TO HEAL OR NOT TO HEAL...

Hugtto! Pretty Cure - Episode 35
My Own Review

TO HEAL OR NOT TO HEAL...


The thirty-fifth episode of Hugtto! is one that focuses on Saaya, which sees her returning to the hospital once more to gain a further appreciation of the work doctors do.

PreCure doctors

With Saaya preparing for an upcoming role in which she plays a high school girl who happens to be a talented doctor, Saaya asks for a favour from Mrs. Nono. Thus everyone goes back to the hospital where Mrs. Uchifuji gave birth, with Saaya hoping to learn more from the doctor they met back then; the female obstetrician who delivered the Uchifuji baby.

Saaya wanted to learn more about being a doctor for her upcoming roles (as a physician teen prodigy) and went back to find Dr. Maki (the dark-haired lady furthest to the right) who helped to deliver the Uchufujis' child. Dr Maki allowed the girls to be interns in the hospital. Of course, Saaya, Homare and Lulu were handling well... although the other kids enjoyed Emiru's storytelling.

Yes, even Harry has to carry a baby belly as part of obstetrician training... right, Mr. Seahorse?


This girl 
At the hospital, the girls come across a far younger girl reading a storybook. 

In the beginning of the episode, the girls met a little girl, Aya, at the hospital and Saaya found out that Aya's mother Ayumi is going to give birth to her new baby brother. A little later on, Saaya learns the girl’s name is Aya, and her mother is heavily pregnant. However, the baby will have to be delivered by caesarean section.

Aya doesn’t seem all that thrilled about becoming a big sister

We get a glimpse of how the other girls are handling helping out around the hospital. After that, Saaya asks... Hearing that, Saaya realises something and goes to find Aya.

. Although Aya confessed that she is both worried and filled with anxiety that her mother might not like her anymore after her brother is born. 

Aya and her mum snuggled up together in one another's arms (can anyone believe I am still doing this in my mid-twenties?)

Saaya and Aya talk about Aya’s Mum

When Saaya finds the girl, she asks about her Mum. Aya says how she makes a lot of mistakes, like burning supper, but also brings up her good points. (Also it was really funny hearing how her mother is actually such a klutz, burning eggs, losing socks, but at the end of the days she’s a great mum and Aya loves her for it, warts and all.) As she does so, Aya reveals that she thinks her mother will no longer be her mother when the baby is born. Saaya comforts her, and Hugtan shows up as well.

Awwww...

Even more awwww... this time with her mum...

Saaya assured Aya that her mother will always love her even after the baby was born. Even Hug-tan came in and cheered Aya up. (Hug-tan is everyone's darling in this episode) 

Hugtan helps Aya to cheer up

After that little chat with Saaya, Aya goes to hug her mother just before she has the caesarean section. Whilst that happens, Doctor Trauma strikes.

After their previous encounter, Doctor Traum came prepared and set up his Wild Theender to have reduced noise – except this time the fight is taking place some distance from the hospital.

When Dr. Trauma appeared near the hospital, the girls went into battle. Although Dr Trauma learned what happened the last time he was near the hospital and was considerate to mute the drilling sounds from the theender of the week, the Cures fought back with Cure Ange who was filled with energy and managed to overwhelm the theender saying that she wanted to protect her new friend, Aya and her soon-to-be born little brother. 

One of the best shot by Cure Ange!

After defeating him, Dr Trauma was pissed by his failures although he came up with a "Toddless" idea to defeat the girls and retreated.

Feather Blast

Cure Ange steps up to blast the foe with her Feather Blast attack, and the fight progresses in the usual manner from there on out. Doctor Trauma makes a comment about being able to beat PreCures if they were babies, which seems to give him an idea…

In the end, Aya is a big sister for her newborn brother and Aya told Saaya to come and see her again and even called Saaya "Sensei." 

Aya’s baby brother is delivered safely

That brings us to the end of the episode, where Aya calls Saaya ‘Saaya-sensei’. Saaya’s appreciation for the work doctors do also increases.

Saya also finds some meaning after being an intern and is considering whether to choose a career in medical science (obstetrics?)...

I noticed that Saaya-focused episodes has to do with families and are pretty good episodes especially for those who have siblings or parents to be. This is probably one of the better Saaya episodes despite a simple premise. 

The girls got into all sort of shenanigans in the hospital. But Saaya really took the job seriously. When she learns about Aya's anxiety, despite being an only child, Saaya understands the love and dedication (ganbare) that her actress mother is going through taking care of her and assured that Aya's mother will love her and her brother even more.

The scene with Aya's crying out her fears and Saaya's assurance is also one of the more touching moments which most kids could relate to when they become an older brother or sister.

I think the animators love to do Cure Ange's badass moments like her slamming the theender in the film studio and now Cure Ange beam struggle which was very well animated. 

This was such a heartfelt episode, and that made it a joy to watch. Saaya may be doing well with her acting, but it is clear that becoming a doctor is the path she will most likely end up walking down in the future.
Saaya’s episodes have been particularly good, especially with her unsure about what she wants to do with herself. She’s a talented lass with plenty of options open to her, though.

Definitely one of the stronger episodes of Hugtto!, and I’m happy to see more from Saaya.

Next time… well, next time we will be getting something rather special. I can’t wait.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION
Somehow it appears that Saaya's destiny is connected less to the performing art, and more to the healing art. Also - the C-section plot point made me think of Shakespeare (the quibble in Mac**th!)...
Saaya's relationship with this mother and daughter in the story was heartwarming - especially the child, who feels anxious that her unborn sibling will replace her... Aya and Ayumi, and their communication issues, were definitely the highlight of this heartwarming, cathartic episode.
Is Gelos feeling like she needs Xanax and absinthe? Because she gave the Doc -as expected for a hospital episode- her role as cadre du jour today... She reminds me of this painting of a female absinthe drinker:

Seriously. And even more with her new KISS makeover.
With all the leading cast of this episode being female, the victim of the week had to be a guy. A driver who is upset that someone has scraped his car. I wonder what it is, in general, with men and motors - do they see their vehicles as some sort of phallic symbol?

Turning back to our heroes...

This week Saaya finally returns into the spotlight! She really doesn’t get a lot of love, but I have always found her to be an endearing character and wished she had more time to be fleshed out and the writers would focus more on establishing her own identity. But if there’s one thing I am liking, is how they are handling Saaya’s developing interest in working in the medical field.

It was a clever idea to set it up so Saaya would have the opportunity to revisit the hospital, as a means to helping her learn more about the role and character she will be playing in her next drama about a high school medical prodigy who moonlights as a gifted doctor working the night shift. This allowed them to achieve two things: The first one was how it help her character learn how regardless of the abundance of information available on the internet, at the end of the day, the patient (or anyone for that matter) may find it irrelevant, and that’s why they need to be able to connect and cater to a patient’s (or anyone for that matter’s) specific concerns and needs. The second is how Saaya demonstrates you can still be committed to one dream, while keep your options open for another.

We also saw how Saaya, as an only child, struggled to relate to the feelings of Aya, a child who was about to become a big sister. She needed to speak with others... because Aya was not excited to become a big sister. For Aya’s case, she thought her mother would not longer be her mother when her brother comes to this world. She was scared of losing her to him, and as horrible as it sounds, that’s why she didn’t want her brother.

And I liked how they addressed this, because every child handles the arrival of their newborn siblings differently, Some are too young to remember, others simply don’t have any and can’t relate, and then you have some like Aya, who was terrified and upset about it. And I really did feel sad for Aya, because what a terribly sad thing to worry about. So it was nice a nice moment to see her receive the reassurance that her mother still and will continue to love her. But on the flip side, her mother was also facing her own uncertainties of feeling like she let Aya down and was feeling anxious of lacking the qualities of a mother, even by having to go through a C-section (surgery) to bring her new baby boy to this world. In the end, both of them needed each other for assurance and validation that everything will be fine. (Also it was really funny hearing how her mother is actually such a klutz, burning eggs, losing socks, but at the end of the days she’s a great mum and Aya loves her for it, warts and all.)

Overall this wasn’t an amazing episode, it was average at best, as I was getting quite bored until we learned about Aya’s concerns. It is really too bad both Saaya and Homare have been neglected for so long, because when they finally throw us a bone (or crumbs for the matter) to chew on, the damage has already been done, it is too late to fill the hole the writers had dug themselves into. What both Saaya and Homare needed was more time yesterday, and unfortunately, I don’t think they are going to get much more after this. Maybe if they are lucky, they will each get one more character focused episode, but frankly I don’t see it happening at this stage of the game. To make matters worse, next week they are featuring the Cameos from the Past, which I am dreading to say the least. At least it’s not a surprise because I first came across the news when it popped up on my twitter feed, so it gave me at least a week to process it. I’m hoping this is just going to be one episode, because time is essential! But I swear if they have them contribute to the “mini boss” fight for the second time (given how Gelos is spiralling into insanity), it is an understatement to say I will be quite annoyed.

Also, let me just quickly say, it absolutely sucks how they completely watered down Dr. Trauma’s character. When we first saw him, I had hopes he was going to be at least a decent villain, but they just turned him into a clown for comic relief. This fight was yet another incredibly disappointing showing from him! It sucks because I would have liked Saaya to have at least some more cool fighting scenes, because we rarely see her go on the offensive! We know she is capable of having this badass side of her who goes on the offensive and kick ass, but the writers never give her that chance to do so!

Varying on what’s in store for next week’s episode, I just end up saving it for a double-post the week after. It will all depend on what and how much I will have to say about it…

IN NEXT EPISODE:
THERE IS A MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER CROSS-CONTINUITY CROSSOVER---

what's your name, miss?

AOI TATEGAMI!!!