IT STILL GOES ON, AND ON, AND ON...

Go! Princess Precure - Episode 50 - Finale Finale

My Own Review

IT STILL GOES ON, AND ON, AND ON...

Yes, at last it is Episode Fifty, and I cannot imagine a more satisfactory closure for such an addictive series, that has kept us hanging at the edge of our seats for such a wonderful year...




ONE LAST CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT

At last, Lady Dyspear is but a memory of the past.

RANKO AND KURORO ARE CHEERING! While Shut looks more calmly on.

Suddenly, Cure Twinkle spots something familiar...

A WILD CLOSE APPEARS!

NOW WITH 80S HAIR!

Close reveals that he absorbed Dyspear's powers...

CLOSE attained MYSTICAL WHITE HAIR!

The Dysdark kudzu begins to spread all over Noble Academy Island.

Close turns Noble Academy into a Dysdark fortress of his own, spherical and purple:

ENTER THE CLOSEBALL.

Now I notice that Über-Close looks a lot like David Bowie (the Seven bless his soul) in some of his incarnations (Jareth, for instance).

Stop and Freeze reappear as serpents!

CURE FLORA touched CLOSE'S HEART!

Purification begins within 10... 9... 8...

CLOSE: I will always be there and pursue you humans...

Seriously, there has always been despair. Closey is completely right.

OPEN! THE DOOR OF DESPAIR!

Now all that's left to do is to free all the captives, from both Earth and the Hope Kingdom, trapped beyond the Door of Despair!

OPEN! DOOR TO DREAMS!

It would have been far better if all four had opened the door together. I mean, it's Towa/Scarlet whose kingdom and parents are in there, foremost.

The door opens and all the dreams surge out as wisps of light, freeing their captive bodies.

Including Karl and Choupette... Ken and Stella... (They don't even look at one another... is it for the excitement of having left the Door of Despair?

Kirara's fashion crew... Rinrin included...

...and the whole Kaido Group.

For one last time: Gokigenyó. Have a nice day.

Lock/Kuroro looks excited on, while Shut keeps calm.

And Noble Academy has, once more, become its usual self...

Now it's time to check the Hope Kingdom!

THE HOPE KINGDOM DELIVERED

HOPE KING (opening his eyes): Where... am I?

KANATA (elated): Father!

HOPE KING (opening his eyes): Where... am I?

HOPE KING (confused): The... the palace!?

Yes, the Hope Palace has been restored at last.

The scene is so full of emotions that the one who is totally overwhelmed with his emotions is Kanata.

Seriously, those sexy manly tears are the most heartwarming ones in the whole series...

KANATA (in tears, sobbing): At last... my home country is restored...

CURE SCARLET (elated): Mother! Father!

HOPE ROYALS (at unison): Towa... you are really Towa...

After so many years of being separated, our dear intensively warming Grand Princess Scarlet reunites with her parents.

Scarlet: Mother! Father!
King and Queen: Towa!?! It is really you!

(Bring forth those handkerchiefs, please!)

The Door of Despair is open at last, and full of light.

 The freed subjects of the Hope Kingdom are cheering on the Cures, as Kanata introduces the saviours of the realm to the crowd on the palace courtyard.

Kanata: Dear friends, I present to all of you the ones who fought with strength, gentleness, and beauty to save you all. The Grand Princess Cures!!!

The Royal Family of the Hope Kingdom is finally together.

Hope King: I have no words to thank you all! You saved our country and returned to us our dear daughter. Thank you, Grand Princesses.

HOPE KING (to the Precures): Thank you for saving our country.

Suddenly, the Cures return to their usual muggle selves.

KANATA: Perhaps the Keys fall asleep after their role is done... 

Mme. Shamour: Now that the fight is over, the link between the Earth and the Hope Kingdom is vanishing, it is because those two worlds were never meant to meet each other.

MME. SHAMOUR: Without the Keys, we cannot travel to other worlds... Actually, these two worlds, the Hope Kingdom and Earth, are not intersected.

Towa then announces that her time on Earth is over, as her realm and family have been restored at last...

So they will part ways: Towa and the pets will return to the HK after she's graduated from Noble Academy at the end of the academic year.

FAREWELL, TOWA... PERCHANCE WE MEET AGAIN SOMEDAY...

A few months later, it's the end of the year at the boarding school...

Towa and friends celebrate their Last Supper... with Marble Doughnuts, obviously. And Kirara is devouring hers as heartily as usual.

At last the leave-taking comes, and Towa thanks her friends for all they have done for her...

(We need another box of Kleenex, don't we?)

Towa: I will miss you all of you! I have no words to thank you for everything you did for me and the times we spent together.

All for one and one for all!

With strength...

...grace...

...and beauty...

Go!

Princess Precures!

LIFE STILL GOES ON, AND ON, AND ON...

The Crystal Rods and the Scarlet Violin are stored at the Hope Palace in the usual place, waiting for darker times and a new generation of Princess Precures.

And so are the Dress-Up Keys.

The next year...

Yuki Aihara is training even harder to become the next Roland Garros, with his cheerleading squad still backing him up.

Following Minami Kaido's departure from Noble Academy, Kimimaro Ijuuin transfers to the prestigious boarding school to take her place as Student Council President.

The new roster reads thus:

President: Kimimaro Ijuuin (dark-haired with cowlick, standing at the door)

Female Vice President: Seira Azuma (tall and dark, boyish short hair)

Female Secretary: Ayaka Nishimine (blond and fair, bob haircut)

Male Vice President: Shun Imagawa (red-haired)

Male Secretary: Naoto Koshiba (dark blue-haired, reading documents)

RANKO ICHIJO DEBUTS AS A REAL-LIFE POP STAR!!!

While her elders (here, Mr. Nishikido, the old lady, and her butler) enjoy a peaceful life, Reiko Kisaragi overcomes her phobia. 

(She still remembers Puff!)

Hanae Komori still keeps on doing perfect ikebana, like this potted plant for the Noble Academy Drama Club's rendition of Much Ado About Nothing.

Kenta Hirano stars as Benedick (who will be his Beatrice?), while Riko Furuya directs the Bard once more and is still passionate about it.

Karin Akeboshi, now known by her stage name Rinrin, has taken her absent mentor's place as a nation-level teenage celeb. 

She is saving for a trip to Paris, during which she will visit Nôtre Dame, Disneyland, the Eiffel Tower, and her guiding star Kirara, who still inspires her.

SHUT: I didn't realize how beautiful these red roses are...

(Do they remind you of Towa's hair and of her battle costume?)

LOCK (as an eyed Hufflepuff scarf): 'Cause they remind you of Cure Scarlet?

SHUT: Aw, Shut up!

Shut lives on the Noble Academy grounds and ekes out his living as a gardener at the boarding school, with Lock for a sentient Hufflepuff scarf.

Shut: The roses look so beautiful...
Lock (scarf): Because red roses remind you of Cure Scarlet.
Shut: I don't know why you can't take another shape!
Lock (scarf): Mmmm... Because after the defeat of the Dysdarks, I lost all the energy to have a human form.

So Shut is a Hufflepuff...

HEADMISTRESS YUME MOCHIZUKI (behind Shut): You like roses, young man, don't you?

SHUT (startled, gasps and turns around): Ah... Yes...

MRS. SHIROGANE: Do you want to work with us?

SHUT (clueless at first): Eh?

Mrs. Shirogane: Hey, young man... Do you like roses?
Shut: Yes?
Headmistress Mochizuki: Would you like to take care of the garden?
Shut: Yes.

Yui Nanase begins her first sketches for her first storybook, in which she will retell the story of the Princess Precures to future generations.

Her future looks promising already.

Minami Kaido (if you were surprised by her absence) is now Asuka Kitakaze's assistant at her Cetacean Research Programme in California, across the Pacific.

À Paris, Karl, Choupette et Stella regardent, três fiers, le show et la star de l'année.

Car Kirara est partie dans la capitale de la France...

Elle reste jolie comme toujours.

CHOUPETTE: Miaou!

Kuroro has taken up a place as a servant at the Hope Palace. He is also Mme. Shamour's apprentice.

While Madame Shamour congratulates her apprentice Kuroro, let's watch Puff with a tray on her head.

Puff is now officially a maid at the Hope Royals' service.

Her brother Aroma is now officially the steward and personal assistant to Crown Prince Hope Grand Kanata.

TOWA:

Our warming Towa is finally together with her dear brother and now nothing can separate them.

Whenever Kanata and his sister, Princess Hope Daylight Towa, have got spare time, they play their most renowned and heartwarming duet.

During these peaceful times, the Precures' devices remain stored at the Hope Palace, waiting for their next owners.

The Dress-Up Keys are stored there as well.

A decade (or so) later...

Yui Nanase is a renowned author and illustrator of storybooks. 

READER: I wonder whether the princesses will meet again...

"The Princesses and the Keys of Dreams," by Yui Nanase.

Her debut story and masterpiece "The Princesses and the Keys of Dreams" has become a children's literary classic.

MINAMI: No matter the time...

Minami Kaido (here, in the Mediterranean) cares for marine endangered species around the planet.

KIRARA: ...our hearts will always be together.

Kirara Amanogawa has found her niche in the Parisian fashion business.

TOWA: And that's how it will always be.

Hope Daylight Towa, now sister to the reigning monarch (following their parents' abdication), has become Kanata I's advisor and confidante as well.

AND NOW, DEAR SPECTATORS, READERS, FOLLOWERS...

THE GRAND FINALE NUMBER: FOR EVERYONE TO SING ALONG!

Do you hear the people sing,

lost in the valley of the night?

It is the music of a people

who are climbing to the light.

For the wretched of the earth

there is a flame that never dies;

even the darkest night will end

and the sun will rise!

They will live again in freedom 

in the garden of the Lord.

They will walk behind the plowshare, 

they will put away the sword.

The chains will be broken, and all will receive their reward!!

 

Will you join in our crusade?

Who will be strong and stand with me?

Somewhere beyond the barricade

is there a world you long to see?

Do you hear the people sing?

Say, do you hear the distant drums?

It is the future that they bring

when tomorrow comes!

Will you join in our crusade?

Who will be strong and stand with me?

Somewhere beyond the barricade

is there a world you long to see?

Do you hear the people sing?

Say, do you hear the distant drums?

It is the future that they bring

when tomorrow comes!

Ah... aaah...

TO-MO-RROW COMES!!!

Acta est fabula, plaudite!!

Gokigenyó! (Have a nice day!)

(PS. Notice Ranko and Shut on the ending card... THEY SHOULD APPEAR LARGER AND FRONT STAGE!)

And now, as a leave-taking gift: a beautiful picture of Hope Daylight Towa flanked by Dark Princess Twilight and Cure Scarlet.

My Life Burns Bright  

(PS. Anyone noticed that Towa can play the violin right-handed? My headcanon states that she is ambidextrous, a leftie trained to use her dexter hand as well; being royalty, she had and still has etiquette to observe.)


MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
AT LAST THE HK IS FREE!!! (pops another bottle of Moët and quaffs heartily): The moment we have been waiting for since ages ago... has arrived at last!! Like Kanata, I burst into tears when this finally happened!! Heartwarming indeed...
On my OTP not becoming an item in the finale: I had the same disappointment with bratty half-pint Ira and smart gal Rikka of DokiDoki! fame. He is essentially the Peter to her Wendy, and vice versa. Irikka was my OTP for that season, and, like Shutowa, it ends with both of them parting ways. Yet fanmade sequels still state that there might be future hope for a reunion and maybe something more. The mad hatter and the fire princess may perchance meet if the Hope Kingdom is threatened once again... will there be a happy ever after at the end of the day?
On what the coda has to say for the whole ensemble cast: Life goes on, one thinks upon watching the whole coda of such an epic show. The lives of all the characters are discussed in the end... and the curtain falls over a story that has been delightful to watch, heartwarming and heartrending, so emotive that in the end it's like closing a magnificent Victorian storybook or having watched an opera that's been excellently staged and sung.

All good stories, of course, must have a happy ending, and this one is no exception, but the important part, dear reader, is not that the chosen heroines (and their families, and their friends, and the headmistress, and the servants, and the prince, and princess, and the pop star, and the tennis player, and the actor, and the stage director, and the student council, and the marine biologist, and the Kaiser, and the king and queen, and the aristocrat turned gardener) lived happily ever after.

The important part, reader, is that, together or separately, they lived. 

FINAL THOUGHTS (LOOKING BACK AT THE WHOLE SERIES):
Oh, wow. This has been my favourite Precure series ever, sharing a first place with DokiDoki! (There were some things about DokiDoki! I liked, such as the royal brat villainess and the aloof ally being the light and darkness of the same person, the leader being for once an academic [and athletic] model student, and the monsters of the week made from thoughts/wishes/desires that anyone of us could have. But there are also things that Go! Princess has done better: when it comes to sissy villains, Leva is a joke, pretty one-dimensional, compared to Shut, the most complex sissy villain in the franchise so far. And Alice's rival Rayna is not as hammy and memorable as Ranko. Not to mention Kanata [IMOHO] being far better-looking than Jonathan. As redeemed dark magical girls, the demure Towa/-ilight and the bratty Regina are pretty much tied when it comes to complex, lovable, awesome characters.) Second place would be for HeartCatch, with an otokoyaku in the leading roster and an academic team leader, as well as a prominent plant/flower motif and a wise grandmother mentor (of whom elements, coupled with influence of Dumbledore, have seeped into Headmistress Yume Mochizuki).
The Dysdarks are the best villain cadres in the Cureverse, IMOHO, and I have also loved the rivalry in between them. Still, I have always been a sucker for Shut. He's not merely the sissy villain du jour, but also a die-hard and headstrong character worthy of rooting for. And for the HK characters. Their realm being overrun was even better discussed than the occupation of the Trump Kingdom. Which led, in my reviews, to a whole stream of Fire Nation memes...
As well as the boarding school setting. I have always been a sucker for Academy of Adventure/Building of Adventure/Enclosed Space/Closed Circle settings, especially after getting to know Othello and Hogwarts. Oh, and The Finishing Stroke, and so many Christie novels... Then there's Krabat and Gösta Berling's Saga, which have the single setting, one host, and twelve guests: each winter solstice, one of the guests becomes a satanic sacrifice and is replaced with another newcomer (shivers...). Noble Academy has even become a character in the show in its own right, and the connection between this place and the Hope Kingdom came as completely unexpected analogue to the Potterverse, as well as all the Hogwarts echoes that the students and staff provided (Yume is Dumbledore, Sumire is McGonagall, Minami is Hermione, Towa is Luna...).
This final episode was so emotive because it tied everyone's loose ends and showed us how all is well that ends well, and thus, we say a fond farewell to all of these true-to-life characters and wave them goodbye, drying up our most heartfelt tears.

All good stories, of course, must have a happy ending, and this one is no exception, but the important part, dear reader, is not that the chosen heroines (and their families, and their friends, and the headmistress, and the servants, and the prince, and princess, and the pop star, and the tennis player, and the actor, and the stage director, and the student council, and the marine biologist, and the Kaiser, and the king and queen, and the aristocrat turned gardener) lived happily ever after.

The important part, reader, is that, together or separately, they lived.