I will be honest with you, as I was watching the episode I couldn’t help but feel as though something was off… Maybe it’s just me, but the episode felt a little sloppy, rushed and even at times forced. I felt troubled by it, and seriously asked myself whether or not I would even make it to ten episodes at this rate. But within the last five minutes, it was as though I saw light at the end of the tunnel, and it reeled me right back in!
Hana encounters an incredibly mysterious (handsome) man, and who carries a beautiful book, describing it was a world where everyone had great hopes for the future. They called it the a veritable Garden of Eden. However its splendour would not last forever. It is hard to decipher whether or not he is referring to the story, past, or perhaps even this world. One of the biggest question that comes to mind: Who is he? And which side is he on?
He appears to also be the same man standing outside on the terrace with Pupple inside reviewing paperwork of a sorts. I am curious of whether or not that is actually the case. It also did not go unnoticed to me how it looked as though he had a wistful expression on his face when he spoke about the book, only making me even more curious about the world he speaks of. But another big question is of course: What is Pupple’s relationship with the man? She has mentioned about going on dates, and today we hear her mention how she wished tomorrow would never come.
Then there was Henri. I am glad that I was wrong about his origins (I had initially though he was a Russian Skater due to the topic of Moscow in the last week’s preview), but he is still the cut out classic half French, half Japanese, or as he likes to call himself: A double. He and Homare have been skating together since they were kids, and Henri came to see her in hopes she would join him to train in Moscow.
Of course by the end of the episode, Henri surprises Homare with having transferred to their school and is now part of the Sports Class (she was one a part of, before transferring to the regular class). Although Henri came off as a prick for most of the episode, his attitude improved by the end of the episode, and I actually screamed when he confirmed my suspicions he had caught onto Homare being a precure, and even joked to her about maybe he should try becoming one himself. And I am not gonna lie, if they were to do that, I would be all over it. The only thing I am concerned about however is making him disappear altogether, especially since he and the girls are in different departments at school. I think it would be great he were to join their group, like they did with Seiji in Happiness Charge! or have a similar presence as Yui did in Go! Princess Precure. Those two are the most memorable characters to be part of the group without having any super power of their own.
Henri’s earlier comments on how “Cheering someone is something anyone can do”, got into her head. Hana is starting to reflect and question herself when it comes to supporting others. And to some degree, Henri is right, but at the same time, there are some things only Hana can do when it comes to cheering on others. I also liked how they followed up on how some people just don’t want someone to cheer for them or can’t accept being cheered for. The time Homare had lashed out at Hana who tried to support her by cheering her on, was a good example how it can sometimes do more harm than good. In that particular case, it was agonizing for Homare to hear it because she felt she didn’t deserve it.
Next week, they will be going on a hiking trip! I will be a bit surprised if Hana doesn’t get her own little buff-up, but I considering how small it is, it’s not something that makes me excited in any way.
Awww in all honesty, even though the writing in the last 2 episodes have been a little sloppy and all over the place, I think the entertainment factor an characters are what really matter. To me anyway. The story can be shit and I’ll still come back because the characters are lovable and the show is still entertaining (even tho I kept watching KiraKira despite disliking almost everything about it XD). So when you said you probably won’t be able to make it the 10th episode due to the writing, I was kinda surprised as you seem to like the characters a lot, from what I have read in your reviews. I also really hope you will continue to review all of HUGtto. I missed your reviews for 2 years and if you were to stop for the third time in a row, I’d be devastated. Selfish me at its finest huh? XD But if you don’t, I’ll accept it like I have in the last two years.
Anyway I thought this episode was really sloppy in terms of writing, but Hana was adorable, Harry was hilarious and Homare’s determination to keep going until she got the jump was really nice to watch!! Henri was a bitch for most the episode but like you, I found him better in the latter half of the episode. If Henri does because a main supporting character, I’ll be okay with it. He seems like he’ll be a lot of fun but I hope he doesn’t keep doing French phrases like “Non non” or something because…Ciel in KiraKira A la Mode drove me up the wall with all her French >.< (fyi, the guy from HapCha’s name is Seiji not Seichi XD)
Aw chucks, thanks! <3 I will try my best! The last five minutes and the introduce of that mysterious book man has me intrigued!!!! So it definitely gives me hope for future developments. But the writing quality needs to be kicked up a notch and be polished up.
So it looks like I am not the only one who felt that way too. I also agree, it’s certainly still watchable, as long as you like the characters and it’s entertaining to watch, but it certainly makes it a lot more difficult for me to cover.
Oh thanks for the correction! I was thinking the sound but lmao I didn’t realize I miswrote it! XDDD Man I am sleep deprived!
As much as I regretted you not covering Kirakira Precure (ignore the haters out there, Ichika & co. were actually amazing) because of the hiatus, I won’t complain if you stop covering this season immediately just because it’s quickly devolving into a mess that crippled Happiness Charge and Mahou Tsukai; worse, those two seasons at least held on until 20-ish episodes to show cracks of collapse but this one is not even 10 episodes in. Homare & Lulu (who has Setsuna, Ellen & Towa vibes) aside, the remaining cast can be neglected and tossed aside just because they’re all static cardboards that make the show trip itself & won’t be missed; Not-Rikka in particular takes the cake as a juggled abomination.
I am interested where they take the mysterious man/book. Something tells me he is the big bad and Papple’s boyfriend while we’re at it. Oh and that book is what gave him the whole idea to stop time/end the world. I swear that book is foreshadowing something and I can’t wait for it!!!! Actually, I feel like Hugtto’s episodes always ends on a nice cliff hanger. The episodes start of nice, the middle gets a little muddy but still entertaining, and then the end comes along to end it nicely and make you crave for more.
I do understand if it gets difficult to cover though, with series like this, there are always gonna be episodes where you can’t really cover anything and have to start bunching episodes up in a review, especially when we start hitting filler season. I would prefer you taking breaks here and there and then covering a bunch of episodes (maybe 2-3 at a time) that didn’t do much but maybe had a little of importance to the story somewhere that you feel just couldn’t have a review on its own (kinda like how you did with Mahou Tsukai when it got closer to episode 20).
No problem~ We all have our moments when we mistype XD
I also thought he might be the big bad, and it will be so interesting if he is! How often do we actually see a villain in precure make a first appearance, but instead of being pretty evil or scary right off the bat, they have a “soft encounter”.
The book is FULL OF SECRETSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
My guess the is putting all of the worlds’ futures into the book or something like that, maybe he intends to use it to restore the Garden of Eden.
Double-entries are certainly an option, but we only use that format for recaps episodes or when we couldn’t cover the episode the previous week due to responsibilities. With the current pace, it’s definitely going to take more time for this particular series to find its stride. Nevertheless, I will keep it in mind for the future. But the worst case scenarios are when I stare at my screen and think, “I GOT NOTHING!!!!” 😂
I just realized something…. why are all the males in this show looking handsome? Except for one of the male villains who is fat and has yet to make his move, the artwork for males is like a dream…
“I felt troubled by it, and seriously asked myself whether or not I would even make it to ten episodes at this rate.”
Actually, you can give up on the season already. The best budget episodes are definitely stalled for building up Lulu’s character and her eventually “redemption” (& adding Hugtan’s “growth”) and it’s gonna take 10+ episodes and beyond to reach that level (as future members join the team). When even Homare herself couldn’t save the episode (despite her regaining the courage to skate again was more or less predictable) you know there’s a HUGE problem boiling up to derail the whole season (which was highlighted in my numerous rants about why the show was nowhere close to Go Princess Precure’s level of excellence but the blind hype by various forums was already there and it irked me to no end). Besides, as much as I resent Henri x Homare moments (and utterly dismayed that he’s staying behind), I applauded him for SHUTTING HANA UP because her constant cheering is getting close to Mana’s or even Mirai’s level of annoyance.
The mysterious man certainly looks like EastEdge (Shagukan no Shana) & Lawton (Yugioh 5D’s) in one body, while the young girl in the upcoming episode’s preview looks like another Ranko doppelganger. (Damn, what’s up with Ranko’s clones in this season, first with “Ranzo” as Not-Rikka’s foil and then another one popping up.)
Woah you sound negative. Reallly negative. I agree that people should not be comparing Hugtto to Go! Princess. It’s so silly. I’m for another reason though, and it is because Go! Princess aired like 3 years ago. It’s really stupid to compare a currently airing show to a show that aired 3 years prior. It makes more sense to compare it to the likes of KiraKira, since it was the season right before it. And comparing the two, Hugtto is in my opinion, 10 times more entertaining and better when it comes to story….so far.
Anyway isn’t it better to see a redemption take more than 3 episodes? 10 episodes+ is perfectly fine as it’ll make the actual heel face turn episode have more impact if the episodes building up to it were done right. 3 episodes are probably okay too but since Pretty Cure has like 49+ episodes, sadly it’s a trend for it to take more than 3 episodes to “fill up space”.
Also I found it amusing how everyone seems to call Hugtto lazy due to all the similarities it has to the past seasons. With a Ranko dobbleganger in terms of personality, Emiru looking like Ranko in terms of appearance – Cure layout a whole lot like Go! Princess/DokiDoki, you name it. I found it amusing, it’s like everyone forgets it is a 15th anniversary season and they’re most likely throwbacks, not Toei being lazy. I get you didn’t say that, but I just wanted to mention that cause it seemed implied that you aren’t enjoying these “dobblegangers”/throwbacks and stuff XD
Kirakira Precure hooked me in throughout the whole 49 episodes (yes I had a blast with that season), Hugtto already irked me way too much even before the 10-episode mark. It’s even worse considering that it’s another anniversary season which Happiness Charge was already handled VERY poorly and this one is unlikely to get better.
Overall, agree to disagree.
Is this year’s PreCure some kind of special anniversary like ARC V? I read some spoilers (and I’m not giving anything away) but to me, there seems to be a lot of important homage characters relevant to the plot coming up as a major thing I noticed from the spoilers was a future similarity in terms of character backgrounds to Suite Precure. To quote Wilfredo and to add from my own observations, Saya is basically the polar opposite of DokiDoki’s Rikka, Homare’s hairstyle is kinda similar to DokiDoki Makoto, a baby fairy like Hugtan relates to Chiffon and Ai-chan, Henri’s color scheme pinpoints to Marie Ange’s fiance Joe and his role may turn like Seiji and Yui, Harry looks like a homage to the mascots of Yes! Precure 5, Ranko dopplegangers, Cure’s Ange’s feathers reminds me of Cure Egret/Windy, and that basically covers most precure series except for the original one, heartcatch, smile, mahou girls, and kirakira.
Nice try, but that won’t stop me for viewing this season with a negative light.
Shhhhhhhhh!!!! Don’t say it! Don’t say its name!
We don’t want to jinx it 😱
But in all seriousness, that would be… Actually I don’t know how I’d feel about that. I am still wounded from the last one that used that theme.
It still haunts me…
Y’know, any Yugioh starting from 5D’s always concluded within a 3-year period and due to this it’s also possible to witness the flow of at least 3 Precure seasons which took place at every Yugioh series if you cover both franchises simultaneously.
Now allow me to compare the timelines: In 2014 (4 years ago), both Happiness Charge & Arc V aired as the anniversary series of their respective series, however Happiness Charge faltered REAL bad and Arc V was at its pinnacle (probably even better than 5D’s); onto 2015, Go Princess Precure marked the most excellent Precure season ever since HeartCatch and Arc V, while the storyline was dragging out in the Synchro Dimension, was still worth your money to watch; then moving to the dark age of 2016 where Mahou Tsukai flopped as the worst Precure season ever (but attracted a cult following because Mirai & Riko are among the anime mascots 2020 for Tokyo Olympics) while Arc V itself also self-destructed and became the worst Yugioh series ever. When Kirakira Precure aired its earliest episodes, Arc V was already a dead corpse being beaten over & over again which led to the most infamous Yugioh ending ever.
LMAO! That is a really funny timeline comparison! XD
//Mirai & Riko are among the anime mascots 2020 for Tokyo Olympics//
(o_o)||| Of all the anime mascots they could’ve picked… they are the anime mascots…. I’m shocked. I haven’t thought about who it would be, but I would have never imagined it to be those two of all characters.
what makes me excited is next week is already cure ma cherrie’s civilian form ako-style debut
I myself personally think this series has the most mature wiritng in the series, probably just as much as Heartcatch, if not more.
Considering the Director is Junichi Sato, IE, not only the main director of Sailor Moon, but also of Princess Tutu, and Heartcatch’s Spiritual Predecessor with Magical DoReMi, I feel that that is a good assertion to make on my part.
I do hope it will be like that (I am a huge fan of all of those series, especially Princess Tutu).
Notice: Hugtto! Precure Episode 9 Entry will be postponed and released in a double-post next week! (Looks like it will be an exciting one!)