User blog:GlitterInformer/Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force SDC: Episode 46 (Sub), 38 (Dub)

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'''Japanese title: “The Worst Possible Ending!? Bad End Pretty Cure!!”'''

English title: “The Shadow Force”

Three more episodes to go! I don’t know why the English title is "The Shadow Force" instead of "The Glitter Shadow Force", but that doesn’t matter. Let’s dig in!

The episode begins differently in the dub than in the sub. The sub starts right off with Pretty Cure reacting in shock to Bad End Pretty Cure, while the dub starts with a quick recap of last time. The beginning of the recap is narrated by Emily, but it consists mostly of dialogue from last episode.



 Bad End Happy is silent as she gets hit; Shadow Lucky screams. Then, all five of the clones turn back into cards, which in turn become the last Cure Décor/Charm. This allows the originals to return to the real world. Joker/Rascal shouts his disbelief (Rascal starts earlier than Joker), and Pop celebrates. As Joker/Rascal says this can’t be happening, dialogue is added where Glitter Sunny says it can.

 Joker/Rascal further laments the failure of Bad End Pretty Cure/the Glitter Shadow Force, and Happy/Lucky says that her group will never lose to him. Then, there’s a moment with some particularly creepy facial animation where Joker/Rascal sobs for a bit and then laughs maniacally. Right before he starts laughing, dialogue is added where Rascal says, “Woe is me,” twice. Additionally, Happy says, “What?” while Lucky says, “Whoa. He’s lost it.”

 Joker/Rascal says that he’s already won. The Bad Energy Memory/Wheel of Doom reaches 99, and Joker/Rascal joyfully shouts that it’s finally time for Pierrot/Nogo to awaken (Joker stops speaking before Rascal does). The egg pulses and disappears. Then, the black ink the villains used to summon Bad Ends falls from the sky. A bit lands on Happy/Lucky’s cheek, but most of it lands on Joker/Rascal, covering him. It turns out, based on Joker/Rascal’s thankful cries, that Pierrot/Nogo is absorbing him. As he and the blank ink disappear, dialogue is added where Glitter Sunny says she won’t miss him. Way to ruin the mood.

 Then, a bunch of giant, hulking black things rise up from the earth. In the sub, there’s no dialogue as this happens; in the dub, Spring anticipates something coming and then the group panics about the giant, dark creature with huge claws and that there are multiple of them.

 Pop exclaims that the giants are the ones that first brought despair to Jubiland. In the dub, Glitter Peace says they might be friendly since the one in front of them is smiling, Pop wonders if Peace is being serious, and Peace says they seem friendly “if you squint.”

 Name Change:  In the sub, the dark creatures are the Titans of Despair. In the dub, they’re Shadow Giants.

 Praying for a miracle, Pop puts the last Cure Décor/Glitter Charm (which is shaped like a crown, by the way) into the Décor Décor/Charm Chest. Then, the Miracle Jewel starts glowing. Happy/Lucky says Candy’s name, and Lucky asks what’s going on beforehand.

 The episode concludes with a shot of Candy’s eyes as she appears in her new human form. In the sub, there’s no dialogue as this happens; in the dub, Lucky says, “Candy?” and Candy groans.

 Overall:  To be honest, this episode was kind of disappointing. I was looking forward to the girls fighting their clones, but the fighting was underwhelming. It’s sad, because the Pretty Cure franchise has done this concept much better twice before: once in the movie for ''Yes! Pretty Cure 5, and once in HeartCatch Pretty Cure''. The two approaches were quite different. Yes 5’s Dark Pretty Cure 5 were evil clones of the main characters, and the groups engaged in some epic fighting with them that concluded with one of them being reformed, leading to one of the most emotional moments in the franchise. HeartCatch’s Mirage Pretty Cure, on the other hand, had the interesting twists of the clones representing the main characters’ insecurities. Not only were these fights also great, but they ended with the girls embracing their dark clones and becoming stronger people because of it.

 Smile  tries to evoke the ''Yes! Pretty Cure 5 ''movie, but it fails because neither the clones nor the fights are good. Sure, Evil Happy/Lucky and Evil Peace reflect their counterparts well, but the other three seem generic (we don’t see Evil Sunny being energetic, Evil March/Spring wanting to protect her dark family, or Evil Beauty/Breeze viewing her vast intelligence as superior). The worst of these has to be Bad End Beauty, who goes on and on about how good-looking she is, a trait that doesn’t reflect Beauty in the slightest. It seems that the writers cared more about her name than her character, and I’m glad this was at least slightly improved in the dub.

 The shortcomings of the clones as characters would have been forgivable if they had put up a good fight. We’re nearing the end of the series, so the intensity should be picking up. But no, all we get is some dodging, the good guys getting beaten up, and a predictable pattern of long speeches and the girls using their finishers against each other.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> This episode wasn’t all bad, however. What it lacked in its evil clones, it made up for in its plot progression. We got several big reveals: the true purpose of the Miracle Jewel, what the bad guys intend to do with it, that the Royale Queen/Euphoria is dying, and that Candy is next in line. What’s more, while the clones are ultimately forgettable, Joker/Rascal remains an interesting and intimidating villain. His mannerisms are over-the-top, his facial expressions are creepy, and he isn’t defeated anywhere near as easily as his short-lived war machines. With the plot moving along at a steady rate, this episode ultimately remains just okay.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"> Next time:  Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force teams up with a powered-up Candy to take on Pierrot/Nogo!