STPC16

**Aim For the Championship☆ Madoka's One Arrow!** (目指せ優勝☆　まどかの一矢！ *Mezase Yūshō☆ Madoka no Ichiya!*?) is the sixteenth episode of Star Twinkle Pretty Cure.

## Info

* Air Date:May 19,2019
* Next:Episode 17
* Previous:Episode 15
* Opening:Sparkle☆彡Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure
* Ending:PaPePiPu☆Romantic

## Synopsis

Recently, Madoka has performed excellently at archery preliminaries. The day before the finals, Lala congratulates Madoka on how well she did. Elena says that Madoka won the finals last year. When Hikaru promises to cheer her on, Madoka tells her that she, too, wishes for her success. She tells her friends that her father has been working harder and harder at his alien investigation without finding any evidence. Madoka wants to win the competition in order to make up for being such a nuisance to him. As Madoka speaks to the others, Fuwa flies up to Madoka to comfort her and Madoka summons a chocolate-covered banana for Fuwa to eat.

In class, Sakurako Himenojou is rambling to her classmates about the importance of the upcoming archery finals. It’s a national tournament where teenagers and adults compete from all across Japan. What’s more, there’s a newbie who’s been sweeping the preliminaries and will provide a challenge to Madoka. Sakurako fantasizes about Madoka failing the competition and losing all of her popularity, enabling Sakurako to rise in her place as the Venus of Mihoshi Middle School. Himenojou’s rambling is stopped when she suddenly realizes that everyone else has left the classroom to go to PE.

At work, Fuyuki Kaguya continues to analyze possible evidence of aliens and blurts out to his coworker that he still doubts that the incident with the clear rocket sighting was a movie shooting. His coworker asks him why he still doubts it, and Fuyuki tells him to mind his own business. When his coworker tells Fuyuki about how awesome his daughter is for her skill in archery, Fuyuki dismisses what he’s saying.

That night, Madoka is practicing archery when Fuyuki arrives. As the two of them return home, Madoka admits to her father that she’s worried about the talented newcomer of whom people have been speaking. He tells her that archery is all about overcoming oneself, and that Madoka can only count on her own skill. After looking at a picture of Fuyuki playing archery when he was her age, Madoka becomes more confident.

The day of the tournament arrives, and Hikaru, Lala, and Elena have come to watch Madoka. Before Madoka goes, they see a girl with short, green hair score excellently in her round. Sakurako tells them that this newcomer is Yumika Nasu. Despite her amazing scores, Yumika is only a first-year in middle school.

It’s then Madoka’s turn to play. Hikaru, Lala, and Elena cheer her on. As Madoka takes her seat before her target, Yumika walks up to her and coldly tells her that cheers only distract from the game. Her cold glare intimidates Madoka.

Meanwhile, in the stands, the other three are greeted by Madoka’s mother, Mitsuka Kaguya. They greet her, and Mitsuka tells them how happy she is that they’re Madoka’s friends. Hikaru asks if Madoka’s father is there as well. Mitsuka says that he isn’t even though she thought that he had time off of work for today.

The announcer says that Madoka’s group will now begin shooting. They rise, and Madoka goes first. As Madoka pulls back the arrow and aims, her friends watch nervously. Madoka then releases the arrow. She doesn’t get a bullseye, but her arrow does land close to the center of the target. Her next three arrows don’t get as close to the center, but Madoka still has the highest score of her group because she didn’t miss her target once. Hikaru, Lala, and Elena celebrate, but Sakurako tells them that there will be more skilled competitors coming up in the next round, including Yumika Nasu.

The next and final round has the winners from each of the five groups of five competing against each other. Despite it almost being the end of the match, Mitsuka still doesn’t see Fuyuki anywhere. Hikaru cheers Madoka on, but this only makes Madoka more nervous, as she remembers Yumika telling her that cheers are only distractions. In the first three of the four turns, Madoka and Yumika are the clear leaders, as they are the only ones who have no misses. However, Yumika lands her arrows closer to the center of the target than Madoka does. At last, the final turn of the final round arrives. Madoka tries to clear her mind, but when she thinks about Yumika, she slips up her aim and her arrow lands at the very edge of the target. When Yumika goes, she gets a bullseye. Since neither of them got any misses, they will compete in a run-off round.

As Madoka and Yumika walk to the locker room, Madoka sadly notes that her father is still not there. Yumika then stops her and says that Madoka is weak because she spends too much time with her friends, pointing out her own more accurate shots as proof. This makes Madoka upset, but she tries to hide it. Meanwhile, Eyeone and Bakenyan are standing at the very top of the roof of the archery building. Bakenyan says that Eyeone shouldn’t attack Pretty Cure by herself like she did on Planet Zeni. Eyeone isn’t upset by this as she usually would be because she’s excited to steal all of Pretty Cure’s Princess Star Color Pens.

While Madoka and Yumika are preparing for the next round, Madoka’s friends are meeting outside. Hikaru says that she wishes there was some way in which she could help Madoka. Fuwa then gets an idea. She summons the Twinkle Book and pulls out of it a strange machine. Prunce tells them that this machine is called a Fortune Capsule Maker. It’s used to make capsules that are lucky charms. Supposedly, when you gather star fragments into a capsule and make a wish, that wish will come true. Prunce played with his own Fortune Capsule Maker a lot when he was a kid. With Prunce’s guidance, the group uses the Fortune Capsule Maker to wish for Madoka to win.

Madoka comes out of the building, and the group offers her lunch that Elena made. The four eat together. When Hikaru sees that Madoka looks upset, she gives her a capsule that they made. Hikaru, Lala, and Elena each have their own, too. Elena tells Madoka that they’re with her and Hikaru assures her that she’ll do great. The gift cheers Madoka up, so she thanks her friends. Yumika watches them in secret, and she walks away in a huff upon seeing their friendship. Yumika sits down on a bench and is shocked when Aiwarn sits with her and tells her that she must actually be lonely and putting up a front. Eyeone then turns Yumika into a target-shaped Knot Reiga

.The team is alerted to Eyeone’s presence when Hikaru’s Star Color Pendant glows red and points to the Aries sign. They run out and find the Knot Reiga. Upon seeing Yumika inside of the Knot Reiga, Madoka becomes determined to save her. The group transforms into Pretty Cure to fight.

The fight starts with Cure Soleil giving the Knot Reiga a fiery kick. Then, Cure Milky performs Milky Shock, temporarily disabling the Knot Reiga. It gets back up, though, and knocks Cure Star down using a bow. It then shoots an arrow at the fallen Cure Star, but Cure Selene blocks it by shooting her own arrow at the arrow, destroying it. Cure Selene tells Eyeone to free Yumika because hurting other people isn’t what archery is for. Eyeone says that Selene should thank her, since she made her enemy into just any other competitor. This remark makes Selene so angry that she becomes surrounded by a powerful yellow aura. She tells Eyeone that Yumika isn’t her enemy; she’s a talented player against whom Selene *wants* to compete. The Knot Reiga fires another arrow, but Selene counters it with Sagittarius Selene Arrow. This attack destroys not just Knot Reiga’s arrow, but its bow as well. With the Knot Reiga empty-handed, Pretty Cure is able to defeat it with Southern Cross Shot. Having been defeated, Bakenyan and Eyeone teleport back to their headquarters.

After the girls de-transform, Yumika wakes up. Madoka greets her with a smile and invites her to return to the building with her, as the final round is about to begin for real. The other three girls return, too, and Hikaru is delighted to find that Madoka’s father has finally made it.

The deciding round will end whenever one of the two archers misses the target. After many, many rounds, neither Yumika nor Madoka miss. Eventually, both girls are completely exhausted. After one round too many, Yumika can’t stop mentally comparing her solitary practice with Madoka’s friendships, and she misses her target. Madoka, however, is emboldened by the capsule her friends gave her. The knowledge that she is not alone gives her the strength she needs to get a bullseye. With this, Madoka wins the national championship.

As Hikaru, Lala, Elena, and even Sakurako celebrate, Mitsuka theorizes that Fuyuki was there the whole time, but he didn’t make himself noticed because he wanted Madoka to face her challenge alone. Fuyuki confirms this. Then, Madoka receives her second national championship trophy. She notices that Yumika is looking sad, so she cheers her up by saying that she looks forward to meeting her again next year. Yumika is emboldened and she shakes hands with Madoka, promising not to lose next time.

## Characters

* Hikaru Hoshina/Cure Star
* Lala Hagoromo/Cure Milky
* Elena Amamiya/Cure Soleil
* Madoka Kaguya/Cure Selene
* Fuwa
* Prunce
* Eyeone
* Bakenyan
* Knot Reiga
* Yumika Nasu
* Sakurako Himenojou
* Fuyuki Kaguya
* Mitsuka Kaguya

## Trivia

* The transformation sequence focuses more on Madoka because of her being the focus of the episode.
* This episode features a type of Japanese archery, Kyudo.
* Each episode ends with a horoscope fortune telling for people with their respective astrological signs Libra, Aquarius and Gemini.
	+ The horoscope for Libra is "There's a luck at a home party". The lucky item is "A bicycle that can go to your favorite place".
	+ The horoscope for Aquarius is "The sense of making thing is perfect". The lucky item is "A light that flashes your ideas".
	+ The horoscope for Gemini is "I will deepen my bond with my friends". The lucky item is "A camera which you can capture your favorite pictures".