L'ÉTOILE ET LA BÊTE

Hugtto Pretty Cure
Episode 25 - My Own Review

L'ÉTOILE ET LA BÊTE

The Kagayaki family. Homare lives with the maternal branch (her mum and her mum's parents). Guess cowlicks run in the Kagayaki genome...

 

1. friends at the summer festival

This episode starts with Emiru and Lulu refusing to join Papple’s talent agency. We also see Homare getting ready for the summer festival.
At the festival, everyone enjoys the various activities on offer.

The girls and Harry with Hug-tan went to the local night festival and they saw Papple and company setting up stalls at the festival. Papple was also determined to get Lulu and Emiru to join her talent company which the duo declined the offer in the beginning of the episode.

The girls also had fun and even Emiru's brother Masato came to the festival with Henri. (Did anyone notice an animation error? Henri was behind the girls when Minase was drawing the lot and he was not in the first photo. But when the girls were at Charalit's stall, Henri was walking with Masato and the girls welcomed them like they just met)

Masato and Henri enjoy the festival together

Lulu feels like she hasn’t had enough fun

As the sun starts to set, Lulu says that she hasn’t nearly enjoyed herself enough yet. Emiru, Hana, and Saaya all go back with her, whilst Harry takes Hugtan and goes to find a spot to watch the fireworks. Homare accompanies them as well.

Hug-tan had a mosquito bite! Quick, Immediate First Aid!

You see, my little star. You are not the only one who had to suffer. I once was a streetrat - literally...

The girls went to get more snacks, leaving Homare and Harry alone together, Homare asked him about his family which he replied he is an orphan and in his timeline, he is a hamster who help other hamsters like an older sibling.

Homare also answered that her parents were divorced and she is staying with her mother and grandparents. Which I am okay with their backstories since Miki from Fresh and Kirara from Go! Princess have divorced parents too. It also showed that not everything is sunshine and rainbows for everyone.

Homare and Harry take the opportunity to tell each other a little bit about themselves

Homare and Harry end up talking about themselves. Harry reveals that he never knew his parents – as far as he knows, he is an orphan. In the future, he lived in a little nook with others like them, and just managed to get by day to day.
Homare opens up about her parents as well – they divorced when she was younger. She took up ice skating when her dad was still around, but her mum said it was fine to keep at it.
This conversation between Homare and Harry is soon interrupted, though.

Bishin appeared in front of Harry and Homare... and Harry seemed to know Bishin personally. He immediately drew Bishin away from Homare as the rest of the girls rushed to the scene. 

Bishin appears

Bishin shows up, and they targets Harry. Harry gives Hugtan to Homare, and makes a run for it. Bishin chases after him, and Homare follows as well.
Bishin eventually catches Harry, just as Homare and the other girls arrive. Bishin reveals that Harry used to be employed by Cryasse (confirming our Defector from Decadence theory!)...

Bishin caught hold of Harry and they revealed that Harry is a former member of Cryasse Corporation which we kindly of guess that Harry has some connection with Cryasse since he knew the ins and outs, and when he saw Dr Trauma last episode which it was revealed that Harry was experimented upon by Dr Trauma and George.

Harry was experimented on, and his chain necklace is actually a Power Limiter to keep his monstrous form in check.

Bishin then removed Harry's necklace and he turned into a crazed monster. The girls transformed but do not want to hurt Harry.

Bishin unleashes Harry’s true form

Harry was headhunted by Criasu Corporation, together with Bishin. When he was there, they modded him and Bishin, removing the chain from Harry's neck, reveals his true form. They then has Harry attack PreCures – naturally, they transform.

The Mysterious Rescuer and Bishin's Obsession.

While the others are curbstomped by Beastly Harry, Étoile stands alone.

Cure Étoile confronts the transformed Harry

Harry proves to be a tough opponent, but Cure Étoile steps up to confront him. She says that Harry being a former Cryasse employee doesn’t matter, and even shakes off his attacks like they’re nothing. Of course, PreCures want to save Harry, and there’s only way to do that: with their finishing move.

Cure Étoile used her Melody Sword to block his attacks and even used her aura to shield Harry's blast.

 Cure Étoile then offered her hand to Harry when he suddenly recalled a similar hand which came to his cage and saved him from madness. Harry was weakened and the girls purified him.

Étoile’s feelings get through, and Harry reverts to his hamster form.

Bishin tried to kill Cure Étoile, but Harry protected her. He told Bishin that he is no more a Cryasse employee and he will fight against them now. Bishin was fueled with anger and disappointment although I find Bishin's behaviour to akin to how a crazed ex-lover will react when their significant other is with another person and they want to murder the new boy- or girlfriend. 

He tells Bishin that he is on the side of PreCures, and will fight to defeat the Cryasse Corporation. Bishin has no intention of giving up on Harry, but they retreats for now.
As the fireworks start, this episode ends.

Although I am not sure Bishin is male or female, since the appearance looked male and Satomi Arai is voicing Bishin. Anyway, I am pretty sure that Bishin is probably going to make life miserable for Harry and Homare in future episodes...

As the fireworks start, this episode ends.

Despite a Night Festival (Omatsuri) episode after last week's similar theme, this episode is on Harry and Homare's relationship. It is pretty clear that Homare has a crush on Harry but he acted indifferent since he has quite a dark past.

So when Bishin revealed Harry's identify to the girls, Homare was shaken but being the tough girl she is, she was able to get through to Harry when he become a monster. Although the question of who was that mysterious person who saved Harry in the past and cause him to change sides? An older Hug-tan, the Golden Lady... or someone completely new?

Not sure if Bishin has the same powers to corrupt people -for which we might have to wait and see- but looking at Bishin tormenting Harry, it is clear that their power level cannot be underestimated and they is probably Cure Étoile's rival, and evil counterpart, in the future.

After having several hints dropped, Harry’s secret finally comes to light. It’s… well, it’s about what I expected. Aside from Harry’s true form – that was a surprise. Presumably Bishin also has similar forms (both a rodentian and a monstrous one).

With Bishin not giving up on Harry, I suspect there will be betrayal towards the end. Most likely Bishin will turn against Cryasse Corporation, but if it goes the other way and Harry betrays PreCures… very unlikely, but I’m not going to write the face-heel turn off entirely. After all, this is the season that has given us a baby in a coma, Lulu completely shutting down, and suicide imagery.
This episode was pretty good. Not the best that Hugtto! PreCure has to offer, but it wasn’t bad either.
Next time, Saaya finally gets to be relevant again.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION
On the scrumptious Henrisato moment we had:

OMG... Or should I say OTP!!! Also, it's quite the bold move that Henri wears a European-style corset and petticoats upon his kimono (lavender to match the colour of his eyes). While Masato has the more austere and masculine traditional ensemble. There they are together at the fête, together, snacking on some cotton candy... Let's make the announcement first of all: HENRISATO IS CANON!!! <3 <3 <3 <3
On the Emilu progress in this episode: We haven't got as much Emilu this week as we have Henrisato, but it's all right. Anyway, we definitely needed far more Henrisato, and our prayers were answered at last...
On Harry as the Beast to Homare's Belle:




Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme. A fearsome werebeast, every day more bereft of humanity, and an unconventional, spirited maiden who proves the only beauty bold enough to love the beast. I <3 fairytale motifs, and here using them to establish this pairing's character arcs really hits the spot (does that make Bishin the sorceress/faery who cursed the prince?)...
On Homare's family structure: Like Yours Truly, here we have an only child (so far, only a hypothesis) with boyish short hair and matching honey eyes, whose parents are divorced. Yet another reason to connect with this badass -the only thing I have different from our Étoile is that she is missing the freckles!- It’s not that opening up how her parents are divorced and she lives with her mother isn’t important, that piece of information may not necessarily contribute to the story, but we have to remember this show is targeted to middle-grade children (as a core demographic), so it’s little things like this that helps them find someone to connect with. BTW, when I was a kid, I had dad issues just like Homare's.
On Bishin:

On how the Cryasse cadres time-travelling theory is bursting at the seams:




Just have a peek at Harry's kinsfolk and tell me you don't have a sense of déjà-vu!
From left to right, they resemble Papple (or Dr. Trauma?), Ristle, Bishin, Daigan (or Gelos?), and Charalit, respectively. If you notice their hairstyles, attire, and colour scheme.
Now that it is confirmed and canon that Harry is a Cryasse Defector from Decadence (and a dangerous werebeast), the fact that the other cadres were similar rodentian furries is suddenly hinted at!

It is also worth noting this was probably the first episode where they hinted Harry possibly developing feelings of his own towards Homare. He blushed seeing her in the yukata, thought she was very cute, and was ready to finally open up to her, only to have Bishin interrupt whatever he was going to say. It will be interesting to see if this actually goes anywhere, or of this will end up being Homare’s first and unrequited love.

Alas, this episode wasn’t about the romance in the air, Harry and his true background! Honestly, for most part, Harry’s secret didn’t come across as a huge surprise, mainly because a lot of us have already had suspicions he was formerly affiliated with Cryasse. He and his friend Bishin were scouted by George Kurai, by being employed they were granted food, shelter, and power (at the cost of being modded).

The necklace Harry wears is a form of a seal or chain, given to him by a Precure. We didn’t see who did it, but there is a good chance it may have been Hugtan, considering Harry was imprisoned at the time, and perhaps Hugtan wasn’t simply frozen in time, but captured for other reasons. I also don’t think it was coincidence we saw the white glow, given that we now know Harry is in possession of the White Crystal. This only further my suspicions the White Crystal originally belonged to Hugtan, and this is perhaps how the two of them ended up escaping together. As much as that would be a great way to follow up this episode, I don’t think we will see that happen since next week will be focusing on Saaya, (the poor girl have been been more or less written off the grid up until this point).

Speaking of Saaya, I liked how she noticed Homare’s feelings for Harry, and was clever enough to go off with the girls so the two of them could have some alone time. I kind of want to see her tease her about it. I’m pretty much starving for the main trio to have some proper interactions again. They have been separated and doing their own thing for for too long, or else the screentime had been hijacked by Emiru and Lulu.

Overall while it was a great episode, it definitely wasn’t perfect. Bishin’s debut was lacklustre, but I suppose it’s alright since we didn’t see them reveal any of their true powers. Today their objective was to have Harry redeem himself so he could work with Cryasse again. Since that failed, they retreated. That being said, I hope they does true out to be quite strong. We need stronger villains, hopefully Gelos will do a better job next week, because last week’s was one heck of a pathetic showing.

IN NEXT EPISODE (26):

 At least Saaya finally stars in that drink advert...

Next week, it is a Saaya focused episode (Finally!) which the girls went to see Saaya's actress mother Reira on the set of her latest movie. Saaya has also finally found out what she wants to do in her life?! Until then, see you in the next post!