Yukari Kotozume debut episode - kimagure oneesama (wistful/moody older sister figure)
DEBUT OF THE ICE QUEEN... or, "Are You Aaron Purr, Miss?"
This episode begins with a three-starred stray tomcat known for being wild, aggressive... and bringing good luck to whoever manages to tame him swooning before Yukari Kotozume, who then pets his belly, making the core trio of five-years-younger secondary-schoolers stand by in awe. Right before that, Yukari ambling down the street had everyone watching her in astonishment.
Yes, that cat swooning before her with hearts in his eyes is her establishing character moment!
Upon being told that she looks good, she takes it as an overrated left-handed compliment.
YUKARI (serene): Thank you. People say that a lot.
When asked if she likes cats, she replies: I do not like or dislike them.
When asked how she tamed this cat, she says: I guess I just know people's sweet spots.
"How do I even begin to explain Yukari Kotozume?"
If she's on the local press and has a whole page dedicated to her achievements... well, as an Ace, she's got the renown of being able to do practically anything.
LOCAL BEAUTY SPECIAL REPORT -
Yukari Kotozume, 2nd year high-school student.
It's that she is INCREDIBLY FAMOUS! Does well in school...
She is an ace when it comes to foreign languages.
Here, moreover, the book she is reading (in English in the original Japanese version) happens to mirror her own predicament:
YUKARI (reading out loud):
Maggie dit: "Rien n'est pas impossible pour moi... Je me suis très ennuyée chaque jour!"
TEACHER (impressed): Parfait!!
(Of course it was "Perfect!" in the original version).
She is furthermore an Academic Athlete, skilled the most in rhythmics with clubs...
Does well in sports!
PE TEACHER (impressed): PERFECT SCOOORE!
...and of course she's the high-school queen bee, with an equal-opportunity fanclub in uniform squeeing and swooning as long as she is within their sight!
She even has a secret fanclub!
HIGH-SCHOOLERS (squeeing): She's sooo perfect!!
HIMARI (excited): She's beautiful and can do anything well!
AOI (cynical): Sounds like some fictional character to me...
Her classmates, furthermore, look up to her and ask her for advice.
High School that very afternoon...
BOB STUDENT: Miss Kotozume, you can do everything, or can't you?
PIGTAILED STUDENT: Uh... uh... would you like a cuppa tea after school today?
BOB STUDENT: A macaronerie with scrumptious macarons just opened!
"No, thanks," she says, proving that there is at least a shred of humility under her ice-cold façade.
YUKARI: I do not hate macarons... but I am afraid I have to decline.
PIGTAILED STUDENT: All right, no worries...
BOB STUDENT: Sorry to ask you so suddenly... see you, then...
So she gets carried away and drags Usami away on a spree... and we see her smiling for the first time.
YUKARI: Call me Yukari... I was just so bored up until now.
Everything suits her so well... yet deep inside she is still weary at the heart of it all...
The fashionista of this series, like her predecessor Kirara Amanogawa, shows off her keen fashion sense and makes us all get the flutters. Something tells me that, like Kirara, Yukari will do a lot of eye-candy during this year!
She is also a wiz at the crane game-- gods, isn't there anything Yukari Kotozume cannot do?
Mind that this is her first time playing a crane game... beginner's luck or her rhythmic skills applied to other fields? Or both?
YUKARI (weary): So I can do a-ny-thing, right...?
Upon finding the local macaronerie Mon Meringue closed down (courtesy of the macaron-addicted froglike monster of the week), she decides to accompany those three secondary-schoolers into their little bakery in the woods.
YUKARI: If I like macarons? Well, I do not dislike such pretty things...
SHOPKEEPER: I apologize deeply for the fact that our macarons have sold out...
YUKARI: Thank you. Today has been quite fun... If I'd like to make macarons with you...? Sounds interesting.
Already when she entered the bakery... the following reaction ensued:
AOI (surprised): Wait a-- wait a-- what on Earth is Yukari Kotozume doing here!?
AOI: Are you sure? That's a three-star difficult recipe!
(Three stars on the cookbook [maximum difficulty]... just like on that feral cat she tamed!)
YUKARI: I would like to give it a try.
POWER TRIO: EH!?
AOI: We were saying it's quite hard-- and... are you even listening?
WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT... (or, Macarons and Expectations Issues)
Aoi's hot blood makes it too hard for her to make macarons. She just beats the egg whites a bit too effusively...
So all three secondary-schoolers stand by as she demonstrates that mixing the macarons gently and quickly is doing it right.
YUKARI: Leave it to me! (She whisks the egg whites quickly but not with all her strength) And you three are dessert specialists? I would never have guessed it... Why are you going through all of these troubles?
Flashback to a child Yukari whisking tea in a cup...
MR. KOTOZUME: Aha, she has such good strong arms...
MRS. KOTOZUME (his mother or mother-in-law?): Indeed. Though she is such an independent little girl, Yukari never gives us any trouble.
My grandmother is a stern tradition preacher...
but there are things that tea ceremonies never would teach you...
my mother was a genius... my father commands real respect...
they have never left me instructions; just a legacy to protect...
We keep on living, anyway;
we rise, and we fall, and we break, and we make our mistakes...
If there's a reason I'm still alive,
I'm willing to wait for it...
WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT!
I am the one thing in life I can control...
WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT!
I am inimitable, I am an original...
WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT!
I am not falling behind or running late...
WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT, WAIT FOR IT!
I'm not standing still; I am lying in WAIT...
End of flashback and the younger girls impressed upon Yukari's perfect beating egg white into peaks.
Yukari's macarons are purrrfectly shaped --
leaving our queued rockstar with a face of shock.
Like... SHE GOT IT FRICKING RIGHT!!
Pekorin is just laughing.
Out on the bakery porch, while waiting for the macarons to cool:
AOI (sarcastic): You really can do anything, eh?
Now it's on to taste these macarons... And Yukari is not amused.
AOI: Hmpf! They just don't taste good...
That's what you got for stirring too hard! Should have done it gently... gently...
(Yukari raises an eyebrow upon looking at their reactions)
Still, Yukari goes balls to the wall and concentratedly makes another batch all by herself while the others stand back amazed.
AOI: I guess she's gotten serious now...
This second batch winds up cracked... and Yukari is still concentrated, her fringe concealing her eyes... but the three secondary-schoolers quickly fix it by decorating her faulty creations as adorable blueberry meowcarons! Just look at those ears and whiskers!
The sight of these decorated treats makes Yukari laugh, a sincere, childlike laugh instead of her usual noblewoman's snickering.
YUKARI (to the macaron frog monster of the week): I beg your pardon...
Right then, the MotW basically devours all happiness energy within the unfinished macarons... except for the meowcaron Yukari herself is holding.
LADYBUG AND CHAT NOIR WOULD BE SO PROUD... (or, my weapon of choice prediction comes true)
Before transforming for the first time, Yukari steps in between the macaron frog and some sorely beaten Precures.
So she dead-pannedly, coldly (once more that eye-concealing fringe!) tells the pistachio-macaron-faced monster of the week...
IF. YOU. THINK. YOU. CAN. LAY. A. HAND. ON. THIS...
NOT WITHIN ONE HUNDRED... OR ONE THOUSAND YEARS...
NOT. EVEN. WITHIN. 10000. YEARS.
YOU ARE COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE.
When the Cures tell her that it's dangerous and ask her why...
I DON'T KNOW WHY. YOU'RE BUGGING ME... IT THROWS ME OFF, BUT... I LIKE THE WAY YOU ARE.
Instantly, her only meowcaron left turns into a transformation trinket and Yukari gets her very own little mixing bowl!
Upon receiving her transformation sweet in the right hand and her mixing bowl in the left...
YUKARI (chuckles): Hehe... Now that's interesting!
Beauty and emotion/excitement (tokimeki)! Mix up!
As she transforms into a Precure, Yukari becomes this elegant catgirl with a puffy macaron skirt and a matching beret.
The other Precures are impressed by her transformed form.
CURE MACARON (beckoning with her left index finger to a very angry frog monster): Allons-y, let's play!
CURE MACARON: You're a strong one... (jumping on the MotW's beret) I'm up here! (She subsequently somersaults out of harm's way, surprising the MotW)
The similarities between Cure Macaron and the monster of the week (also macaron-themed, wearing a beret, and female) are really interesting.
The first thing Yukari Kotozume does as Cure Macaron? Right? Pet the monster into cuteness, fluff, and submission by blowing soothing soap bubbles.
CURE MACARON (tickling the frog's chin): Awww aww aw... good girl, good girl.
So she's soothing the monster of the week like she did with that three-star cat at the start of the episode...
CURE MACARON (before mixing up her yoyos in her bowl): Ready, Freddie?
And remember that I foretold she would use macaron yoyos in battle?
So she uses these two macaron yoyos indeed to terminate the monster of the week; which reminded me of both Ladybug (yoyo as a weapon of choice, macarons being round) and Chat Noir (a cat-eared and tailed hero/ine). Furthermore, she practices dual wielding, which, like her skill with rhythmics clubs, confirms my headcanon that she is ambidextrous.
So the yoyos basically wrap around the MotW and shrink her down. This hissatsu, or finishing move, is the most badass one I have seen since Cure Gelato's iceboxing. Now all that remains is seeing whether Cure Chocolat's swordsmanship (if my prediction on her comes true) can hold a candle to it as well!
CURE MACARON (as the defeated frog monster is blown away into the sky): Au revoir. We had so much fun...
THE OTHER CURES: Gaaaaasp!
CURE MACARON (wistfully): Hehe!
YUKARI (sincerely): It's all right. But to get mixed against one's will into something that is not fun... that's just unfair. Next time, I want to make perfect, scrumptious macarons. Whether I will visit you three someday... that's what I wonder.
However, being older than the core trio and in a higher school, she just warmly and sincerely says no thanks to their proposition to join them...
AND THEN... A DASHING PRINCE COMES AMBLING BY...
We first see her mouth wide open and hear her hearty laugh.
AKIRA (laughing heartily): Ah hahahahaha!
Her establishing character moment has her being kind/friendly and laughing. That speaks volumes just like Yukari's ECM before.
AKIRA: I have just moved in here today. My name is Akira Kenjó. Nice to meet you (Yoroshiku ne).
Her establishing character moment: laughing heartily, carrying a heavy box... and acting gentlemanly, suavely, towards a new acquaintance.
Kareinaru Cure Chocolat... literally Magnificent Cure Chocolat!
What's more, our otokoyaku has already become a Precure (or not? Had she already acquired the power of strength and love when she came to this place, or is her debut episode the one where she transforms for the first time?)
Her courtesy, contralto voice, and earnest kind-heartedness already keep me hooked up for next week...
AFTERTHOUGHTS
Well, this is Yukari's debut episode and I am totally flabberghasted because Mlle. Kotozume and I have something in common... the same thing that links both of us to Aaron Burr: expectations issues. It's also the central theme in Christina Vasa and what makes this Ringstetten spinoff so lifelike. This is what makes and/or breaks an Ace and goes beyond bland perfection to create a realistic human personality. Seriously, I couldn't but resist a little WAIT FOR IT filk in here... currently up in hot water for doing an academic project for acing the subject that will ACTUALLY make me or break me, and nigh collapsing under the pressure!
So Yukari is a gorgeous ambidextrous academic athlete and seasoned fashionista. And being so popular has caused her to detach herself from her peers... to have little to no real friends until she joins the Five-Girl Band. We've already seen her defrost a little during today's macaron-making spree. I already ship her with our kind-hearted, earnest Akira and I'm eager for next week in which we'll meet our otokoyaku/bifauxnen!!!
So back to Yukari: Family structure? Mum and siblings not even mentioned... is she really motherless or will this be a red herring as when we met Masumi Kaido? The same goes for potential siblings: we know Akira's got a terminally ill li'l sis, but is our Rarity an only child? (Speaking of which... the Kotozumes dress in a more conservative, typically Asian fashion than the heavily Westernized Kaidos; the same applies to the interiors of their respective estates.)
with Rapunzel hair and porcelain skin whose theme colour is violet?
Rarity, are we looking at you or at Yukari/Macaron?
So, next week we'll get to know Akira and see her transform, and surely also learn about her pastimes, strengths, and weaknesses (all we know, from the opening, is that she showers her Ill Girl of a younger sister with gifts and affection). Really, like the B&tB live action musical and the local fête here in Castellón with so many 80s tributes... this March is getting more exciting for each day!
So far, Yukari Kotozume just knocked the breath out of my lungs... just hoping that Akira Kenjó can be on par with, if not outright out-badass, her!
Screengrab from Akira's intro in the opening. Which, together with her ECM today, shows us she's so kind-hearted and gentlemanly...
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