Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime 49
Rein reads a letter from Leonne -- seems things are just as bad there as they are elsewhere with everyone crying. And it's the same in the other kingdoms. Miruro even did the waratte waratte dance (smile smile dance). kawaisu! Sure her mom was probably thinking something along the lines of "What did those two [Fine and Rein] do to her this time?" Anyways, the power of darkness is growing stronger, but they all have to try their best... or so they say, but Fine and Rein don't know what to do. Fine thinks of using the power of the Grace Stones... Naginyo shows up with another song to warn them against doing that -- if they don't have all of the stones the effect will be to suck power away as it was in the Sea Kingdom. Rein goes off into her own little world again, imagining what would happen... A sorry ain't enough for that one, Rein. Speaking of Grace Stones, Pearl-chan and Bumo are still searching the Sea Kingdom for the last one. Bumo's having a pretty rough time dealing with the absolutely fearless (because she doesn't know any better) Pearl-chan. Love is tough, ain't it?
In the Sun Kingdom, Bright begins to wonder why things have turned out this way with him all alone. He goes to the Jewel Kingdom to seek advice from his parents, but like everybody else they're crying. That isn't what he wanted... Fine, Rein, and Altessa hear that Bright went to the Jewel Kingdom, so they head that way. However, he's already left the castle when they arrive so they search throughout the town. Bright walks through town and sees all of the people crying... this isn't what he wanted...
Fine, Rein, and Altessa still haven't found Bright. Altessa's just about given up hope, but Fine and Rein are still their usual positive selves, making Altessa rather mad. But they're that way because they believe in Bright. Fine brings out the fortulette to see if it can tell them where Bright is.. and the answer is 5. Five apparently being for a place outside of town where there are 5 large jewels sticking out of the ground, a place where Altessa and Bright went to often. There they find Bright and try to convince him to come back, but he's convinced there's nothing he can do now and leaves. Shade comes to check on things... Fine says Bright seemed really sad, and Altessa says that he's looking for someone to help him. So how could they cheer him up... Fine and Rein both think of the same thing -- a party. Shade thinks it a good idea. Camelot and Lulu (not doing cosplay) are there to help them get things set up, so preparation for the party starts.
After it's all ready Fine and Rein find Bright and bring him to the "Prince Party". Altessa there's waiting to dance with him, but Bright doesn't want to... Shade presses him: Does he really want to save the Mysterious Planet? Does he think he can do it without even making his sister happy? Nicely said, Shade. The music starts and Bright and Altessa dance. The people of the town watch, smiling. Bright remembers how just a simple dance can make people smile. Bright and Altessa dance a wonderful dance and the people around applaud when they finish. Bright thought he couldn't do anything and fell into despair because of that, but now he'll do his best since he can do something. His clothes turn back to the old white clothes, and the black crystal falls from his head. He's been freed from its power..
But that's not the last of the Black Crystal -- it begins to spread, growing larger and larger, trapping Bright. Rein reaches a hand out to him, but she can't reach him...
So Bright's finally back to normal after realizing the error of his ways, and a simple dance with Altessa did the trick. Not exactly a huge thing like you would think would be needed to bring someone back from the darkness, but fitting. Though I still don't really like Bright either way :P It really feels like things are starting to wrap up with Bright back to normal and the increased tension there at the end pulling into next time. Fine was crying in the next episode preview... wonder why... with two episodes left we'll see how Fine and Rein solve the original problem of the show with the Sun's Blessing going dark and the Black Crystal going out of control.
It wasn't just the dance that pulled him out but seeing everyone so miserable and realizing it wasn't what he really wanted. The dance just was the final piece of the puzzle. Kinda nice to see Bright basically pull himself out of the darkness. :)
Also, I'm sure that Bumo not being around to be the little devil on his shoulder helps. I don't really like Bright, but I was feeling bad for the poor guy.
As far as the dancing goes, I dunno, I think it's more appropriate than them doing it magically. It always bugs me when that happens.
I was amazed that a. it wasn't the power of love or b. it wasn't Fine and Rein doing anything Prominency that brought Bright back. But I like the way that they (the writers) did it better than either of those. It makes so much supreme sense that since it was feeling that he couldn't do anything that made him turn evil in the first place, that making him see that he could indeed do something would bring him back.
So, now we just need to find that last elusive Grace Stone (use the fortulette, guys!), and things should wrap up pretty quickly.