THE EMILU EUROTRIP - AND BACK AGAIN

Hugtto! Pretty Cure
Episode 30 - My Own Review
THE EMILU EUROTRIP - AND BACK AGAIN

Already on episode 30 of Hugtto! PreCure – this season will be over before we know it. In this particular episode, Lulu gets one of her long-held wishes granted – after a quick tour of the Western world.

Lulu is very eager to experience food from all around the world

We begin with the girls – plus Kotori Nono – on the Aisaki family’s private jet – planning to travel the world. Naturally there is a lot of excitement – Lulu is most keen to try all the different food.

The girls as flight attendants

Thanks to the Future Pad working its magic, Homare and the others are able to take on the role of flight attendants. They get overly enthusiastic about it, though, much to the dismay of Kotori and Harry. Hugtan thinks they are cute, though.

(Tune: lovely ladies)

Flight attendants,

Flight attendants, 

HARRY: Shut up!! Quiet!!

Lulu fawning over European cuisine looked like a pervert reading a porn magazine...

"Let them eat cake" she says,

just like Hugrie-Tantoinette ;)

Huglileo, Huglileo, Huglileo...

This resulted with the girls visiting the various countries and Lulu enjoying the local food. Hug-tan dressed up in various costumes and everyone having a good time.

The best part of the PreCure world tour is just Lulu eating

After enjoying the sights and the food of some foreign countries, the group ends up at the final stop of their destination: Atami. There, they go to a hot springs hotel called Tenguyashiki (Tengu Hall, or Tengu Estate) - I wonder why?

Foot bath

Ruru’s greatest wish is to go to an onsen – something she wasn’t really able to do at Cryasse, thinking that the water would damage her inner workings. Whilst using the foot bath, something approaches. Turns out is the owner of the Tenguyashiki hot springs hotel.

HOTEL OWNER: Come inside, for

Their final stop is back in Japan and a local hot spring, Tenguyashiki (Tengu Estate), in Atami. Lulu claimed she wanted to try an onsen as she never got a chance during her time in Crisis/Cryasse (Although the gang had to cover up for Lulu when she mentioned she is a gynoid and Kotori Nono became suspicious about it).

They were welcomed by the owner of the hot spring and he explained that a tengu became the guardian spirit after visiting the onsen which got Homare all freaked out. (Saaya seemed to be interested)

The owner tells everyone about the tengu’s origin

Everyone goes inside, and the owner tells the story of how a tengu visited the onsen when he caught a chill. As a result he was blue, but a dip in the hot spring resulted in the tengu turning red – or so the legend goes.
After that, Ruru is very eager to use the baths – the only thing she wants more than food. We do get a thermal bath scene – featuring Dr. Trauma, of all people.

Safe to say Lulu felt relaxed after the bath - turns out that she was waterproof all along!

KOTORI: Lulu, have you gone to heaven?

LULU: (No comment)

After the thermal bath, dinnertime rolls around. Everyone eats, and decides to make more memories of their summer holiday. 

Emiru and Lulu also decide to contribute to that with a performance.

Despite the enjoyment, Emiru was happy that she get to enjoy the trip with her friends since she is always alone before. She was cheered up that summer will never end and both Emiru and Lulu put up a performance on the onsen stage for everyone!

Everyone enjoys the performance, though it does attract a bit of unwanted attention. When the song ends, someone shouts for an encore – it is Dr. Trauma. With the villain showing up, it is time for the monster of the week.

With the tengu being the main theme here, it is only natural that the wild theender would take on that form for this episode (in spite of the victim being a young ping-pong player broken because he lost to the older and frailer Dr. Trauma!). the others transform, and start to fight.

A joint attack

The tengu wild theender proves to be a tenacious foe that PreCures struggle with: they do not want their summer holiday to be ruined, but Doctor Trauma suggests just freezing time and making it last forever.
Cure Ma Chérie counters that their memories will last forever – that’s what Curestagram is for. Their memories will be there – to which Doctor Trauma responds that memories will only last whilst they are alive. He then orders the wild theender to destroy the hotel.

Dr Trauma was also at the hot spring and created an theender from the loser of his ping-pong game (then, why a tengu and not a ping-pong player theender?) for the girls to battle. During the battle, Dr Trauma taunt the girls to give in for the "Time Stoppage" since they want summer to last forever.

But Cure Ma Chérie answered that summer holidays might come and go but those memories will last forever! Although Dr Trauma's words- "Memories will only last if you are alive" got Cures startled for a moment. Although the battle ended thanks to a certain wind that blew the theender away...

A tengu? That thing is too big to be a raven, and definitely humanoid.

Also, muggle hotel owners, especially those in their seventies, are unable to fly on their own steam.

As the girls returned back home, Lulu was wondering about that strange wind that saved them. Hug-tan saw a figure behind them which happened to be the real tengu. 

An unlikely ally for PreCures

A sudden gust of wind sends the wild theender flying, giving Ma Chérie and Amour the chance they need to blast it with their finishing move. Doctor Trauma retreats once the monster is defeated.
Afterwards, Lulu suggests that they were helped by a tengu during the battle. Hugtan happens to spot something in the nearby trees, but nobody else notices.

This was a fun episode – Lulu was very much the star here, and considering she has pretty much claimed the top spot as my favourite Cure from the entire franchise, I certainly won’t be complaining about that.
It’s fairly amusing that this onsen episode’s only bath scene was one that focused on Doctor Trauma.

A very enjoyable episode, particularly for fans of Lulu Amour. Her and Emiru’s outfits for their performance are great, too.

This episode is really a typical filler episode and coincidentally the first half of this episode is the same episode in episode 30 of Smile Precure/Glitter Force where Miyuki and company go on a world trip in the magic bookshelf. Although that episode is more funnier especially Cure Peace using her electricity in the water. 

The only good moments was all of Lulu's enjoyment of the local food (Just like Nao Midorikawa) and Hug-tan wearing all the different costumes. Despite the title card stated it is a grand tour episode, the world tour segment lasted like the first 5 or 6 minutes and the rest of the episode was about the girls at the hot spring. (Toei, if you want to do a grand tour episode, do a full episode and not let the rest of the episode focus on the hot spring back in Japan)

So the second half is the typical onsen episode. Naturally this provides an excusable opportunity for Fanservice if a show is so inclined, although some shows aimed at younger kids will use toweled characters. Some series that aren't geared towards younger viewers will broadcast with towels (and/or Censor Steam), but remove them from the DVD version as an incentive to buy the DVDs. Every anime more than two episodes long will include at least one of these scenes. This kind of scenario is so common in anime there is even a wiki that catalogues them.

But we get to know that Emiru and Lulu have their wishes granted. For Emiru, she is always alone in her life because of her dysfunctional family and was happy that she get to enjoy the trip with her new friends (nakamatachi). She is not the usual lonely rich kid who is an only child (like Enjolras or Yours Truly), but the youngest sibling kind, whose older siblings have already come of age (Renly Baratheon, and Anna from Frozen, come instantly to mind).

For Lulu it is more comical since she was not allowed to go on trips during her time in Crisis/Cryasse as she will trigger the metal detector in the airport and she was dumped into thinking that water will damage her gynoid body. (What a relief to discover that she was waterproof all along!)

Although Dr Trauma's words about memories are useless if you are dead is pretty dark and I was shocked by his words. 


MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
It comes as no surprise that the Aizaki family is in possession of a private skyworthy Lear jet. And little Emiru has full powers to borrow it and take her friends and significant other on a grand tour, for the last weeks of summer.
The Cures' acquaintance with Western European culture:
The sudden shift from Left Bank to Tenguyashiki Onsen, such a stark contrast, mid-episode (and without the f-ing jet lag - what on Earth - does Emi-chan have a stash of Red Bull cans for such scenarios? I support the headcanon): The first half of this episode is a Grand Tour - while the second is the typical Onsen Episode.
Emiru as a lonely rich kid - the parallels to Lulu's artificial humanoid status: So, first we talk about Emiru. She is not the usual lonely rich kid who is an only child (like Enjolras or Yours Truly), but the youngest sibling kind, whose older siblings have already come of age (Renly Baratheon, and Anna from Frozen, come instantly to mind).
On Lulu being waterproof: of course the Doc had to waterproof her - what if she needed skin care like a normal person of flesh and blood? What if she fell into the ocean or any freshwater?

The Emilu duet performance at Tenguyashiki: The carpe diem message of this episode was really hammered home by this act, performed by our OTP in midriff-baring costumes!
The negative emotion of the week: Doctor Trauma's table tennis opponent at the onsen, a James-Potter-like thirty-something who was frustrated that he lost. A sore loser, long story short. It's only a game, sport... but, in spite of his ostensible frailty, this is not the Doctor Whom I would like to be crushed by.

Then, why is the theender a tengu, and not a ping-pong player, in the first place?
The close encounter of the tengu kind: Was that the hotel owner, or was that the real tengu? Now: Muggle hotel owners, especially those in their seventies, are unable to fly on their own steam.
On the review: This just had to be a Les Mis-themed musical review - except for the parts where Hug-tan cosplayed as historical characters, to some Queen songs... With the hotel owner as Monsignor Myriel, and Lulu and Emiru standing in for Mariusette mainly (but with some other pairings thrown in -like Lulu singing "I dreamed a dream in times to come...")

THE WESTERNER AS FOREIGNER: VALERIUS

Hello, and welcome to a new post cycle called "The Westerner as Foreigner".
It depicts the POV that Easterners and post-colonialists have of Europe and Christianity, which are "foreign" to them and only known from afar, from trade, warfare, diplomacy, or all three roots. We Westerners are foreign and strange outside our lands, after all,

These are excerpts from a subversive, feminist retelling of King Lear, set in the Middle East at the close of the Roman era. Desta, the Regan character (middle child/sister/princess), marries a young Roman nobleman called Valerius, the son of a prefect, Europe being connected to her Christian Middle Eastern kingdom by trade and by religion. Notice the wording the author uses.
First of all, Desta is primarily defined by her voice as a public speaker and her devotion to religion and history (while her older sister is defined by her graceful dance and beautiful attire, and the youngest one by her brains and knowledge of countless formal languages).

The next oldest, lark-voiced Desta, offered the formal chant of greeting. At temple, the people debated if her voice or her faith made her sung words sweetest.
(Eldest sister Ayana and Desta) were fine girls, talented and lovely, and, for at least the few heartbeats that it had taken them to enter the room, properly deferential.


Their father asks them, one by one and in birth order, how much they love him, in true King Lear fashion:

(Desta and Ayana) exchanged worried glances, but said nothing.
(Desta and Ayana) clutched hands with each other, and still said nothing.

“Desta. It is your turn. What will you say?”

“Negus of Neguses, I was afraid of this duty, sure that it would mean being yoked to a man who does not share our faith, but I begin to see that there is hope. I love you and honor you as I love our faith and history.” She walked over to his desk and lifted a beautifully engraved bronze cup. “You are worth more to me than even the cup carried by Abba Salama–Bishop Frumentius–who brought Christianity to our kingdom, and was slave and cupbearer to Negus Ezana before he became our Bishop.” Desta filled the cup with an exceedingly costly wine that her father had imported from Laodicea, and offered it to her father in the manner of a servant or priest. “Our faith and history teaches us how a servant may be put by God in the place where he can do the most good. I will serve you in this, as a servant of the realm. Marry me even to a man who is not of our faith if that is what the kingdom needs.”

The Negus smiled. “Wise girl. You see the value in service, and in the gifts of the west from Greece and Rome. Our faith. Bronze. The most precious wines of Italy. There is a young man from Rome here, from the bloodline of that same Emperor Theodosius who converted his whole empire to our Lord this past spring. His father is the Praefectus Augustalis who governs Egypt. This young prince of Rome will make a Christian home with you here, and assure that Rome trades favorably with us. We will plan your wedding the week after your sister’s, and Bishop Frumentius himself will consecrate the marriage.”

“You must marry eventually,” Desta reasoned (to her younger sister). “What if something happened to both of us and our children? Then, the heir would need to come from you.”

After the youngest sister is banned from court:

As Desta’s wedding day arrived a week later, the two couples met in secret.

“So, you think the sandals will only work for someone that participated in your festival?” Desta’s suitor Valerius interrupted.

Valerius looked at his betrothed with concern.

“If you father doesn’t accept the chappals tonight, I will take them and race through this boiling lava to find your sister,” Valerius offered. “Let me prove by this act that I will make a good husband for you, Desta.”

That night, at the feast in the Roman style, the Negus chewed and chewed his first plate of unseasoned meat, and glared at his rebellious children and their suitors.

“Again? Am I never to enjoy a feast again?”

“Just admit that you miss her, and we can find her, and figure this out,” Desta pleaded. “Please. It’s my wedding day. I can’t bear that she isn’t here.”

“Negus of Neguses,” Valerius added. “I am sure you know that in the Roman style, we will eat many courses. We will eat until we are full, and then vomit until we have room for more, and eat again.”

The Negus paused with his fork in mid-air.

Ayana nudged a small sealed bottle of garum, a sauce made from salted fish and popular in Rome, towards where her father was sitting. “It really is delicious with the sauce.”

The Negus grabbed the small bottle of garum and drenched the flavorless meat with it. He took one extremely satisfying bite before standing.