User blog:Purikyua All Stars/Smile! PreCure Novel: Chapter 5 - Review

I am uhh... kinda conflicted on how to feel… Also, I don't know why I wrote so much; sorry.



Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OedI3xpAw-U0iLsETNYAoux2jiN9FU56/view



(Link for chapters 1-5 | Chapter 5 begins on page 95)

Summary: 

Aoki Reika is pursuing a career as a teacher at her old middle school, whilst still on a hunt for her path in life. While occupied with finding her path in life - a goal given to her by her currently hospitalized grandfather - Reika receives a note from a student claiming that she cannot see into the hearts of her students and that if she doesn't resign from teaching, the sender will leave the school. De-moralized from the threat, she endeavors to find just who sent her the letter in hopes that she can help whoever was behind the message. As she comes upon a possible culprit, Reika's attempts are interrupted by the surprise arrival of Joker. Even though Reika has no memory of being a PreCure, he attacks her, further implying that the role of a teacher simply isn't fit for a "despicable woman" like herself until he disappears as suddenly as he came. After brushing off the encounter as a dream, Reika meets with the student who wrote the letter: Irie, the younger brother of Reika's former classmate. Once she hears that he was trying to get her attention to seek help because of immense pressures placed upon him from his family and peers, Reika offers him advice, recalling the times she spent looking for her own life path. However, once the boy leaves, Joker returns, proving that her previous fight wasn't a dream. With her newly regained memories, the heroine manages to outwit her enemy once she hears Candy's voice calling out for her. Joker, realizing that his last remaining victim is about to escape, tries to stop Reika, but she has already reached the bookshelf

Character Analysis:

Reika: Like usual, I’ll start with the chapter’s main character. This chapter is basically a continuation of her pre-established character arc from the anime, and while it does have a conclusion presented in episode 43, I am glad that more was added in the form of this chapter. Additionally, I think it also made a point of one of Reika's traits that resulted from said character arc. With her being a teacher, helping a student with some soul-searching, and advance vocabulary and lengthy inner thoughts, the novel really paints a believable portrait of Reika as a responsible 24-year-old. Something I've noticed is that Reika is very focused on her individual path in life. After having to accept that she was doing most of the activities she preforms because of other people wishing her to do so, Reika grew throughout the course of the anime, looking for her own path and finding how she truly wants to live her life. However, I think that this has made her naive of what other people think. It's important for her to be prioritized on what path she takes, and that ends up leaving her oblivious to others struggles. It's almost as if Reika cancels out the world around to a degree to ensure that her life choices aren't influenced by others' desires. While I wouldn't downgrade her value as a character because of it, I think that it is a minor character flaw that ended up leading to one of this chapter's conflicts. And while it wasn't massively important to the plot in my opinion, Reika does loss her grandfather in this chapter, which I think does further her determination to live a life she's proud of, as he was always the one telling her to search for her own path. As always, Reika's character was well written, and her adult persona was a good continuation of her anime counterpart'''. '''

Joker: Well, well, well; everyone's favorite jester is back. Despite only having 2 appearances in this chapter, he made quite the impression, especially on Reika. While continuing to showcase his deadly yet playful way of villainy, the reader learns from him that the past 4 and current chapters have been nothing but illusions created by him to drag the PreCure into despair. And here we see a call-back to his anime persona. I feel like Joker has always been the type to "brag" in a way. He finds pleasure in beating down his enemy/enemies through pestering them with his success or upcoming win. We saw this primarily in episodes 22, 32, and 43 with the clown verbally beating on the PreCure to break them and get his momentary victory. Even if it's not crushing the opponent with his claims, it seems that teasing and playing around with his opposer when they're in a weakened state is just in his nature. This over-confident trait comes back when he attacks Reika in this chapter, and he even reveals what exactly he has done to the PreCures, sure of his ability to keep her confined to this nightmare reality. But of course, she manages to escape partly because of Joker inability to watch his almost foolproof plan unfold from afar. However, he was still a good villain as he was in the anime, and like always, his encounters with Reika are always pleasant to view'''. '''

Irie: I actually appreciate this character quite a bit more than I did on my first read of this chapter. The conflict the author choose to have him provide for Reika is actually really well crafted. Throughout Smile PreCure - primarily in the finally - an emphasis on fighting so that everyone can show their true smiles was vividly shown. However, we learn that Irie has been hiding behind a fake smile, a mask protecting others from seeing his true self breaking from stress and pressure. In a fake world made to mentally break down the PreCure, a character that wasn't helped through their efforts must be demoralizing. Even if the protagonists have no memory of fighting, they're all good people that still wish true happiness upon the world. And even though he provided a major conflict for Reika, he wasn't necessarily a bad person. Irie was just a middle-schooler who had to bear the pressures of partaking in many acidemic and out-of-school activities while trying to live up to the standards his brother left for him. Irie is almost just a Reika 2.0 with added expectations: a young student who only does what he does because that what others want from him. So even if his course of action to try and relieve himself of the stress isn't really the best thing someone in that position could have done, Irie is still a kind-hearted and smart student that just so happened to be in the right (or wrong) position to give Reika a conflict she must overcome. This was another thing that I like(d) about previous chapters as well. A lot of the conflicts came from good people who just happened to provide different forms of conflicts for the Cures to overcome. 

Plot Analysis

Unlike the other chapters, chapter 5 provides readers with both a character-centralized conflict and progression in the overarching plot, giving us both answers to questions we’ve (or at I’ve) gained over the last few chapters and igniting new curiosity about how the novel’s conflict will resolve. It is now confirmed that the events of this and the previous chapters were just illusions created by Joker and the main protagonists have been living in a fake world since (if I remember correctly) right before their graduation from middle school. Now, I do feel relieved that this “reality” isn’t how the 5 Cures spent their lives, but this resolve just… makes me feel let down a bit. Like, I (and I’m sure several other readers) was invested in these stories. I was intrigued by the stories of the Smile PreCures by adults, and after getting attached to their journies in life over the past 5 chapters. I liked how the author of this novel took characters from a super upbeat anime and placed them in a world similar to our own: a world of hardships. And from being placed in these despair-inducing situations, we saw just how powerful hope and inner-strength can be and how the courage to face these problems with a desire to make one’s own life and the life of others can shine a light on an otherwise bleak condition. It is/was a great message, but with the knowledge that this world was fake, it makes it seem that these types of lives are only found in nightmarish illusions. While it certainly doesn’t eliminate my interest or enjoyment towards this story, it does sadden me, just a bit. (Of course, this is all just my opinion. If you are perfectly fine with this plot-twist/are happy about it, I’m glad you enjoy it.) 

Switching to another note, I do enjoy the parallels between Reika and Irie. As young middle schoolers, they both felt pressures put upon them and felt compelled to succeed at everything that was thrown at them. Reika even goes into depth about this will taking to her student: “ ‘Irie-kun...are you not the same as me in those days? The Student Council Vice-President, the Class Representative, the head of the Archery Club...not one were of my own choosing from the beginning, do you see? They began as mere recommendations by others, requests to be given... You seem to be managing it all with smiles and perfection. But, the reality is that it is suffering, is it not?’ “ Reika’s character arc majorly focused on her finding her path in life, learning that she must choose what she wants to do and to not burden herself with every expectation others have for her. We now see Reika, grown and matured, following her own path as a teacher and being able to advise others on how to live their own lives. It is satisfying closure to her arc, with it being both true to Reika as a character and having talented minds behind the writing.

One more quick note: there is a lot of monologue in this chapter. Like, I’m all for fleshing out characters and the world/conditions they’re faced with but quite a bit of it is slightly repetitive and most of it is lengthy. But I mean, I suppose it is in character. It might just be me, I don’t know. You might feel differently'''. '''

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Despite some of its minor flaws (which I think are mostly just my persoanl nit-picks) this was a pretty solid chapter. I apologize for writing a lot, especially in the character analysis, but I do hope that it was insightful, and maybe even entertaining. Since there was a lot of writing here, I don't know if I was able to fix every grammtical/spelling error in this review, so if something doesn't make sense or if you spot something that it off, pelase let me know in the comments so I can provide a fix. We’re now in the final stretch with the 6th and final chapter being in the translation process right now. Once again, a HUGE thanks to Gravity Mage and the rest of the translation team for putting in great amounts of effort towards this project, as I and many others are beyond grateful for being able to read this novel. If you would like to help out with this project, a discord link will be posted below as well as a link to the official translation Twitter if you would like to support them. With that said, I hope you have an ultra happy day!





Discord Server Link: https://t.co/qvX3ePfaiE?amp=1

Twitter Link: https://mobile.twitter.com/SmileTLProject



*The quote in the plot analysis is from page 114, paragraph 4

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