In the fifth episode of Aikatsu Friends! Shining Jewel, Honey Cat and Reflect Moon decide to quite literally mix things up and shuffle around their Friends. Considering the nature of the relationships between the pairs of girls who make up Friends units, I can only really think of this as a wife swap episode…
Honey Cat and Reflect Moon on the search for a jewel
Being inspired by a performance from Mio, Honey Cat are eager to get their hands on jewels of their own. Ema decides to try ‘Aikatsu dowsing’, and just as Maika muses that they are the only Friend insane enough to try something like that, Reflect Moon show up right on cue. Their search leads them to a roadside shrine, which contains a single rock.
Honey Moon
The rock strikes all four girls on the head, and they are hit with some inspiration. They decide to shuffle friends, so we get the formation of Honey Moon and Reflect Cat.
Reflect Cat
Maika and Sakuya form Honey Moon, whilst Ema and Kaguya make up Reflect Cat. This whole Shuffle Friends event actually turns into quite a success, and there’s murmurings that it may end up becoming a permanent thing.
Cat Moon
Another visit to the shrine results in Ema, Maika, Sakuya and Kaguya deciding to shuffle Friends once again. This time we get the older sister duo Ema and Sakuya, who make up Cat Moon.
Reflect Honey
Of course, that means that Kaguya and Maika team up to form Reflect Honey. Tamaki is not best pleased about having to rearrange the girls’ schedules every time they shuffle Friends.
These new duos prove to be successful as well, but ultimately the girls end up pining for their original Friends. Once more, the four visit the shrine to thank it for giving them inspiration to broaden their horizons.
Reflect Moon and Honey Cat – back to normal
However, the shrine has one last trick. A wave of dark energy washes over the four girls, and they almost disband their Friends and just walk away. However, a voice from the distance is able to get them to return to their sense just in time.
Reflect Moon and Honey Cat overcome shrine rock’s darkness
Both Honey Cat and Reflect Moon think back to all the time that they have spent together with their respective partners, which snaps them out of it. I’m going to chalk this one up as a win for the power of yuri.
Mirai was the one who saved Honey Cat and Reflect Moon
As it turns out, the voice that called out to Honey Cat and Reflect Moon was Mirai. She tells Wakaba that a prank-loving fairy was sealed in the rock in the shrine by one of her ancestors. Mirai takes pity on the fairy, as it must have been alone for a long time. When she says that she’ll stick with the fairy from now on, the rock begins to glow.
We cap off this episode with a performance from Honey Cat, with Reflect Moon in the audience.
This episode was great. Mio’s performance at the beginning did feel a little like a way to fill for time, but once the plot was set in motion I enjoyed it a whole lot.
Never expected Aikatsu Friends! to give us what is essentially a wife swap episode, but here we are. Turns out it makes for a very enjoyable experience, and I am more than happy to see that both Honey Cat and Reflect Moon are getting some time in the spotlight.
On that subject, both Honey Cat and Reflect Moon are radiating pure yuri energy in this episode. Seeing them shuffle their Friend was fun, but I definitely agree when they say that their original Friends are the best.
I’ve had high hopes for Aikatsu Friends! Shining Jewel, and I feel pretty confident in saying that it has delivered on those so far. Hibiki has been a fantastic addition to the cast, but Pure Palette, Honey Cat and Reflect Moon have all been pulling their weight as well.
I strongly suspect that we’ll get something special when Love Me Tear are inevitably reunited, and there’s also the small matter of Hibiki trying to reconnect with Alicia. There’s plenty to be looking forward to in this season of Aikatsu Friends!. Particularly the next episode, which will focus on Hibiki.
She has been pretty prominent so far, but I’m certainly not complaining about seeing more from her.
Rory Muses 