KiraKira ☆ PreCure a la Mode‘s 27th episode focuses on Aoi and her band. Naturally, that meant I was looking forward to it quite a bit, so let’s see if it is able to live up to my expectations.
We begin with Aoi and her band, Wild Azur, rocking out
Aoi and her band discover that they will be performing at Blue Rock Fest, and as such will be sharing the stage with Aoi’s idol, Misaki. As you might expect, Aoi is ecstatic.
Aoi fangirls over Misaki at the festival
On the day of the festival, Aoi learns that Wild Azur were recommended for the festival by none other than Misaki herself after what she saw at the last contest. For those who have forgotten, that took place in episode 3.
Misaki seems downright disappointed when Aoi says that her dream is to perform on the same stage as Misaki.
Himari and the other girls look at the schedule
There are two stages at the Blue Rock Festival, and it turns out that Wild Azur will be performing at the same time as Misaki’s band, Ganache. Aoi tries to keep positive about the situation.
When the time comes for her to perform, she steps out on stage and is greeted by this sight:
Only the regulars attend the show
Aoi presses on and performs regardless. As she does, negative feelings start bubbling up inside her, and that only gets worse when she hears the roar of the crowd from the Ganache concert.
Aoi puts on a cheerful front
Later on, Aoi overhears the other girls worrying about her. Ichika suggests that they make some sweets to cheer her up, and Aoi decides to join them. However, when Aoi’s gummies don’t come out as well as she hoped, her feelings come spilling out. She runs off, only to end up encountering Elisio.
Elisio draws out Aoi’s negative feelings
Taking advantage of the envy that Aoi feels, Elisio is able to brainwash Aoi and convince her to destroy the very thing that is bringing her pain.
Cure Gelato attacks the festival
Of course, the other Cures show up to try and put a stop to Gelato, but Elisio gives them a monster of the week to deal with.
Monster of the week
Of course, because this is PreCure, Cure Whip shouts at Gelato about how the stage means so much to her, and she soon snaps back to her senses. Gelato returns to normal after being reminded of her love of music, probably so some time can be filled out with Aoi’s full transformation sequence.
A Wild Azur song plays during Gelato’s transformation sequence
After Aoi transforms into Cure Gelato, the girls make quick work of the monster of the week in their usual style. Elisio retreats, as villains tend to do.
Aoi is determined to not to lose to Misaki next time
After Ganache’s second performance, Aoi offers Misaki a gummy whale. Misaki accepts, and Aoi tells her that she won’t lose next time. Misaki seems a lot happier with Aoi after hearing that, and the episode ends with the pair shaking hands.
I enjoyed this episode a lot. Aoi is still a pretty great character, even though I’m not a fan of those gloves she wears as Cure Gelato. The focus on music with these Aoi-centric episodes is something I like a lot. For me, music is quite an important part of my enjoyment of anime – which is why Symphogear is my favourite series.
KiraKira ☆ PreCure a la Mode has delivered some pretty great songs from both Wild Azur and Ganache, and Aoi’s love of music is a trait of hers that I am a fan of.
Seeing an enemy turn good and become a Cure is fairly common throughout the franchise, but this episode showed that there is potential for a Cure turning evil. I would like to see an arc like that, but I suppose I shouldn’t hold my breath for it.
Though saying that, one of the PreCure films has shown Cures turning on each other so it isn’t like there’s no precedent for it.
Next time, we’re getting an episode focused on Himari. KiraKira ☆ PreCure a la Mode has been pretty good with these character-focused episodes, so I have faith that will continue to be the case.
Rory Muses 
KiraKira constantly delivers with its character driven episodes. Looking forward to Himari’s next time.
“consistently”