Pretty Cure general thread

Haru-Haru?

Anyone else thinks they're gonna go with alliterative names that have both the first and last names beginning with a season? Like Natsukawa Natsumi and so on.

We already know all the Go! Princess Precure girls' names though.

Haruno Haruka = Cure Flora, Amanogawa Kirara = Cure Twinkle and Kaidou Minami = Cure Mermaid.

edited 9th Jan '15 2:16:41 AM by Chariot

My first impression of Go! Princess Precure is that they have ran out of ideas, so they took what would have been a different shoujo series set in a dorm and turned it into a Precure series. The trailer seems to put more emphasis on the Princess part rather than on the Precure. Would explain why they would come up with that name just after we have a season with someone called Cure Princess. I can already see the confusion that would come out in the next All-Stars movie.

I'm more worried with the animation quality. Just... look at those hairdos. Suite also has a pretty wild detail on hairs and it definitely damage the quality in most episodes (though when they're good, they're awesome). Though the aesthetic seems to take many cues from Doki Doki, especially the face, if they really go for costume porn for the mode change, they better do it all way through with the CG like HaCha.

edited 9th Jan '15 1:20:30 AM by AlaAlba

x3 I see. o.o

Guess it was a coincidence then.

edited 9th Jan '15 1:23:28 AM by HanabiraKage

Wow, Futari wa with the simpler Cure White and Cure Black contrasts, with just two average girls seems pretty far off from what looks like more traditionally high fantasy tropes that trickle in over the seasons.

This show is pretty cute

Depends on the season, and depends on your definition of cute. But yeah, this series is pretty light-hearted.

Episode 47. Whee. Dark Cures and Bad End Cures hype. Would've been more hype than this episode at least. Space fight. In space. That's nice I guess. Honey and Fortune pull some cool moves, but as always everything falls down to Lovely. And a whole bunch of dribble about love and who's dedicated to who and yada yada. Not technically bad on its own, but it feels so weak compared to what we almost got. Almost everything feels like it would be better if Megumi was in Seiji's place and Hime replaced Megumi. Would be cool and was built up more. But pink always has to save the day. Even if it means making random powerless boy stronger than Mirage. Does Seiji keep those powers? Because he totally should. Looks like Red is getting his tragic backstory. Figured this was coming.

Him keeping the powers kinda reminds me of the Ghost Rider movie. You know, "I'm gonna own this curse, and I'm gonna use it against you."

edited 15th Jan '15 7:29:58 AM by HanabiraKage

So I came across this clip.

Like, Holy shit, people weren't kidding about this franchise having some of the most intense martial art fighting scenes in any anime.

Black and White might be the best in term of real martial arts, it's just most monsters are too huge to show off the technique. With Black vs White, who have similar proportion, the fight looks more than just berserk punches and kicks, at cost of children crying because the duo are fighting each other.

Remember when Hime was supposed to be the main character? I miss those days. Final past character to be the greatest, one and only, Masuko Mika. Also known as Masukomi-ka. Oh hey international Cures I don't care about. Time for pretty punches. Seems decent enough. Really reminiscent of Dune. Princess put up a better fight than usual. So much for Seiji continuing to be helpful. But we need one more "oh shit" moment. Now everyone except Lovely is taken out? Oh come on. Megumi already got her moment. Two of them. Hime hasn't gotten anything since the mid-season finale. Backstory time. Red's dead planet. Wonder what killed it. I notice no one ever counters Red argument that happiness is fleeting. Everyone is stuck on the love part that they don't address the relevant stuff. Typical save the tragic villain trying to blow up the world. All he needs is a really big hug, and attempted genocide shall be forgiven. And now he's in love with her? Or just trying to prove a point? I don't even care. Looks like we're getting a Lovely solo. If we do, I'm not going to be any nicer to her than I was with Heart, even if I like Megumi more than Mana.

For some reason I don't mind Megumi being the only one to get the final powerup. I think it's because she's a better written Mana but I'm not entirely sure about that.

@ ala alba: seems the studio decided to go back to it with fresh, with Setsuna and love fighting being similar. As well cure moonlight and dark cure.

edited 20th Jan '15 2:29:34 PM by Demongodofchaos2

Forever Lovely huh? I like how the powerup also changed her transformation catchphrase or whatever you call that line.

edited 21st Jan '15 10:26:01 PM by HanabiraKage

You know something about geniuses? While brilliant, they often get distracted and move on to some other subject that seems more stimulating at the moment, never letting themselves invest in something before the next shiny object takes them away. What I'm getting at is, since I've fallen way behind on these, clearly I am a genius. And so is one character in particular, who is certainly memorable if nothing else. Demanding a standing ovation is the energetic Cure Marine.

Heartcatch is filled with unique characters that have a lot more to them then at first glance. Erika stands out from the pack in that she really isn't much more than she is on the surface. It's not because she's less of a character or anything, but she openly displays everything about herself, and you only need to see her a few times to get the gist of who she is. Mostly a loud girl who demands attention, can't stay still, latches onto whatever shiny thing catches her interest (Tsubomi, Pretty Cure, etc), and is a pain to be around unless you can smack her around a bit. Basically, don't give her caffeine. She will always be the center of the stage, whether you like it or not.

Now why is this? The reason is revealed very early on. Jealousy of her sister. The sister who has attention from actual important people and a wide fanbase due to her modelling career. Erika has a bit of an inferiority complex towards Momoka, probably due to Momoka standing out all her life and pushing Erika to her shadow. Erika, desperate to stand out, looked for a way to shine. One idea was to also become a model, but that never worked out for whatever reason. She never seemed that bummed about it (aside from the time Tsubomi played the little sister role for Momoka), so it seems her whining about that was just an effort to stand out. She does much better in something she has an actual interest in, fashion. Not too many others share her passion for the subject oddly (according to her all girls love fashion), but through sheer willpower she forces enough people into the club to get it off the ground.

Erika has utmost confidence in herself and plenty of bravado, but when she's not in the mood she's extremely lazy. This is most noticeable in the obligatory homework episode, where she doesn't work on it and lazes around instead. She's not like Nagisa, who puts it off because she struggles with it. There's nothing that indicates her grades are bad. She just doesn't want to do the work. That really describes her about a lot of things. She's incredibly talented, and if she puts in the effort there's little she can't do, but the problem is getting her to put in the effort. It needs to be dressed up in something she likes, such as fashion or Tsubomi.

Despite her constant presence, Erika doesn't have much plot relevance. She's mostly around to encourage Tsubomi and help her through when she can't stand for herself (which is 9/10 of the show). Her character development is mostly related to getting along with Momoka better and setting up the fashion club for success. Otherwise she remains a mostly static character throughout the show, in contrast to the character development the other 3 main characters get. It's not too noticeable or that big of an issue due her wide spectrum of emotions and how she often learns stuff in the individual filler episodes. She's a good example of someone who can grow up and develop, but doesn't need to in order to be a satisfactory character. In the finale her big fight is taking on Kumojacky (Cobraja would've been a better fit) in a great fight and cementing why 14-year old girls are the best defense force Earth has. Then she shows such bravado against a guy who punches planets for stress relief. Girl has guts.

I've gone over her relationship stuff in previous analyses. Erika seems entranced by Tsubomi at first sight, mostly due to cuteness, and partially because she's the new girl Erika can force herself on. Despite having a decent relationship with her classmates, she doesn't seem to have had any close friends before Tsubomi. Likely due to her nature. Tsubomi was her chance to get close to someone, and boy did she succeed there. She forced herself into Tsubomi's life (not hard when they're neighbors), and they became friends because Erika insisted on it. Erika pushes Tsubomi on, and in turn Tsubomi reigns her in from getting too crazy or otherwise keeps her in check. No one believes in Tsubomi more than Erika, though she was concerned during the Mirage test thing. And rightfully so seeing how Tsubomi barely passed that. Overall, one of the more dynamic pairings in the series.

She mostly just looks up to Itsuki, like everyone else their age. It's hinted that she had a crush on Itsuki in the past when she thought Itsuki was a guide, but unlike Tsubomi she clearly got over it. Itsuki ends up liking fashion more than anyone else in the club aside from Erika herself. Yuri is slightly more complex. At first she seems to look up to Yuri like everyone naturally does, but when Yuri becomes kind of a dick to them she gets defensive real fast and isn't afraid to challenge her. Unlike Tsubomi, she doesn't want to be Moonlight. She wants to become strong enough to stand alongside or even surpass Moonlight. Give her enough time, and she may be able to do that. Or she would if time didn't stop for them. The height difference probably doesn't help. But once Yuri starts being cool again she goes gaga over. She must really like Yuri. Or maybe she just likes yuri.

Her classmates tend to get irritated by her insistence, but they grow used to her as Erika gets a little better at restraining herself. She bickers with Momoka a lot, but Erika will defend her to the end. And Momoka must be some sort of saint for never getting too mad at the brat. She has a fun relationship with Coffret. While normally they get along, Coffret actually has a sense of responsibility, so it irritates him when she wants to transform to clean her room. This does lead into probably the best fairy runaway episode, and they kind of make up eventually, so it's good. Their bickering is certainly more enjoyable than Nagisa/Mepple bickering. Probably because Erika actually is at fault most of the time.

As Cure Marine she represents the sea. Like the sea, she has a wide range of talents and moods. That's my interpretation at least. As a fighter, she's nuts. Not brutal like Lovely, skilled like Moonlight, or odd like Blossom. Just nuts. She charges straight in and tries to overwhelm the enemy without thinking too much. Sometimes it works, and once it got her purified by Blossom. Which was hilarious. But for such a tiny thing she packs a hard punch, as Kumojacky found out. She's got water-based powers, though those were never really put to good use. She's a natural flier however. She even does the Superman. What a champ.

Erika may not be the deepest character in the series, but one can make the argument that she's the most fun to watch. She does so much with what she has, and even does it in a way so that she doesn't overshadow Tsubomi. I suppose that's one of the strengths of Heartcatch. She's a fan favorite, and rightfully so. All Stars treats her very well, giving her extra winks here and there. She's one of the stronger characters Pretty Cure has put out, and stands out as one of the most memorable.

End of an era. Anyone else miss the cameos? Yup, it's a Lovely solo. Bleh. Sure, the fight is good, but this is supposed to be about friendship, not how one of them is better than everyone else combined. And what's with all this love talk? Isn't the theme supposed to be happiness? It's in the bloody title. And Lovely just wins all on her own. At least Heart had the grace to let the others join in for the finisher. Blue and Red are brothers. Is that supposed to be a twist? Why are they worried about Blue not protecting Earth? God-Lovely can handle that job just fine. Looks like Yuuko has a fairy now. Which means Megumi is the only one of the main team to not have one. Wrapping things up. There's the generals. Not even Masuko interviewing Namakelder can save this, though she at least tried. Ah Hime trying to make this her own show at the last minute. Nice try, but not happening. Megumi isn't getting any action yet.

Overall, shit finale. We got a triple dose of Lovely-wank interrupted by a quick bout of Lovely-angst. None of the themes made a good closing message with Lovely rambling her mouth off about all things love and ignoring half of Red's speech. This makes three lousy finales in a row and really puts a damper on an otherwise good show. Full analysis to come later.

Yeah. For a show where the good guys are powered by love and friendship and teamwork, it doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to plot and finales.

p.s. Am I the only person bothered by Cure Flora's multi-coloured bangs?

edited 27th Jan '15 3:55:03 PM by HanabiraKage

Earlier today I got to watching episodes 45 to 49, and I was rather disappointed by what I saw.

Why didn’t Red and Seiji just finish off the precure in episode 46? How did Seiji become so powerful anyway? I mean, he seemed stronger than Mirage... Also, why didn’t they use Innocent Form from the start, and why did Mirage just vanish (she was there at the end of the previous episode, and then reappear in the next one)?

The international precure were pretty pointless, especially since we had just ONE episode of Ha Cha helping ANY of them. Yet for some reason many of them came to help the main characters. Which brings the logical question why none of them went to help fight Red... In fact, the whole idea about many different procure teams in the world was good in theory but terrible in execution.

Lovely being the only one to get a special power-up was a terrible idea. I hated it when it happened in Doki Doki even though there it made some sense due to how the other cures were giving their powers to Mana even before the final fight. Here it made no sense at all, so I hated it just as much if not more. I hope this won’t become a tradition, with the pink lead fighting ang winning the final battle on her own.

A lot of stuff was left unexplained, such as the story of the three generals (we only got hints for two of them; Namakelder’s the only one with any details) and how they got revived in the end.

I’m not sure how to explain it, but the second half (after Phantom’s defeat) feels quite different from the first. In the first half it was mostly about Hime’s development and collecting the precards; in the second the focus shifted to Megumi and the love triangle. The collection of precards continued, but in the end they were never used for anything. Cure Tender’s defeat was anticlimactic. It would have been a lot better if the generals had been defeated when the precure got the dresser and Tender had taken their place. Fighting her over several episodes and slowly getting stronger, until they were strong enough to defeat and purify her would have been much better than what we got. Saving the Blue Sky kingdom was glossed over, as if it was just another victory even though it was Hime’s main goal at first.

Innocent Form was... unimpressive at best, and the fact that it just gave them a power boost/speed and a new binding attack didn't help. The Form Changes as a whole were pretty pointless and nothing would have been lost if they had been removed altogether.

Final verdict: Wasted potential. The series could have been much better, but alas.

Hopefully the next series will be better. But Doki Doki and Happiness Charge also seemed promising at first, so I'm not getting my hopes up just yet.

Here goes another season.

What I think? I think I agree with most of those you guys already listed off. Wasted potential on the second half feels like there are two writers for the different half. Like Digimon Adventure 02 and its many Aborted Arc, too many cooks will spoil the soup, I guess? That's just how I feel about the season.

Nevertheless, the seasonal rot doesn't really take place until the entire mess with the love... rectangle? I appreciate the steady writing on that part, at least. But the fact that the finale doesn't really do a good job of proving the aesop is true and right is a bummer. I don't really think Meg win the ideal fight against Red the same way as the Splash Star, Yes 5, Fresh, and Heartcatch won theirs, by proxy of her connection to the overall plot is just being a parallel of 'that one girl Blue sorta has a hot with'. And boy, how I disappointed at that.

I disagree that there's no explanation of why Seiji suddenly becomes stronger than Mirage; after all normal human can't do feat the Phantom Generals did. Just like the Precures can punch the shit out of everyone after transforming, the brainwashing is also coming with the status buff and Seiji becomes stronger because he's trained in martial arts.

edited 29th Jan '15 4:38:39 AM by AlaAlba

Yeah, ending wasn't that impressive. I thought Red was sounding like Homura there at one moment, which I thought was funny.

Next up are the pretty pretty princesses.

I don't think Ha Cha was THAT bad. I really liked the first half. It was just the second half where things got disappointing.

If they just stuck to having Hime as the main character, I think the show would have been much better.

Honestly I liked the finale. Moreso than last season's. At least Megumi's actually likable and her soloing the final boss made sense.

I rewatched Suite Pretty Cure and I have to say it's one of my favourites of the series. On the second watch, I think I got a better handle on the metaphors. Mephisto and Aphrodite seems to represent divorced/fighting parents, and Noise might represent depression.