DEBUTS AND DARUIZEN

Healin' Good Pretty Cure - Episode 1
My Own Review
DEBUTS AND DARUIZEN


It is time to step into a new season or continuity of Pretty Cure, and naturally the first episode serves as an introduction to our new protagonists, pixies, and the foes they will be battling. I’ll always look forward to a new season of this franchise, but add Aoi Yuuki to it and my hype goes up a lot.

Our new pink protagonist: Nodoka Hanadera

The first episode summary of this season: Nodoka Hanadera and her parents move to a new town. There, Nodoka encounters animal pixies from the ravaged Healing Garden, who end up enlisting her to become a PreCure when a monster attacks.

Hinata Hiramitsu

This episode is an introductory one, featuring relatively brief appearances from a couple of important characters. Nodoka and two pixies are the main focus, but it is nice to get to know the new faces we’ll be spending the year with – even if they don’t introduce themselves properly. We’ll get to that in their respective focus episodes (WHICH I CANNOT WAIT FOR!!).

Latte, Nyatoran, and Penguitan

Rabbirin with Nyatoran and Penguitan

Whilst Nodoka is getting acquainted with her new surroundings, and offering to help out anyone who needs it, the pixies are looking for human partners. Those who they partner up with will become the legendary PrettyCures.

Chiyu Sawaizumi

We also encounter Chiyu Sawaizumi, and Nodoka's first impression is that she is pretty (though she was also quite sporty - reminds me of yours truly). I’m quite keen to see if anything develops from that initial impression. It is early days at the moment, and I’m we still have plenty more characters to meet.

The antagonists for this season are the pathogerms, and the monsters of the week are called Megapathogerms. I like the design for this first one, sprung up from an infected flower patch, and I hope that is a trend that continues throughout this season.
Of course, the megapathogerm didn’t just spring up out of nowhere. It was summoned by Daruizen, a general of the Pathogerms.

Daruizen

There isn’t much to say about Daruizen at the moment. A cool bishie/ikemen cadre who infects living plants with a flick of his hair fringe. Someone had to summon the monster for Cure Grace’s tutorial fight. Though, if Daruizen sounds familiar, that might be because you are watching Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!. Daruizen and Sayaka Kanamori are both voiced by Mutsumi Tamura. I guess it is also worth mentioning that one of Mutsumi Tamura’s other roles is Miss Kobayashi.

Rabbirin

There is quite a bit of Rabbirin abuse going on in this first episode. I’ll be honest, I laughed when she was hit with the shopping bag. The pathogerm du jour and Daruizen are also partly responsible, but Rabbirin getting her leg trapped under a branch leads to a fateful meeting with Nodoka.

A brief look into Nodoka’s past

Seems that Nodoka spent quite some time in the hospital in her past, and that’s about all we are shown of her past for now. I’ll admit, it has got me curious as to what happened to her. 

However, Nodoka is healthy in the present, and the only one who can put a halt to the pathogerms.

Cure Grace

We get our first transformation sequence of the season, and Nodoka becomes Cure Grace. It is a good transformation sequence. We also get the usual reactions to becoming a PreCure for the first time – I’ll always find those amusing. As for the battle itself…

Cure Grace delivers a powerful kick

It may only be a tutorial fight, but Cure Grace puts on a pretty good demonstration. It also gives us an insight into how our Cures of this continuity will be fighting the monsters of the week – beat them up a bit, scan for a weak point (so far on the left side of the chest, at heart height), and follow up with a special move. In this case, it is PrettyCure Healing Flower.

Flower Element

It seems that in this season, our PreCures will be saving Elements – potion bottles who will lend their power to them so that they can keep Latte healthy. 

Apparently the spaniel princess falls ill whenever a wild pathogerm appears, and defeating it is the only way to help her recover.
That more or less wraps up the first episode of Healin’ Good ♡ PrettyCure, and I enjoyed quite a lot.

A strong introduction for this season, and I look forward to seeing how PreCures’ battle against the pathogerms plays out in the future.

I’m already liking Nodoka a lot, but perhaps that is because her nature of wanting to help everyone reminds me of Hibiki Tachibana – and her voice, too, naturally.

The new opening and ending themes are pretty good on first listen, and I suspect they will only grow on me more as the season continues.

Good start for this show, I eagerly look forward to more.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
Whoa whoa whoa - there are first impressions AND first impressions, and this debut is one of the latter.
Oh my gosh, this has to be my favourite premiere of Prettycure to date! It was such a pleasure to watch, it made me all warm and fuzzy, its cuteness was charming and my favourite part about it was how well everything came together. It felt like they were finally able to tapped into that energy I have been waiting for.
Penguitan and Nyatoran weren’t in the spotlight today, but we did get an idea of what kind of partners they are looking for. While Rabbirin insisted what they need is a Human Doctor, Penguitan just wants someone who is nice, and Nyatoran wants someone with the same energy level as him. As for Princess Latte our adorable little pup, it’s quite interesting how nobody except for her mother Queen Teatime (pronounced te-a-tee-me, like in the Discworld!) seems to be able to hear her voice unless they use a stethoscope (which is also used to hear and communicate with the little Elements of nature, such as the Flower Element they saved today). It also goes without saying, bringing a spaniel pup into your home is WAY more believable for the family, and easier to take care of than a freaking humanoid baby or a flying alicorn. So hurray for SOME sort of normality!

I am so glad they confirmed our suspicions of everything they had been alluding to from the start of the episode about her frail health. It appears her family has moved out to a new town so that she will be able to live a healthier and happier life. We saw how she is still adjusting to the newfound freedom of being able run as much as she desires, and her parents cautionary warning her not to go too far. She is type who will help her elders, step up to assist foreigner travellers, and in the face of danger, leaves nobody. (Or more admirably: she didn’t even flinch when she saw the Nanopathogerm running rampant, but you can argue she had been running on adrenaline for a while.) Of course this is nothing new for Precure protagonists, but I think the reason why it resonated more strongly with me is because they immediately put into perspective of how Nodoka’s struggles with her health (to the point of being hospitalized) shaped her into who she is today. It also goes without saying, this kind of special understanding of the helplessness when one is suffering from sickness, and how important it is to them to help to make others feel better is a powerful quality for a Precure to have. There is a lot of potential with this theme, so I am looking forward to seeing where they will go with it!

We also were briefly introduced to the other two protagonists, (Hinata) energetic girl and the runner (Chiyu), we didn’t get their names explicit though, but it was nice to see them meet. One bolted because she was in a rush, and the other actually stopped and shared her water with her haha. We also were introduced to the first antagonist Daruizen. He and Rabbirin had a brief confrontation, but he didn’t show himself to Nadoka. Although he had a short appearance, I’m already super into his character and I am looking forward to learning more about him. Not to mention he is super handsome and has a great voice to match! I would love to see a fun rivalry between Nodoka and him as alluded to in the OP. Maybe some romance? [DUCKS] I KNOW I KNOW ROMANCE IS RARELY FEATURED, BUT LET ME INDULGE IN MY DREAMS OKAY?!

I was quite surprised how much they cut down on the details of the transformation sequence, and it certainly feels like they reduced the time spent on it as well. But they were able to retain its magical beauty with its gorgeous animation we all love to see in any magical girl (or boy) warrior series. I absolutely loved the way they used the doctor’s labcoat and played around with its fabric, as well as the Cure Grace emerging from the petals. It was so prettily done.