Hugtto! Precure Episode 4

Oooh~, I am absolutely digging this new development! Much to my surprise, Homare did not become a precure because her fear and lack of faith in herself got the better of her. She wants to ‘fly’ again, but her heart doesn’t quite believe she can do it. After tragic fall on the ice, Homare has been afraid to jump. Once she leaves her feet, fear get the better of her. That is precisely why the Mirai Crystal that challenged her, disappeared. As result she took another hard fall, unable to land on her feet, nor obtain the Mirai Crystal that would have enabled her to transform into Cure Etoile. And what made this conflicted even richer, was how when Hana tries to cheer her on the second time, it backfired. Homare didn’t want to be ‘cheered on’. She was done with it, broken hearted and most of all, disappointed in herself. All she wanted to do was be alone.

This week did a great job of highlighting the various layers of Homare’s character. Her heartache and fear is not only preventing her from returning to the ice, but is affecting her whole life. She transferred out of the Sports Class, her reputation went from being known as a Star to a Delinquent who skips classes. Her bright personality that was previously seen on ice has basically frozen over unless she sees cute things like Hugtan that thaws her out. She is in a rough place right now, but it’s ultimately up to her to have the courage to break from the the chains of fear that are tying her down.

But Homare is lucky. She might not realize it yet, but she is not alone. She has her coach behind her, who doesn’t want her to give up on the sport. He knows she can get back on the ice. In fact he feels so sad for letting her down, we saw how even though he in the Oshimaidaa form, he stopped attacking because he saw her crying, and felt he let her down again. And I have always liked it when Precure allows the victims’ heart to shine through, even when they are possessed. We don’t always get to see it this early on, but I always found it is a nice thing to see sooner than later into the series.

As whole, the episode was fantastic. Hana was hilarious and adorable at the same time whenever she interacted with Homare. However there was one thing that left a bad taste in my mouth, and that was how in the end, Hana took it upon herself to basically solo the Oshimaidaa.

I can’t help but feel disappointed with that, mainly because she and Saaya were struggling to put up a fight, which is what prompted Homare to help them out in the first place. With the Oshimaidaa started off so strong, they were able to raise the stakes, but that quickly became irrelevant when they made Hana finish it off on her own. Sure she became increasingly determined in hopes to motivate Homare not to give up, but I mainly dislike how they made it so Saaya didn’t contribute to the last bit of the fight, when it mattered most.

Next week, Cure Etoile will finally debut! I do find it rather ironic how Homare’s precure form has an uncanny resemblance to how she looked when she was before that fall (based off the flashbacks), so I look forward to it!