#precure kawarino

[baileypie-writes]

Hello. Any dating headcanons for Kawarino (yes precure 5)?

A/N ~ Sure! Hope you enjoy!

~Kawarino Dating Headcanons~

Fandom: Yes! Precure 5

Reader: Gender Neutral

Relationship: Romantic

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Possibly OOC Kawarino? Slight jealousy(Kawarino)

~Masterlists~

~Yes! Precure 5 Masterlist~

~~~💚~~~💚~~~💚~~~

~ Kawarino is really only seen in the building of Nightmare. So you either meet by being coworkers, or just getting lucky and meeting him outside. Before dating, seeing him is quite rare. Despite this, each meeting you have with him, he treats you like an old friend. His behavior is always so odd, so you were never quite sure of his intentions. That is, until he asked you out.

“Hello (name). I see we meet again.”

“Oh, hi Kawarino. It’s been a while.”

“Yes it has. Though I hope that fact won’t interfere with your answer to the question I’m about to ask.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Would you like to go on an outing with me?”

~ Kawarino treats everyone less powerful than him with no respect. That is, except you. In fact, he’s quite the gentleman most of the time. It’s still obvious that he views himself as someone of higher power, but, unlike how he sees other people, he doesn’t see you as useless trash or dirt under his shoe.

~ If you’re not his coworker, he will be very vague about his job. He does this because he doesn’t want you to leave, or get him in any possible legal trouble. However, if he feels you can be trusted, he reveals the secret. But makes you swear to not tell anyone.

“So… your job is fighting teenage girls?”

“I don’t think you quite understand. I’ll explain it one more time. If you don’t get it by then, I’ll simply give up.”

~ You’ve seen his eyes open more than anyone else has. Usually the only time he actually opens them is when he’s threatening his coworkers. But around you, he does it quite often. I guess you’re the only person he cares to look at.

~ Kawarino is the highest of all the employees at Nightmare, so he’s most likely loaded. He’s not usually big on spending lots of money. He just doesn’t care about it. But for you, he’ll buy anything. You don’t even need to ask.

“You know, Kawarino, you don’t have to buy me all this stuff.”

“I don’t see the issue with it. I don’t spend my money on much, so why not do it for something I care about?”

~ He’s a pretty intimidating and scary looking guy, so it’s not often that other people will hit on you when he’s around. However, there will be one of those jerks who just won’t get the hint. But don’t worry, because if they weren’t already afraid of your boyfriend, they most definitely will after a conversation with him. He absolutely despises anyone who disturbs the two of you.

~ He’s not an affectionate guy. He likes to be professional. However, he does kiss your hand as a greeting. He also allows you to hold onto his arm while walking. No hugs or hand holding though. He doesn’t like a lot of physical contact. It just makes him uncomfortable and irritated.

~~~💚~~~💚~~~💚~~~

~~baileypie-writes

[lovinglapislazuli]

Employee of the Month

A very unconvential wall of fame for a very unconventional evil company... I've been thinking about this one for a while, I'm very satisfied of the result!

ID under the cut:

Image description: a digitally colored traditional drawing featuring the villain group Nightmare from Yes Precure 5. A series of eight portraits hanging in three rows (3-3-2) on a dark blue wall, each with a golden plaque lit by a dim light under the frame. Each portrait depicts the defeat of that characters as if happened in the show, all of them are in their monster form except for Bloody, Bunbee and Desparaiah. In order, from left to right: Girinma’s silhouette in side view, eye and mouth open wide, the dark mask floating in front of his face as they are both about to disintegrate, the plaque says “ACCEPTED”; Arachnea is standing and screaming in pain with her head towards the sky, as she is burning, the plaque says “VOLUNTEERED”; Gamao is holding his head with both hands while being surrounded by a pink glow and small lights of the same color, the plaque says “SCAMMED”; Hadenya’s dark grey silhouette, filled with squiggly lines, stands against the sky full of floatin feathers and looks upwards as she is dissipating, the plaque says “FORCED”; Bloody is sinking into a grey puddle while wearing a dark mask, his left hand reaching for the viewer, his plaque says “BETRAYED”; Bunbee is falling from the roof of a building, as smoke and debris surrounds him he’s trying to reach upwards with his right hand, the plaque says “OPPOSED”; Kawarino is being dragged down by Bloody’s hand, he’s yelling in despair and reaching with his left hand towards the next portrait, his plaque says “DESCENDED”; Despariah in her youthful look is kneeling before Coco and Natts, giving them the used Dream Collet while a warm yellow glow shines upon them. She is on the left on the portrait, the opposite direction of Kawarino’s cry for help. Her plaque says “REPENTED”.

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 231

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 33 - “Hustle! Urara and the Curry Restaurant” Date watched: 27 January 2023 Original air date: 28 September 2008 Screenshots Precure Metamorphose Gallery | Sky Rose Translate Gallery Project info and master list of posts

Bunbee is starting to see the writing on the wall and looking for a way out of Eternal. Maybe a curry restaurant. Meanwhile, Urara’s friend has a failing curry restaurant and she wants to help revive it. What happens when Bunbee comes sniffing around the competition? Let’s take a look.

The Plot

Urara asks Yoshimi, a friend and classmate, to help go over her script.

After school, they go to Yoshimi’s family’s failing curry restaurant. Urara tries to rope the others in but Yoshimi asks for just the two of them, not wanting to trouble the upperclassmen.

Bunbee sees Anacondy stressing over the repeated failures of Eternal, trying to figure out why they can't win against the Precures. She’s ignoring him, and Bunbee recalls Kawarino doing the same at Nightmare, so he begins to question his future at Eternal. He ponders opening a curry shop.

Yoshimi's family explains business was booming before an adjacent building literally overshadowed them

Urara and Yoshimi try to put up fliers, but no business will let them, so they try to hand them out directly.

At Natts House, everyone is concerned and distracted by Urara's predicament and this annoys Princess Crepe, who says she’s NEVER BEEN TREATED SO HORRIBLY, because she's dramatic. Syrup leaves to "work".

Syrup actually shows up to help Urara and Yoshimi hand out fliers. Bunbee happens to pick one up, considering it a competitor to his hypothetical future store.

Everyone at Natts House separately leaves to go do something, intentionally or not slipping in the word Curry to their excuses. Nozomi is the last to catch on to what’s happening.

You can view all the jokes in the gallery.

Bunbee shows up at the curry restaurant. He antagonizes Urara and Syrup. Rin shows up, then Karen, Komachi, and Nozomi and Kurumi in turn. Bunbee complains about them not all showing up at once. They transform and Bunbee turns a flier into a Hoshiina.

Lemonade is worried about the restaurant getting damaged so they lure the monster away by flying on Syrup, but it causes them to crash.

Bunbee taunts them about not being strong individually, both as warriors and in the attempt to promote the curry shop. They retort that one person is enough to start a movement. It’s not stated, but the way that relates to the plot of the episode is the idea that they can bring customers to the store.

The Hoshiina splits into 5 and grabs the girls. Rose knocks Bunbee back and the Precure break the monsters’ holds. Coco helps them perform Rainbow Rose Explosion.

After the fight, everyone is eating at the restaurant. Urara apologizes to Yoshimi for not being able to do anything to help, but her parents say that she brought in all these customers (pointing to the others). Seeing the girls happily eating draws in more people and the restaurant is quickly packed.

The Analysis

What I Liked

Yoshimi asks that Urara’s other friends not help them to promote her restaurant, and she accepts that request graciously. That was a nice touch.

Bunbee flashing back to his time at Nightmare is a nice little bit of continuity.

A souvenir store, a clothing store, and another restaurant may not be the best places to advertise, but that’s a good reflection on the relative immaturity of Urara and Yoshimi.

Rin prepares 10 cups of tea for everyone, but there’s one left over when everyone grabs theirs because she forgot to account for Urara’s absence. Everyone gets the big sad. It’s super cheesy and I point that out below, but I also find it funny.

Also, Komachi gets super distracted and dumps a pile of books on Crepe when she says she’s thirsty. She deserved it. (yes, I am being petty)

The gag with everyone coming up with curry-related reasons to leave the store and go help Urara was hilarious, and the follow-up with them dramatically appearing one by one at the scene of the fight was the icing on the cake.

One of the messages of the episode, about helping people in need and the impact that seemingly small effort can produce, is nice.

What I Didn’t Like

The other girls act super sad to not be around Urara for a day while she’s helping her friend, even though they've each previously let friends do their own things without causing such a fuss. Like give the girl some space, jeez!

Related to that, the other lesson in this episode is trying to be “Help your friends in need” but it comes across as “butt into their afffairs when they’ve asked you not to.” which is a bad lesson.

Bunbee’s line about the cures being easy to take out individually is….. A bit absurd. He’s fought them at less than full strength before and of course seen others be defeated by individuals.

The art is middling in this episode.

Princess Crepe is more obnoxious than usual in her one notable moment.

Miscellaneous

Milk does not appear in her fairy form in this episode.

Yoshimi is voiced by Amano Yuri, an actress with credits going back to the mid-80s. Reportedly, her most notable role is Makibi Kiyone in the Tenchi franchise. She also played some villains in Sailor Moon (Berthier in R and CereCere in SuperS). She will go on to play some other minor characters in Precure: a girl named Chika in Fresh episode 18, Mayuka in Heartcatch 44, the Queen of Hope Kingdom in Go! Princess, and Kotozume Shino (Yukari’s grandmother) in Kirakira.

Conclusion

It’s a decent episode about helping your friends, and the impact that seemingly small actions can have, and of course teamwork. It also signals the beginning of Bunbee’s redemption arc, if you can call it that. It doesn’t do much for anyone else, it’s just innocuous fall filler. Even Princess Crepe is reduced to a single scene. She’ll get her conclusion next episode, thankfully. For now, this episode just exists in between Mucardia’s more devious schemes and Bunbee’s more interesting ones.

Next time, on Precure Daily, Princess Crepe finally makes her move. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 kettei!

[tsuki-sennin]

Today we get to (maybe) finally learn a little something about Empress Underg! Yeah, about time, am I right? What exactly inspires so much fear from her minions and yet such unwavering loyalty from Skearhead? What could she have possibly wanted from Elle before? And why does she now seek the Pretty Cure's demise? ...only one of these questions will probably be answered, but hey~!

Spoilers, I guess...

-Shalala Real!

-Ahhhhh, Tsubasa's got the secret to perpetual motion in his lap.

-Ahhhhh, I see. It reverses destruction itself, does it?

-Purifcation~!

-Ohhhhhh

-Oh, that's not a good sign.

-Shalala's gonna be our twist villain, isn't she?

-If I had a nickle for everytime a PreCure series I watched had its real main villain be a high-ranking knight... Actually, I'd probably have several nickles. Y'know, with Butler, Fennel, Joker if you wanna be technical on what a knight is, Kawarino if you also wanna be technical on what qualifies as a main villain... Bah, whatever, point of this scene is!

-Research binges pay off, Tsubasa-kun!

-Ageha's taking you out shopping~!

-Oh... oh wow, you're... hella gorgeous. Goddamn, you've got hips for days.

-And yet Miss Sky Blue Sapphic herself seems to take little notice...

-"These 18-19 year old clothes sure are conveniently fitting on my 30 something frame."

-Absolutely wild that this actual goddamn robot's treated so casually, but uh

-Well, I don't mind too much, this isn't the cyberpunk/psychic powers 2020s I was promised.

-And here Sora sits... alone.

-Not even noticing our dear Mashiron...

-A chance to stretch with the Captain~!

-Into the bushes with you!

-"I suppose a lie's a little too much for a pure-hearted hero-type."

-A moment's hesitation... and all her questions rise to the surface.

-"I'll find my own answer."

-I love how gently the music comes in, only to stop just the same way.

-"I get that. This is my reason though..."

-Introspectiooooooooon~!

-She got you there, Tsubasa-kun.

-The resolve to find that answer's been found!

-Farewell, Shalala!

-...so uh... is nobody gonna accompany her, or...?

-No, okay, that's fine!

-You're finally getting some sunshine, boy!

-Oh fuck, Skearhead.

-Ah, yep~! There it is~!

-"Hmph. Suppose I'll try something simpler this time. Kyoborg! Style on those impudent children."

-If this were anybody but Skeebo, I'd say he did this on accident.

-OH

-OKAY HJKLH

-"Yeah, go talk about this with Skearhead!"

-Good job, Wing-kun!

-Ikki ni ikuze! ...w-wait, no...

-We're gonna fuckin' throw her!

-Fly, Sky~!

-Right outta the sky!

-He can't be all bad with love on his side, right?

-"And?"

-Did your trainer only teach you Shadow Ball, Skeebo?

-Oh, he's doing this Freeza style.

-"This isn't your problem anymore, Cure Sky. The dead have no worries left. Nice job, idiot."

-Naivety becomes her heroic strength.

-Hirogaruuuuu... Sky Punch~!

-"Ohhhhhhh, that's not good."

-Wow, he just noped right out of there.

-Didn't even stay for the finisher.

-...sound tactical move, actually. He avoids the lecture and reports back to the Empress in record time.

-He might have a reason... but is that reason really so good he'd hurt innocent people?

-And still we're not even an inch closer to knowing the truth of Empress Underg...

-The Shalala Twist angle I'm going for seems like an obvious pick, but there's honestly no real way to speculate on what the Empress's is deal is besides how power-hungry and scawy she allegedly is.

-Battamonda~!

-Again~!

-Oh fuck, he's roided out!

-He's finally having that big final villain battle he always wanted.

-Right, see you next time, I guess~!

[msimpossibility]

Kawarino possibly holds the title for SLIMIEST villain in Precure.

[cureblogging]

I KNOW ALL OF THESE PEOPLE

[xbuster]

undefined

[justmeinabigolworld]

So

I finally got back to watching Yes 5! I just finished the episode 23-24 two-parter, and I’ve gotta say something

First of all, why did they act like the big fight was everyone’s fault? Rin and Karen were being bitches (I was surprised at Rin’s bitchiness in episode 23, but Karen was just being her usual terrible self), while Urara and Komachi didn’t do anything wrong!

Also

What the fuck

What the actual fuck

That whole mask thing was REALLY disturbing

And Kawarino…he’s the inspiration for Joker, isn’t he? Right now I prefer Joker, but who knows…

Anyway, awesome season so far!

[pieceofshitcharacteroftheday]

Today’s Piece of Shit Character of the Day is: Kawarino from Yes! Precure 5!

[pochqmqri]

The way this scene is framed make it’s seem like Bunbee fell to his death, and given the circumstances, it just feels so dark and real, especially since he doesn’t show up for the rest of the season again. 

[cure-yell-liker]

[baileypie-writes]

Can I ask Kawarino, Bunbee and another Nightmare worker (choice is up to you) find out that their S/O has fear of being rejected?

A/N ~ Sure! I decided the last character would be Girinma, because I feel he would relate to Reader. Also, I don’t know much about this fear, so let me know if anything’s inaccurate. Hope you enjoy!

~Nightmare Employees With an S/O Who Has a Fear of Rejection~

~~~🖤~~~🖤~~~🖤~~~

Fandom: Yes! Precure 5

Fanfic Type: Headcanons

Reader: Gender Neutral

Relationship: Romantic

Characters Included: Kawarino, Bunbee and Girinma

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, mostly fluff

Rating: PG

Warnings: Fear of rejection, anxiety

~Masterlists~

~Yes! Precure 5 Masterlist~

~~~🖤~~~🖤~~~🖤~~~

~Kawarino~

~~~💚~~~💚~~~💚~~~

~ Kawarino doesn’t relate to your fear. He’s very powerful and respected, so rejection isn’t on his mind at all. It takes him a while to realize your fear, since it’s not something he’s familiar with.

~ He notices how nervous you are when it comes to certain things. Things where you could be turned down or shunned. He sees how much you think about it, and the worst possible outcome. It bothers him how you get so upset. He’d rather you just not think about it at all. He doesn’t care what others think, so why should you?

~ Kawarino believes that it’s best for you to face your fear head on, and not to hide from it. With lots of practice, you could end up like him; not caring about rejection. It can be tough, but he’ll help you through it.

“Don’t let your mind tell you the worse possible outcome. Just do it. Being rejected won’t make the world stop spinning.” His tone may make it sound like he’s annoyed, but he’s genuinely trying to make you feel better.

~~~💚~~~💚~~~💚~~~

~Bunbee~

~~~🐝~~~🐝~~~🐝~~~

~ Bunbee gets it. He’s not very valued in the company, so rejection is something he deals with often. But he still hates it. He wants to be liked. So you having the same fear as him makes him feel a bit better.

~ After finding out about this, he gives you advice, as if he doesn’t have the same problem. The way he goes about it, you’d never guess that you share the same fear.

~ Instead of working on himself, he helps you. If you’re struggling to do something in fear of being rejected, he won’t let you give up. In fact, he’ll go with you, and hype you up before you do whatever you need to do. If your worse fear comes true, he does his best to help you feel better.

“I know, (name). It doesn’t feel great. But it happens. And hey, there’s always next time!”

~~~🐝~~~🐝~~~🐝~~~

~Girinma~

~~~👓~~~👓~~~👓~~~

~ Like Bunbee, Girinma shares the same problem. But he’s even less valued in the company than him. In fact, he’s in one of the lowest ranks in Nightmare. So he doesn’t even bother asking or suggesting anything unless he absolutely needs to. Because he knows that 99.9%, of the time, he’ll get treated like dirt.

~ He’s absolutely relieved when he finds out you share the same fear as him. He never mentioned it before, because he thought you wouldn’t get it. So now that he knows you do, he happily shares his experiences.

~ Instead in encouraging you to face your fears, he cowers with you. Why would he tell you to be brave, when he can’t even do so himself? If you decide to yourself though, he’ll wish you good luck. Maybe you being brave with help him be better.

“You’re sure you want to? Okay then. Good luck. I’ll be here if it goes wrong.”

~~~👓~~~👓~~~👓~~~

~~baileypie-writes

[lovinglapislazuli]

I recently found a very cute role reverse au for Yes Precure 5 on AO3, Eternal Precure 5 by LinetteFox! Using the description and the pictures provided by the fanfic I drew a lineup for them :D It’s a very fun spin on the cast, with some role swaps I didn’t expect, a few interesting divergence from canon and some nice dynamics! So far there’s 15 chapters out of 50 and I’m looking forward the next update :D

https://archiveofourown.org/works/42236373/chapters/106046913

ID under the cut

Image Description: A digital drawing featuring a lineup of five teenage characters on a reddish pink background. These characters are alternative versions of Bunbee, Scorp, Kawarino, Mucardia and Anacondy from Yes Precure 5 and Yes Precure 5 Gogo. Above them are the original chibi designs made by the author, as reference. The five characters (four boys and a girl) are wearing a variation of the Yes Precure 5 uniform, in which they all wear an open vest and the gems on their ribbons are shaped like their respective animal motif. From left to right:

Cure Bee (Bunbee) wears a small high ponytail curled to look like a stinger, the hair has a gradient from blonde to pink. His outfit is mainly reddish pink, light pink and light yellow, and the green gem on his ribbon is shaped like a bee. He has a split cape that looks like bee wings, light yellow with pink tips.

Cure Scorpion (Scorp) has short bright red hair with a fringe and longer side bangs, he wears a blueish purple hair clip by the right side. His outfit is mainly several shades of red and light yellow, and the yellow gem on his ribbon is shaped like a scorpion. He has a dark red scorpion tail sprouting from his lower back.

Cure Chameleon (Kawarino) has mid lenght dark green hair parted to the side, with curly longer bangs framing his face. His outfit is mainly several shades of yellow with green accents, and the cyan gem on his ribbon is shaped like a curled chameleon. He has a chameleon tail of the same color as his hair.

Cure Bug (Mucardia) has waist lenght pale green straight hair with bangs. His outfit is mainly several shades of green with dark red and light blue accents, and the red gem on his ribbon is shaped like a curled centipede. He has bright green antennae on the top of his head.

Cure Snake (Anacondy) has her lilac hair styled into a ponytail, formed of several big ringlet curls. Her face is framed by two small ringlets and a pointed fringe. Her outfit is mainly several shades of blue with cyan accents, and the pink gem on her ribbon is shaped like a curled snake. She has a dark blue rattlesnake tail, and the rattle is colore with progressively lighter shades of blue.

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 198

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 49 - “The Dreams and Hopes of Precure 5!” Date watched: 17 June 2020 Original air date: 27 January 2008 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/qlReFMY Transformation Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6k6SzS0 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

the end is nigh

It’s been an adventure these last few episodes! The team found the 45th Pinky and filled the Dream Collet, defeated Bloody, and then had the Collet stolen from them. They went to Nightmare’s dimension and fought Kawarino, where he tossed them around and Despariah used the Collet to restore her youth. Then, despite all odds, they found hope where there was none and pulled themselves out of despair, managing to defeat Kawarino and rescue the lost citizens of the Palmier Kingdom! Then and only then did Despariah finally stand up and begin her own attack on the girls. They’ve overcome every obstacle placed in front of them up to now, but how will they fare against the literal incarnation of despair?

The Plot

The cold opening is a quick recap of the previous episode and the final scene, with Despariah finally making her stand. After the opening theme, the girls proceed to take on Despariah’s kowainas, and the action cuts quickly from girl to girl as they kick, punch, and chop their way through the ranks. Lemonade remembers that they were able to defeat them previously by separating them from the ground, but when Aqua knocks them off their feet, they land right back on the ground no worse for the wear. Despariah taunts them, but Dream insists they’ll pull through, and they proceed to kick more ass. They do dispel some of the monsters, but just as quickly as they do, more pop up. Nonetheless, Despariah grows concerned, and she confronts Dream to personally push her into despair. She restrains Dream while a group of Kowaina attack the citizens of Palmier, but Mint blocks them, so she sets the squad on the other four cures, throwing them in the air. She hypnotizes Dream as she taunts that their power came from the now-useless Dream Collet, and Dream falls into a dream.

She awakens in Coco’s arms as he tells her to give up, as he doesn’t want to see her get hurt anymore, and reaches for the Pinky Catch. The real Coco, Nuts, and Milk watch from afar but Coco isn’t worried about Dream at all, he’s sure she’ll overcome this. Sure enough, inside the illusion, Dream recognizes Coco as a fake because he would never tell her to quit. Her Pinky Catch glows with the light of hope and several Kowaina in her immediate vicinity are destroyed. Coco proclaims that Dream is always optimistic and striving for a better future. She turns to him and says that his kindness to everyone is what gives her the strength to keep going, and that’s why she loves him. Then she faces Despariah herself and declares that she will make Coco’s dream come true, no matter what, and the other girls line up with her.

Now here’s where it starts to get juicy. Despariah starts to crack under the pressure. Rather than being intimidating, she sounds afraid. She asks the girls why they aren’t afraid of aging or their power waning, and she begins to admit that her new eternal youth hasn’t helped her the way she thought it would. Cure Dream, seeing her opponent breaking down with anxiety, does what she does best: she empathizes. She bravely steps forward and cancels her transformation, facing Despariah not as Cure Dream, but as Nozomi. Nozomi kindly and gently tells Despariah she just wants to talk, because she can tell the villainess is scared, which means she has a heart. Nozomi’s sheer kindness causes the kowaina to begin to disperse as she repels even Despariah’s despair, and the other cures decide to follow her lead and detransform. Thus they stand in front of their archenemy, vulnerable and powerless but happy.

The girls reaffirm their willingness to go along with Nozomi’s reckless abandon and Despariah realizes that their friendship is what keeps them from being afraid. Nozomi invites Despariah to really talk things out, but suddenly Kawarino reappears, alive but on his last legs. He insists that Despariah doesn’t need them, and begins to attack Nozomi, but Despariah blasts him away. She confesses that her newfound immortality has still not brought her peace and she wants to hear what the girls have to say. Kawarino can’t handle this, and begins to despair at the idea that everything he’s done for her was pointless. The Darkness of Despair opens beneath his feet and suddenly a giant hand grabs him. He recognizes the deformed figure beneath the black surface as Bloody and he gets slowly dragged down into the abyss, begging Despariah for help, but all she can do is watch in fear.

Seeing what became of her subordinates shatters Despariah’s already fragile mental state, and the entire Nightmare world begins to crumble as she loses control of her power. She orders Nozomi and co to seal away the Nightmare world with their powers, trapping her in it forever, because if they don’t then her unchecked power of destruction will tear their world apart, too. Despariah and Nozomi share sad looks with each other as they both understand what must be done, and the girls transform again, using the Symphony Set to seal away the Nightmare world. Despariah approaches Coco, Nuts, and the citizens of Palmier, returning the exhausted Dream Collet and apologizing for her actions before she turns away and walks back into Nightmare HQ. Despariah genuinely smiles and thanks the girls as the building is encased in butterfly wings and implodes.

When the light fades, the girls are back in the plaza in their world, at twilight, silent and sad. Dream in particular can’t even look at the others for a while and we don’t see her face, an indirect way of showing how upset she is by the events that have just taken place. No words are exchanged in this beautiful, tragic scene.

The scene fades to night at Karen’s mansion. An idle comment about Jiiya’s absence explains why they’re free to let all the Palmier citizens wander around the facility. Everyone is trying to unwind and catch up and make plans for rebuilding the Palmier Kingdom. Papaya, Coco and Nuts’s teacher, finally asks which of them will become king, and they’re visibly uncomfortable, but Milk explains how they’ve worked so hard together to survive in this world and get to this point, they should become kings together. Everyone agrees and the two princes seem happy.

Later in the evening as festivities have wound down, Komachi and Nuts are talking. She thanks him for pushing her further with her writing and supporting her, and he thanks her for her kindness and perseverance and saving him from his own self-loathing. Both of them have inspired the other to go farther and achieve the previously unthinkable. Nuts even gives Komachi his key to the kingdom for her to remember him by.

Meanwhile, Nozomi and Coco are having a much-needed heart to heart. Nozomi says she thinks him and Nuts as dual kings is a good deal, because they can compensate for each other’s weaknesses, and then the conversation shifts to the promise he made to show Nozomi the Palmier Kingdom. He reaffirms that vow, as she says that she looks forward to seeing the restored kingdom and he wants to build a kingdom worth showing to her.

In both of these cases, the words of love go unspoken, but not unheard.

As dawn breaks, the girls and all the fairies gather on the lawn to say their final goodbyes. Karen and Milk wish each other good luck in the future, rounding off our shipping pairs, and then all the girls begin to cry.  However, Nozomi reminds them all that it’s not farewell, and as long as their hearts stay connected, they’ll surely meet again.

Then Nozomi reveals to Coco that she’s finally found her dream: she wants to be a teacher like he was. He inspired her by telling her she was full of potential (a callback to episode 11) and gave her a lot of knowledge, drive, and motivation, and she wants to inspire the next generation in the same way. He responds in kind by saying he wants himself and Nuts to instill hope in his citizens the same way Nozomi instilled hope in him. With that, the girls relinquish their Pinky Catches, which turn back into the butterflies that are the Five Lights of the Palmier Kingdom. They form a ring, which absorbs all the fairies into it before transforming into a giant rainbow butterfly and flying away into the sunrise.

fly away now, fly away now, fly awaaaaaay

To wrap the episode up, we fast forward an indeterminate amount of time to check in on the girls post-Precure. In voiceover, they each express their difficulties in achieving their dreams: Nozomi still struggles academically, Urara still fails auditions sometimes, Komachi gets writer’s block, Rin has trouble coming up with designs, and Karen has doubts about working in medicine. Nonetheless, they all find comfort in turning to each other for help, and their friendship runs deeper than any obstacles. The final scene is the five of them posing together in a still frame.

The Analysis

At this point, Precure final episodes have established a pattern. The first half resolves the battle with the villain, while the second half wraps up any other loose ends in their civilian lives. Such is the case here, but it plays a bit differently from the finales of the Futari wa era. The peril never quite reaches the same depths of intensity, largely due to the immutable optimism of Nozomi and the team and Despariah’s growing uncertainty with her own cause. Comparatively, a longer time seems to be spent tying up loose ends, which I suppose, as with many elements of this series that seem more drawn out, is tied into there being five main characters instead of two. This is NOT a criticism, by any means. I think the story beats covered by the conclusion are appropriate and well-paced and properly wrap up everyone’s story arcs without rushing or overstaying the welcome. Accordingly, I’m going to subdivide this review into two halves, one for the conclusion to both the battle with Despariah and Nightmare, and the other for the girls’ duties to the Palmier Kingdom and the epilogue.

In this case, the fight with Despariah feels especially bittersweet, because for the very first time in a Precure series, the final boss was actually won over by the girls’ ideals instead of just outright blown to bits, but it was too late for her to redeem herself as her power was out of control. Compared to the Star Twinkle finale from early this year (at the time of this writing), which I found rather underwhelming with regard to Ophiuchus just walking away after enslaving half the galaxy, this episode properly redeems its villain without absolving her of the weight and consequence of her actions. Did she deserve her fate? That’s hard to say, it would be interesting to see her use her newfound immortality to walk the Earth, trying to find hope and peace and pay for her sins. On the other hand, it’s a beautiful tragedy for her to gain immortality and eternal youth only to immediately shut herself away forever because her own power has grown out of control and threatens the world she wants to be a part of. It’s similar in concept to the death of Dark Dream in the movie, although that one was much more of a gut punch than this for a few reasons. The redemption deaths are similar, however, in the catalyst for their transformations: Nozomi, the eternal optimist. She has set the bar for team leaders that will be hard to surpass (although I have a few other favorites). She constantly strives to better herself, refuses to bow to negative pressure, and has pulled herself and her friends out of the pits of despair. She turns enemies into friends with the strength of her hope and dreams, but her greatest power is her ability to know when to stop the fight and sympathize with someone in pain. She saw Despariah was losing her grip and instead of seizing an easy victory, she detransformed and approached her as a person. I can’t begin to describe how powerful of a gesture this is, but it’s the absolute best thing Nozomi could do and it perfectly embodies her best qualities.

Regardless of her poor wish, though, it was a good narrative choice to have her steal the wish, whatever she chose to do with it. Since the series was all about hope and despair, throwing all the characters into very despairing situations and then still having them defeat their demons with hope is extraordinary and perfectly encapsulates the message of the show. Coco and Nuts lose their wish and can’t use magic to rebuild the Palmier Kingdom? Fine, they’ll do it by hand! The lost citizens of Palmier Kingdom are actually Nightmare’s members? Thank goodness, they’re still alive and well after all! The Precures are all being forced into despair? But wait, we haven’t even realized our dreams yet, let’s talk about them! At every turn, the series and the climax in particular has been about hope overcoming despair, so subjecting the protagonists to the ultimate despair lets their hopes shine brighter than ever, really driving the message home, and that wouldn’t have been possible if Coco and Nuts had used the wish a little sooner.

While it’s not a particularly deep message, Despariah’s realization that eternal youth has not made her happy is still very important. Who among us hasn’t wished for some grand change in our lives? Now would that change actually make you happier, in the long run? I’m not suggesting there’s nothing you could have or do that would improve your demeanor, but it’s easy to see why Despariah wished for the wrong thing. She misattributed the cause of her depression, rather than trying to make the most of her life, and consequently she damned herself to an even worse fate. She could have wished for help, for companionship, or for the capacity to better understand people. Instead she wished for eternal youth and power, and then learned too late that this wasn’t what she needed.

The only thing that didn’t really work for me was Kawarino coming back, as that didn’t make sense. It was a catalyst to really throw Despariah into despair again after she was starting to make some headway with the girls, and cause her to lose control of her power. If they had at least hinted in the previous episode that he had an ace up his sleeve and wasn’t completely gone, it would have been more acceptable to me. However, it was good to see him react to Despariah embracing the message of hope, and see her assert herself over him. It was also very satisfying, though also horrifying, to see him get dragged down into the pits of despair by Bloody. Seeing how frightful Nightmare is from the outside was important to her development, but it also showed she was beyond salvation and it made her choice to self-isolate for eternity more tragic.

I like the symbolism behind her returning the Collet to Coco and Nuts, though. She knows it’s a hollow gesture and it doesn’t begin to make up for what she’s done, but it is about the only thing she really can do to show her remorse. You can also see that the citizens of Palmier aren’t exactly ready to forgive her for imprisoning them, but they appreciate the gesture. The whole farewell is full of bittersweetness like this.

I gotta hand it to the writers for this, making her repent but still be condemned to eternal solitude by her own hand instantly makes this finale twice as emotional as it would be if she just got beaten normally, and it’s more meaningful, speaking to the complexities of the good vs evil fight and of course the season writ large.

Now, for the cleanup. The second half of the episode is all tying up loose ends and putting the final notes on the subplots. How do they settle the issue of who gets to be king? Make both Coco and Nuts the co-kings! It’s honestly the only way they could do it, since they compensate so well for each other’s shortcomings. It’s a conflict that’s been present throughout the show, but never really dwelled upon until more recent episodes, notably 45. Coco is better with people, but Nuts is more studious and knowledgeable. Both of them bring important leadership qualities to the table. Honestly I always had Coco as the better ruler, with Nuts as his advisor, but making them equals really speaks to the theme of the franchise, that everyone brings different skills that complement each other, and it’s a callback to the first three seasons with the two-person teams.

The thanks and farewells between Komachi and Nuts, Nozomi and Coco, and Karen and Milk are all very moving. They demonstrate the growth they’ve all achieved since the start of the show. Nuts pushed Komachi to be a better writer, Coco inspired Nozomi to be a better learner, and Milk allowed Karen to be a better protector. Capping off their growth throughout the season with these heart-to-heart conversations really resonates and serves as a nice bow on top of their arcs. And as I said earlier, although they don’t say “I love you” out loud, you can tell they mean it. Some may criticize me for including Milk and Karen on that list, because their relationship isn’t as romantic as the other two, being more or a platonic friendship, but nonetheless there’s a deep compassion between them and as I’ve pointed out, they have a close bond that Milk doesn’t share with any of the others. Karen taught her to step back and smell the roses, Karen nursed her when she was sick, Karen has been instrumental in Milk adjusting to life in the human world and Milk helped Karen find her life’s passion. I’ve written a lot about NozoCoco and KomaNuts before, but Karen and Milk have a distinct closeness as well, and their farewell is important too. In fact I wish they’d gotten a true closing scene like the other couples got, but I can understand why they didn’t. They had a lot to cram into this episode. And let’s briefly recount all the other important friendships that were seen throughout the show. Urara and Komachi deepened their friendship over their mutual interest in art and storytelling. Rin and Karen bonded over their shared lack of ambition, and then found goals to strive towards. I really love that even within the circle of friends, they each found specific partnerships and reasons to bond with certain others.

So let’s talk about Nozomi. When the show started, she was presented as a bit of an airhead. She was more than happy to cheer on her friend Rin but she was introduced in the classic “late for school” sequence and we were told she didn’t have much in the way of dreams or a capacity for learning. Boy was she optimistic though.

After meeting Coco and making his wish to revive Palmier Kingdom into her dream, she really changed. Obviously her earnest perusal of that objective is what drew the other girls to her, but helping Coco allowed Coco to help her, and he gave her a genuine passion for learning. He helped her challenge her learning difficulties, and at the end of the series she has internalized that by making it her dream to pass on his teachings as a teacher herself.

This is the perfect capstone to her growth and development throughout the show. I keep coming back to her line from the movie:

“I’m better than I was yesterday! I’m better than I was an hour ago, a minute or even a second ago!” Well she sure improved, and now she’s found something she can pour herself into that will help her keep improving. From the girl with no dream to the girl whose dream is to help everyone reach their potential, surrounded by supportive friends. I just love to see it.

Finally, I really, really love the epilogue. It is perfectly staged and framed and composed. Each girl briefly talking about her struggles as she works towards her dream, the small everyday hardships they face is a reminder that they’re not perfect. They’re ordinary girls just trying to make their way in life. Their greatest strength, whether as Precure or as students, is their friendship and encouragement for each other. The way they each sit down at the table one by one, silently reaching out to their support network, is so encouraging. And the final sequence has a couple of callbacks to earlier in the show, like Urara’s unusual food choices and both Rin and Karen bringing their preferred juice (orange and grape.) It’s a small reminder of where they started to show how much they’ve changed.

Now they could end their development here, and I’d be happy, but fortunately we get an entire season that shows where they all go after this that I get to dive into after this, the last such time we’ll have that opportunity in Precure. So look forward to that!

Also, I want to note that the art for the final still frames is gorgeous.

I wish I could say that about the whole episode but unfortunately Kawano Hiroyuki is the key animator and animation director for the finale, and his weaknesses are on full display: flat faces with wide eyes and strangely drawn noses, minimal shading, oddly placed heads, and sometimes weird body proportions as well. When he’s good, he’s good, but when he’s bad, it’s visible. I wish the finale could have had some higher quality artwork but I guess the budget was stretched a bit thin by this point, or they were focusing all their attention on the next series. I don’t have a lot of insight into how this process works behind the scenes. Here’s a few examples of the art that I found a bit lacking.

On the other hand, there are some gorgeous visuals here as well, don’t let me make it sound like it’s all bad either. There’s a few symbolic shots I really like, such as the mirroring of the girls’ feet in and out of transformation, as they face Despariah first as enemies, then as friends.

There’s also the reflection of Despariah in Dream’s eyes that gets an A+ from me for shot composition.

As well as the Kowaina mask superimposed over the fake Coco in Nozomi’s illusion.

And of course, all the fairies of the Pamier Kingdom returning home in a giant butterfly, to cap off our symbolism.

Rewatching Yes! Precure 5 has been a wonderful journey. It’s a great ride from start to finish and an all new direction for the Pretty Cure franchise. It was filled with great characters to follow and I was extremely invested in seeing them grow and develop. This finale truly stands out in the franchise for its discussion of depression and immortality, dreams and hopes, and what’s important in life. It was the perfect conclusion to a fantastic series and I couldn’t ask for a better ending. However, our journey isn’t quite over! The adventures of Nozomi, Rin, Urara, Komachi, Karen, Coco, Nuts, and Milk will continue in Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!

Next time, on Precure Daily, we catch up with everyone after a few months when Nozomi receives a mysterious message, and they get caught up in another battle for the fate of the world. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 kettei! (in the preview)

[starlight-ascension]

*image of a very large house in the middle of Hell- and I mean actual hell, fire and brimstone and screaming background noise and everything* 

*inside, there are many precure villains, but only the ones who didn’t change sides by the end* 

*Kawarino and Bel are fighting each other and there’s blood on the floor and a few other villains gambling over who will win, Joker and Northa are taking turns between dragging some terrified rando into the place to do who-knows-what to them and watching the other with popcorn, Close is tearing apart a dummy of Cure Flora and foaming at the mouth, Elisio is setting something on fire and then gets a plate thrown at his head by Benigyo, there’s a couple Max Heart villains incoherently screaming at each other, everyone else is either trying to do something or is watching the others* 

*camera pans to Ira, who’s hiding behind an armchair*

*Ira starts talking* 

So everyone knows that the redemption rate for teenage villains is 100%. Unless you’re an evil clone of a precure (*camera briefly shows Dark Pretty Cure flying above someone who’s raging at her*). Which I am not. 

But the thing is, if you die before completing your redemption arc... well, you’re counted as not having reformed at all, and you wind up here. With the scum of the evil groups. 

I know you’re thinking “why aren’t the demons doing anything if they’re in hell? Well, they tried to. We fought back. Northa actually killed one, i DON’T know how but she did. Eventually the demons gave up because WE were giving THEM hell. And they trapped us together in this dysfunctional hive and left us to deal with each other, like in that tv show. 

So I’m surrounded by a bunch of Actually Evil villains. I have to pretend to be like them unless I want to be the biggest punching bag here. And I can’t keep this all bottled up anymore, so now I’m secretly vlogging- 

*Ira is interrupted by Girinma being yeeted, crashing over the armchair and knocking it over, and just barely missing Ira* 

*Girinma screams multiple swear words at Marmo* 

*Ira grabs his gopro and runs to behind a bookshelf before resuming* 

You see what I have to deal with? This has been my life ever since I died. 

Welcome to... 

Ira In The Hell House! 

[venus-says]

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Episodes 25-49 + Movie

So... this happened.

This second half of Yes! 5 was... boring.

Yeah, it had its moments, but overall? It was pretty lackluster. And, I know Yes isn't the most eventful season, as I mentioned on the first post, this is a character-focused show so the plot won't move much until it needs to, proof of that is the Pinky collecting thing that is never on the front seat and when we see it they are in the final 4 episodes and there's only one missing for them to complete the collection. The thing is that the characters part was pretty... problematic?

I don't know if it's because they knew a second season would be coming that they decided to go very light in character development in order to focus on something else, but this second half lacked a lot in this department. Again, they had great moments, Milk, Karen, and Rin probably got the best development out of the cast, but when we look at everything together we see that there were still things that lacked quite a bit.

Another thing that was weird was the timing for the villains, the pacing in which a new villain would come and an old one would go was very weird, there were villains we spent more time with than we should and there were villains that we didn't get enough time to leave an impression and you can say that the precure stuff is actually the less important part of Yes so this isn't that big of a deal, but it's still an element that is present so I think it's okay for me to complain about it. Also, I kinda dislike how they ended the villains, not the part of sealing Despariah and such, but they were going for a "let's talk our way out of this" approach and they were building up for a good moment but they brought Kawarino back for that moment and it kinda ruined it.

But the thing I hated the most, and that made it almost unbearable for me to watch in this second half, was the whole romance thing. Pick everything I said about it in the first post, multiply that for 10, and that's pretty much how I felt about it in this second half. On the first portion it was bad, but in the second half this gets horrible, they shove you the romance thing in the face in whatever opportunity they have and it's just hideous. They made an entire episode where the conflict was Nozomi being jealous of Coco. They had an episode about marriage and each girl fantasized about their wedding and in Nozomi's fantasy Coco was the freaking groom. Heck, they even made something romantic out of a ghost. This was gross, this is definitely the worst aspect of Yes, and because it was so present in this second half I've lost a lot of my interest for this season.

But not everything was worse, in comparison with the first half, the animation has gotten a lot better, there are still ugly drawings and clunky animation, but they improved a lot. Also, the action got better, the attack spam is still there, but they had more fights, they were more creative which made things more fun. Heck, they made Aqua joust with one of the villains in one episode and that was freaking cool. Also, I like that despite having a group attack they only use it to defeat the generals so it feels like something that is very powerful and special and I think this is something we've been missing in precure lately. So, as I said, not everything was worse.

I think that's all I have for general comments, let's jump down to the characters.

It was hard to follow Nozomi around, everything related to her character ended up being about Coco. She was there for her friends and everything, but still, every decision her character made was centered around Coco, even when she finally chose a dream to pursue, that dream was because of Coco, and it's sad that a character with so much potential was reduced to just a planet orbiting around this freaking mascot.

Rin was a bit complicated, I think they've picked the "precure of passion" thing a little too literal and almost all Rin focused episodes had a romantic thing involved. They never pair her with anyone, which is great, but is kinda sad her whole thing was just that, we didn't get to see her interact with her family, we didn't get to see her playing futsal, the bare development we got for her was while she was with Karen as they started to tighten their bond inside their friendly rivalry, which was awesome, don't get me wrong, but I wish she had gotten more. But I like that she decided to be an accessory/jewelry designer as her dream because it wasn't the most obvious path for her, or for a red cure for that matter.

Poor Urara got a bit faded, I can't remember much of what she has done in this latter half. She remains great and all, and she had a very sweet bonding episode with Komachi near the end, but other than that she didn't do much other than just tag along for most of these episodes. And that's pretty sad, in the first half she was my favorite character but after this part where her light was a bit dimmed I'm afraid she may have lost the position.

Komachi had a similar situation as Nozomi, a lot of what she has done had Nuts influence on it, but I think it worked better with her because her entire goal wasn't to get together with Nuts, it was more like he was always hanging around her rather than she pursuing her. It's still an awful relationship because it's an adult and a kid, and Nuts freaking sucks as a human, but it didn't offend me as much. Also, Komachi got to do more stuff that didn't necessarily have to be involved with Nuts, we got to see more of her friendship with Karen, she grown closer to Urara and now wants to write a play/script/story that she can act, and she got great interactions with Rin because the whole telling scary stories thing. So I think her deal was more balanced.

The best of this second half, at least to me, was Karen. She was freaking awesome, I like that they paired her with Milk, it seemed like a relationship that shouldn't work because I didn't see how they could bond, but it was great, and I like that was something that was escalating slowly and it reached its peak in the episode where Milk gets sick and Karen wants to take care of her. Karen and Rin were also great, as I mentioned. I wasn't really into their rivalry in the first half but they got to work it very well here in this portion of the series, it evolved from just a dumb thing to an "I have a strong personality, just like you, and I have this vision of world about something that I won't let go of it, but I respect you and I know how to hear you and comprehend you points", it's a simple but complex thing that worked very well and that I'm glad they went with this route for these two.

Milk was also a tricky character, she was unbearable whenever she interacted with Nozomi (though she had a few points some times), she was in the mix of fun and obnoxious whenever the thing was about Coco and Nuts, and she was absurdly cute when she and Karen tagged along, so her character was a bit of a roller-coaster. I think by now I like her because I understand she just wants to be useful to the people she likes and it's a feeling I can relate too, but I admit she has her problems and she can be a handful to deal with.

Coco and Nuts shouldn't exist, they don't have an arc, they don't have development, they don't have a purpose, they're there just to push this ridiculous romantic bullshit that we don't need. Heck, Masuko Mika did in a single episode more than these double-sided plushies did in 49 episodes and a movie, she grew, she developed, she was fun, we should've got more of her and less of them. Thinking about them makes me pissed, thinking about how they're basically two different persons in their fairies and human forms because they wanna hammer down the idea that they're attractive makes me want to jump in front of a truck. I freaking hate them. Sorry, not sorry.

I wanted to talk about the villains, but there's pretty much nothing to be said. Like, from Bunbees subordinates that remained, they were already doing extra hour at this point, Bunbee being relocated to a new section but with less power seemed like could be fun but they didn't do much with it, the new staff introduced could've been great, but they were around for such a short amount of time, I think Bloody had only 4? episode where he acted as the villain, that's less than Pissard and Karehan got and they were the level 1 bosses, it was pretty ridiculous. Kawarino was cool, I think he's very scary and very creepy, but they kinda ruined him when they gave him his monster form, that wasn't 50% as intimidating as "human" Kawarino was. And Despariah was a letdown, she seemed so powerful and menacing but then her wish was to be immortal because she wanted to be young forever? I know this could be their attempt to make an allegory to how beauty standards are very oppressive to women, but this was in 2007 and I don't know if they would do that so early on in the franchise.

I was going to wrap things up now, but I managed to watch the movie before the post went out even though I forgot to download it together with the episodes, so here are my thoughts in the movie.

The Mirror Kingdom's Miraculous Adventure!

This is going to be short, I promise. This movie was a mixed bag, I was entertained, but this could've been way better. The concept of the Dark Precure is great, and they look amazing, but I feel like they weren't used to their full potential, first because it takes quite sometime before the five of them attack, and also the fact they keep cutting the battles to show everyone else kinda weakens them because I couldn't really feel how menacing or how their psyche was. Shadow was pretty bland, and the movie fairies were also very whatever, but the plot was very decent if we ignore the miracle light portion. But the thing this movie does that I can't forgive them is that they give all cures a power-up but they don't fight in that form, they just perform their attack, and that was very anti-climatic, especially considering the action for this movie was quite good

Wrapping up, Yes! Pretty Cure 5 is a decent season, it tried to do something different and that's worthy of praise, sadly they took some dumb decisions about the things they wanted to work, It's fun and has good characters but the romance element ruins it a lot, It's probably my least favorite of the four seasons I've covered so far. Thankfully they have another season so they can pull a Max Heart and be incredible so I'm both hopeful and excited for starting GoGo in the next week. What are your thoughts about Yes! 5? Share them with me in the comments. Thank you so much for sticking with me and reading this insanely huge post, I really appreciate it. I'll see you all around. Bye-bye~