#sunda

This episode showcases Kokoro Shigure, the first-year junior high school student who is the president of the Cure Idol and Cure Wink Idol Research Club. She’s a talented dancer who’s obsessed with the Idol Precures because they make her heart move in a way she hasn’t felt before. Girl, maybe you’re just gay?

What’s interesting is that Kokoro is usually seen as bubbly in her brief appearances, but here, she’s more standoffish. I also liked learning more about her in that she’s an only child with a working mom and grandparents while her father passed away. She’s also a huge Idol Precure fan that she makes fan merch like badges and acrylic stands—she even brings them to school. Though, I think that I’d love to know more about why she likes dancing instead of having an entire episode of being persuaded to become an Idol Precure by Precure Kyubey. She did reject an offer to join the dance club from her senpai, Sunda (Dansu/Dance backwards), despite him trying to get her to join since elementary school. This means that she has been a very talented dancer, yet why? Why does she love dancing? Like we know Uta loves singing because she likes seeing people smile when doing so. Nana likes playing piano because it makes others happy. Why does she like dancing? Will it be explained in the next episode?

Speaking of Purirun, I’m always surprised that the story is not punishing her for her antics. She’s been told to not expose herself or the identities of the Precures to strangers, yet she keeps doing so. To be fair, Uta’s terrible at keeping secrets too. Like, I won’t be surprised if the villains find where their main base is because of how loose-lipped Uta and Purirun are… While it’s funny to see them getting into shenanigans because of this, I would like to see them get consequences for their actions as sort of a give-and-take sort of thing.

I do get why Kokoro hasn’t turned into a Precure in this episode because she assumed they were just regular idols singing and dancing on stage. No one told her she’d be fighting giant monsters. She didn’t sign up for this! Girl, better run before you get scammed by the gremlin!

One interesting note, the three Precure girls have names pertaining to nature and their respective colors. Uta’s surname is Sakura, which means cherry blossom which are pink flowers. Nana’s surname is Aokaze, which means blue (ao) wind (Kaze)—she’s the Blue Cure. The kanji used in Kokoro’s surname means Purple (shi) rain (gure); though, ‘shigure’ normally means rainfall.

Kokoro’s voice actress is Natsumi Takamori, who you might know as Kome-Kome from Delicious Party Precure. Takamori actually uses a different vocal range when voicing Kokoro, so it was surprising when I remembered they shared the same voice actress. She has really good range! 

Also, shoutout to the random gardener man for being the first male victim. I thought Sunda senpai was going to be the victim, but maybe that’ll be next episode? Speaking of Sunda, I liked how he did a split and keeled over when Kokoro rejected his offer. Not only that he ran to her via break dancing. This guy should be a recurring character—he’s hilarious! There is no episode this weekend due to a sporting event held on television in Japan, so I’ll see you guys next week for Cure Kyun-Kyun’s debut and to see what other crimes Purirun will commit. What are your thoughts on this episode?

“Uh, it looks pretty bad,” Ichiban said, peering into the small bathroom of Shichifuku.

“How bad?” Adachi asked behind him, trying to peer over Ichiban’s broad frame.

“Like, the-walls-are-leaking bad,” Ichiban said, stepping out of the way to reveal the sopping drywall next to the toilet. Adachi peered closely, reaching a hand out to touch the wall. His hand came away wet.

“This may be out of our area of expertise,” Nanba commented from where he leaned against the bar.

“We can’t give up that easily,” Ichiban argued, but Adachi shook his head. 

“Nah, this is definitely beyond me. They teach you about waterworks in prison?” he asked. 

Ichiban’s face fell. “Well, not really,” he admitted. He raised his chin. “But we gotta help Hamako-chan out.”

“We’ll just have to call an expert,” Saeko said with a shrug, picking up her phone. “You can be helpful by covering his fees.” Ichiban looked alarmed by the suggestion, but readily agreed nonetheless.