Pretty Cure general thread

I mean like, a Cure joins after the rest of the team has gotten a few upgrades...and suddenly she has access to similar/identical upgrades and can fight on par with, if not better than the rest of the team. That's kind of ridiculous. It makes sense if the team just sucks while the new girl has had fighting experience (though only as a normal and not as a Cure) like Cure Sunshine for example, or if the latest addition to the team was already a veteran Cure (though in the latter case the veteran usually ends up a victim of the Worf Effect).

If they attempt to justify it somehow, I don't really mind but...

EDIT: Well, I can see why they need more Cures quicker in Smile. Let's see...we have a Cute Clumsy Girl, The Idiot from Osaka, and a crybaby. Plus, they can only use their finishers once a battle and become almost completely sapped of energy after using it? I'm liking this season already.

edited 7th Apr '14 12:01:11 AM by HanabiraKage

That applies to none of the 'extra' Cures aside from Ellen though. Setsuna has experience fighting as Eas, Itsuki being a martial arts student obviously has skills from that, Yuri was a veteran, Ako was fighting alongside Hibiki and Kanade in the shadows, Aguri fought in her past life, Iona has clearly been fighting longer than the other three and Yuuko trains as a civilian. Pretty much every extra Cure has a reason for why they fight on equal footing with the initial team.

edited 7th Apr '14 12:01:26 AM by Chariot

Ellen fought several times before becoming Cure Beat. It wasn't a lot, but she wasn't helpless.

Agh, I give up! It's very hard to call Doki Doki's classmates by their first names now! But I wonder if they gonna drop that act post-series. Especially if Nikaidou is the groom. Mana needs to stop calling him by her future surname. At least Yashima tried to Rikka (see episode 36).

Also, I heard that the entire Super Hero Time (Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Precure) will be absent or have their timeslots relocated during World Cup. Which means we might have less episodes for all three shows. Gaim even has been confirmed to end early. No, it's not Decade's fault.

edited 7th Apr '14 5:51:38 AM by IrueruPunch

It's always Decade's fault and people have been speculating that this season would be the shortest because thirty-three congratulatory messages equals out to thirty-three episodes.

Everyone freaked out when there's a rumor Doki would end in 47 episodes, especially with so many plot threads hanging and potential herrings unexplained even after the epilogue; why would you think a season with international teams and slow character development will end in 33 episodes? That's quite absurd; unless it's one of those Broken Streak Happiness Charge is aiming for. But still... 33 is just after mid season finale in usual seasons.

And if it's true it will end in 33 episode, I guess we'll blame Cure Echo, then?

edited 7th Apr '14 7:14:23 AM by AlaAlba

It's been a theory I've seen thrown around since before Happinesscharge! even started. Yeah it doesn't make much sense but I can understand why people would theorize that this season will be that short.

Even if you eliminate 4-5 weeks for World Cup, and a week for the usual Koshien, HaCha will still have 44-45 episodes. That's still enough.

Well if you assume that the amount of congratulatory messages isn't equal to the amount of episodes anyways. It could really go either way. The 'extra' Cures are both joining earlier than usual and the plot seems to be moving faster as well so if you factor that in with the amount of messages then a thirty-three episode season isn't too farfetched.

On the other hand the amount of messages might not mean anything and it is possible they are dealing with the 'extra' Cures earlier than usual in order to have more time to focus on other things in which case having our standard forty-seven to fifty episode length season is feasible as well.

Don't worry, everything's fine. No games will be broadcast during SHT.

edited 8th Apr '14 12:43:49 PM by IrueruPunch

Huh...doremi subs still hasn't got the subs for episode 10 up yet. Guess it's gonna take a while more huh.

EDIT: Smile Pre Cure's entering the endgame, and it's only around the halfway mark? Looks like there might be a Bigger Bad, huh?

EDIT 2: Guess not. So it's just going into round two eh? Now they've got enemies so powerful their normal transformation is completely useless, so they have to rely purely on Rainbow Burst. Here we go with the whole instant win button thing again...

edited 9th Apr '14 2:34:12 AM by HanabiraKage

Smile mid season finale might be one of the most awesome; which is such a waste the season itself goes the circular route with that Pierrot clock.

And so glad there's no break in Precure train. Happiness Charge might be the season that I genuinely excited of its mold-breaking.

I'm still waiting on subs for Happiness Charge. :/

Happinesscharge! is being delayed this month because Doremi's translator has exams this month that he needs to study for.

Yeah, I saw the post. Odd how doremi's the only group subbing this though.

EDIT: And less than 5 minutes later I have to eat my words. Sort of. There's still no other group actually doing this for the long term, but seems someone else picked it up because doremi's releases are being delayed.

edited 9th Apr '14 5:25:24 PM by HanabiraKage

Seriously, go watch Yes 5 eventually. I'm not going to say Yes 5's cast is better than Smile's (though Nozomi and Komachi beat Miyuki and Nao easily), but it really is well put together. I called Muse's identity the first episode she appeared. Itsuki is actually really unique as far as new Cures go, but I'll get to that when we get to her.

Episode 10. Blossom looks so excited. Animation really sucks this episode if even I can tell. Blue is running away from the singing. Honey's song seems to be literally infectious. It was broadcasted on TV? Did we miss Masuko? Hime just doesn't click with it, despite liking it. I liked Yuuko's moment where she was worried about people not liking her song. Random extra time. Didn't care for Hitomi's plot. Heartcatch already did it better. Hoshiwaa's singing was fun, as was her random rivalry with Honey. They make pretty good rivals actually now that I think about it. Hoshiwaa really wants to be in Suite. Singing duel. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but Hoshiwaa's voice was losing it near the end. Bunch of new attacks that place her in the typical yellow support role. I think Peace and arguably Sunshine are the only ones that don't fall into that category. When did Yuuko learn their identities anyway? Or does she just have a brain? Anyway, no beating around the bush with Honey's identity.

Blossom is going to be a long one; I can see it already.

Those attacks though...for a few of them I was literally yelling "you don't need a skill for that!!!"

Like Honey Throw, for example.

I like how they respected the viewers' intelligence and treated Honey's reveal as more of a revelation for the characters.

I think Ribbon's reaction was the best.

I'm watching the 2nd All-Stars New Stage movie at the moment...and lol they brought the Nattou Gyoza Candy up again. Poor Makoto.

Hmm...so this movie has to be set somewhere between episode 7 to 11 of Dokidoki (excluding said episodes). Well, I guess it's a good point to do so because that's right before their first major power-up, and any later wouldn't make sense either because they won't be that new and unknown any more. I wonder if they'll make good on that last bit and have Grell and EnEn return as mascots in the future? Or maybe they'll make a cameo in a later episode of Happiness Charge?

I was a little worried about the wildly varying artstyles between the various seasons, but it didn't really clash that much. Hmm.

EDIT: Haha, so they return in the 3rd movie huh? Guess I'll just have to wait.

edited 10th Apr '14 8:11:28 PM by HanabiraKage

What was with all the Engrish in episode 10? I know Hime is a foreigner and may know some English, but even Megumi was just throwing around. Weird.

Speaking of Engrish, it's time to look at a character who tried to define herself by an English word. Despite her color, she fits neither of the particular stereotypes associated with it. Until recently she was the most unique protagonist in the series. Time to look at the budding flower, Cure Blossom.

Tsubomi is a shy girl who loves flowers. That's how she starts out anyway. She also starts out chanting one simple word, change. She wants to change that shy part of her, the part of her that makes it difficult to talk to others and make friends. It's a part of herself that she starts out hating, and she takes the chance moving into a new town brings to change herself into something new. Too bad she doesn't have the willpower to do it, and is really on the edge talking with people, at least at first. She wants to try, and she has the guts, but she breaks down when the opportunity is right in front of her. At least, that's what seems to happen until a certain tsunami washes all over her.

Aside from her shyness, her love of flowers is her number one defining trait, and she lucks out by starring in a season whose motif is flowers. She knows all about them, from the flowers found in the botanical garden to the Heart Flowers found in people's hearts. This combined with Heartcatch's focus on the character of the day provides her with an interesting perspective. She's almost always the one watching others, learning from them and being inspired by what they do, instead of being the one doing the inspiring. This is another thing unique to her until recently, with the closest analog being Nagisa in that department. Tsubomi observes people, and by seeing their Heart Flowers she stands to learn something about them and who they are, which in turn leads to her learning about herself.

Flowers may be the motif, but the theme is understanding yourself. This is emphasized rather bluntly with the Desertrians shouting out their worries, allowing someone else to realize their problems and help them come to terms with it. Tsubomi doesn't get this however. Erika and Itsuki get turned into Desertrians and shout out their problems, leading to Tsubomi doing her best to try and help them once she understands their problems. While Yuri is never turned into one, Tsubomi still learns a lot about her, which is what incites Yuri's own understanding of herself. Tsubomi does not have that luxury. There is no one analyzing who she is, what her problems are, what struggles she faces. Erika and her grandmother do some of this, and they plus Itsuke support her all the way, but for the most part she has to come to terms with her own weakness, and then promptly fail most of the time.

It all comes to a climax when the team is earning the Heartcatch Mirage, and each person has to fight their own shadow filled with their greatest insecurities. While everyone else handles it rather swiftly, Tsubomi does not. She gets most of an episode fighting her shadow, who tries to force her to come to terms with one simple fact. Tsubomi has not changed, will never change, and cannot change. Seeing how this is her own mirage, this seems to mean Tsubomi believes this herself to some extent, even as she fervently denies this. She just gets beat up while refusing to accept that premise. In the end, she does not conquer herself by stubbornly saying she has changed or will change. That's not the point of the season. What Tsubomi was trying to do, and what she never realized, was that she was trying to discard her shy, introverted self and become something else, someone she never would be. This is where she realizes that yes, she can change, even if just a little bit. She opens up, is more confident in talking with people, and is less of a nervous wreck. But deep down, she'll never be free of her old self. And she accepts that, embracing that part of her, because it's who she is, and there is nothing wrong with that. By the end of the show, I think she's accomplished her main goal. She is not a completely different, idealized person. Rather, she is her old self, but better and stronger, and she's happy with that.

As the main character, she has a lot of interesting relationships that stand out as unique. Erika is the main one, the girl who essentially bullies Tsubomi into becoming her best friend. Despite her initial uneasiness, Tsubomi accepts her as part of her life and gratefully brings her along in the Pretty Cure business. Despite being completely different characters, Erika shares one important trait with Honoka. The main character wants to be more like them. Tsubomi wants to be more energetic, active, and just chatting with people wherever she is. She doesn't want to be Erika thankfully, but she serves as one of her inspirational figures. I think eventually she realized Erika was a terrible role model, and by that point they had become fully equals and best friends, willing to do almost anything together.

Tsubomi has a crush on Itsuki. It's only slightly less blatant than Rikka's crush, even after Itsuki's gender is revealed. At first Tsubomi thinks she's this cool student council president guy who is so awesome, and when she learns Itsuki is a girl her perception just substitutes guy for girl. When it comes to her regular life Itsuki is the true role model for Tsubomi, being well mannered and popular. Itsuki had her own issues to deal with, but Tsubomi was better equipped to assist her with that, and that plus her joining the fashion club cements the two as good friends. On another note, that was the smartest thing Tsubomi ever did. Shut down the fashion club? The one the student council president is in? Yeah, not happening.

Legacy is a big deal in Heartcatch, as it's the only series to really deal with previous Cures. DokiDoki pays lip service to it, but does all of nothing with it. Heartcatch however brings it to the forefront with Cure Flower, the past Cure who saved the world decades ago. And who is she but Tsubomi's own grandmother? Kaoruko is the true mentor figure in Heartcatch, and Tsubomi goes to her for emotional support, Cure advice, and whatever it is old people have. This puts extra pressure on Tsubomi as she tries and live up to her grandmother's legacy as one of the greatest Cures in history. Unfortunately for her, this is not ultimately her story, and the true hero is in fact someone else.

As I have established earlier, Yuri is Heartcatch. The plot is about Moonlight rising back up after her defeat even as the world continues to slam her down. Since Yuri is also an older figure who has experience fighting, Tsubomi heavily looks up to her as this great warrior who she needs to emulate. Yuri does not want this and tries to drive her away, but Tsubomi's continual efforts to reach out to her win out eventually. As she learns more about Yuri she begins to understand what she went through, and while the hero worship never goes away, care for this hurt girl takes precedence in Tsubomi's heart. This is best shown in the finale where twice she needs to save Moonlight from whatever emotional wreck is striking her this time, reminding her that no matter what happens, she has to stay strong, not give into rage, and save the world. It may not be her story, but Blossom was the key component in the story of Moonlight.

Jeez there's a lot to say about other characters. Chypre was her bonded fairy, and they got along pretty much instantly. She had various dealings with her classmates from the nosy Aida to the scary Ban, but over time she got to know them all and grew friendly with many people. She even had a childhood friend who had a crush on her, though she never realized this. Kind of blunts the lonely shy girl image, but oh well. She was protective of Olivier in the movie, which was pretty cute. Her parents are currently always there for her, but unlike Honoka, when they were gone constantly in the past she couldn't bear it, and thus her parents decided to stay by her side. Lucky girl. Then she gets a new member of the family in Futaba, which seems random at first, but it ties into the legacy point I made earlier. Tsubomi was driven by the legacies of past Cures like Ange, Flower, and Moonlight, and now she can pass down her own legacy to someone else. On another note, I think there's some irony that Tsubomi gains a sister just as Yuri loses one.

As Cure Blossom she represents the flowers, being the second one to do so. She loves those flowers all right. One of the issues brought up early is that she's the weakest Pretty Cure ever, and in Heartcatch that's mostly true. All of her teammates, even latecomer Sunshine, are superior fighters than her. In the whole franchise, only Happy and Princess hold a candle to her incompetence, but at least Happy won her first fight. Quite frankly, she's not meant to be a Cure. She doesn't know how to fight. She doesn't even know what a punch is, calling butt attacks a punch. Yet, she manages. Weakest or not, she's still a Pretty Cure, and she can still kick plenty of ass. She's got several abilities, like her Blossom Shower and her perfume that gets used like 5 times in addition to her Forte Wave. The Blossom Tact is one of the sillier weapons in the franchise I think, but you get used to it. She never beats a villain on her own, unlike everyone else. The only one-on-one she got in the finale was with Sabaaku, who was beating her until he had to defend Dark. Then Dark kicked her ass until Moonlight recovered. The Infinity Silhouette looking like her I say is giving her a break and letting her have something to her name. Then she opened up Dune's heart. Or gave him one. It's not really clear. Oh, and her dual transformation with Marine is my favorite in the series.

To me, Tsubomi stands out as the second best protagonist, narrowly beating out Nagisa, but losing to Nozomi. That means she's great, and was a wonderful protagonist for her show. She's only my third favorite Heartcatch Cure, but that's more about how awesome the others are. Once she was unique among the protagonists, but now she has a successor. Hime is currently trying to live up to her legacy, but we won't know how she fares until the end. Tsubomi may not have changed who she was, but she did change what she wants to do, going from just being among the flowers as a young girl to wanting to go and spread flowers into space. Kind of a big jump. She has fully bloomed, with arguably the best arc a main Cure has had. She's just one of the many reasons Heartcatch is so great.

Speaking of LegacyCharacters, I just realised something. Moonlight became a Cure at least a few years before the other girls of HeartCatch did...so where does that put her in relation to the Cures from previous seasons? It's not an issue within HeartCatch itself, but in the All-Stars crossover movies with the newer Cures referring to the Cures from earlier seasons as their seniors, Moonlight's kind of in a grey area. Sword has a similar issue, having become a Cure before the rest of the Dokidoki girls, but it doesn't feel like she's been a Cure for too long so it's not that much of a problem.

And Muse doesn't count because she became a Cure right before Melody and Rhythm did.

I guess we'll never know till the writers speak up. :/

It's one of those things where you kind of have to just shrug your shoulders and ignore the issues. Apparently Sword was only a Cure for a month before the fall of the Trump Kingdom, and she wouldn't have gotten involved with Earth anyway. Yuri was probably too busy fighting the Desert Apostles to travel to Clover Town or whatever.

I forgot to mention something else interesting about Blossom. She's the only lead Cure to not appear in Cure form in one of her episodes. Cure Blossom makes no appearance in the episode after Moonlight's return. Just thought that was interesting.

I think in All Stars, Yuri still depowered and ended up waving Miracle Light in DX 2. As for her status among the Cures, she seems equal to the Max Heart trio by the way Smile team in NS 2 and the rest of the Cures in Pretphot game called them (using -san, even the most casuals).

I mean like, when did she become a Cure in relation to the Cures from earlier seasons? Is she the "senior" of any of the previous teams, by virtue of her having become a Cure before them chronologically?

Watching Fresh now...let's just say the art and animation aren't really all that good. I can't really believe this is the season right before HeartCatch, the improvement was huge.

edited 11th Apr '14 4:50:49 AM by HanabiraKage

Fresh is a bit of an oddity. It's basically the first season of the franchise to be done by an an almost entirely different set of Animators from the seasons before it, so most of the staff was young and inexperienced. This is especially true by the end. If you think the art and animation is relatively bad now....