ENVERS L'INFINI ET PLUS LOIN ENCORE

Hugtto Pretty Cure
Episode 42 - My Own Review
ENVERS L'INFINI ET PLUS LOIN ENCORE

The forty-second episode of Hugtto! focuses on Henri, as he and Homare are entering the world juniors ice skating championship. However, Henri’s skating isn’t the same as it once was…

Masato defends Henri from fangirls

Before I start talking about the episode, I want to point out that there was a slight change to the opening. Did you spot it? It ties into this episode, and that’s all I’ll say on the matter.
So, ice skating championships are coming up, and they even design a costume for him, to cheer for Henri, but he rejects. Henri also happens to have the attention of a few fangirls, though Masato insists that they should leave him be so he can focus on the competition. Henri’s fine with it, though.

As the girls were preparing for Henri and Homare's upcoming performance, Homare noticed Henri's performance was not up to par and he admitted that he has a leg injury on his left calf that is hindering him. Homare advised him not to enter the performance but he insisted claiming it is his last chance.

Henri asks Homare to let him be Henri Wakamiya until the very last moment

Homare and Henri practice together, but Homare picks up pretty quickly that Henri’s skating has changed. She can tell that he is injured, but Henri refuses to give it up. If his career must come to an end, he wants it to end on the ice.

Risutol has his episodic memory erased

Meanwhile, at Criasu, Ristle is awakened from narcosis. George has had his episodic memory erased, and tells him to erase the world’s future to protect it from the torture of despair. Ristle obediently obeys – the resistance he showed previously has completely disappeared.

As Henri gets hit by a truck, frozen in the headlights, George keeps on reading his little prophecies and holding a white lily in hand...




Henri ends up in hospital 

As Henri is travelling to the venue of the ice skating championship, he ends up getting caught in the headlights - literally. Homare and Masato rush to his side at the hospital. However, Henri pretty much just tells them to go away. When they have left, he wallows in his own despair.


Later, Henri ended with a cast on his left leg. Homare and Masato tried to empathize with him but he shunned them out. 




It was then Ristle appeared and offered him a place in Crisis-Criasu, promising to heal his career-ending injury.

Ristle arrives to recruit Henri

With Henri at his most vulnerable, Criasu make their move. 




Ristle takes Henri to the ice skating venue, where the toge-power of Henri’s fans fills the air. 






With all that despair, Ristle summons a Wild Theender, shaped like a white lily. 

Ristle brought Henri to the skating rink where his fans were upset over his accident. The negative energy from the fans create an lily-themed theender and placed Henri inside a crystal case. The girls went to battle and tried to free Henri and defeat the theender at the same time. 


Ristle may have been the one to summon the Wild Theender, but he is not the one who gives it commands.

Henri joins Criasu

Henri commands the Wild Theender created from his fanbase to tear it all down. Of course, this is the cue for PreCures to do their thing.

The PreCures fight using their Mirai Bracelets

PreCures fight the Wild Theender, whilst trying to get through to Henri. 

The Cures tried to get through him telling him that we might fall some time but we must also learn how to get up from our failures. He is asked: what does he want to be? Henri reaches an answer, and all PreCures combine the Mirai Bracelets and strength to bring about a miracle.

The rest of the girls gave their powers to a Future Bracelet and it awakens Henri from the crystal case. 






It also granted Henri into a similar outfit like the girls which he proclaimed himself as Cure Infini!


Mesdames et messieurs, may I introduce the first canonical male PreCure in the history of this franchise!

Cure Infini

The miracle turns Henri into Cure Infini (the name he came up with himself), and allows Henri to skate one last time.

The audience members who had fallen unconscious wake up (sort of), and are able to witness Henri’s skating.







Of course, we got Cure Infini and all he does was distract the theender enough for the girls to finish the theender off.
PreCures finish off the monster of the week, and Henri’s miracle wears off. He happens to be in midair at the time.


After that, Masato caught hold of Henri in a Pietà stance as he was glad that he leave an impact on the skating rink on a high note...

Masato catches Henri

Masato rushes forward to catch Henri, which he does successfully. Henri apologises, but all Masato has to say is ‘You can do anything… you can be anything!’

After all that, Henri returns to the hospital. The Cures isit him, and he talks about searching for what he wants to be. That gets the girls thinking about their futures, too.
He also dubs them all the ‘PreCures of wings’ – Cure Étoile who flies through the sky (which means stars in the sky), and Cure Ange the angel at heart. Hana doesn’t think she quite fits in with that, however, Cure Yell sounds like the French word ‘aile’, which means wings. And Amour and Ma Chérie, just like Infini, are self-demonstrating to a French boy.

After the battle, Henri explained to the girls about how each of them have "Wings"...




However Homare has a sense of anxiety for her upcoming performance...

This episode is okay but like the previous Emilu/Twin Love episode a bit rushed. One is Henri's build-up leading to him succumb to Criasu. Although we knew in previous episodes that Ristle tried to recruit Henri and even showed that Henri has a leg injury. It was forgotten about it until last week episode which was hinted at the end and preview. 

Next I felt that Homare/Cure Étoile should be the one to get through to Henri during the battle since they were childhood rivals and she herself has setback in the earlier episodes (Remember the first few episodes?) and could relate to what Henri is going through right now. 

Back on topic, this was a good episode. Seeing that slight change to opening seemed to suggest that Henri would be with Criasu for longer than one episode, but that turned out not to be the case.
I’ve said this before, but seeing how far both Henri and Masato have come since their initial introductions has been excellent. They’ve definitely had a very good influence on each other.
I did feel it was a bit of a missed opportunity to not have Masato cheer along with Cures during that scene, but at least they still got a decent moment after the fight was over.

PS. We also met Charalit at the park in this episode - he was giving thanks for saving his soul when he became a theender! It was pretty neat to see Charalit turn up and give some confidence. The reformed villains have been a very good part of Hugtto!.

Oh la vache, I have a lot of feelings about this. This episode was a rollercoaster of emotions, from despair and fear of Henri’s condition, to elation of his transformation and to bitter uncertainty of the meaning behind the notion “it was only a miraculous dream” by the end of it.

PERFECTION, EVERYONE ELSE GO HOME!

And Gods, I wish they hadn’t said that.

I was so happy, that I was crying guys, I was crying really hard because I didn’t think they were actually going to do it, and was so ecstatic it was finally happened… that I didn’t even notice he didn’t get a Future Crystal, until I had to go back and check after hearing what Ristle said.

And I don’t know about you, but when I realized that, it made me really upset.

I wanted to believe that we will be able to see Henri’s Cure Infini in action, but after hearing that, my high mood just dropped to an all new low. While Henri got to transform into the stunning outfit he had designed, all of that happened for the sole purpose of enabling him to skate once more. The fact he didn’t get a Future Crystal only solidifies that purpose. The title was more of something he has created for the moment.

Maybe people are fine with that, and it’s okay to be, but for me it’s not.

I freaking loved this scene

A someone who had hoped for Henri to become a Precure, the first male Cure EVER, all while keeping expectations low and knowing better not to hold out for it, as a viewer, I can’t help but feel cheated.

Perhaps I am jumping the gun here and everything will be be fine (how nice it would be if that were to be the case), where Henri will somehow, even without a Mirai Crystal of his own, will still be a precure and join the team in their future fights… but as it stands right now, it sure doesn’t look like it (with the one exception of perhaps the final fight, but even that wouldn’t satisfy me).

MOOD

As you know, from the get go, I have always felt Henri has always been a prime candidate to become a Precure, even more so than Lulu and Emiru. It has always made sense, and while I didn’t hold my breath for it, I had always hoped they would do it. But if this is their way of “debuting” a male precure (that isn’t a fairy mind you), then this is a cheap cop out and it completely contradict the whole “you can be anything” message they have been pushing throughout the series. I mean seriously, if they don’t actually let him be a Precure by fighting with the team, then how the bloody hell does that apply to “you can be anything”? Am I taking it too literally? Maybe I am, but either way, in the end, it still ends up messing with our hearts and expectations, and I can’t help but feel bitter and heartbroken about it.

On top of that, even if he has been granted Precure powers of his own (without the Future Crystal), my fear and scepticism remains due to being severely wounded in that horrible car accident, would end up serving as a excuse why he can’t be involved in their fights. If that were to happen, it would certainly feel a lot like how female characters suddenly get in an accident and are unable to get involved with the group’s fight. Regardless of the gender, I absolutely hate it when this happens under any circumstances. This would only infuriate me even more.

Also, (and this is totally a trivial matter), I would be also pissed off for wasting such a STUNNING precure design on a one shot miracle, because DAMNIT. HENRI AS INFINI LOOKS ABSOLUTELY SPLENDID!

My disappointment aside, it would be a disservice to fail to acknowledge how great this episode was. The emotional impact was on point. I was devastated when we learned Henri has already undergone several surgeries and received medical advice, and has been told his dream of competing as a competitive skater was no longer a path he could take. Then when the accident happened, ultimately ending his dream, preventing him from completing his last skate, they did a good job explaining why Henri was pushing himself despite his probably career-ending injury, and were able to witness his regrets, most noticeably about the point in time when he did neglect his injury. He couldn’t help but think perhaps if he hadn’t, things would have been different, and was consumed by regret and despair. I also love how this event, served as a great catalyst to push him over the end, a prime opportunity for Criasu to finally exploit his weakness.

The support from Masato and Homare, also invoked a lot of feelings from me. I love the friendship between the three of them, and the support they give him. Better yet, I love how the others acknowledged they don’t know what to say in this situation, they don’t know how to cheer for him, but nevertheless, continued to fight to prevent him from being dragged to the dark side.

To some extent, it is a bit of a shame how Criasu weren’t able to make use of Henri as one of their own for more than one episode, but at the same time, it really just goes to show just how powerful his heart actually is. In the end, with the support of his friends, Henri has come to terms he just needs time to search for something else he wants to be. (Also quick note, a good point he made about how the girls are like the “wings to the future”.)

In other news, George is quickly escalating to a whole new level of a creepy villain. His obsession with “Mother” and Hugtan's connection/ similarities with her is really freaking me out now. While Hugtan remains a prime target, is it not to be forgotten that he has also successfully reconditioned Ristle, who now has no memories of Harry, much less of Bishin I bet. (If that’s the case, poor Bishin, she is really losing everyone…) He has resumed as George’s reliable right-hand soldier, and will required to be saved again. Meanwhile, Gelos continues to be MIA, who knows what the woman is up to besides spiralling further into insanity.

Next week, Homare will be reflecting on the path she wishes to take. While we will also be seeing her work towards her goal of being a competitive skater, I expect to see how she will hopefully find closure for her feelings towards Harry.

ONE MORE TIME FOR CURE INFINI!

Although I like the message of how things might not go smoothly but it is how we adapt it and move forward for a better future which leads to Henri getting his one-off dream of being a Precure. (And, if we count headcanons, Giulio/Cure Waffles is the first Male Precure not Henri) 

Furthermore, it was an one-off thing and Henri is back in the hospital after the whole thing was over. Of course, if the final battle require some moral support, Henri might return as Cure Infini. Who knows?

Presumably that wraps up Henri’s story, and I really liked the way that things concluded. 

We also noticed that Ristle still follows George after his injuries since he has already gone too deep in the abyss. 

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
Oh la vache, Henri!!!
career-ending injury
from prospective cadre turned theender due to fears of career-ending injury (negative emotion of the week - Henri is in bad shape it looks like he won't be skating anytime soon) to... first male precure EVER
henrisato moments
ps. george kurai's oedipus
ps. charalit's face turn

Next is Homare getting ready for her performance after Henri has stepped down. But Bishin is determined to get rid of Homare and take back Harry from her. Until then, see you in the next post!
Next episode will focus on Homare – and it is close enough to the end that it could be potentially the last time I talk about Homare’s feelings for Harry, and if Homarry is still a seaworthy ship at the end of the day. On the plus side, Cure Étoile’s fights against her evil counterpart Bishin have been particularly good. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens next time.