Doki Doki Precure Ep 8: Sheep Counting plus a short review of the Smile Precure Movie

 

Mana, Rika and Alice arranged to meet Makoto and they all went to Joe's shop hoping to get some clues about the Queen and the Lovies.

New Toy?

 

Priceless!

When they arrived, no one was around in the shop but they found a large egg under a sheet. The egg hatched and out came a cute little baby. Everyone was adorned by it (Except Rika who claimed it is illogical)

Dabi informed Makoto it is time for their next schedule and left. Makoto later tell Dabi she admired Mana's friendship with Rika and Alice and wondered if she will be accepted in. The baby started crying and it was holding a Lovies in it's hand. Mana inserted the Lovies and out came a milk bottle.

Joe arrived and Rika tried to ask where the baby come from. However he replied in riddles and Alice suggested the baby to be named Ai-Chan. Meanwhile, Mammo was panicking when she discovered a pimple on her face. She then left to the human world to let off some steam. (After drawing graffiti on Irk's face)

I wonder who will overwhelm? Her or Doreamon's Giant?

Makoto returned to join them and ask Joe if he know anything about the Queen. However Joe again put a poker face and left for an errand. The girls brought Ai-Chan to the park but Ai-Chan started crying which Mana wondered if she need a lullaby to fall asleep. (Mana tried to sing but it was totally off-key)

A salary man was complaining of not getting enough sleep and Mammo used it to create a Jikochu. The girls transformed to confront the Jikochu. But the Jikochu started to create a sleeping spell (Counting Sheep over the fence) which the girls start to fall asleep.

Ai-Chan suddenly cried which broke the spell temporarily. The girls are still weaken when suddenly Cure Sword shocked Cure Heart so hard that they both woke up. Cure Diamond and Cure Rosetta also wake up by pinching each other's chins.

They fought back and when the Jikochu tried to use the spell again, Cure Diamond make up a large number that confuse the Jikochu. Cure Sword and Cure Heart then used their attacks to defeat the Jikochu.

Mammo retreated in a happy mode (After her pimple was gone) and the girls found Ai-Chan. Makoto sing a lullaby for Ai-Chan and it worked. She also finally called Mana by her first name and everything went back to normal...

I was partially right that Ai-Chan is like Chiffon with all it's cuteness and incredible power. Everyone adored Ai-Chan when she first hatched and I love Rika's reaction which is pretty normal for someone who don't believe in fantasty like the other three. Makoto's face was priceless when Ai-Chan gave the puppy look at her.

Joe is so far the biggest Troll since he keep coming up excuses to avoid their questions. But since this is a year worth of episodes, I am guessing it will take probably the second half of the series before we really know who Joe's connection to the Trump Kingdom. Ai-Chan is voiced by Imai Yuka which also did the voice of the Queen in the previous episode. So it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together...

I am really liking Mammo as a villian compared to the female generals of previous seasons. Probably because she is sexy and mischievous at the same time and Tanaka Atsuko is perfect in voicing her. (I wonder if any doujin artist is parodying her)

Lance: I am not a TOY!

So next week, Ai-Chan sneak to Mana and Rika's school and chaos ensures. See you then!

P.S: The more I see clips of NS2 movie, I am worried that the focus will be on those two movie mascots and Doki Doki Precure leaving the rest of the seasons with limited screen time. Let's hope I am wrong when the DVD come out later this year.

I watched Smile Precure the movie and it is pretty good compare to Suite Precure Movie. The story centred on a young Miyuki when she found a story book about a girl named Nico. However the story was incomplete and Miyuki tried to continue it. But she forgot about it over the years and in the present day, Miyuki and the rest of the Smile Precures encountered Nico in real life and were taken to the Picture Book world. However something sinister is waiting for them...

The story is what I have expected. Colourful characters from fairy tales and the five main girls meeting these characters with hilarious results. Nico is great as voiced by the excellent Hayashibara Megumi and you feel sorry to what happened to her all these years. There wasn't any real generals in this movie but rather facing evil versions of fairy tales characters. I love it when the villians from their respective stories are actually helping the girls and even make a fourth wall joke that if the main characters don't return to their stories, the villains are unable appear at all.

The battle scenes was good especially with all the bright colors they used. Of course like every Precure movie, the use of the miracle light is the plot device that saved the day and Cure Happy become Ultra Cure Happy and actually did some fighting unlike Crescendo Cure Melody. The final battle with the main villain is actually better than the actual TV finale and this is done on a budget of a 72 minutes.

Overall, the ending is nice and a smoothing song at the end credits showing the aftermath of the characters. If there is one grip about the movie is that it should stand on it own rather to be canon to the TV series like every Precure movie that come up. Why? Clue: Did the Royal Clock move to a number when they used it twice in the movie? They even mentioned the Bad End Trio at the beginning of the movie. So I think this should just stand alone rather than putting where this story take place. Good movie-4 out of 5 and see you in the NS2 movie review when the DVD come out later this year!