Pretty Cure general thread

When it comes to Smile, my main disappointments were its downplayed Fairy Tale Motifs and Pierrot as a compelling Big Bad (seriously, it might as well have been Joker...). I still stand by the idea that not every character needs to develop to be enjoyable. I see what you mean about Candy because it's a shame that she didn't know anything outside of "find the Pretty Cures so Marchenland can be restored" whereas Hummy and Tarte were capable of advancing the plot on their own after the their respective plots kicked off.

Miyuki's leadership style isn't just instinct either; she just sticks to her one simple belief: to make everyone she meets truly happy. She's been doing this ever since she broke away from her Shrinking Violet tendencies. The really big difference between Kamina and Miyuki in this regard is scale.

edited 5th Nov '14 9:30:51 PM by aNinjaWithAIDS

I'll never understand how comedic Smile had one of the best villains when drama filled Suite had Trio the Minor and plot focused DokiDoki got Bel and Regina. And Joker didn't even get a proper send off. I don't care whether Happy, Beauty, or the whole team offs him. Just let him go down swinging.

Hm, we've discussed who is the best Big Bad before, but who's the best Dragon? None of Futari wa's were great. Splash Star is hard to rate. Kawarino was proto-Joker, but Anacondy was meh. Northa sucked. Dark was cool. Mephisto was lame, though super-Falsetto was actually pretty good. Joker was Joker. Regina was meh. Phantom is decent, getting some actual development.

edited 5th Nov '14 10:01:22 PM by Sterok

Does Regina even count as a Dragon seeing as she spent quite a bit of her screentime as a Neutral party?

By which I mean episodes 12-13 were cameos, 15-19 she was a villain, 20-22 she was mostly Neutral, 38-45 she was a villain, and 46 onwards she was mostly Neutral to good. So out of 22ish episodes she was actually in she spent about half of them as a Neutral party.

edited 5th Nov '14 10:17:49 PM by Chariot

It's either her or Bel, and as much as I like the old man he didn't have the chops to be a serious threat. Regina was at least nominally the field commander and the biggest threat aside from Papa and the Proto-Selfish.

The competition for the best among The Dragons in Pretty Cure isn't exactly fun because there have been no villains that were compelling within that role aside from Joker who is practically a Dragon-in-Chief. If Phantom had his own backstory on how he became stronger than the average Cure and willing to do so, he'd surely get this win. Sadly, I don't think we'll get such a thing at this rate.

Dammit all... I Knew It!!

edited 5th Nov '14 10:31:26 PM by aNinjaWithAIDS

(Spoilers for future episodes of Happinesscharge!) Given that Phantom is supposed to be defeated in episode 40 I don't think we'll get much backstory for him unless it's at the last minute or post episode 40.

lol, your current avatar is a dog.

but i get your point

Well, it was Cure Peace right at the time I made that post. Besides, this is actually my dog. Next time when I make a post like that, I have to remember that Examples Are Not Recent.

edited 6th Nov '14 9:57:51 PM by aNinjaWithAIDS

Picked out Smile because i tend to like the series that take themselves less seriously (as Heartcatch did in many ways). Seems okay so far, but it always takes a bit for these series to get off the ground.

After a break week, episode 39 is here. Still waiting on Dark Dream. Tender beating up multiple Saiarks would be cooler if our protagonists hadn't already cleared out an entire city before. But she's doing pretty good for someone who was recently half-dead. It's easier to admire Maria than Yuri, that's for sure. To America. To freedom. I guess she just reserved her flight without telling anyone. She probably is more useful elsewhere, since Hacha have home locked down just fine. I kind of wish we got more insight on Maria's relationship with Glassan. Looks like Iona knows how to give a massage. Villains are still way behind the power curve. The Innocent Form attacks were cool this time though. Song is still funny. And no one bothered to tell Hime until after the fact.

Yeah, I'm about ready for Happiness Charge to end. I like more than previous years, but now we're just waiting for the finale to happen.

Yeah, I miss Maria already. The massage scene was a hilarious and heartwarming display of Les Yay. All in all though, she was an awesome One Episode Wonder, and I would absolutely love it if she and the rest of the international Pretty Cures would come Back for the Finale — a potientially Most Triumphant Example of a Continuity Cavalcade.

edited 11th Nov '14 1:12:04 PM by aNinjaWithAIDS

Big Damn Heroes moment in the works?

EDIT: Except it occurs to me that that would be The Cavalry, not Big Damn Heroes.

edited 11th Nov '14 3:46:46 PM by Deadbeatloser22

I have a sneaking suspicion that at the end of the series, Megumi will wish for every Precure to help.

Every Precure. The international Precure, the imprisoned Precure, and the Precure from past seasons in a cameo.

edited 11th Nov '14 4:45:15 PM by universalperson

Too ambitious for previous seasons cameo to show up; we already have All Stars for that. But the international Precure are fair game, it seems the fanartists' favorite Cure Southern Cross will have her debut at least, and that's not forgetting the Hawaiian, American, French, and Indian Cures that at least already have their voice (however small it is...)

Maria go to America to rally the other Cures for that last part cavalry, striking directly into the Phantom Empire's heart before giving their power for the HaCha, Digimon Adventure 02-style.

Right, time to get back on these. For once it's a look at a non-controversial DokiDoki Cure, and arguably the only one. I'm quite fond of her in spite of the fact that she's the most boring one in theory. She combines my favorite archetype with my favorite character. She is the loyal and clever Cure Diamond.

Despite being a genius, Rikka is overall the most normal of the main characters. She's not super rich, an idol from another world, the split self of a princess, or Mana. Just your regular girl that happens to be really smart. Like most blue Cures. Seriously, blue is even more common than pink. And they're probably the best of half the teams. Anyway, she's got some self-confidence issues (not surprising considering the company she surrounds herself with), but overall she's pretty set. She's going to be a doctor, and like Honoka before her she is a lady of science. She's both smart and not quirky (Reika is quirky for example), making her the de facto voice of reason for the show. Whenever something weird is going on you can be sure she'll be looking into it. She's good at asking relevant questions and going for the obvious answers, even if they rarely work out in her favor.

Of course there's one trait of hers that probably overshadows her smarts and rationality. Her devotion to Mana. When she was young she was shy and quiet until Mana said no to that and dragged her into her life. From then on she's basically Mana's assistant, going wherever Mana goes and supporting her however she can. Their closeness also means she's one of the few people who can restrain Mana when necessary and scale back her delusions, though seeing how it's Mana she needn't have bothered. At least she was able to consistently snark at what Mana or anyone else did. But her main role was Mana's helper, and most of her character revolves around Mana.

Sound familiar? If so, that's because she's basically Rin. She's the reason I compare Mana more to Nozomi than Love. Rikka and Rin are both snarkers who exist mostly to look out for the pink lead. The difference of course is that while Rin takes after Nagisa (sportsy and kind of a dick) while Rikka takes after Honoka (genius and more passive overall). Pretty Cure should really lighten up on reusing its archetypes one of these days. This is why I feel Rikka is the blandest of the main characters, even if she was better and more consistently written than the others.

Rikka had a few other moments though. She managed to help stop a monster even before becoming a Cure, which isn't something many others can say. Maybe Itsuki? She had a notable spout of jealousy when Makoto came to school, and she really should've been Jikochu'd there. Then there was that random obsession with that game. And she sure knows her way around technology and hidden passages, as she aptly demonstrated when she was younger. And she's a piano prodigy. But most interestingly, there was her ongoing relationship with Ira. Which really should've gone somewhere, but didn't.

Speaking of relationships, let's talk more about Rikka's with Mana. She's in love. I don't think that's in question. She practically confessed in front of everyone except Mana. It took her awhile to realize this, but she's accepted it a lot better than Hibiki and Kanade have with each other. Too bad Mana won't ever return her feelings. The harem protagonist never goes for the obvious choice. And we saw her choice in the future, Regina crossdressing. Looking at Regina, I'm surprised the two never had a catfight. They're both fighting over her after all. Rikka never did like her, but she accepted her presence since Mana did. Barely. But they kind of came to an understanding in between trying to kill each other.

Surprisingly, Rikka actually knows other people. Makoto is somewhat interesting because of the after-mentioned jealousy. She knows why Mana dotes on Makoto, but can't help but feel a bit of resentment. It seems to take while for the two to warm up to each other, but they end up trusting each other well by the end. Aguri was more of an irritant to her. Rikka doesn't seem to be the type that gets along well with kids. She was one of the ones that was somewhat worth being stealth mentored by Aguri. Helped her form some convictions at least. And that's about it for fellow Cures. Though it does make me wonder why she was running around a mansion when she was younger.

Her fairy, Raquel, was cool. He was dedicated to helping her, and possibly had a crush on her. Except for that time he had a crush on someone else. So unfaithful. But that did lead to her doing a butt punch, so all was worth it. Rikka was the only one to react to Ai with logic. Too bad babies defy all logic. And she remained suspicious of Joe for awhile, though she gave up on doing anything when she realized she wasn't getting anywhere. Then there's Ira. Boy gets amnesia, girl treats him, boy falls in love, girl isn't that interested but still protects him, boy goes evil again, and girl fails to bring him back. I actually felt their relationship/rivalry was better written than Mana/Regina, but due to lack of consequence and there wasn't much effect. Originally he was supposed to die for her, but obviously those plans got scrapped, and those two never got an ending aside from him not wanting to fight her. Too bad. He was a decent Kiriya successor.

As Cure Diamond, she represents wisdom. She's smart, both in school and in general common sense. Fits pretty well. She's unarguably the weakest fighter of the team and never really had a super cool moment, though it's more that everyone else has a strong trait (Mana, skill, experience, natural power). But she was the brains, so she had her uses. Her attacks were kind of meh though. She barely got kills throughout the series and was stuck left freezing the bad guy, usually ineffectually. At least until she upgraded. Where she did the same thing, but better. How boring. At least she blew Ira a kiss. And Diamond Blizzard was pretty cool.

Rikka is the most grounded member of her group, and for that her existence was justified. Though at times I felt she didn't need to be a Cure, but that's just me. Everyone else makes a stronger first impression and is more unique in a sense, but Rikka is the best due to not being shoddily written for the most part. And she's blue Rin, which is an automatic bonus in my book. Too bad the diamond of the show never truly got a chance to shine.

Episode 40. Regina when? Masuko appears. Episode saved already. The whole world being attacked has really been underutilized. Time for Mirage to step in. Except not. School is good. People are good. Iona still talks with that guy. All is good. Namakelder picking the flower was funny. He's really grown on me more than I thought he would. Those kids look freaky. Pretty Cure vs entire city round 2. Pretty Cure curbstomp city. Man they're tough. And Lovely continues to be completely broken. That attack from space was seriously impressive, even if Honey already did it. Namakelder seems more resigned to their loss. Time for Mirage to really step in. Except not, because we've got another round with Phantom first.

My thoughts while watching episode 40 can be summed up with "Just get it over with already!" It wasn't a bad episode and even had some awesome moments, but... the problem is, the result was a Foregone Conclusion, since the trio is almost 20 episodes too late. If they had tried that sort of plan shortly after Phantom's defeat at the Precure Graveyard, there might have been some tension in the fight, but this late in the series... To make things worse the Saiarks have been reduced to "giant Choiarks". Boring.

Hopefully the battle against Mirage won't be as anticlimatic as the fight against Dark Tender.

Both DokiDoki and HaChar had a good first half and a disappointing second half. Hopefully the next series won't follow their example.

edited 18th Nov '14 5:26:31 AM by shadowblack

I don't see it. Yeah the Phantom Empire aren't very threatening but Smile! was the last time we had villains that were effective. They're still an entertaining bunch and their fights are still a joy to watch.

As far as Doki goes even though the last episode retroactively ruined the rest of the season for me I have to give credit where credit is due. Yes there were plot holes and yes they focused on Mana too much to the detriment of the other Cures but so far as the second half goes everything from Regina's return onwards was great. I agree that everything before that was hit or miss but even then there were some great episodes.

Double posting because we have a trailer for the next All Stars movie. No sign of the new Cures but that's to be expected.

It's basically a movie about dancing and using the 3 d models from the endings of each all stars movies.

It's a nice break from action though, and a dancing movie was something I could see being made.

Being Precure is still a dream job for girls in Japan

Episode 41. I demand Bad End Happy. Welp, Mirage just took down the whole world. And she couldn't do this earlier because she got a migraine? I wonder how many times Mao has been hit. Time for the finale. Except not because it's too early for that. Weaker no more. And they're all separate. Whoops. Of course Honey is fighting Phantom. Should've seen that coming. Good fight overall. And it's nice for yellow to have something to important to do. Too bad she can't quite win on her own. Fortune also gets her own moment. And as has been speculated, Phantom is Mirage's fairy. It's a nice way of showing off the bad side of a fairy's loyalty. If their Precure goes dark, so do they. Time to finish off the other 3 generals.

It's hilarious how ill-fitting his voice is now.

Found a picture(for a video, presumably with music) of what appears to be a new Pretty Cure team. Team of five, the designs somewhat resembles Heart Catch.

Oh yeah, I guess I should say that the title seems to call them a Queentet.

edited 26th Nov '14 7:27:05 PM by Meophist

Nope. That's a fanmade thing. The official next series is Go! Princess Precure.

edited 26th Nov '14 7:56:12 PM by Chariot