FlipFlappiversary Week 3: Pretty Pure

Flip Flappers is, at least technically, a Magical Girl show.

That’s only true in the broadest of senses, really, but its there. And Flip Flappers never gets more Magical Girl than it does in episode 3. Though of course its sharing time with a very extensive Mad Max parody. What can you say, Sayuri has diverse tastes.

So in episodes 1 and 2, Cocona and Papika respectively awakened to their powers. In both cases the powers were fairly vague and undefined. Manifesting as glowing hair and a general ability to “do stuff” like fly and hit hard and whatnot. Its not till episode 3 where they get real “transformations”.

As they face the dominatrix plant woman Welwitschia, they synchronize together for the first time and transform, becoming the self titled Pure Blade and Pure Barrier. There is a lot to unpack here so lets go step by step.

First, the transformations themselves are very Sailor Moon inspired, with lots of sparkles and zooming closeups. The poses at the end are also clearly sendups of Sailor Moon poses, though they show up in plenty of other Magical Girl shows as well. During the transformations Cocona and Papika swap hair and eye colors, something discussed at length by Emily Rand, indicating a merger or sharing that they hadn’t really managed before. While the transformations themselves were individual, the mutual initiation and the choice of names clearly hearkens to the modern Magical Girl titan, Pretty Cure.

Speaking of the names, they never actually get used again, but they are interesting nonetheless. The brash and impulsive Papika becomes “Pure Barrier”, for protecting and shielding. While the more reserved and uncertain Cocona becomes “Pure Blade”, attacking up close. Papika, as Papikana, spent over a year protecting Cocona and her mother when they were on the run. While Cocona often regrets her inability to be decisive and slice through the barriers around her own heart.

While the names don’t appear anymore, the transformations continue to be a mainstay of the series. All the way to the end where a third magical girl joins the team, and then a final, completely different transformation for Cocona and Papika, that shows them moving to a new stage of their lives. But that is for another day, perhaps.

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