watch Otona Precure. Although I've watched Go Go before, I want to finish this current watchthrough for the blog before I jump into it. Maybe I'll even review it as I go, that remains to be seen. I've heard mixed things about it and I'm not very big on the idea that the girls just go back to teenagers when they transform, but I'll reserve judgment.
Wonderful Precure did not appeal to me when information started coming out, and I fell off it for a few weeks when the first couple eps didn't impress me, but I decided to keep going and it's thoroughly enjoyable. I don't think it's going to crack my top 10 but it should be a solid middle of the road series.
I watched the Delicious Party Precure movie and Precure All Stars F with friends in fairly close proximity, and wow do those movies exist on opposite ends of the spectrum. DeliPa's film was one of the weakest Precure movies I've seen, while All Star F was phenomenal. I need to rewatch it.
I did say last year that the blog would look different when I finish Go Go. That is still true. I should be able to wrap that up in a few months, then comes the next phase of things. Deets when it happens.
And also just because I can, here's some recommendations for shows outside of Precure you should watch that came out in the last year-ish:
Oshi no Ko
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (featuring Wonderful Precure's Tanezaki Atsumi as a monotone elf)
SPY x FAMILY (featuring Wonderful Precure's Tanezaki Atsumi as a psychic toddler)
Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger
The Last of Us
And I think that's it for this year's update! Here's to another year of watching and writing about Precure! Thanks as always to my loyal friends and fans for making this project a success: @sailorzombiestar, @vertixscribe, PaintedOutlaw, @hanasaki-tsubomi, @yugimon35, and my newest fan @nono-bunny.
Here's all my previous sappy anniversary posts if you want to go back and read them.
Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 42 - āKomachi's Decision and the Arabian Nightsā
Date watched: 10 January 2024
Original air date: 7 December 2008
Screenshots
Precure Metamorphose GalleryĀ |Ā Sky Rose Translate Gallery
Project info and master list of posts
Komachi, fabulous she, shielding and blocking
You know whatās fun? The night. Whatās more fun than night? An Arabian night! Whatās even more fun than an Arabian night? How about a thousand and one of them? Yes, today we are going to dive into another classic story to fight some bad guys, and learn some lessons along the way about self-worth. Letās dig in!
The Plot
Anacondy pays Shibiretta a visit to implicitly threaten her job, so the witch gets fired up in plans to retaliate against Eternalās second in command, as well as capture the Rose Pact.
Komachi and Nozomi are chatting in the library about the value of stories and just how many of them there are that Komachiās could get lost. Nozomi tells her that no matter what, sheāll find her friendās book. Suddenly, everyone finds themselves sucked into another worldā¦ or several, and facing unique individual threats from their stories.
Despite being separated, the girls and fairies figure out that this is another of Shibirettaās plots and manage to reunite with each other by following the narratives and intents of the tales. They confront the witch and tell her sheās using stories wrong, which she rebuts as theyāre just tools to use however she wants. Everyone was able to reunite with each other because they respected the stories. Nuts adds that the story of 1001 Arabian Nights is about a woman telling stories to the brutal king every night, in an attempt to get him to soften his ways; and what Shibiretta is doing is completely counter to that narrative.
In response, Shibiretta creates a genie Hoshiia and kidnaps the fairies and rose pact, so the girls transform, and the battle moves outside of the palace. They have trouble fighting it, since it can turn into smoke and their attacks just pass right through it.
Cure Mint and Shibiretta engage in a verbal tete-a-tete:Ā the Witch from Eternal says they both uses stories to suit their needs, but Dream defends Komachi saying her stories are exciting and heartfelt and she loves them, while Shibiretta just makes messes of existing stories. Shibiretta retorts that she tried telling stories to the director, and he was unmoved, causing Mint to shoot back that stories wonāt respond to her methods. They fight again; Milky Rose defeats the Hoshiina while the Cures take out Shibiretta once and for all with Rainbow Rose Explosion.
Before the world dissolves, Aqua assures Mint that all of them are looking forward to her next book. Over in Eternal, Anacondy remarks that a report for this would be pointless.
At dusk, Komachi tells Nuts she wants to write about her amazing friends and share the feelings of all the good times they have together, in hopes that if someone lonely reads it they'll be inspired to find friends like hers. Everyone else was listening in and all of them want to be the main character of her story, with their own spins, and this ends the episode.
The Analysis
What I Liked
Itās one of the better Shibiretta episodes. Iāve often criticized her episodes for only using the surface elements of the story and not putting the characters through the plot. This time they actually addressed that and made it the entire point of the episode: Shibiretta is only taking advantage of the stories for what she can gain from them (monsters and distractions to attack the precures) and not the underlying morals and emotions. I thought it was especially poignant how she said she had read stories to the director and he was bored, so that means stories are worthless at inspiring emotion; and Komachi shoots back that itās precisely because all she does is to use stories like tools.
Also, as per the narrative, you can actually see the difference between embracing the story and using it as a tool. The girls are able to reunite by understanding the tales that they are in. Rin kindly asks the magic carpet to help them and it responds. Uraraās sincere feelings to protect Syrup revert him from 40 clones of himself back to one. Nozomi uses āOpen Sesameā on the door, and later Karen asks for a sign of the right way to go to find Komachi. Itās a bit convenient but hey it works.
On that note, as usual the antics that the girls get up to in the story world are great, they make some good jokes and gags out of them. The 40 (actually 39) Syrups, the magic carpet, the āOpen Sesameā scene and of course the genie Hoshiina, all great uses of the setting. I also like their outfits.
I feel like Nozomi and Komachi are one of the less explored pairings in this series. Sure, Nozomi was the one who first enticed Komachi to become a Precure, but they havenāt done much together since then. Komachi is usually paired up with her longtime friend Karen, and there was that one time she and Urara had a really good bond. Itās true that everyone has been supportive of Komachiās writing throughout both seasons, but this episode is the first time that Nozomi explicitly praises, uplifts, and defends Komachiās writing and what it means to her, and that translates to a really great climax where they work together to ward off Shibiretta.
The fight against the genie Hoshiina that turns into smoke kept me on the edge of my seat. Its permeability is a distinct advantage but then Rose turns around and uses that to her gain, before dealing the finishing blow. Itās the kind of creativity I live for here.
Similarly, the battle of the Precure against Shibiretta was really well realized with some great stylized animation and action. Shibiretta launches herself like a rocket, but Mint and Dream combo their attacks to deflect her, and then Lemonade and Rouge kick her out of the sky so the team can perform their final attack on her.
What I DIdnāt Like
Nothing comes to mind.
Miscellaneous
When Nozomi uses āOpen Sesameā on the cave entrance, she does Kamen Riderās henshin pose.
One Thousand and One Nights is a compilation of stories from the Middle Eastern region, from a variety of authors and tracing origins back over a millennium. The earliest known mention of the central character Scheherazade is in the 9th century, but many of the individual tales are believed to be much older, hailing from India and Persia. Over time stories from West African, Hebrew, Greek, and other traditions made their way. Itās a dynamic work that was passed down by storytellers over many generations and cultures. Thereās no singular version of the text, there may not even actually be 1001 stories as some of the most famous ones, which incidentally are the ones featured in this episode (Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Aladdin and the Lamp, The Tale of Sinbad the Sailor) were actually separate stories that later got rolled into the collection much later. Trying (and failing) to unravel this complex history to give context to the references in the episode was a bigger undertaking than this blog merits.
In the scene where Syrup is supposedly cloned 40 times, as the 40 thieves that attacked Ali Baba, there are actually only 39 of him.
Conclusion
This was a fun episode exploring some real juicy feelings about anxiety and the future and legacy, and also the purpose of stories. It was a nice sendoff to Shibiretta, whom Iāve had very mixed feelings about throughout the show. She was a step up from the duo but solidly middle tier as far as Precure villains go. Smile Precure will give us another witch character to play around with so when I get to that series Iāll do a compare/contrast.
Next time on Precure Daily, Nozomi comes face to face with the director of Eternal! Look forward to it!
I promise I did not forget about Honoka's birthday. She's my favorite character and I've been celebrating this day for 13 years. I've actually prepared a post, but I didn't get a chance to gather artwork for it. I've been rather busy this week. So look forward to that in the next day or so, along with the next installment of Precure Daily, and my anniversary post.
Today is February 29th, that special day that only comes once every four years, so I thought Iād commemorate the event with another look at all the episodes that have ever aired on this date! Letās dig in, shall we?
Episode: Futari wa Precure episode 5 - āCrisis! Pissard Puts it All on the Line!ā
Original air date: 29 February 2004
Man weāre so early in this season that Nagisa has only met Fuji-P once. Feels like forever ago. Anyway in this episode, Mepple butters Nagisa into going to see Honoka (so he can see Mipple) and goads her about not having a boyfriend. On the way she encounters Fuji-P, whom she talks to briefly. He doesnāt much remember her, but they have a nice chat. Later on, Honoka asks her if thereās anyone she likes, and Nagisaās mind wanders to him, but she says thereās nobody. There is this gem of a line, though.
Honoka: āIf I go out with a boy, Iād want there to be mutual respect between us.ā
Nagisa: āIt sounds difficult.ā
Iām not sure whether that speaks to Nagisaās pessimism or just the reality of the dating scene because thatās a very low bar, and yet obviously a lot of people fail to meet it. But time to move on to the next episodeā¦.
Episode: Futari wa Precure episode 5 -Ā āCrisis! Pissard Puts it All on the Line!ā
Original air date: 29 February 2004
Ah, a classic episode. Nagisa and Honoka go out to the park to let Mipple and Mepple play, but theyāre harassed by some boys. Nagisa wants to just ignore them but Honoka gives them a real chewing out, and Nagisa has to drag her away before she scolds them any further! Iconic! A great leap day episode. Whatās next?
Episode: Futari wa Precure episode 5 - āCrisis! Pissard Puts it All on the Line!ā
Original air date: 29 February 2004
Okay so this is a really sweet episode where Nagisa takes Honoka to Akaneās takoyaki stand for the first time. In fact, itās the first time we see Akane at all! Thereās a funny exchange before this where theyāre deciding where to get food and all Nagisa can suggest are foods with āyakiā in them: taiyaki, yakisoba, okonomiyaki, and nabeyaki udon. Honoka tries to rebut her with some more normal suggestions but ultimately Nagisa takes her to Akaneās. They chat and bond over some delicious food and do some window shopping before going their separate ways.
Episode: Futari wa Precure episode 5 - āCrisis! Pissard Puts it All on the Line!ā
Original air date: 29 February 2004
Oh man this is a thrilling episode! Pissard confronts Honoka on her own, demanding that she give him the Prism Stones! She obviously refuses, but he chases her across town into a construction lot. He knows that she canāt transform without Nagisa around, and he wants to take advantage of this. Honoka still refuses to help him, because heās self-centered and only wants to preserve his own life when the Dark King controls everything, he doesnāt care for anybody elseās well being. He throws all the equipment in the construction site at her, including heavy machinery, but she stands her ground! Fortunately Nagisa shows up at the last moment and theyāre able to transform and fight. Next one!
Episode: Futari wa Precure episode 5 - āCrisis! Pissard Puts it All on the Line!ā
Original air date: 29 February 2004
All the Leap Day episodes so far have been fantastic but this one, THIS ONE takes the cake. Pissard is out for blood, because the other generals have made it clear they have no confidence in his abilities, so he wants to prove himself. He manages to get Honoka alone but Nagisa shows up to transform with her. He confidently believes he can challenge them all on his own, and their fight travels from a construction site, to the top of a train, to a riverbank. They exchange blows, each claiming the upper hand during the battle, because Cure Black and White are still novice to this and their teamwork isnāt as good as it will become later. However, when they try to attack him with the Marble Screw, he fires back with a blast of lightning. The two sides are evenly matched, but when he tells them to just surrender to the Dusk Zone, they get righteously mad and lecture him about the value of life and independent thought. They reject his message and, with their hearts in sync, their attack powers up and Pissard canāt hold it back any more. He is destroyed by their Marble Screw, and leaves behind his Prism Stone. Honoka cries, thinking theyāve just killed someone, but Mipple assures her heāll return in another form, without the influence of darkness. Itās an outstanding episode, an early victory for the girls and a moment of bonding and character growth for their friendship. Hands down the best leap day episode.
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦
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ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦
Okay so yes, thereās only been one episode that ever aired on February 29, because 2004 was the last time it was a Sunday. The next time that happens will be all the way in 2032, and who knows if Precure will still be around that long. Letās hope it is, and if so, and if Iām still around, Iāll be here to write about it for you! I hope you enjoyed my list, and i hope you had a good Leap Day! Look forward to more Precure Daily coming to you really soon!
Well, it's been four long years, but Leap Day is upon us once again! So here's a look at every single episode of Precure to have ever aired on February 29!
.......
Yeah, it's still just the one. And that makes it all the more special. Happy leap day, folks! In 8 years I'll actually have something new to say on this holiday!
It's crazy how things change, though. 4 years ago, I was working on Precure 5, rounding the corner on the final arc. And now, 4 years later, here I am, working on Precure 5 (gogo), rounding the corner on the final arc. What progress!
Today is February 1, which makes it officially the 10th anniversary of Futari wa Precure and the beginning of the franchise and our collective descent into madness. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRECURE! Happiness Charge starts on the 2nd, but given the time difference for most of us, itās effectively today also. I wonāt be able to make the livestream, but Iāll set up a bunch of pics to run throughout the day in honor of the anniversary!
On February 1, 2004, at 8:30 AM Japan Standard Time, the first episode of Futari wa Precure premiered. That was exactly 20 years ago to the minute this post goes up. Nobody could have known at the time, but the adventures of two girls from different walks of life, with a bit more physical action than was normal for magical girl series, would end up kicking off a franchise to stand alongside some of Toei's other long-lasting superhero franchises, and carved out a place in anime and magical girl history. Now with 18 unique series across 20 seasons, and our 21st starting in just a few days, it's incredible to look back at how far we've come.
At the time of writing, there are 82 named main characters in this franchise, including our new team, and it all started with one iconic duo.
Congratulations to 20 years, Precure, and here's to 20 more!
Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 41 - āRin-chan's Date with a Hottie!?"
Date watched: 8 January 2024
Original air date: 30 November 2008
Screenshots
Precure Metamorphose Gallery | Sky Rose Translate Gallery
Project info and master list of posts
Girl. You can do so much better.
Rin is trying to figure out what compels people to wear jewelry and accessories, with some provocation from Nuts. So she turns to the most bedazzled man she knows: Momoi Kyousuke. He seems strangely interested in learning her and her friendsā weaknesses, thoughā¦
The Plot
After Rin sees a man walking down the street covered with all manner of gaudy accessories, she canāt get him out of her mind, questioningĀ why anyone would wear so much unnecessary stuff. Nozomi tells Rin that she wants to wear all the accessories she makes, which Rin dismisses saying thatās not a good reason to wear accessories. Nuts challenges her by asking if accessories are something you only wear when necessary, sparking a larger discussion. Nozomi also brings up a new cake shop that she wants to visit, which the other girls show some interest in.
Over at Eternal, Mucardia visits Anacondy, remarking on the lack of Bunbee. She coldly tells him that he can join him if heās so interested, so Mucardia drops the subject, and she subtly threatens him into action by saying she has high hopes for him. So in his guise as Momoi Kyousuke, he visits Fleuriste Natsuki to chat up Rin and try to gain intel from her. She thinks heās taking her on a date, even while he not so subtly asks about her friendsā strengths and especially their weaknesses. Rin doesnāt really notice this because sheās still pondering Nutsās question, stopping to stare at a window display of accessories, and then helping a crying girl who has lost her older brother. When Rin catches the girl staring at her homemade brooch and bracelet, she gives them to the child, who says sheāll give them to her brother, because her brother wears everything she gives him.
Momoi takes Rin to a new cake shop to try to get more information out of her. She recognizes it as the one Nozomi was talking about, and who should show up then but the girl herself, upset that Rin would come here without her. When she sees Momoi and starts to put together the pieces, Rin tries to deny what it looks like. Before they can try to settle the perceived misunderstanding, their food arrives, served by Bunbee. All of them instantly recognize each other, and Bunbee accuses Momoi of trying to become the Precure's new leader instead of him. Momoi rebuts this and accuses Bunbee of abandoning Eternal. Then he realizes that he has said all of this in front of Nozomi and Rin.
Realizing that the gig is up, he transforms into his monster form for the first time, so the best friends transform into Precure as well. Mucardia turns a table into a Hoshiina whileĀ taunting them with their perceived weaknesses (their desire to help others) and says he deserves the Rose Pact, but Dream says that they want to answer Floraās feelings, since she bestowed it to them. This speaks to Rouge. The pair are about to get attacked by the Hoshiina when Milky Rose kicks in, defending her friendsā motives, shortly followed by Cure Lemonade, and then Mint and Aqua. Mucardia tries to belittle the girls by revealing things he knows about them, and Rouge explains he was disguised as Momoi, but honestly the information he reveals to the girls is laughably insubstantial. The trio of fairies arrive, and Rose uses Metal Blizzard to destroy the Hoshiina. The cures perform Five Explosion on Mucardia, who tries to put up a barrier to defend himself, but as the attack starts to break through, he gives up and flees.
Later, back at Natts House, the bedazzled man that Rin saw at the beginning shows up with the little girl Rin helped, because he is the mysterious older brother she bequeathed the bracelet to. He explains that he wears whatever accessories his sister gives him, because thatās what makes her happy, and it makes him happy in turn. Rin tells Nuts that wearing things because it makes others happy is as good a reason as any, which he affirms is essentially what he was leading her towards earlier.Ā Nozomi turns to Rin and says that Rin puts all her strong feelings into making accessories, so she wants to wear them all as well, which makes Rin smile.
The Analysis
What I Liked
Itās a strong episode about Rin confronting some of her biases and assumptions about what she does and why people express themselves, how they dress. She realizes that itās okay to wear things just because you like, or even because it makes other people happy. Itās kind of an off the wall lesson for this show in isolation, but for Rinās character arc itās poignant. Also, as a self-proclaimed Rin fan, Iām happy to see her get focus.
Nozomi and Rinās friendship receives a wonderful boost in this episode, as theyāre shown to be paying attention to each otherās interests and looking out for one another even when it outwardly looks like theyāre talking past each other. Rin seems dismissive when Nozomi brings up the pastry shop she wants them to go to because she wants to talk about the man with accessories, but she recognizes it when sheās out and about. While not the same, Nozomi clearly cares about Rinās passion for jewelry, as stated when she tells her best friend how she wants to wear all of the accessories she makes.
The ep comes close to mocking people with lots of piercings and jewelry but stopped short. Thatās a weird thing to put in the positives column, but considering the way it turns around and shows that the reason the man wears all the accessories is for his sister, itās a clever bait and switch. I should also point out the subtle but on-brand bucking of gender roles when the child insists that her brother will love Rinās bracelet, even though itās a stereotypically girly design. He is indeed later shown wearing it.
Itās good, and funny, to see Bunbee at least trying to make an honest living for himself out of Eternal. When confronted, he doesnāt even try to put up a fight, even though he could probably still summon a Hoshiina. He just runs off. On the other side of the Eternal coin, Mucardiaās true design is very intimidating in the right ways. Was it worth all the build-up? Perhaps not. Heās similar to Bloody from last season, the last and strongest general to show up who tends to do things his own way and doesnāt transform until the 40s.Ā
The fight against Mucardia was chefās kiss. The art quality in this episode is overall very strong. There's some animation tricks to keep it under budget, but it moves well when and where it needs to. The gallery contains stitched versions of several panning shots for you to check out.
What I DIdnāt Like
Rin. Girl. Come on. Come ON. You can do so, so much better than this guy. Even putting aside his allegiances, all he does on this date is belittle her compassion and probe her for weaknesses. The nameless man wearing all the accessories would have been a better match, because at least he shows kindness. The fandom joke is that everyone else is paired up, but nobody loves Rin, because her romantic interests across both seasons have been:
a college man who she thought was hitting on her, but was actually buying flowers for his girlfriend
A ghost who thought she was his lover
some boys in the first movie who were intimidated by her athletic ability
and now a creepy man who is actually an unapologetic major villain. (this)
Mucardia felt like he got the idiot ball this episode. Heās so far been shown to be the shrewdest mind in Eternal, hatching devious plots with the Precures none the wiser (although, his game show gig was pretty unnecessarily elaborate). Suddenly heās just directly asking Rin what everyoneās weaknesses are and accidentally outs himself in front of her?
I believe Iāve spoken about this before, but the jewelry maker that Rin usesā¦. Look, I know itās a toy plug. Iām sure itās great fun for kids, and has good tactile feedback. But not only could she easily string together the chain bracelets just as quickly by hand, but the color and shape of the links inside the machine doesnāt even match the solid pink bracelet that she shows off as having made. Have some consistency.
Miscellaneous
King Montblanc does not appear in this episode.
Milk does not appear in her fairy form in this episode.
Mucardiaās monster form is themed after a centipede, and his name is derived from āMukadeā for the same.
The man who wears all the accessories is voiced by Ono Daisuke, a popular voice actor likely best known for playing Sebastian in Black Butler, Kujo Jotaro in Jojoās Bizarre Adventure, and Erwin Smith in Attack on Titan. He will go on to play a character in the Happiness Charge Precure movie. His sister is played by Shitaya Noriko, whose most prominent role is as Matou Sakura in the Fate series, and Tsumugiya Ururu in Bleach. She has no other Precure roles to her name.
Conclusion
As the series starts to clear out the remaining villains in the ramp up to the final arc, it was time to have Mucardia step into the spotlight. I wish he could have had a better reveal after all his buildup, but despite this the episode is truly great overall with great character dynamics and Rin showing her best side.
Next time, on Precure Daily, the girls have to find out whether Arabian Nights really are like Arabian days. Look forward to it!
Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 40 - āTake Back Urara's Singing Voice!"
Date watched: 7 January 2024
Original air date: 23 November 2008
Screenshots
Precure Metamorphose Gallery | Sky Rose Translate Gallery
Project info and master list of posts
dramatic wind for effect
Urara has the chance of a lifetime to get closer to her late mother. So of course, Shibiretta conspires to prevent this. Letās dig in!
The Plot
Urara is preparing for a very special audition: it will be the same show in the same venue as her late motherās final performance, which left a big impact on young Urara and inspired her to become an actress in the first place. She approaches this with a rare seriousness, saying she HAS to pass. She primarily opens up to Syrup about the significance of this to her, but when she tries to sing a song, she can only cough. Suddenly, she and all the other main cast find themselves trapped under the sea, turned into mermaids and sea creatures.
At Eternal, Shibiretta was spying on Urara and concocting a plan. Anacondy visited her office and the two rivals butted heads, so Shibiretta sprang into action, sucking the girls into the story of The Little Mermaid and capturing Uraraās singing voice in a seashell. The witch offers to return Uraraās voice in exchange for the Rose Pact, and surprisingly, the girls seem to be willing to make this trade, but Urara refuses because their mission to the Cure Rose Garden is bigger than her personal life.
Nozomi convinces her that they can get the Pact back, so they give it to Shibiretta, who predictably double crosses them and refuses to return Uraraās voice. Cococtopus spews ink all over her, and Syrup grabs both the Rose Pact and the seashell with Uraraās voice in the commotion. Then Precure and Milky Rose transform, losing their mermaid tails.
In the course of the battle, Shibiretta tries to steal back the pact by attacking Syrup with the Stingray Hoshiinaās tail. He drops the seashell, nearly losing Uraraās voice, but Coco and Nuts manage to save it. Cure Lemonade then uses Prism Chain to grab the Hoshiina and swing it around before throwing it into the cliff face, and the team finishes it off with Rainbow Rose Explosion. Shibiretta flees and the story world fades away.
Urara performs her song āTwintail Magicā for her audition. Washio later shows up at Natts House to deliver the results. He looks sad at first, but then reveals she passed the audition and got the part.
Urara talks to Syrup alone and redeems the free ride coupon he gave her in episode 18. While flying, he says that the open sky feels nice, and admits that he may have experienced this sensation beforeā¦
The Analysis
What I Liked
Itās an alright episode. I enjoyed Uraraās strong determination, watching her work for her dream, because of the personal significance to her.
On the other hand, Uraraās unwavering willingness to sacrifice her personal dream for the greater good is very powerful and mature, it shows that she understands the big picture.
Urara has several flashbacks to recount her journey up to this point, including her singing debut at the mall. I also appreciate the payoff to the free ride pass she got in episode 18.
Urara and Syrup continue to develop a unique closeness. Theyāre a common shipping couple, though I think they come in last place behind the other three major ships of the series (Nozomi/Coco, Komachi/Nuts, and Karen/Kurumi) and their bond is still portrayed as very platonic, with no romantic signifiers.
While I am not advocating for it, it is a good thing that the Precure series features topics such as absentee parents or even deceased parents sometimes, and how the characters are affected and shaped by it.
The underwater forms for the mascots are funny. Coco becomes an octopus, Nuts is a pufferfish, and Syrup is a sea turtle.
What I Didnāt Like
I know that I said in episode 38 that I appreciated Shibiretta as a villain for the originality of the fairy tale worlds, and thatās true here to an extent, but it still has the problem of the writers and characters not taking full advantage of the setting. The girls are only mermaids for a few minutes and they donāt do anything as mermaids they couldnāt have done as humans. They donāt have to figure out how to swim with fish tails, they don't meet any other mermaids, thereās nothing to it. Yes, Shibiretta taking Uraraās singing voice is a parallel to the original story, and she spells that out explicitly for the younger audience members that may not be familiar with the story, but they donāt need to be mermaids for that. The only advantage of her storybook world is that the girls are stck there until they defeat her.
When the girls transform, they stop being mermaids, which seems like a real missed opportunity in my opinion.
The girlsā mermaid outfits are all identical patterned dresses, just colored in their respective theme color.I wish theyād been more unique. They didnāt have to be in seashell bras, they could have even been in their normal civilian clothes. It arguably would have been less work when making their control sheets to draw their usual tops and then have mermaid tails instead of legs, than redesigning them all in the aquatic dresses they had.
Yes this is petty, but I wish they had used a vocal-only version of Uraraās song for her audition scene. I know they want to get people to buy the single, but it breaks the world a little bit that she starts singing a song with a backing track in a room where she clearly doesnāt have a boombox or anything to sing along to.
Miscellaneous
The story of The Little Mermaid involves a mermaid who makes a deal with a sea witch to become a human, in exchange for her voice. At the end of the story she dies and turns into sea foam, but because of her good deeds she earns a soul and makes it into heaven. Obviously the 1989 Disney movie is the most famous adaptation, which deviates significantly from the story in the last act. It also got a live action remake last year, which I have not seen. However there are numerous other adaptations of the story, varying in their faithfulness to the narrative.
The only elements kept in this episode are the undersea setting, the presence of mermaids, a sea witch, and one mermaid (Urara) losing her voice, though here itās only her singing voice and not her entire voice.
This is the first appearance of Washio, Uraraās manager, in a while.
We see Kurumi in mermaid form during her pre-transformation stock footage. None of the others get this luxury.
This is the first time the concept of Precures and mermaids are mixed. It will not be the last. I think thereās more episodes where the precures are trend into mermaids somehow, and then of course there is the mermaid-themed Cure Mermaid in Go Princess, and then finally an actual mermaid becomes a Precure in Tropical-Rouge.
I didnāt mention this in the plot recap, but at one point Nozomi gives Urara a bead bracelet that Rin made, and Urara is still seen wearing it and clutching it tightly for encouragement during her audition. So itās a nice little nod there, and also a casual reminder that the bead maker exists. Weāll get another reminder of that next time.
There is an animation error when Uraraās mermaid form is shown off in full: the bottom of her tail cuts off above the bottom of the frame, leaving a gap.
Milk does not appear in her fairy form in this episode.
Conclusion
Itās an okay episode for Uraraās story but I wish she had been given more time to do her thing. I also wanted more in the setting of The Little Mermaid. The episode tried to do a few too many things but didnāt make the most of its ideas.
Next time, on Precure Daily: Rin has to contemplate the true nature of accessories and why people choose to wear them, and also maybe go on a date with Mucardia!? Look forward to it!
Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 39 - āSave King Montblanc!"
Date watched: 1 January 2024
Original air date: 16 November 2008
Screenshots
Precure Metamorphose Gallery | Sky Rose Translate Gallery
Project info and master list of posts
The final monarch of the four kingdoms is found, and Bunbee is looking for a bargaining chip back into Eternal. What happens when these two circumstances collide? Letās dive in!
The Plot
Karen and Komachi capture an extremely ill-looking Palmin in the school library, and it turns out to be the final monarch, King Montblanc. They regroup with the team and try to figure out what to do, even summoning Queen Bavarois for guidance. She explains that heās actually the eldest of the monarchs despite his young appearance, and suggests that he has lost too much energy from being in Palmin form for so long. She proposes bedrest, and Milk pleads with Karen to tend to him the same way she was cared for when she was sick previously.
Everyone contributes tools to help warm him up while Karen tries to nurse the sickly king, feeding him watered down honey for the nutrients, but he starts coughing aggressively. Everyone, including all the fairies, becomes hysterical and asks Karen what to do. KarenĀ is scared that she's doing more harm than good and becomes overwhelmed by everyoneās nagging and steps away to collect herself. Komachi manages to calm and reassure her friend, reminding her that Nozomi always gives her best effort and so should they. Karen returns to his side, and though weak he seems to be doing better, even grabbing Karenās finger.
While all this is happening, Bunbee winds up at Natts House. Heās been wandering aimlessly since episode 35, when he tried to become the Precuresā new leader, and heās too afraid to show himself at Eternal after his attempted defection. He demands to be let in from the cold, but for plainly obvious reasons nobody trusts him, so he forces his way in. He doesnāt seem to have any particularly ill intentions until he sees King Montblanc and realizes that could be his ticket back to Eternal. Nozomi wonāt let him kidnap the King, so Bunbee conjures a Hoshiina out of the frozen pond, and everyone transforms into Precure and Milky Rose.
While Milky Rose and the other Precures deal with the Hoshiinaās ice attacks, Aqua returns King Montblanc to the Rose Pact and tries to retreat with him. Bunbee sees this, but Rose keeps him from following her. When she is dispelled, the rest of the cures join her assault, but the Hoshiina knocks them all back. Bunbee decides to take out the threat of the four cures and Milky Rose first, instead of Cure Aqua, and prepares his super missile attack. Aqua is once again overwhelmed and torn about what to do, but Montblanc emerges and encourages her to go to her friends, because heās seen the strength of their bond. She manages to send Bunbee flying far enough away, and then Coco helps the Precures perform Rainbow Rose Explosion, purifying the Hoshiina. Milky Rose tries to perform Metal Blizzard on Bunbee, but he makes a hasty retreat.
Back in Natts House when the dust has settled, King Montblanc explains that he only drinks grape juice, which is why he couldnāt handle the honey mixture she gave him. When he sees Syrup he starts to say that his presence means the Cure Rose Garden is in great danger, but falls asleep before he can elaborate and Karen says to let him rest before they question him further.
Bunbee returns to Eternal to tell Anacondy that the last king has been found, but she destroys his report. She knows he was trying to betray Eternal, and casts him into the underworld before she disappears. However, after she leaves, the door opens again and Bunbee is seen clinging to it, wondering what he should do next.
The power of comic relief reigns supreme
The Analysis
What I Liked
Itās a deliberate parallel and callback to one of the best episodes of the last season, without feeling like a complete rehash. It shows Karenās development, and her vulnerability. It challenges her in a somewhat different way and she shines all the brighter for it. She has ideas about how to treat the sickly king, but sheās still only a middle school student and is easily overwhelmed by the pressure of her situation, especially when her peers and even some near adults turn to her for guidance. But she also pulls through, earning the trust of the king.
The battle scene has some nice moments, with the whole team punching away icicles like Wonder Woman deflecting bullets. They show why theyāre a great team, as Dream, Rouge, Lemonade, Mint, and Rose work together to divert attention from Aqua while she protects the king, and Rose has another solo fight with Bunbee (calling back to her debut appearance in episode 10), followed by Aqua turning around and getting a few good hits on him in retaliation. Itās fun stuff.
I might rag on Bunbeeā¦ a lot, but heās fun, and at this juncture in the series he seems genuinely unsure about what he wants. He doesnāt seem to relish in evil, but itās all that he knows. However, heās also not sympathetic. He has an inflated sense of self-importance and performs evil acts to bolster his position. I know that ultimately he sort of redeems himself, and he shows up occasionally in anniversary projects in a comic relief role, so itāll be interesting to see where he goes from here now that heās officially banished from Eternal. Also, I love that he managed to basically save himself from eternal damnation by just clinging to a door.
What I DIdnāt Like
Nothing sticks out to me about this episode as a negative.
Miscellaneous
In the midst of the drama, we get some subtle advertisement for the functions of the CureMo and the Rose Pact, to appease Bandai.
King Montblancās affinity for grape juice is similar to Karenās own, and Rin makes a quip about this as well.
King Montblanc is played by Sakiko Tamagawa, a veteran voice actress with a career spanning 4 decades. She will appear in Heartcatch Precure as a minor character named Shiku Rumi, and in All Stars New Stage 2 and 3 as the fairy Enen. Outside of Precure, she is probably most known for providing the voice of the Tachikoma robots in the Ghost in the Shell franchise.
King Montblanc is modeled after a turtle, completing the motif of the mythical four cardinal beasts with the other monarchs. Also, continuing the dessert motif of the series, mont blanc is a French dish consisting of chestnut puree cut into vermicelli (a pasta similar to spaghetti) and served with whipped cream. Japan has their own version, which is a sponge cake topped with the chestnut pasta , or more generally, any cake topped with vermicelli cream. The dish itself is named after the real Mont Blanc (literally Mount White), which is the tallest mountain in the Alps, on the border of France and Italy.
Rainbow Rose Explosion has become the defacto finisher, replacing the individual attacks. This is in contrast to the last season where Five Explosion was only used to defeat generals. This does become the norm in successive series.
Conclusion
Itās a nice transition into the last quarter of the show that recalls familiar territory while setting the stage for new developments. Itās a strong Karen focus episode and exemplifies her best qualities. Iām looking forward to learning more about King Montblanc and Bunbeeās future.
Next time on Precure Daily, Urara loses her voice. Look forward to it!
