EN PATINANT SUR LA GLACE FRAGILE D'UN NOUVEAU JOUR

Hugtto! Pretty Cure - Episode 43
My Own Review
EN PATINANT SUR LA GLACE FRAGILE D'UN NOUVEAU JOUR

http://hallofanimefame.blogspot.com/2018/12/hugtto-precure-ep-43-top-3-moments-bye.html

The forty-third episode of Hugtto! is a Homarry one, so I’m just going to try to breeze through it as quickly as possible.

Papple guesses that Homare must be in love

Homare has her important ice skating competition coming up, but there is something on her mind that is preventing her from concentrating on it. Of course, the thing on her mind is Harry – she is in love with him, after all.

Saaya has a chat with Homare

With Homare’s feelings being a major distraction for her, Saaya decides that it is time that she had a talk with her en tête-à-tête. Then Harry shows up, and Saaya takes off.

Homare talks with her Mum

The competition draws nearer, and Homare has a couple more chats with people – more specifically, Henri, and her own mother. They pretty much tell her that they want to see Homare giving her best and will be supporting her.

Just before Homare has to perform her routine, the others set up an opportunity for her to talk with Harry. Homare confesses her feelings to him, and it goes about how she expected. 

Still, that proves to be a weight off her shoulders, though she does run into Hana’s arms and have a good cry about it.

Hana gives Homare a much-needed hug

Homare pulls off her routine flawlessly

With all said and done, Homare goes out on the ice, nailing her routine. Of course, that is thanks to the support of everyone watching her. And just as her routine ends, the place shakes.

Bishin’s Wild Theender de rigueur

This time it is Bishin who is leading the attack. Bishin tries to tell Étoile that things wouldn’t work with Harry, but of course Étoile knows this now. This is followed up by PreCures doing their usual thing.

Homare claims victory

This episode wraps up with Homare hugging her friends in celebration of receiving the gold medal.

Well, I never really cared for the Homarry stuff before as Twin Love overshadowed it, and this episode did nothing to change my mind about it. I am glad that that particular thread has been wrapped up, though – it means the last few episodes can focus on far more interesting things.

Here’s a shot of Lulu in pyjamas, just because (those ugggggggsssssessss...)

This episode did provide a few decent moments, though – Lulu in pyjamas was very nice. 

We also had Hana’s encounter with George – I’m quite keen to see how that will tie in with the inevitable Hana episode we’ll get before the finale. He stops her from transforming by grabbing her arm, and mentions how miracles appear wherever she goes. It seems that George’s visit was merely to shake Hana’s resolve once more.

Not really much else to say about this episode – it wrapped up something that I didn’t really care for. Going from the preview alone, I can already tell that I will like next week’s episode. It is one that focuses on Saaya, but more importantly, Lulu’s outfit – ah, let’s save that for next week.

We have reached the point of the series where all the characters are trying to reach the conclusions of their arcs… except, Homare and Saaya’s developments have been neglected for so long, we are finally seeing the results of the repercussions.

This week was about Homare finally getting the closure she needed with her unrequited feelings for Harry, and I loved the way the handled it. With the support of her friends, Homare found the courage to confess her feelings, and Harry in return, gave her the much deserved respect of being straight with her how he cannot return her feelings since he is in love with someone else. On top of that, as much as he wanted to comfort her, he knew better that it’s better if he shouldn’t. So props to Harry for the way he handled it.

And I am glad Homare can finally begin the healing process of moving on. I always loved how Homare’s character handled her crush, and the level of maturity of knowing to keep things that she knew she didn’t have the right to know a secret, and not letting jealousy take over. She handled her first love and heartbreak incredibly well, but it’s such a shame that I couldn’t find it in me to really care about it at all.

This is where the consequences of not being given enough time for the audience to really connect with her  becomes incredibly apparent. Sure, we have seen her deal with it along the way, but just wasn’t enough for me. As I watched this episode, it had me thinking back to Happiness Charge, because it’s one of the most vivid memories of mine when it comes to Precure dealing with unrequited love. In that series, I was completely invested and felt heartbroken for all the characters’ feelings. And I think one of the most important differences between the two is how the story dealt with it. Of course Love was a central theme in Happiness Charge, but not so much in Hugtto!, which is really a variety of things. But I still feel like they missed a huge opportunity in many occasions where we could have seen Homare talk about her feelings with other characters, or at the very least, it should have been with Saaya if they had to go with one. She was the only one who figured it out very early on, while the others only received confirmations of their suspicions when they spoke to Papple about it. And it frustrates me because this was yet another thing that really could have been something between the main trio.

While we are on the subject of Saaya, holy shit— it has not gone unnoticed to me for the past several episodes or so (excluding her own focused ones), Saaya’s character has virtually faded into the background, and it really ticks me off. Next week, she will finally be getting her episode, but again, I am in a situation where they have neglected her so much, that her’s (and Homare’s) development feels incredibly shallow. There’s hardly any depth to their characters, and worst off, Saaya has absolutely been the one who had it the worst of them all. I don’t know what direction Saaya will choose, odds are she has a good chance of leaning in the direction of going into the medical field because it really piped her interest, but we’ll see…

And lastly, for the love of Rh'llor, Hana needs an Anti-George spray or something. He’s has gone all sorts of creepy and I really don’t like how he pops up to see Hana and how he’s interested in her and all that, ugh, I don’t know about you, but it actually made me shudder. Worst off, was it just me (and I have had my own suspicions of this since episode 23), or does Hana have a small crush on George? Anyhow, shit is bound to hit the fan sooner or later, maybe Episode 45? I actually can’t believe we are almost at the end, I’m surprised at myself for making it this far…

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
The concerns of Twin Love on Homarry:
Aunt Papple's Relationship Advice:
What Henri has to Say about This:
Mrs. Kagayaki's Advice to her Only Daughter:
Homare said it's Suki, ie Philia:
Tomorry, Homarry, and those Heartfelt Confessions:
PS. Georgieshin and now Rishin? How Come All those Higher-Ups are Sweet on the Blond Boy?




In Episode 44, Saaya, Reira, and Ranze get to star in... a bland-named version of Game of Thrones? At least it looks the part of realistic medieval Western fantasy without much supernatural, doesn't it?