REVIEW: Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 8 – “Our First Club Activity! Tropica-shining Lunches!”

Last time on Tropical-Rouge PreCure, the members of the Tropical Club met Kururun, a sea fairy from the Grand Ocean. While Kururun might not have been every viewer’s favorite mascot character, the Tropical Quartet certainly will continue to win hearts over with their charm. This time on Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 8, the girls of the Tropical Club are getting ready for something amusing; tropical-shining lunches!

Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 8, “Our First Club Activity! Tropical-shining Lunches!” focuses on just that: lunches! Namely, having lunch on the school rooftop, which looks like a peaceful garden. Unfortunately, Manatsu’s lunch is…less than tropi-cool. In fact, because her mother’s so busy, her lunch is all rice on top and bottom. Of course, her mother gets the good bits. However, Minori, Sango, and Asuka are quick to share parts of their lunch. Unfortunately…Minori’s practicality gets in the way of a delicious meatball by combining some uncanny ingredients. Name, natto, tune eyeballs, eggs, and jew’s mallow. It’s healthy, but…not at all delicious. 

Next, Manatsu tries Sango’s ham flower, which is essentially lunch ham cut into a flower. Thankfully, that’s perfectly fine. Finally, Manatsu tries Asuka’s rolled egg, a popular dish in a lot of school bento. In a happy twist of luck, Asuka’s cooking is solid, so Manatsu gets something more than just white rice. Still, it looks like the Tropical Club needs to hit the cooking books as well. Well, really, just Minori. This entire sequence kicks off the plot for the Tropical Club’s first official activity. They’re going to cook and make bento together, which is a very low-key but fun plot given all the action we’ve had thus far.

The bulk of Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 8 is spent, like episode 7, with the girls just being students. However, Kururun, the sea fairy viewers met previously, is surprisingly absent. I get the feeling we’ll be seeing more of them in the future, though for now, it’s just Laura and the Pretty Cures. And honestly, I think that’s for the best. It lets Laura shine once again and really lets the show focus on the main quarter. Truth be told, the best part of Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 8 sees the girls just being kids. So often, it’s easy to forget that the magical girls in magical girl shows are kids. Oftentimes, they’re teenagers too and have lives completely separate from being heroes. Such is the case for the Pretty Cures, who are still trying to find the right balance between being legendary warriors and kids. 

Laura, likewise, is a teenager, but she’s also from a different world. That’s incredibly apparent in Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 8, where she has many questions about human cooking and the foods we eat. A lot of the comedy comes from this and from her learning about human food. There’s plenty of good tidbits throughout the episode, especially when their teacher comes in and Laura’s still out and about.

And, of course, there’s a bit of action towards the end of the episode as well. It even involves that delicious bento the girls made at their school!

Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 8 really makes the first “slow” episode thus far. However, slower isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, I really liked being able to spend time with the girls. While it’s nice to see them in action, it’s also nice to see Laura and the Pretty Cure bonding as teenagers, too. I really like the Tropical Quartet’s friendship. It feels genuine, even though we’ve just only seen them start to grow together.

Ultimately, Tropical-Rouge Pretty Cure continues to be a delight week to week. It’s not the most stunning show, nor the most action-filled. Then again, I find it plenty engaging, and I really love that young girls have a series like this to watch. It’s definitely aimed at younger girls, but I feel like there’s still plenty of meat on the bone for older viewers. I can’t wait to keep living my best tropi-cool life with the Pretty Cures!

Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure is now streaming on Crunchyroll.