DID HUGTAN JUST SUMMONED CURE BLACK AND CURE WHITE?!
WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!?!?!
First off, I was spoiled about Cure Black and Cure White coming back through Twitter last night. It popped up in my timeline and I thought, “DARN IT!”. Yet despite being spoiled, it didn’t make their appearance any less shocking, given how they made their appearance in the first place.
Now some people may be excited for this, but for me, this makes me very uneasy. Anyone who watched YGO ARC-V or read my coverage knows why I can’t help but feel apprehensive when they start featuring cameos from the past. Of course we will have to wait and see what will become of Cure Black and White, and whether or not they will be sticking around for more than an episode… but dear god, I hope not. Please don’t do this. Please don’t bring back a bunch of characters from the previous series and make them a part of the main cast. I can already see the disaster in the making. Let’s just keep the whole ultimate precure crossover thing to the movies, let’s not drag that into the TV-Series thank you very much. Let this series focus on our main cast okay, that’s Hana, Homare, Saaya, Harry, Hugtan and our latest two additions: Emiru and Lulu.
One of the main reasons why I am already stressed out just by their appearance is because ever since Lulu’s and Emiru’s arc as begun, the original trio has had virtually no air time, no time to further develop their characters and worst of all, there has been a severe lack of interaction between the five of them as whole. Since Lulu and Emiru are now part of the team, I want to see the group interact altogether, as oppose to being divided into what Lulu and Emiru could be described as “Sub Unit” at the moment. In fact, this episode was the first time the five of them as a group were there to fight, and it will take one more episode before Emiru and Lulu receive their own respective “Melody Sword”, which will be a Guitar for the two of them (since Emiru’s guitar has been destroyed during the fight).… and that yet another thing that is troubling to me.
See, the two of them just became precures… Like yesterday. Today was their second fight, and their third fight will be against Pupple’s “Unleashed Form” as I call it. So this fight will effectively provide Emiru and Lulu their editions of the Melody Sword and defeat the second boss, and to proceed to the next level, Gelos and the others… and I am not exactly a fan of that. Of course one could argue they are a group of five now, naturally they should be able to be stronger altogether, but considering Emiru and Lulu had only undergone two major fights, I find it a little too convenient for them to get it this soon… But I suppose there’s no other way, or else they really will remain as a Sub Unit…
With Pupple getting a taste of her own medicine, be it one she inflicted on herself in desperate attempt to save face, or someone else caused her to become this way, it looks like this will be Pupple’s last stand. She will be effectively replaced by Gelos, George’s latest recruit. This is of course Round 2 of the fight they had against Charaleet when he was buffed up into this kind of monster.
Speaking of the devils, it turns out my suspicions were right. The dude in blue (I don’t know his name), has completely duped both Charaleet and Pupple into thinking the big shadowy face above them is the CEO talking. The truth is, he is the one controlling this feed of him, delivering the script and pulling the strings. It is likely this man is serving a George’s figurehead, which only makes it even crazier, when you realize that Pupple probably has no idea her so-called “boyfriend” is the head of the organization. When she does fall, it will be interesting to see if we see any reaction from George at all, and what will become of her afterwards. Charaleet has been seen to be doing his own thing, but doesn’t appear to be affiliated with the company anymore, and we haven’t seen him interact with them since they kicked him out.
Going back to Hugtan, Harry revealed to (only) the audience one of the secrets he is concerned about, and that is Hugtan’s condition. They already have eight mirai crystals, and yet Hugtan has yet to return to her original form. She is clearly absorbing its power, but she is using it in different means other than for herself. What’s crazy is that, even in this form she is insanely powerful, first blocking off attacks and now she can summon Precures from another time/realm?! It actually makes me wonder, even though the mirai crystals help restore her power, it might not necessarily mean she will be able to recover her original form. The price she had to pay for them to get away, or a curse that may have been inflicted onto her, could be preventing her from doing so. As result this would mean she has no choice but to grow up naturally, as fast as any other Human baby would. If they were to go this direction, it would be quite a dramatic revelation, since more often than not, we have seen instances where the powers help them grow up faster, a fine example would be with Mahou Tsukai’s Precure Kotoha (Ha-chan), who started off as a baby fairy rapidly grew up into a form of a young girl.
On the side note: Hugtan imitating: “Be Serious” to Harry was the cutest darn thing!
Overall this episode wasn’t the most exciting, but we still got a lot of things things out of it.. It didn’t surprise me to see Emiru going overboard with the whole “precure duties” thing. She is incredibly enthusiastic about helping others, and has a selfless heart, and part of her character to overdo everything, which is why Lulu needed to go with her to do errands. I am not entirely sure if she realized it herself this episode, but she definitely needs to think carefully of when she should actually use her power.
I also expected Emiru to struggle with having confidence in her role as a precure, because she can be a clumsy girl, and sometimes instead of being helpful, she make things more complicated. But she’s not dumb either. She knew she messed up on countless occasions, and as result, she like she was failing to live up to what is expected of her as a Precure. Thankfully the others were there to support her, trying to give her other means and ways to contribute her part. I loved how Harry gave her the errand and told her she was in charge of patrolling around town, I thought it was adorable. I also found it sweet with how he explained to her selflessness of wanting to give up the Preheart to Lulu is the same quality that the prehearts are made out of, and she has already proved herself she is absolutely qualified to be a Precure.
eva I think they will be simply be guests for 2 episodes at least. also it the first time they do such a thing
If the timelines of these two different procure series are connected as past and present, I really want to see what happened to Cures Black and White after their last battle… like did Nagisa ever get together with Honoma’s childhood friend?
Maybe it was because they are the original, but black and white’s series is one of my top favorites along with go! Princess
I think it’s just movie promotion, this year’s movie will be the crossover between Hugtto and Futari wa, plus it’s the 15th anniversary series
Also it’s normal for the series to focus on new Cures for the first episodes after they debut, then everything will hopefully return to normal
So when I saw that Black and White had appeared this episode, I was really excited. Pretty cure is making history!!! Until I saw the episode and now I have no idea how to feel. Cause, I thought there was a good reason for why they’re even here. I thought maybe the Oshimaida or something was crazy strong and the 5 Cures just could not handle it so Hugtan took measures into her own hands to grab Black and White. But no. The Cures defeated the Oshimaida with no problem whatsoever and then Hugtan summoned Black and White… like why? Episode 22 better have a good explanation.
Also you mentioned a good point about the whole interaction thing, Eva. And to be honest, that has kinda terrified me. I noticed that since episode 15 it has been really Emiru and Ruru focused. Which is okay but at the same time, it’s horrible cause Hana, Saaya and Homare but to take the backseat. I love Emiru and Ruru. Emiru has became my favourite Cure of the season but the other three don’t deserve to be forgotten. It did rub me the wrong way when they were interacting this episode could it felt a little weird and unnatural. I hope Hugtto can improve on this as it really does have potential. I don’t the interactions between the five girls to be hella unnatural like it was in Kirakira. They managed to build up Hana, Saaya and Homare’s relationship so well so I do have high hopes for the rest of the season. But if it fails then I hope for future seasons… that they go for quality over quantity and not quantity over quality like they been doing for the past 2 years.
MUHAHAHAHAHA…I’m sorry, but I was left rolling on the floor laughing at Toei’s desperate situation of salvaging this season by reintroducing Cure Black and Cure White into the main plot. Honestly that didn’t make sense and here are some trivia of why it’s a recipe of disaster:
The Precure franchise didn’t have a good track record of an anniversary series. Their first attempt was Happiness Charge which turned out to be a MASSIVE flop where they simply shoved down “romance” down our throats like a plague, and it nearly killed off the franchise and its fanbase until Go Princess Precure stepped in the following year.
The annual crossover All Stars movies are ALREADY a thing in giving the green light for past and current Precures to meet and interact with each other (and it’s still running strong). How desperate must Toei be thinking about simply putting Cure Black and Cure White into their second anniversary season with a baby as a plot device to justify their decision??
Speaking of Hugtan… Man I really grew to dislike her more as time passed on. Heck, it’s the exact same trend for any baby fairies: From Chiffon (Fresh Precure) to Hugtan (Hugtto Precure), they’re nothing but lazy plot devices to get everyone gelled onto them and they became gradually unlikable. Chiffon was a god-like world-destroying demon doll, Ai-chan’s tantrums only became more frequent and unbearable (and she NEVER returned (or at least “grew up”) as an adult Marie Ange), Ha-chan was extremely mischievous and had NO growth as a character even after she grew into a young girl. Guess that’s a repetitive trend for Hugtan as well where she’s now acting like a Hoopa (Bound and Unbound) that could summon several legendary Pokemons and coerced them into fighting each other. Just you wait, it won’t be long to see Splash Star, Yes 5, Fresh, Heartcatch, Suite, Smile, Doki Doki, Happiness Charge, Go Princess, Mahou Tsukai (because they’re “famous” so fuck you) and Kirakira Precures being simultaneously forced into Hugtto as an attempt to salvage it. I won’t forgive them if they ruin Haruka and Ichika’s teams just to make their juniors save the day and prove how “competent” they are when compared to their seniors.
I would not go kira kira and mahu tsukai famous seasons
Man Hugtto Precure really making some first-marks for a 15th Anniversary series
First early dark drama
First non ED song credits
First mid-season duo Precure
First crossover during mid-season
what’s next ?
I’m expecting Cure Black & Cure White roles in Hugtto are just for guidances to the new duo Precures to gain their new powers rather than make them stick around and do the fighting along with the junior Cures. We already have a crossover movie for it why milking it in the series too >>
Notice: Hugtto! Precure Episode 22 will be released as a double-post with Episode 23 next week!!!!
Another double post incoming … That said, I’m not surprised due to how it is chore to go through Hugtto Precure in the first place. By rewinding your previous coverage of Precure seasons, I found out that double posts were rare besides several exceptions:
Doki Doki Precure: Was never completed.
Happiness Charge Precure: The first anniversary season which had two double posts (episodes 5-6, episodes 24-25)
Go Princess Precure: COMPLETE COVERAGE
Mahou Tsukai Precure: Episodes 6-7, episodes 9-10, episodes 15-16, episodes 17-18, episodes 19-21 (and finally you dropped it). The high amount of double posts proved what a disastrous run Mahou Tsukai Precure had to endure.
Hugtto Precure: The second anniversary season, we already had episodes 9-10, episodes 13-14, episodes 18-19 and the upcoming episodes 22-23 as double posts. Adding insult to injury, Cure Black and Cure White are already set to feature in a large-scale crossover movie (even bigger than the All stars movies) with Hana and co. so WHY forcing them into the main show??
Yeah, this is the first time I decided to try this approach with Precure. It seems to be working out pretty well. Fortunately next week shows the enemy will be making their move on Hugtan– and it is about bloody time!!!!! I’m looking forward to it!
at least black and white gave lulu and emiru advices since their argument was almost the same