LOCK, STOCK, AND A FAR LONGER BARREL

Go Princess Precure - Ep 23

My Review

LOCK, STOCK, AND A FAR LONGER BARREL (FULL OF SEMEN)

PRELUDE: BROODING OVER MISTAKES PAST

Towa, reformed princess of the Hope Kingdom, has established herself at Noble Academy as roomie to upcoming fashion model Kirara Amanogawa.
Her thoughts are still clouded and scarred by her past life as a villainess...

MME. SHAMOUR: Oh, Towa! Vous étiez vraiment Her Highness Towa, n'est pas vrai?

TOWA: I'm sorry for all the trouble, Shamour.

MME. SHAMOUR: Thank the gods you're all right! You've become such a beautiful lady!

And you also became a Princess Precure! Quel miracle!!

TOWA (She remembers about her baptism of fire as Cure Scarlet): "I really need to think about the meaning of this miracle."

TOWA (holding her Dress-Up Key in her cupped hands): I really need to think about the meaning of this miracle.

(She remembers the subjects of the Hope Kingdom trapped in Prisons of Despair and Kanata left behind)

TOWA: How should I atone my sins... (tears appear in her eyes)

In storm all the others, led by Haruharu, as they decide to press-gang Towa, at first against her will, out on a shopping and culture spree, to take her mind off her thoughts of guilt... What will happen next?

HARUHARU: Princess Towa! Would you like to go out on a spree with us?

TOWA (surprised): On a spree?

TOWA'S GUIDE TO STORMING YUMEGAHAMA

The Princess Cures take Towa out on a spree...

TOWA (afraid): What is all this about?

KIRARA (cheerful): A change in scenery.

TOWA (still insecure): Change in scenery?

MINAMI: You've been holed up inside your room for all this time, right?

TOWA (insecure, doubtful): Have fun? Me?

HARUHARU: I call it the Yumegahama All-Smiles Tour!!

(Kirara pats Towa on the left shoulder. Towa gasps, scared. Minami pats Towa on the right shoulder.

Same reaction. They drag a reluctant Towa along.)

TOWA: Way-Wait!!

(Candy Flower fashion shop, Yumegahama.

Kirara, that ace of style, has found a new look that favours Towa a lot.)

KIRARA: Ta-daaa!! How's that? Elegant princess style!

YUI: As expected of Kirara!

TOWA (no comment, looks at her new attire in surprise)

KIRARA (savvy): Right?

MINAMI: We'll buy all this.

FEMALE SHOP CLERK: Thank you very much.

TOWA (surprised): What's this all about?

HARUKA: Our present to you!

YUI: Yes it is!

TOWA (doubtful): Present?

KIRARA (savvy): You know, that dress you usually wear is a bit inconvenient, right?

MINAMI: You'll be living here for a while.

TOWA (insecure about her new life): Th-- Thank you...

MY COMMENTS ON TOWA'S NEW REGENCY-STYLE LOOK:

IN GENERAL: "Elegant princess" style, Kirara dixit. The whole look is definitely Lolita or fairytale-inspired fashion, now unsullied white, which fits a lot with Towa's hair and eyes ("white as snow and red as blood", as so many fairytale heroines). It's a lovely look, definitely more innocent and better-looking than the black gown she has worn as Twilight. 

The red and white combination also echoes Denmark, the home of Andersen, whose era is echoed by the Regency/Napoleonic feel of the whole outfit.

HEADPIECE: This headpiece is a white lace tiara. It looks wonderfully elegant and has got a certain period feel, while also being modest, like the rest of the outfit.

RIBBON PENDANT: Like the slippers, this scarlet ribbon worn on Towa's chest over her heart is a note of colour and a perfect match for Towa's hair and eyes. It also fits the whole modestly elegant Regency style of the combination of apparel she is wearing.

FROCK: The empire waist and puffy sleeves give the frock a Regency feel, from the very age of Romanticism and literary fairytales. This is an airy and cool summer dress without any restrictions or ornaments, which only needs a few details like the pendant and pumps to enhance its beauty.

RUBY SLIPPERS: Dorothy wore them, Gerda wore them... This faithful footwear, both simple and elegant, has traditionally carried young female questers to the ends of the Earth and beyond. Towa, given her colour scheme and dream to find her brother and atone for her sins, definitely could not wear any other kind of shoes than ruby slippers. Though Kirara has upgraded them for the present as ruby high-heeled pumps.

Flower shops...

Yui is a regular at the Museum of Modern Art.

And Towa... she's just a bit curious about Cubism.

Modern art...

Photography...

(Upon looking at their group photo album, Towa smiles shyly)

Doughnuts...

TOWA: This is...

HARUKA: It's a doughnut!

Motorists...

TRUCKER: Excuse me, miss, could you move out of the way?

COPPER (whistling shrilly): What on Earth are you doing!?

TOWA (surprised): Huh?

(The horns of all the motorists in the queue are honking for Towa to move out of their way.)

TOWA (reading a book on traffic rules): Such complicated rules... I can't just walk anywhere.

First I need to find somewhere to live.

Post-industrial Japanese local community life is truly strange to a royal from a magical land.

And shouldn't at least that be funny?

Yet Towa is still haunted by her tragic past...

TOWA: (laughs shyly to herself)

MINAMI: Just laugh out loud when you're having fun!

KIRARA: Yeah-yeah, don't hold back.

TOWA (loudly, coldly): I can't.

TOWA (clenching her fist, standing up, loudly and confidently): Until I save the Hope Kingdom,

how can I possibly enjoy myself?

I miraculously became Cure Scarlet. This must be the heavens giving me another chance.

I'm not the same as all of you.

TOWA (irate, bashing both her open hands on the table): Please leave me alone! (Sobbing)

If I stay with all of you even longer, I...

(She runs away and storms out of the doughnut shop, leaving her own doughnut, not even tasted, on the table.)

Towa remembers the plight of the Hope Kingdom. And she is too conscious of her duty to relax.

And, as she broods, she gets into more and more scrapes...

TOWA (walking along the street): "I cannot depend on anyone else. I must live by myself!"

(A horn stops her: HONK!)

TOWA (angry): What's that loud noise?

She turns around to find a queue of trucks standing before her...

Look under "Motorists" in this review to find out about Towa's first encounter with, well, motorists.

TOWA (reading a book on traffic rules): Such complicated rules... I can't just walk anywhere.

First I need to find somewhere to live.

(Towa has reached the park where the Yumegahama Housing Exhibition is being held. A young realty agent is showing a young woman around.)

REALTY AGENT (to his female client): Welcome! We have lots of wonderful homes!

TOWA (lifting her eyes from the book and looking at the exhibition): Oh my!

TOWA (patting the realty agent on the left shoulder with her pointer finger): Excuse me.

REALTY AGENT: Yes?

TOWA: Do you have any castles?

REALTY AGENT (startled): Castles!?

TOWA (serious): I do not need an abundance of extravagance.

I only require three maids! (She holds up three fingers.)

REALTY AGENT (ashamed): Uh... What is your budget?

TOWA (surprised): Budget?

(Next to a female greengrocer's shop)

TOWA (sighs): I just realized I don't have any money in this world.

GREENGROCER (receiving a 100 yen coin): Thank you! (She receives many coins more in her cupped hand.)

(Towa, surprised, pops up closer to the greengrocer.)

SIGN ON THE MARQUEE: "Takagi Fruits & Vegetables"

MRS. TAKAGI (startled by Towa's sudden appearance and invasion of her personal space): Whoa! Welcome! (Courteously) What would you like, miss?

TOWA: I would like money.

MRS. TAKAGI (shocked): Eh? (Pause.) Uh, do you want to work here?

TOWA (passionately, out loud): I can earn money if I work here, right?

MRS. TAKAGI (chortles): Miss... how old are you?

The first time Towa has seen yen in her short life: when trying to apply for

a job at a greengrocer's. Which the female greengrocer disapproves of because Towa is underage.

Besides, she's never seen a daikon before either.

(From a park bench, a disheartened Towa watches small children skipping and laughing together.)

TOWA (disheartened) : Children and teens can't work in this country... I'm so useless.

Forget about saving the Hope Kingdom. I can't even live by myself.

(Thrusting her head on her knees.) I'm so embarrassed.

(Someone pats her on the left shoulder.)

OLD LADY'S VOICE: Miss?

Towa raises her head to stand eye to eye with none other than...

When Towa sees that Yume is the one who patted her on the shoulder and addressed her, she gasps in fright. Towa remembers that, as Twilight, she trapped Yume inside a magic mirror (in Episode 18)

TOWA: "I remember her..."

YUME: I have a favour to ask. Can you help me out?

TOWA (surprised): Huh?

YUME:

Enter Yume Dumbledore, whom we had not seen since we learned she is the headmistress

of Noble Academy.

And she invites Towa to have lunch together.

How will this rendezvous turn up?

MEANWHILE AT COURT...

THE HOPE KINGDOM UNDERGOES A TURNING POINT IN ITS HISTORY

(Dyspear, furious, bashes her fists against the arm-rests of the throne)

DYSPEAR: Curse you, Twilight.

SHUT: Lady Dyspear! Where are you heading?

DYSPEAR: I'm returning to the Forest of Despair for now.

I need time for this body to heal.

(She summons a ball of purple light from her right hand, and this ball becomes a purple gauge, with a keyhole, in the weird hexagonal shape of Dyspear's heart keyhole. Then, she teleports the gauge and it flashes before Lock, within his reach.)

LOCK (gasps, then picks the gauge and takes it in his hand): This is...?

DYSPEAR: Use that and gather despair from humankind. It will give me strength.

LOCK (looking at the gauge): I see.

DYSPEAR: Lock, you'll be in charge here.

LOCK: Understood. Yes, madam!

SHUT (anxious, loudly): Erm... Your Ladyship! What about me?

(Dyspear vanishes before their eyes, and then shoots up among the towers of the palace and up to the sky as a dementor-like or nazgul-like shadowy bolt of darkness. In this form, she enters the Forest of Despair [huge hedge of black thorns, in grey mist] and gets lost there.)

LOCK: Lady Dyspear... (Wistfully smiling) So we just have to gather despair, huh? 'Kay?

Drained of her power, and to recover from her wounds,

Lady Dyspear temporarily abdicates the throne to rest in the

Forest of Despair, leaving the regency of the Hope Kingdom in the hands of Lock...

and giving him a very special keyhole as well...

BACK TO EARTH, TO YUME AND TOWA... They are eating in a traditional ice bar.

TOWA (smiling): Delicious...

YUME (chortles): That's good. (Reaches her own cup, topped with whipped cream, to Towa) You can have this too if you want.

TOWA (apathetic): Okay. (She begins to eat the ice cream)

YUME (friendly): Thank you for coming with me. I wanted to try both of these, but that's too much for one person, right? So I wanted to share them with someone.

TOWA (warmly): I should be thanking you from the bottom of my heart. I've gotten my spirits back.

YUME; I knew it.

TOWA (gasping): Huh?

YUME: You're cuter when you smile.

TOWA (gasping, she bashfully covers her mouth with her left hand): I don't like this...

TOWA (worried, puzzled): Why is everyone so kind here?

LOCK (perched on a park lamp): Well then, who can give me the greatest amount of despair... (He looks through the gauge and sees Towa and Yume walking across the park.)

YUME: That was really delicious.

TOWA (apathetic): Yes.

(Yume turns around and looks at Towa, smiling)

YUME: When your tummy is empty, you lack energy, don't you?

TOWA (startled from her thoughts): Huh? Yes...

YUME: But after you have eaten, you get your energy back. Just like what you feel right now.

TOWA (wondering): Oh...

YUME (wisely, patting herself in the middle of the chest): With your heart it's the same. When it is empty, you're unable to move. 

TOWA (wondering): My heart?

YUME: Yes. But when you feel it with warm feelings, your energy comes right back.

TOWA (thoughtful, touching her own heart): Warm feelings...

Suddenly... 

A WILD LOCK APPEARED!

LOCK: Twilight!

(Towa, frightened, turns around and gasps upon realizing it's Lock)

LOCK (sarcastic): You've become quite docile.

TOWA (startled): Lock!

YUME: An acquaintance of yours?

LOCK: That's right. We know each other quite well. (Towa gasps) (To Yume) And you have a very strong dream, right?

TOWA (afraid, shouting to Yume): Please run away!!

LOCK (to Yume): Let me see your dream.

And guess who was Carrot-Top's victim du jour?

Yume's dream:

"I want children and young people to have a sparkling future!"

What else could be expected from the headmistress of Noble Academy?

When I saw Yume targeted, I shuddered.

Seriously.

Like it happened to Dumbledore, Obi-Wan, Barristan...

I mean, why are wise elderly mentors so often targeted? (shivers)

At least Yume would be purified...

TOWA (shocked): It's... It's all my fault again... (She looks at Yume in the despair prison)

LOCK (taunting): C'mon! Transform! Fight me!

TOWA (determined, to Yume): I will save you! Precure... Princess Engage!

The princess of the true crimson flames...

CURE SCARLET!!!

Cure Scarlet, Cure Scarlet,

the warrior of flame!

Cure Scarlet, Cure Scarlet,

of everlasting fame!

LOCK (chortles, ironic): Hehe, so cool!

THE CONFRONTATION OF THE WEEK

(Yume being the victim, stakes were sky-high once more)

Precure Scarlet Illusion!

THIS DEFENSIVE MOVE CREATES A SPHERICAL FORCE FIELD OF FIRE, WHICH

ACTS AS A DEFLECTING SHIELD, AROUND CURE SCARLET.

Precure Scarlet Spark!

THIS ATTACK IS A LONG, POWERFUL RAY OF FIRE SURGING FROM CURE SCARLET'S VIOLIN BOW. 

With this move, she pins Desporg!Yume to the ground.

CURE SCARLET used SCARLET SPARK!

It's super effective!

LOCK: You're pretty good. I see you were able to force Lady Dyspear back.

As expected from the Princess of Despair.

CURE SCARLET (angry): Who are you talking about!!??

LOCK (pointing at Yume): That human lady over there got her dream locked up because of you.

Everyone you come in contact with falls into despair.

The Hope Kingdom, Prince Kanata... (Pause.) This time, even this world?

(Cure Scarlet turns pale and shudders, then sinks her head in anger, fueled by Lock's words.)

An unexpected ray from Desporg!Yume pins Cure Scarlet to the ground, making her violin

disappear and making her scream in pain.

LOCK: What a twit. If you had stayed as Twilight, you wouldn't be in so much pain. (Ironic.) Well then, let's make things even more interesting. (A padlock with scarlet horns appears in his left hand.. Lock throws the padlock into the padlock face of Desporg!Yume, who sprouts large scarlet horns as the horned lock attaches with chains.)

Tortured with that strange purple lightning,

Yume writhes in pain inside her Despair Prison.

The gauge in Lock's hand fills with a strange red, blood-like liquid.

This is by no means at all a good omen...

LOCK (chortles)

CURE SCARLET (after having dodged the powered-up desporg's attacks): The desporg's powers increased! Lock, when did you become so powerful?

LOCK (ironic, teleporting himself behind Cure Scarlet): I wonder when? (He kicks Scarlet in the left side. The Precure shields herself with her arms, but screams in pain.) If you can't call upon despair, then why don't you just disappear?

(Cure Scarlet is so strong she sends Lock up into the air. Nimble as an acrobat, he lands as he quickly kicks her in the chest while she has lowered her guard, pinning her to the ground once more.

Soon, Cure Scarlet is lying on her chest, with Lock standing proud and tall before her.

LOCK (smiling): Adiós, Princess of Despair.

As Lock leaps away to the sky away from Desporg!Yume's most powerful hexagonal ray, a battered Cure Scarlet is left completely helpless... or not?

In the meantime, Kirara has spotted Desporg!Yume and called on the others.

So, Cure Scarlet: Keep calm and wait for reinforcements!

The cavalry reaches the frontline in the eleventh hour.

CURE FLORA: Are you all right, Scarlet?

CURE SCARLET: Cure Flora...

CURE TWINKLE (kicking Desporg!Yume in the face): We're here, too!

CURE SCARLET: Cure Mermaid! Twinkle!

LOCK: So they're all here...

CURE FLORA (frightened upon seeing Yume in a Prison of Despair): Headmistress Mochizuki! Why?

LOCK: You know her? What a shame. She became like this because she was with Twilight. (Pause.) Anyone who gets involved with her will all fall into despair.

(Cure Scarlet looks down, dejected.)

Encouraged by the other Cures, Cure Scarlet begins to shed tears and take their words to her heart:

"Those warm feelings... We'll be together no matter what they say... let's create lots of laughter together!"

CURE SCARLET: Warm feelings... You really do feel your energy swell up. 

(She musters her courage and becomes as determined as before)

(To the other three Cures, bowing her head, earnestly): I'm really sorry for all that has happened!

I know I can't atone for all of my sins just by apologizing here.

But even so! (Looking at Yume) I want to save her! As well as everyone whom Dyspear has hurt!

So please, grant me power!

And now it's up to Cure Scarlet to give the finishing touch.

Defeated, Lock looks at the level of the red liquid in the gauge.

LOCK: Well, I guess that's enough for today. (He disappears into a keyhole portal.)

CURE SCARLET: Open! Door to Dreams!

(She takes her Dress-Up Key and opens Yume's Despair Prison.)

CURE SCARLET (cradling Yume): I'm sorry for dragging you into all this.

But I'm glad to be able to help you.

THE CODA (AND THE EXPLANATION FOR THE TITLE)

LOCK (playing throw and catch with his gauge on the throne): Things have gotten interesting.

Well then, I should start getting serious.

(The eyes on his hood glow red, and flames rise from the ground around him.

His limbs, wings, chest grow incredibly quickly. He also unzips his coat.)

LOCK: Heh.

Lock has now regained his actual form:

that of a young man in his twenties.

Our dear Boy!Lock was but a cover-up for a more powerful adult Dysdark...

And leaving the throne to him now that he's no longer harmless may prove dangerous...

Has Lady Dyspear given a usurper what he mostly wishes for... and is she aware

of Lock's agenda?

The Hope Kingdom is more of an anime Westeros for each episode!

Meanwhile, in Noble Academy...

YUI: Called by the headmistress herself to her office!

TOWA: I'm sorry you all got involved with me.

KIRARA (carefreely): It's fine, I knew this was going to happen.

YUI: But... who is the headmistress?

MINAMI: I have never met her myself, actually.

 Yume decides to enroll Towa into the

prestigious boarding school.

TOWA (knocking at the door): Excuse me.

YUME: Welcome. I've been waiting.

TOWA (surprised): You're...

HARUHARU/YUI (unison, astonished): Yume Mochizuki herself!!!

YUME: I am the headmistress of Noble Academy.

ALL THE OTHERS, TOWA INCLUDED (surprised): Eh!!??

Their reaction: astonishing.

YUME (stepping towards Towa): So you are the guest I've been hearing about.

TOWA (ashamed, lowering her head as she steps forward): Y-yes...

YUME: I think this is some sort of fate, Towa. I heard about what you said and I've been thinking.

Perhaps you would like to become a student here, at Noble Academy?

TOWA (surprised): Gasp!

YUME: How about it?

TOWA (surprised, cannot say anything)

The other Cures and Yui encourage Towa to go to school with them.

TOWA: Everyone...

YUME: (nods)

TOWA (smiling, excited): Okay! I will meet lots of warm people here!

For once, she smiles less shyly at the end of the episode,

sure that her new friends will help her navigate these troubled waters.

All's well that ends well, but the war still goes on...

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:

This episode saw two features I was instantly addicted to: 

1) a brooding Towa's culture shock on Earth as she regretted what she had done to her own realm and felt guilty for her brother's sacrifice.

Love the fact that Towa is no Little Miss Perfect. There are flaws that make her human, and insecurity is her hamartia (tragic flaw). The one that turned her into Twilight, and that still haunts her.

Then there's Towa's guilt for her sins of yore. The girls take her out on a spree to lighten her burden, and at first she can't understand the meaning of it all, being a foreigner in a far more developed adoptive culture, yet extremely curious about this brave new world that has such people in it.

Though she at first realizes that she won't make it on her own and needs the aid of her companions.

Throughout this episode, Towa is constantly surprised: have a drink, as you watch the episode, for each time she is surprised.

Now let's move on to something more serious: the conversation between Yume and Towa.

Like Minami accurately said, Towa was trying to shoulder all of her burdens all by herself.

Remember that Haruharu also said that: "Princess Towa had been living inside despair all of this time. She has never laughed with her friends, gone out with them, or eaten delicious food with them. She hasn't done anything like that before."

Indeed, Towa's friendless background coupled with the shell shock she is going through explains many of her sayings and actions. And Yume has begun to help her on the right path. This is the beginning of Towa's social life at Noble Academy.

Indeed, with Dyspear's temporary abdication and Towa's wrestling with her past, this episode marks the beginning of a new story arc.

NOW ON TO CURE SCARLET:

As Cure Scarlet, Towa is EVEN MORE FREAKING BADASS than as Twilight. Just look at her fighting and you're hooked. We see Lock trying to bribe her back into the dark side, but Scarlet has chosen OH SO WELL to stay a Precure until the bitter end!

The two moves she used today are great. Something tells me that Cure Scarlet has got a huge arsenal of both offensive and defensive moves, which we will hopefully get to see some more.

All I can say about Towa can be summed up in a song I now dedicate to her:

Wrong things, right things Who knows what she'd say? Who can say what's true? Nothing's quite so clear now Do things, fight things Feel you've lost your way? You decide, but You are not alone Believe me, No one is alone No one is alone Believe me Truly People make mistakes

Holding to their own Thinking they're alone Honor their mistakes Fight for their mistakes Everybody makes One another's terrible mistakes You decide what's right You decide what's good Just remember Just remember Someone is on our side

Someone else is not While we're seeing our side

Maybe we forgot They are not alone No one is alone Someone is on your side No one is alone

In next episode, we'll see how Towa tries to fit in at class. It's also a Kirara-centric episode, so it will explore the relationship between these two girls. As Towa tries to adjust to a new life without servants or courtiers (but excels in every artistic and academic field), Kirara develops a new, more mature look (with make-up). These two are roomies, and at first they will clash, but the trailer ending shows Kirara passionately embracing Towa and both girls sitting by a woodland lake together.

My inner shipper has noticed that it clicks... Towa/Kirara... Which name will the ship have? StarFire sounds great, don't you think?

2) Lock being left as regent of the Hope Kingdom and subsequently aging up to his twenties.

There may be the fact (we are as unaware [?] as Lady Dyspear) that he longs to usurp the throne (is Her Ladyship actually setting a trap for the one who may be plotting to dethrone her?) The Hope Kingdom is as full of intrigues as Westeros... Still, we have a lot of episodes to discover who will be  whose Waterloo (and, unlike George Martin, the Toei folks have already written their whole story down...) Thus, 20-something Lock makes me feel unquiet...

In next episode, we will get to see more of Adult!Lock and the Princess Cures will discover his true form. We'll also get to see if the new and improved Lock has got any new special powers.

And hopefully, more of Shut, who has been overlooked ever since Lock got on that throne. How will the age-up and rise to power of his arch-rival affect Shut?