AnimeVision

6 - A New Darkness! The Bear in the Dangerous Forest
Nagisa's hopeful that Piessard's demise means the end of her having to fight - fat chance of that - Dark King's not about to give up so easily. Meanwhile, Mepple's lost the Prism Stone Collection Case (needed to keep the Prism Stones safe). After digging through some map books, he finally sees a place that he thinks is where he lost it - so off Nagisa and Honoka head to search for the Collection Case. Their searching is interrupted when Nagisa tries to save a young bear-cub that was trapped in the river - and Dark King's new gofer, Gekidoraago, decides to make use of the bear & its mother to take on Pretty Cure...

7 - Lacross Battle! The Unseen Marvel of Young Girls' Hearts!
Grudge-match time for Nagisa's lacrosse team - they're playing Otakagu All-Girl High School, their traditional rivals, so there's huge bragging rights on offer to the winner. Problem is, Honoka's sitting with Fujimura, Nagisa'a potential love-interest, and it's putting her off her game. Meanwhile, Gekidoraago's still hurting from his defeat last episode, and he's out for payback - which he tries to get by crashing one of the school lacrosse games & using Zakena to possess the vice-principal...

8 - Pretty Cure Breaks Up! Isn't This a Bit Early?!
Nagisa's still not sure what to make of the relationship between Honoka & Fujimura - despite Honoka telling her they're just childhood friends, she's still convinced something's going on. When Honoka does her best to try and set Fujimura and Nagisa up, Nagisa still manages to take it the wrong way, and a blazing row ensues. Is this the end of Pretty Cure? When Gekidoraago turns up again (this time using Zakena on himself), the girls need to patch up their differences quickly...

Gekidoraago's okay as far as comic value goes - at least in these episodes, he never really poses much of a threat - but I can't help but think Piessard was by far the better baddie, even if he was a reject fromKISS. Sad think is, it looks like nice-but-dim Gekidoraago's going to outlive him...

PreCure also begins to almost parody itself here with episode 8 - the title itself is poking fun at mahou shoujo conventions that mean that the team has to have a bust-up at some stage, just not normally this early in the season. It's always good to see a show that knows not to take itself too seriously!

As for as story goes for this batch, it's pretty much more of the same - arguments with Mipple & Mepple (mainly Mepple), fight scene with the baddy of the week (who as mentioned doesn't put up much resistance), and a little something learned for the characters. The comic value is possibly a bit higher than with the very early episodes - no bad thing - but apart from that, PreCure just carries on following the formula. Just as well it's a good formula - this show continues to be one of my guilty pleasures. Well worth watching.