Pretty Cure general thread

Well, sorry. Next time, I'll spoiler the reaction, though I'm not really. This kind of thing is not really spoilerific.

There are several signs of Megumi's apparently poverty. When Blue gives her the Lines, she remarks that this is the first time she has a cell. Her room is pretty small, a "one bed, one drawer" small room, and she has no laptop. I won't say it will make an episode's drama, but Hime will make a big deal out of something Megumi has no problem with.

According to official Asahi site, It's Cure Happy in episode 5.

Wow, that's irony right there! We had a huge discussion about her just a few days ago.

These two may literally be more bark than bite, but they are no less tenacious than everyone else.

x2

Care to provide an actual link that says that she'll be showing up?

Here. See that yellow bold; Cure Happy.

EDIT: And Megumi's mom got her own profile now. It says that she indeed was born with weak constitution and would collapse if working too hard.

edited 24th Feb '14 8:55:06 AM by AlaAlba

Thanks. I guess that means we don't have to guess who is doing the intro then.

I could not see her doing well if she gets turned into a Saiark....

Watch Symphogear

Now I have a morbid interesting in wanting to see Megumi pull off a Man of Steel moment.

"How, dare, you, harm, my, MOTHER!"

Same as usual.... Wing it.

I hope Toei continues the trend with MOTW. There is something about ripping out people's souls that is more entertaining then possessing inanimate objects.

don’t call me nerdy [url=http://dragcave.net/view/lgru9][img][/img

Actually, that's something that's been bugging me about Happiness Charge. In Heartcatch it worked because we got to know the people before they became monsters, and thus understood their struggles, plus it was thematically appropriate. It wasn't very emotional in DokiDoki, but it was thematically appropriate seeing how the theme was that selfishness exists inside everyone (except Mana). There's no obvious theme yet in HC, and we've already got an instance of ignoring the victim, plus Mao wasn't having any issues before being monsterfied. It does drive up the stakes, but the overall result is no different then regular monsters if there's no theme to connect it.

Fortune helped establish in episode one that monsters are created from strong emotions whether positive or negative. Mao being an examples of monsters being created from positive feelings.

Forgot about that. That plus Mirage's hatred against positive emotions gives it a better thematic reason to happen.

Lovely will go berserk too much and Queen Mirage will turn her into a Saiark.

Seiji's sister Mao now has her own profile too. Interestingly, her full name is Ooyama Mao.

Which means her and Seiji's parents were single parents before they re-married.

x4: Mana admitted that she's sometimes selfish in the final episode, and there were several occasions which showed that side of her. I understand why you (and probably everyone else) would think of that, though.

I agree that Mana should have an episode or two which is more about herself. The movie is supposedly done exactly that, so I'm excited. March 19th can't come soon enough.

By the way, anyone's going to get Doki Doki Complete Book?

EDIT: Scratch that. Someone pointed out that it's an error from Asahi's site. Toei's site has it right, both Mao and Seiji have the same surname.

edited 25th Feb '14 3:56:44 AM by IrueruPunch

Ehh...so yeah, a certain manga (Shinozaki-san Ki wo Ota Shika ni!) kind of made me want to watch Pretty Cure.

If I ever get around to it, should I start from Futari wa Pretty Cure or just go with the latest season? I know that they're all unrelated and stuff.

At least start with the earlier seasons.

It will help you recognize who cameos in the beginning of each Happiness Charge Episode, since all the cures from past seasons will have made an appearance in the opening, eventually.

Just be prepared to have an Archive Panic, though...

Watch Symphogear

Final episode also showed her breaking free of selfishication all by herself. After that, I'm ready to call bull on her claim that she's selfish at all. Plus, exaggeration.

Shinozaki mostly parodies Smile, with a but of Futari wa and Heartcatch. Starting with the original series works perfectly fine, but if you have any particular tastes another show may be better.

I don't know. I always think that she could do that because he once again said a Cassandra Truth. Or was it an Accidental Truth? Otherwise, why was that scene happened?

Hopefully Complete Book's interview will explain that. If not, then I'll stick with my theory.

edited 25th Feb '14 6:59:18 AM by IrueruPunch

x5

The final episode left a bitter taste in my mouth so no. Not buying anything related to last season.

If I remember correctly, you also dislike Digimon Savers, correct? Would you dislike Doki Doki more if I tell you that both were written by the same guy?

edited 25th Feb '14 9:02:44 AM by IrueruPunch

The thing with Mana is that her selfish doesn't do that characteristic destructive tendency of the Jikochu or got appropriately called out. The King ruined his kingdom, Marie Ange had to split her psyche just to not succumbing into her Jikochu-ness, and see what happened to the tainted psyche initially. She has no down time compares to those other victims of Jikochu-vication, and it leaves a bad taste on people's maouth.

x2

That would explain things but not really. My dislike of Savers is a result of the tone rather than the series going against what previous seasons stood for.

Doki Doki and Savers have quite many similarities, if you think about it.

• The repetition of the first syllable in the main character's name through Alternate Character Reading (Daimon Dai and Aida Ai)
• Same color scheme for the main cast.
• One of the main characters has an inferiority complex or at least felt useless compared to others.
• One of the villains is based on Belphegor.
• The main villain possessed one of the main cast's father.
• There's at least one Japanese Delinquents.
• The blue-themed character is an inspiring doctor.
• The main character's parent is a Supreme Chef.
• The main character is given a device by a hat-wearing strange guy who later turned out to be heavily involved in the whole thing.

There might be more, but we're going to out of topic.

Also, I really tempted to expand Doki Doki's Die for Our Ship. Side characters had it rough this time. The vice president is hated by Ira/Rikka shippers because he and Rikka danced together. Yashima is nicknamed Slutshima for what she did to Raquel. And poor, poor Nikaidou. He is antagonized for the same reasons as Joe, only worse because he rarely appeared and what he did in the finale seems like an Author's Saving Throw in regards to Mana's sexuality.

Sometimes I think Mana is just asexual, as in she loves everyone in a platonic manner, but loves no one in a romantic way. Could prove a problem for Rikka and Regina, both of whom probably want to get into her pants.

But enough about that controversial character. Time for uh, another controversial character. She's the oldest main Cure in the series thus far, and like Passion before her, she defined the show she starred in. Give it up for the silver lady, Cure Moonlight.

In the series prior to Heartcatch, the lead is typically the first character seen in the show. In Heartcatch, it instead starts with Moonlight's battle against her imouto Dark Precure, where she loses after putting up a good fight. This sets the tone for the tragedy that is her life. After that Yuri just makes a cameo appearance or two before it's confirmed she's Moonlight (ignore that the op spoiled it). This builds up Moonlight as a legendary warrior, someone for Blossom and Marine to strive to live up to. To them, she was a great warrior that they could learn something from, and during the first half that's sort of what she does. She assists them when necessary, gives them advice when they push her, and serves as an inspiring figure for them to work towards and a mentor in their times of need.

Of course, that's what they see her as. Yuri on the other hand sees herself as a failure and wishes to distance herself from the new Cures. She does not wish to be a mentor or guide, or at least that's what I got from her. Everyone saw her as this great warrior, but inside she was broken and unable to fight, and not just because she couldn't transform. Right now, she just wants to live peacefully with her mother while hoping her father comes back, even though she knows it won't happen. She didn't think she would be any good at helping them, lest she taint them with her mistakes. Of course, she's still a hero and recognizes when they need help, so she ends up forced to interfere even when she doesn't want to. Even with limited powers, she still manages to hold off Dark or other villains at times, showing that even when she's down, she's not out.

Then we get her full story, of how she believed she was so powerful she didn't need any allies to beat the Desert Apostles. It was just Moonlight and Cologne vs. the alien invaders. And it seemed it was true at first, seeing how she apparently beat Sasorina, Kumojacky, and Cobraja plenty of times, and probably even took on Dark before her defeat. Then Dark and Sabaaku ambushed her, leading to Cologne's death. That act made her realize what a fool she had been and that she had been arrogant. Understandably, she wanted to cut off contact with her mistakes, as accepting some of the blame for the death of her partner couldn't have been easy. This carried over to her reactions with the other fairies, especially Potpourri, as she didn't want them to suffer Cologne's fate. But of course, her strength and experience was needed. Even as she criticized Blossom, Marine, and later Sunshine, she still supported them and wanted them to succeed. Cologne's spirit was the necessary force to get her out of her funk and back into business.

From there she establishes that the hype around her was fully justified. She's able to go toe to toe with Dark, who ties with the other 3 Cures at worst. She managed to solo a Desertrian fairly easily, and dominated most of the rest of the monster fights. The Mirage Arc solidifies that she has moved on and accepted her mistakes. Too bad she can't solo Dune. So the finale comes, Earth is turned into a desert, and it's time to make her life worse. Sabaaku is revealed to be her missing father, and she breaks down again. Dark is confirmed to be her little sister, created to destroy her. She loses herself at this betrayal, but she's got good old Blossom to get her back on her feet, which is enough to kill Dark, but not before Sabaaku hugs her goodbye. I think she was sad for killing Dark, but didn't regret it over all. Then Dune kills her lousy dad in an admittedly shocking scene, and she loses herself again, this time to anger. Once again Tsubomi brings her out of it, at least long enough for the others to arrive, giving them the strength to defeat the king of the desert. And then her arc ends on a bitter note, now having to accept that so many close to her died, but also willing to move on with her life. Indeed, the Precure business took up so much of her life she doesn't seem to know what to do with it, and she's in high school, so she better think of something soon.

So yeah, Heartcatch is essentially about Yuri's journey from a tragic mistake, to recovering on an emotional level and realizing that she is still needed, to being forced to suffer more because she is the light of the Cures, to accepting what happened and letting herself move on. Her emotional arc was strong, and that was what made Heartcatch seem more mature, even if the animation suggested otherwise. Her other role was to be an (unintentional) model for the younger Cures, and that wasn't handled as well. Sure, we're told she was strong, and the dialogue and most of her actions support that, but her only onscreen battle before recovering is her loss against Dark, meaning we have to rely on word of mouth to accept that she was this great Cure. A flashback of her kicking ass and taking names would've greatly improved that part of her, since she was their idol whether she liked it or not.

Yuri as a character was mostly defined by her tragedies, but of course there's her normal life as well. She is very smart, top of her grade, and she managed that while under depression. This helps show she has a strong work ethic. Initially she regards trivial matters like a fashion show as unimportant, but she eventually relents and decides to help Erika as they grow closer. If she's going to do something, she's going to do it right. Overall she's fairly reserved and quiet, not really going out of her way to talk to people. She definitely likes flowers, which is appropriate given the series. While she's harsh, she has a soft spot for young kids. She's consistently caring for them and goes out of her way to make sure they're okay. When not moping, she's very mature, which is natural seeing how she's older. This helps establish herself as an authority figure, both among her team and with the kids. She's certainly got plenty of charisma in her, enough that people want to listen to her. She's not outgoing, so people often don't, but when she does they take note.

Instead of representing a virtue, Moonlight represented something more concrete, a trait she shares with the other Heartcatch Cures. She is the Cure of the moon, and more specifically the light that shines down during the darkness. Her sister represents the dark side. Moonlight got in less fights than the others obviously, but her skill showed very clearly. She took advantage of all her abilities, whether they be ranged attacks, flight, reflections, or good old fashioned feints. She seemed to be a bit of a dirty fighter, which perfectly fits her more pragmatic nature. Her transformation is meh, but I love her theme song.

Yuri has a lot of interesting relationships, seeing how this is Heartcatch. Tsubomi is the big one. Tsubomi is the lead and main character, while Yuri is the most important character. As such, near the end Tsubomi's role at the end is being Yuri's emotional crutch, the one that encourages her to get back on her feet and defeat big bad Dark. Tsubomi has the utmost faith in Yuri, seeing her as this great hero, and she doesn't want that image to be tarnished. For her part, Yuri doesn't have much respect for Tsubomi at first, but gradually comes around to like her for her determination. Like everyone else, she has to keep up with Erika and try not to get pulled around too much. Since Erika respects her, this isn't as bad for her as it is for others. Yuri is critical of Itsuki at first, but later respects her as a fellow warrior. We didn't see much of it, but she and Cologne were obviously close, close enough that she was broken after his death. She's thankful to Coupe for saving her, and she holds great respect for Kaoruko, who is senior even to her. Momoka is her only friend her own age, and the two get along fairly well, even if Yuri is a bit cold at times. She's also got an adversarial relationship with Dark and Sabaaku. Dark is her rival and wishes to kill Yuri in particular. Too bad Yuri never understood it until it was too late. Sabaaku's reveal broke her, as she wasn't prepared for betrayal, but since it was the finale she didn't have much time to go into shock before recovering. Alas, she cares for both of her parents, but only one made it out alive.

While she didn't dominate in screen-time the way Nagisa, Nozomi, or even Setsuna did, Yuri was the dominating force behind Heartcatch. She was ever present, but not always in the center. The show began with her, and her emotional arc was the big highlight of the finale. Some don't like her because of her abrasiveness and rudeness early on, but I love her for it. Without out her Heartcatch would have been a completely different show. If you don't like Yuri, you probably won't like Heartcatch. Otherwise, she deserves much credit as the reason the most popular show became so well liked.

edited 25th Feb '14 8:52:05 PM by Sterok

You know, upon reading the last paragraph, I think I know the pattern for the first batch of messages: the Cures who defined their show the most. Next week is Happy, right? Smile is pretty much centered on her. I won't be surprised if episode 6's is either Heart, Sword, or Ace. I'm betting on Ace, since Doki Doki is Marie-Ange's story.

Many speculation on what kind of pattern the congratulation message Cures make. I think the most popular is the character designers because they skip Splash Star, that's why there's a rumor episode 5 will be Rhythm's turn.

Now that it's revealed Happy will be the next, people from both /a/ and /futaba/ rant that Toei doing a stealth Orwellian Editor on Splash Star and Suite because they're not that popular compare on the seasons they got stucked in between.

edited 26th Feb '14 4:12:11 AM by AlaAlba