Folks, I’m so happy to be watching another episode of Huggto! The show has been a total joy so far, constructed on a variety of stellar fundamental pillars, from Hana’s excellent performance as the heroine to its great sense of humor, along with both its generally appealing art design and its major directorial highlights. Huggto! has already offered some truly stunning cuts of action animation, with their signature appeals so far seeming to be their clear sense of scale and weight. You can really feel how massive and imposing these Precures’ enemies are, as well as the impact of their attacks, be it through the carefully animated struggle of their limbs to hold back some attack, or through the understanding of tempo and sound design that informs the often terrifying distance between when a Precure is knocked aside and when they actually hit the ground.

And outside those fight scenes, Huggto! has established a clear thematic thrust and a team of heroines worth rooting for. After last episode offered Homare’s proper introduction into the team’s everyday life, I’m guessing this one will be ramping up the threat of their foes, or perhaps even moving us towards our next Cure. I have no goddamn clue, frankly, but I’m excited regardless. Let’s check out some Precure!

Episode 7

This episode opens with an introduction by Saaya, building off the reveal at the end of the previous episode. I suppose that will probably be this episode topic, then – Saaya’s feelings on being a child TV star. That feels like a naturally rich direction to take this story, as the show’s overall theme is “learning how to grow into a functioning, employed, self-assured adult,” and yet Saaya has already come and gone through one industry by now. Making Saaya a child star could let us explore the feelings of actually leaving a job behind you, which is another important part of this maturing process

“Not that I was trying to hide it, but I wonder what they all think of it.” I kinda hope they continue to divvy these intros between the characters, because they’re one of the few times we get to hear the characters’ internal voices

“To think that Veggie Girl was beside me all along!” Kudos to Saaya for not riding off the clout of being Veggie Girl in her civilian life

A wild ojou appears, Ichijou Ranze. She announces her arrival with a territorial cry of “o-ho-ho-ho!”

“Saaya’s Doubts? What Do You Really Want To Do?” Yeah, that sounds about right. It’s often only once you’ve already passed your first job that you realize jobs and people don’t just naturally find each other, and that adulthood actually involves grappling with just how attached you are to your current position pretty often. They’re not going to introduce an actual adult Precure to fully explore this topic, but Saaya being a child actress offers a clean enough approximation of that situation

“As Veggie Girl, that commercial made you a household name. Meanwhile, I was just the leek!” This conflict is amazing. How many dreams did Saaya crush during her ascension as Veggie Girl

Ichijou now sees herself as Saaya’s rival. Wonderful expression work as she details her various grievances with Veggie Girl

“How could you understand? You who’ve always had your star actress mother backing you!” Ooh, that adds an interesting wrinkle here. Kids’ shows in general are better about making their stars’ parents meaningful parts of their lives, but Hugtto’s career theme means it’s even more invested in how these kids relate to the lives of their parents

Yakushiji Reira is Saaya’s mother

Looks like Saaya has actually kept up her acting, too. Both of them will be auditioning for a stage play soon. This is gonna be a fun episode!

“I’m the self-made star, you’re the legacy act” feels like a weird backstory to combine with her ojou affectation

Given Saaya actually is still acting, perhaps her conflict is that she’s just been following in her mother’s footsteps, and isn’t actually passionate about the work. As she walks home, she’s literally overshadowed by her mother’s presence on a massive screen

Saaya loves “super spice dead-or-alive curry.” All of her random interests are so good, she never has the passions you’d expect

Another neat detail is that it seems Saaya’s mother is the sole breadwinner in this family, while her father is a supporting house-husband. All sorts of families, all sorts of relationships with professional work

Character bedrooms are always an interesting source of insight into their personalities. Saaya’s room is unsurprisingly neat and elegant, with a big telescope standing as its most unique and telling feature

‘However, my path is one I must forge myself.’ Saaya’s audition material is apparently a little on the nose

Gosh, I love the soft watercolor look of this show’s backgrounds. The linework is pretty simple, but the use of color is great

Oh wow, Saaya’s private practice is spectacular. They set up this little sanctuary pond where she goes to practice by herself, and the rehearsal of her speech plays out like a genuine transformation sequence, complete with fanciful background patterns and an ultimate metamorphosis as she grows wings

“It was like you had wings.” Homare’s story about ice skating also hinged on a flight motif, so I wonder if the show is building up “taking flight” and wings as a general metaphor for finding work that inspires you to be your greatest self

I love this trick where Saaya’s “repeat performance” is shot entirely from one mid-distance shot that reduces her expression work to a series of stick figure reaction faces, emphasizing through the antagonistic and very bland framing how unconvincing this second run is. I’m not sure I can think of another time I’ve seen an anime use intentionally boring, unflattering compositions to emphasize an amateurish performance (KyoAni’s student video obsession aside)

So when other people are watching, Saaya overthinks her performance and ultimately ruins it

“You’ll need to work hard to live up to your mother!” Yep. It seems Saaya actually does like acting, but her mother’s presence has made it impossible to enjoy it without thinking about how her performance will be perceived by comparison

Have we seen these characters in these outfits before? I feel this show is pretty good about having its characters dress in unique clothes regularly, but clothes that still fit into their overall sense of style. That’s a detail I always appreciate

This whole sequence in the pond is so fluidly animated, lots of personality in these cuts. And we end on a classic point, as her friends are unable to “solve” her fears, but can be there to cheer her up all the same. “Simply being there is a lot” is a common theme in children’s shows, and a necessary one – people often have a natural tendency to feel they need to “fix” their friends’ problems, or that they shouldn’t jump in if they don’t have a solution, but simple concern is worthwhile and needed

The villain is taking this week off because her boyfriend is in town. That’s fair

Aw, this really sucks. Ichijou loudly announces who Saaya’s mother is at the auditions, so now she’s feeling that weight of expectations from everyone in the crowd

Lots of great Hana faces this episode. When Hana isn’t forced to be the can-do heroine, she performs a terrific good-hearted meddling gremlin

Hana’s plan is that she and Homare burst in in airline stewardess outfits, with Hana collapsing out of “Cuteness Deficiency Disorder.” Homare, why did you agree to this

But their intrusion clears the atmosphere and reminds Saaya she is loved, which is what she needed

Lulu herself goes to cause some trouble this time, looking very proud of herself in her little robot jet. We get an absolutely gorgeous cut of animation for her smoothly executed Negative Wave

More and more terrific cuts as Ichijou is caught up in the negative wave. Someone on the team must really love Lulu, because her attack announcements are basically little spectacles all by themselves, as she fluidly spins and gesticulates the whole way through

Lulu’s craft is a tiny traditional saucer UFO, it’s adorable

“Cure Yell: your movements are simple and easily predicted.” Ooh, this is interesting. I kinda doubt we’re gonna go in a meaningfully tactical direction with this, but this is certainly more strategizing than the show’s usual “punch and believe harder”

Fittingly, her analysis matches combat ability to personality. Hana is straightforward, Homare is physically strong but fragile, and Saaya just isn’t really a fighter

Their force is reduced to just Saaya, because goddamnit this is a Saaya episode. Lulu urges her to surrender, a concession that sets her pretty far apart from her allies so far

Saaya loves her friends so hard it becomes an actual powerup, go Saaya

I will never get over the shotgun sound effect that accompanies Hana’s Heart For You attack. Have some love and understanding, motherfucker

Ichijou is assigned the part of the “villainous imp,” which seems fair

And Saaya doesn’t actually get the part, which is awesome. Far more to learn from failure than success, and her passion for acting shouldn’t come from how much she is applauded for it. For this story to land, Saaya has to appreciate her work in spite of the pressure, and in spite of often not succeeding

Saaya realizing she’s not sure if she wants to be an actress, but still wants to try helps her arrive at a more mature perspective regarding her future, and thus empowering her mirai crystal

Suddenly, an old friend of Homare’s appears!

And Done

Well, that was a perfectly sturdy episode. I tend to be pretty fond of audition episodes, as they allow shows to put on endearing little in-universe performances, and also naturally lend themselves to fun, petty drama like Saaya’s rivalry with Ichijou. I’d frankly have appreciated even more Ichijou in this episode, but I was happy to see the nuance with which this story approached Saaya’s feelings on acting. It’d be easy to define Saaya’s feelings in some binary way, as a reflection of her relationship with her mother or personal goals or something else entirely, but instead we explored the complex intersection of all those feelings, and arrived at the very measured “I still need to think about it, but I want to keep trying.” My only real complaint with this episode was that its last third seemed to hew too closely to this show’s usual battle formula, but there was plenty to enjoy even in that fight. Precure remains a charming and very entertaining experience!

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