#pcd240

Rin is trying to figure out what compels people to wear jewelry and accessories, with some provocation from Nuts. So she turns to the most bedazzled man she knows: Momoi Kyousuke. He seems strangely interested in learning her and her friends’ weaknesses, though…

The Plot

After Rin sees a man walking down the street covered with all manner of gaudy accessories, she can’t get him out of her mind, questioning  why anyone would wear so much unnecessary stuff. Nozomi tells Rin that she wants to wear all the accessories she makes, which Rin dismisses saying that’s not a good reason to wear accessories. Nuts challenges her by asking if accessories are something you only wear when necessary, sparking a larger discussion. Nozomi also brings up a new cake shop that she wants to visit, which the other girls show some interest in.

Over at Eternal, Mucardia visits Anacondy, remarking on the lack of Bunbee. She coldly tells him that he can join him if he’s so interested, so Mucardia drops the subject, and she subtly threatens him into action by saying she has high hopes for him. So in his guise as Momoi Kyousuke, he visits Fleuriste Natsuki to chat up Rin and try to gain intel from her. She thinks he’s taking her on a date, even while he not so subtly asks about her friends’ strengths and especially their weaknesses. Rin doesn’t really notice this because she’s still pondering Nuts’s question, stopping to stare at a window display of accessories, and then helping a crying girl who has lost her older brother. When Rin catches the girl staring at her homemade brooch and bracelet, she gives them to the child, who says she’ll give them to her brother, because her brother wears everything she gives him.

Momoi takes Rin to a new cake shop to try to get more information out of her. She recognizes it as the one Nozomi was talking about, and who should show up then but the girl herself, upset that Rin would come here without her. When she sees Momoi and starts to put together the pieces, Rin tries to deny what it looks like. Before they can try to settle the perceived misunderstanding, their food arrives, served by Bunbee. All of them instantly recognize each other, and Bunbee accuses Momoi of trying to become the Precure's new leader instead of him. Momoi rebuts this and accuses Bunbee of abandoning Eternal. Then he realizes that he has said all of this in front of Nozomi and Rin.

Realizing that the gig is up, he transforms into his monster form for the first time, so the best friends transform into Precure as well. Mucardia turns a table into a Hoshiina while  taunting them with their perceived weaknesses (their desire to help others) and says he deserves the Rose Pact, but Dream says that they want to answer Flora’s feelings, since she bestowed it to them. This speaks to Rouge. The pair are about to get attacked by the Hoshiina when Milky Rose kicks in, defending her friends’ motives, shortly followed by Cure Lemonade, and then Mint and Aqua. Mucardia tries to belittle the girls by revealing things he knows about them, and Rouge explains he was disguised as Momoi, but honestly the information he reveals to the girls is laughably insubstantial. The trio of fairies arrive, and Rose uses Metal Blizzard to destroy the Hoshiina. The cures perform Five Explosion on Mucardia, who tries to put up a barrier to defend himself, but as the attack starts to break through, he gives up and flees.

Later, back at Natts House, the bedazzled man that Rin saw at the beginning shows up with the little girl Rin helped, because he is the mysterious older brother she bequeathed the bracelet to. He explains that he wears whatever accessories his sister gives him, because that’s what makes her happy, and it makes him happy in turn. Rin tells Nuts that wearing things because it makes others happy is as good a reason as any, which he affirms is essentially what he was leading her towards earlier.  Nozomi turns to Rin and says that Rin puts all her strong feelings into making accessories, so she wants to wear them all as well, which makes Rin smile.

The Analysis

What I Liked

It’s a strong episode about Rin confronting some of her biases and assumptions about what she does and why people express themselves, how they dress. She realizes that it’s okay to wear things just because you like, or even because it makes other people happy. It’s kind of an off the wall lesson for this show in isolation, but for Rin’s character arc it’s poignant. Also, as a self-proclaimed Rin fan, I’m happy to see her get focus.

Nozomi and Rin’s friendship receives a wonderful boost in this episode, as they’re shown to be paying attention to each other’s interests and looking out for one another even when it outwardly looks like they’re talking past each other. Rin seems dismissive when Nozomi brings up the pastry shop she wants them to go to because she wants to talk about the man with accessories, but she recognizes it when she’s out and about. While not the same, Nozomi clearly cares about Rin’s passion for jewelry, as stated when she tells her best friend how she wants to wear all of the accessories she makes.

The ep comes close to mocking people with lots of piercings and jewelry but stopped short. That’s a weird thing to put in the positives column, but considering the way it turns around and shows that the reason the man wears all the accessories is for his sister, it’s a clever bait and switch. I should also point out the subtle but on-brand bucking of gender roles when the child insists that her brother will love Rin’s bracelet, even though it’s a stereotypically girly design. He is indeed later shown wearing it.

It’s good, and funny, to see Bunbee at least trying to make an honest living for himself out of Eternal. When confronted, he doesn’t even try to put up a fight, even though he could probably still summon a Hoshiina. He just runs off. On the other side of the Eternal coin, Mucardia’s true design is very intimidating in the right ways. Was it worth all the build-up? Perhaps not. He’s similar to Bloody from last season, the last and strongest general to show up who tends to do things his own way and doesn’t transform until the 40s. 

The fight against Mucardia was chef’s kiss. The art quality in this episode is overall very strong. There's some animation tricks to keep it under budget, but it moves well when and where it needs to. The gallery contains stitched versions of several panning shots for you to check out.

What I DIdn’t Like

Rin. Girl. Come on. Come ON. You can do so, so much better than this guy. Even putting aside his allegiances, all he does on this date is belittle her compassion and probe her for weaknesses. The nameless man wearing all the accessories would have been a better match, because at least he shows kindness. The fandom joke is that everyone else is paired up, but nobody loves Rin, because her romantic interests across both seasons have been:

a college man who she thought was hitting on her, but was actually buying flowers for his girlfriend

A ghost who thought she was his lover

some boys in the first movie who were intimidated by her athletic ability

and now a creepy man who is actually an unapologetic major villain. (this)

Mucardia felt like he got the idiot ball this episode. He’s so far been shown to be the shrewdest mind in Eternal, hatching devious plots with the Precures none the wiser (although, his game show gig was pretty unnecessarily elaborate). Suddenly he’s just directly asking Rin what everyone’s weaknesses are and accidentally outs himself in front of her?

I believe I’ve spoken about this before, but the jewelry maker that Rin uses…. Look, I know it’s a toy plug. I’m sure it’s great fun for kids, and has good tactile feedback. But not only could she easily string together the chain bracelets just as quickly by hand, but the color and shape of the links inside the machine doesn’t even match the solid pink bracelet that she shows off as having made. Have some consistency.

Miscellaneous

King Montblanc does not appear in this episode.

Milk does not appear in her fairy form in this episode.

Mucardia’s monster form is themed after a centipede, and his name is derived from “Mukade” for the same.

The man who wears all the accessories is voiced by Ono Daisuke, a popular voice actor likely best known for playing Sebastian in Black Butler, Kujo Jotaro in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Erwin Smith in Attack on Titan. He will go on to play a character in the Happiness Charge Precure movie. His sister is played by Shitaya Noriko, whose most prominent role is as Matou Sakura in the Fate series, and Tsumugiya Ururu in Bleach. She has no other Precure roles to her name.

Conclusion

As the series starts to clear out the remaining villains in the ramp up to the final arc, it was time to have Mucardia step into the spotlight. I wish he could have had a better reveal after all his buildup, but despite this the episode is truly great overall with great character dynamics and Rin showing her best side.

Next time, on Precure Daily, the girls have to find out whether Arabian Nights really are like Arabian days. Look forward to it!