As long-time fans of magical girls know, the power to transform comes from within. That's been made particularly clear with Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure's characters: they manifest their transformation wands from within themselves. Even more interesting is how each power links to the Cures' personal goals and desires: Sora wants to be a hero, Tsubasa wants to fly, etc. When Cure Butterfly, the long-awaited adult Cure, makes her entry on the scene, she has powers based on a different kind of protection than Cure Sky's: Ageha is studying Early Childhood Education in college to be a teacher for the youngest students and that protective urge helps to inform Cure Butterfly's powers. While Cure Sky is primarily offensive, Cure Butterfly is defensive – she, like Cures Coral and Spicy before her, creates shields to protect her fellows.

But there's more to Cure Butterfly's protective powers; because Ageha is older than the other Cures on her team and used to be Mashiro's babysitter, there's an element of her looking out for them that Cure Coral and Cure Spicy didn't have. Ageha sees herself as a guardian between children and the world; as a teacher (in training), she's there to help them learn in a safe place. While she doesn't let that worldview get in the way of everyone's fight, her use of her butterfly-shaped barrier is all about making the area and the battle safer and easier for everyone. Even her special power, a magic paint palette, allows her to support her comrades in their work: it specifically boosts their different skills and offers them a way to progress in their fights. She may not be actively teaching, but her playbook is similar enough to see how it informs her decisions.

On a purely academic level, Cure Butterfly's arrival on the scene is significant because of how it works to reshape elements of the genre as a whole. Arina Tanemura's Idol Dreams manga may predate Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure in terms of giving us a magical woman (and Chikage is thirty-one, so much older than eighteen-year-old Ageha), but this series is a more classic version of the magical girl story, giving Ageha's inclusion in the cast line-up special significance. Like Tsubasa being able to transform into Cure Wing shows that boys can be gentler superheroes, Ageha becoming Cure Butterfly is a nod to the Pretty Cure franchise's older fanbase. There's always been some side-eye given to adult fans of children's media (and anyone interested in collecting dolls has undoubtedly gotten some grief). Still, the fact of the matter is that it doesn't matter who you are or how old you are if something speaks to you. Magical girl stories have a lot to offer anyone who cares to engage with them, and Cure Butterfly sends the message that it's okay to like them even if you aren't an eight-year-old girl. She engages with the culture of fragile adulthood, which states that you have to “act your age” as society deems appropriate, and that's equally as important as Cure Wing or Sora's crisis of faith.

The ability to go back and forth between Skyland and Sorashido City offers Sora (and, to a lesser extent, Tsubasa) a chance to revisit their reasons for embarking on their respective journeys. Before ending up in Sorashido City, Sora's goal was to become like Captain Shalala of the Azure Guard, and a visit back to Skyland in episodes fourteen and fifteen allows her to begin to set that in motion. Interestingly, Sora's work as a Pretty Cure doesn't necessarily inform her brief enrollment in the Azure Guard. However, her worship of Shalala does create tension between herself and another new recruit. This is a bit of foreshadowing for episodes twenty-two and twenty-three when the revelation of how Battamonda is using an injured Shalala causes Sora to have a crisis of faith – in herself. While her belief in the abilities of the other Cures never wavers, the shock of seeing her hero so powerless makes her question her efficacity as Cure Sky. Because, as I've mentioned, her power comes from within, this means that she can no longer access it. While she's not the first magical girl to suffer from this sort of setback, it is notable in how it's presented, primarily because it also highlights how it doesn't matter how much her friends believe in her if she can't find the strength to believe in herself.

Mashiro's part in the story is somewhat quieter than her companions, but these episodes set her up to be the person best placed to understand Ellee in the coming days. As the most retiring of the group as a whole, Mashiro often allows herself to fade into the background, and there's a sense that she relies on Sora not just as a friend but as a support since her parents are away and her grandmother is relatively distant. When Sora essentially quits being a Cure and goes back to Skyland, saying it's for good, Mashiro is heartbroken, and this is something that returns when Ellee is reunited with her parents. There are several comments made along the lines of “families should be together,” and while Mashiro keeps things understated, it's clear that those hit her hard. It's another real strength of this series; as the quiet one of the group, it would be easy to have Mashiro largely hanging out in the background, but instead, we get to see her thoughts on her face rather than through her actions. She feels things deeply; she just doesn't talk about them, which could be very validating for viewers who don't like to say everything they feel aloud.

This set of episodes unveils the new ending theme, and I'm sorry to say that it's not quite as good as the first one. That's in both imagery and music; the dancing feels much less interesting than in the previous, and the song, while pleasant, isn't much more than that. It adds a noticeable thread of green to the imagery, which may indicate that we'll be getting a fifth Cure somewhere down the line. Could it be Ellee? That is a definite possibility after revelations in episode twenty-four.

Despite some definite off-model episodes, Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure continues strong. Ageha/Cure Butterfly is a solid addition to the team, and the ability to go back and forth between the series' two worlds adds a little something that previous (officially released) series have yet to have. Above all, the thematic work of what it means to be a hero is excellent, making this a joy to watch every week.