Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned!
She's desperate to remember who she is...
This season, while still quite lighthearted and fun overall, still manages to work in a few saddening moments.
Episode 3
- Sango Suzumura explains why she doesn't stand out among a crowd. Back when she was in kindergarten, she and a few others in her class chose some tulip colors. Sango chose a purple tulip thinking it was cute, while everyone else went for pink. While no one minded her choice, she regretted at how her tulip stood out. Considering she was young back then, you can't help but feel sorry for her.
- Hoo boy, it's worse than the previous one. Every time Minori Ichinose gets disheartened, the mood becomes sombre. And that's not even covering how she turns down Manatsu and Sango's compliments or her attempts to back off when they encourage her.
- Minori, despite loving mermaid stories, doesn't believe mermaids exist; this is Played for Drama unlike most occurrences in other media, especially this franchise.
- We also see why she doesn't believe in her own abilities: back when she was in the school's literature club, she handed over a story she wrote to a fellow club member for a peer review. We don't see how it turned out, but judging from the sight of Minori getting depressed and dropping her pencil, it doesn't look promising.
- And just when we thought episode 4 was bad enough. This episode has Manatsu, of all people, having her motivation sapped out by the Zenzen Yaraneeda. Her friends try to re-energize her to no avail. The kick to the teeth? Manatsu states she wants to quit being a Pretty Cure.
- It's not as bad as the last few entries, but the second day of the sand art contest is interrupted by a heavy downpour. Everyone, including Manatsu, laments the inevitable destruction of their hard work. Raining on someone's parade, anyone? Thankfully, Laura's photos give Manatsu an idea.
- Also, near the end of the episode, we see Laura all alone feeling left out from the club's activities. This indicates the beginning of Laura's Character Development by showing how she wants to be included as a friend by the Cures, but can't since she has to hide from the others.
- After Laura and Minori switch bodies back, Laura is really sad that she had to trade her legs back for her fins, although she doesn't really express this loudly. Then cue the next episode preview, where Laura reads "The Little Mermaid" and leaves the group - only to get trapped by the Witch of Procrastination/Delays.
- Laura after she gets overwhelmed by Butler. She basically is sinking deeper into a recently formed abyss of the ocean...and lets go of her jar. It's like she feels regretful over not having her dream to explore the human world come true, and rejecting the Witch's offer seemed to be a bad call after all... That, or the fact she might never see her friends again... Either way, that's a horrible way to shut down emotionally and mentally.
- This is probably the first time the whole Tropical Club group begins to fall out on one another. In summary, someone ate Manatsu's treat she won in a lucky draw and Minori tries to find the culprit. This ended up causing the group, sans Manatsu, to accuse one another with increasing aggression. This is not good for team camaraderie. When Chongire summons a Zenzen Yaraneeda, they're still at odds with one another.
- Laura tearfully admitting she ate Manatsu's treat. She only saw said treat in her jar's fridge and didn't know what it was, so she ate it. The look on her face when seeing the bag that housed the bread is of shock. Her guilt afterwards? You can't help but feel sorry for her.
- We finally get to hear more about what happened to Minori in the literacy club: when Minori gave her club senior her novel she mentioned in Episode 4 to review, that senior commented that it was very plain and bland. This caused the poor lass to give up on writing and quit the literacy club.
Episode 29
- As shown in the page image, this is the first episode where the Witch of Delays starts having dreams of a mysterious girl. The Witch is desperate to know who she is, and is constantly struggling to the point it affects her emotional and mental state.
Episode 31
- The whole backstory of Asuka's anger getting the better of her during a big tournament which lead to her club forbiting the match. Asuka desperately tries to plea with them that is was a misunderstanding as she wants to participate but to no avail. This doesn't only cause her to leave the club, but is what ended her friendship with Yuriko.
Episode 32
- You can see and feel the distraught on poor Sango after she's escorted off the catwalk after getting too nervous and freezes in fear.
Episode 34
- The distress Manatsu is in when she realize she hasn't decided what she wants to do when she's older compared to the rest of her class.
- Elda crying and swimming into Numeri's arms when she decides she wants to go back home, also feeling touched by her care help.
Episode 37
- The memory sucking machine that was revealed in the prior episode ends up being more of a Tear Jerker than Nightmare Fuel. By law of the Gran Ocean, all mermaids who interact with humans are subject to have their memories sucked out and stored.
- Laura herself was subject to this when she was a lot younger, and the human she interacted with was none other than Manatsu herself. What's worse about this is that Manatsu never even asked for her name. As far as she knew, Laura just ditched her. Ouch.
- This same law would apply to the Queen and Laura when the whole conflict against the Witch of Delays is resolved.
Episode 42
- The feeling of hopelessness after Butler damages Laura's Mermaid Aqua Pot. Manatsu desperately tries to attack the whale Yaraneeda only for the Yaraneeda to eat her. The others follow her, but when they try to find her, the whale ejects the other four out from its blowhole. And keep in mind, almost the entire city is already deprived of its motivation.
- Even the Witch of Delays herself is starting to slowly suffer, and knowing what happens in the following episode, it's really heartbreaking to watch. She's been having nightmares of a mysterious girl (later revealed to be Cure Oasis) with having no idea on who she is. She also barely eats and responds to medicine, something that Chongire and Numeri have both noticed.
Episode 44
- The Witch of Delay's backstory is explained, and it's a heartbreaking one. She had a one-sided goal to destroy the world as the Witch of Destruction, but after Aunete nursed her, the Witch herself started feeling conflicted. When Aunete transforms into Cure Oasis and fights the Witch herself, the two end up fighting to a standstill and she proclaims she'll finish the fight tomorrow (and from the looks of the two, it looked like neither wanted to finish each other off). And she keeps delaying it over and over to the point where she grew old and bitter.
- When she finally remembers Cure Oasis, she desperately wants to become friends with her. The two reconcile, and the Witch moves on.
Episode 45
- Laura has done an extraordinary job recruiting the Pretty Cure, so the Queen chooses her as the next queen of the Gran Ocean, but the kingdom will depart tomorrow, the same day the Cures would do their play. Kind of sombre. Also, what makes this a tearjerker is that she also offers her to stay with her friends as a human permanently. Laura's stuck between either becoming a queen and potentially being forced to forget her memories with her friends, or forsake that dream and stay with her friends instead.
Episode 46
- Manatsu breaking character and begging Laura not to leave them forever while bawling her heart out. The rest of the club look amazingly sad as well but Sango in particular cries silent Tender Tears.
- Laura works her farewell speech into her final performance in the festival show, complete with revealing she taught the entire Tropical Club her song.
- The effects of the memory machine are shown in a specific way, as everything related to Laura's time in Aozora City, even incidental things, just vanishes, including Laura disappearing from pictures taken with her in them, leaving just subconscious triggers.
- Thankfully apparently undone by the memory machine literally ''exploding'' due to the strength of her bond with her friends.
- The memory machine was created in the first place due to a grief-stricken mermaid being lonely that she outlived humans. She had created it so no other mermaids could potentially suffer if they were to interact with humans. With Laura destroying the machine, there's a chance that at some point in the future, Laura might feel immense grief once she outlives her friends.
Tropical-Rouge! Precure the Movie: The Snow Princess and the Miracle Ring!
- Sharon's entire backstory. She was originally the princess of the Shantia Kingdom 13,000 years ago, and on the day of her coronation as queen, a comet crashed and obliterated her homeland, leaving her as the Sole Survivor before she eventually died alone in the snow.
- After being defeated by the Tropical-Rouge and Heartcatch Cures, Sharon is left slowly fading away, completely powerless and bitter towards them for ridding her of the chance to revive her kingdom. Thankfully, Laura decides to give her a proper sendoff by performing the song of Shantia that she had originally planned to sing, eventually being joined by Manatsu and the others. Their song manages to touch Sharon's heart and she's greeted by a vision her parents and people. The two teams then assure her that the song, and by extent Sharon and her people, will never disappear and that they'll be forever remembered through it. Now at peace, Sharon tells Laura how happy she was to have met her and fades away in her arms. Fittingly, Manatsu breaks down into tears after everyone is safely sent back to reality.
