Pretty Cure general thread

There are times when I want to go to Japan just to watch something like this:

http://youtu.be/pRHnS1qprsE

The New Stage movies just can't compare with the limited screen-time.

It can't be helped. One day Precure will get as bloated as the Sentai, and the rest of the cameo will only win against the bad guys through Zerg Rush.

Heck, we're nearly there already!

On Refusal of the Call: Keep in mind that these are middle school girls with their own plans and stresses in life. Obviously we expect it, but it's really unfair to suddenly ask these girls to dedicate their schedules and risk their lives for a conflict they barely know about. It's not something they should be expected to do, and it isn't rational from their perspective, especially from someone who already has her own priorities like Kirara.

Exactly! My personal problem would then become this: "How does the writer get the MC to dedicate him/her self in a believable/realistic way that resonates with the audience?" The writer takes a huge risk here, and using the usual Because Destiny Says So and You Can't Fight Fate are outright Ass Pulls. If there is one thing I'll credit the writers for here, it's that I'm interested in how Puff and Aroma are going to answer this answer this question for Kirara since she is such a strongly justified case.

Friends/family threatened. Sense of conscious awakens after someone gets injured. Realizes the world ending would be bad for her career. Joins to shut Haruka up. Plenty of possible options.

Controversial opinion time. I actually like Kiriya more than the Kiryuu sisters. Or at least I like his Heel–Face Turn more than theirs. I'm not sure why, but his defection felt more organic to me. Might have something to do with how he didn't have a huge internal struggle but instead a quiet realization of who he wanted to help.

It controversial all right. I loved his defection but it could have been handled much better. I havent seen Splash Star to compare though.

Haven't seen Futari wa or Max Heart but so far as redemption arcs are concerned nothing can top the twin's redemption arc for me. Setsuna's arc is a close second though.

Same. I have major respect the Kiryuu Sisters for telling off their dad the way they did. Not many people can do that at all, magic or not.

I like Kiriya more, but I like the Kiryuu Sisters' Heel–Face Turn better. Quiet epiphany is not as entertaining as an emotionally-charged fight.

Kiriya DID have an emotionally charged fight. The Kiryuu sister fight must have been even more so then. How was it?

I meant the aftermath. Kiriya basically just gave his Prism Stone to the Cures and left to fade back into the darkness, while the Kiryuu sisters help in the asskicking up to the final episode without technically being Cures. Although Kiriya did help out a bit later, he didn't do much fighting until the very end. A more natural action for a denizen of darkness, but not as fun to watch.

During the Heel–Face Turn episode, the one with Kiriya is actually better. They are actually going at it and seriously fighting but stopping short of using a finisher Marble Screw. The one with the Kiryuu sisters just has the Cures being mostly defensive.

edited 7th Mar '15 1:10:30 AM by PsychoPJ

Emotion filled fight doesn't need to be all out brawl like with Love and Setsuna. While convincing the twins of the good in them, by being pacifist the Cures are pretty steadfast in their 'friends don't fight' stunt they seem to pull whenever their circle of clique has fights. That's the thing that cause epiphany, I think; as by being pacifist, the Cures are convincing the twins that power of destruction isn't everything.

I've just been thinking of how often we've had a 2-episode introduction for a character. It's basically just Karen and now Kirara, right? It's great when Precure breaks from its own formula and does something new with its characters.

I wouldn't exactly call that new in its strictest definition. It's really just a reused idea that felt refreshing because we didn't expect it. Not only that, the writter actually arranged the story to break the Debut Queue (unlike Karen).

edited 28th Feb '15 10:15:49 PM by aNinjaWithAIDS

Although Episode 3 was unnecessary filler. I'm having a problem with the whole Monster of the Week stuff this season. If the generals can make a Zetsuborg essentially whenever they want, what's stopping them? Why didn't they make one during that entire week that Episode 3 was set over?

Time to look at a huge fan favorite, even beyond the typical ones. One I don't quite like as much for unfair reasons. She has very directed interests, and she's one of the most perfectly crafted characters in the series. Cry some more for the tearful Cure Peace.

So here we have Yayoi, a very easy to like girl. She's a bit shy, though not so much that she can't talk to people. She gets intimidated easily and cries a lot, adding to the already heavy moe factor. She's very passionate in her hobby of drawing manga, yet not perfect. Superheroes and giant robots get her very excited. She's not especially skilled, but she tries hard at what she does. She has the tragic backstory meant to make you cry. She interacts with the viewer almost every episode. Her mannerisms while fighting are extra funny and cute. She enjoys pranks and encourages the team to follow the usual tropes. Her dream is one that I'm sure a lot of older viewers share. she's extremely easy to empathize with in general. All in all, she's the perfect package to be Smile's true star.

I'll be blunt. She was created exactly for that purpose. She was designed to appeal to the otaku demographic and resonate very well with the kids in general. Her teammates never had a shot. And well, it rubs me the wrong way kind of. Not because there's anything wrong with her character (she really is Smile's best character in several ways), but because you can tell from day 1 she was always going to be the fan favorite. By simply existing she won everyone's hearts. She feels more calculated than most of the other fan favorites, even if they were set up to win all the same behind the scenes. Normally I'm fine with that, but with Yayoi it bugs me, even though I can't put my finger on the exact reason. Now I'm not saying anyone is wrong to like her. It's just why I'm not her biggest fan.

Enough of that. The manga and superhero stuff were blatant, but also instantly endearing in their own way. It's easy to root for the one who likes those stuff because we like that ourselves (otherwise we probably wouldn't be watching this). I'm not familiar with the Toku stuff, but from what I know the references she makes are pretty blatant, passing by hero and all. Writing and drawing manga/comics is something I imagine a lot of us wish we could, and if you don't you probably find it charming anyway. And of course there's the mech stuff. Oh the mech episode. Such fanservice. Such comedy. Such glory. Yet surprisingly realistic in that for all her fangirlish screams, she has no idea how they're supposed to work. Just like no one in the real world has no idea how they work. Definitely the most consistently fun character.

And sad. The racing episode was pretty brutal, how no one except her friends had any confidence in her abilities to race fast enough (they were right to be concerned, but still). Not good for someone who already has major self-confidence issues. But the big thing is of course daddy. Tragic all around and guaranteed to tug at the heartstrings. Everything, even her attack that episode, showed just how melancholy the experience can be even years later. She'll make you laugh the most, and she'll make you cry the most (certainly moreso than the buckets of tears in the finale).

She's also one of the few recipients of the mythical thing known as character development, a process that eluded most of her team. It was pretty basic, but basic can be effective. At first she was shy and had to be prodded into showing off her work to others. Over time through practice and encouragement she gained the skills and confidence to manage her manga on her own, creating a character which definitely took no influences from anything she knew in life at all. By the end she figured out how to write an inspirational character, and in turn Miracle Peace inspired her as well. Kind of an odd loop when you think about it.

Let's see, relationships. She was close to Miyuki for sure. I'd argue she was the closest of the group to her, though that may just be because the getting lost episode sticks out to me for some reason. Miyuki was probably her largest source of confidence. Might have something to do with how similar their hobbies/dreams are. Yayoi liked to tease Akane a lot. She was a petty easy target. Nao was another source of confidence for Yayoi, though Nao didn't seem to even realize it since that sort of thing comes natural to her. Not much with Reika aside from the whole Reika can pilot mechs better than she can. Which still makes no sense, but who cares. After Miyuki Yayoi was probably Candy's biggest playmate. Those two had an easy time goofing off while the others were doing their stuff. Her rivalry was with Akaoni, which mostly consisted of Akaoni telling her she sucked and was useless followed by Yayoi saying yes, but screw you. Zap zap.

As Cure Peace she represents...peace? I dunno, but it's the closest she got to something. Something something peace on Earth something not happening but gonna strive for it anyway something something. That'll do. Her transformation was neat, but of course the best part was rock-paper-scissors. Every episode you got to play and see if you had greater luck than she did. Scissors was her default choice naturally as the symbol of peace. As a fighter she was probably the worst of the group, even more than Happy. Granted Smile had rotating competence depending on whose episode it was aside from Beauty, so it's not really that notable. But everyone else had some extra power or skill helping them (Sunny-strength, March-speed, Beauty-swords, Happy-pink) that her lack of anything beyond lightning stood out a bit. To be fair, lightning is really powerful. So powerful she rarely could control it, hurting herself as often as the enemy. Frankly lightning is so strong that if she ever gained mastery over it she'd probably be the strongest of the group easily, so it all balanced out.

The Bad End Peace battle was notable for actually giving BE Peace a bit of personality beyond anti-Peace. She was also cute, clumsy, and a bit of a prankster. Just like BE Happy, she deserved more than 1/5 of an episode.

Yayoi is wonderful, and Smile would've been better if she was the main character like the writers so obviously wanted her to be. I like Reika more for various reasons, but Yayoi is still up there as one of the best characters this series has produced. She's definitely the one who most benefited from being a show with the format of Smile. I'm happy that there aren't more like her, because it helps her genuinely stand out as someone great and not the start of a trend.

edited 28th Feb '15 11:35:37 PM by Sterok

Th-Thank you very muchy!

Well said, Yayoi is indeed the heroine Smile needs (and deserved?). Though in one side I agree that Smile at the very base is the most otaku bait of the Precure, I would like to think that Smile is basically Toei's way to cheer up Japanese's children population after the disaster. With the story is pretty much up there in idealist scale, episodic season, and the Cures' name is encouraging, but of the five, Peace embodies what Toei wants the most how the children will turn out; though had experienced loss, she turns out into a brave, well-adjusted though eccentric girl.

Yayoi does have that charged-up Flash Step elbow strike she used to knockdown Akaoni.

The Zetsuborg are made from the locks they wear. I'm not sure how quickly they can replenish, but rule of thumb is at least one episode.

edited 1st Mar '15 1:31:26 PM by PsychoPJ

edited 1st Mar '15 10:41:34 AM by PsychoPJ

Latest ep has been subbed in places.

And Kirara becomes a Precure because of a desire for friendship. I actually didn't expect that.

Twinkle Twinkle little star. Shine as brightly as you can. Haruka is one of those pestering people. Op changes yet again. Kirara brings Haruka into her world. Reminds me of when Nozomi became Urara's manager. All hail the mighty schedule. Kirara has some expectations to live up to. French people are assholes. Kirara sure knows how to shine. For a second I thought she was going to transform in order to impress him. She simply does not understand the allure of the pink. Minamin works as a nickname. Something seems up with Kirara. Hopefully I'm not just imagining things. She's fast. Good at commentary too. Dyspear is actually watching things. Interesting. Anyway, the team is together, so it's time to get the plot moving.

You know how I said Yayoi was always going to be the most popular member of her group? Well Kirara feels the same way, albeit for different reasons. In this case, it's because her teammates are unimpressive. Though I suppose we still need violin lady/inevitable 4th member to see if that will actually hold true.

Nah. From what I've seen Kirara and Minami are loved in near equal measure if you ignore fanart. Haruka is also loved for being adorable and being similar to Miyuki in some areas of the internet I've visited.

Minami seems a little bland right now. But I'm sure she'll be developed more. ...right?