Episode 21
Flower of the Episode: Rhododendron
Although this episode was the start of searching for the third precure, not much actually happened considering Potpourri hasn’t found the one yet. But it still managed to be quite entertaining to watch thanks to the fairies silly antics of disguise. They were hardly subtle and were trespassing school-grounds while dressed in the most suspicious way possible. It kind of surprised me that Tsubomi and Erika didn’t actually catch the wind of it until the Kanae managed to get a scoop out out of it.
Of all of the individuals the fairies had confronted today, my favourite encounter remains with Kenji. He is so pretty pure and wholesome, it’s actually a darn shame that he isn’t a precure! It was absolutely adorable how excited he was at the possibly of him being the third precure, and it was sweet how he didn’t let the fairies spook him. Too bad Potpourri decided it was not meant to be and ran away from him instead.
The only thing that was a bit of a let down was Cobraja’s non-existent effort of revenge for the cut on his face. He did manage to have some creepy moments, but they were short-lived and didn’t actually have anything to do with the fights. I had hoped it would give him enough of a push to actually make something of himself, but much like Sasorina, he just sat back and watched. But now that Professor Sabaaku was called out by the top gun for failing to get rid of the fairies, he can’t let these generals slack off any longer. So it’s about bloody time we actually start seeing them do their jobs properly. It’s long overdue!
The one last point I would like to share was how it was this episode that made me wonder for the first time what ever happened of Yuri’s fairy. While it was obvious from the start she was the only one lacking, this episode really highlighted the whole precure and fairies partnership, and how Yuri’s has been missing that from the start.
Episode 22
Flower of the Episode: Sasanqua
Today we finally got to see Tsubomi engage with the Garden Club! It was a nice change of pace, especially with having a more endearing character like Aya who despite her love for plants, lacks confidence in gardening because they all tend to wilt when under her care. (That’s rough…) She had the opportunity to meet Tsubomi’s grandmother who she looks up to and received good advice to stop thinking so hard about trying not to fail, and just enjoy the process. It takes patience and love to nurture the plants and as long as she continues to do that, things will fall in place.
And her confidence did grow, but just the sight of a wilted leaf knocked the winds out of her sails. She had mistakenly thought the plant she had been caring for wilted already, but its core was still healthy. It was just its leaf that didn’t look so hot. Admittedly it was a bit sad to see how easily she crumbled, but I get it. It’s basically a trauma to her at this point considering the horrible track record she seemingly had until now.
But other than that, while not much happened this episode (much less, “finding the third precure”, which I will get to in a moment), it was still a good I was especially pleased to see Kumojacky stay true to his record of actually putting in effort in terms of proactively engaging in fights with the precure. The only slip up though was that he didn’t actually do what he was supposed to do, capture the fairies. Instead it was kind of… random in a sense of how he decided to fight Tsubomi one on one, while Erika dealt with the Desertian on the side. What was nice to see however was Tsubomi’s growth as a precure. Before she was so clumsy and couldn’t put up a fight against Kumojacky on her own, and today their duel ended in a tie. So that was a nice touch.
As for the “finding the third precure”, contrary to the episode’s title claims, that wasn’t exactly the case. It wasn’t until the very last minute when Itsuki picked up Potpourri that the fairy realized there’s something warm and special about her. So technically speaking, they made an “implication”, but at the same time, it’s pretty obvious at this point (if it wasn’t already) that Itsuki is fated to be the third precure. (Not to mention, we all knew Itsuki would be charmed immediately!)
Needless to say I am glad the search for their newest addition to the team has finally come to an end. While these fairly ‘uneventful’ episodes are for most part charming to watch, they are a lot harder to write about.
On that note, I would like to make an announcement in regards to some adjustments I am making to balance out my future workload. Since I have caught up to the queue I had prepared in advance a lot sooner than I had anticipated, I am now taking measures so that I can actually build up a queue again without catching up to it too quickly. From now on, when I need to release as a double-post, I will skip a week as I would usually would do with on-going titles. This way I don’t overwork myself by writing 7 – 8 entries a week because that’s biting off way more than I can chew! Obviously once I have fully queued up the remaining episodes, this will no longer be a concern.
Also to prevent burning myself out, I decided it would be a good idea I should allow myself to take some breaks from covering this show between when I feel it’s absolutely necessary (after-all, we are now 6 weeks ahead of schedule). As such, there will be no new entry for Heartcatch next week! The next entry will be released on August 9th! (*Please note, this adjustment to the schedule only applies to the completed series like Heartcatch Precure and YGO 5DS because I don’t have to worry about falling behind schedule. Everything else remains unchanged!)
Thanks for understanding and see you in the next one!
