Delicious Party Precure

Episode 2

We have to talk about Rosemary, or Mari as they're more commonly called in the show. I can't speak with first-hand authority here because Mari doesn't represent my particular branch of the LGBTQIA+ tree, but after two episodes, I'm feeling tentatively good about the character. Yes, they do have some of the hallmarks of unfortunate and outdated tropes, but with this episode we see that none of the characters thus far treat them like a joke. Takumi doesn't bat an eye when Yui says that Mari needs to take a room at his family's guesthouse, Yui's mom is positively giddy when Mari offers beauty tips, and Fennel, Mari's more traditionally masculine work colleague, never expresses any doubt that Mari will be fine, even with a broken magic stone. Obviously we need to see more, but thus far things are looking fairly good, at least from where I can comment; still, this is definitely a case of “your mileage may vary.”

It is, however, an excellent sign that this episode focuses on Mari rather than a mad dash to introduce the next Pretty Cure. With the cracked stone in their necklace, Mari has become trapped on Earth and now lacks most of the magic needed to combat the Ubau-zo created by Bundoru. Fortunately the barrier spell still works, because the townsfolk can absolutely see the monsters otherwise, but other than that, Mari's basically stuck with only their past experience to guide them – and since the CooKing has clearly not been nearly as forthcoming with the information as he ought to have been, that experience is only going to get Mari so far. And I can't say that I think too highly of the CooKing right now; the man clearly knew that Mari was going to find the Legendary Warrior Pretty Cure(s), but he didn't bother to tell Mari that this was part of the mission. In fact, Mari thought they were only legends, hence their visible shock when Yui transformed into Cure Precious last week. That no one thinks to come and give Mari a new stone indicates that they were never expected to really fight in the first place; this was never about Mari and always about the Pretty Cures. Even if it wasn't an intentional slap in the face, I wouldn't blame Mari for taking it that way.

It's a good thing that Yui is the first Pretty Cure they met. Yui's get-up-and-go personality is perhaps a bit more tempered than Manatsu's (she comes off as a bit less manic), but she's still one heck of a determined girl. In part that seems to be the influence of her grandmother; when Yui rescued a stray cat as a little girl, Grandma told her that her strength of heart was one of her greatest assets, and Yui really took those words To Heart. She clearly has other emotions besides determination, but she seems to define herself by her willingness to help others. That could backfire on her later in the season, but right now it allows her to let Mari know that they aren't in this alone, and it should be a major strength in bringing the whole team together, especially when tempered with Mari's greater experience. We see that in this episode, when Cure Precious is ready to just charge in the exact same way she did the last time. Unfortunately for her, Gentlu isn't as dumb as previous Pretty Cure villains, and she immediately notices that Precious has zero variation in her fighting library. It's not until Mari realizes that their best bet for defeating Ubau-zo is pitting their strengths together – their strategy and Precious' power – that things turn around. They're already a team, whether Mari realized it at first or not.

Delicious Party♡Precure is taking its time, and that's important. It makes Mari more of a fully-realized character rather than a collection of upsetting stereotypes, rounds Yui out before the battles go into full swing, and allows Takumi to fit in as more than just the boy character. Although the second fairy wakes up at the end of this episode, it doesn't look like next week will introduce the next Pretty Cure, and I think that's a good thing. Knowing the characters better makes the story have more impact, and so far this show is taking care to follow through with its little details – like the street of closed Latin American restaurants, Takumi seeing the monsters and not totally freaking out – so it's already shaping up to be a good story that's more than just its elaborate transformation sequences.

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Delicious Party♡Precure is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.