Episode 16
Flower of the Episode: Bougainvillea
This episode focused on the contrast of leadership between Erika running the Fashion Club and Azusa directing the Drama Club. The difference of the tone of the environment was clear as night and day. While Erika was always asking for her members’ opinions, enabling them to participate in the planning and making sure they are having fun. We even got to see how Nanami is able to participate in the Fashion Club activities after school because she’s allowed to bring her sister Rumi with her! It was wonderful to see, especially since Rumi seems to be having just as much fun with the process (and even gets to play with the fairies since she knows they can talk, so cute).
Another major difference between Azusa and Erika’s characters is the fact even when Erika has her moments when she inadvertently steamrolls people, she isn’t so caught up in her own head to not reflect on her actions afterwards. She was even worried about whether everyone in the club was having fun or not, especially since she had so desperately pushed and sought for members to keep it alive.
Meanwhile, Azusa was busy sucking the joy out of the process with her overly strict directions, lack of understanding and refusal to cooperate with others. It was a one-man show, and sure enough the members lost their patience and walked away.
And frankly speaking, I don’t feel sorry for Azusa. I recognize she is serious about pursuing a career in acting, but she was too much! She kept on berating her members, didn’t offer them any words of encouragements, refused to hear their thoughts and only cared about winning. Nobody’s going to have any fun in that kind of environment! Ultimately, Azusa didn’t care for anyone but herself.
But the thing that irked me the most was the way this conflict was resolved. Once Azusa acknowledged that she was being selfish and unfair, instead of going out of her way to search for the members, what did she do? She went straight back to the stage for practice! So instead of her seeking out those she needed to apologize to, they came back to her with the intention to participate in practice again regardless whether she was going to apologize or not! Like are you kidding me? It really rubbed me the wrong way. It would have been a lot more satisfying to see her properly own up to her mistakes.
In all, I though the episode was fine. The only downside was my distaste towards Azusa’s character, otherwise aside from that, it was nice to see the challenge of making the Drama Club’s costumes gave Erika a confidence boost of a sorts. It was rewarding for her to see the costume she and girls designed together shining on stage, giving her the drive to continue to create new designs!
Episode 17
Flower of the Episode: Otome Lilies
Eh this episode was kind of meh for me. The girls were hoping to get some advice from Yuri, but she wasn’t having any of it today. Tsubomi’s grandmother later explained the reason for that was because they were missing the point. Is becoming stronger really the most important thing they need right now? No, what they needed to do was recognize the foundation of where their strength stems from. The three most important things they must keep in their hearts are Courage, Conviction and unwavering Friendship. So as long as they have that, they will have the strength to carry on, even when things get tough.
I have to admit, right now Yuri’s character is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I can understand she is in a lot of pain from the trauma of her failure, especially when she had the goal of getting rid of the Desert Messengers for once and for all. I found it rather unreasonable that she wouldn’t even share some tidbits of information, but I suppose as Tsubomi’s grandmother pointed out, Yuri wanted them to properly understand what was the most important first, before she were to give them any advice since they would have missed the point. It was nice to see her get involved in the fight against Sasorina (though really she probably really actually need to). I just wished the girls hadn’t been standing there in daze and actually took advantage of the help she was providing them at that moment right away. HOP TO IT YOU TWO!
But what I really appreciated this episode was Tsubomi asking her grandmother the right questions: What was her (Cure Flower’s) experience fighting the Desert Messengers, and why are they back? It would have drove me nuts for these kinds of questions to be ignored, especially when this kind of history actually exists for an exchange.
What was interesting to note was how the Desert Messengers have grown stronger since Cure Flower’s generation. Back then, they weren’t nearly as tough as they are now, nor did Professor Sabaaku and the Dark Precure exist back then. This is precisely why Cure Moonlight couldn’t defeat them on her own.
Next week, at long last one of my favourite characters is making his debut!
