After taking a break last week, Tropical-Rouge! PreCure returns. The Tropical Club has arrived on Minamino Island, and rumours of a mermaid’s treasure intrigues them.
Tropical Exercise, part one
Having arrived on Minamino Island, the Tropical Club soon hear a story of a mermaid’s treasure located in a cave on the island. They decide to try and track it down, but they are not the only ones. Laura stumbles upon something interesting when she gets separated from the others during the search, and that proves key in defeating a powered-up foe.
The Tropical Club during their island adventure
The Tropical Club are on an adventure in this episode, which makes for a nice change of pace from the usual. I also like how Minori is super into it. Sure, the others are going along with it as well, but they even remark how happy Minori is. The first part of this island adventure has no connection to the mermaid’s treasure, though. No, instead, it is an adventure to the secret beach that Manatsu has mentioned before.
The Tropical Club enjoy the beach
Every so often PreCure has a beach episode, and it only makes sense for the one with “Tropical” in its title to keep to not be an exception. I do feel they missed an opportunity to put Laura in a swimsuit, but it does make sense considering she is able to switch between mermaid and human forms at will. Fan artists have already taken that matter into their own hands, at least.
Granny Tomi
Getting onto the main plot of this episode, the Tropical Club visits an elder named Tomi who passes down stories of Minamino Island from one generation to the next.
As an aside here, I’d like to imagine that Manatsu and Laura will grow old together and continue the Minamino tradition of passing down stories. They’ll no doubt have some incredible tales to tell.
The story of a forest mermaid leads to the Tropical Club to the North Beach Cave.
Manatsu clings to Laura
It’s nice to see Minori get some fun interactions in this episode, especially when she scares Manatsu. I also like how Manatsu immediately clings to Laura. Laura does react to it, but she doesn’t seem to complain, though.
A Zettai Yarane-da
This episode introduces a new type of Yarane-da: the Zettai Yarane-da. Of course it’s a step up from the Zenzen Yarane-da. The introduction of a stronger type of the monster of the week usually only means one thing: time for Pretty Cure to power up.
Laura discovers the mermaid’s treasure
Sure enough, Laura sniffs out the very treasure they’ve been searching for, and pretty quickly reunites with the rest of the Tropical Club. The Zettai Yarane-da doesn’t actually seem all that different from the Zenzen Yarane-da, at least until it no sells Mix Tropical.
Cure La Mer has a new attack
That’s where the mermaid’s treasure comes in, of course. Cure La Mer unleashes a new attack: Pretty Cure Ocean Bubble Shower.
I honestly thought that mermaid’s treasure would’ve given them a new group finisher, because currently La Mer is not required for the aforementioned Mix Tropical. But nope, it’s a new attack solely for La Mer.
I wonder if “Bubble Form” implies that it will have other forms, or it that’s just some random words that they felt like throwing together. Perhaps the other Cures will receive similar new attacks. That’s only speculation on my part, though.
The “Forest Mermaid”
As this episode wraps up, we hear some interesting information regarding the treasure that was in the cave. It seems that the Tropical Club and Numeri may not have been searching for the same item after all…
Great episode overall. Always nice to see a more adventurous side to PreCure, and Minamino Island is a good setting for that.
The Minamino Island arc continues next time, with a festival.
Rory Muses 