Episode 14
Flower of the Episode: Carnation
Damn this episode got me right in the feels. Mother’s day without a mother is tough, and we got to see that struggle with Nanami and her sister Rumi.
Both sisters were lonely, but Nanami felt she needed to be strong and do her best to fill in the void their mother left behind. From making meals for the family, taking her sister to and picking her up from kindergarten and doing the regular housework, Nanami has been sacrificing a lot to support her family. In order to keep “smiling”, she even went as far as trying to forget her mother, and bottled up all the pain and suffering she was experiencing as well. And that was why we saw her heart flower had been locked away.an Nami had since developed a habit of repeating it to herself whenever she feels down. The words come from a cherished memory of the time her mother told her, what makes her the most happy are “the smiles of everyone in the family”. However due to the pain associated to memories of her mother, it turned into a mantra to hold herself together and she had actually forgotten where she had heard of it in the first place.
So when the sisters had their spat it broke my heart, but there was also a sense of relief when Nanami was turned into Dessertian. I said it a number of times now, but people being turned into Dessertians isn’t always a bad thing, which is pretty unique compared to other “monsters” we have seen in other precure series. The fact that it presents the rare to opportunity to communicate in such a raw way of all the complicated emotions that they either lack the courage to express either out of fear of inconveniencing others, or dragging them down is one of the best silver-linings you can get out of these circumstances.
This was especially true for the sisters. For a conflict that stemmed from an explosion of emotions that had been tucked away for so long, this was the perfect opportunity for Rumi to hear and witness her sister’s pain in such a raw way. Nanami is so good at hiding her loneliness that there is no way Rumi would have been able to tell on her own. Heck their didn’t father noticed! When he turned his back to her to support we saw how Rumi was frustrated that he seemingly assumed she was probably fine, which in fact she was not. But now that Rumi understands how much her sister has done and given up for for her, gifting her the paper carnation was a special way to acknowledge that.
Although Nanami won’t be able to attend club activities all the time, I am glad that she has finally taken the initiative to do things that makes her happy too.
Episode 15
Flower of the Episode: Violets
I’m gonna be real here. I find it quite unfair how it seems Itsuki’s family (besides possibly her brother) never actually did anything to encourage her to be more open about her love for cute things. To hear that this whole thing was something she decided on her own irritated me because it was hard on her. We have heard her heart scream how she wanted to wear cute clothes and the girls’ uniform, but she felt or was told she couldn’t. So while it’s great to hear she isn’t being pressured into this, and that her grandfather cares about her happiness because he said, “Martial arts is supposed to be about finding yourself” and all I can think of it, “THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING SOONER?!”
That is why I have always found this part to be rather disjointed with what we were initially told, or at least, it had left me with the wrong impression of her circumstances.
Anyhow, while her family knows Itsuki took it upon herself to inherit Myoudouin on behalf of her her brother, she also truly loves martial arts and wants to continue down that path. Only now that she has been given the green light to do what makes her happy, she is now able to openly express her love for cute things and join the Fashion Club to continue designing and making the outfits she has always longed to wear.
Other than that, this episode was really fun to watch. Itsuki gushing over cute things is adorable as ever and it was so cute how hard she was trying to keep her cool when they were in the fabric store looking for material to make her dress. We also got to see how easily she can get distracted by it, regardless of the situation she may be in. Crazy stuff is happening around them and the moment she sees the girls as Precure, all she can think of is, “PRECURE! SO CUTE!” Itsuki please!!!!
And lastly I am always super pleased to see characters like Itsuki and Yuki have the courage and ability to combat the Generals. In particular Itsuki came in clutch today with helping the girls by knocking Kumojacky over and keeping him distracted by having successfully . It bought the girls enough time to get themselves out of a bad position after Kumojacky actually flexed his powers properly. It completely caught the girls off-guard. The Dessertian was also quite strong this week since it was possessing Hiroto, someone who was ‘kicked out’ due to the use of foul tactics (well gee kid, what did you expect?).
