MEOWS AND MIRRORS

Healin' Good Pretty Cure - Episode 4
My Own Review
MEOWS AND MIRRORS



With the fourth episode of Healin’ Good ♡, the main team of three Cures finally comes together. Well, at least until they probably introduce one more, but that is something to worry about at a later date.
For now, it is Cure Sparkle’s turn to make her debut.

A talking tabby? This is the cat's meow!

Hinata seems to be pretty fond of Nyatoran

Hyperactive Hinata Hiramitsu discovers a talking cat whilst on her way to meet with her friends, and gets sidetracked. Of course, said talking tabby is Nyatoran, who is still seeking a partner. Together with Nodoka and Chiyu, Hinata goes to meet with her friends. A monster attack ultimately leads to Hinata becoming Cure Sparkle.

 Hinata's big bro Youta, best BrILF since Wataru Kaido (not counting Masato because the latter is gay and with Henri-ette!). She also has an older sister, Mei. Which makes me wonder about her parents... are these siblings orphans or are the elder Hiramitsus absentees?

Look at our new pet... neko neko neko!

Chiyu tries to keep Hinata from blabbing about the talking cat

Both Nodoka and Chiyu got strong introductory episodes in this season, and I’m happy to say that Hinata does as well. She had brief appearances in previous episodes, but now seeing one that focuses on her has no doubt that she is a wonderful part of the main cast.

Thirsty? We Hiramitsus also run a juice bar, aside from a vet clinic. The drinks are on the house!

Nodoka reassures Hinata that they’ll explain to her friends why she was late

This may be Hinata’s episode, but Nodoka certainly gets some great moments where she shines, too. Healin’ Good ♡ is proving pretty early on that is has an excellent cast of characters, and that can only be a good thing.

If this cat was heard speaking in public, think of all the paparazzi!

I love attention, but that would be too much of a good thing...

The pathogerm this week is created from a mirror

The enemy general that appears this week is Guaiwaru, and he reveals that it is not just nature can be infected. Of course, the Megapathogerm we get has to be a little too much for Cure Grace and Cure Fontaine to handle on their own, because this is Hinata’s episode. Her first day in the limelight.

Being a mirror, this pathogerm deflects all attacks

Hinata’s reaction to discovering Nodoka and Chiyu are PreCures is not quite what they expect

If there’s one thing that this episode makes abundantly clear about Hinata, it is that she absolutely adores cute things (kawaiisa). Apparently the PreCure aesthetic comes under that, as the mirror monster attacking the town of Sukoyaka is of no concern to her when she sees Cure Grace and Cure Fontaine for the first time. Seeing allies and enemies alike have the same counterreaction to Hinata’s reaction is pretty amusing.

Cure Sparkle

I can’t help but feel that much of Nyatoran’s interactions with Hinata throughout this episode were a test – one that she passes with flying colours, hence becoming light-powered catgirl Cure Sparkle.

Hey, easy on that, Mr. Guava!

Cure Sparkle in action

During the battle, Nyatoran has to tell Cure Sparkle that they purify their foes, rather than defeat them. A purified foe is a defeated foe, so I guess there’s not all that much distinction. Ultimately, though, it falls to Cure Sparkle to bring the battle to an end.

With that, our full team is assembled (for now)

I feel pretty confident in saying that Healin’ Good ♡ has got off to an incredibly strong start. Nodoka, Chiyu, and Hinata have all had wonderful introductions, and the three have got a good dynamic between them.
Such a great debut for Cure Sparkle. I’m expecting good things from her – and Nodoka and Chiyu as well.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
First things first - Hinata/Sparkle is BEST GIRL so far for this season/continuity, hands down.
Guaiwaru's summoning MO: if Daruizen does hair flips and Shindoine blows kisses, how does the brute...? This episode, him being Sparkle's evil counterpart, gives the reply: by puffing up that powder-keg chest of his, showing off some pecs!

Kekekekeke~ as expected, Hinata and Nyatoran are a freaking firecracker duo, and love it! Their energy levels compliment each other very well, and the way they just confidently wing it on the go also makes them a fitting pair. Their fateful encounter was hysterical with Nyaotran when he snapped at her, their reactions were priceless! It got even better when he decided there was no use in trying to cover it up, and just straight-up claim he was born with the ability to talk like humans. Look at that confidence! The girls’ reaction to his boldness was priceless as well- heck the whole thing had me in stitches from laughing so hard! And bonus points for even pretending he was meeting them all for the first time!

But what’s actually incredible about Hinata is the way she took this in stride. Her first concern was getting him out of the public’s eye because she feared Nyatoran would be exploited for his ability to talk. And when you actually think about it – is a legitimate concern that is usually not brought up. It also makes sense why she would go to seek out her brother’s advice, as he is a veterinarian (a charming handsome one, who the girls mistaken him to have been her father- poor dude).

And goodness we thought Hikaru (Star Twinkle) was energetic, but Hinata takes it to another level, but I am not particularly bothered by it (yet). In fact I find her personality to be well balanced with how quickly she can switch back and forth from the high of excitement to the low of the gravity of the situation, and how easily she gets distracted. It is a charm that adds to the humor because she is the type to act first, think later. She also has the charm of being a sweetheart who will put the safety and well-being of others ahead of her own. When she was told that Nodaka and Chiyu had ran in the direction the monster was at, Hinata didn’t hesitate to go after them, only to hilariously she run straight into the monster herself! The moment she did that, Nyatoran knew that she was the one.

When it came to the partnership this time we saw the trainee reach out to his Human partner. I would say this case was the most similar to Rabirin’s and Nodaka’s partnership, but I would what set them apart from the other two was his confidence in Hinata’s abilities. He was basically like, “I LIKE YOU, LETS KICK ASS TOGETHER!”

I really love Cure Sparkle’s design. It’s super cute, her transformation was definitely a lot more simplified than the other two, but it was still pleasing to the eyes– or actually now that I think about it… It might be the sound effect of the fabric’s ‘whoosh’ or whatever it is. There is something really satisfying about it and I don’t know why ahahahaha! But while the transformation wasn’t particularly showy, the fight— oh man, that as the highlight of the episode. Surely I wasn’t the only one who thought the animation for the fight was on fire! I can’t recall a single fight that was this exciting to watch just 4 episodes in. It was soooooo much fun to watch, seriously mad props to the animators! They nailed it. It was so funny when Hinata went on to say, “LETS DEFEAT THIS THING!” and Nyatoran had to tell her, “DON’T BEAT IT, PURIFY IT!”

Another great thing about this fight is proving that the enemies are no pushover. They are ramping things up in their own way, and we see that by how it has become essential for a group effort. What’s also interesting to note is that the generals aren’t limited to targeting nature. Guaiwaru walked into a shop and attacked a Light Element residing in a mirror, a material good, an inanimate object. One of the advantages of this addition, is that it makes it less predictable of where the enemy may pop up next. Another thing that crossed my mind is the expansion of their targets. I suspect somewhere down the line, (maybe when the adorable Elements may no longer play the significant role as they do now), we may see them expand to more mobile targets such as insects, animals and maybe even Humans.

And last but not last, we got to see the King of Pathogerms receive the update of yet another Precure making an appearance. Once again, he is not particularly concerned and wants his generals to focus on the primary objective of helping him recover to his true form, and I doubt that is about to change with Hinata added to the party. However the unwavering focus on ensuring he is resurrected before the Queen of Healing Garden made me wonder whether or not the Trainees are aware of this. When we go back to episode 2, nowhere did they mention anything about the danger of the King of Pathogerms making a comeback. Instead we were given a rather generalized explanation that the Pathogerms are trying to make a world that’s comfortable for them to live in, one which will basically makes the world uninhabitable. Maybe the threat of the King will be something they expand on next week, but if they don’t, then it might explain why the King isn’t particularly concerned about their activities. In fact, when you think about it, the monsters are nothing more than a tool to blight the world, but also distract the Precures from the Generals themselves. Perhaps once they are made aware of the situation at hand, they will take the initiative to go after them. But first, they definitely need to gain some battle experience, they aren’t quite ready to fight them head to head just yet.

This week was yet another fantastic showing from Healin’ Good Prettycure! It really does feel almost surreal how long it has been since they have had such a strong early start, especially with their characters. Now that everyone has a partner, it is going to be interesting how the three of them mesh together. We already got to see how Hinata and Chiyu are already at odds with each other, maybe because Chiyu was the one who was the most concerned about their secret as Precures getting out. Based on the preview, I think this is in part of why Hinata is under the impression that Chiyu doesn’t like her. I suspect Nodaka, being the fairly neutral minded one of the group will find herself trying to help smooth out the misunderstanding between them.