THE LIGHT KNIGHT RISES

Kirakira Pretty Cure à la Mode - Episode 40
My Own Review
THE LIGHT KNIGHT RISES

PREVIOUSLY ON KIRAKIRA PRECURE À LA MODE:

Glaive has enslaved the muggle population of Ichigozaka, creating a sizeable army of mooks.

Furthermore, the dark-skinned blond proceeds to warp-spasm himself into a power-up.

Right as Glaive is about to win, a dazzling white knight -a stripling in comparison to our antagonist, yet shining with a powerful light- stands right in his way.

PARFAIT: Pikalio!!

And of course Giulio is distressed by the glomp. Even though they are siblings. Surely because, like Anna and Elsa, these two have been detached from one another for ages.

Bilberry trolls Glaive to create a distraction, buying time for Giulio and the Cures.

SO LONG, SUCKERS!

Giulio draws his lightsword once more.

Right when all hope is lost, Cure Lumière appears in a vision to her successors.

Remember, all muggles in Ichigozaka are stained in darkness and turned into Glaive's army of mooks.

Foryunately, the Precures happen to corner the blond Hulk against a cliff.

In the meantime, in a cave in Mt. Ichigo, 

an assortment of local feral and woodland mammals (including a red-nosed reindeer... foreshadowing?)

gather ingredients for the yousei to cook, and produce light kirakiraru.

The yousei get down to make something scrumptious...

Bilberry has a few choice words for Glaive. He threatens to attack her, but Parfait steps forward to protect her. We then learn a little of Grave’s history, and it turns out he was a jerk before being discovered by Noir as well.

PREPARE TO DIE, YOU TRAITOR BRAT...

If it meant to get loaded, to appear on magazine covers, I have done things that are best left unspoken...

Unlike most cadres, who are usually corrupted due to failures in life, Glaive himself was already a bad person who picked on the weak and rose to power. However everyone disliked his methods, in which Noir took interest and proceeded to make Glaive into his general.

Hope seems to be fading for the PreCures at this point, but then suddenly there is a wave of kirakiraru, which eliminates the darkness. The animals and yousei fairies had been making sweets, and the kirakiraru they produced returns the town and its people to normal.

Here comes the cavalry!

However, it ain't over till the fat lizard sings...

Glaive turns into Glaivezilla. The way it looks.

They can still defeat him though. After all, they have the kirakiraru of everyone on their side.

With this cour's Finishing Move failing to harm Glaivezilla, they have to come up with something better. 

It’s time for a new attack, complete with costume changes. 

First of all, they summon the Sweet Castle (looks more like a Sweet Hall, or Sweet Villa) above Mount Ichigo.

Each Cure gets a miniature Castle for themselves as a new transformation trinket to attain their Sweet Castle Forms.

There's something more 80s-ish about the improved Cure Gelato. I mean, I identify myself with Aoi, I think popular music was better last century, both the 80s aesthetic of our blue Cure and Wild Azüre music have totally won over me...

I also liked the way Parfait's new skirt includes oversized fruit, including an orange and a cluster of green grapes. The fruit motif is just parfaitement conveyed, even more than in her original ensemble.

But the chocolate macaron cake when it comes to Sweet Castle Forms goes, of course, to our OTP.

Chocolat now wears coattails, a waistcoat with hussar embroidery (sújtás/soutaches), and her hat looks like a top hat plus tricorn plus cavalier hat. Also, that puffy fur at the collar of the cape. It's just so impressive that I have to comment on it all the way.

Macaron's petticoats, one can see, are eighteenth-century petticoats on puffy sleeves, and that headdress combining her usual beret and a bonnet is adorable.

You just want to see these two attacking together. Or doing the waltz. Or both things. These ensembles are just an open love letter to Takarazuka. More like Tachycardiazuka for fans of period piece costumes and of the Outer Senshi, like yours truly.

Also, Macaron rides sidesaddle, while Chocolat straddles her steed. That definitely cements their personalities, Yukari /Macaron as a proper lady and Akira/Chocolat as a bifauxnen (like trousers and boyish short hair, straddling when it comes to ride... I recall both Queen Christina and the stepsister in a Spanish Cinderella retelling, both straddling their mounts as well).

As usual, the newest Finishing Move is able to finally defeat Glaive.

However, with Glaive defeated, Elysio shows up.

The tarot cards contain the Glaivemobile, Diaval, and Glaive. I think they may represent the Chariot (VII, triumph); the Devil (XV, entrapment); and the Emperor (IV, authority/patriarchy), respectively. 

Elysio reveals that his true power is harvesting the darkness cultivated by Noir, and that his cards were all once servants of darkness. He ominously tells the PreCures that the real battle begins now before leaving. The episode ends here.

Maybe there will be a major arcana motif to this final arc...

ELYSIO: This is just the beginning of the end.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
I definitely need to have my blood pressure taken after this arc finale.
Seriously, a resurrected Pikalio turning into an improved Giulio and stopping Glaive when our dark-skinned blond scoundrel was relishing victory...
Also, Giulio's light knight ensemble. That lilywhite uniform is a far cry from his previous dark ensemble... Giulio now resembles Cinderella's prince, or an Austrian military officer. Definitely dashing.
Also: we got Glaive's backstory/Start of Darkness... leaving only Elysio and Noir left. Glaive seems to have had things in common with Hitler, Stalin, and other Eights on the enneagram. Basically, he was a bully all grown up. You're a scoundrel, Mr. Glaive... you really are a heel...
The appearance of Glaivezilla was a real coup de théâtre. But definitely vanquished by the new outfits of the Cures. Especially the high-school Cures. An open love letter to Takarazuka, definitely.

More like Tachycardiazuka for fans of period piece costumes and of the Outer Senshi, like yours truly.
Also, the new muggle Giulio wears his turquoise hair in a queue. I like bishies with queues as much as I like bifauxnen with boyish short hair, honestly <3 The new muggle Giulio is dashing compared to the once called an "ikemen" dark muggle persona "Leo Kuroki."
Next episode will see Ciel and Giulio rekindling their relationship, but can Giulio overcome his fear of returning to the dark side?

IN NEXT EPISODE (41):