#pcd243

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! (ignore that it’s the middle of June when this comes out [I am not changing that line, that’s how long I’ve been working on this]) Yes, it’s Christmas in the world of Precure 5, and historically, that means drama! So put on your Santa suit and rev up the reindeer, we’re going delivering!

The Plot

‘Twas the day before Christmas, when all through Natts House Everybody was stirring and bustling about; They all, except Nuts, dressed in fine Santa wear In hopes that their customers soon would be there;

Then Mailpo cried out, and with a sense of dread Nozomi looked up as bags fell on her head Her friends showed concern as she stood up from the rubble  But Mailpo cried out that they aren't out of trouble When out from the fairy, there emerged such a list Of which Kurumi and Karen gathered the gist

Away to Eternal the plot then did shift Mucardia realized something was amiss Much about Syrup, Anacondy was hiding  Then the snake found the bug, chastised him for prying And warned him that not even he will get mercy If once again she finds his results unsavory. Mucardia absconds, but Anacondy’s lips purse She knows the director, and she must move first

Back with the girls, the truth comes to face  The bags contain toys and the list contains names The girls must play Santa within their fair town And deliver the gifts to children up and down So into three groups they split to fulfill their objective North, east, and south, going in every directive Now Nozomi, with Rin-chan! Urara with Syrup! Fly Komachi with Karen, and away right this instant! To the houses they run! To apartments they trawl! Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!

While the heroines scurry hither and yore Milk, Nuts, and Coco all tend to the store The Natts House is full with countless patrons And the Palmier trio try their best to placate them During their scuttle, ‘twas a strange figure Whom Urara and Syrup found in their vigor With his pants crimson red, and his beard snowy white, And his stature quite portly, he’s truly the sight Of the man called St. Nicholas, so the audience knows But to the ensemble this remains to be shown.

The man collapses with a fever quite high So Syrup brings him to the shop on the fly While Karen attends him, Urara proceeds To continue her task on this strange Christmas Eve

The red man awakes in the back of the store Declaring that he must return to his chore For he too delivers parcels around And needs to get his quest back off the ground But his sleigh he still needs to perform his task (Somehow the staff don’t find this an unusual ask) So out to the streets Syrup quickly makes To find the man’s sleigh, whatever it takes

Syrup scours the town, leaving no stone unturned While no sleigh is found, a bug makes him squirm Mucardia shows up and taunts the young man Whose past holds a secret that’s the crux of this plan Anacondy keeps this secret close to her chest So Mucardia wants to make Syrup confess In order to weasel his way next to the boss Because Anacondy, you see, is hiding their loss

As he torments the boy, the heroes hit the scene Mucardia scoffs and prepares to make them scream He summons a sleigh he’s been planning to store (The very same sleigh the old man is looking for) Then a large Hoshiina the sleigh manifests So the girls must transform to see it suppressed

They clash and they duel against this most fearsome opponent While Mucardia still interrogates for his missing component As is often the case, the fight is a distraction As Eternal’s most loyal tries to force recollection The Pretty Cure punch and they kick and they mug Trying to get to Syrup to give him a hug The monster simply gets in the way So Milky Rose leaps in and enters the fray

WIth a powerful kick, she topples the foe And the Precures cause Mucardia much woe He pleads with Syrup to try to remember Why he came to Eternal before being a courier But Cure Dream says to let him stay fogged For at the Cure Rose Garden his memory will be jogged Mucardia sics the Hoshiina upon his opponent But a Rainbow Rose Explosion destroys it in a moment

With much frustration, the villain departs And Syrup gives Nozomi his sincere regards At Eternal HQ, disinterested in the loss Anacondy ponders a letter meant for her boss She’s kept stashed away inside of her desk With the seal of a rose suggesting the rest

Back at Natts House, night has now arrived And everyone has gathered around outside To reunite the old man with his possessions And see him off on his annual obsession He explains how he fell and lost his apparel And this left him stranded and sick and in peril

But thanks to the generosity of all around He was able to recover, safe and sound So it’s to his deliveries he must return And inside everyone’s heads, the wheels begin to turn A man dressed in red with a beard snowy white With presents to spare and a sleigh that takes flight?

Nuts offers his coat to protect from the cold And everyone observes that he looks quite bold Nozomi remarks that he has Santa’s visage Causing Rin to explain that yes, that’s who he was

As they all finally realize and see their guest off Nozomi remembers a task she forgot In all the commotion, no cake was acquired But Mailpo points to a gift that Santa retired It turns out to be just the cake they wanted And they all thanked the man as he departed

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight— “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

The Analysis

So, quick recap in non-poem form in case it was hard to follow, here’s the gist: Santa was delivering gifts when Mucardia attacked him with the intent of adding the sleigh to Eternal’s collection. He fell from the sky, lost his coat and hat, and became ill from the cold, so his strong feelings of wanting the gifts connected with Mailpo, who brought the gifts and the list to the team. They take up the task of delivering his gifts and in the process find Santa, looking sick and out of sorts. They don’t immediately recognize him, but they tend to him and he has a talk with Syrup and regains his motivation. Mucardia, who was snooping in Anacondy’s desk, learns that Syrup has visited Eternal before becoming a courier and Anacondy is hiding something from the director, so he tries to interrogate the boy to find out why, but Syrup can’t remember his past before the girls dispatch the villain. At the end, Anaconda ponders the letter and decides she needs to take action herself because the Director is drifting too far away from her in his obsession with Flora. The team returns Santa’s sleigh and bags of presents and they watch him depart on his deliveries and then they finally realize that this fat old man with a long white beard dressed all in red with a flying sleigh is, in fact, the real Santa.

What I Liked

Aside from digging into the depths of Syrup’s memories and Anacondy’s manipulation, it is actually a fairly light episode, compared to the last two Christmas episodes, and some of the ones that will follow. I enjoyed seeing the girls playing Santa for a day, that led to some fun scenarios, and there’s some good gags that come out of it too:

It was funny how civilians repeatedly pointed out that it’s the middle of the day on Christmas Eve when the girls show up in Santa outfits delivering presents. (also, let’s be real, if some random person came to your front door on Christmas Eve with a present claiming it was on behalf of Santa, you would be at least a little suspicious)

Komachi gets really into the part of Santa, stroking her imaginary beard at one point.

Nuts weaseling out of putting on his Santa outfit by always finding a distraction is amusing, and then at the end he just gives it to the real Santa. That was cute.

Speaking of which, I appreciate that, while it’s immediately obvious to the audience that this old man is probably literally Santa, it takes the characters a long time to put the pieces together, and he doesn’t come out and say it either.

Also also….. Santa is real in this universe. The concept of Santa has remained unspoken in the franchise prior to this, and suddenly he’s here. It’s kind of amazing. To date there are only two shows that explicitly show Santa (the other being HUGtto), and a few others put spins on him like Maho Girls saying “it’s actually wizards” and Star Twinkle saying “it’s actually a race of aliens.” See my Christmas Episode post for more on that.

Kurumi makes a good coordinator for the group, and we also see Karen’s medical studies in practice as she nurses the man who is definitely not Santa. (As I’ve said before, she is 15-16 years old and still in middle school, she, hasn’t started any formal medical training or internship, so she’s just applying basic first aid, but it’s a nice gesture).

What I Didn’t Like

The art style is just a bit… off, this episode. The art director was Iijima Shuichi, who I have called out before. (GG33, GG25, GG17, GG09, GG02). His faces can be really weird. In some places I think it kind of works, but it’s more miss than hit. (I've hit the image limit on this post so skim the gallery)

Despite all the buildup, it’s still not spelled out just what Syrup’s past is. He has a revelation but it’s only half a reveal. The full truth is yet to come to light.

Miscellaneous

So this episode is a little more fresh in my mind than the rest of the series, since I last watched it 5 years ago for my Christmas episode retrospective. I mostly remembered it in comparison to the Christmas episodes that sandwich it: Yes! Precure 5, and Fresh Precure. Both of those are pretty heavy, down to earth episodes, compared to the lighter tone of this episode, and so it entrenched itself as less…. Significant, for lack of a better word. But seeing it in the context of the show, it’s more heavy than I realized or remembered.

It’s revealed that Anacondy actually intercepted a letter from Flora meant for the Director, and hid it, which could have dramatically altered their relationship and prevented the show from happening. We know that she has an obsession with the Director, possibly she’s even in love with him, and hates that he’s so obsessed with Flora. She has been trying for years to steer him away from that obsession, to no avail, and this shows just how far she’s gone. It’s dubious what this has to do with Syrup’s latent memories, although that mystery will be addressed soon enough. His big reveal is that he went to Eternal before officially becoming a courier, in order to deliver said letter (which Anacondy then stole).

Conclusion

This was a really fun and enjoyable Christmas episode, and sets the stage for the endgame of the series. It blended fun hijinks and gags with a feel-good story about Santa and some drama about Syrup’s past. Next time, it’s the beginning of the end. Look forward to it!