IN WHICH THE ARIES PEN IS DARKENED ON SCREEN

Star*Twinkle Pretty Cure - Episode 10
My Own Review
IN WHICH THE ARIES PEN IS DARKENED ON SCREEN


In the tenth episode of Star ☆ Twinkle, the others return to space as the search for the Princess Star Colour Pens continue.

This is my review of Star Twinkle Ep 10 and the girls are about to learn the taste of defeat in this episode!

Wow! I was expecting some development for the upcoming power up episode and we got the three recurring generals literally beaten the girls to make them retreat out of the alien planet. 

Hoshina wants to know old man Ryo’s favourite constellation

Things kick off at the observatory, where Hikaru is supposed to be helping Ryo organise the bookshelves. She’s getting a little too lost in nostalgia, though, which leads her to ask Ryo what his favourite constellation is. His answer: Crux, which is also known as the Southern Cross (and, to pagan village societies, the Emu --Australia-- or the Rhea --Cono Sur--).
Hikaru, being the space otaku that she is, decides that she wants to go and see the Southern Cross. Fortunately, she has an alien friend with a starship of her own.

With everyone gathered, Hikaru decides it is time to go back to space

Hikaru is able to get the other girls together, and eventually persuades them that they should go look for the Southern Cross – whilst seeking the Princess Star Colour Pens, of course. Madoka mentions that her father saw them taking off before, but ultimately Hikaru persuades everyone.

What happened really? Well, for starters, after Hikaru want to see the Southern Cross constellation after hearing it was Ryotaro's favourite constellation. She dragged everyone into the spaceship despite Madoka's advice that her father is still searching for them after their previous blast-off.

Kumu: a tardigradian from the planet Tardigradia

The girls aren’t in space long before Hikaru’s Star Colour Pendant has a reaction to the Aries Pen. Fuwa sends them to the Starscape, where they arrive at a planet called Tardigradia. Hikaru is pretty shocked when she discovers the locals look nothing like she imagined.

But Hikaru insisted on going and also learn the location of the Aries Star Princess Pen which is on Planet Tardigradia. They met with a local, Kumu, who offered to take them around. But the girls have problems moving around due to the planet's heavy gravity pull. 

Along the way, the Knot Raiders' three generals arrived but this time, they were given a power boost which was granted by their Mysterious Master. It kinda of make sense since the generals were defeated 10 times already due to the Star Princesses' power. 

Planet Tardigradia has double the Earth’s gravity

Tardigradia looks quite pretty, but the gravity there is double what it is on Earth; the others quickly wear themselves out just trying to follow Kumu to the place where the Princess Star Colour Pen is supposed to be. The weather on Tardigradia is extreme, as well; one moment there is a blizzard, the next the temperature rises dramatically.

PreCures’ foes have been powered up by their lord

There is also some trouble that is not native to this world; the knotraiders show up, and they have received an increase in power from their lord. Thus, the others transform; fortunately for them, they aren’t affected by the gravity when in their PreCure forms.

This scene has spawned some very nice fanart

Unfortunately for PreCures, the KNotraiders increase in power proves to be too overwhelming for them to handle. Whilst Kappard and Tenjou keep PreCures occupied, Ayewan is free to search for the Star Colour Pen with the
Dragon Radar Hitradar.

Ayewan turns the Star Colour Pen into a Dark Pen

PreCures are powerless to stop Ayewan from claiming the Aries Star Colour Pen and turning it into a Dark Pen. Even worse, Cure Star ends up having her Taurus Princess Star Colour Pen taken from her by Kappard.

The girls tried to fight them off but their opponents were faster and stronger. As a result, Aiwan found the Aries Star Princess Pen and corrupted it. Cure Star tried to use the Taurus pen but Kappard snatched it before she could use it. (At least somebody got the initiative and interuppted an attack before it can be deployed)

BEND THE KNEE!!

YOU TOO, ROSEHEAD!

Why must it be this way? Lala questions their defeat...

PreCures were defeated

The KNotraiders’ power is something that PreCures can’t overcome, and thus they end up defeated. Before they can take the Star Colour Pens, Fuwa makes a stand – very much channeling Hugtan – and Lala calls her starship over.

Purunce hulks out to save the others

Fuwa distracted the generals long enough for Lala to call out her spaceship and everyone escaped in time. The three generals now set their eyes on Earth to claim the remaining three Star Pens in the Cures' possession. Hikaru then realised it was her fault that she got too confident and losing the Taurus Pen.

But things are about to get worse as the spaceship crash landed back on Earth where Madoka's father is nearby and he is rushing to the scene...

This fight ends with PreCures retreating, returning to Earth – where they land in front of Madoka’s father…
That brings this episode to an end.

Well, here’s something that isn’t a common sight in magical girl warrior series (and something far more frequent in dark-and-edgy adult spec-fic like Game of Thrones); the antagonists won. Fuwa’s distraction and Lala calling her starship prevented the enemy from claiming all of their Star Colour Pens, but Cure Star did lose hers.

Parts of this episode gave me some very strong Dragon Ball Z vibes – the double gravity, the Hitradar, that kind of stuff. PreCure does tend to be a little like that, but with Star ☆ Twinkle it is more prominent than ever.

This was a great episode. It’s nice to see the cadre antagonists prove to be actual threats, and even claim a victory. Often in PreCure their role is nothing more than to get defeated on a regular basis, but it seems the KNotraiders broke out of that mold. At least for this episode; that power up they got was a temporary one.

I felt this is a wake up call for Hikaru as she has to learn that being a Precure has responsibities. (Sound similar to the recently Shazam movie where Billy Batson has to learn the hard way of being a hero) Sure, she got all high handed and insisted that everyone to follow her in her quest and it got them all defeated. Precures are strong but they are not invincible. Like how Hana from last season has to overcome her lack of confidence and it got Hug-tan in a coma, Hikaru need to understand there is a time for fun and a time for action. (plus responsibility)

Furthermore, the Knot Raiders are not going to let this lying down. The three generals were given a power boost and they totally overwhelmed the girls in battle. I am kinda of intrigued that Kappard made a comment that Earth is a paradise compared what he has been through which might give him a hint of why he is so bitter and serving the Knot Raiders with no doubt.

Next time, Hikaru’s got her work cut out for her in retrieving the Star Colour Pens that the enemy claimed.

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! CAN WE JUST GIVE A MAD PROPS TO THE WRITERS FOR THIS EPISODE?!?!?! HOLY SHIT! WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME WE SAW THE VILLAINS ACTUALLY OVERWHELM THE PRECURES TO INTO SUBMISSION AND FORCE THEM TO RETREAT THIS EARLY ON?!?!?! My favourite part was when Kappard actually snatched the pen out of Hikaru’s hands, making them lose one of their own. I am so glad they actually allowed the enemy to pull the same stunt as the girls had!

And goodness, I am absolutely ecstatic about this development! The Master is frustrated with the generals being continuously, overwhelmed by the Precures, so what does he do? He grants them temporary powers! Of course it would have been even better if it were to last forever since at least the girls are bound to receive their own power up next week, but perhaps it will become more of a pattern given to them before they embark on their missions.

The best part about this is how beautifully it ties together with Hikaru’s character development. Since the start of the series, Hikaru’s head has been in the clouds, failing to acknowledge the gravity of the situation with the knotraiders, along Madoka’s father and his team investigating the area after they had. The events that transpired today was a reality check, and grim reminder of how important it is for Hikaru to act responsibly as a Precure. There is a time and place for fun, and today was simply not the time for it, and in today’s fight, she paid the price for it with the Princess Taurus Pen being stolen from her.

Of course while Hikaru will certainly blame herself for foolishly abusing the access to visit other planets to do what she wanted to do (to see the Crux, the Southern Cross Constellation, which is impossible to see once you’re in space), she isn’t the reason for their loss. Even if they had not gone to space today, the consequences of their loss would likely still be the same the next time they met. However another way to look at it, is perhaps this loss and sacrifice was actually for the better. Yes they lost two pens today, but being on a foreign planet whose gravity is doubled of Earth’s, as soon as they lose their precure form, naturally they are going to be at a huge disadvantage. Had this particular fight taken place on Earth, they also may not have been as fortunate to use the rocket as a means to escape, allowed Purunce to comfortably his abilities to gather the team for a safe retreat, and they could have very well lost all of their pens.

Needless to say, while the girls may have gotten themselves out of the frying pan, they are now find themselves in the fire with Madoka’s father Fuyuki and his team being in the area where the starship crashes. There’s a good chance this means the girls won’t be able to seamlessly travel to space with it anymore, which was never really a good option to begin with since it draws too much attention to themselves. Remember, it’s against the rules for Lala and Prunce to be seen/found by Earthlings. Based on the preview, it looks like Ryotaro will probably come to their aid when he learns Lala, Fuwa and Purunce are all aliens. If anything, the observatory might become Lala’s new place to stay for the time being.

The development in this week’s episode definitely makes me a lot more hopeful of the direction this series will go. I am pleased to see the writers are set to continue changing up the formula, empowering the enemies as much as they empower the girls. Better yet, I am really glad it looks like they are addressing Hikaru’s biggest flaw early on because of how important it is for her to act responsibly in this fight against the knotraiders.

Oh, and I almost forgot, it seems they have been dropping a bit of hints about the knotraiders’ motives, or at least gave us a chance to see a bit about what goes in Kappard’s mind. I found it interesting how he brought up how he told that humans live on the cosiest climate around, and that one doesn’t understand anything about what makes a planet beautiful. It will be interesting to see if a planet’s climate factor is something that only Kappard feels strongly about, or if all the knotraiders feel the same!

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
The idea of gravity on other planets, like the Tardigradians', who have obviously evolved to withstand both e*treme gravity and climate conditions
Tardigradia:
The Aries Pen
Power-Up:
Fuwa Mode:
Aries Princess: Sadly, we have been left on a wham-ending zenpen cliffhanger. So we'll have to wait a little while for the rematch. In spite of this, we got enough cadre spotlight, and a first-hand look at Ayewan's MO, to make up for that!

Ayewan's Pen-Darkening Inkwells: For the first time in forever, we've seen how she does it on screen (hence the title)! Here she's dunking the Aries pen into her darkness-filled inkwell to infuse it well...
Also, her pen locator has a canon name: it's called the Hitradar!
A Theory on Kappard's Origin (feat. Frogs and Climate Change): I am kinda of intrigued that Kappard made a comment that Earth is a paradise compared what he has been through which might give him a hint of why he is so bitter and serving the Knot Raiders with no doubt. My theory is that there is a wetland world or Swamp Planet (something like Naboo or Dagobah) populated by frog-like beings --we have already seen sapient pomeranians and tardigrades in this series-- and the star of that star system grew as the liquid on the swamp-marsh planet evaporated, so that the dominant species evolved from frogs into humanoid kappa who could thrive better on land. And Kappard is one of them. But still the star kept on growing and their world kept on drying up, turning more and more steppe-ified... and thus all the kappa, who had developed at least some rudimentary space travel, went forth on a diaspora in search for wetter pastures. Even though here on the Earth the mercury is rising and all the amphibians are endangered, we are doing our best against climate change and things could be worse when it comes to climate (for instance: Mars, a skip away from us, is half bone-dry desert, half ice caps)!
The Crushing Defeat: This is a magical girl warrior series, not something completely dark-and-edgy like Game of Thrones! The wham ending for this week came completely out of left field...

Fuyuki has seen the starship land: Courtesy of Fuyuki Kaguya, the closest thing to both Tywin and Javert this continuity has to offer, is the final nail in the coffin called the wham ending of this episode.



IN NEXT EPISODE (11):