User blog:GlitterInformer/Doki Doki! Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Doki Doki SDC: Episode 31 (Sub), 23 (Dub)

Episode 30 (Sub), 22 (Dub) | Table of Contents '''Japanese title: “A Huge Pinch in Oogai City! The Birth of the Lovely Pad!”'''

English title: “Darkness is Coming”



If you remember episode 6 of the sub (part of which made up the latter half of episode 5 in the dub), you’ll remember that when the Jikochuu/Mercenares started taking over the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius, they turned a bunch of people into Jikochuu/Distains. The overload of monsters led to the kingdom falling very quickly. However, on Earth, they’ve only created about 1-2 Jikochuu/Distains at a time, which has led to them being defeated in every battle. It’s never explained why they don’t just do on Earth what they did in the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius and just create an entire army.

Well, the answer to that question may be explained in this episode, because Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura are going to finally turn everyone in Oogai/Sea Shell Bay into monsters. At least, I hope the question can be answered. If there ends up being no reason why they didn’t just create a Jikochuu/Distain army on Earth in the first place, then these villains might just be the stupidest villains in the entire Pretty Cure franchise.

As usual, the dubbed episode starts with an added recap narrated by Maya.



When the beam hits the Jikochuu/Distain, Leva and Gula scream in pain, while Riva and Gura simultaneously say, “Drat! And we were so close!” The beam somehow also causes the evil tree to disappear and all of the Psyches/hearts in town to be purified, even though it doesn’t hit anywhere close to the latter.

So, this attack is one of the many reasons why some people consider Heart to be a Mary Sue. And even though I still like Heart, I guess she is kind of one. While it is refreshing to see a pink Cure who is actually competent in civilian life, and we do see Mana/Maya causing others problems by overworking herself, she still has hogged the screen time a bit. Back at the beginning of the show, she finished off every single fight with either My Sweet Heart/Let Your Heart Light Shine or Heart Shoot/Shot. And when the team finally got a group attack, the Regina arc started and the other three girls were shoved to the sidelines in favor of Regina and Mana/Maya becoming friends. When Ace came in, things did become more even, but Heart still did get to say her catchphrase almost every episode. But then we got to the fight with Melan/Mora, and Heart was the only one who really earned the Crystal Mirror. There is definitely a problem here. And though I won’t say it ruins the show, I do hope it doesn’t get to be a bigger problem. I like Mana/Maya, but I want the others to get time to shine, too.

   Even though the show has focused a bit too much on Mana/Maya the whole time, this new attack is the most glaring example of it. Seriously, whose idea was this? Did nobody object to Pretty Cure, a show all about working together as a team and never giving up, giving us a “group” attack where everyone but Heart got shoved aside? I think somebody did eventually, because Lovely Straight Flush/Five of a Kind Glitter Bow is the only fake group attack in the entire franchise. Every other group attack at least has all of the characters in it saying the attack name together. Even this attack gets an upgrade later on where everyone says the attack name together.

Anyway, as the sky goes back to normal and everyone wakes up, Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force watches and smiles. The dub adds dialogue where Glitter Clover celebrates Sea Shell Bay returning to normal and Glitter Heart says, “Yeah.”

Back at home, all of the girls join together with their families to eat omelets that Mana/Maya’s family served. Aguri/Natalie is tearing up because she’s so happy to be eating with everyone. Mana/Maya agrees with her. Mana says that she always took it for granted, but eating with everyone really is the best thing ever. Maya says that food always tastes better when you eat it with others, especially if it’s named after her. The dub also adds dialogue where Maya says that for dessert, they’ll be having “Apple Pie à la Maya”, which will also be delicious.

 We pan away from the Aida family’s house and then cut to the Jikochuu/Mercenare hideout. Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura teleport back to the hideout, no longer in their Jikochuu/Distain form. They’re angry, and Leva/Riva vows to slaughter the girls the next chance he gets. Unfortunately for them, they won’t have a second chance. Because Bel kills them. Right on screen. It’s not gory or anything, but Bel sucks up all of their Janergy/dark energy into his lollipop and eats it. Without their energy, Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura’s corpses disintegrate. And that’s the end of that.

 Overall:  This episode was flawed, but still enjoyable. Aside from the new attack that I talked about earlier, we didn’t get any explanation as to why Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura needed a magic tree to do what Ira, Marmo, and Bel had done all by themselves in the Trump Kingdom/Splendorius. I guess I’ll have to assume that the villains just can’t extract that many Psyches/hearts at a time when King Jikochuu/Mercenare is dormant. But it really would be nice if we got an explicit explanation.

 Still, the fighting was good this episode. We had a bigger threat than Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force had ever faced up to this point, and they still managed to take it down just by refusing to give up. For this, the episode was still fun to watch. Plus, Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura dying means that we get more screen time for Ira, Marmo, and Bel. Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura weren’t bad, but they only had two personality traits between them: their implied romantic relationship and Gula/Gura eating a lot. Plus, the two took up a lot of screen time, leaving the other villains to languish. I get that it was because they only had less than 10 episodes to shine, but it was still a shame. Though Marmo is still the worst Jikochuu/Mercenare, I’m excited to see what Ira, Bel, and Regina have to offer now that they can take the spotlight again.

 Next time:  The girls have trouble setting up the school’s cultural festival when Mana falls ill!