Delicious Party Precure

Episode 7

It's taken seven episodes and an unfortunate break, but at long last, the yellow Cure has made her appearance! As I've mentioned before, I do like that Delicious Party♡Precure has been taking its time in introducing the characters, and that holds true for Ran, Cure Yum-Yum's introduction. Ran is a Force Of Nature, and bringing her in too early could have jeopardized Kokone's character development, not just because Ran dominates any scene she's in, but because her exuberance could have easily freaked poor Kokone right out and kept her in the background out of discomfort. As it stands, Kokone's had time to get used to Yui and Mari, and that goes a long way towards making her ready to not be completely overwhelmed by Ran. It shows good attention to the character dynamics of the team, and it also keeps Ran out of the main group long enough to have her encounter with the highly-suspicious student body president, who is almost certainly Gentlu or Secretoru in human guise. (I knew those gold sparkles on her head were suspicious.)

Having a human form certainly explains how Bundoru has been operating, too. Not that there's any law preventing nonhumans from using social media, but having one of them embedded in Oishi Na Town certainly helps facilitate their activities. It means that Bundoru's got a better idea of how human society works, which is how she knew which restaurants to target, much in the same way that Ran's social media posts lead Yui, Mari, and Kokone right to the ramen restaurant as the most likely place for Bundoru to hit. It's a nice way to show the Pretty Cure franchise keeping up with the times, and it also makes a lot of sense, taking the idea of influencer culture and using it naturally in the storyline. It also makes the villains look a little smarter and more worthy as foes; since both Bundoru and the Cures converged on Ran's family restaurant at the same time, it means they're on the same wavelength, which makes for a more equal, and therefore fraught, battle.

Not that Mari, Yui, and Kokone are looking all that good on the ol' intelligence meter this week after they figure out Ran's restaurant is the likely target. They somehow miss Mem-Mem's interest in Ran as a sign that she might be a Pretty Cure as well as her ability to see Recipepi as another marker of her likely transformation. Sure they might have other things on their minds, what with the much more powerful six Recipepi-powered Ubau-zo looming, but it still seems strikingly odd that they're surprised when Ran transforms into Cure Yum-Yum. Fortunately her day-saving tactics make up for that – Yum-Yum's base food is ramen, and that gives her whip-style weapons meant to mimic the long noodles. (Also her “noodle hands” pose works better than I was anticipating. I was having visions of wriggling fingers or something; the “noodles being poured” imagery of her upraised arm is much more pleasant.) This gives her a ranged attack that the other girls are missing, and the full complement of their skills make for a very solid set of powers that work well together. Even though they've only just banded together as a trio their teamwork is impressive; my only real issue is that I wasn't entirely sure how Yum-Yum's final attack actually hurt Ubau-zo.

Ran can be a lot to take, what with her high energy and Yum-Yum's very busy outfit, but I think she's going to solidify the team in a very powerful way. Mem-Mem's little Grumpy Cat mouth makes him the cutest of the fairies (in my opinion, but I may have a tiny dragon bias), and with the group in its first form assembled, things can start to heat up on the plot front. Step one may be figuring out how to take down the student body president. I'm looking forward to seeing how they pull that off.

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Delicious Party♡Precure is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.