User blog:GlitterInformer/Doki Doki! Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Doki Doki SDC: Episode 28 (Sub)

Episode 27 (Sub), 21 (Dub) | Table of Contents '''Japanese title: “My Heart’s Pounding! Aguri’s Summer Vacation!”'''



In the table of contents for this review, I said that 13 episodes were completely cut from Glitter Force Doki Doki. But so far, that’s only happened to 2 episodes. Well, until now, that is. This episode, as well as the next two episodes, aren’t included in Glitter Force Doki Doki.

I think there’s a reason for this episode being cut that isn’t Saban running out of money. See, this episode is about the five main characters going to a summer festival, a traditional Japanese festival particular to Japanese culture. It’s an annual festival that takes place on a summer evening. A bunch of booths are set up for people’s enjoyment, selling food and games to the festival-goers. There’s also fireworks, and it’s customary for girls to wear special outfits called yukata. This obviously Japanese holiday can’t be easily Americanized, so it’s little wonder that this episode got put on the chopping block.

We start the episode Aguri leading the other four girls in a running exercise. For the past 10 days, including today, they’ve been running 10 kilometers every morning. Everyone’s happy that they’re exercising and becoming stronger for the fight against the Jikochuu, except for Rikka, who’s worn out and wants to go home.

The girls notice a young girl silently watching them. Her surname is Morimoto, and she’s been watching them for the past several mornings. When Aguri calls out Morimoto’s name in surprise, Morimoto gets flustered and hides behind a pole.

When the girls finally finish their morning run, Mana wants something to eat. Arisu offers to get her food at her house, but Aguri says they don’t have time. She has all sorts of physical training exercises planned for the day. Mana complains that she wants to go to the summer festival, but Aguri says that training comes first. However, the other three agree with Mana and think all this training is too much.

And they’re right. It’s just then that all of Aguri’s training over the past 10 days gets to her and she faints from exhaustion. Morimoto shyly comes out and asks if Aguri is okay.

The opening theme is shown. Then, we get a quick card showing ''Doki Doki! Pretty Cure''’s sponsors. It’s weird because the sponsor card hasn’t been shown before. I don’t know if the show just hasn’t had a sponsor card before this point or if it has and the sub’s been cutting it out until now. Anyway, here it is:



Overall: This was a lot better than I thought it would be. Every season of Pretty Cure (or at least most of them) have a summer festival episode, and I was worried this would end up not standing out among them. Not helping things was that the previous season, Smile Pretty Cure!, had a pretty lackluster summer festival episode.

But this one was great. We continue Ace’s arc of opening up and being less stern, as well as introducing a new side character named Eru. It was also fun seeing more of Leva and Gula’s dynamic. It’s interesting that even though Gula is the big, strong guy, he’s the straight man to the more emotional Leva. I just hope that Eru appears more often. It would really ring hollow if Aguri became Eru’s close friend and then never hung out with her again.

Next time: Sharuru, Raquel, and Lance become humans!