This episode rocked because of so many reasons. I mean, the creators picked the perfect episode to start off the series with. Transfer students are obviously a staple for anime, but this episode reminded me of actually how few series actually try to explore the past of the transfer student, before he or she came to live at her new home. The best we usually get is a brief mention, if anything gets shown at all.
A full episode dedicated to the memories that Tsubomi and her grandmother left behind though. That really was a pleasant surprise for me. Especially grandmother’s younger version was awesome. To think that she also had a background in karate, but what was really adorable was how she grew to love her husband. I also love how Tsubomi immediately recognized her grandfather as the guy who has been saving her over and over. Take that, Sailor Moon!
A major part of this episode was also about another childhood friend. Another cliche that was handled surprisingly well here. I mean, it hasn’t been too long ago, and the guy obviously still likes him (mostly thanks to that music box, I presume), but for Tsubomi he really is someone she left behind, and she’ll probably occasionally see him again. At the end of the episode where he tried to confess, it’s not like he got cock-blocked like you’d expect in your average romantic comedy. Instead, he chose not to confess his feelings.
As for Sasolina, it seems she’s fine at this point, though I can’t help but feel that that point at which she undid her hair was some kind of symbolism. Anime loves to play with hair in terms of symbolism to character-development.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
I really thought learning more about Tsubomi`s grandmother and grandfather was wonderful.
I hope we`ll get to see Cure Flower in a flashback someday.
Last episode Sasorina acted a litte strange after getting almost flowerised(?).
I want to see more of Cure Flower’s past (even how she got to be a Precure).
I take it you didn’t like Sailor Moon, psgels?
@Firechick
If I remember correctly, Psgels once said that he’d watched Sailor Moon in Dutch dub only, so, knowing how much the dub versions butchered the original (OK, maybe the German dub was decent), it’s no surprise he didn’t like it.
As much as I like and enjoy Heartcatch Precure, I’d still chose Sailor Moon over it anytime (even now I’m rewatching it for the n-th time), and not only because of the nostalgia or other sentimental reasons 😉
@Psgels
Maybe it’s worth giving Sailor Moon a second chance, especially now when Sailor Moon Center is releasing the original version ripped from the original Japanese dvds, which means: no dub, no changes, no censorship, original soundtrack etc.
Its awesome indeed!I was quite worried when the page for this episode on Doremi’s page said the 2nd half is not as good as the first half,but I didn’t really see much wrong with the 2nd half.Only thing I was disappointed with is that Sasorina didn’t really change much after almost being “flowerised”.The preview where they showed Sasorina letting her hair down was such a tease 😛
So next week is Erika’s episode(and it look so fun too!),so maybe after that we’ll have Itsuki’s(if the previous episode doesn’t count as Itsuki’s episode) and then hopefully back to Yuri 😀
Sasorina!!! ´q` I think the last few episode definetely symbolized some kind of foreshading, but how this will turn out in the end… who knows.