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Precure Day 154

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 06 - “Precure 5! All Together!” Date watched: 6 October 2019 Original air date: 11 March 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/1w3riAm Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Karen is a character who grows a lot over the course of the show, and since she’s been around for six episodes before getting to transform, she has already had a small journey just to get to this point. That’s something you can’t say about all series that followed the model of introducing their heroes one episode at a time. This episode is the climax of her arc so far, and it’s really making me reconsider who my favorite Character in this series is. Why? I’ll get to that after we recap.

The Plot

We see a flashback to Karen as a child trying to pretend to Jiiya that she doesn’t miss her parents and isn’t lonely, as it transitions to present day Karen staring wistfully out a window before hugging herself, lamenting that she couldn’t save the girls the other day.

oof

At school, the other girls try to convince Nozomi to find someone else to become the last Precure but she won’t hear it. Jiiya happens to be there to pick Karen up, so the girls stop to talk with him, and he asks them to please continue being friends with her, because the other day she seemed to be truly enjoying herself. He explains how she hides her loneliness so as to not burden her parents. Meanwhile, we see Karen in a student council meeting, but she's lost in thought about her failure. When she comes out, she sees Jiiya sitting with the other girls and tells them pointedly that she can’t help them. Nozomi asks Coco why she might have failed the transformation and he explains that if you don’t truly wish to become a Precure, you can’t. Karen insists that she truly did, but then she remembers what she actually said: “If I want something done, I have to do it myself.” She excuses herself and starts to walk home.

Nozomi, not fond of taking “no” for an answer, chases after her. When her attempts to persuade Karen only agitate her, she remembers what Jiiya said and reminds her how much fun they had the other day. Then she hits Karen with the big one: despite their differences, they both really love their parents. Karen pauses and Nozomi explains what Jiiya told her. She says that someone as caring as her couldn’t possibly fail to become a cure. Karen is moved by her words and softens up, but then Bunbee appears, seeking the Dream Collet. He turns the captured Pinky into a Kowaina, so Nozomi transforms but she can’t bring herself to fight it. The other girls arrive and transform but Bunbee and the Kowaina have them on the ropes. Karen, who has been watching from safety, realizes she doesn’t want her new friends to be hurt, no matter how powerless she may be, so she blocks them from Bunbee’s finishing blow.

Her courage and desire to help them, rather than take on all the burden, is enough to summon the blue butterfly again, and this time when it lands on her wrist, it transforms into a Pinky Catch and stays. Karen transforms and designates herself as “The Blue Spring of Intelligence, Cure Aqua!” With all five Cures now assembled, they perform their group roll call: “With the power of hope and the light of the future, our five beautiful hearts will soar! Yes! Precure 5!”

Immediately she gives instructions to the others on how to defeat the Kowaina without harming the Pinky: detach the mask, and keep Bunbee occupied. They use their special attacks (and credit where credit is due, Mint Protection was cleverly used to stun the Kowaina) and manage to separate the mask from the monster without actually harming it, and it shatters. Bunbee tries one last attack but Dream wards him off, and he disappears with a signature complaint.

Mint quickly captures the Pinky, and the five girls celebrate their victory and their future together. That night, at home, Karen calls her mother and admits that she misses her and is curious when she will return home.

The next day at school, we see how their new friendship will play out when Nozomi arrives late to school. Karen scolds her for being late, and Nozomi begs her to let it slide since they’re friends now. However, Karen states that they’re different matters, as their friendship does not preclude her responsibilities. Nozomi slumps and that’s the note we end on.

The Analysis

When we first met Karen, she seemed stern and up-tight. She is looking into the mysterious events at the school to determine whether people are safe, if a student is involved, if school officials need to be alerted. She’s trying to keep the peace and maintain order. But she’s not a bad person. She takes her responsibilities seriously but she also maintains a good friendship with Komachi and presumably knows about her writing. She does the right things but sometimes for the wrong reasons. She has internalized her loneliness due to her parents always traveling and doesn’t want to burden them with her feelings, so she doesn’t acknowledge any situations where she might need help or be able to help, she just takes on other people’s burdens. Nozomi may be the first person to finally crack her shell, to be able to see how she really feels and talk to her about it. Jiiya knew, of course, but he wasn’t able to do anything himself. The power of having a group of friends to help and support her gave Karen the room to be vulnerable and honest with herself, and understand where she failed before. She overcomes her self-isolation and wants to help save her friends, to protect them from certain danger regardless of her own powerlessness. In this moment of self-sacrifice, wanting the power to help others, she becomes worthy of the mantle of a Pretty Cure and is able to transform. Beyond transforming into a Precure however, she has transformed emotionally, as we see after the battle. She’s generally more friendly (though living up to her responsibilities) and more open with her feelings, reaching out to her mother to talk and say she misses her. Her journey is far from over, but it’s already in a great position. I said at the beginning that I was reconsidering who my favorite is (currently it’s Rin) and..... I really do think I might just have to say I love Rin and Karen equally as characters. They do play off each other a lot, we’ll see that soon.

Of course, Karen wouldn’t be here without Nozomi. Here, more than anywhere else so far, she is showcasing that Pink Cure Power that the becomes a staple of the larger casts. She may not be the smartest, the most pure of heart, the most athletic, or the most at peace, but she finds what she wants, works towards it, and doesn’t take “no” for an answer. If not for her, none of the other girls would be here. Her bravery inspired Rin, her strong will inspired Urara, her sincerity inspired Komachi, and now her earnestness has inspired Karen. Nozomi can see things in people that nobody else can, if they need a friend she’s there to be a friend, if they need someone to root for them she’s there to do that. She saw that Karen was being dishonest with herself and found the right words to encourage her, she found the common ground between them and used it to break through Karen’s cold exterior and her feelings of depression and inadequacy about being unable to transform in order to cheer her up and make friends.

Nozomi believe in Karen long after everybody else gave up and I adore it.

Aside from Nozomi, though, Karen has one more player on her side: Jiiya the butler. He serves as the bridge between Karen and the rest of the world a lot, which is fun, but since he has known her since she was a child, he knows how to read her. Unfortunately, just watching her isn’t enough for me so he encourages her friendship with the group and flat out tells them how Karen really feels about bothering other people and why, which softens her to the girls and the audience. Also, showing her burgeoning insecurity at the very start made my heart break. That is a powerful scene, especially the transition between the younger Karen and present-day. I might have to gif that, watch this spot.

P.S.young Karen is the cutest thing.

Let’s talk villains for a minute! This is Bunbee’s second outing and his second failure. Despite how big he talks in the office, when he’s on the field he can’t live up to his own hype. Sure, he makes the girls struggle some, but they’re still coming together as a team, they’re not at full strength yet, and they still manage to defeat him both times, even beating his idea of using a Pinky as a Kowaina so they can’t attack it. He always complains that he isn’t making enough money for field work, or how is he going to explain his failures to his superiors, and generally making other silly comments that tie into the whole “evil business” theme. We’re starting to see that Bunbee is more bark than bite, and next episode we’ll see where he really sits on the totem pole.

Character analyses out of the way, here’s a fun little continuity joke. During the Student Council meeting that Karen isn’t paying attention to, they’re discussing a plan to penalize students who are repeatedly tardy by tracking their attendance at the gate. At the end of the episode when Nozomi is running late, and encounters Karen and the student council performing this task. She gets marked tardy because she slips and doesn’t make it through the gate by the end of the bell. It’s the little things.

We’ve wrapped up the Cure Aqua arc and we’re almost done with the character introductions. This episode was excellently paced and a satisfying payoff to the letdown at the end of the previous one. We got to see Karen come to terms with her own desires and become a better version of herself, and the Pretty Cure team is complete, with each girl bringing a different strength to the group. Next time, Nuts arrives on the scene and he’s carrying a lot of baggage. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 2 Kettei!

P.S. check PCD Status for a special personal post about Karen’s voice actress.