Delicious Party Precure

Episode 5

If Cure Precious' name is a testament to the precious memories she has of onigiri and her grandmother, then Cure Spicy's name must be a wish for her life to be less bland. We knew poor Kokone's life wasn't exactly bursting with joy before, but somehow seeing her agonize over calling Yui by her given name and reading books about how to maintain a friendship just makes it even worse. This poor girl has no one to guide her socially, and her family's high-class restaurant just makes it even harder for her to get to know people her own age…or people at all, if her difficulties with Mari are any indication. If anyone needed a happiness bulldozer like Yui in her life, it's definitely Kokone, so it's a good thing she turned out to be a Pretty Cure.

It's worth noting that Yui has an easier time understanding Kokone's shyness than Mari does, mostly because while Yui has many fine qualities, being observant isn't necessarily one of them. But that also means that she's operating without any of the social stigma that Mari may be dealing with; what to Yui reads as “shy” to Mari could look an awful lot like “thinks I'm upsettingly weird.” Not that anyone has made any disparaging comments to Mari, or even acted as if he was anything but normal (Takumi not being sure what he's doing in town notwithstanding), but the fact that no one bothered to tell him that he was supposed to be Pretty Cure hunting doesn't speak all that well of the CooKingdom's opinion of him. The way people in Oishi Na Town are treating Mari may not be indicative of how he's been treated in his life. (And yes, I've decided to go with the masculine pronouns to be in line with Crunchyroll's subtitles.) That's why its so nice for both Mari and Kokone that she buys him the Tropical-Rouge lipstick from Pretty Holic in the end: it's a sign that she's got nothing against him and genuinely wants to be his friend, and she's showing it in a way that makes it clear that she likes him as he is.

It's also significant because poor Kokone is so desperate to be useful and to prove her worth as a friend that she makes some potentially drastic mistakes when fighting this week's monster. Yui could take down an Ubau-zo by herself when it was only powered by one corrupted Recipipi, but when it was made up of more than one, Cure Spicy was necessary. Now Cure Spicy is trying to just charge in and get rid of an Ubau-zo made up of four captured Recipipi out of a need to show that she's not just dead weight. That may speak to her feeling unwanted in her own household, the daughter who, for whatever reason, didn't merit her father's attention and thus spent most of her time alone. In her mind, if she doesn't show Mari and Precious right now that she's worth keeping around, they may decide to just move on without her.

Seeing the team grow is always rewarding in a magical girl team story, but there's an added bonus to this one in that with each new party member, Kokone will gain another person she can rely on and relate to. Her life will be less bland, and that's just a really nice side note to the overarching story about eating good food, especially since we see again this week that eating together adds flavor to a meal. Yui's mom patiently teaching Kokone how to peel a carrot (with a vegetable peeler rather than a knife, thank goodness) is another heartwarming moment showing Kokone that she's worth the effort, and Yui secretly cutting the carrots into stars helps Kokone to see that she matters to her new friend.

There's a Jewish proverb that says, “Worries go down better with soup than without.” The Bundoru Gang may not have intended it, but they're certainly helping Kokone to learn that lesson this week.

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Delicious Party♡Precure is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.