Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!

Episode 11

It's all led up to this: the Battle Lovers versus the Conquest Club in an epic smack down, complete with a nerve-wracking cliffhanger. Of course, it wouldn't be Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! if we took that at face value.

The episode starts off without giving much hint to the big events to come. Only the fact that we're running out of episodes might make you suspect otherwise. The Earth Defense Club debates what to do for the school fair, eventually settling on selling curry. Ryuu can't resist suggesting they teach guys how to date, and Io has to mention the prize money for the top club more than once. En can't be bothered to do anything. It wouldn't be an episode without reminding the viewers that these are mostly one-joke ponies. Little do they realize that their choice will give way to dire—and chuckle-inducing—consequences.

Meanwhile, Zundar the evil hedgehog and Hireashi the evil goldfish explain that their species has conquered many planets in the past without encountering much difficulty, until coming to Earth. Love, or "stupid power" as Hireashi calls it, has made all the difference. These two are just too adorable to hate.

After hinting at a deeper connection between Atsushi and Kinshiro all season, their checkered past is finally revealed. However, since their story isn't remotely complex—and that's the joke, of course—it makes sense that they couldn't have revealed much before this. The fact that Kinshiro is so offended by curry, that curry of all things is what leads the Conquest Club to discover the Battle Lovers' identities and vice versa, is pretty droll. The show plays the curry debacle straight for the most part, which makes the absurdity of the proceedings all the more humorous.

If there's one wrinkle in the episode, it's the long transformation sequences. The Battle Lovers each fully transform in this episode; Ryuu even transforms twice. While that's common in magical girl shows, it's not one of the better features of the genre, as it gets old quickly. It's not played for laughs here, nor do the transformations take place right before a battle to help build tension for the upcoming conflict. If anything, it's simply an animation shortcut. Still, since this might be the last time we see our heroes transform, it's not entirely inexcusable.

Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! has always managed to embrace certain staples of the magical girl genre while still poking fun at them. The ultra-serious take on curry is a shining example. The fact that the comedy plays so well among repetitive transformations and monsters-of-the-day is reflective of the genre as a whole. This series serves as proof that you can laugh at the ridiculousness of something you enjoy while still maintaining a healthy appreciation for that very thing.

Rating: B+

Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for two decades.