Terumi Hoshina, Hikaru’s mother, is in the spotlight in the eighteenth episode of Star ☆ Twinkle PreCure as she works to get a manga serialised. A tight deadline means that she’ll need a little help to get it done on time; fortunately Hikaru knows a few girls that are willing to lend a hand.
The character that Terumi is drawing sure seems familiar
I’ll start with saying that Terumi Hoshina is a mangaka, and the episode opens with her drawing. She appears to be drawing Lina Inverse from Slayers, or at least a character who looks very similar. Focusing on the main plot, now, though, and Terumi gets a phone call from a publishing company.
Terumi is eager to get started on her new manga, and Hikaru says she’ll help
Terumi has been chosen to draw a new manga for the next issue of Monthly Morning Glory, which is a popular manga magazine. Of course, Terumi dreams of getting serialised, and this is the first step towards that dream. Hikaru pledges her support as well.
Hikaru tells her friends about it, but she is concerned about the deadline. The others say that they’ll assist as well, so Hikaru invites them all over.
Terumi has a tough time coming up with anything
Hikaru and her friends arrive at the Hoshina household to find Terumi in a slump. She is struggling to come up with any ideas. Seeing Lala, however, she is hit with inspiration.
What Terumi draws after being inspired by Lala
Terumi comes up with a fantasy story in which an alien girl makes friends on Earth. Hikaru’s friends are quick to state just how perceptive Terumi is. However, her editor arrives and puts his foot down: apparently the audience for Monthly Morning Glory are not into sci-fi and fantasy.
What sells, apparently, is handsome men, romance and doctors.
Madoka and Elena model
Madoka suggests including all three things to create a hit. Madoka and Elena end up modelling, and Terumi starts creating a story about the forbidden love between a doctor and a nurse. It soon ends up with a sci-fi twist, which is where the editor once again puts his foot down.
Lala assists the models
The editor wants Terumi to create a romance manga, and strictly no sci-fi or fantasy. Terumi agrees, and swears that she will create a bestseller. Hikaru seems to notice that something is off, though.
The manga that Terumi wrote for Hikaru when she was younger
Hikaru has a manga that Terumi wrote for her when she was younger, which she keeps safe in her room. She was bullied for enjoying, but Terumi told her that it is absolutely fine to like different things.
Terumi has doubts about her future as a mangaka
Terumi’s manga gets published in Monthly Morning Glory, but she goes to the editors’ meeting and overhears them saying that she’s not good enough for the magazine. She returns home depressed, and decides to get some fresh air. Hikaru joins her, and says that she loves her manga. However, Terumi feels that isn’t good enough.
Terumi Notrigger
A character falling into depression is a cue for the bad guys to show up, and sure enough Tenjou arrives. She transforms Terumi into a Notrigger, which means it is time for PreCure to do their thing.
I feel like this episode is subtly pushing EleMado
PreCure do their thing, defeating the Notrigger and returning Terumi to normal. Hikaru is able to thank her Mum for the manga she created for her, and this is when Terumi decides that she will try to get a serial published once again. She intends to draw what she likes this time around.
Terumi’s manga here sure looks familiar
Terumi actually gets the approval of her editor the second time around – he apologises for before, saying that he was too focused on trying to create a hit. He really likes Terumi’s work this time around, though, so things may just work out.
Hikaru hugs her Mum
Before the end of the episode, there is just one final thing.
Blue Cat
Blue Cat has obtained a Princess Star Colour Pen of her own. Let’s just say I am very much looking forward to episode 20.
This was a sweet episode, giving us some heart-warming mother-daughter bonding. Actually, now I think about it, Terumi may be one of the most memorable parent characters in PreCure – none of the other Cures have a parent who is a mangaka. Well, that’s assuming I remember correctly.
I also get the distinct feeling that Terumi is a fan of The Slayers, or perhaps anime/manga/light novels of that general era. It also amused me a great deal with how accurate she was when she came up with the story inspired by Lala.
EleMado is getting a push in this episode, too. Maybe its a little subtle, but you have the two modelling together, the characters in Terumi’s romance manga are based on them, and Selene and Soleil had a co-op attack when fighting the Notreys.
I also like the idea that Lala ships Elena and Madoka, which is why she was pushing Madoka into an embrace with Elena when they were modelling.
So yeah, overall a pretty fun episode. Next time… well, things should be getting quite exciting over the next couple of episodes.
Rory Muses 