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magicplanetanime · 5 years

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Let’s Watch HeartCatch Pretty Cure! Episode 6

I have had a VERY LONG and quite frustrating week, so as it rolls over into Saturday nothing gives me greater joy than being able to get back into the Precure groove. Let’s get started

Episode 6 Scoop! The Precures identities are revealed!?

Before we even get to the theme tune (what Nihon TV helpfully labels as the “Intro” segment of a Precure episode) we’re immediately reintroduced to an old character and introduced to a new one in a very short span of time. On the reintroduction front we have the androgynous school council president, who we learn here is also a martial artist.

Is there anything our boy can’t do?

More pertinently we’re introduced to Tada Kanae, a photographer and, as Erika puts it, “scoop-lover”, which is certainly....a turn of phrase.

After the OP, there’s a bit of in-class discussion about the Precures, the series’ first acknowledgement that yes, other people do remember that they exist. But mostly, we see what exactly Erika means by her oddly old-fashioned phrasing. Apparently the case is that this Tada girl likes to take pictures of people and....well, just kind of stick them up on a board for the world to see. I was sort of expecting the series to take a “school newspaper” angle here especially given the mention of Scoops (tm).

She also seems to enjoy taking pictures of people in embarrassing situations, which Erika (understandably) objects to.

This segues into Tada promising to get shots of the Precures, which Tsubomi hilariously responds to with a loud “EHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?”, proving that regardless of whether or not they’re fictional, middle schoolers cannot keep secrets. (If you’re wondering how she plays this off, it’s by claiming to be really excited about the pictures. Yeah.)

Our girls regroup, and soon spot Tada asking around about the Precures. To the photographer girl’s frustration, all she gets is people (more specifically: characters-of-the-week from some previous episodes) saying that they dreamed about them or that they’ve heard rumors, something that she can’t exactly snap photos of.

I must say, even in the episode’s first third it’s pretty obvious that the moral is going to be about Tada’s habit of taking pictures of people screwing up. Which, while certainly not a bad message in the social media era (and that was surely a consideration, this show isn’t that old mind you) just seems a little....thin? Compared to the near-universal themes of the past couple episodes.

Another thing I’m noticing is at least in this earlier part of the episode the animation is rather janky, there’s some oddly-composed shots and lots of popsicle stick walk cycles.

Neither of these things are dealbreakers by any means but one does get the impression that this is a bit of a lower-rung episode of this series.

Well, I say that, but Tada, following a lead, soon makes her way to the botanical gardens. The ones that Tsubomi’s grandma, the former Cure Flower and--shudder--Coupe are based in. She spots the fairies not long after entering and then....this happens.

Yeah, remember this guy? Cuz I kinda completely forgot about him myself. This is by my count his first appearance in four episodes, and he shows up here only to briefly distract Tada long enough for the fairies to escape. They dive in Coupe’s fur, and granny successfully feigns ignorance, which gets her to leave. Flower then openly speculates about the state of her heart flower, setting up the second half of the episode.

Cut back to the Desert Apostle lair and we have Sasorina vowing that she will succeed where her two comrades failed and yadda yadda you know the drill by now.

We then get a midcard, with this comment from Nihon.TV, which I think is a Final Fantasy reference if my memory (memery?) is serving me correctly this chilly spring morning.

Anyway, we cut back to Tsubomi, who notices Tada walking over to Erika’s place and briefly assumes that she’s found out that they’re Precures. The truth is both more mundane and a good deal more Kids Show, though not quite in a bad way.

You see, it turns out that Tada is actually going to Erika’s house to seek the advice of an expert photographer, a man internationally renowned for his work, a man with blue hair!

Also he’s Erika’s dad, and boy, over the course of this sequence do you REALLY get a sense of where Erika gets a lot of her own personality quirks from, because this guy is a lot.

No really like a lot a lot.

No Tendou Maya?

In any case he talks with Tada about photography and ends up kind of accidentally insulting her photographs while trying to impart what is at its core a reasonable lesson (that photos should make both the viewer and the subject happy), and she leaves rather unhappy. We get this weirdly deep observation from Tsubomi

Honestly who isn’t these days, kid?

Tsubomi and Erika resolve to go cheer her up, but, before they can....well, six episodes in you can probably take a reasonable guess as to what happens.

Well ok, then Sasorina turns her into a Desertrian. This one camera themed and honestly, for just basically being a bunch of square shapes, this thing looks pretty goddamn creepy. Also it petrifies people by taking pictures of them, which is also kinda creepy.

I have somehow not mentioned it yet, but I do wanna point out that the choice of font that Nihon.TV gave to the Desertrians is pretty cool. No idea what it is, but it conveys the rambly aggressive nature of the creatures quite well.

The fight scene here deserves a breakdown, since it’s easily the highest point of the episode. Pretty early on, Marine gets petrified.

Somewhat hilariously, the action then almost completely stops so the fairies can whip out a new toy. It’s not exactly graceful and it really could’ve been integrated into the flow here a bit better, but, on the other hand I do feel that complaining about product placement in Precure is like complaining about it in Transformers.

Yes, a heart seed, those things they’ve been collecting from the people they’ve helped. They use a red one here, which I am pointing out but I probably didn’t really need to.

I would have a bigger problem with this powerup were it not for the fact that Blossom just randomly gaining Flash levels of super-speed is pretty goddamn cool. Look! She even gets a new tint to her outfit! I think the only way to improve that would be if they’d actually fully redesigned her costume for the powerup, but at that point you’re probably in prohibitively time-consuming territory.

I also want to make a nod to Sasorina’s absolutely great facial expressions throughout this fight.

In any case this all leads up to what is maybe my favorite thing that’s happened in the show so far. Observe.

What could I possibly say about this to make it any funnier than it already is? Butt Punch. She used her butt, but it was a punch. Why did she do that? Who knows! Butt Punch. You use your butt, but it’s a punch. I can’t compete with that.

Anyway before long the whole flower crucifixion thing happens again and I am seriously never going to get over how weird this piece of imagery is.

And Sasorina buzzes off, and the fansubbers translate whatever she says upon leaving....liberally, we’ll say.

The episode more or less ends here. There’s a bit of an epilogue where Tada, after being awoken by Tsubomi on the hillside, concludes that her photos really *do* need “more love”. As a thank you to Tsubomi, Tada gives her some photos of the class president, who it is at this point evident that she’s crushing on.

The episode ends with her resolving to continue her hunt for precure pics, and Erika teasing Tsubomi about the pictures she got.

I have to be honest, I am a bit mixed on this one. Tada has the core of a good character but I don’t quite care about her yet as much as I do the rest of the main cast (since I have a hunch she’ll be returning, though I’m not 100% sure). There’s also this episode’s moral which is just kind of....weird, I guess I’d say?

It’s not like photo privacy and consent aren’t real issues in the modern age--they definitely are--but it’s sort of a strange thing for a kids’ show to try to tackle, as it’s a pretty complex issue. And the conclusion reached, that Tada’s photos just need to be taken “with love”, is sort of a strange one in that it does not really say anything concrete. Maybe there’s a cultural barrier here or maybe I’m just misinterpreting the whole thing, but it struck kind of an odd chord. Between that and the janky animation in places this is low on my rankings of episodes of this show so far.

That said, the episode does definitely have its strong points too. Building up some continuity by bringing in old characters--even if only for a little bit--is a really good call (and it’s honestly something that the currently-airing Star Twinkle Precure should perhaps be doing a little more of, much as I do love that show also). And despite its abruptness I did end up liking the powerup that Blossom got here, and I really cannot ovestate how absolutely hilarious Butt Punch is. Juvenile, sure, it’s a kids’ show, but it’s also very basic, elemental comedy. You use your butt, but it’s a punch. Amazing.

I’m also quite curious about the fellow with the black hair and glasses. My guess at this point is, some connection to the student council president maybe? Who knows. I’d also love to see Tada developed a bit more as a character, as I said earlier, she’s got the core of a fun character in her, it just needs a bit more work.

So overall, while I did not like this episode as much as some prior ones, I did still quite like it. I find it hard to ever walk away from a Precure episode with negative feelings.

I’m gonna make this a one-episode post. I hope to get back more into the swing of things this coming week since I’ll have more time than this past week (which was incredibly busy and awful and involved a failed job interview and bluerrrrghhh but that’s not why you’re reading this blog). Until next time!

#precure #HeartCatch PreCure #pretty cure

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