My Own Review
IN WHICH A DOUBLE AGENT'S IDENTITY IS REVEALED
Hikaru and company blast off into space once more in the nineteenth episode of Star ☆ Twinkle, and this time their destination is the Planet Rainbow. We also learn a little more about the Blue Cat in this episode.
Planet Rainbow
The next Princess Star Colour Pen, the one for Gemini, is located on the Planet Rainbow, so that is exactly where the others go on Lala’s starship. It looks pretty when seen from the Starscape, but when they touch down they discover it is empty.
The "people" of Planet Rainbow had been turned to stone
The search for the Princess Star Colour Pen leads the girls into a mine.
Blue Cat’s treasure hoard
Inside the mine, they find more statues and the treasures that the Blue
Cat acquired from Drasm. Mixed in with all the treasure is the Gemini Princess Star Colour Pen. Before anyone can grab it, though, someone
else shows up.
Bakenyan and Ayewan
Ayewan was able to follow the others into the mine. She is accompanied by Bakenyan, and of course their objective is to claim the Star Colour Pens. Thus, the others transform, and a fight ensues.
Ayewan reveals she was the one responsible for what happened to Planet Rainbow
During the fight, Ayewan reveals that she was the one who turned the
cat-people of Planet Rainbow to stone. A little while ago, she visited the
planet with an experimental Dark Pen, which went awry. Whilst it
devastated the planet, and petrified all of its denizens, Ayewan retreated.
(It was not our cyclopette's intention -- she's as much to blame as one who drops a loaded gun to the ground in shock and causes it to shoot someone accidentally)
(oui, they're so evenly matched!)
Ayewan threatens to turn Fuwa into a KNottrigger
Ayewan manages to grab Fuwa, and threatens to turn her into a
'trigger. After all, she can’t use any of the locals as they are all
statues. However, Bakenyan stops her, grabbing Fuwa and saying that
Darknest’s orders are to capture Fuwa. However, Fuwa smells something
familiar.
Next, the cat-butler produces a...
...and sprays all over himself, till a mist screen hides him from view.
When the fog has lifted...
Our Blue Cat reveals herself
Turns out that Bakenyan was actually the Blue Cat in disguise. ALL ALONG. WHAM. She
infiltrated the enemy in an attempt to find a way to turn the petrified cat-people of
Planet Rainbow back to normal. What better way to gain intel by using her dress-up Perfume to join the 'raiders incognito? Ayewan is taken aback at this, but she
soon gets it together and turns one of the random statues into a 'trigger.
By turning one of the statues into a KNottrigger, Ayewan manages to prove something: that the people of Planet Rainbow are still very much alive (don't take for granite that they're entirely in suspended animation!). Ayewan has the 'trigger grab our Blue Cat’s treasure, and makes a run for it. When the Blue Cat pursues, the 'trigger attacks.
Cure Milkyway protects the Blue Cat
As she is shocked in response, we see through her glasses the real colour of her eyes: a golden or amber that contrasts with her colour scheme.
As she is shocked in response, we see through her glasses the real colour of her eyes: a golden or amber that contrasts with her colour scheme.
Cure Milkyway leaps to the Blue Cat’s defence, giving Cure Star, Cure Soleil,
and Cure Selene the opportunity to attack the enemy. Our Blue Cat also
helps out with a flash bomb, giving Cure Milkyway the opportunity to claim
the Gemini Princess Star Colour Pen. Milkyway powers up her Milky Shock
with the Pen, and that provides the opportunity for PreCures to finish
the battle.
The 'trigger is defeated, returning to being a statue of a cat-person. Ayewan retreats as well, of course.
The 'trigger is defeated, returning to being a statue of a cat-person. Ayewan retreats as well, of course.
Gemini Fuwa
With a new Princess Star Colour Pen, the time comes once again for
PreCures to take a trip to the Star Palace where a new (twindividual!) Star Princess is
revived.
Gemini Star Princesses
Our Blue Cat needs Fuwa and the Princesses’ powers.
That brings this episode to an end.
This was an excellent episode of Star ☆ Twinkle. I’m pretty sure plenty of people had already figured out that Bakenyan was actually the Blue Cat, so that didn’t really come as a surprise.
However, we now know a bit more about our Blue Cat’s history, and what her motives are. She appears to be reclaiming Planet Rainbow’s treasure – which was sold off by Ayewan – whilst seeking a way to return its people to normal. So our Blue Cat seeks to restore Planet Rainbow, and will resort to stealing if she can achieve that goal.
I liked the Blue Cat when she first appeared, and knowing more about her now, I like her even more. She has been a great addition to the cast, and big things await her.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to see what is in store for Blue Cat, as Star ☆ Twinkle is taking a break next week. Considering what will happen in the episode, I suspect the wait will be worth it.
What I didn’t see coming: Bakenyan was the Blue Cat in disguise!
What I saw coming: Blue Cat stealing the Pens and Fuwa
What I saw coming: Blue Cat stealing the Pens and Fuwa
OOOOHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT A GREAT TWIST! And it makes so much sense too! Our Blue Cat disguising herself as Bakenyan was absolutely brilliant since it makes it so she has been on the enemy’s side undercover the entire time! This is why she had known about the girls’ true identities from the start! It’s actually quite amazing how she was able to dupe at least Ayewan up until now, especially being so close to the big bad Overlord Darknest (the better to stab them in the back?). Ayewan was super salty about being tricked all this time.
And speaking of the devils, It turns out the beef between Ayewan and the Blue Cat was quite a personal one. Ayewan was the one responsible for the fall of the Rainbow Planet. She wanted them to hand over the Gemini Princess Pen, but since they refused to, she used her Dark Pen that was still imperfect at the time, and it went out of control. While she was able to bail out, the results of the Pen going out of control were catastrophic, turning everyone across the planet into stone. (Except one catgirl as the sole survivor...) It goes to show the sheer power of the Princess Pens, and how dangerous it can be if it falls into the wrong hands.
While it came as a huge surprise of Bakenyan just being a disguise all along, the Blue Cat stealing both Fuwa and the girls’ Pens right from under their noses came as no surprise, especially since it’s highly likely her desire is to set her fellow Rainbowians free from their petrified state. That was as predictable as the episode was going to get, but knowing it was inevitably going to happen didn’t make it any less dramatic. The girls had just saved her, and vowed to restore Planet Rainbow, and yet they were robbed.
Of course given the events, and even the preview, it’s easy to automatically assume its time for the “inevitable” next precure: Cure Cosmos. However, I wouldn’t be so quick to jump on that. As of right now, the distributions of the twelve pens are equally divided among the girls. With four more pens to go, here are the pen holder’s count:
- Hikaru – 1
- Lala – 2 (*Rainbow Planet’s pen (today) was supposed to be her third)
- Elena – 3
- Madoka – 2
By making the Blue Cat another Precure, not only her color scheme (Cobalt Blue) conflicts with Lala’s pen palette (Teal, another shade), and there’s no real way for them to equally divide the pens properly among the five of them unless they were to make her the 13th Pen. This could potentially be done by combining all the pens they have right now, (and who knows, maybe she has the last four too), which would technically explain why (in the preview) she gets the name of Cure Cosmos and her dress is has a rainbow on it, unless it’s supposed to be a tribute to her planet.
Or… [Disclaimer: Take this with a grain of salt] They could potentially use their power to make a another pen of a sorts, similarly to what we saw in Hugtto, and play along with Ophiuchus, which some identify as 13th sign of the Zodiac. Mind you, I don’t know much about it.This was just something I had just came across while looking up the zodiac a while back, and the current situation made me think of that. Again, I’m just spitting speculation here, don’t read too much into this.
But personally, I think it would probably be better to not make our Blue Cat into another Precure. I mean, it’s not like she can’t do anything or be part of the squad if she doesn’t become one. She has other creative ways to fight thanks to her experience as a Kaitou Thief. It would be a great way to continue breaking the the mold that the Precure franchise has been stuck with for such a long time. I for one would be ecstatic to see this kind of change of pace, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like they will go down that path. It would be a mild disappointment, but otherwise it’s not a big deal since I expected her to become one anyways. It doesn’t make her any less awesome than she already is.
Overall, this week’s episode was fantastic! I loved the twists, and I must say it was quite unexpected to see how the Rainbowians (cat-people) were actually petrified, taken for granite the way most of us initially had imagined them to be. I was expecting to see them as rainbow crystals after the way the Blue Cat looked over the ones she recovered. Maybe it could be both, but for now it’s relatively uncertain.
MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
Fuyuki Kaguya's suspicions: Is it me or is his Javert sense tingling even more for each and every episode?
The story of the Rainbow World: For Rh'llor's sake, Ayewan, so you wanted the Gemini Pen and really frigged things up far more than Valjean with some bread or Iago with a hanky -- the chaotic unforeseen consequence's of our cyclopette's chance apocalypse: petrifying a whole species of catfolk down to one male/tom and one female/queen left as sole survivors (at first I thought so, until that bottle of perfume was produced)... or aren't they one and the same cat-person? Does that make the Blue Cat, the one true blue sole survivor, an F2M trans?
The connection between Bakenyan and the Blue Cat: As stated above, these two are actually one and the same cat-person. Does that make the Blue Cat, the one true blue sole survivor, an F2M trans? I didn't expect that Spanish Inquisition! Her weapon is surprise, indeed...
Ayewan is not amused: WHAM. Just look at her face when the Blue Cat/Bakenyan double-play is revealed...
On the Pen front: with Gemini on our side, the only air sign missing is that of Yours Truly. Nine Pens and three to go -- the other two being Cancer and Pisces, right? But let's stick to Gemini for today.
Power-Up: boosts electric attacks by summoning twin electric... fetuses/feti? Kittens? Fuwas? Fetal Fuwas?
Princesses: Obviously we get two for the price of one (though an alternate Geminian character would have, instead of twindividuals, a single person with schizophrenia -- Patrick/Ray Sprigs, AKA Tsukasa/Hikaru Futaba --. But again, a schizo needs a whole character arc and not being a mere McGuffin character, so they made them twindividuals instead). They have an ID tag in the shape of the colour and side of their cherry hairpin, and both of them share a lyre (the string instrument).
Furthermore, all the Pens have changed ownership from Lala's Cure team to the Blue Cat!!
PS. Why does the Blue Cat want Fuwa? Is it to activate the pens?
As we all guessed, our Blue Cat is indeed a native of Rainbow Planet and her hatred of Aiwan since she was responsible for turning the natives into statues. It was also interesting that the Blue Cat is also Bakenyan and she was able to keep up with this act for so long! No wonder Bakenyan declined to get a power up from Darknesst in Episode 10 since that would blow her cover immediately! (The whole doubting tomcat attitude towards power-ups does have a reason revealed... <3 )
Of course, you can cover your appearances but Fuwa has a strong scent of smell and was able to reveal the Blue Cat's disguise! I love it that Cure Milkyway/Lala was the voice of reason when she protected the Blue Cat since they are both expat aliens who lost their home planets (to the same enemy, no less!).
But then the Blue Cat decided to be a loner and stole the Princess Pens and Fuwa in order to grant her wish. But then this is Precure franchise where nakama friendship is more powerful than solo...
IN THE NEXT EPISODE (20):
Disclaimer: the next ep comes within a fortnight, not a week. Just your standard anime pause.
As the preview already spoilt for next episode, the Blue Cat finally realised she can't do it alone and needs the other girls' help. She will be granted another chance and become Cure Cosmos! However we will be only able to see Cure Cosmos a fortnight later as Star Twinkle will be taking a one week break! (Dammit!) Until then, see you in the next post!
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario