Posted on March 12, 2020March 29, 2020 in anime, Let's Watch Healin' Good Precure

Let’s Watch Healin’ Good Precure – Episode 6

This week’s episode is interesting. It focuses not on any individual character, but on several. We learn a bit more about Latte (the dog princess and our seasonal mascot), Nodoka’s mother, and Nodoka herself. As a small note before we get started, the regular opening this week is replaced with footage from the upcoming Precure Miracle Leap movie! So be wary if you don’t want to be spoiled!

As for the episode itself; we firstly learn that Nodoka’s mother quit her job when Nodoka was ill. I happen to like this extra little bit of detail; fleshing out Nodoka’s illness and the period of her life that was defined by it makes it feel more like an authentic part of the character as opposed to just a tacked-on element. Nodoka’s mother, as it turns out, was a delivery driver (a job during which she met Nodoka’s father). Seemingly what’s actually meant by this is that she delivers produce by truck, but the ambiguity here does indeed invite you to imagine a young Japanese bachelor falling for his Uber driver.

Importantly though, the show does go out of its way to portray this as a respectable job that people find interesting, which is good! It’s a nice contrast to how such work tends to be treated in American media in the rare instance it’s brought up at all (namely, as a punchline).

A good amount of the episode’s first half is actually spent with Latte and the other mascot animals. Nodoka’s mom was her primary caretaker when the young Precure was at school, and now that she’s working again the dog princess finds herself lonesome at home. This particular plot thread is briskly resolved by the mascots resolving to look out for her more, missing her mother Queen Teatine (that’s the dog in the dress in the first episode if you’ve forgotten), as she does.

Daruizen is this episode’s baddie, and sics an animated strawberry patch on Nodoka’s mom and a local farmer while the former is making a delivery. Nodoka’s illness comes up again here, as when the Precure rush to the strawberry farm Nodoka struggles a bit to keep up. What drives her forward is the knowledge that her mom’s in danger of course, and who could blame her? Nodoka really does seem to have enviably great parents.

Daruizen also sets up what is probably the (unintentionally?) funniest moment of the episode. The Pretty Cure franchise occasionally has comedic timing that many actual comedy anime would kill for.

Of course, the Precure soon arrive to put a stop to all this. Daruizen seems to take a particular interest in Nodoka/Cure Grace herself. Initially he derides her as weak while she’s immobolized by some of the corruptive gunk that this week’s megapathogerm generates, and in fact smears some of it on her face, which is honestly just kinda nasty. Then, when she bounces back, seems rather curious about her apparent strength before teleporting away (as Precure villains do).

This is pretty much the end of the episode. The strawberry elemental (yeah) that the Pathogerm infected gives our girls an Element Bottle, presumably closely based on a new collectible doodad of some sort being rolled out in real life, but this is more amusing than anything.

*Presumably something will happen once our girls get all nine. My personal bet is on either some kind of augment to their abilities or on a slightly more outside chance; a fourth Precure for the team.*

There’s also a small pair of mirrored asides where Nodoka’s mom thanks Chiyu and Hinata for befriending her daughter and, in the Healing Garden, Queen Teatine thinks about the wonderful friends Latte must’ve made. It’s cute, and we also get another shot of that mysterious statue-fied woman down there.

Is this ultimately a filler episode? Yeah, kind of, in that it has little to do with the show’s overall narrative through-line, but it’s the good kind. We learn a little more about our characters and their lives. Solid stuff all around.

This week’s shot of the week is this, the result of me desperately trying to catch the spirit of a nice cut that happens during this episode’s fight sequence. The cut itself is simply too short to capture it this way, but I did get this, which looks like some kind of meme-in-the-making. I kinda can’t stop laughing at it.

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Posted on March 4, 2020March 29, 2020 in anime, Let's Watch Healin' Good Precure

Let’s Watch Healin’ Good Precure – Episode 5

This week’s dose of Precure goodness is an episode about how two of our girls don’t quite “get” each other and how they learn to overcome that. It’s also quite funny, but I’m starting to think that that’s just an inherent trait of Hinata, who this episode is partly about.

The gist is pretty simple. Hinata and Chiyu just kind of don’t vibe with each other. This is mostly on the former’s end, as she seems to mistake Chiyu’s genuine concern for her wellbeing for her being angry, which isn’t actually the case. Speaking as someone with anxiety problems, I get where Hinata’s coming from. If you’ve got issues with this sort of thing it can be hard to sort well-meaning attempts to help from people just being upset. Not helping is that on Chiyu’s end, she’s a rather serious sort, which only furthers the confusion.

Early in the episode, Hinata’s called on to answer a question in science class (about photosynthesis, if you’re curious), and can’t. This sets her flaring in a way that will be immediately familiar to anyone with a generally anxious personality. I don’t use the phrase “I feel seen” often, but, well.

While Hinata is reckoning with feeling bad over her poor memory, Chiyu gets hit with things of her own.

The girls resolve this in a wonderfully Kids Show fashion, with an aquarium trip courtesy of some tickets Nodoka’s mom won in a raffle. They bond in a similarly goofy fashion, after some false starts, Hinata discovers that Chiyu cracks up at bad puns. And we’re talking awful here.

The rest of the episode proceeds in pretty standard fashion. A Pathogerm shows up and gets stomped flat following some antics where Pegitan goes missing. All in all it’s an episode that’s mostly cute as opposed to consequential, but I do like the exploration of Hinata and Chiyu’s insecurities and how they’re beginning to overcome them together.

Some additional stray thoughts:

-A flashback to how the Pathogerms and Healing Animals fought when they first clashed a long time ago gives us an absolutely wonderful sequence where a giant mass of darkness going toe to toe with a dog in a wedding dress. I love anime.

-This is the worst-looking episode of the show so far. It’s far from horrible, but it’s noticeable. This isn’t really that shocking given where we are in the series (Precure shows tend to look their least good from episodes 5 to 15 or so, is my understanding) but it’s still a touch annoying.

Shot Of The Week is another Tiny Hinata. I’m predictable, okay?

Posted on February 23, 2020March 29, 2020 in anime, Let's Watch Healin' Good Precure

Let’s Watch Healin’ Good Precure – Episode 4

This week’s episode begins with a small comedy of errors, and I couldn’t be more delighted.

Our episode opens with Hinata encountering Nyatoran. And, consequently, an early contender for the best contiguous five seconds of anime in 2020.

This kicks off a runabout where Nyatoran has to pretend to be the world’s one and only talking cat. Hinata initially tries to ask her older brother (a veterinarian) for help, but runs into Nodoka and Chiyu along the way, thus getting our core cast in one place for the first time. The first half of this episode seriously is just Antics, much of which is an excuse for some truly great faces.

We also formally learn what many will have already intuited about Hinata. Namely; that she’s clumsy and easily gets caught up in the goings-on around her. Often to the extent of forgetting things like personal commitments. The episode sees her overshoot meeting a pair of friends to go shopping by what seems like a few hours.

Personally, I’d say she seems like she has ADHD, but given that this is a cartoon (and a kids’ show at that) it seems unlikely that such a thing would ever be explicitly brought up.

But the episode’s real meat is in the second half. Our heroines end up at the mall where Hinata’s friends are hanging out and, surprise, a Megapathogerm attacks. This time being formed out of a mirror in a clothing shop.

*All the ladies go crazy for a sharp-dressed man.*

The villain this time around is Guiwaru, the buff one, who seems to be this season’s entry into the “hot blooded one who likes to fight for its own sake” strand of Precure villain.

This is where Hinata makes her debut as a Precure, and–and I realize I’m saying a lot here–it’s possibly the strongest of all three of the current ‘Cures.

See Hinata’s got the kind of huge-heart vibe that is more generally associated with the actual lead in shows like this. The entire second half of the episode brims with so much mahou shoujo energy you can practically feel it on your skin, and what makes it great is that Hinata is as caught up in things as the audience is. It feels exceptional that we get to see a magical girl dive in to the role with this much aplomb. Hinata goes from being scared of this week’s Megapathogerm.

To hearing the word “Precure” for the first time.

To seeing their outfits and fangirling out about them.

To threatening the villain in the span of about an in-universe minute.

There’s 0 to 100 and then there’s this. Some of this of course is the practical consideration of the episode length, but on the other hand, it really does feel like this just is how she’d react. We’ve only gotten to know Hinata for a few episodes (and this is the first that’s actually about her), but she already feels like enough of a fully-realized character that we can say that this just seems “right” in an ephemeral, difficult-to-qualify sense. I hate pulling out this term, but even before her transformation, Hinata just kind of seems badass. Her reaction to getting smacked halfway across the mall by the Megapathogerm?

It is to this ironheaded fashion geek that Nyatoran offers the paw of his heart, in a shot that awesomely, but completely inexplicably, appears to visually reference the opening of Fate/stay night.

*Your guess is honestly as good as mine.*

Of course, anyone with even a passing familiarity with the franchise knows what happens next.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_XS2jPm_N0

The Megapathogerm goes down in what is probably the single best-animated fight of the series so far. Cure Sparkle absolutely dominates the thing to the point where you almost feel bad for it. They even get into an absolutely awesome back-and-forth with energy blasts.

The episode basically ends after they beat the thing, but that’s just fine. It’s an A+ note to finish what is almost certainly the series’ strongest episode yet. As for Hinata? As much as I love Cures Grace and Fontaine, I think I might have a new favorite character. Time will tell!

There’s a couple other little details I liked too. What springs most to mind is this bit from the beginning. The Pathogerm King here is not gonna be too happy when he finds out what transpired this episode.

And we get what seems like a hint about that petrified lady in the animal kingdom we got a brief look at back in episode 1.

As for this episode’s Shot Of The Week, despite the abundance of absolutely masterful craftsmanship in the episode’s second half, I think I have to give it to this distance shot from relatively early on, it’s just so charming! Look at Hinata’s face!

Until next time!

Posted on February 19, 2020March 29, 2020 in anime, Let's Watch Healin' Good Precure

Let’s Watch Healin’ Good Precure – Episode 3

To be honest there’s not a ton about this week’s episode I want to cover. It’s a fairly typical early plot beat for the franchise, after all, but we shouldn’t undersell the importance of getting our second Precure. First thing’s first though, this might have one of the most unfortunate titles of any Precure episode I’m aware of.

*There is just something very upsetting about the word “Gurgling” in this context.*

That aside the first half of this episode is mostly Nodoka trying desperately to keep this whole “Pretty Cure” thing under wraps, because, as Rabbirin puts it.

*So secret that it’s the best-selling magical girl franchise of all time.*

Nodoka of course, kinda sucks at this, because if there’s ever been a Precure who’s a good liar, I’m not familiar with them. She offers this when Chiyu tries to confront her about being seen near the monster attack the prior day after school.

This continues. She eventually relents that she does own the small gaggle of small animals Chiyu saw her with but obviously it’s not until much later in the episode that she’s forced to divulge their actual nature. Instead, we get to see Chiyu hit Nodoka with a cop stare as our heroine cracks under the pressure.

*It’s a more understated form of character comedy than usual for this franchise but honestly it’s pretty damn funny.*

Chiyu also takes Nodoka to her family’s inn, which has a fun little sequence where she shows off various things there to Nodoka, who proceeds to just say “fwow!” in various volumes and intensities to all of them. This kind of cute, low-key character building is part of what makes Precure’s charm work so well, so I like to point it out when I notice it.

Of course, trouble breaks out not long after, so let’s cut to the chase.

This week’s Megapathogerm is this thing, a corrupted water elemental that seems to be able to pollute the water that feeds the inn’s hot springs. Not a great development for Chiyu and her family.

For a while, Grace (who Chiyu just happens to catch transform from Nodoka) handles the thing well. But when she has to take a thrown tree to her back, she’s understandably injured. I really like how this bit plays out, because not only is Grace suddenly being semi-sidelined understandable (even for a magical girl, getting hit with a whole-ass tree has to hurt) instead of a naked plot convolution, but it means that Chiyu gets to approach her first transformation from a rare angle. It’s her that makes the first move, rather than the timid Pegitan.

*You guys, she’s so cool, what the heck.*

The show has been subtly building up Chiyu as a responsible, reliable, cool “older sister” type of character. That she actively seeks out and seizes the chance to become a Precure is rare enough for the franchise to be notable, even if she only has about an in-universe minute between learning about them and becoming one.

Of course, you all know what this means.

I have to say, I love Fontaine’s transformation. It’s not quite perfect in the technical sense (towards the start there’s a weird cut transition, is mostly why I say that), but stylistically it’s absolutely great. I love how she sends the water jet up and it transforms into a lab coat in the middle of the sequence. That’s some great stuff.

It doesn’t take Fontaine very long to defeat the Megapathogerm, of course. Still, I liked her introduction and I’m excited to see Chiyu’s character develop more. The somewhat stoic Cures tend to be among my favorite (last year’s Star Twinkle had Madoka / Cure Selene in the same vein), though given how much I love them all in general I suppose that’s a given.

I don’t have a ton else to say about this episode. Pegitan’s little mini-arc where Chiyu helps him get over his anxiety over not being as good at his job as Rabbirin is cute, though a little too short to be hugely impactful.

All that in mind, until next time!

Shot of the week: A very worried Pegitan realizing that Latte has wandered off.

If you like my work, consider following me on Twitter, supporting me on Ko-Fi, or checking out my other anime-related work on Anilist or for The Geek Girl Authority.

Posted on February 10, 2020March 29, 2020 in anime, Let's Watch Healin' Good Precure

Let’s Livewatch Healin’ Good Precure – Episode 2

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”

*Don’t get me wrong, she’s very important.*

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!)

*Well I wouldn’t turn the opportunity down.*

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.

No worry folks, she’s fine! But seriously everyone in this show blushes like a happy drunk at the slightest provocation. My assumption is it’s a stylistic quirk of the director. Look at me getting all analytical in a caption!