Healin’ Good Precure Episode 16

Although this was a rather uneventful episode, it was still a sweet one! Nodoka had wanted the three of them to go and pledge their friendship under the town’s famous Eternal Tree, only to find it dead. Sadly it had met its end when the storm had ripped the top of it off and is due to be removed soon. There they also met an old man, who is bitter about the lost of his friendship, and grumbled on how nothing is eternal. Of course despite seeing his friendship had fallen apart, they go ahead with their vows anyways.

What I did find rather amusing about this episode was how there were definitely supposed to be moments that were meant to be “bittersweet” (and don’t get me wrong, there absolutely were) but there were some things that made me laugh. I also quickly found myself all fired up thanks to the implications of what tore the elders’ friendship apart, and how they conveniently never told us what it was. That being said, it was heavily implied it was a love triangle that tore them apart. It appears Fumi chose Hideo and Tetsuya left town with a broken heart and he hasn’t seen them since…. OH THE DRAMA!!!! I won’t lie, I had actually hoped they were going to go into details of it, but alas, they didn’t. What a shame! Of course some of you may have interpreted it differently, but since they never told us, the audience what was responsible for the rift, I think it is fair to say there is no wrong answer. Their backstory have been left to our imaginations, so let it run wild! Whahahahaha!

But to be fair, it really wasn’t any of Nodoka’s business. She had no right to be nosy and insist they should investigate (albeit to the Tree Element’s request) and try and bring the friends back together again. Life is complicated, and some friendship are never going to be restored, or in some cases people are better off apart, it all varies on the friendships’ nature. In that respect, it made perfect sense for the elders not to share anything with the girls or the audience.

Yet at the same time, we also have to acknowledge it was a bit of a cop out on the writer’s part too. We saw the consequence of that with the weird sequence of the three of them bumping into each other again, only to act like nothing happened. After all these years of being afraid to meet again, the lack of hesitation/awkwardness between them was quite jarring and felt unnatural. That was the one thing I wished they had executed better.

Anyhow, the elders’ reunion wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Batetemoda. He inadvertently drew them together by raising havoc with the Eternal Tree, so thanks man! You were able to accomplish what the girls couldn’t!

What I also loved about this episode was that they didn’t miraculously “restore” the tree. Instead they integrated the realism of nature’s wonders. While Batetemoda almost killed off the Tree Element by corrupting the tree that has met it’s end of its lifespan, a new era for the Eternal Tree was already in the process of growth, sprouting from within its hollowed core. It was such a nice touch, so I am glad they went this direction. …Except will that sprout be enough for the town to call off the removal of the tree?

Last but not least, I really enjoyed seeing the generals not put up with Batetemoda antics, Daruizen’s “Shoo shoo” had me in stitches. Needless to say, Batetemoda must’ve been really bored today ahahahaha!

PS: Oh surely I wasn’t the only one who screamed Ojamajo Doremi characters appeared on a poster board. Gosh how many years has it been since I watched that show? It was so cute!!!