SOMEONE WICKED THIS WAY COMES

GIULIO: Come on, Precures.

GIULIO: Noire Décoration!

CURE MACARON: Dark kirakiraru...

CURE MACARON: "Giulio"... It's such a nice name, isn't it?

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:

OHMIGODS THE FEELS THE FEELS!! We got to see the standard 2010s Precure villain procedure, a swordfight to equal all those Shut vs. Scarlet battles I've missed sooo much (and the Red Viper fight, of course!), Giulio infiltrating one of the schools the Cures attend... well, let's start with that aspect, shall we?

WHAT WAS A SHAME (IMOHO): The fact that Giulio/Leo infiltrated Ichigozaka Chúgakkó (the secondary school) instead of Ichigozaka Kókó (the high school), where the Zuka Cures attend. Guess it's because the Freudian Trio were made by the creators to be audience surrogates (the same applies to the Inner Senshi, who are far less popular than the Outers among the fanbase; or to Harry+Ron+Hermione being given far more prominence canonwise, and less popularity among the fans, than Ginny+Neville+Luna!)... Anyway, this Leo Kuroki boy at high school would be far less of the big fish in a little pond than he is in his secondary surroundings, where his good looks and skill at sports, especially association footie, have made his popularity skyrocket overnight! And he's also an ace pâtissier! When it comes to his academic achievements, however,

THE PIXIES' BACKSTORY AND A LITTLE MORE HINTS: Like when it came to Kuroro's relation of being possessed by Lock, we got a little more backstory for both the cadres and the whole dramatic evil scheme. So far, we got to know that they were controlled and/or addicted to kirakiraru by these black-star belts, having been swayed by a masked male's false promises of excitement, beauty, knowledge... basically the Heart's Desire of each pixie in particular.

YUKARI'S SUSPICIONS: She was both standard aloof-ally-mistrusting and "You-know-nothing-Jon-Snow" about this Leo Kuroki boy. I love how her cool and pensive nature shines through in this case.

GIULIO'S MO: It was eons since we got some good old-fashioned heart snatching, right? Well, Giulio Kuroki has just made our day!

THE SWORDFIGHT: Whoa whoa whoa!! I need to have my blood pressure checked!! Screw Oberyn, screw Shut... Akira Kenjo/Cure Chocolat is the new badass when it comes to combat (well, sharing first place with Astrid Kolfinnsdóttir, of course)! I wanted so badly a Chocolat vs. Giulio duel... AND MY WISH CAME TRUE!!

IN NEXT EPISODE (12):

Our introvert gets called to do an ad on television;

it's obviously a hassle thanks to all her indecision!