Healin’ Good‘s second episode gets a pretty standard “template” of Precure episode out of the way fairly early. One where the mascot(s) and Cure(s) have some kind of brief falling out before reconciling. It’s an easily-traced narrative arc so instead of just recapping the whole episode, I’d like to just zoom in on a few bits (this is also an excuse to write less overall, but you’ll have to excuse me there. It’s been a LONG week).

Firstly we get formally introduced to our villain trio. The designs stand out a bit less to me than last Precure’s, mostly boiling down to “twink, big guy, and This Girl”

Our evil overlord appears to be made of some kind of evil magma-sludge stuff, which is an interesting direction if nothing else.

The main thrust of the episode here though is Rabbirin (Nodoka’s partner if you’ll recall, the rabbit) “breaking up” with her after she sees her fail at a bunch of basic sporting events. This is a pretty silly reason to do this of course but the show manages to sell it pretty well. Nodoka actually is clumsy

The reason, of course, is the illness alluded to in the last episode but explicitly mentioned here. We’re not told what it was (and given that this is a kids’ show we may never learn of it by name) but it clearly had her hospital-bound for a good chunk of her young life. We’re even shown that she had to use a wheelchair for sometime.

To Rabbirin’s credit, she’s just not being a jerk for no reason. Somewhat rarely for a magical girl anime, the mascot character is actually shown worrying about her partner’s safety. It’s a good point! One rarely made in this kind of show because it kind of runs counter to genre convention, but you can at least see where the rabbit fairy is coming from.

What changes Rabbirin’s mind is, of course, a tearful speech. The first of this installment, and a pretty damn good one. This is where Nodoka brings up her past, and we also just get some generally-great dramatic shots that just make you want to cry along with her.

It’s interesting to note that Nodoka’s primary motive for becoming a Precure seems to be gratitude. Which while the series has trafficked in dozens of motives over the course of its existence, I’m not sure about that one specifically. Certainly, it’s at least new to me.

It’s an interesting concept, and it actually makes her feel quite down to Earth (haha) in contrast to her immediate predecessor Hikaru from last year’s Star Twinkle. Healin’ Good has done a lot to endear me to it so far but Nodoka’s characterization–surprisingly strong given how we’re only two episodes in–is certainly up there.

To sidetrack for a bit: Aoi Yuuki brings a sort of even-toned performance to the role that is a bit more downbeat than what she’s most famous for, but no less optimistic and heartening. It works really well, and it’s honestly great to hear the woman finally get to play a “straight” magical girl after the long and winding road she took to get here. (If you’re not familiar, Aoi Yuuki’s starmaking role was that of Madoka Magica‘s titular lead. Later, she’d be equally known as Hibiki Tachibana in Symphogear. Two roles that are adjacent to the genre but have very different takes on it and are aimed at an adult audience. There’s even a little bit in here about how Nodoka “loved becoming a Precure” that certainly seems like it was written with some subtext in mind. Even if it’s pure coincidence, it’s still nice to hear her deliver it.

Oh, and Rabbirin actually apologizes for hurting Nodoka. Something that is again, pretty basic but not actually a given. It’s nice to see.

It should come as zero surprise that after reconciling, Nodoka and Rabbirin kick the Megapathogerm of the week’s noggin in with almost no effort (this ain’t an action episode, to say the least). This was a surprisingly solid one all around, when I saw the title card drop I was expecting to tolerate it at best. These tend to be among my least favorite kinds of Precure episode, since the conflict often feels a bit artificial. Here, I believed it entirely and I think it was resolved well, if briskly.

Elsewhere in the episode, Nodoka went to school for the first time. We get a bit of exposition here (“being Precure is a secret!” For whatever reason, as usual!)

Most impressive to me though was the sheer economy in this little exchange. Formally introducing Nodoka’s two co-leads (gal-ish Hinata and responsible, athletic Chiyu) and setting up their dynamic as a trio almost instantly.

And at the episode’s tail end, we see that Chiyu actually saw the entire fight in this one go down. Surely, this will lead to long-running drama and is not just a way to segue into our next ‘Cure introduction (I snark, but I live for this stuff).

And lastly, I’m generalizing my whatsit I mentioned last week into just a Screenshot Of The Week. I think we’ll be going with this one today, where Nodoka is being scouted by various sports clubs. What it rather looks like is more like she’s about to walk into a yuri doujin.

Until next time!