Nothing says boredom like a stormy holiday. One of those days without any studies or homework when the shops are open and the landscape is lovely, but sadly Thor or Zeus (or whichever other storm god) had other plans in mind, including screwing the day up for us.
Nothing says spending a stormy holiday like staying indoors. Where it's dry and warm and cozy. Reading, watching shows, telling stories... or staging a treasure hunt in the boarding school dormitory. Seira Azuma came up with the brightest idea that can be had to spend a stormy holiday in a vast indoor space, many people together.
SEIRA: Oh, there you all are! Overcast got you downcast?
Well, don't be blue! The scavenger hunt adventure's about to begin!
Way to go, Seira! That "Rosie-the-Riveter" gesture is priceless!
(Besides, Ayaka, you look wonderful in white. Good reason for me to ship Seirayaka!)
TREASURE HUNT TIME!
Now get ready for the sorting that will decide who teams up with whom!
SEIRA (excited): Welcome, young treasure-seeking adventurers and heroes!
MINAMI: Seira loves holding events.
SEIRA (winking at Minami, excited): Sure do! Now, time to start our indoor scavenger hunt!
SEIRA (still excited): Now, everyone here wants some treasure?
AUDIENCE: (gasps)
SEIRA (even more excited): I can't hear you! WHO HERE WANTS SOME TREASURE?
AUDIENCE (raising their hands): Me!!!
SEIRA (still excited): Okay! (taking forth the sorting box) First, let's split into teams!
In a past life, Seira Azuma must have been a great leader, and definitely one of the military kind.
This scene definitely made up for Twilight's secrecy and silence with a female Large Ham who knows how to rally the crowds to her cause. With that wide open smile, those dynamic expressions, and that cheerful, loud contralto voice of hers...
Since Minami is already taken for Gustavus Adolphus, Seira must have been either Banér or Pappenheim. For which one do you settle, dear readers? And which 30YW general was Ranko Ichijo, my second favourite muggle character from this show? I see Seira as Banér and Ranko as Pappenheim (their past lives, id est).
So each team is given a riddle that will lead them to the treasure.
Kirara, Hitomin (the pig-tailed one), and (the one with bobbed hair).
Their riddle was: "Which nuts are the most active ones?"
Hitomin guessed it was donuts. "Do-nuts" (yeah, a lame pun). And she was right.
The girls also commented that Kirara has become less focused merely on her career (some advice from Stella and/or her Cure mates must have done the trick) and easier to approach.
Haruka, Reiko (with long hair and spectacles), and Kano-san.
Their riddle is: "Something that's outside, yet still at home."
The answer, found by Reiko, was a snail, which the team found in a hortensia plot in the gardens.
And it was right.
I support this team. The one Seira's in. And Yui and Minami too.
YUI: Seira, you're participating?
SEIRA (excited): Of course! Nobody wants to do this scavenger hunt more than me!
MINAMI (smiling, to Seira): I figured that was the case.
SEIRA (excited): Now, to disperse our clues to the treasure, we have...
MRS. SHIROGANE (popping out of the blue): Mrs. Shirogane, dorm matron.
Go TEAM SEIRA!!!
The riddle which Team Seira had to solve:
"What snickers by the entrance?"
SEIRA: To a restaurant? Customers, I suppose?
YUI: Maybe it means the entrance to the dorm.
MINAMI (deep in thought): What snickers by the entrance... snickers by the entrance... (She has a eureka moment and suddenly gasps): I've got it! (She runs along the hallway ahead of her teammates)
SEIRA: Wait... Minami!
SEIRA: Pairs of shoes?
MINAMI (happily): Can't you imagine these sneakers "sneakering" by the entrance? (chortles)
(OK, either Mrs. Shirogane, Seira, or both love lame puns.)
SEIRA, YUI (both gasp, surprised.)
MRS. SHIROGANE: Correct.
(Both Seira and Yui are startled and scared by the fact that she appeared between them out of the blue.)
MINAMI (happy): I knew it!
SEIRA: I feel like you've learned to snicker more, Minami.
MINAMI (surprised): Eh?
SEIRA: Remember how you used to be as strict as a teacher? You were all "put-your-back-into-it!" But there's a different air about you now.
MINAMI (wondering): Is there?
SEIRA: See? You just snickered.
Love the fact that Little Miss Kaido is no longer the stick in the mud Seira knew since long ago.
Then, Mrs. Shirogane gave them another riddle:
"What appears different to all who gaze at it while changing day by day?"
The answer, as Ruka found out, is one's reflection in a mirror.
This riddle was given to ALL of the teams and gathered them together in the ballet room.
Mrs. Shirogane gave there, thus, the following speech:
MRS. SHIROGANE: I see you've all found the real treasure. People all grow in ways they don't even notice. What do you all think of what you see in the mirror?
The treasure was, thus, nothing material, but a value as worth the pain as self-discovery. Which reminds me of the world-famous and always relevant inscription in the Oracle of Delphi:
"Know yourself."
Nothing says discovery like Twilight finding her Princess Perfume in some eerie ruins. Which also happens here (Seven Gods, what a reveal! Power her up even more!!!). This is both a Twilight-centric and Kanata-centric episode, which makes me rate it as high as the previous one (the one where the princess in black curb-stomped the Cures!) With the prince in white fighting dementors in the Hope Kingdom and a flashback to the past, with a little scarlethead appearing in it, aside from Twilight getting steps closer to her destiny and us getting steps closer to the big reveal (more loose ends!). And cool horses too! Twilight's is crimson and Kanata's is lilywhite, but ain't these horses so similar to one another?
This episode also featured lots of reveals about Kanata and Twilight, and strenghtened the theory that they could be siblings...
MADAME SHAMOUR: J'ai once taught this song to Prince Kanata.
As well as to His Highness's younger sister...
C'est a dire, the princess of the Hope Kingdom.
His sister practiced the violin every day and night. She admired her brother while he played the violin, and soon she became quite skilled in spite of her youth. She developed an amazing talent even for her young age.
It's been too long, la petite princesse...
A child Kanata with a red-haired violinist, his younger sister.
Kanata loved playing classical music for her. She could also play the violin, and she looked up to her brother, the crown prince of the lands.
However, the princess disappeared before the fall of the Hope Kingdom.
Kanata's younger sister Towa went missing when she was a child and the Crown Prince was in his teens, about five or six years before the invasion! Which means his sister would now be in her mid-teens (i.e. Twilight's age)...
Could she have been spirited away, taken prisoner, or as hostage... and raised by Dysdark royalty?
The little girl is younger than Kanata, and she looks like Cure Scarlet,
and she also plays the violin (both Kanata and Twilight are elegant classical musicians)...
A LEDGE OR BALCONY OF THE HOPE KINGDOM PALACE. Twilight on her own. Enter Shut.
TWILIGHT (muses on her recent and most painful defeat...)
SHUT: Princess Twilight, Shut is here. I shall crush the Princess Precures and avenge your defeat.
TWILIGHT (slightly enraged): Defeat, you say? You think the Precures truly bested me?!
SHUT (afraid): N-no, I'd never even imagine... (Twilight turns her back on him and walks away.) W-where are you going?
(Twilight gives no reply and quickly leaps off the balcony)
SHUT: Princess Twilight!
(Twilight lands on the back of her cool crimson steed and takes off, soaring through the Hope Kingdom skies, even though her horse is wingless and thus, no pegasus [Levitation? Is Twilight telekinetic?]. From the balcony, Shut eyes her ride and watches her fly away.)
Twilight jumping off the palace ledge to land on her fiery steed.
"Hi-ho, Crimson!" (Cue Lone Ranger theme/William Tell overture)
Well, actually, Twilight says nothing before taking to the sky.
SHUT (muttering, in a bad mood): Curse you, Princess Precures!
Meanwhile, Prince Grand Kanata is fighting desporgs in the capital of the Hope Kingdom.
After Kanata has pinned the desporg to the ground,
the hilt of his sceptre glows with a bright pink light.
KANATA: This light is...
Have the Precures obtained a new Key?
(He gets on his cool white horse.)
(Thinking): The Princess Precures are doing all what they can.
Until the day my kingdom is freed...
I must not falter either!
(Speaking to his horse): Let us ride, Wish.
WISH: (gets on its hind legs and neighs in response).
(Kanata and Wish gallop away.)
On the shores of a lake, Kanata gets off Wish and unsheaths his violin to play a familiar, mournful tune (Twilight's leitmotif...).
As he plays the beautiful music, he remembers standing on a sunny hill outside the palace, with petals flowing in the breeze and a little red-haired girl listening by his side. And the wide, sincere smile of his little sister...
In the meantime, Twilight is riding (this time, on land!) through a rocky, mountainous wasteland.
We see that her horse has the cyclopean padlock face of a desporg.
TWILIGHT (insecure, talking to herself): What am I doing here?
(In the end, she reaches the edge of a vast ocean of clouds. A very thin and very long natural bridge of rock leads to a quaint isolated estate-like building, crowned with a dome and adorned with turrets, on a small rocky peninsula in the middle of the cloud-seas.)
TWILIGHT: Is that not...?
By the end of the episode, Twilight has made it to the château, whose architecture looks pretty Renaissance to me (arches, columns, classical influences...), and entered through its vast portico.
Inside, it's dark and empty, lit by torchlight.
TWILIGHT: How curious...
It's as if someone called me here.
In a hall with gothic windows, she sees a Princess Perfume hovering, inside a sphere of white light, above a pedestal.
TWILIGHT (surprised): Is that...
She draws closer and closer.
TWILIGHT:...the Precures'... Why is it here?
The look in her eyes and the expression on her face change from those of wonder to a wistful smile.
(Is the Perfume possessing her mind, like the One Ring? I think that is the case.)
TWILIGHT: With this Perfume, I can match the Precures...
(She reaches into the light sphere for the Perfume and takes it in her left hand.)
TWILIGHT: Nay, far surpass them! (Noblewoman's laugh, stifled as a chortle.)
(A third Black Dress-Up Key [premonition?] is the episode's closure image.)
On a (Shut-)lighter note (these two are still my OTP in Go Princess Precure), Shut appeared as the crony of the week. And yes, Twilight (to keep the comparison between Shutlight and Renlienne going on) still keeps him in the friendzone. Which gives Shut the perfect reason to confront the Cures once more (id est, to impress his beloved princess):
With Twilight doing her own thing today, Shut went out to seek revenge against the Precure- without a buff-up. Man I can’t tell you have relieved I was just to see him go out of his way to do that. But he’s the leader of the Princess Twilight Fan Club, he can’t lay around and wait for a buff up! No! He takes the initiatives and stir up trouble, and while he couldn’t defeat the Precures, I praise him for at least trying.
Friendzoning is a pain in the neck, eh?
Ask Brienne of Tarth!
SHUT: How fitting! Kneel upon the rain-soaked soil!
(overexcited) Excellent!!!
SHUT: To restore Princess Twilight's smile, there is naught but to defeat the Princess Precures!
(Post-defeat, obviously enraged): CURSE YOU, PRINCESS PRECURES! (He throws his umbrella to the ground in a fit of rage.)
Even his umbrella is lined with lace, and he still holds his rose with that aplomb...
Though I love that Shut, like me, can be pushed beyond the point of "no aplomb/no limits/fury."
The victim du jour was, fortunately, not Seira Azuma (at last, R'hllor heard my prayers! Way to pull a ruse, showmakers! Seira-centrism here was but a red herring!) It was a Noble Academy cafeteria lady (she had merely showed up to give Team Kirara their donuts), whose dream is to share her delicious meals of rice with the students of the boarding school.
LUNCH LADY: This rain isn't letting up. I may as well give the students a good meal!
SHUT: The scent of cuisine carries with it the scent of dreams.
Now, show me your dream!
Which makes this cafeteria lady the eighth adult victim of the Dysdarks:
(I will paste a picture of the lunch lady's dream here.)
LUNCH LADY'S DREAM: I hope my food gives our students the nourishment they need to grow!
The desporg here, obviously purified by the Precures (after being curb-stomped [the desporg] as easily as putting on a wristwatch), was completely irrelevant except to delay the action for next week's battle royale.
As well as to establish a little more Seira's relationship to Minami, since the Class President entrusted all the muggle students to the care of the determined bifauxnen during the desporg battle.
And (most importantly for us Shutlight shippers) to know that Shut will give up as easily as Winston Churchill in his pursuit of Twilight's affection. At least we got to see Shut, after weeks of aplomb, snap and display his negative feelings in what we should call a fit of rage.
(As I review this episode, a disturbing tonsil stone causes me to cough as much as Joffrey during his wedding feast. Let's hope there was no Strangler in my last drink of water...)
MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
This episode contains four parallel plotlines: on one hand, the female students of Noble Academy on a treasure hunt in their dorm (the treasure was nothing material, but a value as worth the pain as self-discovery, which reminds me of the world-famous and always relevant inscription in the Oracle of Delphi: "Know yourself"); on the other, Prince Grand Kanata defending the occupied Hope Kingdom from dementor-like Dysdark grunts. The third arc, nigh trifling, stars a Shut who is more determined than ever before to impress his liege lady by defeating their enemies, but in vain (we got to see Shut, after weeks of aplomb, snap and display his negative feelings in what we should call a fit of rage). And, in the fourth and most relevant plotline, Princess Twilight discovering the Fourth Perfume in that abandoned and isolated mansion or estate, which resembles a more provincial version of the Hope Kingdom royal palace. Is there a connection to the past here somewhere?
The highlights were definitely:
Seeing Kanata and his little redheaded sister (Twilight?) playing the violin together in happier days.
Seeing Kanata fighting those dementors.
Seeing more of Seira, who has become my favourite muggle character in this series. I love her outspoken personality (I just love the rare female occurrences of Large Hams in fiction), and we learn from her bestie Minami that she (Seira) <3 holding events, as much as I <3 female Large Hams.
In a past life, Seira Azuma must have been a great leader, and definitely one of the military kind.
This scene definitely made up for Twilight's secrecy and silence with a female Large Ham who knows how to rally the crowds to her cause.
Seeing Shut still wishing to win Twilight's affections, never giving up and in spite of the fact that she ostensibly rejects has advances,
The Cures finding a passage into the Hope Kingdom and meeting Kanata himself.
AND, THE BEST, TWILIGHT GETTING HER OWN PERFUME...
This episode feels like a set-up or prelude for the one to come, the twentieth, with more sightseeing in the magical land called the Hope Kingdom, another epic battle (one that may best Episode 18? So I Hope!!!), and Twilight using her Princess Perfume, which I hope will be a more lasting power-up than that short-lived rod trinket. How will she and Kanata react to encountering each other?
Next week, I will be hanging on the edge of my seat!
NEXT EPISODE (EPISODE 20)
can by no means be missed!
The Princess Cures enter the Hope Kingdom and encounter their liege lord Kanata, who guides them to find the remaining Dress-Up Keys in the magical land,
as Twilight decides to use her Princess Perfume and gets a new elegant, smart, sublime, noble, beautiful, outstanding powered-up mode...
(Cue GoT theme tune...)
Another epic confrontation will ensue!!!
"My precioussss..."
Kanata singing or chanting with his sceptre in hand.
Twilight in the shade.
What can this light be?
Twilight transforming with the aid of the Perfume. Notice that her transformation energy is grey.
This will definitely be a turning point in her character arc.
Twilight's new and powered-up mode...
Looks pretty smart, like a classical musician's suit with frills and a bowtie, lined with supernatural purple, and with that golden mask for an accessoire.
Let's hope that in this form, she is as powerful and as smart as she looks.
What's more, the battle against Twilight will continue in Episode 21, so it's most likely that she will transform at the edge of Ep 20 and show us her new mode's skills and powers the week after!
Want some more reveals?
Twilight is Kanata's estranged sister!!!
And Episode 21, within a fortnight, will tell us how and why sweet little Towa became smart and ruthless Twilight...
Episode 21/Cure Series Episode 556. "Deliver the Feelings! Princess vs. Princess"
想いよ届け！ プリンセスＶＳプリンセス
(Omoi yo Todoke! Purinsesu tai Purinsesu) - June 28, 2015 (Anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles)
想いよ届け！ プリンセスＶＳプリンセス
(Omoi yo Todoke! Purinsesu tai Purinsesu) - June 28, 2015 (Anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles)
The moment Twilight comes into sight, Kanata calls her his own little sister "Towa". But Twilight only coldly declares that she is the Princess in Black who will dye both herself and the world in despair as she attacks the Cures. Then, Dyspear appears before Kanata and co, calling Twilight her own daughter. She begins to explain why she corrupted Towa in despair.
(Cue GoT theme tune!)
Are you hanging on the edge of your seats like me???
Will she ever undergo a heel-face turn, like Setsuna, Ellen, and Regina before her?
Since there is proof that Cure Scarlet resembles Twilight... will the two of them be the same person?
Or the light and darkness of the same person, like Aguri and Regina?
(By introducing Aguri as Cure Ace, Dokidoki pulled a nice unexpected ruse on us viewers. Will the same ruse reappear?)
And, given their resemblance and the fact that they're foils, what is the relationship between Twilight and Kanata? Siblings (could she be his estranged younger sister???), fiancés, or something else?
Definitely, canon has confirmed that they're siblings.
Ere she was Twilight, she had been Towa.
Want some more reveals?
Twilight is Kanata's estranged sister!!!
And Episode 21, within a fortnight, will tell us how and why sweet little Towa became smart and ruthless Twilight...
Episode 21/Cure Series Episode 556. "Deliver the Feelings! Princess vs. Princess"
想いよ届け！ プリンセスＶＳプリンセス
(Omoi yo Todoke! Purinsesu tai Purinsesu) - June 28, 2015 (Anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles)
想いよ届け！ プリンセスＶＳプリンセス
(Omoi yo Todoke! Purinsesu tai Purinsesu) - June 28, 2015 (Anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles)
The moment Twilight comes into sight, Kanata calls her his own little sister "Towa". But Twilight only coldly declares that she is the Princess in Black who will dye both herself and the world in despair as she attacks the Cures. Then, Dyspear appears before Kanata and co, calling Twilight her own daughter. She begins to explain why she corrupted Towa in despair.
(Cue GoT theme tune!)
Let's hope she (Towa-ilight) becomes Cure Scarlet, and the writers don't pull the Regina ruse from Dokidoki (that's called Trolling Creator, by the way) once more!!! Towa is, after all, so similar to Cure Scarlet!
Are you hanging on the edge of your seats like me???
