Well, I can certainly say I was not expecting Happiness Charge to have a Mermaid Melody moment (I mean it isn’t the first Precure series to have a musical moment, but you get my point) but I find myself disappointed with the fact they had successfully defeated AND rescued Maria within one episode. Today the Shining Make-Up Dresser bestowed all four of them with a new power-up thanks to their strong convictions, (which in all honestly I SHOULD have known was bound to happen sooner than later). Their new purification ritual involved singing, which was hands down an infinity times better than Yuuko’s stupid rice song. UGH THANK GOD. Whenever they are ready to sing, it has become a reflex for me to have my finger over the mute key, ready to smack it. Mind you it’s not because of the voices but I just hate the rice song with a burning passion.
However, had it been in different circumstances, I (probably) would have taken it more seriously. With SO MUCH going on, and Maria being purified and saved from essentially the Dark Mirror’s clutches, I felt that it was difficult to fully appreciate and enjoy the episode. But you know what? At the end of the day it was my fault for raising my hopes that Dark!Cure Tender would not be defeated as easily, especially when I was already aware the show’s nature. That moment when Mirage managed to keep Maria under her control before the girls were blessed with a power-upgrade, I was literally cheering, throwing her thumbs up in approval. And this is my exact reaction that followed: “Oh good she- never mind.”
But the episode was not all in vain. Something greater and unexpected came out of it that delighted me! It was the moment when Blue took full advantage the Innocent Purification capabilities. It was so powerful, that it allowed him to reach Mirage, and he was able to at least talk to her face to face, do his best to clear their misunderstanding and free Mirage from the grief of a broken heart. But just before he could confess his true feelings, the Dark Mirror snatched Mirage away… Knowing the manipulating her wasn’t going to work as effectively, he now had completely brainwashed her. And speaking of the devil: Seeing a fuller form of Dark Mirror’s silhouette and his room of mirrors, this only strengthens the possibility that the Dark Mirror is indeed Blue’s Dark Counterpart. On top of that, I have a feeling when they see his true face that they will call him Dark Blue… (Am I the only one that finds it funny? I can’t help but laugh at the thought of it, because that would just priceless.)
The animation without a doubt was one of the highlights of the episode. The production team went all out on this one, and once more decided to play around with the cinematic effects. The only thing that I found distracting was knowing that they could have made Dark!Cure Tender’s face closer to her norm. Frankly I found it lazy, but it could also be because it was the lesser priority, which I get because there were a lot of action scenes. If I had to choose which one I would want higher quality of, it would definitely be the action over the face.
Before I wrap it up, lets give a round of applause to Dark!Cure Tender absolutely CRUSHING Blue, who is supposed to be a God! It certainly showed us why Phantom had such a difficult time defeating her, she was single handily kicking everyone’s ass- and this is without a power-upgrade! Had the Shining Dresser not responded to them, the girls and Blue would have been goners.
Coming up Next Week: Naturally after this week’s heartfelt reunion, next week ‘s going to be all about Iona and Maria, only…Maria plans to go to America. Wow, how sweet of you to leave your sister behind so soon.
