User blog:GlitterInformer/Doki Doki! Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Doki Doki SDC: Episode 23 (Sub), 17 (Dub)

Episode 22 (Sub), 16 (Dub) | Table of Contents '''Japanese title: “Take Back the Love! Pretty Cure’s 5 Oaths!”'''

English title: “First Rule of Glitter Force!"



Welcome back everybody. Last time on ''Doki Doki! Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Doki Doki'', Heart did a very bad thing. She refused to perform a perfectly harmless procedure on her friend Regina in order to break her free of her brainwashing. Now, with nothing else stopping Regina from killing our four main characters, it’s up to the random new kid from nowhere, Cure/Glitter Ace, to put a stop to this mess.

We start with two different recaps, one for the sub and one for the dub. The sub’s is just a twelve-second reprise of the ending of episode 22. The dub’s is quite a bit longer and is a whole-episode recap narrated by Maya. Here’s the sub recap:





The Jikochuu/Distain is pushed right into Gula/Gura, knocking him over. Meanwhile, Heart attacks the marker Jikochuu/Distain. She jumps on top of it, but it ejects its marker tip, making Heart jump off of it. She was counting on this. On the ground, Heart kicks the Jikochuu/Distain’s feet right from under it, tripping the monster. When the Jikochuu/Distain is down, Heart kicks it right at Leva/Riva. He dodges, and the Jikochuu/Distain ends up hitting the other Jikochuu/Distain, and Gula/Gura by extension.

The two then finish the battle. Ace purifies the paper Jikochuu/Distain with Ace Shot and Heart purifies the marker Jikochuu/Distain with Heart Shoot/Shot. I just realized that the two attacks end with the same word in the dub. Some sacrifices must be made in order to preserve grammar…

As the men’s Psyches/hearts re-enter their bodies, Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura promise Ace that the next fight won’t be so easy. They then teleport away. In the dub, dialogue is added where Glitter Ace says that villains always say that. And yeah, they do, actually. It’s easier to count the Pretty Cure villains who don’t say, “It won’t be that easy next time!” after they lose their first fight. At least Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura didn’t pull an, “I was going easy on you this time.” If you really want to defeat somebody, why the heck would you go easy on them and risk your evil overlord’s wrath??

Diamond (who is somehow magically free of the ink stains she got earlier) tearfully hugs Heart. She’s delighted to see that her friend is no longer miserable. Heart apologizes for leaving them behind during her short-lived depression, but Rosetta/Clover and Sword/Spade are just happy that she’s fine now.

Ace then tells the other four warriors that there’s no time to celebrate, as their training has only begun. She says that they have a lot of work before they become as good as her. Then, summoning a burst of rose petals, she bids them farewell with a smile. I guess I should mention that in the sub, Cure Ace says, “Adieu” whenever she leaves the other girls. It’s French for “goodbye”, but I think that “adieu” is generally only used when you’ll never see somebody again. Usually when French people say goodbye, they say, “au revoir” (“goodbye”), “ à bientôt” (see you soon), and “à tout à l’heure” (“see you later”).

 The episode ends with Heart, Diamond, Rosetta/Clover, and Sword/Spade looking on as Ace leaves. In the sub, Cure Heart and Cure Rosetta wonder who Cure Ace is, exactly; in the dub, Glitter Heart says that Glitter Ace didn’t say goodbye and Glitter Clover says that Glitter Ace might need a “glitter hug.”

 Overall:  This was a fine episode. I like how the physical fights are back and a lot better animated than a lot of the fights have been recently. I also enjoyed seeing Mana/Maya moving on from Regina getting brainwashed into betraying her. Oh, and Ace was super classy and cool. I look forward to seeing more from her.

 I did have a few problems. The first was that Diamond, Rosetta/Clover, and Sword/Spade were completely useless this episode. A de-transformed Mana/Maya was more powerful than them. It rubbed me the wrong way, especially since the whole Regina arc means that Mana/Maya has been getting a lot more focus than her three friends. Though one could justify Heart’s extra power as coming from that mysterious pink aura that she unlocked upon following Ace’s advice and moving on even in the face of despair. And since next episode will focus on Makoto/Mackenzie, maybe she’ll become more powerful next time.

 The second problem is that even though Ace is really cool, she was also unjustified in taking Mana/Maya’s Cure Lovies/Glitter Charm away. I get that Heart was acting unbefitting for a Pretty Cure/Glitter Force warrior, but that Lovies/Charm is her property and Ace shouldn’t have control over it. Also, although Ace had a point in telling Mana/Maya not to wallow in her despair, she had every right to burst into tears upon seeing Regina turn against her. Ace’s stern disapproval of her crying only made matters worse, and the more sympathetic approach that the other three, as well as Ai/Dina, took was what really got Mana/Maya out of her stupor. It would have been a lot better for the narrative if Ace had taken Mana/Maya’s Lovies/Charm away after she had locked herself in her room for a day, not right when Mana/Maya started showing signs of being sad. Ultimately, Ace may be awesome, but she’s also morally lacking.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;tab-stops:454.5pt"> The third and final problem I had is that Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura are pretty lackluster villains so far. At least Bel was cool and threatening, and Ira is very well acted in both versions, but these two are as bland as Marmo is. The only notable thing about them is that they’re more powerful than the original three and that Gula/Gura eats anything. Hopefully they get more character development as time goes on. It would suck if Regina had to pick up the slack for everyone else in terms of being interesting.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;tab-stops:454.5pt"> Next episode:  Makoto/Mackenzie quits being an idol!