My Own Review
IN WHICH A CASTAWAY HAS DOUBTS ABOUT HERSELF
The second episode of Star ☆ Twinkle naturally
introduces the second member of this new PreCure team. That means it is
Lala’s turn to be in the spotlight, and I have been looking forward to
this. Let’s see if this episode lives up to my expectations.
Lala is super cute
This episode begins with Lala attempting to make repairs on her starship, but it has suffered a lot of damage. Meanwhile, Hikaru wants to know
exactly what PreCures are supposed to be. Purunce explains that they are
legendary warriors of prophecy who will restore the light of the stars when they
fade.
I’ll say this now: I really like Lala
As Lala continues to attempt to repair her shuttle, Purunce decides that he should look after the Twinkle Book. Hikaru
disagrees; it was her treasure before it transformed, after all. She
persuades Purunce that it is best kept in the hands of a PreCure.
After finding out that her spaceship needed time to repair, Hikaru invited Lala, Fuwa, and Prunce to her home. Although reluctant to go, they went ahead even though Lala explained that aliens are not suppose to make contact with earthlings as ordered by the Universal Enforcement Organisation. (Not sure the actual name)
Lala and Purunce are not allowed to be spotted by Earthlings
For the time being, Hikaru decides to take Lala, Fuwa, and Purunce to
her home. There’s a catch, though: if they are spotted by Earthlings,
they will be banned from space travel. Hikaru has dinner with her
family, during which time Lala decides to go back to her wreck for the night.
However Lala and Prunce entered Hikaru's room through the windows and she was amazed by the space-related things by Hikaru, especially the library. Hikaru explained that it all belonged to her father and she took over his things. Hikaru's Grandpa entered the room to tell Hikaru that supper is ready, he was kind of pissed after seeing her father's items on the table.
(There must be some Hoshino family mystery here... right?)
Lala returned back to her quarters and asked the ship's AI computer on the possibility of Hikaru and herself becoming Precures and the numbers was less than 1 percent. Hikaru arrived with a basket of onigiri but Lala showed her that she can survive with Cosmic Gummies.
Hikaru took one survival gummy and was loving it.
Hikaru shows up, and she brings along some rice balls to share with Lala. Lala insists that her Cosmo Gummies are fine for her, but Hikaru is able to convince her to try the rice balls. Lala is pleasantly surprised.
Lala also took a bite of the onigiri and claimed it is delicious too. Hikaru took off and promise to look after Fuwa and Prunce at home.
Hikaru shares some rice balls with Lala
We also learn that Lala is 13 years old in Earth years, though
considered an adult on her planet. Hikaru has to cut her meeting with
Lala short, as she’ll end up in trouble if she stays out too late.
PS. They're actually her electric sensor organs, like those of electric fish. Chekhov's gun loaded and planted onstage!
Four of the twelve Star Princesses (L-R: Capricorn, Libra, Taurus, Leo)
The next day, Prunce explained that he and Fuwa came from the Star Palace which is ruled by the Twelve Star Princesses however the Knot Raiders invaded the heart-shaped planet and both Prunce and Fuwa were sent away in order to keep them safe.
However, the Knotraiders invaded to claim their power as their own, so the Star Princesses used the last of their power to send Fuwa and Purunce away to seek out PreCures. They ended up scattered across space, which is why Lala is so keen to fix her starship and take off once more.
The Star Princesses then used their power to stop the Knot Raiders however in the process, they lost their powers and were scattered throughout the universe. Lala was investigating the strange readings nearby and saved Prunce and Fuwa.
Hikaru reacts in her usual way (ie fangirling) to hearing all this, which makes Lala feel that she isn’t taking her duty as a PreCure seriously.
Hikaru tells Lala that she can become a PreCure
After a close encounter with Mr. Ryou, (which oddly enough, he doesn't seem surprised to see Lala in her getup) Hikaru asked Lala if she wanted to become a Precure in which Lala replied it is impossible based on the ship AI calculations. However Hikaru claimed sometime you got to trust your feelings and instinct and not rely too much on technology.
Cure Star protects Lala from Kappard’s attack
Hikaru transforms, but finds it difficult to protect Lala and Fuwa from
both Kappard and his soldiers. Cure Star tells Lala to transform,
and through her desire to protect Fuwa with her own strength, that is
exactly what Lala does.
Nom
Lala then confessed to Fuwa that she wanted to protect her and Lala was
granted her oqn Star Colour Pen and Pendant.
The Milky Way Galaxy unfolding in the heavens, Cure Milkyway
Cure Milkyway uses electrical attacks (from her antennae)
Lala transformed to Cure Milkyway and easily took down the mooks and even used her special attack-Precure Milky Shock to force Kappard to retreat.
After being electrocuted, Kappard retreats.
That burn on his right arm? Only a flesh wound.
Hikaru’s Star Colour Pendant begins to glow
With both girls becoming Precures, pendants start to glow, pointing to somewhere in a Taurean direction... (So the pendant is not only an inkwell and a transformation trinket, but also an orientation compass!)
AHHHHHHHHHHHH LALA IS SO FREAKING CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I adore her so much.
WHO AM I KIDDING, THIS WHOLE EPISODE WAS SO FLUFFY I LOVE IT!
WHO AM I KIDDING, THIS WHOLE EPISODE WAS SO FLUFFY I LOVE IT!
I really enjoyed this episode. It wasn’t
as crazy as the premiere, but I thought it found just the right
balance. We were able to learn a lot about both girls and Fuwa’s
background and quest to save the twelve zodiac princesses.
It starts off with, somewhere far away
from Earth, there is a place known as the Starsky World. There in the
Star Palace, resides the Twelve Zodiac Princesses, who posses the power
to protect Space. But it is because of that they are attacked by Knotraiders who wish to use their power so they could take over the
universe. While the twelve princesses were able to drive the Knotraiders
away, and they wounded up scattered and lost in space, and the Starsky World
fell into darkness again. In order to stop the disaster from occurring
on her planet, Lala embarked on a quest. She ended up saving
Prunce and Fuwa when they were being pursued.
First
of all, let me just gush about the villains. I am super pleased to see
the Knot-raiders Generals directly attack the precure with their mooks,
as opposed to possessing people to produce minions to wreck havoc. Maybe
this will change down the line varying on the generals themselves, but I
for one am absolutely embracing this change of pace. I am loving how
the girls are forced to face the enemy head on, and how at least
Kappard, doesn’t lay around and do observe from the sidelines while his
minions does the work. After the pathetic showing of the villains in the
last series, proactive villains are exactly what we need.
(Side Note: Did anyone laugh really hard when Kappard said: “electricity
is effective against a drenched body”. I mean, it’s true, AHAHA! Also
the dude is going to be witnessing at least two more miracles.)
Another
little detail I loved was how instead of having Hikaru barge into her
home like, “HEY MUM, I MADE A NEW FRIEND SHE’S CRASHING HERE FOR A BIT
OKAY?”, they actually snuck into her room, and Lala and Prunce have to be
concerned about the space law of keeping their identities as aliens as
secret from Earthlings. Although she ended up going back to the rocket
that night, it was still really cute to see them sneak in. We also
discovered that Lala can’t communicate with other earthlings besides
Hikaru, which shows us how Fuwa’s power didn’t extend to enabling her to
understand what everyone besides Hikaru is saying. I suspect this will
change in due time for the sake of convenience, but it would be a
curious thing if they actually choose not to.
We learned that Hikaru’s room used to be
her dad’s study. It seems he may played a part in her love for
astronomy, as he had a huge collection of books about outer space, which she
has more or less inherited. I look forward to the day we get to learn
more about how Hikaru became so passionate about space.
It looks like Fuwa is about to eat her LOLOLOLOLOL!
Another thing that was further established this week was this series’ theme: You can imagine whatever you want to be, your experiences are your own, and don’t give up before you try.
A what better character to deliver the message than Hikaru, who is
fearlessly exploring all sorts of new things— even though it can be a
bit on the risky side at times. Lala was able to learn a lot of this
from Hikaru in this weeks’ episode, by trying out foreign food and
strengthening her convictions of wanting to become a Precure so she can
protect Fuwa too.
In fact this makes me wonder if Precure
as a franchise is looking to shift away from the idea of the girls
fatefully being “chosen” as the legendary Precure warriors. Hugtto Precure
played a huge part of stepping away from that by revealing anyone with a
strong heart can become one, regardless of your age or gender. With
Lala outright asking Fuwa to grant her power so she can become a Precure
to enable her to fight, I am curious to see if this pattern will
continue from here on out— needless to say, this is an extremely early
speculation, as we are only two episodes in.
As for Cure Milkyway’s debut, I love her design! And I think it goes without saying how her transformation sequence is significantly better
than Cure Star’s because there at least more going on than just plainly
drawing squiggly lines. I appreciated the more expressive delivery
because I felt it reflected her character’s personality better. I am
also a huge fan of her power being electricity! Look at her shocking those mooks!
On the flipside, as expected Cure Milkyway
features the same the song during her transformation as well, making it
an easy way for them to compliment the group transformation now. I have a
feeling we might just hear all of them sing at the same time when that
happens, or maybe they will break up the lines in between them. I think
the former would make it less complicated though. Either way, even after
sitting through it for the second time, I don’t think it’s going to
grow on me. I really don’t like the addition. It feels terribly
forced and out of place. Also, is it just me, or does the melody also
feel incomplete?
And last thing: while we are on the
subject on songs, I can’t believe I neglected to mention this last
week: But I am absolutely obsessed with the opening and ending songs.
They are both super charming in their own way!
So, did Cure Milkyway’s debut live up to my expectations? Yes, it absolutely did. I already like Lala a lot, and she just got even better in this episode.
I also like that we get a blue Cure that uses electricity – typically they tend to favour water or ice attacks. Definitely got to give Cure Milkyway some credit for that.
As for Cure Milkyway’s design – well, she bares a strong resemblance to Mio Minato from Aikatsu Friends!. I like it, though.
Lala’s extremely cute, too. There’s a moment during her transformation sequence where she puffs her cheeks up – when her hair is changing – that is just adorable. She does a similar thing when unleashing her Milky Shock as well.
Finally, I want to draw your attention to this:
So, did Cure Milkyway’s debut live up to my expectations? Yes, it absolutely did. I already like Lala a lot, and she just got even better in this episode.
I also like that we get a blue Cure that uses electricity – typically they tend to favour water or ice attacks. Definitely got to give Cure Milkyway some credit for that.
As for Cure Milkyway’s design – well, she bares a strong resemblance to Mio Minato from Aikatsu Friends!. I like it, though.
Lala’s extremely cute, too. There’s a moment during her transformation sequence where she puffs her cheeks up – when her hair is changing – that is just adorable. She does a similar thing when unleashing her Milky Shock as well.
Finally, I want to draw your attention to this:
These pictures come from an advert for Star ☆ Twinkle gummy sweets, and I’d like to think that they are a hint of things to come for Cure Star and Cure Milkyway.
MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
Keeping on hoping that Hikaru is a book-smart pink Cure: Still keeping my fingers crossed for that fact to be true. (I seriously hope we do NOT get another book-dunce geek like Miyuki-Emily in Smile!, who knew everything about fairytales and nothing about other things taught at class, but instead Hikaru as the third book-smart pink Cure ever, after Cure Blossom-Tsubomi and Cure Heart-Mana-Maya!!!).
Backstory - on the takeover of the Star Palace by Knot Raiders: I HAD TO WITHSTAND THE URGE TO MAKE A FIRE NATION REFERENCE THIS TIME. AND YES, IT WAS QUITE THE STRUGGLE.
Once more a mook fight: It seems that Kappard's specialty is commanding mooks.
Mr. Hoshino's mystery: Still Sir Not-Appearing-So-Far, but we now know that Hikaru's bedroom and library were inherited from her estranged father. As well as her passion for astronomy.
Cure Milkyway transformation sequence:
Lala's sensors:
The constraints on Lala's interpreting spell:
The cliffhanger coda with the Taurus clue:
This episode was pretty interesting as we get some back stories on Lala, Prunce, and the world building for this series. Look like there is some kinda of Space Enforcement organisation that maintain order in the universe. (Kinda like the Galaxy Police from Space Sheriff or the Galactic Patrol from Dragonball Super) It will be fun if Toei will do a crossover between Star Twinkle and either one of these series to expand the universe.
I am also wondering if Hikaru's father is still alive or probably overseas... maybe overspace? Perhaps her father might play a part in the future and looking at Hikaru's Grandpa disgusted look on his face in Hikaru's room, something must have happened between them.
We also get to know that Lala's alien species has different cultures since 13 earth years mean you are an adult according to her society. But you can guess that Lala will probably behave like a normal teenager eventually after interacting with Hikaru and company.
Lala is also a girl who relies on technology and logic thinking. After seeing the chances of becoming a Precure is less than 1 percent, she nearly gave up hope but Hikaru is a girl with a lot of gut feelings, she gave Lala the push to believe in herself and finally becoming Cure Milkyway.
Cure Milkyway transformation song was a step up from Cure Star and it is great to see a Teal Cure to be the 2nd Cure instead of being the 3rd or 4th member. Furthermore, after Cure Peace, we finally have a Precure who also used Lightning based attacks. (A Homage to Sailor Jupiter whose uniform is Green and used Lightning based attacks? Well, Jupiter was GREEN, NOT TEAL. More likely a Homage to Azula -AZULA- and her BLUE LIGHTNING!!)
IN NEXT EPISODE (3):
Next time, it looks like Hikaru and Lala won’t exactly be getting along. A pretty common occurrence for a lot of new PreCure in-team couples. Also seems like we may have to wait until episode four to see the next member join the team, but I’m willing to wait.
Better yet, it looks like next week the Red General/Cadre (the Baroness du jour) will make her first appearance, which means she should be revealed in next week’s or the following episode’s opening if they intend to reveal each silhouette as soon as, or after they make their debut. Our next Precure, Elena/Soleil, is also debuting as well, but while they will meet the girl, it doesn’t look like she will necessarily become one next week since they want to build up some time forge the friendship between Hikaru and Lala.
So now with two cures, the girls can finally start their search for the Star Princesses. Of course, it is not going to be easy since Hikaru and Lala have different opinions and approach and got into an argument. Furthermore, we are getting a new female general in the next episode. (She is voiced by Aya Endo, who voiced the Sword Maiden from Goblin Slayer and Miyuki of Lucky Star)
L-R and clockwise: The baroness (in leotard of power, 7-11
o'clock), the gentlemanly butler (an ikemen? Centre), the brute (1
o'clock), the perky female minion (dark-skinned blonde in puffy
breeches, 3-5 o'clock), and some guy who may or may not be Kappard (6
o'clock)
From this, we may theorise that the Knotraider cadres/generals will most surely have a Japanese youkai theme:
- Kappard - Kappa
- The Baroness - Tengu
- The Perky Female Minion - either Nekomata (cat spirit) or Raijuu (lightning beast)
- The Brute - Oni (ogre)
- The Affably Evil Butler - looks waaaay more European than Asian (quintessential British "James") - maybe his status as the odd one out will lead to, or explain, something about the Knotraiders...
Until then, see you in the next post!
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