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vocomoth · 3 days ago

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Setsuna Higashi: How to Make a Good PreCure Redemption Character.

As a fan of PreCure for 5 years, it goes without saying that I have consumed more of this franchise than I have any other piece of media. However, I had to break from it for a few years, for reasons - one of them being, I have a life! What, do you think I spend all my time locked up in my room staring at a screen of cute girls? (Don't answer that.)

Anyways, I've been plowing through the numerous seasons, and I decided to start with a very particular one, one that I had abandoned after 2 episodes in 2020 and just never returned to it. Fresh! And now, after thoroughly watching it within 2 weeks I am very much beating myself up for putting it off for as long as I did, because my goodness this season is fantastic! One day I'll make a thorough review on the season, but for now, I'd like to focus on one character in particular - Cure Passion.

I'm going to be totally honest: we will never get a character like her ever again. Yes, I'm deadly serious. No matter how many times PreCure pulls the redemption character trope, nobody will have the same sheer emotional impact Eas/Setsuna's story had. There are so many levels and layers to her character that makes her equal parts complex and tragic. The way her arc was handled was done with such care, it was not at all rushed and done very gradually that when you do watch her take the turn to the good side, the payoff is very satisfying. If you do not cry at least once during her arc, you have no soul. With that, let us enter a ridiculously long analysis on Eas/Setsuna's growth throughout the season, and everything the writers did right.

When Eas is first introduced, she's played DEADLY straight. She's seemingly emotionless, a servant to the big bad, and only exists to please him. As she will repeat many times, she's willing to do anything for Moebius, the main antagonist of Fresh. If you were to judge her solely based on this introduction, Eas looks like literally any other PreCure villain. What makes her much more compelling is when she starts developing a bond with Love and the others.

Before I continue, I must briefly explain the definition of a redemption character, especially in the context of PreCure. The general idea of a redemption character is a character that starts out against the protagonists, due to committing heinous actions, but over the course of the piece of fiction learns to better themselves as people.

When it comes to PreCure, redemption characters (at least ones that become Cures) begin as villains, before reforming and becoming a PreCure themselves. PreCure occasionally pulls this trope, as follows:

2009 - Fresh PreCure, Cure Passion

2011 - Suite PreCure, Cure Beat

2015 - Go! Princess PreCure, Cure Scarlet

2018 - Hugtto PreCure, Cure Amour

2022 - Delicious Party PreCure, Cure Finale

They can be split into two categories: ones that grew up villains and the ones that were originally good, but were brainwashed into being evil. Eas/Setsuna falls into the former category, and the rest are a topic reserved for a future post.

The fact that Eas grew up in such an oppressive environment is so important to her character, as Eas' nature mainly stems from how she was raised. Labyrinth is a totally dystopian society, and the idea is having total control over people eliminates the existence of sadness and despair. However, this also means nobody can experience happiness. But it's all for the better, since happiness overcomplicates things, right? Fine, then let's give everyone the same happiness. Serve Moebius. Simple. How could you complain? You have one life goal, all you have to do is follow it. Why trouble yourself with such trivial things like friends, happiness, joy, fun?

This extreme world view and how (mostly) Love and the others shatter it is what makes Eas' arc so compelling. When you use this as your foundation and none of that brainwashing crap, the villain is able to observe the actions of the protagonists, and choose for themselves to join them. Rather than having the "villain" be snapped out of it by the main characters and be like "oh. Okay. That happened, I guess we're friends now!"

After Eas spends a lot of time with Love, Miki and Buki, she gradually begins warming up to them. Granted, these signs are quite subtle, and you’d have to do some digging for them, but they are there. For example, the clover pendant. If you really think about it, Eas held onto the pendant longer than she should, let’s be completely honest with ourselves. insinuating that something has started to blossom, and that she’s secretly holding onto that.

Also the episode where Setsuna visits the girls in the hospital after learning they’ve collapsed. Maybe I’m just stretching, so call it what you will, but just hear me out for a moment. Episode 15 is where Eas tries to take Love’s Linkrun, but fails. Stealing it was her entire motivation behind hanging out with them, so this bit would logically, make her simply piss off and stop trying to be their friend. But obviously she doesn’t, and that’s what’s important, it’s that she finds herself gravitating back to Love, Miki and Buki on her own accord, not because of any inner motives of hers.

So let's go back to Moebius, and exactly how far she's willing to go to serve him. We all know how he gives her a new object that will allow her to defeat the PreCure, but that doesn't come without a price. Her own life. It sounds insane, right? But knowing Eas, she goes through with it, explicitly stating that she's willing to serve him, even if it costs her life. THAT is not a normal thing to say, if you couldn't tell! Because remember, she only has one purpose, to serve Moebius. If she can't serve him well, what's the point of living? Might as well not continue living at all.

Except Eas WANTS to continue living. This is the pivotal point of Setsuna's arc, that I feel a lot of people miss. Let's imagine a hypothetical scenario where Eas never met Love and the others, and was delivered the letter from Klein. In this case, she would likely have been indifferent, or would just accept her fate. But in the show, her face clearly suggests otherwise. She WANTS to live, she WANTS to see Love and the others again, which is why she even tried to settle things with one last fight. Just one last fight, to let out all their animosity.

Then comes the part in episode 23, when Eas finally makes her debut as Cure Passion. This is a fork in the road, the writers could've very easily butchered her character and just make her totally static after this episode. But they didn't, and that's so important.

Setsuna never stops growing or questioning her purpose, right until the finale. Starting with episode 24, she's met with a huge moral conflict. On one hand, she betrayed her home and can't return to Labyrinth anymore. On the other, she's so stained by her previous actions as Eas, that there's no way she's worthy of becoming a PreCure. Setsuna has no where to go. In spite of that, Love was still able to see the good in her heart. She knows deep down that Setsuna has a kind heart. And that gives her the courage to officially join them as Cure Passion.

This is also a fantastic life lesson for people to learn. Sometimes, people aren't inherently bad because they do bad things. Deep down, they're good people led along the wrong path.

Even though she's officially part of the team, she will never stop doubting herself. Her past lingers around her like a bad stench. We watch her time and time again, wonder if she made the right choice, or whether she's even deserving of the other girls' respect.

In episode 25, we see Setsuna encounter a young boy and his dog that was once turned into a monster by her. After she realizes the value of happiness, it truly sets in the volume of her actions, and the happiness she had been stealing away.

She will continue to flip flop through the rest of the season, coming as a consequence of her upbringing. Think about it, this is YEARS of trauma and conditioning that she has to try and undo, where would you even start?

We will see Westar and Soular continue to refer to her as "Eas", always reminding her of her past life. We will see her loyalty to the team be challenged. We will see her be gaslit into thinking that one day, she will betray her friends. We will see her scared to return to her former home, fearing she will turn into her former self again. It's heartbreaking to watch, but also necessary as a consequence of her redemption arc.

What I really love about Setsuna is how she makes a parallel to Eas in episode 42. In this episode, she decides to return to the Labyrinth Manor on her own, with the intention of destroying the Fuko Gauge, FULLY aware that doing so might kill her in the process.

Sound familiar? It's exactly what she said when Moebius granted her new powers. But this time, it's for her friends. I love this, because it shows her how much she's grown, and how attached she's grown to the group. This parallel is such a nice detail, and honestly broke my heart when I saw her trying to be so kind to everyone the day before, because she's fully aware that she may not return in one piece.

Everything is brought to a full close in the end. Setsuna's finally able to find peace with her past, and even decides to make the decision to return to Labyrinth with the now reformed Westar and Soular. It's a bittersweet moment, but it's a really good conclusion to all of the hardships she's been through. And now, she's able to share that happiness that Love was able to teach her to the people of Labyrinth that desperately need it.

In conclusion, Cure Passion is such an incredibly tragic, yet fantastic character. The way her arc is handled is just totally unmatched, one that is done with such a careful hand. Whether it be due to the "brainwashing" type trope being used, or really rushed pacing, future (and current) redemption character simply will not live up to the amount of impact Setsuna's character has. If you haven't watched Fresh, and there's one character you would watch it for, let it be her.

Wow that was longer than I expected! Stay tuned for a Suite review soon, though I may sprinkle some shitposts here and there :).

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