Summary: Cure Heart transforms for the first time and saves Cure Sword from the Selfish atop the Clover tower. Cure Sword, doubting Heart’s dedication to the role of Precure, refuses to team up with Heart. Afterward, Mana’s best friend Rikka senses that Mana is hiding something from her. Will Mana’s role as Cure Heart be revealed when a Selfish attacks the school?

cure_heart_on_the_pole.jpg

Usny: Cure Sword was a super bitch to Heart this week. I get that Sword is a super badass and that they pretty much just met, but being that harsh just because Heart was trying to be nice to her? She must not know that love can bloom on the battlefield. It fits with all the Cure Moonlight vibes I’m getting from her, as she desperately tries to be the lone wolf/brooding type, and bringing people together that wouldn’t otherwise be friends is pretty much Precure’s modus operandi. In Futari wa Pretty Cure! the sporty, tomboyish Nagisa and the brainy, intellectual Honoka become best friends and in Fresh Pretty Cure, Love’s aggressive kindness brings Setsuna over from the villians’ side.

Mana has to be the most air-headed lead out of all the Precure I’ve seen. In addition to her remaining unflapped by a giant monster crab, even going as far as to lecture it, this week, she doesn’t hesitate to tell Rikka that she’s a Precure. Of course, Rikka isn’t convinced until she sees Mana’s fabulous transformation. Tsubomi also transformed in front of Erika in Heartcatch Precure, but at that point, Erika was already a Precure candidate. Mana has absolutely no qualms about leaking her position as a Precure.

X-factor activated

kevo: Mana has to be one of the dumbest lead cures we ever had, and I love her for it. She portrays that quality in an endearing way, coming off more aloof than stolid. The first part of the episode features Cure Heart fighting atop the tower as she adapts to her new Precure powers. It’s amusing to see how quickly Mana accepts her role as a Precure and how she grows into her heightened strength and magical girl powers.

Similar to Heartcatch Precure, the monsters in Dokidoki! Precure are formed from blemishes in people’s hearts (specifically, selfishness). I like the return to this gimmick, because there is an opportunity to naturally explore characters. That being said, I am quite skeptical that waiting for a stoplight could literally turn you into a selfish monster with no regard for human life.

As I predicted, Cure Sword was a bit of a bitch, but that’s ok. All she has been through have jaded her adolescent heart, but it makes the prospect of oozy dere under the thick tsun shell after a few episodes so much sweeter to think about.

The moral of this episode: instead of bitching at the crosswalk, just press the push-to-cross button.

The sight of Rikka trying to “sneak up” on the Selfish was too hilarious for me