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.
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!
To lead with a simple truth; this project is the actual reason I created this WordPress blog in the first place. I’ve tried this once before, last year I tried liveblogging HeartCatch Precure on my now-defunct janesanimeblog site on good ol’ tumblr before life got in the way. I wanted to give it another shot, as doing just half an hour a week feels a lot more doable. Whether I have a ton to say or very little will vary week by week of course, but I do want to write at least a little bit about every single episode.
Why? Very simple; I love magical girls. That’s not rare among transwomen (or women in general honestly), but something about the pure-hearted straightforwardness of the genre speaks to me. Both in the rare show like Precure that is still actually for kids, and more adult-oriented things like Symphogear.
So what of Healin’ Good itself? Well, every Pretty Cure series has two raisons d’arte. The first is pretty obvious for any show marketed to kids. The second is usually an examination of some simple theme or group thereof. Last year’s Star TwinklePrecure (the first Precure I watched end to end!) examined aspirations, imagination, and, aesthetically, space. It’s a little too early to say much that’s definitive about Healin’ Good, but it’s obvious that taking care of yourself is a big part of it. I’m a little iffy on the “health food” tone some of this takes here in the first episode, but honestly, it’s a solid message for kids. Especially given that one of Precure‘s recurring sponsors is McDonald’s. The second seems to be taking care of the planet. There’s a little “Gaia theory” going on here, even this early on the show makes some implicit connections between keeping yourself healthy and keeping Earth healthy.
But enough about all that deep stuff. Let’s meet our protagonist. This is the memorably-named Nodoka. She is an extremely good girl.
Precure protagonists tend to come in a couple different moulds, and Nodoka definitely fits into the “diligent girl who likes to help people” archetype. Seiyuu fans will already know that Nodoka is voiced by the great Aoi Yuuki, who seems to have taken a circuitous path from voicing Madoka of Madoka Magica fame, to Hibiki of Symphogear, to finally a “no-frills” magical girl in the form of Nodoka. She brings a lot of palpable enthusiasm to the role, and it’s infectious.
Nodoka herself seems to have something of a sad backstory. We’re not given the details, but given her parents’ comments early in the episode and a very brief flashback we get later, it seems like Nodoka is or was sickly for much of her life. Her moving to the health resort(?) town is what opens the first episode, and seems to be the result of the old-fashioned “move to the mountains to get her some fresh air” diagnosis.
Well before we get to the actual magical part of the episode, Healin’ Good goes out of its way to establish the girl at the heart of it. She enjoys walking around town, helps an American couple take a picture, lounges on some grass to soak up the sun, helps an old lady carry some things, and of course, briefly runs into the two characters who she will doubtless eventually form a trio with. (Let’s pretend to be surprised by that when the time comes, hm? Makes the whole thing more fun.) She is accidentally bowled over by a chatty type with twintails, in what is one of several pretty strong physical comedy breaks.
The other girl she encounters running. I could say more, but I think I’ll just let these pictures speak for themselves.
Of course, this is Pretty Cure. So while all this is happening, a completely different half of the story is going down nearby. Meet this season’s mascots.
This is the first episode, so details are sparse, but these four (who I will be referring to simply by their respective animals for now, not sure what sub group I’ll end up watching long-term) are tasked with partnering with a human to save the world from evil pollution people. By their queen, who is one of those long-haired French dogs I forget the name of. Specifically, she phrases it this way:
Aaaaaatreeeeyuuuuuuu
To which our penguin-shaped friend has a pretty understandable reaction a few minutes down the line.
Penguin has no time for cryptic bullshit.
Also a petrified lady is just kind of…there, in the animal kingdom (itself implied to be underground). Just kind of hanging out. We’ll get back to her later in the show, I’m sure, but for the time being it’s just kind of an amusingly incongruous detail.
Of course, maybe there’s nothing wrong with her and her whole body just Did That.
The way they eventually cross paths with Nodoka is pretty standard, but I must shout out the bunny for using this absolutely impeccable piece of logic to figure out what kind of person they should be looking for.
The fact that the Rabbit and her eventual partner-in-fighting-evil seem to have the same taste in girls is not lost on this blogger.
Eventually, our baddies show up, created by corrupting tiny nature spirtis called Elements. These things are called Pathogerms, because this is Pretty Cure and Pretty Cure knows that subtlety is for cowards. Your average (Mega-)Pathogerm appears to look something like this.
This thing starts corrupting the park that Nodoka was hanging out in. It’s here that Precure and Sidekick cross paths for the first time.
Can I level with you? It’s hard to make a magical girl transformation sequence that I don’t love. I love how simple this one is, and the flower motif is lovely. Will we see it a billion times over the course of this show’s run? Absolutely. Is it ever going to lose its magic? If so, only a little, and by repetition alone.
The only quibble I have is, yes, the mascots do become part of the “healing stick” wands the Precures have. Yes, it’s kinda weird. It’s alright, we’ll get over it together, you and I.
Nodoka–now Cure Grace–promptly puts her priorities in the exact wrong order, proving again that all magical girls are required to have at least a small amount of Powerful Dumbass Energy.
I genuinely can’t get over this screencap. I love her so much, y’all.
Grace, in grand Precure tradition, then A) jumps real high by accident, and B) pounds the Megapathogerm into the dirt with nothing but a couple of kicks and throws. There’s a “magic bunny shield” thrown in there briefly as a block, but still.
This is the face of your new god.
Importantly we’re also introduced to this show’s version of the “wawawawawa” from HeartCatch, and it iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis somethin’.
Press F?
Standing around vaguely during all this is this person, who, well, we don’t really know much about them yet, but hey! They’re here if you like androgynous demon folks.
I’m not wild about that particular visual trope to be honest (there’s a long history of giving villains stereotypically femme or gay traits), but it’s nothing over the top here so far and who knows, there might be way more to this character than meets the eye, so we’ll let it slide for the time being. Plus, if this sort of design is your thing, I doubt you’re much minding.
The episode kinda just ends there, honestly. Other than a genuinely hilarious bit where Nodoka finally registers that she’s been talking to a bunch of animals for the past 15 minutes.
But other than that, that’s the wrap for the first episode of the first Precure of the 2020s. Honestly? I loved it. I’m not that hard to please with this kind of thing though and I’m curious as to how more discerning / picky (choose whichever adjective you find more applicable) Precure fans will size up the show. Regardless, you can count on a blog post like this per week barring some kind of major personal problem. I hope to see y’all around, but before I truly end things on this post I wanted to just drop some random thoughts I had no place for elsewhere in it.
I believe this is the first Precure to start in the same season as a Madoka series since HeartCatch. This really doesn’t mean anything at all, but it’s kinda neat, trivia-wise. I like to think Nodoka and Iroha would be friends, vastly different settings aside.
The image I used for the banner has a similar scene that it cuts to immediately after. I like the juxtaposition of both Nodoka and the Rabbit about to start on their adventures with each other, but neither knows it yet.
Gonna try to do a Distance Shot Of The Week as I kinda love distance models and think they’re endlessly charming. Today’s entry is this extremely powerful shot of a waving Nodoka.
The Magic Planet 