IN WHICH IT AIN'T OVER TILL THE SNAKE LADY SINGS

Star*Twinkle Pretty Cure - Episode 48 (Series Finale)
My Own Review

https://prettycure.fandom.com/wiki/STPC48/Image_Gallery

IN WHICH IT AIN'T OVER TILL THE SNAKE LADY SINGS

Well now, looks like I was wrong about episode forty-eight being the last one. So, here’s one more episode review of Star ☆ Twinkle. Getting to this point involved a sacrifice, but things aren’t over just yet.

A good villain doesn’t stay down for long

In this episode, the Ophiuchus Princess comes back after what was supposed to be her defeat. There is little anyone can do as the thirteenth princess completes her ritual, and darkness consumes the entire universe.

the others can only look on as the Ophiuchus Princess returns

So it turns out what happened in the previous episode was not enough for peace to be brought back to the universe. This leaves the Ophiuchus Princess free to continue with her own plan, and nobody can stop her. A rare instance of an overlord/overlady antagonist actually being able to carry out their objective.

Even lost in darkness, Lala will find Hikaru

So all that’s left in the end is darkness, but perhaps there is a faint glimmer of hope. Also, Lala finding Hikaru in the darkness with those electric feelers – that’s such a great moment. Of course, the other girls are there as well, but I’m thinking of views from a Hikala perspective her.

Hikaru sings one last time

With this episode, it also becomes perhaps a little clearer as to why they opted to have the girls singing during the transformation theme. Their rendition of the transformation theme in the cold black void is beautiful. Usually it is such a happy, bouncy theme, but it works really well as a slower tune.

If the Ophiuchus Princess can make a comeback, so can PreCures

As anyone who was seen Symphogear can tell you, music is the perhaps the most powerful force in the universe. So much so, that our Cure company return in super forms ready to fight the Ophiuchus Princess.

There’s so many great moments in this fight

The all-PreCures vs. Princess Ophiuchus fight is absolutely superb. It looks so good, though it definitely needs to be seen in motion. Screenshots won’t do it justice, so you’ll either have to watch it yourself or just take my word for it. So good!
The end of the fight takes a cue from the Dragon Ball franchise, though that wouldn’t be the first time the PrettyCure franchise has done that.

Cure Milkyway will support Cure Star’s decision

After the battle, Cure Star has a choice to make. It is not an easy one, but the other girls are willing to support her regardless of what she goes through with.

Oh, so Star ☆ Twinkle is just going to stab me right through my heart, huh? Thanks…

If you feel that perhaps the end of this episode invokes certain events from towards the end of Mahou Girls (namely the leave-taking of muggleborn Mirai and mageborn Riko at the end of the series!), let me just say that Star ☆ Twinkle has the same writer. Man, they really want to make their audience shed tears with this episode, huh?

An utterly fantastic episode, that certainly invoked a range of mixed emotions. There was just so much great stuff going on here, and we still have one episode to go. Can’t help but feel we might be headed towards an ending very similar to Mahou Girls for the Hikala pairing, but I guess we’ll have to see.

Going by past seasons, it is likely that we’ll be seeing a very important debut in the next episode. Knowing that Aoi Yuuki voices the lead Cure is only making me look forward to Healin’ Good♡ even more.

Before that, though, we have one final episode of Star ☆ Twinkle (combining both the where-are-they-now epilogue and the segue into next season in one single 20-minute installment!), and I’ll have a review to write, as well as a serious think about how I’d rank this season among all the others.