A VALET TO HIS HEROINES

Does this butler-in-training look familiar?

(That unruly hairstyle, that lovely cravat...)

And this maid-in-training?

(Her face also looks familiar...)

In today's episode of Go Princess Precure, the pets display their kawaii humanoid forms.

The focus is mainly on Aroma, now a by-the-book and serious young valet-in-training,

who practices with the Princess Cures in order to enter Kanata's service

(his little sister Puff is doing a similar test to become 

a maid in the Hope Kingdom Royal Household).

At the court of the Hope Kingdom, Puff was but a lowly kitchen servant.
He hopes to get promoted to butler or valet.

Though both Puff and Aroma have failed their exams, 

Mme. Shamour has given them a second chance:

Aroma's journal, written in the Hope Kingdom language.

Here, he keeps track of his progress as butler-in-training.

However, Aroma quickly went from by-the-book to control freak...

and thus, he flunked the exam once more.

According to Mme. Shamour, this is his usual routine.

The victim du jour was Oikawa, an old lady's butler (4th adult victim so far), who

saved Aroma's life on the street

and taught him what should really matter to a servant:

to know that the master or mistress feels at ease

and to be considerate of the master's or mistress's feelings.

My reaction: "What's Jean 't Serclaes doing in Yumegahama?"

With that grey goatee and stern expression, he reminded me more than a little 

(in fact, completely) of the Count of Tilly...

(Maybe his descendant or reincarnation?)

Besides, his mistress (in the sense of female master) reminds me of Olenna Tyrell...

(Think of that! Jean 't Serclaes de Tilly and Olenna Tyrell... acting like

Miss Sophie and James in that old sketch...)

"Same procedure as last year?"

At least there is someone in the 'verse who can best Kirara at an échanson contest

(explanation: a competition in pouring drinks, which we have in Spain)...

Aroma having the realization of his career.

This time it was Lock's turn to get his share of Twilight Power:

The new scene opens with a SHUTLIGHT MOMENT:

(A ledge of the Hope Kingdom Palace. Twilight plays the violin,

with Shut listening by her side on bended knee. Suddenly,

Twilight ceases to play.)

SHUT: What's the matter?

TWILIGHT (holding her Key, which glows purple once more): I'm going out.

SHUT: I'll join you, then.

(Suddenly and unexpectedly, Lock appears out of the dark blue.)

TWILIGHT: Oh my!

SHUT (stunned): Lock!

LOCK (bowing before Twilight and smiling to her): Let me guide you. 

To the place of despair where the Key yearns for.

TWILIGHT (smiling): I like a considerate subordinate. Come with me.

LOCK (smiling, on bended knee): It's my honour.

(Both Lock and Twilight enter the tower hand in hand, leaving Shut alone on the ledge,

clutching a black rose.)

SHUT (frustrated): Curse you, Lock! How dare you?

(desperate) Miss Twilight!

Lock is jealous of Shut, so he tries the best he can to win Twilight's heart:

"Your Royal Highness, your red carpet into the tower!"

Then, she quickly switches sides/lover and 

leaves the green-eyed Dysdark a prey to the green-eyed monster.

Shut and Lock are now becoming rivals, as Twilight ostensibly flirts with both of them.

Is this a Margaery Tyrell-style strategy?

So we maybe (headcanon) assume that Twilight Margaery Tyrells both Shut and Lock,

which has left me hooked on this character arc.

Anyway, in love three's a crowd (as long as you're not into group sex, Dornish, 

or both).

Which creates an interesting dynamic...

As the sun set, these two watched Oikawa and his mistress.

LOCK: How about them? Seems like they'll create wonderful despair.

TWILIGHT (taking out her Key): All right. Let's give it a try.

(Twilight inserts her key into Lock's heart padlock. The redhead appears to have, if not an

orgasm, a particularly intense sugar high.

Oikawa's mistress is scared because of the power-up's light).

LOCK (soaring above Oikawa and the old lady, as he is lying face down on air, 

glowing dark purple with power): Let me see your dreams.

OIKAWA: Madam! (He steps in between his mistress and the Dysdark, 

as if to take a bullet for Her Ladyship. The keyhole opens in Oikawa's chest,

for both Dysdarks to look in there.)

This is Oikawa's dream. Serving his lady faithfully and making her feel at ease.

LOCK (surprised): Huh?

MADAM: Oikawa?

TWILIGHT (smiling): I don't dislike a wonderful servant. Lock, keep going.

LOCK (fretful): Well, if that's what you want...

(You know what he'll say next: L**k y**r d***m!)

During the confrontation against Jean-'t Serclaes-turned-Desporg,

Madam stood by her sacrificed manservant, unconscious and Locked 

in a crimson Despair Prison:

MADAM (worried): Oikawa! Oikawa! (clutches the crimson bars)

While a lone Princess Cure fought the Desporg du jour, Aroma received

orders to convey the old lady away from the battleground.

TWILIGHT: Desporg. Entertain the Precure.

Meanwhile, Aroma had successfully led Madam into the nearby woods.

AROMA: Please hide here.

Then, he ran back to the battleground, and, to help a Cure Flora 

who was fighting solo and losing her ground, 

he threw his diary away and ran back to Noble Academy for reinforcements,

as Jean-'t Serclaes-turned-Desporg opened his own diary, 

which began to glow with a bright rainbow light as he summoned

a huge padlocked diary with a Cure locked inside.

LOCK: Seems like your partner ran away. What a shame.  He left you to die all alone.

CURE FLORA (opening and leaving the diary with all her strength):  You're wrong. 

Aroma is not running away!

(Lock looks a bit surprised. Twilight closes her eyes just a little.)

(Once Cure Flora opens the diary, his own diary falls before a shocked Aroma who is 

running down the street. He stumbles as the diary falls in front of his outstretched hands.

He gets up and runs faster towards Noble Academy, picking the diary up and holding it.)

CURE FLORA: Even if he's not here, our feelings won't change!

We fight together to protect everyone!

TWILIGHT (coldly): How pointless. 

LOCK: Do it, Desporg!

(The Desporg shuts his diary again, as the other, larger diary closes around Cure Flora.)

(In the meantime, Aroma has reached Noble Academy against the setting sun, 

and he begins to run even faster.)

TWILIGHT (To Cure Flora, who is exhausted and 

about to be crushed by the Diary of Doom): I wonder if you get smashed here,

will you become a pressed flower?

I am the messenger of fate
I spur on my horse, the hour is late
I am the herald, I am the sign
My only enemy is time

Hooves hit the rocky ground
The clatter echoes all around
Alone I ride, come what may
The stars in the night sky guide my way today

On my arrival, will you welcome me?
The sign is given, can't you see?

All hail the Messenger
Strong by heart, wind or rain
Won't stop the Messenger
The news are on the way

(Meanwhile, Aroma, running at full speed, has reached the other Cures and Puff, who are

picnicking on a hill on campus.)

AROMA: Minami! Kirara!

(On the battlefield.)

TWILIGHT (coldly): Good-bye, self-proclaimed princess.

(The diary shuts violently, suddenly entrapping Cure Flora.)

A twinkle appears in the sky, surprising Twilight, and the other Cures fall from the skies,

giving a double kick to Jean-'t Serclaes-turned-Desporg as they fall down. Cure Flora,

exhausted and unconscious, is set free.

CURE TWINKLE: We won't let you do as you please anymore!

CURE MERMAID: We will be your opponents!

CURE MERMAID: Aroma told us that you were in danger.

CURE TWINKLE: Yes, yes. He ran all the way to the Academy. He's amazing!

 (Puff is fanning her exhausted brother, who lies on the grass, breathing heavily.)

Those words coming from Kirara, I sense that any decent badass is capable of recognising

feats of badassery in others.

Soon, Jean-'t Serclaes-turned-Desporg was covered in ice and purified.

In the end, before returning to court, Twilight was a little sarcastic...

TWILIGHT: I guess that's all for today.

Then, an unconscious Oikawa came to in Cure Flora's arms:

CURE FLORA (to Oikawa): It's all right. Your master is waiting for you.

MADAM (elated): Oikawa...

The heroic deed that Aroma performed in the eleventh hour made him pass Mme. Shamour's exam!

(Sorry that passing my own tests is not measured by feats of altruism or endurance!)

The highlights of the episode were:

Seeing a lookalike of the Count of Tilly (the victim of the week, no less!)

Seeing Aroma and Puff as humans (so kawaii! ;3 )

Most relevantly: the Twilight/Shut/Lock triangle. Who would expect that?

Anyway, I think Lock is too immature, too bratty, and too impertinent for prim and

proper Twilight.

Seems that the fanbase is rent asunder by a feud between Shutlight and Locklight shippers,

which mirrors the in-universe rivalry between both Dysdarks.

As a Shutlight fan, right now I wonder

which one of them will lose his life at the end of the arc

(Let it be Lock, Lock must die, Lock must die...)...

Do you, readers and Twilight fans, expect Shut or Lock to croak?

Valar morghulis...

(Valar dohaeris!)

Next episode, we will spend a few days at the Kaidos' coastal summer residence.

And there, we will see the familiar face of a dashing young man who has hitherto

only been referred to. What will he be like, and how will he get along with his sister?

Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome the heir to the Kaido Corporation...

WATARU KAIDO!

(Good R'hllor! Holy Maiden! I think I've got a fever by just looking at his pics...)

Which makes me throb with impatience for next Monday to come!

It will prove an even better episode than this one's!

(Somehow, I have got the premonition that he will be the victim of the week...

Please don't let it happen!!!)

PS. Here's a comedy pic of Twilight meeting Alice Yotsuba and the Sebastianator...