#pcd238

The final monarch of the four kingdoms is found, and Bunbee is looking for a bargaining chip back into Eternal. What happens when these two circumstances collide? Let’s dive in!

The Plot

Karen and Komachi capture an extremely ill-looking Palmin in the school library, and it turns out to be the final monarch, King Montblanc. They regroup with the team and try to figure out what to do, even summoning Queen Bavarois for guidance. She explains that he’s actually the eldest of the monarchs despite his young appearance, and suggests that he has lost too much energy from being in Palmin form for so long. She proposes bedrest, and Milk pleads with Karen to tend to him the same way she was cared for when she was sick previously.

Everyone contributes tools to help warm him up while Karen tries to nurse the sickly king, feeding him watered down honey for the nutrients, but he starts coughing aggressively. Everyone, including all the fairies, becomes hysterical and asks Karen what to do. Karen  is scared that she's doing more harm than good and becomes overwhelmed by everyone’s nagging and steps away to collect herself. Komachi manages to calm and reassure her friend, reminding her that Nozomi always gives her best effort and so should they. Karen returns to his side, and though weak he seems to be doing better, even grabbing Karen’s finger.

While all this is happening, Bunbee winds up at Natts House. He’s been wandering aimlessly since episode 35, when he tried to become the Precures’ new leader, and he’s too afraid to show himself at Eternal after his attempted defection. He demands to be let in from the cold, but for plainly obvious reasons nobody trusts him, so he forces his way in. He doesn’t seem to have any particularly ill intentions until he sees King Montblanc and realizes that could be his ticket back to Eternal. Nozomi won’t let him kidnap the King, so Bunbee conjures a Hoshiina out of the frozen pond, and everyone transforms into Precure and Milky Rose.

While Milky Rose and the other Precures deal with the Hoshiina’s ice attacks, Aqua returns King Montblanc to the Rose Pact and tries to retreat with him. Bunbee sees this, but Rose keeps him from following her. When she is dispelled, the rest of the cures join her assault, but the Hoshiina knocks them all back. Bunbee decides to take out the threat of the four cures and Milky Rose first, instead of Cure Aqua, and prepares his super missile attack. Aqua is once again overwhelmed and torn about what to do, but Montblanc emerges and encourages her to go to her friends, because he’s seen the strength of their bond. She manages to send Bunbee flying far enough away, and then Coco helps the Precures perform Rainbow Rose Explosion, purifying the Hoshiina. Milky Rose tries to perform Metal Blizzard on Bunbee, but he makes a hasty retreat.

Back in Natts House when the dust has settled, King Montblanc explains that he only drinks grape juice, which is why he couldn’t handle the honey mixture she gave him. When he sees Syrup he starts to say that his presence means the Cure Rose Garden is in great danger, but falls asleep before he can elaborate and Karen says to let him rest before they question him further.

Bunbee returns to Eternal to tell Anacondy that the last king has been found, but she destroys his report. She knows he was trying to betray Eternal, and casts him into the underworld before she disappears. However, after she leaves, the door opens again and Bunbee is seen clinging to it, wondering what he should do next.

The power of comic relief reigns supreme

The Analysis

What I Liked

It’s a deliberate parallel and callback to one of the best episodes of the last season, without feeling like a complete rehash. It shows Karen’s development, and her vulnerability. It challenges her in a somewhat different way and she shines all the brighter for it. She has ideas about how to treat the sickly king, but she’s still only a middle school student and is easily overwhelmed by the pressure of her situation, especially when her peers and even some near adults turn to her for guidance. But she also pulls through, earning the trust of the king.

The battle scene has some nice moments, with the whole team punching away icicles like Wonder Woman deflecting bullets. They show why they’re a great team, as Dream, Rouge, Lemonade, Mint, and Rose work together to divert attention from Aqua while she protects the king, and Rose has another solo fight with Bunbee (calling back to her debut appearance in episode 10), followed by Aqua turning around and getting a few good hits on him in retaliation. It’s fun stuff.

I might rag on Bunbee… a lot, but he’s fun, and at this juncture in the series he seems genuinely unsure about what he wants. He doesn’t seem to relish in evil, but it’s all that he knows. However, he’s also not sympathetic. He has an inflated sense of self-importance and performs evil acts to bolster his position. I know that ultimately he sort of redeems himself, and he shows up occasionally in anniversary projects in a comic relief role, so it’ll be interesting to see where he goes from here now that he’s officially banished from Eternal. Also, I love that he managed to basically save himself from eternal damnation by just clinging to a door.

What I DIdn’t Like

Nothing sticks out to me about this episode as a negative.

Miscellaneous

In the midst of the drama, we get some subtle advertisement for the functions of the CureMo and the Rose Pact, to appease Bandai.

King Montblanc’s affinity for grape juice is similar to Karen’s own, and Rin makes a quip about this as well.

King Montblanc is played by Sakiko Tamagawa, a veteran voice actress with a career spanning 4 decades. She will appear in Heartcatch Precure as a minor character named Shiku Rumi, and in All Stars New Stage 2 and 3 as the fairy Enen. Outside of Precure, she is probably most known for providing the voice of the Tachikoma robots in the Ghost in the Shell franchise.

King Montblanc is modeled after a turtle, completing the motif of the mythical four cardinal beasts with the other monarchs. Also, continuing the dessert motif of the series, mont blanc is a French dish consisting of chestnut puree cut into vermicelli (a pasta similar to spaghetti) and served with whipped cream. Japan has their own version, which is a sponge cake topped with the chestnut pasta , or more generally, any cake topped with vermicelli cream. The dish itself is named after the real Mont Blanc (literally Mount White), which is the tallest mountain in the Alps, on the border of France and Italy.

Rainbow Rose Explosion has become the defacto finisher, replacing the individual attacks. This is in contrast to the last season where Five Explosion was only used to defeat generals. This does become the norm in successive series.

Conclusion

It’s a nice transition into the last quarter of the show that recalls familiar territory while setting the stage for new developments. It’s a strong Karen focus episode and exemplifies her best qualities. I’m looking forward to learning more about King Montblanc and Bunbee’s future.

Next time on Precure Daily, Urara loses her voice. Look forward to it!