REVIEW: ‘Tropical-Rouge PreCure,’ Episode 18 – “I’ll Walk! I’ll Swim! Laura’s First Day of School!”

Last time in with the legendary Pretty Cure warriors, Laura escaped the Witch of Delays by becoming the fantastic Cure La Mer. This meant leaving behind fins and tails as she stepped onto land with two legs. Thankfully, Laura wasn’t alone: she had the legendary Pretty Cure warriors standing right alongside her. Now, in Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 18 by Toei Animation, Laura’s stepping into her first day as a human girl. But will it be all she dreamed of?

Episode 18, “I’ll Walk! I’ll Swim! Laura’s First Day of School!” starts off with Laura relaxing in the Natsuumi family bathtub. However, as soon as she gets out, she regains two legs, allowing her to live a dual life in the sea and on the land. In a way, it’s a nice reminder that Laura won’t be punished for wanting to spend as much time as possible with her friends on land. After that, the girls head out, both clad in Aozora Middle School uniforms, to carpe that diem and totally seize the day.

That’s where we spend a lot of Episode 18: with Laura, who’s playing at being a foreign student, which, yeah, I guess she is. She even introduces herself as being from Gran Ocean, and while that causes some confusion, technically the ocean is a foreign place. Naturally, this doesn’t cause too many hiccups to the plot. Granted, this is a fantasy series, and Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 18 is more than content to handwave Laura’s mer-tastic quirks in exchange for a pretty fun episode.

And a lot happens in this episode, though it’s mostly foibles on behalf of Laura’s fish out of water status. In fact, most of the humor comes from Laura thinking she knows everything. There are some pretty good jokes about her having trouble adjusting to having legs that hit just right too. They further demonstrate just how much everyone’s favorite mermaid still has to learn about humans. Even though she got a taste of humanity when she switched bodies with Minori, that’s not enough. Laura has to learn just like her classmates. Thankfully, she’s got the Tropical Club on her side.

As usual, we get another Zenzen Yarane-da for the girls to take out. But more excitingly, we get that solid Tropical Quartet transformation, which has quickly become my favorite part of Tropical-Rouge PreCure week to week. This time, we’re joined by Cure La Mer, who gets her own separate transformation sequence. Personally, I think that’s for the best since we’ve only just seen Laura in her human form. I’m glad to see that she’s not getting sidelined and put back to damsel in distress status. It’s great to see her in action in the back half of Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 18, just like the other Pretty Cures.

In the end, Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 18 is another fun episode to the series thus far. It’s also a bit of a breath after the events of the previous arc, and Laura’s capture. Laura’s new transformation and abilities feel fresh, preventing the show from going stale. That said, I look forward to the plot kicking back in and upgrading the Zenzen Yarane-da’s as we near Episode 20. I’ll let Episode 19 be another breather episode for added character building and all that.

All in all, Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 18 was a solid entry to the series. I continue to really love this quartet -now a quintet with Cure La Mer- and really look forward to seeing how all five of these young women grow as heroes. They’re all fantastic characters, which is part of why Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 18, and the series as a whole, remain such a delight.

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