Delicious Party Precure

Episode 33

The lesson in this week's episode of Delicious Party Pretty Cure is one that I don't think we hear often enough: it's okay not to forgive someone. So much emphasis is placed on being kind and forgiving (especially if you're socialized as female) that things can go too far, to the point where not being able to hand-wave away something that hurt us is looked at as a failing – either publicly or in the confines of our own minds. And while it's not great to be angry all the time, it's also okay to have feelings of anger that you can't let go of. It's human.

For Amane, that anger is directed equally at Narcistoru and herself. While we still don't know why or how she was turned to the dark side, we do know that it's an ongoing source of shame for her, something she doesn't feel she has the right to forget. We see that in the way she holds herself slightly apart from the rest of the group, and it really rises to the surface whenever Narcistoru is mentioned. It makes sense – he's the one who managed to twist her feelings into the shape of Gentlu. But what's more surprising is the way that she can't allow herself to be mad at him. When she dreams of punching him in his smug face, she also dreams of another self, one who grabs her wrist and makes her stop before she hits him. That other self is the part of her who thinks that maybe it was her fault that he brought her over to the Bundoru Gang's side, the piece of her that blames herself for having been vulnerable to his predations in the first place. Essentially Amane is blaming herself for his actions and for wanting to do something about those feelings of anger, and that's not okay.

The whole situation is complicated by the fact that Narcistoru clearly has his own issues that made him vulnerable to Bundoru as well. We still don't know a lot about it, but what we were able to see in a past episode's flashback is backed up by Mari this week when he tells the girls that Narcistoru is resisting rehabilitation because of his issues around food. He simply doesn't like eating or mealtimes, and while that's baffling to Yui, there's a distinct possibility that Amane understands where he's coming from. She's started to enjoy being around food more since she joined the Cures, but the rapidity with which she sucks down that monster parfait before her brothers have even started eating implies that she may have issues there, too. And while I don't expect this show to delve into the dark side of eating – eating disorders – I do think that Narcistoru's problems open the door for conversations about how eating isn't universally a problem-free thing. His inability to eat very hot food and pickiness could stand as a metaphor for a food allergy or intolerance, both things that tend to get brushed under the rug or flat-out disrespected for many people; I can't tell you the amount of times people have completely ignored the fact that my mother is allergic to strawberries because they thought she was just being “dramatic.”

When Mari tells Amane that it's not wrong for her to be angry with Narcistoru, or even with herself to a degree, he's giving her permission to be not a perfect person, but a real one. It's okay for her not to forgive. It's okay to have dark feelings. None of that means that you have to wear a devil or an angel costume, that you can't be a superhero, or that you're a bad person in general. What is important is to apologize when you do something wrong, and the parfait recipeppi is perfectly happy to accept Amane as she is once she does so: as a person who has flaws like anyone else. That's something a lot of people need to hear, and I'm glad that this episode gave it a voice.

There are plenty of other things going on this week, like the underuse of a possessed pastry cutter ubau-zo, whether Amane's brothers ever finished those parfaits, or why Ran has talismans on her panda costume. But Amane's story is the most important, and I hope that it helps her find peace.

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Delicious Party♡Precure is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.