Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to Hugtto! Precure, which most recently offered one of its most powerful and painful episodes yet. Whereas most of Hugtto’s protagonists are grappling with standard adolescent anxieties regarding their futures, Henri’s struggles with identity and fame have always possessed that knife edge of specificity, as he struggles with prejudice simply for being himself. Even after overcoming gender essentialist scorn in his first appearances, he now has to contend with both paparazzi and fans who seek to claim ownership of him, and define him according to their own desires.

And now, having fought for so long to assert his legitimacy, Henri must deal with yet another unfortunate twist of fate. Henri’s public persona is an icon of androgynous youth, but his actual body is aging, accumulating injuries and shifting towards adulthood. Hugtto has always sought to frame the future as brimming with potential, but what if embracing the future means losing everything you already have? It’s no wonder then that Henri is genuinely tempted by Criasu’s offer to halt time here, in the final moments of his youthful glory. After all, what alternative can our heroes actually offer him?

That’s a question I’ve been asking myself ever since the last episode, and I’m eager to discover the answer. Let’s return to Hugtto Precure!

Episode 34

It’s been a couple months since our last writeup, and I’m delighted to see that Hana still doesn’t understand you have to stand back from the dang camera

We get a brief snippet of Hana’s sister Kotori apparently writing on her blog. I guess you need somewhere to vent when you’ve got a sister like Hana

Absolutely fantastic. Kotori has already noted that the Precure tend to show up whenever Hana’s around, but her perfectly logical conclusion from this data is that Hana is such a fuckup she’s essentially got the Precure perpetually babysitting her to resolve all her catastrophes

Well, I was excited to see where Henri’s going, but a goofy palate cleanser episode sounds great as well. As Ojamajo Doremi has well taught me, episodes about the suspicious siblings of magical girls tend to be pretty great

“Kotori, Master Detective! The Big Sister Investigation!” Excellent

Further good news as we open on the Hugman himself, currently cooking eggs for Harry

The fact that Harry’s basically become an extended member of their collective families always seems sort of charmingly preposterous to me, and I wonder to what extent that’s a result of cultural differences. The idea of children freely interacting with non-familial adults in their neighborhood has become a total cultural taboo in the United States, fostered by years and years of “stranger danger” warnings being basically the only framing of adults that aren’t parents or teachers. But that in itself is also a reflection of the States’ incredibly atomized society, where there is essentially no sense of a shared community or public space. In contrast, Japan has a significantly more community-oriented culture, which presumably makes a character like Harry seem just a tad less improbable

Kotori suspiciously watching her gremlin sister stuff her face is great. Pairing an unlikely magical girl with a more put-together sibling is just an excellent recipe for comedy

Also nice to see Hugtan’s vocabulary expanding. She can basically mirror Hana’s nonsense at this point, which might be more of a dig on Hana than a compliment for Hugtan, but still

Oh my god Hana, can you even pretend to be civilized. She basically attacks her omelet like a dog snatching food off the floor, until her wild movements end up flinging it off the table entirely

Excellent expressions and smears as Hana attempts to defend her omelet. It’s great to be back with this show!

Kotori confronts Emiru with her worries

More extremely good faces and smears as a random boy rushes up at the mention of Cure Yell. The animators are having a lot of fun with this one

It turns out he’s Chise Fumito, the president of the Cure Yell fan club. He’s even got a hat and everything

Ah, I see, he was a bystander rescued in a previous episode. More excellent aesthetic flourishes here, as the shading gets more intense and the characters switch to ornate shoujo designs in the style of something like Dear Brother, all to convey the intensity of his feelings for Cure Yell

That in turn leads to a natural joke contrasting his personal visions against his own visual design, as he’s distorted into a goofy blob shape when we jump back to reality

Jeez, who was the animation director on this episode? Basically every third shot is stuffed with hilarious super-deformed distortions and wacky feats of animation; it’s like this episode is serving to counterbalance the previous one in aesthetics as well as narrative content, by demonstrating how gleefully silly this show can look

Apparently our AD is Nobuto Akada, who also provided key animation for this episode, and previously served as AD on a bunch of Princess Tutu episodes. A trusted Junichi Sato collaborator, then

Meanwhile, Gelos seems to be falling into Papple-style despair, having been abandoned by Criasu’s leader

“As time goes by, my capabilities, all the splendid sides of me fade away!” Their persistent fear, here emphasized through the aggressive ticking of a clock in the background, emphasizing time slipping away

That’s followed by a pointed transition to one of her former subordinates, who’s now found a new job at a local food stall. Even though they were abandoned, they’ve learned to seek new horizons beyond the shadow of Criasu

Nice dash of continuity here, showing how Hana still helps out at the takoyaki stand. What was once a source of embarrassment has now become a symbol of pride, demonstrating her reliability

Our transition to following Chise reveals Gelos’ other subordinate, now working at a construction site. Glad to see they both landed on their feet

“‘Shine! Shine brighter!’ they say. And women give everything they have only to end up like this.” Goddamn Gelos. This show can get truly sharp sometimes; I’m not sure how it works in seasons with other themes, but Hugtto’s focus on careers and adulthood gives it the opportunity to take some pointed swings at the dehumanizing nature of corporate culture, or gendered expectations of behavior like this

“I will show you how dreadful the women you’ve forsaken can be!” We’re even challenging the general magical girl paradigm a bit here, by emphasizing the natural dichotomy it can present between ostensibly perfect girls and “fallen women”. Women are forced to perform as angels, and the moment they fail to, they are condemned as monsters – it’s a critique you see illustrated in shows like Madoka Magica or The Demon Girl Next Door, and I’m both surprised and impressed to see it being recognized here as well

Gelos’ “fallen form” just involves her mussing up her hair with a bunch of gel. It’s a pretty sweet look, actually

Gelos’ journey here actually makes for an interesting parallel with Kotori’s quest. Kotori believes her sister can’t be a Precure because Precure are ostensibly graceful and flawless at all times – but in truth, her messy, perpetual screw-up sister has already proven herself to be a terrific Precure. This essentially challenges the idea that magical girls have to embody flawless grace, and instead insists that we can all be worthy of celebration in our own ways. Whether you’re a magical girl or not, you don’t have to perform beauty and grace to be deserving of praise – and those who would demand that of you, like Gelos’ superior, should never control your choices

After Kotori wishes she has a “cool sister like a Precure,” Hinase at last challenges her, stating that he doesn’t think many people could keep working hard and cheering people up like Hana does. She is remarkable in her own way, even if her strengths don’t conform to Kotori’s ideas of greatness

And right on cue, Hana falls in the pond to protect her sister

And then an Oshimaeda appears! Tragically, Chise is so convinced that Cure Yell will save them that he runs directly into danger, something I’m sure no Precure would actually recommend

Cure Yell of course arrives in the nick of time, and even returns Kotori’s tacky fanclub hat

And the game is given away, as Yell assures her with the same words Hana once comforted her with before. Well, I assume Kotori’s relatively trustworthy

I like that while the other Precures have fancy attack names, Hana just yells louder and punches harder. Extremely good magical girl

I’m clearly biased, but I personally think Gelos’ new look is a huge improvement on the whole. You’re rocking that spiked jacket Gelos, don’t let your shitty boss get you down!

And though Chise still doesn’t really get it, by the end, Kotori fully understands how impressive her sister is

No Kotori, don’t reveal your sister’s identity on your friggin’ blog! I TRUSTED YOU

And Done

What a great episode! My expectations were seesawing this way and that all through its early phases, but the end result offered a terrific balance of goofy shenanigans and genuinely sharp themes. Akada and the animators clearly had a lot of fun animating this one, reveling in Hana’s most gremlin-like qualities through great expression work and energetic smears. And then that comedy was actually put to direct thematic purpose, as we challenged Gelos’ assumption that only the young and graceful can be valued through the clear value Hana embodies. Hugtto has surprised me before with its pointed thematic arguments, and this episode impressed me anew, offering a compelling and eminently Hugtto-appropriate answer to the magical/fallen girl dichotomy. Not bad, Pretty Cure!

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