Man, this fight was both amazing and yet at the time time, absolutely horrific to watch. They really pulled my heart-strings and even made me cry a bit when I saw how much the Flower Element was suffering. I was especially shocked to see them go as far as to almost killing the poor thing. God, that hit close to home for Nodoka in particular. The dire circumstances certainly made me cheer for the girls and the element not to give up harder than I ever had before– and we are only on episode 11!
I am so glad they chose to focus on Daruizen’s monster, because holy shit— his Mega Pathogerm just put Shindoine’s and Guaiwaru’s monsters to shame (of course to be fair, Shindoine’s was supposed to be the weakest from the start). He definitely got the most out of his time because the girls simply had arrived too late. And by the time they did, it was far too powerful for them to handle, even altogether.
And it was insane how strong it was. The best way to describe it was a freaking smack-down. They were being thrown left and right, smashed into each other— that was especially awful to watch and it even made me curse under my breath. Heck, they were even getting bombed on, and the first time they were sent flying out of the area, it actually knocked them– or at least Nodoka unconscious! Eek! Talk about nuts!
But what made this battle so awesome to watch was how it demonstrated the dire consequences of leaving a Mega Pathogerm unchecked for too long. Sure, with the help of the power that has been entrusted to them, the girls were able to save the flower element and attained a newly evolved Miracle Healing Bottle. However little did they know, Daruizen had already won the fight. The success of the Pathogerm being around long enough to eat away the Flower Element’s life enabled it to give birth to a super creepy seedling parasite, left to wander around town until it found an prey to take possession of, an animal. What makes this a huge win is the fact neither the girls nor trainees knew about the parasite. Had they known, they surely would have tried to hunt it down to purge before it found its victim. But since they didn’t, they are about to reap the consequences of their earlier blunders.
Based on the preview, it looks like the poor thing is destined to become the latest addition to the Pathogerm’s crew. It will be interesting to see whether or not this kind of thing will continue to be or grow into a bigger problem in the future. Anyhow, there is still much to learn about what Mega Pathogerms are capable of when they are enabled to run rampant. We don’t know yet if the Parasite is something Pathogerms will create by default if they eat enough of the Element’s power, or it’s a rare occurrence. If it is the latter, then that just solidifies that Daruizen struck gold because not only had he supplied the King a tremendous amount of power, but had a hand of gaining an additional Pathogerm soldier.
That being said, we will have to wait until next week to find whether this new face will have an important enough role to stick around for the long haul. However I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to be just a disposable fodder to not only help ensure the main generals don’t fall in battle too early into the series, but also just serve as another headache for the girls to deal with. For all we know, he could be taken out of the picture as soon as next week.
Overall, this was a fantastic battle! While the girls have now attained the new power of Healing Oasis, (which was beautiful with the way all three hands were holding the frail element), they also learned a hard lesson of just how ill-prepared they were for these kind of situations. It also presented the urgency to become strong enough to each be able hold their own grounds. It is encouraging to see the preview is pointing to the efforts being made to improve their teamwork, but I hope they don’t limit it to as a ‘whole’ bother also work on their individual abilities and synergy with their respective trainees. They need to be able to fend for themselves should they find themselves in a situation where they are forced to split up, or when they are caught on their own, because this is something the enemy may look to exploit properly in the future.
Looking forward to the next one, see you next time!
Definitely agree that the Precures are having a hard time with this battle, and they need to train in order to fight solo, if the needs rises. The animal may be a new general, but we’ll see, plus it is interesting to see what an infected animal would be.
I’m just waiting for the animals to turn into mega pathogerms monsters at this point. XD But it looks like this one is going to become the latest addition to the King’s crew.
After this episode the Cures are really at disadvantange for any fight against Mega-Pathrogerms. Not only it’s a matter of life and death for the victim Elements, they also have to race against time to purify it before it’s too late. No wonder King Byogen is more focused on infecting the earth rather than dealing with the Cures.
Also the seedling infecting the animal thing kinda gave some theories about the origins for the 3 generals…
It’s actually great to see the precures at such a disadvantage early on, it gives them so much room to grow, and makes it so the enemies are no pushover!
I also think the seedling might be giving us some insight on the General’s Origins. Considering he has a flower earring, my current theory is that Daruizen’s origins is related to a Flower Element.
I know hardship is necessary for both the story and the girls as cures to grow but OOF!!! This was rough and yet introducing elements to come back later is a penchant of the best storytelling – I’m sure we won’t see the see it for a while or at least not until we need the next power-up. If anything, this makes me torn about wanting the tradition mystery cure to come or not as well – the girls growing strong together will only help the team and yet perhaps they need some back-up as well you know?