WHY (NOT) TO FLIRT WITH LULU AMOUR

Hugtto!Precure, Episode
My Own Review - EPISODE 13
WHY (NOT) TO FLIRT WITH LULU AMOUR

Meet Lulu Amour. The fact that her given name is spelled with those Rs? The usual Asian L/R mixup. At least they got her French surname right!

It doesn’t take long for Lulu to make quite an impression on her classmates; she excels at everything, from literature to tennis.

Lulu utterly defeats in a game of tennis

Lulu seems to be able to master everything she turns her hand to. This results in several of the male students attempting to ask her out. Lulu’s response to that?

Lulu threatens to ‘take them out’

The boys swiftly give up on her after that show of strength.

Lulu made an impact at school as her intellect and physical prowess are at the top condition, acing everything from literature to tennis. She was ever courted by some male students, however since she has no understanding of love, queer or straight (ironic considering her surname) she took it as a challenge (by punching a pillar so hard) and drove her male suitors away.

Say 'allo to her little friend. In fact, Mr. Wright-Hooke is dying to see those guys...

Lulu’s surprise party

However, Lulu doesn’t seem to react well to the surprise party at all. She finds it pointless – not even Harry and Hugtan’s entertainment changes her mind on that.

Dreadpan. Get used to this; it's Lulu Amour's default expression.

(I wanted to write "deadpan" and a key finger of mine stumbled on the R key for some Freudian slip reasons... so the "dreadpan" thing, which fits her like a glove, has stuck)

They hosted a surprise housewarming  - welcome party for Lulu thinking she might have problems adjusting to her new environment. Instead of being surprised, Lulu felt indifferent and could not understand the meaning for the party, in her usual deadpan tone. (Even Hug-tan was left speechless!)

Although it was one scene, Papple was discussing with the Mysterious Man from before how many Future crystals are there and there are Pink, Blue, Yellow, Rose and Navel Orange. Which might indicate that Rose and Navel Orange are the remaining Precures members.

The strange and creepy part was the Mysterious Man was washing his hands very thoroughly like a cleaning disorder (OCD... or Pontius Pilate reference?) and it might play a factor of his behaviour when he appeared onscreen preaching something very significant to the main plot.

Lulu created a theender from a female student suffering... it is not known what caused her to be targeted; the girls went to battle, and they were actually worried about Lulu upon hearing she was in the park during the attack.

The resulting theender is, of course, a Faulty Tower (I had to pop that pun in somewhere...)

Lulu was the one who summoned the theender -  she decided it would be more effective to revert to previous methods in an attempt to learn more about PreCure power.

However, this theender has a trick up its sleeve, and transforms.

Their foe takes on an UFO-like form. Cure Yell ends up clinging to it, but she gets thrown off. Following that, Cure Yell ends up talking to Lulu.

Cure Yell tells Lulu that she wants to be family – they may have differences, but they’ll be able to work them out. When Lulu asks on what basis, the pink Cure gives her a simple one: Hana Nono likes (suki) Lulu.

... which somehow triggered a strange feeling in her body.

Like warmth...

Why are her heart circuits all warm and glowing?

Following that, they take out the theender in the usual way, and find Lulu is safe and sound.

Later that night, Hana sneaks into Lulu’s room and is eager to get to know more about her.

Lulu at the Nonos': just like me as a teen at the Garcés'. Finding time to bond with a foster clan that had happily married parents and siblings.

 After the battle, Lulu expressed her feelings during dinner and everyone was happy about it. 

Although Lulu recorded her findings, she could not really understand why Hana's words had an effect on her but she decided to continue to monitor her as they both felt asleep...

Hana ends up falling asleep pretty quickly, and then Lulu is left wondering what Hana would think if she knew her true identity. She quickly casts that thought aside, and then falls asleep alongside Hana.

That brings this episode to an end, and I think it was a pretty good start for an arc that will be focusing on Lulu. I like Lulu a lot, and this episode just further reinforced that for me.

It seems pretty obvious where this arc is headed. If it gives us more episodes like this one, then I have no problem with that all.
I also wonder if the episode title, ‘The Transfer Student is Fresh & Mysterious’, is a shout-out to Fresh Pretty Cure. I have said before that Lulu reminds a lot of Eas from that particular season.

Although I am still curious about Lulu's real identify is a) a gynoid or cyborg or, b) an enhanced human who has detached all emotions (Ken Ichijoji or Snow Queen style).

So far, both of these theories are plausible. Though... The fact that Lulu's heart is made of silicon and Tron lines appears to support the fembot theory.

But her frank and unintentionally savage comments (Lulu, like Yours Truly or Applejack, is so straightforward that she makes a pretty gauche first impression) made it hard for anyone to approach her. In fact she was so rock solid, that no one was able to get through to her, and it had gotten to the point it actually discouraged her from persisting any further. 

However the important thing to note this episode was Pupple’s discussion about the Future Crystals. The White one is said to have been destroyed, but it is still missing. I have been suspecting this for a while now, but I firmly believe Hugtan is the White Crystal herself, especially given her power is white as well.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
The one were Lulu Amour makes an entrance at class. As a general rule, every dark magical girl just has to infiltrate the same school her enemies attend, and most usually don the corresponding uniform. And she has to one-up all her classmates in everything, making the Smart Girl or Brains of the sentai appear to be a twit, and the Big Girl or Brawn appear to be a puny sissy, in comparison. And Lulu Amour, as expected by Yours Truly, excels at everything, from literature to tennis via driving away any male suitors.
I have always had a thing for Aces, broken or otherwise. Just because they're faster, but especially smarter, than the average audience surrogates. I am NOT the kind who likes Fools who are often put as the stock protagonists of anime... I prefer Aces, and tragedy to comedy, overall. (Of course it depends of the kind of comedy; British-style clever comedy, like Monty Python and other such shows --also, Lemony Snicket--, as well as parodies, are always hilarious to me).



CURE MA CHÉRIE - EMIRU AIZAKI (IDOL SINGER) - FUTURE CRYSTAL RED, CRYSTAL ROUGE
CURE AMOUR - LULU AMOUR (IDOL DANCER) - FUTURE CRYSTAL PURPLE, CRYSTAL VIOLETTE
WEAPON: TWIN LOVE GUITAR
Mais oui... En français? And, though none of them is a bifauxnen, I ship these two already.




On the Charalu front, we wonder if the new YouTuber Charalit post-heel-face-turn will come across Lulu and how their reunion will be... So far, there is a bit of a Charalu/Emilu conflict within me... but we shall see how it all unfurls along this summer cour, right?



IN NEXT EPISODE (14)


The only thing difference is Lulu is behaving like a machine who thinks with logic and since this is a show about love and friendship, Lulu might get affected by the girls' actions and her emotions will start to appear and will play a big factor during the later part of the arc.
Next episode, the girls including Lulu take a job at the local kindergarten, and with so many toddlers running around, chaos follows! Until then, see you in the next post!

UNE ÉTOILE QUI BRILLE ENCORE

Hugtto Pretty Cure
Episode 5 - My Own Review

UNE ÉTOILE QUI BRILLE ENCORE

 

Charalit more or less kidnaps Homare and forces her into a situation where she has to jump.
With her past still haunting her, that despair makes for a lot of negative energy – or thornypowewer.





 



 

 

The thought of flying, and being cheered on, scares Homare. However, she no longer intends to let that hold her back; she refuses to run from herself any more. With that conviction, she is able to achieve what she couldn’t in the previous episode: she becomes a PreCure.

This week Homare finally became Cure Étoile, but not without being challenged by the enemy, using her seeds of doubt to create a monster in attempt to rob the girls of their Future Crystals. In the beginning, Charaleet did succeed because he did manage to create a monster out of Homare’s despair, but in the end, but Hugtan ended up actually playing a big role, her cries were able to reach Homare and encourage her to face her fear, and take that leap of faith to fly once more. I must say, Cure Étoile’s attack sequence is lit. I absolutely love the effects, and it reminds me a lot of the classic magical girls transformation sequences.

Something happened on the day she died,

her spirit rose a metre and stepped aside...

Somebody else took her place and bravely cried:

I'M A HEARTSTAR...

I'M A HEARTSTAR...

How many times does an angel fall?

How many people die instead of talking tall?

She trod on sacred ground, she cried out loud into the crowd:

I'M A HEARTSTAR...

I'M A HEARTSTAR...

Unfortunately for Charalit, that was the last chance he was being given. He retreats, though whether he has returned to the office or gone off somewhere else remains to be seen.
The enemies finally showed their faces, and I must say their designs are quite fun. With Charalit failing to make any grounds, he is in big trouble now, so it’s time for a new villain to step up to the plate. Surprisingly it’s not Lulu who is up next, but sexpot baroness Papple instead. I wonder what kind of character she will be, and the sorts of fights we will in the upcoming episodes. I imagine the pace of the series is going to enter it’s insanely slow phase where not much happens during this period of time since Homare has officially joined the team. It’s still early on, but hopefully it won’t be too stagnant because that’s when it becomes challenging for me to covert these type of shows.

 It is nice to see Homare finally “soften up” (so to speak) to the girls and the three of them can finally begin their friendship.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
OH LA VACHE CURE ÉTOILE CURE ÉTOILE!!!
That haircut of Homare's post-recovery instantly sparked up memories of Fa Mulan and Eugénie Danglars:


Et du même tiroir dont elle avait fait sortir la mante qu'elle venait de donner à Mlle d'Armilly, et dont celle-ci avait déjà couvert ses épaules, elle tira un costume d'homme complet, depuis les bottines jusqu'à la redingote, avec une provision de linge où il n'y avait rien de superflu, mais où se trouvait le nécessaire.
Alors, avec une promptitude qui indiquait que ce n'était pas sans doute la première fois qu'en se jouant elle avait revêtu les habits d'un autre sexe, Eugénie chaussa ses bottines, passa un pantalon, chiffonna sa cravate, boutonna jusqu'à son cou un gilet montant, et endossa une redingote qui dessinait sa taille fine et cambrée.
« Oh ! c'est très bien ! en vérité, c'est très bien, dit Louise en la regardant avec admiration ; mais ces beaux cheveux noirs, ces nattes magnifiques qui faisaient soupirer d'envie toutes les femmes, tiendront-ils sous un chapeau d'homme comme celui que j'aperçois là ?
- Tu vas voir », dit Eugénie.
Et saisissant avec sa main gauche la tresse épaisse sur laquelle ses longs doigts ne se refermaient qu'à peine, elle saisit de sa main droite une paire de longs ciseaux, et bientôt l'acier cria au milieu de la riche et splendide chevelure, qui tomba tout entière aux pieds de la jeune fille, renversée en arrière pour l'isoler de sa redingote.
Puis, la natte supérieure abattue, Eugénie passa à celles de ses tempes, qu'elle abattit successivement, sans laisser échapper le moindre regret : au contraire, ses yeux brillèrent, plus pétillants et plus joyeux encore que de coutume, sous ses sourcils noirs comme l'ébène.
« Oh ! les magnifiques cheveux ! dit Louise, avec regret.
- Eh ! ne suis-je pas cent fois mieux ainsi ? s'écria Eugénie en lissant les boucles éparses de sa coiffure devenue toute masculine, et ne me trouves-tu donc pas plus belle ainsi ?
- Oh ! tu es belle, belle toujours ! s'écria Louise.

From the same drawer she took a man’s complete costume, from the boots to the coat, and a provision of linen, where there was nothing superfluous, but every requisite. Then, with a promptitude which indicated that this was not the first time she had amused herself by adopting the garb of the opposite sex, Eugénie drew on the boots and pantaloons, tied her cravat, buttoned her waistcoat up to the throat, and put on a coat which admirably fitted her beautiful figure. “Oh, that is very good—indeed, it is very good!” said Louise, looking at her with admiration; “but that beautiful black hair, those magnificent braids, which made all the ladies sigh with envy,—will they go under a man’s hat like the one I see down there?”

“You shall see,” said Eugénie. And with her left hand seizing the thick mass, which her long fingers could scarcely grasp, she took in her right hand a pair of long scissors, and soon the steel met through the rich and splendid hair, which fell in a cluster at her feet as she leaned back to keep it from her coat. Then she grasped the front hair, which she also cut off, without expressing the least regret; on the contrary, her eyes sparkled with greater pleasure than usual under her ebony eyebrows. “Oh, the magnificent hair!” said Louise, with regret.

“And am I not a hundred times better thus?” cried Eugénie, smoothing the scattered curls of her hair, which had now quite a masculine appearance; “and do you not think me handsomer so?”

“Oh, you are beautiful—always beautiful!” cried Louise.

Not to mention Maria in Axel and Maria by Tegnér:

Så sagt, så gjort. Beslut och handling
är ett hos kvinnan. Sin förvandling
hon skyndar. Under krigarns hatt
hon gömmer sina lockars natt.
Den rika barmen snörs i kyller,
med krut och bly hon ränseln fyller,
och över skullran, mjäll och fin,
hängs dödens synrör, en karbin;
och runt kring läpparna hon drar
en skuggning som skall skägg betyda:
det var som om du ville pryda
med sorgeflor ett rosenpar.

So said, so done. Thought and fulfilment
Are one in woman. Her habil'ment

Is quickly changed. A warrior's casque

Her raven tresses' night doth mask.

Her bosom rich in buff she laces,

In sidepouch lead and powder places,

And o'er her fair, soft shoulder's slope

A carbine hangs, Death's telescope.

And next she traces all around

Her lips a shade that beard supposes:

T'was e'en as if to deck two roses,

The pair in mourning-crape thou'dst bound.

I also started wearing boyish short hair, though short like Homare's, for more practical reasons: because it takes shorter to wash and to dry.
...
That crucifixion stance that Charalit pins Homare to the wall in (arms spreadeagled and legs joined together), as well as the Star Future Crystal surging from her chest as she is "crucified", also deserves a mention. In particular, that crystal coexisting with so much thornypowewer within her reminds me of the "blood and water" gushing out of the side-wound used to mercy kill Jesus in the Gospel of John. In a similar fashion, Homare "dies" and "resurrects" as Étoile --and don't stars shine in the night sky as guiding lights and beacons of hope?--. I'm not talking Christian symbolism, but universal symbolism: Osiris, Adonis, Kai in the Snow Queen, Orpheus, Valentine de Villefort, Yukari Kotozume and Akira Kenjo themselves... all of them undergo near-death experiences and awaken as different people, their old selves having died during the ordeal.

Something happened on the day she died,
her spirit rose a metre and stepped aside...
Somebody else took her place and bravely cried:
I'M A HEARTSTAR...
I'M A HEARTSTAR...
How many times does an angel fall?
How many people die instead of talking tall?
She trod on sacred ground, she cried out loud into the crowd:
I'M A HEARTSTAR...
I'M A HEARTSTAR...

Thus concludes the mini-arc that is the introduction of Cure Étoile. It’s not the first time we’ve seen a yellow star-themed Cure who didn’t join initially because of something. Go! Princess PreCure had Kirara Amanogawa, who would go on to become Cure Twinkle. Kirara’s and Homare’s reasons for not initially becoming PreCures are different, but there are certainly similarities between them.

 She's able to successfully create her Future Crystal but when attempting to jump for it for the first time, she triggers a painful memory and misses the jump, causing it to disappear. She is able to successfully claim it in episode 5.
Shows textbook signs of PTSD such as jumping causing her to remember her failed figure skating jump, her sadness, distancing herself others and from figure skating, and a loss of interest in other activities (not going to school that often).
Is troubled at the start of the series due to having failed a figure skating jump at one point, badly injuring her leg and destroying her dreams.
In her backstory, she cut her hair short after her Career-Ending Injury, she has it back as Cure Étoile.
Everytime she attempts to jump, it will remind her of the incident involving failing a figure skating jump and injuring her leg, causing her to quit figure skating.
No time before did we have such a Precure with PTSD. That certainly makes Homare far more interesting than any other Cure of this season. Une ÉTOILE FILANTE QUI BRILLE ENCORE...
...
On the Good Ship Charalu, things are definitely

NEXT EPISODE (6):

 

 PAPPLE: I'm sexy and I know it... and that's the reason why I should enter stage left and take center stage next week... That uncouth loser Charalit doesn't know what he's missing...