Episode 31
Flower of the Week: Spinach (WHY?!)
I have to say, of all the episodes I have watched so far, this has to be the one that felt the most rushed, including the animation. There were moments where the dialogue just didn’t flow as a well, and I’m pretty sure I heard some audio blunders. There were also scenes that were noticeably choppy and at times even messily put together.
I suppose it was better to be this episode to happen than another, because while they did expand a bit more on Yuri’s grief that was teased in the previous episode. She lost her fairy, so she has been missing piece of her heart, and her Heart Flower hasn’t bloomed ever since. That was why Tsubomi wanted to find a way to help her, even if it meant being a bit nosy. With the fashion show for the Autumn school festival just around the corner, the girls were looking to kick it up a notch and decided to ask Momo and Yuri to be guest stars, where they will each have an outfit designed for them. Tsubomi suggested Yuri with the hopes of being able to create an outfit that will make her Heart Flower bloom once more with the theme is “A New Myself”. While Yuri hasn’t completely warmed up to them yet to pour her heart out, but they are slowly but surely starting to reach her.
In the mean time, with the Desertian boss on his way (it still cracks me up how his image doesn’t really align with is hot voice), the Desertians are starting to ramp things up, starting with providing everyone a Dark Bracelet to grant them a power-upgrade. It will turn their Desertrians dark, bad and violent immediately. Sabbaku however set an example by physically slapping it onto Sasorina to bring the darkness back into her heart after having been cleansed by the Precures. That said, it is important to note Sasorina is among one of the examples where the generals have been cleansed by the Precure, and yet they didn’t disappear, or better yet, were instantly giving a second chance to go dark again.
The last thing I would like to point out, despite the flower of the episode being a freaking Spinach, to me, the one that was more important were the amaryllis Yuri was looking at in the beginning of the episode. If you’re not familiar with flowers, it is probably fair to say you know them by the other names such as the Red Spider Lily, Hell Flower, or Lycoris Radiata. But the reason why Tsubomi called them that is because they are part of the Amaryllis plant family. And in the language of flowers, Spider Lilies mean “Goodbye”, which pointed to the grief Yuri is still experiencing after having lost her fairy.
Next time, the girls are due for a power-upgrade, but first they must defeat the hot guy who is a splitting image of Tsubomi’s grandfather kekekekeke.
Episode 32
This week, Kakoruko had foreboding nightmare of Desertian King Dune’s return. Luckily for her, the girls have all recognized that despite their recent victory against Sasorina, they are extremely aware of how much stronger the Desertian have become and are looking to prepare for the worst. Karuko tells them about the legendary Heartcatch Mirage, something that can grant the Precure an unlimited source of power. However in order to obtain it, they must pass the test at the Precure Palace. And so that’s what they did today.
Surely, I wasn’t the only one who thought the challenge to obtain the Heartcatch Mirage to be terribly anticlimactic. This show is great, but this was something that has always left a bitter taste in my mouth. It didn’t even feel like a challenge. A part of that reason might have been because of how much Kaoruko had underestimated them. And I can understand where she is coming from in terms of being concerned about their inexperience. She was not only worried about the girls since she doesn’t want to see them get hurt, but she also regrets that she was unable to put an end to this fight fifty years ago, in what ended up as her final battle as Cure Flower. Their battle ended as a draw, with Kakoruko using up the last bit of her power to wield Heartcatch Mirage, and force King Dune to retreat.
However the one exception is the fact unlike the time when she had taken the challenge as Cure Flower on her own, the girls aren’t doing this alone. They have three members in their squad, so in a way it does help make up for their shortcomings because they can cover for each other, and use each of their respective strengths to their advantage.
While the test fell short of expectations, the power of Heartcatch Mirage is nothing to sneeze at. It speaks for itself when Kaoruko explained how in order to use it, she had to use the last bit of her power to do so. But at the same time, it’s also worth to point out how far she had to go in order to even end the battle against King Dune as a draw. Not to take away how incredible it already was for her to have been able to even get that far all on her own, but it does go to show how strong the King is.
We also learned that Yuri had originally planned to take the challenge too, but before she could, she was interrupted and defeated by the Dark Precure. And now that the girls have obtained it, they hope to use it as a way to somehow enable Yuri to become a Precure once again, which the preview wasn’t shy to spoil one bit hahaha!
Other than that disappointment, I can finally I can tell you guys how I burst out laughing when I remembered (back in episode 27) that Coppe was the hot guy all long! (I still can’t get over the fact they all called him ‘Hot Guy’!) I mean you have to admit, that was a pretty shrewd twist and a great way to surprise the viewers (though that can be debated whether people approve this decision or not)/ Needless to say it does make sense, especially with how much Coppe cares for Kaoruko, so to stay by her side as her dedicated partner he takes on the form of the one she loves the most. Poor Tsubomi, she has the worst luck when it comes to falling in love.
