At long last, we return to Hugtto! Pretty Cure. I’ve been greatly enjoying our journey through Hugtto!, both appreciating how it illustrates the evolution of the magical girl genre, and also enjoying it as a charming, good-hearted, and visually compelling production in its own right. While standout episodes like Homare’s big introduction have been genuinely stunning, episode-of-the-year level aesthetic objects, even the show’s usual mode is energetic and visually appealing and an altogether endearing time. And as a standard-bearer for its genre, Pretty Cure essentially slots in between Ojamajo Doremi and Nanoha, blending its life lessons with falcon punches while offering an unexpectedly forward-thinking focus on the difficulties of integrating into adulthood.
Our last episode was Saaya-focused, and featured a rival from her glamorous Veggie Girl past coming back to challenge her commitment to acting. With that resolving on the refreshing “I genuinely don’t know what I want yet, but I’d like to keep acting in order to find out,” we find ourselves immediately bumping into an old friend from Homare’s past. Homare’s focus episodes have been the show’s strongest yet, and though I’m not necessarily expecting another aesthetic triumph on the scale of her first appearance, I’m still excited to see what the show can pull together next. Let’s dive into Hugtto’s eighth episode!
Episode 8
This time Homare handles the cold open, unsurprisingly
“Henri” arrives, and Homare tells him to back off. “But we’ve been hugging like that since we were kids.” So presumably he’s a fellow figure skater?
“Homare, let’s go to Moscow together.” So there we go. This is an interesting followup to Saaya’s episode, because while Saaya is in no rush to become an actress, becoming a professional figure skater actually does require committing yourself to a punishing professional track long before you’re mature enough to truly grapple with all the consequences of that decision. If Homare chooses not to pursue figure skating here, that door might actually close
I really wonder how deeply this show is going to try and grapple with that concept. Coming to understand that a significant part of life is choosing which paths to follow, and thus closing many other doors along the way, is a hard thing even for young adults to come to peace with
“Homare is Leaving!? The Prince of Skate, Incoming!”
Henri Wakimiya is his full name, and he’s a star
“The prince who shall inherit the future!” The show tries to weave thoughts about the future into its every line
Oh wow, this is cool. Henri puts on a dress, which Harry responds to with “that’s lady’s wear,” and Henri counters with “if it suits me, that’s all that matters, right?” Nice to see this support for self-expression and experimenting with presentation in non-gender conformist ways. Anime for children often seems far more thoughtful in terms of this stuff than the adolescent fare, which tends to present men dressing as women as a cruel gag, thus telling everyone in the audience who might want to try something like that “don’t do it, we’ll laugh at you”
Of course, this isn’t just an anime problem. I have a friend who watches far too many American sitcoms, and one of their most common gags seems to be “character acts in a socially unapproved way, all their friends relentlessly mock them.” Many shows express camaraderie through cruelty, in a ‘we’re close enough to rag on each other’ way, but you don’t actually need to be relentlessly cruel to your close friends!
They describe him as “pretty” and “like a goddess” in totally positive tones, emphasizing that it’s totally fine and laudable to seek traditionally “feminine” forms of beauty as a man. Very neat stuff
And even being half-Japanese is celebrated. Henri responds with “I’m not half, I’m double – both a refined Japanese lady and a Parisian.” Get ‘em, Henri
Hana apologizes, and Henri laughs it off. Another graceful incidental lesson – we all make mistakes, needing to apologize is not a big deal
Henri gets to the point: “Please stop holding Homare back”
“We’re running out of time.” Yep
Hana calls Homare at practice. The contrast in framing is severe – Homare is trapped in a small beam of light within a much greater darkness, whereas Hana fills out her far more bright and colorful composition, cozily secure on her bed. Hana essentially carries the warmth of her shot composition over to Homare, cheering her up
“If we could stay like this… it’d be nice if tomorrow never came.” The villain lady articulates the first thing resembling a genuine motive we’ve heard from the bad guys. So is it not that she wants to destroy the future, but that she wants to preserve the present? Their villainy has generally been framed in terms of “destroying hope for the future,” which is a motive as farcical and meaningless as wanting to Kill Niceness, but fearing the loss of the things you currently have is genuinely sympathetic
The gang meet up for a picnic, and Harry has some unexpected wisdom. “You think of others, then move to act. But isn’t that putting others first a little too often? Sometimes it’s important to be honest with your own heart too.” Growing up demands asserting your own desires, which will at times contrast with the desires of those you love
But no time for that now, Hugtan’s standing up!
Nice shot panning up on Homare at the top of a jungle gym slope. An easy metaphor for gazing out at the imposing choices ahead of her
“There’s a world only the best of the best can ever hope to see. People chosen by the stars.” I see Henri is a dedicated Calvinist. But “only the predestined get to shine” runs pretty contrary to Hugtto’s themes
Henri’s belief is immediately turned into a literal metaphor, as we see Hana attempting to scale the wall behind Homare
Henri asks “what you can do for her,” and Hana responds by cheering Homare on. But emotional support is not the same as a pro coach and support team
“Thoughtlessly shouting ‘you can do it’ like that just puts pressure on her.” Damn, Henri
“There’s something I want you to see.” Oh damn, is she actually going to reveal she’s a Precure to Henri? Precure are definitely a known quantity in this world, but it still seems you’re supposed to hide your identity
“After I couldn’t jump, every ‘you can do it’ was agonizing. With every cheer, the thought of ‘you don’t deserve this’ gripped and crushed my heart.” They’re really diving in to the pain of disappointing others in a competitive context. But even if you’re not a professional figure skater, having the shame of disappointing others validated through Homare’s speech can be a source of comfort
“The ones who showed me a whole new world were Hana and Saaya.” Homare was trapped in tunnel vision, because she’d learned to frame her potential worthiness only in terms of her ability to succeed at figure skating. But her friends taught her that everyone is greater than that, and that happiness and self-love can be found through a myriad different avenues. The counter to Henri’s predestination speech isn’t that “everyone can succeed in that sphere,” it’s that framing our worth in terms of one single metric like that is a terrible way to go through life
A neat bit of visual synchronicity in the final shot from Homare’s phone conversation with Hana now being echoed after Hana cheers her on. We cut up to the lights, but this time the light is blinding, emphasizing how Hana’s support opens and brightens Homare’s world
Meanwhile, our villainess is stuck in traffic
The support of her friends gives Homare wings like Saaya. Embodying a confident, professional self seems consistently tied to wings or flight
Homare fails her jump once, but succeeds the second time. I really like this – even after resolving to jump again when she became a Precure, it took Homare a great deal of practice and many failures to succeed again. It’s good to emphasize that simply resolving to pursue some path won’t naturally defeat your obstacles, and it’s the commitment afterwards that truly matters
This week’s monster is a traffic jam monster, which is absolutely the real shit. Nothing makes you feel more like adulthood is a scam than waiting in traffic not being paid in order to get to a job you don’t want to be at anyway
A strong sense of impact in these blows, as usual – the shuddering frame and sense of weight created through their staggered moments make the force of the strikes clear. Also exaggerated foreshortening and heavily tilted angles as the girls are forced back, leading to shots where their feet slide right up to the corner of the frame, further emphasizing how much force they’re pushing against
“For humans, there’s no such thing as wasted time!” A really great moral for this episode, and one that naturally presses against both the anxious threat presented by Henri and the fatalistic view of professional drudgery presented by the villains
Their fight illustrates this truth visually, as Homare’s attack pattern embraces the closeness and mutual understanding which are the fruits of her time spent with Hana and Saaya
“The time we spend together is what lights up my heart!” If you don’t have that, what’s the point of the rest of it?
I will probably never get over the shotgun sound effect for Hana firing a giant heart at bad guys
“Next week I’m off, but we start fresh after that!” Even villains need vacation time
Henri admits defeat. In spite of structurally serving as an antagonist this episode, he was really well executed as a sympathetic character in his own right
Hana runs into a mysterious older gentleman
He speaks cryptically of the story he’s reading, describing a “beautiful future that could not last forever”
But no time for that, Henri’s joined the school! And he knows Homare is a Precure! HILARITY IS ABOUT TO ENSUE
And Done
Damn, that was a really, really strong episode. Unlike Homare’s debut, this one didn’t really lean heavily on visual execution – sequences like Homare’s ice skating and the final battle were certainly impressive enough, but the storyboarding and animation were pretty much where you’d expect for the average Pretty Cure episode. On the other hand, this episode’s exploration of both Henri and Homare’s identities was piercing and sympathetic, touching on topics as charged and diverse as gender presentation and the finality of choosing not to pursue an urgent dream. Hugtto is focusing itself on topics that can be difficult even for much older audiences to understand, and covering the complexity of developing your adult self with thoughtfulness and endless compassion. This counts as another highlight for this terrific production!
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