Not a whole lot of plot this week, but it was super adorable to watch. I actually can’t believe Kotori initially misunderstood Hana as the root cause of the precure problems. It’s pretty sad for her to even consider such a thing, I mean the monsters Criasu brings out are no joke. Luckily best boy Hinase saves the day by backing Hana’s character, seeing for who she is, by quashing such beliefs by letting Kotori know at the very least, he thinks she is a wonderful girl, who embodies such qualities, of being high-spirited and always working hard for someone else. And I love how he fell for her even more at the end of the episode, unfortunately Hana is too oblivious to such development, but I wonder if Kotori may tease her in the future. I honestly don’t know if the writers intend to address this subplot of Hinase having feelings for Hana, but I think it would mean a lot to Hana to know that someone thinks she, as herself is an amazing person. I am glad that Kotori was able to connect the dots and kind of realize that Hana is Cure Yell, I was a bit sad that Hinase didn’t seem to notice, but I guess it’s mainly because he hasn’t really been all that interested in precure in general. The ordinary Hana he knows is the only side he knows about her.
It was cute to see the power of Hana’s influence of inspiring both Kotori and Fumito (and later Hinase) to have the courage to face Criasu. in the end, they were the reasons why Gelos failed, when she for once, after going all out put the precures in a corner. Speaking of the devil, I am quite shocked by how rapidly she has descended into madness. The elegant side of Gelos is no longer to be found, and has been effectively replaced by a rocker-image, who is a lot more brutal and powerful due to how desperate she has become to stop time. Her backstory certainly raises my curiosity, because she feels that everyone left her because she was no longer beautiful, so she is desperate to stop time to prevent her youth from slipping away from her— or something along the lines.
Next week, it is long overdue, but they are actually following up on Saaya’s development of her becoming interested in a different career (working in the medical field as a doctor). I’m looking forward to it, but I’d be lying if I said I weren’t a bit skeptical about how it will be handled after is has been put off for so long.
The tales of three Kotoris that I recognized across the years:
Love Live’s Kotori: A legendary feminine figure, then again nobody doubts the cultural impact Muse had made.
Hugtto Precure’s Kotori: Wished she had more screentime honestly, aside from the fact she dotted down the lines to finally figuring out Hana’s alter ego as Cure Yell, I wanted more friendship moments between her and Emiru as they’re actually classmates.
Zexal’s Kotori: MOST USELESS FEMALE CHARACTER IN YUGIOH HISTORY. Only sticking with Yuma from start to finish and granted that she DID confess to him in the end, but her role was nonexistent throughout the entire show and she did absolutely nothing.
without spoiling oh god help us I don’t know if what they planning for episode 36 and 37 is a good or bad idea
I’ve heard about it, and I am seriously worried about it. I have no idea what they plan to do with this either.
You mean the cluster of crossovers with other Pressures from the past AGAIN? Tch, at this rate you’ll have to digest the fact that this is more akin to Arrowverse united & split timelines where Green Arrow, The Flash etc.with differently written purposes have their storylines often intertwined with each other in a Legends of Tomorrow-esque fashion.
Oh wait, given that I’m among the minority who realized that Hugtto Precure is doomed to end in failure and tatters because it was a hot mess to begin with (aside from Homare’s character), shoving down past Precures to the story for nostalgia’s sake is probably Toei’s only method to keep hold onto this dark page of Precure’s history.
Regardless, here’s my opinion on how I feel about the return of these Precures (according to episode 36’s preview):
Nozomi & Urara: Their return is… something. But it will be truly golden if they let the trademark couple of the entire franchise (Nozomi x Coco that is) materialize and let Coco transform into his Ikemen form to compete against Harry’s Ikemen form to score for the girls’ affections. Bonus points if Syrup is there too.
Love: She’s fine, although she DID turn down Daisuke’s confession in the final episode of Fresh Precure. Would prefer Setsuna’s return though, the one who underwent one of the most significant character developments in Precure’s history.
Mirai, Riko & Mofurun: OH NO NOT THEM AGAIN! It simply baffles me that they just won’t step down and continues to pop up (inevitable perhaps due to them being among the chosen anime mascots for 2020 Tokyo Olympics). Especially for Mirai and Mofurun, they should be gone already. As for Riko, she got away with it because her struggles back in Mahou Tsukai Precure was something I could relate to, but her older sister Liz was way better than her (in both talents and appearance).
Ichika and co.: MUH PRECIOUS RABBIT GIRL IS BACK! 😀 Honestly, Ichika’s cameo is the ONLY one I don’t have any problems with just because she’s such an amazing leader back in Kirakira Precure and the timeline between Kirakira Precure and Hugtto Precure IS proven to be canon as Ichika did grow into an adult in the final episode of Kirakira Precure and here she retains her adult appearance. Probably my favorite part of Hugtto Precure alongside Homare-centric episodes.