Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!

Episode 5

Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! episode 5 is a marked improvement over the previous installment. Last week, the "monster of the day" formula was growing old, and the show was in dire need of upping the stakes or at least changing the formula. This time, the monster of the day sequence is so condensed, it's practically an afterthought, which calls to mind latter episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime. While it's still there, it doesn't overstay its welcome and is also responsible for a few good jokes before the credits roll. The humor as a whole is more in line with what worked so well in earlier episodes, with absurd bathhouse conversations, Weekend at Bernie's moments when Wombat gets huffy about controlling Mr. Tawarayama, and tongue-in-cheek commentary on the magical girl genre as a whole.

Episode 5 also manages to seamlessly blend the fanservice with the plot, so it's not so obtrusive. However, the individual members of the Battle Lovers have still not developed beyond their primary characteristics, which loses the episode some points. The Conquest Club doesn't appear for very long this week—strange since the series is almost half-over—but in exchange, there are hints that a third group of magical boys may soon become players in the story. (That fish is suspicious. Watching Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! makes me suspicious of all cute animals.)

In many a magical girl show (or any superhero story), there comes a time when the heroes are at risk of having their civilian identities exposed. Since the entire series takes place at the boys' high school and Yumoto's family bathhouse, that limits inquisitive reporters to those from the school's online newspaper. Sure enough, the two members of the Press Society are eager to uncover the "cosplay group" that's been making a splash on campus. Pixelated faces or no, the Earth Defense Club has piqued their interest. Strangely, the Press Club doesn't seem to notice the role that magic has been playing in the cosplay group's "ruckus." (You'd think that seeing pixelated faces live and in person would tip them off.) They don't even seem appropriately shocked that a man who's stopped breathing for so long in front of them bounces back to life when a pink pet wombat jumps into his arms.

Then again, maybe there's more to the Press Society than meets the eye, which means the show is headed for some intriguing developments. Rarely do we see a magical girl group face two evil societies at once. There's a clear "defeat the first evil group and face another next season" routine to these shows. Cramming two enemy groups into a one-cour series could be either ambitious or foolish. We'll just have to watch and see how it all plays out. In any case, at least the show is evolving.

Rating: B+

Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for two decades.