A new enemy appears in the eighteenth episode of KiraKira ☆ PreCure a la Mode. That might be for the best, because KiraPati’s business becomes really slow.
Bibury, along with her stuffed animal Iru
Bibury mocks Julio for his failures against the Cures, and also mentions the name of their master: Noir. She decides to go out and handle PreCure herself.
Business at KiraPati grinds to a halt
For a few days, KiraPati does no business at all. No matter whether there is rain or shine, nobody is showing up. Akira soon learns why thanks to her fanclub, after which she informs the others.
Not sure why Akira chooses to talk to the others like this, but I found it funny
Turns out that rumours have been spreading about KiraPati. In particular, if you eat KiraPati’s sweets than your lover will leave you, you’ll argue with your friends and your jokes will bomb.
I know its only to give a visual representation to the rumour, but using these two to show the lover scenario sure feels like a deliberate thing
Of course, those are all nothing but silly rumours. Ichika feels that they should just continue on making sweets as they have been, because she knows that their feelings will reach people through them and overcome the rumours.
Seems Bibury possesses some kind of power of suggestion
Bibury has been the one spreading the rumours about KiraPati, and she continues to do so.
With still nobody showing up at KiraPati, Ichika decides to shut herself in the kitchen.
It doesn’t end well
At home, Ichika catches a TV programme about a prodigious patissière from Paris, Ciel Kirahoshi. She is the same age as Ichika – thirteen years old – and is hugely successful. Ichika ends up in a slump after comparing herself to Ciel.
However, she soon snaps out of it when she sees the other girls working hard to get people to come back to KiraPati. She even has a flash of inspiration.
Giraffe mille crepes
People continue to avoid KiraPati, despite the girls’ best efforts. However, one boy decides to take a chance with them, and he finds the giraffe mille crepe to be delicious. People passing by start to realise that KiraPati may not actually be all that bad.
Yukari catches the source of the rumours
Bibury says that she hates fun and proceeds to steal KiraPati’s kira-kiraru. The kira-kiraru she steals is used to turn Iru into a monster.
So I guess ‘Iru of the Week’ will be a thing now
Transformation time
Bibury orders Iru to take the kira-kiraru back to Noir, though it does attack the Cures when they try to interfere.
Whip, Custard and Gelato focus their efforts on Iru, whilst Macaron and Chocolat go after Bibury. Chocolat tries asking what Bibury and Noir want to achieve by stealing kira-kiraru, but Bibury is not very forthcoming with that information.
Iru almost escapes, but Ichika puts a stop to that. From there, the battle is resolved in the usual way.
Bibury retreats, claiming that nobody will stop her love for Noir.
The episode ends with the arrival of Ciel
This episode was all right, I guess. We got an introduction to our villain for the next part of the story, as well as mention of the higher power that both Bibury and Julio serve.
Aside from Bibury’s introduction, there wasn’t really anything special about this episode – just a case of a character overcoming a slump. With Bibury established as the new threat, hopefully things will pick up over the course of the next few episodes.
It would be nice to know what Noir hopes to achieve by stealing kira-kiraru. As far as threats go in PreCure, stealing the essence of sweets isn’t exactly a major concern. OK, stealing it directly from a person leaves a bit more of an impact, I guess. But what is the plan for the stolen kira-kiraru?
I particularly enjoyed the way Yukari caught Bibury in this episode with the help of her fanclub – or rather, network of spies in this case. She wasn’t exactly gentle with her either.
This episode moved things along a bit, but it’s not one of my favourites. Next time, KiraPati finds itself with a new rival.
Rory Muses 