Witchy Precure! -MIRAI DAYS-

Episode 8

I am not, perhaps, always discriminating when it comes to things I enjoy, and despite some complaints, I've been liking Mirai Days right along. But this week cleared up one of my persistent issues with the show, making me even happier: the narrative finally dealt with the fact that Liko had been coming off as decidedly less sympathetic than Mirai, Mofurun, and Hisui.

In part, I feel like this was because she was always the least openly emotional of the original trio. While we never got the impression that she didn't care in the original, her adult self went beyond looking like she didn't quite know how to express herself into something a bit colder. This week we see that Liko has indeed been working hard to reconnect the worlds and get back to Mirai; in fact, she's devoted her career to it. Being a teacher was almost a byproduct of her goals, something she went into at least in part because it gave her access to the school and its resources. Liko was so determined that the principal had to tell her not to try to do everything herself. Her attitude since she's been back with Mirai is therefore not a product of her not caring, but rather of being unsure how to act. She's so happy that she's not quite sure what to do.

Still, there's a sense that both Mirai and Liko are yearning for the past if not outright trying to live in it. Not in the same way that Ire is, obviously – they don't actually want to turn back time. But they do miss the ease of their younger days when they knew what they were doing and the thrill of finding each other. Interestingly enough, this week's episode shows us that the only person truly living in the present is Ha-chan. Like Yui in Go! Princess Precure, she manages to free herself from the monster's grasp, but the reason isn't just because she believes in herself or understands what the time beast is doing. Ha-chan can save herself because she accepts the present. She fully inhabits herself as Ha-chan, Kotoha, Mother RaPaPa, and Hisui all at once, allowing her to manifest the Linkle Smartbook and become yet another version of herself, Cure Felice. Where Mirai and Liko are struggling with who they were and who they are, Ha-chan is always herself.

Does it help that she's been observing both magic and non-magic worlds during the girls' separation? Very possibly. While Liko and Mirai were stuck in their respective realms, Ha-chan was outside of all of them, watching. She saw what both of her friends were going through, and she tried to help them. She's been aware of everything for years, and maybe that's why she can't be trapped in one perfect, frozen moment. For Ha-chan, everywhen is the present. Time cannot touch her. There's no need to hide in the past when you aren't unhappy with when you are now.

In some ways, this fully codifies Ha-chan as a supernatural being. Like the time beast, she operates in a different realm, by a different set of rules than mortals. But at the same time, she's just Ha-chan, the friend and daughter of Mirai and Liko. This all-encompassing identity makes her the perfect foil for Ire and his time beast, because Ha-chan doesn't want or need to change anything. Instead, she represents embracing every part of yourself, and right now, that's something that not only Ire, but Liko and Mirai could benefit from understanding.

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