User blog:Purikyua All Stars/Smile! PreCure Novel: Chapter 4 - Review

So, this was an interesting chapter. I think it's a bit more adult than the past three, but I'll get more into that later. Anyways, on the sumarry.   

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11wtSJ-7RP6zw7ZsjvexHXo79SYQhhV4T/view

Summary: 

24-yaer-old Midorikawa Nao is coaching a rapidly growing girl's soccer team. However, aster a near-fatal encounter, she's been unable to play, casuing some of her students to accuse her of using them to live out her unachivable dreams. While walking distractedacross a street to get back home, an oncoming truck causes Nao to relive that day 2 years ago, and is parralized in fear. However, an old friend from the past saves her just in time to bring back Nao's memories of her beloved middle-school years. After realizing that she'll need to leave her family to live her own life, she decided to pursue a grand oppertunity. Then, she hears someone or something calling out for her..

Character Analysis:

Nao: You know, I feel really bad for Nao. She's such a family-orianted girl, even opening her chapter with a lengthy introduction to her parents and sibling. But that strong bond ended up getting Nao nearly killed. (*Yui was crossing a street and didn't see a truck coming her way, so Nao pushed her away but got her leg broken instead) And then top that off with her own students talking crap about her. I've realized that she hasn't changed to much personality-wise, so she still supports that head-on aproch to challenges, thus tackling this tough point in her life. And even with all of this trauma, Nao is still that sweet, helpful, caring girl we all know her to be.

Yui: All we saw of Yui in the anime was her birth in episode 42, so it's nice to see her life expanded on a bit in this chapter. She bares a strong resemblance to what Yayoi was like - quiet and shy with both a passion and talent for drawing. Infact, I see quite a few parrelles between the two: both start out as shy artists, but soon learn to defend themselves for the sake of those they care about. Anyways, Yui is a really sweet and realistic 10-year-old who's just trying to be a good member of the Midorikawa family.

Reika: If you've read the past chapters, you'll know that near the end, the chapter's star-Cure will meet up with one of their teammates for a few pages. Before, they didn't play a huge role, but I feel like Reika was a prominate character in this chapter. She appears early on when she saves Nao from almost being run over by a truck again, and from there, she goes back home with her. She tells Nao about both of them losing their memories for a period of time, and gaining them back randomly. I find the fact that Reika - being the super smart person she is - figured this out and came all the way from where-ever she was to come find Nao is really in character. It's also just cute to see her and Nao having some time together.

Plot Analysis:

So, I mentioned earlier that this chapter was a bit more mature than the others, despite the whole novel being a lot darker and more realistic than its series counterpart. I mean, come on, we have our main character get run over by a truck causing her to not be able to do one of her favorite things, have that exact situation almost happen again, and also have that character realize that she's gonna have to leave her family someday. Like, it might just be me, but that's a lot. Still, the story of Nao learning to let her family go to live their own lives so she can also live out her own evokes my interest. In the anime, we saw a lot of her being overly protective of those she cares about, and Nao letting Yui defend herself as well as choosing to go coach in Tokyo - I think is a nice follow up to her story. Add in some great writing and nice imagery, and you've got yourself a fairly compelling story.

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Due to there being a quick pass in translating new material, chapter 5 & 6 won't be out for a little bit. But I'll gladly stick around until the end, because I love what's been translated so far, and it would do the team good if you could go support them through Twitter, and leave some words of encouragement if you see them around. With that said, thanks for reading! :)