Witchy Precure! -MIRAI DAYS-

Episode 4

Where is Ha-chan? That's standing out as the burning question four episodes into Mirai Days. She's all over both opening and ending themes, but in the main body of the show, she's been notable for her absence – before this week, the only time we've seen her is when Ire attacks her Mother Ra Pa Pa form, reducing her back to Cure Felice. But what happened to her after that? The answer seems like it holds major significance for not just the mystery of Hisui but for Ire as well.

Liko, Mirai, and Mofurun are missing Ha-chan, too. The three of them have more or less fallen back into their old dynamic, but you can still practically see the Ha-chan-shaped space in their lives. It's clearest when it comes to Hisui: they're trying to raise Hi-chan in the same way they cared for Ha-chan when she was a toddler, but that's not possible, because even if Hisui isn't truly a completely different person (and I'm not certain of that just yet), she's her own person, living in a world that's very different from the one Liko and Mirai occupied as middle schoolers. Liko and Mirai aren't the same people, either. Liko in particular has been used to being an authority figure to children, and she wants to exert that same authority over Hisui, attempting to parent her in a much more overt way than Mirai or Mofurun. She's worried about screentime, about magic, and, unless I'm reading this incorrectly, about Mirai spoiling Hisui by playing witch with her.

Liko also doesn't seem entirely convinced that Mirai's Maho Girl service is a great idea. In part, this probably comes once again from her position as a teacher (and as a lifelong rule-follower) and also a failure to completely understand what Mirai lost when the worlds were separated. Mirai lost an entire side of herself alongside her three best friends, and Maho Girl is a way for her to make up for that, as well as to recapture the magic, both literal and figurative, of her middle school days. She's not thirteen anymore, as we see when she's embarrassed to be seen “cosplaying” in public, but I'm not sure Liko fully grasps why Mirai is still engaging with the #helpmewitch messages now that being real magical girls is back on the table. And I'm not sure that Ire understands it either, although I daresay he's in a better position to do so.

Just look at the monster he summons this week, a security blanket. Or rather, a blanket, but given that the previous monsters of the week were toys, it's not much of a leap to call this by that appellation. Blankets represent safety for a lot of children, and the use of one as an enemy is upsetting – it even mimics some of the ways kids use blankies to feel safe in its attacks, such as when it rolls Cure Miracle up inside it. On a symbolic level, Ire very likely knows precisely what he's doing in using that blanket as a weapon: he's using not just a blankie, but Mirai's metaphorical security blanket against her. Maho Girl is Mirai proving to herself that she's still able to use magic to help people, but Ire doesn't seem to buy that. In his hands, as in Deusmast's, magic is a weapon.

Why that is remains unclear, although he seems to believe he's playing out a story. Does that mean he's the author of the book he's working on? Or is he just a reader, determined to see the plot play out as it's “supposed” to? His tie to books looks like a definite element of his character. That opens the door to potential metafiction, given that this series is fictional to start with. (Or maybe I'm just enjoying the metafictional elements of ZENSHU. too much.)

Whatever his issue, he seems aware of the tie between Hisui and Ha-chan, which was solidified this week. Given the theme of “children” that also crops up – which works with that photo we saw of a parent and child in Ire's home – it doesn't seem out of the question for Hisui to be some sort of child of Ha-chan, or at least of Mother Ra Pa Pa. Hisui is currently rebelling against her mothers in a way that Ha-chan never did. She's also at an age that we never saw Ha-chan go through. The strong theme of family that ran through the original Witchy Precure! is certainly ripe for a new iteration in Mirai Days, and I'm curious how it will continue to play out…and if Liko and Mirai can ever truly feel like a family again. Right now I feel like there's a bit of discomfort between them, and I'm wondering if that's entirely in my head.

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