Hugtto! PreCure Episode 33: Hiding a Soft Heart in Armour

Let’s start with the most important thing first: today (23/09/2018) is Ruru Amour’s birthday, so happy birthday Ruru!
As for the thirty-third episode of Hugtto! PreCure, it happens to be an EmiRuru episode – pretty good timing if you ask me. Oh, and Henri is there as well.The episode starts with Twin Love – that being the name of Emiru and Ruru’;s band – being talked about on TV – and when their sound is criticised, Emiru doesn’t take it too well. There’s no time to worry about that, though, as Pupple has got them a job interviewing none other than Henri Wakamiya.

Emiru and Ruru ready for their next assignment

However, Emiru isn’t really feeling it so Hana and Saaya take over for the time being.

Hana, an intellectual

Hana interviews Henri

With Emiru and Ruru watching on, Hana has the chance to interview Henri. She asks him what his plans for the future are. First, the Figure Skating Junior World Cup. After that, he wants to keep winning because that is what makes him feel complete.

Emiru vows to grow stronger

Upon hearing Henri’s answer, Emiru says that she wants Twin Love’s music to reach even more people. She swears that she will grow stronger.

The director tries to make a big deal out of a small thing

Moving on, Henri and Ruru talk to each other about people pursue strength and how they can’t seem to understand each other. When Ruru’s hair gets caught in her choker (something that has never happened before and will probably never happen again…) Henri helps her out. The director decides to try and capture that moment on film to create a scoop. However, he is soon stopped.

Masato and Emiru confront the director

Masato and Emiru arrive, and firmly tell the director that Emiru and Ruru are just friends. There is no need to create drama where there is none. When the director turns the situation around on Masato, Henri steps in to bring the situation to a halt. After that, he goes off to have some time alone.

Risutor asks Henri to join Criasu Corporation

When Henri is outside alone, Risutor appears and asks him to join Criasu Corporation. Deep down, Henri wants time to stop, which is why Risutor approached him. Risutor hands over a business card and tells Henri to think about it.
Emiru witnessed the whole thing, and naturally tells Henri to completely ignore what Criasu Corporation are saying.

Emiru has someone she wants to be with; someone she wants to sing for

Emiru thanks Henri for accepting her brother, continuing on about the weight of expectations. However, she has someone she wants to be with. Henri also taught Emiru that she should love herself. Emiru’s chat with Henri ended up resolving her own problems rather than his.

When Ruru tells Emiru she loves her, she feels invincible

Ruru and Masato arrive, and Ruru rushes straight towards Emiru and embraces her. She can see that Emiru has cheered up, and that is because Emiru had remembered something she had forgotten. When Ruru says that she loves Emiru, Emiru feels invincible.

Masato offers Henri his encouragement

Moving on, Henri has a performance. Before he goes out, Masato grabs his hand and tells him that he can do it. With those words of encouragement, Henri steps out and performs his ice skating routine.
During his performance, his leg starts to hurt and the director attempts to sabotage the show to create drama.

Twin Love provide the music for Henri’s routine

The music gets cut off, but fortunately Emiru and Ruru have their guitars to hand. They play a song, whilst Henri continues his routine.

The audience’s reaction after Henri blows a kiss – there also seems to be a lot of lilies present

Thanks to Twin Love, Henri is able to complete his routine. The very moment he finishes, Criasu Corporation attacks.

The Oshimaidaa grabs Henri and makes a run for it

The monster of the week grabs Henri, and retreats. Naturally, Hana and the others transform and give pursuit as PreCure. Risutor attempts to persuade Henri to join Criasu Corporation one more time, but he refuses.
PreCure finish of the monster and rescue Henri. They go back and the interview with him concludes with him almost revealing PreCure’s true identities.

Ruru and Emiru promise to be together forever

After all that, everyone goes back home. On the way, Emiru says that she now knows she needs to believe in and love her future. She and Ruru swear to be together, forever.
I would love to say the episode ends on that happy note, but there is one final thing.

Criasu’s offer is still on Henri’s mind

It seems that Henri’s leg is still giving him trouble, and earlier he mentioned how he was growing taller and his voice getting deeper. Criasu’s offer seems to be something that has stuck with him – though it seems that Masato is stopping Henri from going down that road for now.

Well, obviously I am going to write about EmiRuru here, but before I get to that lets give some kudos to Henri and Masato. Their respective first appearances may have not been very positive, but they’ve definitely grown beyond that by now.
There was definitely something between Henri and Masato before, and this episode just presents further evidence for that.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but maybe Henri has gender dysphoria – his regret about his voice deepening and his tendency to wear dresses could be considered evidence of that. Or perhaps it is just as simple as Henri liking to wear dresses – I am no expert when it comes to this thing. Just thought I’d put a theory out there.

Criasu Corporation’s attempted recruitment of Henri also gives us a very interesting thing. I don’t exactly know what has happened with Henri’s leg, but it seems like it may be a catalyst for Henri turning to the dark side.
Masato seems to be keeping him grounded for now, but we’ll see how long that lasts for.
If Bishin and Masato are both successful in what they want to do, we could potentially see PreCure going up against both Harry and Henri. That would certainly be an interesting twist, though I feel that may be more likely for one than the other.

But, enough about all that. The real stars of this episode were EmiRuru, and once again they had excellent scenes together. Ruru rushing to Emiru to hug her was just so good, and their promise to be together forever… ah, Hugtto! PreCure is making a very strong case to become my favourite season of the franchise. I mean, Cure Amour has already supplanted Cure Moonlight as my favourite Cure.
Every time we get an EmiRuru episode, I just have to state how good it is – and sure enough, this one is no exception.

Next time, Hana has to deal with a suspicious sister.