(Warning: This entry contains SPOILERS!!)
...and it's really long.





Well, ever since I first posted that entry concerning the announcement of Splash Star, I felt rather obliged to at least write about this episode. Though to be honest, even if I hadn't written about the upcoming new series, I still think I would have wanted to address this episode because...well, I actually really like Pretty Cure.

..Or should I say that I really like Nagisa and Honoka. After all, the end of Max Heart would mean nothing to me otherwise if it didn't also mean the end of them.
(..It hurt to say that.)

And over these last 10 episodes or so, there was a lot of growing that we got to see those two do. From Honoka's initial dilemma of whether or not to move to France to live with her parents, to episode 43, where the two more or less "graduate" from their respective clubs at Verona (I'd honestly forgotten just how popular Nagisa was until that episode). And of course poor Hikari's been put through quite a bit of change herself, as she learns about her identity and connection to the boy that lives in the Zakenna mansion.

And now we finally reach the last episode. And not only this past storyline, but everything that has been building up over the past 95 episodes of this series must come to a climax.


Read the rest!
















The episode opens with younger versions of our two heriones (which are both just about cute enough to make your eyes bleed profusely) facing two very discouraging problems to them at the time. Just as Valdes begins destroying their world, a very weary Nagisa and Honoka begin giving up hope, feeling visible remorse for letting everyone down. In a horribly emotional scene, the two thus break out into tears and fall to their deaths.

Only not really.
Hikari, meanwhile, has made up her mind and decides to once again become Queen in order to gain the power to fight again. Then suddenly, present-day Nagisa and Honoka appear in those memories of their childhood I formerly mentioned -- their relatives (who were there initially cheering up the younger versions of the girls) turn to them and remind then that they still have a tomorrow to look forward to.

Thanks to this newfound hope, the girls' bracelets (which have formerly been rendered powerless by the Dark Squad) revive, and the two regain the power to fight and face Valdes once again, however, he withstands the Marble Screw Maxi they lay on him and reveals himself to actually be the Dark King himself. After another scuttle, and being thrown quite a ways back, the girls go through another short moment of meloncholy. However, they regain the resolve to fight again and face the Dark King once more.

The Dark King demands to know why the two refuse to back down. In quick flashbacks to episodes 8 and 42 of the first season, the girls exclaim that they've already been through a lot, no, too much for them to ever give up now. Their Bracelets glow brightly, and in a flash, once again the girls are on the offensive. After moments of eerie still and no signs of the Dark King, the girls look to to actually see that he's grown to gargantuan proportions. Before he can lay the final blow, something stops him -- it's the Queen.

As the two face off, Nagisa and Honoka realize that this must mean that Hikari is gone. The Queen reassures them that Hikari will live on in their hearts, and Hikari herself appears to tell Honoka and Nagisa that she has no regrets with her decision. Together, the three unleash all of their power onto the Dark King in one huge Extreme Luminario Maxi (these names are killing me..), and in a burst of light, the Dark King is no more. As the picture begins to seep back, the girls mull over the fact that now they will have to become Pretty Cure no longer.

The scene finally switches to graduation day for the girls. A choir is heard singing in the background. Our heroines finally receive their diplomas, take their class graduation picture (which goes horribly) and visit Akane's Takoyaki stand for old time's sake. However, the two are very downcast at the loss of Hikari...when she suddenly appears (wtf?). With Mepple, Mipple, et al in tow. We're left finally with the notion that even though they're no longer the guardians of light, they'll still always be together. Forever.


And there you have it. Nothing groundbreaking, or too exciting, but all around a very enjoyable episode. Now as for those questions I rose in the Splash Star entry..

Will Nagisa confess to Fuji-P?
Well something like that is definitely reaching in this show. However, Nagisa did indirectly confess to him a few episodes ago at the skating rink. Though Fuji-P may still remain clueless to Nagisa's feelings (which I rather doubt, to be honest), we at least know that Nagisa's gotten to a place where she's willing to admit her feelings aloud. Who knows, maybe she might even muster up the guts to say it out loud to HIM sometime before she receives her next diploma.

Will Honoka really go to France?
This one is looking extremely unlikely, what with the whole "together forever" theme the last minutes of the show are dripping with. Though then again, it could be metaphorical, and in the earliest scenes of the episode, which show young Honoka lamenting over the fact of her departing (perhaps for the first time?) parents, we get the feeling that it's perhaps still a pressing issue for her. But of course, who needs parents now that you have Mipple permantly attached to you hip? On that note, is she, Nagisa and Hikari going to hide those guys forever? And on a completely unrelated note am I the only one that felt sorry for Akane for being brainwashed into supporting two children??
This show can be so cold..

...will Nagisa+Honoka fans get anything..? OTL
Well... no.
..Though it's strange, really, when you think about how big the fandom surrounding these two have gotten.. which may in turn make it seem common sense to us that these two should become a couple. And not only that, but I think it's certainly apparent to most of the people involved with making this show, as well (it definitely is to the mangaka, anyway). However, it's because of that fact, I believe, that they didn't "give Nagisa+Honoka fans anything". Instead, throughout the series they would play a little on both sides of the fence; nurturing both the relationship between Nagisa and Fuji-P, and the one between our two heroines (perhaps spending more time on the former, seeing as Pretty Cure is, after all, still a show targetted to young girls, and would most likely be a scenario they'd be more familiar with).
And as I've pointed out with Fuji-P's case, neither of the two potential relationships are realized.. or even get close to it. We're left to put together the pieces we've been given and finish the story for our own -- and both, really have gotten their fair share of attention. Though Nagisa is inching closer to Fuji-P's heart, the scenes that this final episode reflects back to are from the signiture yuri episodes of 8 and 42.

..But.
If you're like most people.. you probably couldn't care less about Fuji-P.
Therefore, I'll say this final word: though Nagisa's romantic feelings toward her dear Fuji-P sempai may be real and quite obvious to the viewer and to herself, they aren't given nearly as much weight or have caused so dramatic an effect on her as her feelings for Honoka. Though it may not be love -- though it may perhaps never be love -- we know that Nagisa and Honoka do and forever will share a bond stronger than they currently realize.

But yeah, the final answer to this question's still no.


So in conclusion, this entry is too fucking long for its own good. No. Seriously. It really just is. But hey, last ep of Pretty Cure deserves as much, I think. And that's what I regard this episode as -- Splash Star or not.


...though recently, I've found out that Enomoto Atsuko will play the role of Mishou Mai in the next series. So now I know I'm going to watch it.
Fuck.

Labels: Pretty Cure

....................................