REVIEW: ‘Tropical-Rouge PreCure,’ Episode 19 – “Mantasu Panics! School’s Seven Legends!”

Last time in with the legendary Pretty Cure warriors, the Pretty Cure Quintet helped Laura get used to her land legs in a sweet episode. Now, in Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 19 by Toei Animation, the girls are back in action. Only this time, they’re not facing a Zenzen Yaraneda. They’re facing off against some pretty spooky ghosts!

Post-OP, Episode 10, “Manatsu Panics! School’s Seven Legends!” kicks off with the members of the Tropical Club in their clubroom. This leads them to talk about their next activity: the Seven Legends Campaign. This comes as part of a call for articles by Aozora Middle’s newspaper. If only they were… pleasant articles. 

You see, they’re asking for ghost stories: spooky ghost stories, which Sango isn’t quite excited about. Then again, Manatsu isn’t excited for them either: she’s quite afraid of ghosts. And in a call back to Laura’s mermaid antics at Aozora, the girls realize that the sudden requests ghost stories are kind of their friend’s fault. Big “oops” moment for Laura, huh?

Still, that’s not going to stop the bulk of the Tropical Club from making this the plot for Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 19. In fact, almost immediately, the Tropical Club dives into exploring the Seven Legends, starting with an atmospheric, and VERY spooky, mansion. Of course, it’s laden with mysteries and mysterious happenings, making for a kind of “Halloween in Summer” style episode that’s quite charming. Admittedly, Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 19 isn’t a plotty episode because of this, but, I did say we’d give the series another breather episode before things take a turn for moving the plot and challenging the girls again.

That all said, Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 19 isn’t my kind of thing, but that’s largely because I don’t like the female Chuckie-esque doll used for this episode. In fact, I don’t like dolls at all. But that doesn’t make this episode weak: in fact, it adds quite a bit of comedy to some of Manatsu’s solo scenes, especially when it comes to shrimp-themed Elda, who causes quite a bit of trouble later on in Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 19. But for the most part, the mansion is the set piece for this episode, and it’s really where we spend the bulk of things until this week’s Zenzen Yaraneda routinely comes crashing in. 

However, this episode feels… a bit out of place. It comes in the middle of summer and has all the vibes of a good spooky season episode, which is maybe why it fell a bit flat for me. Also, it’s just… a bit too goofy. However, I think it’s important to remember that this dissonance is probably due to this being a kid’s show. Its target audience humor is showing, and as a late twenty-something, slapstick-ish foibles aren’t always going to appeal to me. That’s not to say that Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 19 is bad. It’s just not a personal fav.

In the end, Tropical-Rouge PreCure Episode 19 is a bit hit or miss. At times, it’s quite cute, but for the most part, it’s a just okay episode that picks up once the monster of the week shows up. The best thing that happens is a new transformation sequence starring Laura, Sango, Asuka, and Minori instead of Manatsu. It’s nice to see the shortened, truncated transformation get a bit of a refresh, even though it’s always nice to look at regardless of length. Still, I’m definitely here for this series. I just hope it picks up the plot soon.

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