What in the world can I say about this episode? They fooled us real good in the preview last week! Who would have though Dyspear would actually pursue Towa even further? Most importantly, if the gate/entrance was destroyed by Kanata, how did Dyspear get out? Either there is a plot-hole there or Dyspear has another way out/has the abilities to.
In all honestly, I have mixed opinions about this episode. Yes it was good, but I feel like they could have pushed it a bit further, especially when you consider how long Towa has been basically held hostage under Dyspear’s wings. In particular, I am disappointed they will not go down the recovery to post-traumatic stress route. While yes, this is a kids show, Towa’s path to recovery would have been a great opportunity for them to expand on this special subject matter.
With Dyspear boldly showing up in person, I knew right away the hope and opportunity was thrown out of the window. Naturally with her actually being there, it provided an opportunity for Towa to get some closure by defying Dyspear and making the resolution to shoulder her sins and continue to pursue her dream. As result she rose like phoenix (I saw this coming a mile away) and became Cure Scarlet, the flames of hope.
And this leads to another point which is caused by her resolving her inner conflict so soon. Now that Towa is Cure Scarlet, her precure perfumes are purified and all, it now turned into the into the dreadful, “We can’t sit around and idle, we must train and hurry to save my Kingdom!” trope, which is the exact theme for next week’s episode. It is not only predictable, but flat out unoriginal. I already have the sense the girls’ mission next week will be to help Towa to try and enjoy the daily life she missed out on and teach her everything will fall into place for when they can finally go back to her homeland to save her kingdom and Kanata.
Towa as Cure Scarlet, engagement with Dyspear was one heck of a wicked fight. Fire, everywhere, quite explosive and her phoenix was a brilliant finishing touch for her Mode Elegant. What amused me however was the thought of Dyspear kicking herself for losing against a violin. The things you can do with music! Towa did have the opportunity to give Dyspear taste of a burn, but ultimately Dyspear retreated because she was 10000% done with this bullshit (in her POV).
Cure Scarlet’s outfit now, is as I expected, to be better in action than the transformation finishing pose. Also, was it just me, or did anyone think (or who happens to be a Sailor Moon fan) were super envious of Towa’s transformation sequence? Like holy shit, THE EFFECTS None of the flames were in 3D, NONE OF IT. All I can think of are the Sailor Moon fans who despise the 3D transformation in Sailor Moon Crystal, flipping tables- because I sure did. On the other hand, her Mode Elegant dress though, ehhhh yeah- not the greatest thing but whatever (especially the CG of it, ugh, that was bad).
Although I had mixed opinions, what I did like the most about the episode was the duet. Revealing how the song Towa was playing was the other half of the song Kanata would play. It was special because Haruka passed on the words and hopes Kanata had given to her, back to Towa who needed to hear them the most. ; v ;
Cure Scarlet is now my favorite cure of all time, i really love her transformation <333
I don’t know how they are going top her transformation and elegant mode attack. XD She just hit the ball right out of the park! DAT PHOENIX!
Interesting opinions and points that you mentioned of this episode, Eva.
I really like this episode. Even though I also expected that it would take very long for Towa to recover from what she has done as Twilight (just like Setsuna and Ellen been through), I think it was a good change and I hope Towa learns even more with her new true friends in the next coming episodes.
And I must say, just like you mentioned, I also thought how in the world that evil queen managed to reach planet Earth if the gate is destroyed from the previous episode? I think that there’s another “link between worlds” for Dyspear and her musketeers to use that it isn’t closed or blocked. Well, who’s to say? I can’t be 100% certain of this since it’s just my guess.
And dragon’s caramba, Queen Dyspear is certainly part Joker for her intimidating glare (HER CREEPY EYES) and evil reactions!
I really like the way Haruka/Flora played the violin as if Kanata was really there to save Towa.
And I really like Cure Scarlet! Her transformation, new skills and powers (especially the Phoenix Blaze), the soundtrack (with most of the violin sounds) and her fiery background amused me and impressed me! Those flames and fiery atmosphere really reminded me of the Firebird Suite from Fantasia 2000! Needless to say, I do love fire element or fiery powers. 🙂
The battle between Scarlet and Dyspear is astonishing and incredible to watch in my point of view (even that it was short one).
Now, for the next episode, I’m expecting in this moment that Shut will appear and I would like to see how he’ll react when seeing Towa/Scarlet. And yet, I have a feeling thar some funny scenes or moments will appear as well (hopefully, I like funny moments in this franchise). Let’s wait for it to come.
I hope for some entertaining scenes as well. It would be hilarious if he were to become a fan of Cure Scarlet in the future. XD (which I more or less expect him to at some point or another LOL!)
That would be funny and hilarious indeed, Eva!! XD
I agree with Jakenpon, Cure Scarlet is my favorite precure of all time. That outfit, those effects, that transformation, that attack! Holy S@#$!
Yeah, a lot of people from the Sailor Moon Crystal side are like “I actually wish Crystal just ended”. Hardly anyone is wishing for the series to go on. Not just because of this series, but because, of well, poor animation and the fact they only put the best animation for the deeper parts and not the rest of the series, just kinda shows that there’s barely anyone giving a chit.
Back to precure, I have to disagree with her recovery being extended. I mean, yeah that’s realistic and that’s what they did with Eas/Cure Passion, but it’s always been a cliche I hated so much! I mean, I understand it, believe me, it does make the character realistic but for me, it’s also very tedious too because it often revolves the character moping around a lot and being stubborn before becoming a character I can actually stand or like even, and I hate that so much! It’s like how Nostalgia Critic hates “the liar revealed” cliche, where everyone finds out the character had lied to his friends and there’s a lot of moping and such. Sometimes it’s needed and other times it’s just tedious.
That’s why I liked Kill La Kill and Satsuki’s reformation. It was quick but also done understandably well. In fact, Towa’s reformation reminds me a lot of Satsuki’s reformation, especially when Towa mentioned her sins and that she has to live with them. Satsuki committed a lot of sins including using her own sister (though at the time it was unknown to her that they were sisters) as part of a test to see if her sister could go against their mother, the main villain, as well as cause a lot of harm and damaged. Satsuki said a similar thing that her sins may never go away, but she’s willing to live with them and accepts the only way to make things right is to move forward and that to me is very grown up. If Satsuki had just took forever to reform and all that, it wouldn’t make her grown up. I know that’s not how real life works a lot but sometimes, I also believe it can work like that if the character is mature enough they don’t need to do a whole lot of reflecting and in times of a serious situation, you gotta act fast and that’s the same with characters forgiving her too. Sometimes, you just gotta take that risk quickly when the stakes are high and if she didn’t recover as quickly as she had, it would have been a never ending kinda battle between them and Dyspear herself.
I get recovery of such things may take time, but I also like to believe that it doesn’t need to take a lot of time or a lot of moping around. Towa is a princess and thus is especially raised to be more mature and take responsibility quickly rather than just be whiny and do the self pity party. Towa in this episode is shown to have some of the same features as Twilight.Twilight was very mature, even telling Shut that he needs to learn to accept defeat, thus Towa is also mature and understands she needs to accept what she has done and must do the right thing in order to be redeem. Yes, she knows it may take time for others to forgive her, but the first step is to forgive herself and take that step to change if she really wants to. I believe the parts that made Twilight so good are still in Towa such as her elegance in fight and maturity, thus to me makes perfect sense that she reformed quickly and accepted responsibility rather fast.
Yes that pressure of being a princess of the kingdom can cause more trauma but she’s not really the next to be ruler. Kanata is. It’s also to be established that Towa had barely any free will of her own as Twilight, thus she wasn’t fully responsible for what she did. Maybe she also sees this as well and so do the writers. Siren/Ellen from Suite Precure is also similar to Towa and her reformation was quick too. Siren though was brain washed, she had more control than Towa had as Twilight. She became a precure and it was just the next episode that she joined the Suite Precure team. So Ellen also reformed quickly and it was done well and I think Towa’s reformation was done rather well especially since it reminded me of Satsuki’s reformation.
Though I will admit one thing, Siren had more encounters with maybe reforming early and were done more naturally. Her reformation could have been seen easier than Twilight’s. Still, I find Twilight/Towa being relatable in personality with me because acted rash when I had to admit I was wrong and took responsibility quickly when I calmed down enough.
Smart writing can make recovery in process work without her moping around for a handful of episodes. I fully believe they had the capabilities of doing so (heck, perhaps they may find a way to integrate that into her growth since she now has the resolve to shoulder her sins and pursue her dream (like you said, she needs to forgive herself first)). Had they done so, it didn’t need to be for a long time, 2 – 4 episodes would have been enough just to give us a taste of it, nor would it have to fully focus on her. It’s the little things that can make the recovery progress count.
I really wish they had made Scarlet’s violin “weapon” look just a little less toy-like. Especially the bow. I know they are all toys, but that thing kind of broke my suspension of disbelief with how blatantly it screamed out “HEY, I’M MADE OUT OF CHEAP PLASTIC!!”
LMAO, you summed it up perfectly.
I fully agree! That’s the only downside for me about Cure Scarlet.
OMG! Cure Scarlet so OP, plz nerf! For me, this is the best episode of the season. I love every bit of it. Their teamwork’s attack collaboration to open the path to Towa was nicely done. Definitely better than last episode. The BGM was superb. The violin duet was awesome. Dyspear was a really good villain. She looked so creepy. I suspect that Kanata might fail to destroy the gate that’s why Dyspear could follow them. Cure Scarlet transformation is probably the best in the entire franchise. She is fabulous. I really love how she walked when she transformed into her elegant mode. A truly elegant princess! And her phoenix attack… Wow just Wow! Her attack looked very powerful. It reminds me of Royal Rainbow Burst from Smile. But that was actually a group attack while Towa’s Phoenix Blaze was just a single attack. Sorry, Cure Passion. Cure Scarlet is now my most favorite Precure. I think that I’m becoming like Shut for Cure Scarlet now. XD
I don’t mind about her resolving her problem in this episode. After watching Passion/Beat, I actually prefer it this way. They decided to go with different approach rather than recycling the same plot. And given the situation, it made sense to me. Unlike Passion and Beat, Scarlet has her brother who she respects the most. Remembering her brother words made her realized what she should do. The violin duet between her and Haruka also did the trick. What I want to say is that she has someone who she can relate to. Passion and Beat have no one. They were mostly alone which is why they were lost in thought and took more time to recover and realize that there are people who care for them. Plus, Towa was totally brainwashed. She could easily blame everything to Dyspear. +hehe But judging from her words, she also accepted it as her sin and decided to shoulder it.
I’m so excited watching this episode. At this point, I have already loved this series more than Heartcatch. +best
I fully agree! That’s the only downside for me about Cure Scarlet.
My second comment was a reply to Wanderer. I might click on the wrong button. Sorry, but can you move it to the right place?
In order for me to move it for you, you need to add a comment (reply) to where you want the correction to be (copy and paste your old message), and I will delete the older version once you provide me the correction 🙂
Gomen if it’s super duper damn late. Three words that I can describe Towa/Scarlet’s scourging debut: SHE’S.DAMN.HOT! Woo! Especially her moves and everything including her majestic walk while about to do her Phoenix Mode Elegant form plus her finisher, Phoenix Blaze (which reminds me of Smile’s Royal Rainbow Burst, but this one’s better), and her violin thanks to her unconditional closeness with Kanata. I can’t just get over on Towa yet I do agree on her saying that she’ll definitely shoulder her own sins committed, I already said, “Go for it, Towa! I know you can correct your mistakes!” 😉
Once again, special citation to my new bias that is Yui-Yui. Man, her expression while seeing Towa looks kinda real in my opinion (Don’t worry, your Cure partners are gonna explain everything about Towa… Hopefully by Sunday)! Plus uh oh, she’s got trapped for the third time but with Shirogane-san, Ranko (Hey, long time no see!), Kisaragi and the Noble student council gal duo this time around!
I think the best parts for the episode are when Towa has a harmonious dream with her big bro with the saying that if you commit a mistake then just correct it one step at a time but all of the sudden… TWILIGHT POPPED OUT AND RUINED IT ALL, forced her to waking up terribly along with her still tainted keys and Perfume inside Kirara’s room; the scene when Haru-Haru and Towa were in the same place as they first met but their roles were now reversed until Dyspear just suddenly appeared on Earth without any scratches and tried to lure our warming Towa for the last time (In the mode of Sore ga Seiyuu!’s Futaba Ichinose… OH YEAH, hats off to Yoshiko Sakakibara for another amazing voice acting performance!). The scene before the break that Towa was imprisoned in thorns really reminds me of the one from the Flower Princess story, but with the tough backup help from Mermaid and Twinkle thus Flora successfully landed into the thorn cage and convince Towa once and for all.
The violin scene looks super emotional and I love the combination of the two different melodies together which made Towa free from the thorn cage. Finally, the redemption process has started as the Black Keys had been purified into Towa’s regular Dress Up Keys and the tainted Perfume was converted into a standard one thanks to the blue flames that turned into a red one and… The whole battlefield was turned into a battle house of fire (Now I’m about to sing Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” with this.). Snap, this is one of the best episodes ever for the Cure Series so far I must say! And I can tell to everybody else out there that Scarlet’s debut is one hell of a kind. The last part was full of hope for me because Scarlet knew that Kanata was still alive though I wonder what’s gonna happened to him in the coming episodes, plus I’m expecting Shut’s reaction when he finally meet Towa once again, but in different sides.
To me as a longtime fan of Pretty Cure, it was the first time to see a bad guy-turned-Cure who redeems straight to the point and automatically joins her own team instead of recycling the same stuff happened to Passion and Beat, which is very nice! I’ve already seen another reform going on in this anime franchise show and this proves in GPPC, period.