Whelp, sure enough Coco and Natts had legitimate reasons to be considered about the potential consequences of the “Sinister” Time Flowers, as today Nozomi was the first to feel the side-effects. It’s hard to say whether it’s because Komachi has finally become a precure or not (especially since it appears Saki and Mai are set to both become Precures again next week). I’m starting to lean more towards the idea that it’s because the more Nozomi uses her powers, the more she will suffer from it. 
So far besides Kurumi (who isn’t even Human to begin with, so she might be a special exception), Nozomi has been the one spamming her powers at almost every opportunity she gets. And even after collapsing shortly after she finished fighting, she tried to brush it off and claim it’s probably because of work— but Coco knew that was bullshit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they get into a big fight about this situation in the foreseen future. While I don’t think the others are going to hesitate transforming just yet, I’m sure the moment she collapses a second time, or if someone else starts feeling the side-effects (potentially Kurumi), only then I think they will start taking the matter more seriously. Though of all the girls, I suspect that Karen and Rin will be the ones who exercise the most caution, though Komachi might do so as well as she was there when Nozomi collapsed the first time. She and Coco were also the ones to have witnessed another potential side-effect, which is their powers weakening over time. At first I thought Nozomi wasn’t able to finish off the Shadows because they had gotten stronger, but seeing how Komachi was able to finish it off with her own base level special attack, I suspect Nozomi is also actually growing weaker. Clearly there’s something larger at play here, posing to be far more dangerous than any of them probably had anticipated it being.
Apart from that, this was another good episode. It made me emotional, I suppose because of all the madness of wars going on in the world right now, and having just returned from Japan, the subject of the lone surviving clock tower immediately made me think of Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial, the Genbaku Dome. It was an unexpected touch to the town’s background. It also gave more depth to Komachi’s love for her community, with how much effort she puts into maintaining the community gardens and so on forth. It also served as a good source of inspiration for her, as she has been facing a difficult time with a writer’s block of not having any new ideas, in addition to the mounting pressure of expectations as everyone regards her as a “pro” for having won a reward. For Komachi, the realization that she is just another “character” in part of the town’s history (aka: “story”), inspiring her to want to write stories about the people of their community was a nice touch to clearing the clouds that have been hovering over her for a long time.
The other great thing about learning about the Clock-Tower’s significant history, was seeing how it has shifted from a serving as a guardian deity of a sorts that offered a beacon of hope during wartime, to now spawning the Shadows that is destroying the town and putting the lives of those who live there in danger. What was also interesting was that Coco, Nozomi and Komachi couldn’t detect anything or find any oddity of the bell in the tower, and yet we the viewers know that Bell, the Angel seemingly resides within it. And to further back that up, we saw that when after the three of them had left, and the clock chimed on the hour, the sinister energy spawning the shadows came out of the exact spot where the angel is on the bell.
With that said, based on what we know and the way Bell has been talking: It feels like Bell who has watched over the town for so long has become pessimistic about the bleak future of both the world and humanity. Time cannot be rewound, and I can see that interpretation reflects the decisions that cannot be undone that affects everything around them. Like that “Sky Tree” that is watching over the town, once they take it down, it’s gone. . As you might recall, developers had be in talks of cutting down that tree to create a “better view”. (Oh but I’m sure there will be hell to pay by Bell if they do…) Sure a new one could be planted, but it wouldn’t necessarily hold the same significance as the first one had. Some things can be replaced, but the things that contain significance to either history or to someone personally, is considered irreplaceable.
Next time, it looks like things are starting to get more serious and it looks like Nozomi and Saki will be visiting the town’s famous “Sky Tree” Rin and Karen had visited back in episode 6.
