Precure S03E30 -- Cure Evolution

Splash Star Episode 30 was pivotal from a plot perspective, but middling from a storytelling one.  Our heroines have to face down Goyan to rescue their mascots in distress, and in the meantime, get the traditional mid-season cure power-up.

This is another example of the damage wrought upon our media landscape by "24".

Kannazuki no Precure

As has often been the case lately, the highlight of the episode was Ms. Shitataare.  Put out by Goyan stealing her thunder, she takes her revenge by leading the Cures to the secret (in a manner of speaking) Goyan Dojo, where he is applying “enhanced interrogation” to Flappi and Choppi.  Having failed to extract useful intel from him, he turns his attentions to Moop and Foop.

This leads up to the Precure receiving new equipment, and here Splash Star does something especially interesting.  Instead of getting an extra power level or simply a new attack, the characters gain the ability to transform into a completely separate set of Cure forms – Saki can now become Cure Bright, while Mai unlocks Cure Windy.  Goyan is soon dispatched in short order.

This could be a few different things, but I'm having a hard time believing it's a cell phone.

I really like how this part was handled.  While there’s the constant concern of running out of Cure names (in the series that gave us both Cure Sunny and Cure Sunshine), I love the idea of giving them alternate forms, instead of simply an evolved form.  Splash Star’s battles still emphasizes the abilities and movement of the individual Cures (rather than simply spamming their attacks as we see in later seasons),  so there’s a fair amount of room to distinguish these forms by their specific abilities.

The costumes for the new forms are interesting.  In Mai’s case, it’s a fairly subtle change, but I appreciate the light blue color scheme, and prefer this costume to Cure Egret.  In Saki’s case, I actually think the costumes to be reversed.  Cure Bright reminds me a great deal of a plant or flower themed Precure, with the emphasis on greens and yellows.  No matter the aesthetic concerns, this was a great way to mix things up, and I’d love to see this reused.

We call this style the "Dr Wily."

I can hook you up with an insurance policy that covers this kind of damage.

Overall, the strong points of this episode was the idea of new Cure forms, and anything Ms. Shitataare.  The weaker points involved the somewhat boring Goyan fight, and the mascot-focus.  The episodes really revolved around the relationship between Saki/Flappi and Mai/Choppi, and I didn’t think it was quite interesting enough to do the work it needed to carry the episode.