No really? How is Precure this good?
To recap: Precure is a long running series of magical girl shows that has put out a new series each year since 2004 following roughly the same formula each time, though each series bar two stands on its own. There’s a team of two or more young teenage girls who’ve gotten Precure powers from a magical talking animal mascot to defend the Earth against some sort of primordal evil, which mainly manifests in fighting the monster of the week while also having to deal with more mundane problems. For more detail, see my review of Fresh Precure, which aired in 2009. Hugtto Precure is the latest installment, started last February and so far has been rather good, episode four being a particular highlight, but I think this week’s episode topped even that one.
Sakugablog has the nitty gritty of just who is responsible for making episode fifteen so great and mentions that this is actually supposed to be a budget saving episode. Which just goes to show talented creators can do a lot even under strict limitations. But what sets this episode apart from regular episodes is not just the good use of limited animation, but the focus on two supporting characters. There’s Lulu, the enemy infiltrant now living with main Precure Nono Hana, who is sent out to buy eggs and runs into Aisaki Emiru, first seen in episode nine, who introduces herself as Cure Emi-ru protecting the world through careful prevention. Emi-ru is great, trying to do all the usual stuff Precures do, in which the show obliges her by using the same musical and animation cues it uses for the real Precures. Intrigued, Lulu follows her (or rather, Emi-ru keeps clinging to her warning her of increasingly unlikely dangers she could encounter as she makes her way to the supermarket to buy eggs) and watches as Emi-ru attempts to help people and fails. Lulu then points out that even if she failed, at least she made the people she helped happy.
Lulu and Emi-ru hit it off immensily and it’s great seeing the fired up Emiru trying to explain things to the stoic Lulu. As the former keeps going into these flights of fancy, the latter keeps shooting her down, but not in a mean way. Rather, she seems genuinely concerned for her when her brother comes in to lecture Emiru on how it’s improper for girls to play the guitar. Lulu defends Emiru by continuing to ask him who died and made him boss as well as why playing the guitar is unseemingly, doing that in the same cold, logical way she has done everything this episode. Only when the brother flees, does Lulu reveal some genuine emotion and upset. Which also leads to the most adorable pout in Precure history.
The stoic, logical, emotionless girl is a staple in anime ever since Neon Genesis Evangelion. But what struck me here is how much characterisation and character growth the series could put in one episode. There had of course been hints before that Lulu wasn’t as emotionless as she first seemed and she’s a prime candidate for mid-series conversion to the good side, but in this episode we learned she had a sense of humour, was able to make friends and get angry on their behalf and it all happened naturally. That’s what makes this such a good episode even without the brilliant animation to go along with it. Both Lulu and Emiru gained a lot of depth in what was nominally a gag episode and while this episode was incredibly funny, it also adhered to the standard formula of a Precure episode, showing how much the staff could fit in its limitations.
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