I’ll let you folks in on a secret – at the time of writing this article, Huggto’s eleventh episode wasn’t actually funded yet. Normally I try not to push ahead of the funding on specific projects, even if I’m fairly sure they’ll get there, because I’ve already got more than enough projects to work on – but today, I feel like I just need some Huggto! It’s been a long week, I’ve accomplished more work than I have in over a month, and I think I’ve earned the right to spoil myself with some charming magical girl adventures. We’re checking in with Hana and the gang, and that is final.

When we last left Huggto!, I was actually feeling some uncertainty about our current arc. Hana has always served as a beacon of optimism within the group, essentially embodying the “hope for the future” that this season’s enemies are trying to destroy. Having her lose that hope simply by seeing her friends competently serve as waitresses felt a little abrupt, narrative-wise – though of course, Hana is young and impressionable and far less certain of her identity than an adult would be. At times like this, you need friends who can build you back up, and personally, I’m hoping this situation provides a chance for Emiru to return to the narrative, and maybe even pay back Hana for her support before. Look, I’m a simple and very anxious person, “The Magical Girl With Anxiety” is an easy sell for me. Either way, let’s see what awaits in the next Huggto! Precure!

Episode 11

Opening with some gorgeous sunset colors outside the tree house. This show’s watercolor backgrounds are always a treat, and feel reflective of how children’s anime is often more willing to embrace unreality in its art design. As children, we’re open to new experiences in art – as adults, we’re (hopefully) mature enough to accept that the aesthetics we enjoy are not somehow a direct reflection of our own seriousness as human beings. Tragically for all of us, most popular media is aimed at that middle bracket – adolescents and young adults who possess insecurity without maturity, and who often need to have their shaky sense of self validated by ostentatiously self-serious fiction

More beautiful, soft colors as we enter the treehouse. Hugtan is still recovering from her Mega Hugbeam

And of course, Hana blames herself. “I can’t be Precure anymore!”

“The Precure I Want to Be! Sing! Melody Sword!” Alright, looks like it’s time for Hana to receive her powerup

I suppose, as the central character in this narrative, it makes some sense that Hana would experience the most full arc of self-doubt leading into renewed self-confidence. That just coexists a little awkwardly with her general role as the most unconditional source of confidence in the group. It’s really just an issue of pacing, though; ultimately, I’m happy to see Hana gain more nuance as a character, and to see her confidence get bolstered by genuine, identity-solidifying experience. The confidence of free action you experience as a child is very different from the hard-earned confidence of adulthood, a confidence you must regain after undergoing the self-awareness of adolescence

“Cheering someone on is something anyone can do.” Harry’s words echo in her head. Yeah, I actually like this – a direct acknowledgment that even the people who seem to embody confidence have their own weaknesses, their own sources of frailty. And I also like that a line which didn’t seem to affect her at the time is still echoing in her head – Hana’s anxieties weren’t the focus of Harry’s episodes, but his words still hurt

“Is that really the Nono Hana you want to be?”

This moment of Hana composing herself as she looks away, only to turn back for a quiet “I’m sorry” is brutal. There is great power in expressions that we don’t actually get to see

The lineart and compositions in general are really strong this episode. I like these partial body shots in Hana’s bedroom, as her mom asks what’s wrong. The concealed expressions make everyone feel more vulnerable

Looks like this one was handled by Morio Hatano, a Toei mainstay. Looking up staff credits for Precure is a little awkward, since Toei is kinda like KyoAni in that they actually keep a massive in-house staff, and thus their credits will tend to just be a bunch of other Toei shows

“How come I’m not athletic like Homare or smart like Saaya? How come I have nothing?”

“Any time you smile, it’s enough to make us happy.” A wonderful answer from her mother. We don’t have to prove our worth through mastering overt talents – if we’re simply there for others, we are already incredibly valuable. Even if we think we have nothing, we still have time, and we can still use it to make others smile. That itself is more than enough

“I don’t like this me at all. But I don’t know what to do anymore!” Damn, this is a brutal episode

And of course, her mom’s response is “you really have grown.” Hana thinks she’s become terrible, but really, she’s just become self-aware. Children don’t think about proving their worth – having fears like this is just a sign that you’ve grown, and gained a sense of social selfhood (along with the anxieties that come with it)

“If you can face forward and keep pushing, I believe there’s a bright future waiting for you”

Saaya and Homare are waiting for her outside

Some compelling wide shots here – I liked the shot of Hana quietly hyping herself up in the lonely hallway, as well as this long shot of her approaching her friends, as if this were some kind of western duel

“The Hana I admire has so many amazing sides.” Ahhhh Saaya, this speech is so good. Dear lord, this episode is fantastic

This feels so richly earned. Her mother’s speech was phenomenal, and Saaya’s speech brought it all home. Who wouldn’t feel confident again after support like that?

The villains seem to actually be using the first episodic antagonist guy as fuel for some new project. Their pitiless treatment of him serves as the exact opposite of Hana’s treatment – the second they believe he is no longer useful, he is punished and abandoned

I don’t really expect this children’s show to have an intentionally anticapitalist narrative, but it is kinda directly demonstrating why societies focused on supporting the less fortunate are more humane than societies focused on the accumulation of wealth

The Mirai Pad leads them to the Nobunobu tower, where their classmate Hinase is performing with a band

“When each instrument is working together, we can make beautiful music.” You could also frame this as a collectivist versus individualist argument more generally, which probably makes more sense for a Japanese children’s show. And this stuff likely only sticks out at me so much since I’ve been raised on a steady diet of American media, which is far more focused on individual achievement

To be honest, I have a strong suspicion that the veneration of individualism over collectivism is the root cause of most modern political strife – no matter how you dress it up, I still feel that binary is essentially a choice between empathy and selfishness

Of course, we have natural reasons to distrust the environment we were raised in, since we can directly see the flaws of its implementation as a societal structure (like for me and American individualism). In Japan, someone like Hiroyuki Imaishi probably feels a lot more bold and transgressive than he does to me

Alright, we’re getting seriously off track here, back to Precure

Lots of quiet long shots in this episode, emphasizing the intimacy of the characters’ closeness within a much larger frame

And Hugtan finally wakes up

Terrific Hana face as she crashes into this guy

It’s the suspicious guy from before!

“To save a world whose tomorrow was slipping away… the sword chose the maiden who bore nothing.” GIVE HANA A SWORD

Aw jeez, they just transformed the old villain into one of the episodic monsters. Take it from Precure, folks: capital will use you until you have nothing left to give

“I can do anything! I can be anything!” Her words sound stronger now, standing atop a genuine understanding of anxiety and failure

This is definitely one of their more menacing villain designs. They’ve really turned him into a savage monster

This guy moves like a berserk Evangelion – his limbs will twist and extend in deeply unnatural arrangements, emphasizing the breakdown of his body. They’re going into some genuine body horror territory here

Both Harry and Emiru show up, and Emiru is actually saved from a collapsing building by Hana

THEY GAVE HANA A SWORD YES

“And so the maiden was chosen to fight along the people.” I keep telling myself it’s unintentional, but this show’s populist rhetoric is off the charts

Hana sees the anxious, scared man inside the monster, and holds back her strike

“That’s not the type of Precure I want to be”

The monster’s cry of “Oshimaeda” becomes a sad lamentation as he melts back into his human form. This episode is so good in so many ways – I didn’t expect the villains to turn on each other, or for that to lead into the Precures learning how unhappy their enemies really are

And because Hana has now experienced strong self-doubt herself, she can comfort her enemy from a position of understanding

Her sword transforms into a small staff, that she can use as a musical instrument. A tool to inspire, not destroy

Oh wow, this concert sequence is gorgeous. What the heck is this episode

And Done

What a fantastic episode that was! The early material focusing on Hana’s insecurities, and the scenes with both her mother and her friends, was some of the strongest and most painfully intimate personal drama of the show so far. And then, Hana was able to translate her newfound confidence into fresh displays of both strength and empathy on the battlefield, through a battle also lent a great deal of new complexity to the villains of this story. On top of all that, this was one of the show’s most visually impressive episodes so far, stunning in terms of layouts and colorwork, and featuring a battle with a monster brought to life through some fluid and flat-out terrifying character animation. Hana’s latest arc concludes on one of Hugtto’s strongest episodes yet!

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