IN WHICH THERE'S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S FÊTE

Star*Twinkle Pretty Cure - Episode 25
My Own Review


IN WHICH THERE'S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S FÊTE

It is the middle of summer (summer summer summer...), which means it is the perfect time to hold matsuri festivals. That is exactly what is going on in the twenty-fifth episode of Star ☆ Twinkle.
As a side note, I thought the opening would have been updated to reflect Cure Cosmos’ addition to the team by this point. It hasn’t, at least not yet.

The girls wearing yukata

In this episode, the members of our PreCure ensemble go to a matsuri, even making sure to dress up for the occasion. Yuni doesn’t seem quite as keen on the festivities as everyone else, though.

Yuni wearing a yukata

I will get around to how the girls spend their time at the festival, but I figure it is fair to mention that Elena and Madoka each draw quite the crowd of admirers – we’re not quite at Yukari and Akira fangirl levels here, but it seems to be heading that way. Elena and Madoka aren’t the only ones drawing attention, though; people are quite interested in finding out more about Yuni.

Sakurako makes an appearance (cue noblewoman laugh!)

As for the festival itself, it is your pretty typical matsuri festival. Here’s a few screenshots of the girls participating in various activities:

Elena jugando a los aros

Madoka firing a gun at the shooting range

T

Team Lala fishing for water balloons

Yuni's catlike instincts kick in while scooping for pet goldfish (she ATE hers ALIVE!!)

Lala has a chat with Yuni in the woods

One particularly good scene from this episode is simply Lala and Yuni talking to each other en tête-à-tête. Yuni’s convinced that she has to save the planet Rainbow on her own. Lala has been in Yuni’s place before, so she pretty much tells her that she doesn’t need to go the distance alone.

Three monsters of the week this time around (OUI!! Last time we had a dual or triple motw...?)

Our weekly battle comes courtesy of Tenjou, and gives Cure Cosmos three enemies to worry about. Through this battle, Cosmos is able to come to realise the value of friendship.

Cosmo Shining

Cure Cosmos also has an attack she is able to use when she doesn’t have access to a Star Colour Pen: Cosmo Shining. It’s not a finishing move; that duty falls to the others this time around.

Enjoying the fireworks together

I really liked this episode. When it comes to Yuni, I certainly have no complaints about her getting more screentime; even better if she gets some kind of meaningful interaction with another member of the cast, like she did with Lala here.

Here’s hoping that we get plenty more interactions between Lala and Yuni in the future, particularly as both are not from Earth. Lala’s speech about the universe expanding was really quite sweet, and made me think about the Milky Way Song by the Monty Python comedians (The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding in all of the directions it can whizz; as fast as light can go, the speed of light you know, three million miles per minute; that's the fastest speed there is!). Good episode.

This week, we got to see more of why Yuni is having start a hard time integrating into the group and homesickness coming into play. The girls brought her to the local summer fête (matsuri), and while things were okay for a time, as soon as Yuni saw a sign about the fireworks show, homesickness took over and it only increased her frustration of not making enough progress to save her fellow kin and home planet. After Lala went to check up on her, Yuni opened up about how she doesn’t like how she can’t be her true self.

I am glad Lala had stepped up, because as a fellow alien who hails from another faraway planet, a homeworld threatened by enemy invasion, Lala can relate to the struggles of being forced to disguise themselves, so they can seamlessly blend into Earth society. She can also relate to being homesick. But the one thing that none of the girls can truly grasp is Yuni’s loneliness and pain of having lost all of her loved ones to the knotraiders. This is what makes it so much harder for her to have fun on Earth when they aren’t searching for the Pens. For Yuni, there isn’t a moment to waste. But after going off on her own to get away from the festival, Yuni learned the hard way that she has no choice but to rely on her new comrades. Without them, or their pens, she doesn’t stand a chance against Master Darknest and the 'raiders. (We also got to see, Lala can still use to the perfume as a power source, but without the pens, she can’t use Rainbow Splash). Luckily for her, the other girls got her back.

Aat least we got to learn more about Yuni’s internal conflict, and how she feels about joining the team. I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming episode, as we are finally going to Lala’s home planet! A message came in from what appeared to be her brother (is he?), so I’m looking forward to meeting them, and find out what’s going on.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
Ah, the matsuri episode. That short August night when the local park is suddenly crowded with all kinds of carnival paraphernalia.

Lala is NOT AN ONLY CHILD?? - Wham. I tend to draw foregone conclusions about that fact for both fictional characters and real-life people until siblings are introduced.