Pretty Cure general thread

It kinda sucks that she's choosing the blue pill here (kinda like Rin way back in the day). At least Kirara has a solid and immediately apparent reason. Oh well, I just hope that this gets resolved sometime soon; perhaps by having Haruka and Kirara finish their conversation and open some much needed Character Development. They could kill two birds with one stone right there!

I think its BETTER to have her not join immediately and not be BFF's right way. Its more interesting and unexpected, especially from a Yellow Cure.

True, and I fully understand Kirara's position in the matter. It's just that she's playing with my personal Pet Peeve Tropes right now. Granted, it's very different - especially among the yellow Cures; I just don't want her to end this on a disappointing note.

edited 23rd Feb '15 2:16:23 PM by aNinjaWithAIDS

Some season analysis over at Live Journal:

http://precure.livejournal.com/2795567.html
http://precure.livejournal.com/2797547.html

Unsurprisingly, Heartcatch is a favorite while DokiDoki is widely considered the worst. Fresh seems to be a safe starter series. On the movie side, Heartcatch is again a winner with All-Stars DX3 being the best, and DokiDoki movie is also considered worst. Smile movie is also a good one and Max Heart 2 movie is a safe movie to watch with anyone except Japanese children.

edited 23rd Feb '15 8:00:05 PM by PsychoPJ

Yes 5 was robbed. Badly robbed. I'd put that above Heartcatch depending on my mood of the day.

I think it's about right with me. It's decent enough, but I don't really feel like rewatching Yes 5 after everything's done.

Same. It's too episodic, even for an episodic franchise like this.

While I didn't like Doki Doki by the end, I really did like the movie. It gave Mana character development that an entire series couldn't do.

Doki Doki, to me, tripped on its ambition and never really got back up. It tried to do literally everything except keep it simple. It's like The Epic that isn't; it was too bloated to do anything or create its own unique identity within the franchise.

I liked The Movie too; but it honestly should have been 1-2 episodes instead if it was for simple Character Development. If you're going to go crazy for a 1-2 hour production, you really should have the entire main cast in on the fun in equal amounts.

I disagree. The anime already focuses on Mana too much. Making the movie into episodes of the show instead would make that problem even worse.

The problem is they're stuck in a formula now. Besides Heartcatch (because Heartcatch), the pink lead HAS to get an exclusive powerup. That's how they market the dang movie! So they have two options: either give more focus to the pink to make the powerup more satisfying, at the expense of the other characters (Dokidoki, Smile, Happiness Charge I think?) or focus on other characters, at the expense of making the powerup seem unsatisfying (Suite! Suite so much!)

No? Last I checked it was really only Nozomi, Mana and Megumi who got exclusive powerups. Getting the final powerup in the movie before they appear in the show proper doesn't count because they still aren't the only ones to get that powerup in the long run.

I didn't really like the DokiDoki movie since I'm not a Mana fan, but I thought it was fairly good all things considered. Mostly because it was the only time Mana ever came across as selfish, and I don't think Mana was supposed to come off as perfect as she was in the show. I mean, I have a bunch of quibbles with it (boring Miracle Lights, anticlimatic final fight, not enough Makoto), but that one thing puts it well above trash like the Gogo or Suite movie to me. That and Davi. She was cool.

Well, sometimes it's a preview for what the final powerup looks like. But, either way, the pink lead solos the movie boss with a powerup. It's been happening since Go Go, and they're not going to change it (except for Heartcatch. Seriously, what was up with that? It was amazing!) That's why the movies have this problem. I don't understand why it happens - it's not like they sell toys of the Super Mode pink. But it's hard to make an interesting narrative when you know how it has to end.

x2

Wait what's wrong with the Suite movie? I can kind of understand the GoGo! movie hate but I don't see what's so bad about Suite's. It's by far the movie that's most relevant to its season and I thought it did a pretty good job of developing Ako and her family as characters.

edited 24th Feb '15 2:20:50 PM by Chariot

x6 That's the series' main problem right there: the fact that Mana is the biggest blight of a Spotlight-Stealing Squad! This would not have been so much of a problem if the show didn't have such a large cast on its own. The problem really became blantant once the fans chose their Ensemble Darkhorses (several of which included the main cast due to being so far Out of Focus).

The Character Development and the glory should have been more evenly distributed (in both amount and emphasis) among the main cast. Sadly, it wasn't the case because of Mana, Mana, Mana. It sure would have been nice to see Alice/Cure Rosetta solve a dilemma or have Rikka/Cure Diamond not suffer The Worf Effect every time she attacks.

edited 24th Feb '15 2:20:42 PM by aNinjaWithAIDS

So here we have a movie all about Ako. Her family, her friends, her kingdom. In many ways you could argue that the series is about her (along with the cats), and she's a formidable fighter in her own right. Now let's give her barely one scene with her friend and take her out of the action for over a third of the movie. But alright, she gets freed and is poised to take down the bad guy. Except she gets beaten right away, and Hibiki (only Hibiki, screwing over Kanade, who's supposed to be her partner and equal) gets the super form to beat the bad guy.

The movie is supposed to be about Ako, but she doesn't actually do anything. Her father does sure, and Mephisto is cool, but Ako is one of the main characters and joined the team late, so she needed more moments. I would've forgiven it if she had gotten the super form like it felt like it was building up towards, but nope. Annoys me just as much as Mana and Megumi in their finales.

There were many times that I felt like Rikka and Alice did not need to be Cures. Or at least Rikka. They contributed so little that I think Rikka should've been demoted to just Mana's assistant who knows her secrets. Would've given Makoto more room to breath at least. Alice kind of has to stay a Cure though, otherwise she'd be too separated from the action since she goes to a separate school.

If Rikka doesn't the call, the how do you explain Ira's turn (somewhat) and Raquel's hilarious rivalry for the affection of his 'big sis'(yeah,right...)? I think it's a larger catalysis of a turn if the conflict is between the Cures and the generals. I still think Yuyu and Phantom subplot is the superior version of it, though... Mostly from how cringe-worthy the conclusion of Raquel's puppy love and its connection with his stance over the previous matter with Ira. His manga version on the other hand is awesomely a gentleman. Nevertheless no one has enough importence when standing in a same shot with Mana.

Because Heartcatch actually had a competent writer on board who knew where they were going with the entire thing and kept constant continuity. Heck they even tied the movie villain to the final arc even with the usual restrictions.

Where did that person go? I kept assuming a pink-only powerup in The Movie was some kind of corporate mandate, but Heartcatch didn't do it. So is it really just them being lazy writers?

The writer went back to doing Ojamajo Doremi light novels.

Raquel's subplots could be dropped or folded into Lance. I liked him, but there are bigger fish to fry. As for Ira, I am under the impression that she can do doctor stuff without superpowers. Nothing stopping her from still standing up to Ace if it comes down to it.

I assume the movie power-up is pink only for the same reason Mana/Megumi did their thing. Why I don't know, but laziness seems like one valid explanation to me. Or someone on the staff/corporate hierarchy really, really likes pink.

edited 24th Feb '15 3:15:43 PM by Sterok

I swear to god, if they make the 'pink defeat the final villain' happen every year from now on, I am legitimately going to stop watching. Unless I actually LIKE the pink lead. Which almost never happens.

And what would that Pet-Peeve Trope be....AIDS Ninja?

God I hope no one heard me say that.

EDIT: Kirara is so amazing and the way she shatters the show's most annoying tropes is even more so.

She even made the really annoying "EHHH!?" people in Precure always make AMAZING.

edited 24th Feb '15 3:57:13 PM by AegisP

Refusal of the Call/I Just Want to Be Normal. When these are played without reason, I feel that it's a needless Rage Against the Author. Even when such a character's attitude towards the plot changes, it can easily look Out of Character without a strong basis/context for it.