This week’s episode was overall cute, but there was a part that irritated me. The cute part was Aroma working hard to pass his Butler exam (as it it was revealed he is still only an apprentice, and aspires to be the Prince’s Butler), but ultimately failed after he didn’t listen to what his master wanted (in this case: Haruka). He was only able to understand what a butler role is supposed to be and how they are supposed to provide the best service to their masters after another Butler gave him shared some wisdom. Pafu on the other hand aspired to be a royal maid, but….. yeah she is no where near passing her exam and needs thorough lessons with the dorm mother before anything else.
But then comes along Lock, who rolls out a red carpet for Her Highness Twilight, and gets suckered into the same problem which had raised several concerns for me- getting the bloody buff up from Twilight.
See, I was hoping Lock wasn’t going to be a suck-up to Twilight. I was hoping he would still do things on his own, but maybe I should have known better. Twilight is far more significant than the two remaining generals. It wouldn’t make too much sense to leave her out of the picture for too long, or at all when we know she is being proactive whenever her Key reacts to despair. We have already seen the repetition of attempting to please Dyspear, how every time they try doing so and fail- they will be punished, just like Close. Perhaps that is the unspoken truth of we are seeing the transition in the first place, of our two remaining generals sucking up to the more or less merciful Princess, who isn’t fazed by the Precures and their growth, nor shaken by her general’s failure.
Still, the problem is remains, which makes me wonder if perhaps this time round, our two remaining Generals are not going to play significant roles from start to finish of the series like the villains in the other series. It isn’t unusual to have one or two new key villain players, but more often than not, the villains we meet in the beginning still harbor a role near the end- and by then they are usually getting extra buff ups by their leader or the environment around them. On top of that, if Twilight were to cross the floor and join the Precures, what would happen to the generals? They just lost their buffer unless another one were to step into the picture. Honestly, I am hoping to see (as potentially foreshadowed by the “Keys End cards” we see from time to time) more Dark Keys show up. I imagine they would ultimately replace the three generals and will by default be far more powerful and enact as a far greater threat to the Precures.
However there is also something that Twilight could have possibly picked up this episode (or may take notice of eventually): The girls are only able to defeat a buffed up general if they are altogether. I would love to see Twilight use her head and utilize this weakness by forcing them to split up and fight solo. Presently, this is the only way that continues to let the Generals be a threat. But there is another possible factor involved: The Precure Trinity Lumiere purification requires all three of them to be present (as implied with Trinity). This would be a great condition because as many have discussed, the Precure Trinity Lumiere at this stage of the series makes them overpowered. In order to take that away, they would need to separate girls. It always has been a vulnerability in Precure since teamwork and power of having faith in one another are what leads them to victory, so I would be psyched to see possible weakness like this to be exploited.
Next week, Minami fans, your wait is over! It is finally time for another Minami central episode where we will be meeting her brother! No seriously, she needs this episode, she has been neglected from the spotlight for far too long. I mean for crying out loud, I am fairly certain Kirara has way more lines than her! (I get Minami is more of a reserved, quiet person, but stilllllll!!!!!!!)
Note of the Week: LMFAO OMG TWILIGHT “I wonder if you get crushed here: You will become a pressed flower?”
Have patience. The generals will probably get some other sort of boost aside from Twilight, but it isn’t time yet. They’ve only just started using Twilight, after all, you should expect at least ten episodes of this before we get meaningful plot again. 😛
Split up the Cures… villains have tried that in some past Precure series and it doesn’t tend to work out in the end, for one reason or another. Sometimes the power of frienship overcomes the distance separating them and powers them up anyway, sometimes the villains are stupid and end up letting them reuinite at the worst moment, and rarely the separated Cures turn out to be badass enough on their own to kick the monster-of-the-week’s butt without needing the others (doesn’t happen often, but it has happened). But still, at least it’s a level of strategic thinking on the part of enemies: seeing and learning the Cure’s strengths to try and find a weakness. I do consider it a step up from just mindlessly sending out monster after monster and somehow expecting that the exact same thing that failed 50 times before will somehow work this time.
Yeah it’s still early on so a power up ought to happen at some point!
It would certainly be nice to see the villains use their heads, and to me Twilight looks like one those villains since she is merely watching the battle unfold rather than actually engage in it. But in the end- most of the villains in the Precure series tend to just loaf around before actually doing anything proactive until WAYYYY later into the series. They are so lazy! XD
I really don’t get why you think it would do any better for Lock to rely on his own power. I mean think about it. What can the Dusketeers do on their own? To me,most Precure Villain lackies were never that threatening considering they had to summon a monster to attack the pretty cure and not fight them themselves. When the generals themselves attack the precure, that to me made them threatening. Sending out monsters, even if it’s by their own power is not threatening since it’s just summoning a monster to fight them. Not themselves.
Close became threatening when he fought the girls himself. He was pushed to that breaking point and desperate, which made him more dangerous. Even if he did receive a power up from Dyspear, it wasn’t to make a monster. It was combined with his raw power and desire to win that made him a true threat. So either way, unless Shut and Lock fight the girls themselves, they’re not threatening either way. Power up or not, it’s the monster that fights. Not the general. Thus the monster is the threat, not the general even if that general summoned it.
As for Lock, the Precure are much stronger now and Lock knows this. To be better, you need to know when your power isn’t good enough. Lock is smart, hence why he hasn’t played out that much. He knows if he keeps failing, Dyspear will have his hide. He at least knows that with a power up he’s got a better advantage. He might have watched Shut’s battles and seen how close he got to beating them with Twilight’s help. To Lock, it’s a game and in games you take any advantage including power ups to help you win it, even if you may not need it.
The Dusketeers are also in a life or death situation too. That’s especially why Shut is so tensed up. Ever since Close’s death, Shut has been intense and even kept saying how he doesn’t want to end up like Close.. It’s a game where if they keep losing, they’re dead. Lock knows this, that’s why he decided to take the power up. Least he has a closer shot at winning. I also feel like Dyspear would have gotten onto him for not taking advantage of a power to up to help him win. Dyspear just wants the job done and would probably scorn them knowing they had something that can help em but didn’t take it to “rely on their own power”, which she don’t care. She wants the precure taken care of. She doesn’t care if her lackies do it honorably or not. Lock almost did win the battle because if it weren’t for Mermaid and Twinkle, Cure Flora would have been dead.
You can’t help but also think the Precure don’t rely completely on their own power either. They have to rely on each other as you said to get that extra power and be a threat to the generals. So it’s no brainer that the Dusketeers are relying on a power to be at least a step a head.
I’m kinda worried to think about what would happen to them because to be honest, I really do like the Dusketeers. They’ve been my favorite villain lackies since Heartcatch and my favorite over all villains since Smile. (Joker to me isn’t a lackie but a main villain despite not being the big boss) Dusketeers are not that deep of characters but I like their design, personality and if they were just given a bit more humanistic features in their personality like in Heartcatch, they’d be much better. I love their design as I feel like other Precure Villains especially the lackies had poor, uninteresting designs, with exception of Joker and the Bad End Trio. So with that being said, I am sad to know they’re probably going to get killed off or replaced…. Sorry for the rant, I’ll shut up now.
Rather than it being “better” I thought it would be nice to see Lock go against the girls his own before teaming up with Twilight, but you make a very good point about him playing it smart by choosing to team up sooner than later. I had only wished to have seen that because we have only seen him go against the girls once, and during that time, he even said so himself: he wasn’t putting any effort into it. Of course that was before the girls powered up, and since they have it certainly makes it tougher for any villain to solo by summoning a single Zetsuborg against them.
Being a threat is what made Close a great villain, and that’s what is lacking right now. We already know that they aren’t going to win without any sort of buff up or by themselves, but without a threat being in place, it makes the fights boring.
Yeah the girls require to rely on each other. Time after time we have seen when they go solo, that is when they are each the most vulnerable. That is why I would really like to see the villains exploit this weakness. Just as you said, they are acting smarter for the sake of survival and increase the opportunities by collaborating with Twilight, so it would be awesome to see a this particular group of villains use their heads to turn the tables- despite the fact we are this early into the series. Villains learning how to play smart and choosing to adapt to the Precures’ Growth for an exchange would certainly be fun to watch!
And no worries :Db I always welcome different views!
We’ll see about your saying at the right time, yet pretty much indeed for the flaws and the lacks. Hands off for Aroma to get a sudden emergency to Minamin and Kirara all the way to the Academy, as well as we’ve finally see Shirogane-san after a few week miss.
I intend to agree on what Oikawa (the elder butler) has said that a real butler should know and experience what his master/mistress about his/her feelings, which is very true. So I think that it can be applicable to those who have servants in their homes and it should apply and reflect to the quote.
Of course, the splitting the Cures trend has always been since season one of the franchise show though mostly not necessary but it’s really common. The villains had carefully analyzed about what a Cure’s weakness was and tends to get almost losing hope, until when yeah, only the unconditional friendship can defeat the monster of the week and insisting the bad general about the common welfares of Earth and the universe.
I already get nervous when Flora was about to crushed up but Mermaid and Twinkle saved my tensed mood that made into relief, and I also agree about fighting the Princess Cures was really Lock’s own game though he should admit about his failures. Twilight even called Flora the “self-proclaimed princess” which makes me with a whoa factor. Yet ever since Close was gone, the Dusketeers went into a more disastrous process until Twilight showed up from nowhere and still I wonder what could either Shut or Lock do if they should combine their powers and defeat Haru-Haru’s team otherwise Dyspear would able to show her true power once her generals went failed all over again.
I think maybe the staff has created some more tricked and twisted ideas yet on what would be the next move to our heroines and the co. Something would make us shock and surprise awaited now we’ve almost into the second half of GPPC, so just like the usual, expect the twists coming!
OMG! Shut got NTR! lol Well, I’m not really surprised that Lock would also choose to go with Twilight. I actually like his idea to please her with that red carpet. That should totally serve her ego very well. XD I’m quite certain that Twilight will become the 4th Cure. I suspect that she has already been a Cure but got corrupted like Cure Tender in Happiness Charge. I think that the Black Key is a corrupted Dress Up Key. It is controlling Twilight and feed on the despair from her victim.
So far, this season has done a wonderful job. I’d say that it is my most favorite season since Heartcatch. The only downside is in the villains side. Currently, they don’t have that much interaction with each other which make them less interesting than previous seasons. The reason is probably because this season decides to kill the villains rather than to purify them. So, we may not see them last till the end. I don’t really mind this decision. It makes Dyspear a real threat and serious unlike previous season’s boss who let their minions go without any punishment. My real concern is about power level. It’s the same as what you’ve already mentioned. Currently, the generals cannot fight Precure head on without buff from Twilight. What will happen when Twilight joins the Cure? (Yes, I assume that she will become Cure) Not to mention that our Cure will receive new Dress Up Key to power up soon. I guess that it may have more villains in the future or Dyspear decide to permanently buff her remaining generals. I don’t really hate the idea. But I hope that Dyspear will not revive dead generals because I prefer dead people to stay dead.