Pretty Cure general thread

Seems like the Grand Princess thing I posted about earlier is true.

Edit: Post 2651 of this thread.

edited 1st Mar '15 8:25:55 PM by Meophist

So if I were to try watching one of these shows, which entry would you recommend the most?

Also, considering the recent success of more dark and symbolic MG shows like Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna is a Hero, do you guys think that PC will soon have an entry that goes more into that direction?

edited 1st Mar '15 10:00:50 PM by LDragon2

I really doubt Precure will ever go dark. It's a completely different target audience. Heartcatch is the darkest it got, and that was only because a fairy died. At the end of the day, this is still a show for little girls. They don't want to be giving them nightmares or getting complaints from parents.

No. This is a show meant for kids.

It's like saying that dinosaurs and stuff have been well-received lately by virtue of people thinking they're cool, so you decide to make Barney Darker and Edgier and include blood and gore.

edited 1st Mar '15 10:06:44 PM by HanabiraKage

Oh dear. No to making it darker. This is meant to sell toys to little girls. Going grimderp doesn't help that.

Best first show? Either Futari wa (original) or Heartcatch are the usual recommendations, though it depends on what you want exactly.

There should have been a chart of recommendation in /a/, but I don't think the newest chart is a good reference.

But in general, the recommendation goes like this;

• Don't watch Splash Star back to back with Futari wa and Max Heart, because it will taint your perception to the main characters.

• It's not recommended to watch Heartcatch as your first Precure, because it will spoil a lot of the series.

• Episodic seasons are Max Heart, Yes 5 and Go Go, and Smile. Structured arc seasons are Splash Star, Doki Doki, and Happiness Charge. The rest are in between, with many prominent arcs in some seasons.

• Don't expect this series as more than a glorified toy commercial. There's some good writing here and there, but in the end it's the awesome visual of transformation sequence and the dancing ending that matter.

Well hey, Kamen Rider Gaim and Digimon Tamers were geared towards young kids and made to sell merchandise, and they managed to pull off the whole Darker and Edgier aspect well. Maybe PC can do the same.

The seasons where it's darker are those with the especially jerk purple Cure and their subsequent fall from grace, and the ones with more violent redemption arc. Splash Star, Fresh, Heartcatch, Doki, and Happiness Charge.

The problem is trying to make a Darker and Edgier magical girl show that wouldn't be accused of ripping off Madoka. And that would still make little girls want to be a Precure, despite the risks.

Heartcatch already went as dark as they could go with precure and man it was glorious. If they could recreate that they could save this declining franchise.

Pfft, declining. It's still makes billions of yen a year in merchandise and last years movie actually did better then any other non all stars movie except Doki Doki.

Plus. It still didn't lose as much money as Splash Star, a rather early season, did.

The franchise doesn't need to get darker. It needs guts. I've said it over and over again, but Megumi being the second to last boss of Hacha would've made for a vastly more interesting conclusion and was actually foreshadowed and set up well. I firmly believe the finale is the sole reason people aren't looking back on Hacha fondly despite the fact that it's the only outright bad part. Everything was set up good enough that a strong finale would've let us overlook some of the weaker parts (love triangles and pathetic villains). And it's not like they didn't think of it, since the idea was brought up. But the show didn't have the guts to do something that might be seen as controversial, and so they played it exceedingly safe. And here, safe means pink.

Also, I don't know anything about the Hacha movie, but the preview screens all looked dreadfully boring to me. The DokiDoki movie at least looked interesting. But I don't know what Hacha's movie's reception or financial success was.

I'm not seeing how Heartcatch is the darkest Precure has gotten. I would think that Splash Star fits that bill more accuarately.

As far as Toei is concerned, the series is only declining if the sales of the merchandise goes down. Sales for Happiness Charge toys did go down significantly, but it seems like Go! Princess Precure is looking much better in the toy department. Not quite sure why, since that Cure Line is probably the most sophisticated toy so far. Or maybe it's because of it. Still way better than Splash Star's impossible-to-figure-out-how-to-play-with-just-from-watching-the-show kind of toys.

Splash Star has torture of fairies. I think people put Heartcatch as darker in that things did get better in Splash Star while Heartcatch ends with Yuri losing her fairy, father, and the little sister she only got to know through combat and no real improvement in the situation with her mother.

Yes 5 had the only moment in the series where I briefly questioned whether this was a kids show. Nightmare certainly managed to live up to its name in the middle of the season.

I think the truly scary part is that I have a good idea exactly what moment that is...

If it involves force-wearing creepy masks, then yeah.

I normally hate those "Look at all this shit, this shit aint for kids!" but Naoki Sato's score was amazing at actually creating a scary atmosphere. There are tracks in the YPC 5! that would not be out of place on End Of Evangelion, another work he scored. And then Toei replaces him with Yasuharu Takanashi, whose work on Smile and ESPECIALLY Heartcatch is nothing short of outstanding but I still wish Sato to come back.

I also loved the Cure Peace analisys, it was so touching, even if you didnt like her yourself. The race episode was one of the most touching episodes of Precure and easily among the best on the Franchise. People give Smile a lot of shit but it has some really outstanding moments that make it memorable. I also loved the comment that she is like the children in the audience.That like her they are sad and scared but grow into stronger and better people by the end. I really hate Suite but I now can safely declare that Doki Doki is the worst Precure season. I actually dont hate any of its characters or any of the plots it did, but it generates nothing but apathy. I always felt off put by the Pink aesthetic it had (Like Suite before it) and I never really bought into the "BEST SEASON EVER" hype some editors on the wiki had for it. What makes it the worst show was how much potential was squandered. With the Crystal Arc you definitely felt the show was building up to something big that never really came. I actually stopped watching after a while, feat only Suite had acomplished.

Just to be clear, I do like Yayoi. A lot. I'm just in the minority that she isn't my favorite of the Smiles, mostly because of Reika, and partially because I found her a bit too blatantly favored by the show in terms of likeability.

Funny you meantioned Yasuharu Takanashi. It was during Heartcatch that I went from liking PC's soundtracks to loving them. I'll have to disagree with you and say that I actually liked Suite more than some other seasons, but that's just me.

The thing with Doki is, just like several time already stated, the staff is just too ambitious but also, on the other hand, put Mana too much on the pedestal. The entire plot just loses its weight when the potential plotlines just got swallowed into Mana wanking. I too stopped watching the season at the mid season finale because it's just too painful to watch because of the complete lack of care of the rest of the team, but came back for the finale and continued to get disappointed.

When it comes to Makopi having her connection with the Ange triad, we don't really see that happen. But when that happen (that one episode she sings to Regina), it's so awesome I can almost forgive the blatant disregard of her position as a Trump Kingdom knight if only they continue doing that.

Interestingly, as some anon noted, if the pink got the lion share of the plot, the yellow are practically beloved by the animation staff with their disproportionately awesome animations. Because of that, Peace's position as pseudo-main character is somewhat making sense, as she has the greatest chara development in Smile and got many great episodes.

FUCK I MADE SUCH A LONG POST AND THEN IT GOT FREAKING DELETED. NO FAIR!!!

Anyway. Amazing Episode. I used to feel something was off about Kirara, but now I think she's awesome. Its weird that Haruka was still calling Minami by her last name. I guess its due to Princesses always adress people properly.

So no one mentioned the Karl Lagerfeld-lookalike?

I swear, ever since I gave you that Erika pic, you've been speaking like her too (minus the Precision F-Strike, of course).

I digress; Kirara actually managed to answer my question: Her new friends are just as valuable as her modeling career. Awww.

edited 3rd Mar '15 11:08:24 PM by aNinjaWithAIDS

LOL. She's so amazing. People who think Haruhi Suzumiya is Genki have not met Erika.

I hope my posts are good to live up to this avatar.

I have some big shoes to fill.

Also. Something that got deleted in my first draft.

"AMANOGAWA KIRARA! HOW DARE YOU REJECT US!!!"

LOL Aroma Mad.