Healin’ Good Precure Episode 20

Okay I have to say, I do feel a lot better about Asumi’s character (Cure Earth). So apparently she isn’t the legendary Precure (Fuu) herself, but rather a manifestation that was born out of Queen Teatinu’s wish. And honestly, even though she says she isn’t Human, she doesn’t really appear to be any different. She can’t use powers without transformation or use of the Wind Element Bottle (which was pretty funny) and she can’t hear Latte without the stethoscope. She also had no name, which is why the girls decided to go with Nodoka’s suggestion of calling her Asumi, which is way better than Earth-chi! (Sorry Hinata, that’s a no go!) So rather than a “fairy”, I think of her as a  “spirit vessel” who possesses the Legendary Precure’s powers.

This would also explain why she has such a ‘robotic’ personality right now. Since she was born out of a wish, she was basically programmed to serve as Latte’s retainer. So apart from that, she doesn’t actually understand anything else about this world outside of Healing Gardens. In fact we had gotten snippets already in this episode how she lacks a bit of common sense, and we’ll see more of it next week as the girls try to help her adapt to her new environment.

This is also a big reason why communication between everyone played out quite differently than I had anticipated, and for the better! One of my biggest concerns of her coming into this was what Asumi’s personality was going to be like, so I was quite relieved that she actually stopped and listened to both Latte and the others. However I did find it just a bit weird that the girls were a bit slow on the uptake (albeit they were still shocked about this whole thing) about Asumi wanting to taking Latte back to Healing Gardens. But at the very least, I think it was better that it was the Trainees who made the fuss by arguing taking Latte back to Healing Gardens would go against Queen Teatinu’s wishes. By doing so, it enabled Nodoka and the girls to intervene when they realized that Asumi was genuinely confused. What was also good to see that instead of being completely against it, the first thing she did was ask Latte what she wanted to do. This was important because Asumi serves Latte, and she will follow her wishes. So when Latte told her she wanted her to help heal Earth, this set the stage for establishing their partnership and purpose for Asumi to join the team.

However the one thing I still feel iffy about is how they plan to handle her power level. Right now, she feels like she’s way to strong. I mean she freaking solo’d both Batetemoda and the buffed up Mega Pathogerm. (In fact, did she actually purify Batetemoda completely? Or was he able to retreat? Personally I’m a little uncertain about it what had become of him since I figured, we would be shown his original vessel before he was corrupted by the parasite. I guess we’ll find out for sure in next week’s episode.) While this is great for the girls because it offers some reassurance, especially when they were starting to get anxious about being unable to keep up with the Pathogerms, I just don’t want her to take over the spotlight because she is so much stronger than the other three combined. Hopefully, given the development with the Pathogerms’s discovery of evolving the monsters faster to become more powerful, this will mean the girls will be due for their respective power upgrade perhaps a little bit sooner than we might have anticipated.

As for the Pathogerms, I am a huge fan of their new developments. First off, it is fantastic to see the antagonists are also getting a power boost of their own by having found a way to quickly evolve and buff up the Mega Pathogerms. Second, I am so happy to see Guaiwaru keeping close tabs on Batetemoda because I have previously expressed concern he might be the first to be screwed over by him if he kept falling for his lip service. I love that he confronted Batetemoda and even went as far as stealing several Mega Pathogerm fragments from him. It goes to show this guy isn’t a complete pushover. He even played an important role of having observed the battle between Asumi and Batetemoda, which will certainly come into use when he returns to the King to deliver the report. I also really appreciated the imagery they were using in their scene. I thought it was so interesting to see how Batetemoda was in the darkness, while Guaiwaru was in the light. It was such a facinating contrast, something we’re not really used to seeing between antagonists.

As mentioned earlier, I am not certain whether Batetemoda is still around at this point, but there is one thing for certain: In the end, Batetemoda’s greed and cockiness came back to bite him. He thought he could handle Asumi on his own, and even implored the King to grant him a promotion to become the leader of the other three if he were to succeed. If it so happens he wasn’t fully purified, boy is he going to have hell of a grudge against her.

And speaking of grudges, I thought the Pathogerm’s King’s reaction to the notion of his nemesis’ revival absolutely hysterical. Up until now, he has been pretty chill, set on the goal of focusing on his revival, but today he was triggered. I was almost in tears from laughing so hard when his immediate response was, “DESTROY HER!”. It’s a more frantic side of the King we haven’t seen until now, especially since he couldn’t care less about the other three since he wanted to prioritize his revival. But with his nemesis back in the picture, it is no surprise why he panics. He has come so far and he is not about to let her ruin her plans.

Overall, I am glad to say this episode made me a lot more optimistic about how things will be handled going forward. And regardless of how you feel about Asumi’s character, I think almost all of us can agree her transformation sequence is absolutely phenomenal. In fact I would say it’s probably the best I have seen. Hands down, the best part about it, is the music. It is so epic, can we just take a moment to appreciate it? I could listen to it over and over again. The animation is also super clean and the details are gorgeous! (I am obsessed with the feather particles!) But the one thing that did surprise me was that we didn’t see Latte become part of the Harp like I thought she would. I suppose it’s because unlike the others, Latte has her own unique ability of being able to hear Earth’s voice, and Asumi is already powerful enough on her own.