So you loved Kira Kira Precure a la Mode, and/or some of the other seasons of the past 10 or so years. So you go to watch the season that started it all, and its probably not what your expecting. And there's a good chance you don't like it. That's fair. The two could not be more different. Now, Kira Kira Precure A la Mode is not a bad magical girl anime. Not by any stretch of the imagination. It has charming characters and creative battles. But is it a good Precure show? It is Futari wa Precure's antithesis. At least as much of an antithesis as it can possibly be while still being a show targeted towards young girls. Kira Kira Precure A La Mode is a colorful show, with 6-8 larger than life characters as they battle against hatred. They fight in confection themed outfits while wearing heels and being unabashedly cutesy. It's main protagonist always saving the day with an energetic "Whip Step Jump" or a "Bright Idea". To be fair, many modern Precure series are more similar to Kira Kira. Girls who are role models. Girls who chase after their dreams with everything they have. Who even without being Precure live extraordinary lives. There is only one Whip, there are many like her. There is no Cure like Black.

Now excuse me while I get really emotional and overdramatic about Futari wa Precure.

Futari wa Precure is not modern Precure, Modern Precure wouldn't really start until Fresh. Splash Star took the first steps, and Precure continues to evolve, but the first seasons of Precure, particularly the first 3 are not the Modern Cure. Futari wa Precure is not a story about Extraordinary girls, doing extraordinary things. It's not loud, nor bright spectacle. A show is not wrong for being these things. But these things are not Futari wa. It is a story about ordinary girls, who live ordinary lives, who fight against eternal forces that seek to destroy the normal things they hold dear, with only each other to count on. There are two sides to Nagisa and Honoka's lives. Their day to day lives, filled with people they love. Takoyaki and Chocolate and Dogs and Lacrosse and a million other simple things. Slice of life filled with unapologetically ordinary vibes. The world they seek to protect. And the things they do to protect it. The lonely brutal battles. The interruptions to their day to day. The threats on those they love. The villains dismissal of their important feelings and things in a battle that feels bigger than them. There are only the two of them. And 2 fairies who, themselves, only have each other, desperate refugees stuck in a world that makes them so tired that they cannot navigate it on their own.

And when I say there's no Cure like Black, I'm not exaggerating. There aren't many sporty lead cures anymore. But even when there were. There was no one like black. Melody, Rouge and Bloom are closest. But even then. Cure Black is not an optimist. She is not confident. Nagisa does not want to be a Cure. She does not want things to change. She bullies her little brother, she argues with her fairy. She is irresponsible and struggles to do things she dislikes. She hates fighting. But she fights anyway. She is not hope. She is courage. Because if she's going to die, she will die fighting. Bitterly.

When I say there hardly any Cures like Black, I mean there are also no Cures like White. We have cures into Science, though even now not many. And when we do, they are mostly into biology. (Doctors, Nurses, Marine Biologists, Botany). The closest we have is Himari, and her way of connecting sweets to science. We do have two cures who want to be astronauts (Tsubomi and Hikaru), but even then their primary interests are Botany and Cryptids respectively. Not that these are bad goals. But they are not White's more nebulous interest in science, that extends beyond the life sciences. Beyond domesticity. She loves learning, pure and simple. Honoka is well off, but gets her hands dirty. She is a woman of science, but takes the supernatural in stride. She is kind, but does things her way. She is graceful and polite, but temperamental and bold. In this way, Rhythm and Egret perhaps resemble her though not each other. Egret shares her independent nature, and mild obliviousness. Rhythm shares her temper and hands-onness. Honoka is hope. But she is not the loud Hope, like so many pinks, burning towards a dream. Burning with the possibilities. She is the quiet hope. The stubborn hope. She is the hope born of sorrow and things that cannot be. The hope that hears "This is the way it is" and says "No".

Cure Black and Cure White are not merciful. They do not redeem their enemies. A general hurts Black's brother and laughs. She kills him in rage. He was desperate. But she was vengeful. The enemies they fight are not all encompassing evil. They are darkness, and a threat that needs to be eliminated. But for many they merely want to survive. But so do Black and White. Cure Black and White fight, pitting the survival of their world against the survival of their enemies. It's them or her, and she chooses her and she loses. Her brother is vengeful and angry, and its him or them. And he chooses them. They lose a friend to this pointless struggle. But they continue on. The battle continues on. Honoka cries and cries for him. Did it have to be this way? It doesn't matter because it is. And there is no one she can talk to aside from Nagisa, and Mipple.

There is no one shouting to cheer on the Precure, no miracle lights. Those wouldn't come until Yes 5! They are merely rumors. A half seen fight. A figure seemingly out of a dream. Are they even real? Their imitators on the playground are more real than they are. Bring more smiles than they do. The universe is more vast than any of them could comprehend. There are entire other worlds with people who laugh and cry.

And there is no setting quite like Futari wa's setting. The setting in Futari wa, which I don't believe is named in show, is based on the Tokyo area. Not a made up city. A real one. Sure their school is fictional, as are the stores they visit. But the amusement park they visit is directly inspired by a real one. Nagisa lives in an Apartment building I believe to be modeled off a real one. They travel busy trains. Honoka's grandmother lived through war and tells stories of bombings. This is the Tokyo of a world not quite unlike our own. And perhaps most notably, this world is melancholic. Not bright.

Nagisa does not have pink hair. She does not have blond hair. She has orange hair. Not bright orange. Orangish brown. Though not one common in Japan, a real color. Honoka has black hair. Some might say blue. Although with its darkness its otherwise indistinguishable. It might as well be black. Shiho has red hair. And later Hikari will have blond. Kirya's will be green, but like Honoka so green it might as well be black. These may not be real hair colors, exactly. But they're close. Their muted. In the same way this is Tokyo but not.

With all of this said, there is still one core tenant Kira Kira holds to. It is still a story about girls, different kinds of girls, protecting the things they love. In Kira Kira, it is sweets. In Futari wa... its sweets.

Sweets. Precure was always about sweets go home.

Best Precure Mascot: Preliminaries Masterpost

Alright everybody, it's time for a new tournament - who's the best mascot in all of precure? The links to the polls will be added below once they're up:

Poll 1 (Futari wa precure + max heart and splash star)

Poll 2 (Yes! 5, Heartcatch, Suite)

Poll 3 (Fresh, Smile, Doki Doki!)

Poll 4 (Happiness Charge, Go! Princess, KiraKira, HUGtto!)

Poll 5 (Star Twinkle, Healin' Good, Delicious Party, Hirogaru Sky!)

You might notice that some characters are missing, please read below the whole post before telling me I've left someone out!

By my count (with help from the wiki), there are 52 precure mascots! So we'll be starting with a round of prelims to narrow it down to 32 contestants. Here's how it's going to work:

I want to include at least one mascot from each series, so the highest voted mascot from each series will get a spot. That accounts for a total of 18 slots. The remaining 14 will be filled by the remaining highest voted characters.

Four characters (Mofurun, Hug-tan, Kururun and Elle-chan) have guaranteed places in those 18 slots because they're the only official mascots in their series (Harry and Tsubasa will still be in prelims)

If you've looked through all the prelims and think I've left someone out, feel free to let me know! There's a lot of characters in this franchise so despite my best efforts I may have missed someone.

If needed there will be a bonus preliminary so everyone has a fair chance.

Animation Night 98 - Kyousougiga

So, because I spent so long on Houseki last week, I haven’t been very well prepared this week. I have a couple of ideas in the pipe - German animation (yeah really! did you know The Neverending Story is German?), Yuri Norstein, and the British traditional animation studio that I entirely forgot existed which is Cosgrove Hall to name a few.

However I don’t have any of those on my hard drive yet, and by the time I’d done a writeup, eaten dinner, and downloaded the films it would be very late indeed...

Instead, let’s follow up on a recommendation that @anarcha-catgirlism​ made me during the pretentiously titled ‘solicit Bryn’s anime opinions’ ask meme. We’re gonna watch Kyōsōgiga, the original net animation turned anime TV series directed by “Izumi Tōdō”... the collective pen name used by a number of Toei Animation producers. “Tōdo” is, if you can say a pseudonym for an ambiguous set of people is ‘best known’ for anything, best known for the renowned Pretty Cure (usually abbreviated PreCure) magical girl series - something I will one day investigate in depth but not this day.

So while this may be a collective creation of Toei “Only Anime Studio That Still Has A Union” Dōga, the main name attached to the series is actually Rie Matsumoto. Prior to Kyōsōgiga, she had indeed mostly worked on PreCure starting with assisting with direction of 18 episodes of Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star in 2006 at age 21, working her way up through episode direction to direct a movie, HeartCatch PreCure The Movie: Fashion Show in the Flower Capital.... Really?! in 2010 (try saying that fast). It seems she soon got a reputation as one of the youngest directors in the anime industry, although that may not be true anymore.

So what’s this all about? Here’s what I dug up last time upon receiving the rec:

Kyōsōgiga (an allusion to ’scrolls of frolicking animals’ which are seen as a precursor to manga) starts with a priest who creates a kind of alternate dimension using his power to make drawings that come to life, centred on the 'Mirror Capital’ 鏡都 Kyōto, a hard-to-translate pun on once-capital of Japan 京都 Kyōto. There, he draws a rabbit character who comes to life and some highly Buddhist shenanigans take place:

One of his drawings, a rabbit named Koto, whom he drew as the God of the   Mirror Capital, came to life upon striking a deal with a Bodhisattva. Lady Koto managed to win the love of Myōe. After finding a war orphan, Yakushimaru, and taking him under their wing as an adoptive child, the family dimension hop to Kyoto for a better life. Myōe draws two siblings for Yakushimaru. Yase, and Kurama. The five of them live happily together until Lady Koto, having fulfilled her end of the deal with the Bodhisattva, has to be taken away. With their time as a family at its end, Myōe leaves   Yakushimaru the title of high priest, and his prayer beads, telling him that he will return with the beginning and the end in tow.

The anime picks up (I presume?) when a girl called Koto stumbles into this alternate world, and seeks a way to get home, while Kurama seeks to bring back the original Lady Koto - but unfortunately to reopen the connection between Kyōto and the real world is a big threat to the multiverse. Of course Koto must be connected to the original family somehow.

Emily Rand gives a more thematic description:

Kyousougiga is many things. It’s the television directorial  debut of Rie Matsumoto, who had previously worked at Toei Animation  across a variety of the Precure franchise. It’s stunning, with  amazing visual and audio direction as well as storyboarding and  cinematography. Like many anime series and pieces of media in general, Kyousougiga is also a look at the idea of home and family.

“Home” in Kyousougiga is first established as the Mirror  Capital, a drawn replica of Kyoto that High Priest Myoue created to  escape the world with his family. But “home” is also the near-empty room  where Koto meets her mother and sees her father’s face for the first  time. It’s the hill where they watch the city and sunsets together. Or a  ruined garden at the so-called end of the world, after a much-needed  airing of grievances. “Home” isn’t a place but the people you love isn’t  a new narrative, but Kyousougiga tells it so beautifully, with characters you want to root for, and the stunning visual setpieces that Matsumoto loves.

The animation in the clips I’ve found looks vivid, stylish and energetic so I’ve got to say I’m really excited. It’s not entirely clear to me what the best viewing order is: apparently the first episode of the TV series is “A re-airing of the original ONA with some cuts and a new soundtrack.” and it seems the recommendation is that this is redundant with the ONA, so we’ll take the revised version plus the 5-10 minute OVAs. However, if somebody knows better, please let me know the ideal watch order!

Phew, finished that in record time, leaving the whole evening clear to enjoy some anime! Since we’ve got a whole cour and some ONAs to get down the hatch, we’ll be starting p much immediately, so please take your seats in the Animation Night Cinema of twitch.tv/canmom while i run and warm up my chilli!

So you want to watch Precure!

Version 1.3

(Google Docs Vers & Changelog)

Maybe you follow people who like it, maybe you just love magical girls and never got into Precure, but there are over a dozen seasons and you don’t know how to jump in. Never fear, this masterpost is here to give you a rundown of Precure, and hopefully by the end you’ll have an idea of where you want to start. 

What Is Precure?

Precure (short for Pretty Cure) is a Toei Animation franchise started in 2004 and has been on the air nonstop since then. It’s a magical girl franchise, y’know like sailor moon or ojamajo doremi or other such shows. The main demographic is children so you don’t have to worry about any weird “fanservice” or panty shots or anything nasty like that, it’s very G rated. 

What Are The Shows About?

In a general sense, Precure is about a team of 2-6 middle school age magical girls fighting bad guys and giant monsters and saving the world on a weekly basis with pretty outfits and big flashy finishers and the power of love and friendship. Each season follows a pretty standard formula (toku fans should be pretty familiar with it for the most part), and each season is around 48-50 episodes long. 

In keeping with this toku-esque formula, most seasons will feature mid season additions to the cast, in the form of new precure heroes. For the sake of not spoiling these shows, these mid season cures will not be mentioned in our plot overviews unless they appear extremely early or something like that. Just know that almost every season will feature an additional cure joining the team later in the show. 

Additionally, every season has at least one movie, these days there’s usually two per season. Usually you’ll find the movies are a standalone self-contained romp, and a crossover movie with the preceding seasons, with a focus on the most recent 2-3 teams. These movies might as well exist in a continuity of their own, and have absolutely no bearing on the plot whatsoever, save for one except which I’ll mention when we get to that season. 

Why Should I Watch Precure?

Because it’s good. It’s a really stellar franchise with a ton of content and genuinely engaging characters and stories. Also this isn’t your mom’s magical girl show, these girls throw punches, and kicks, and big lasers. Precure is pretty well known for being extremely hands on with its combat compared to other magical girl shows, though don’t expect the same kind of fights you’d find in kamen rider or anything. Also a main draw for a lot of people is the amount of gay subtext in, frankly, every season. While there’s only one season with an explicitly confirmed gay relationship between two cures, every season has varying levels of subtext between cures, it’s pretty cool. We won’t discuss the subtext in every season overview but trust us, it’s in there. 

What Show Should I Start With?

It doesn’t actually matter which season you watch, every season is a new setting and with new characters and set in a new world (except for two sequel seasons i’ll explain later), so you’re free to watch whatever you want in any order! We’re going to spend the rest of this post talking about each season to give you, the beloved reader, a glimpse at what each season has to uniquely offer. Don’t worry, there’s no spoilers down there. 

Futari Wa Precure (We Are Pretty Cure) & Futari Wa Precure Max Heart

The original precure show that aired in 2004, and even received an english dub. Misumi Nagisa is a star lacrosse player living a normal life until one day a shooting star she wishes on turns out to be a fairy that careens right into her room, or rather, smacks her right in the face. The fairy, named Mepple, explains he comes from the Garden of Light, another world that’s been taken over by the evil Dark King and his Dark Zone in order to capture the Prism Stones, a number of heart shaped crystals that, if collected, could give Dark King the power to destroy not only the Garden of Light but also the Garden of Rainbows, Earth itself. Meanwhile, Yukishiro Honoka finds a box in her grandmother’s shed containing an item just like the one that smacked Nagisa in the face, and inside is the fairy Mipple, who explains the situation to Honoka. The two fairies, seeking to be reunited, drag Nagisa and Honoka along and the four of them end up meeting up, but are attacked by an emissary of the Dark Zone. Mepple and Mipple grant the confused duo the power to transform into the warriors of legend, Precure. As Cure Black and Cure White, Nagisa and Honoka manage to fight off their attacker and protect their new fairy partners. The girls are then more or less dragged into the battle against the Dark Zone, as the only hope for both Gardens, they fulfill their duty as legendary warriors despite their hesitations and desires to go back to being normal teenagers.

Futari Wa doesn’t exactly have any major themes to speak of, it’s just your standard magical girl vs evil bad guys kind of thing, forgive it for being the first season. What it does have to offer is the relationship between Nagisa and Honoka, as well as the action in fight scenes. The girls don’t start the season as best friends, in fact they barely even know each other’s names when they’re first flung together. It takes a few episodes and a major fight between the girls for them to really start opening up to each other, but soon enough they become inseparable and support each other in everything they do. It’s clear, especially near the end, that the girls cling to each other for support and strength in the face of the increasingly overwhelming odds they face as the Dark Zone gains strength. It’s very compelling to see their relationship deepen in the early season and see how deep their bonds truly go near the end. 

Futari Wa received a sequel show, Futari Wa Precure Max Heart, picking up the story where it left off in the first season’s finale. Honoka and Nagisa are still the main characters, and they’re still fighting the Dark Zone, but this time they’re joined by a mysterious girl named Hikari, who can transform into Shiny Luminous, not a precure but precure-ish. This time the girls are trying to recover the heart and soul of the Queen of the Garden of Light, before the Dark Zone can recover and destroy the queen in her weakened state. Also their precure costumes have changed slightly. 

The first season (that is to say, not max heart) is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll

Futari Wa Precure Splash Star

Hyuuga Saki (Cure Bloom), a tomboy who loves playing softball, and Mishou Mai (Cure Egret), a quiet transfer student and aspiring artist, meet each other by chance one day under the Sky Tree, where they discover two creatures from the Land of Fountains named Flappy and Choppy. The two girls transform into the legendary Precure and are tasked with restoring Princess Filia and the Seven Holy Fountains, which were sapped of their power by the evil forces of Dark Fall.

Splash Star's main theme is the appreciation of nature. The main focus is on the girls rediscovering their relationships with their town and the nature and people in it. You get to meet a whole cast of characters in their community, who have a lot of heart and charm behind their writing and the show does a good job of getting you genuinely invested in their stories.

Unfortunately the romance in Splash Star isn’t much better than Futari Wa's (sorry to any Fujimura/Kazuya fans), but the main girls themselves are so engaging that it's easy to ignore. The villains are pretty goofy, but entertaining if you can accept that the show doesn’t take itself very seriously. There are two villains in the latter half of the season that really stand out, though. Without spoiling too much, I can promise you their character arcs will tear at your heartstrings in the best way.

If you've watched Futari wa Precure, Splash Star will probably feel familiar. Although it's the first "reboot" series in the franchise with completely new characters, Toei overall played it safe and Saki and Mai in many ways still feel like "Nagisa and Honoka 2.0". Splash Star is different in enough other ways to make the show stand on its own merits, but if you watch it immediately after Futari wa you might find yourself feeling some deja vu. Personally, I think it's interesting to see what Splash Star builds on and explores when compared to Futari wa, since it has many of the same themes and character archetypes but they play out quite differently.

Yes! Precure 5 & Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!

Nozomi is a cheerful, carefree girl, but she doesn’t have a dream. One day she meets a hot guy and finds a mysterious item called the Dream Collet, capable of granting any wish once all the fairies known as Pinkies are gathered inside it, in the school library. She discovers that the hot guy is actually a tanuki from Palmier Kingdom named Coco, and that the Kingdom has been destroyed by the Nightmare. Coco’s dream is to restore his kingdom using the Dream Collet, and Nozomi decides to make it hers as well. 

She’s joined by her jock friend Rin, Urara, an aspiring actress, Komachi, a writer, and the rich student council president Karen. Together they form Yes Sentai Fiveranger Yes Precure 5 and work together to prevent Nightmare from obtaining the Dream Collet before they can gather all the Pinkies. They also save Coco’s “”””””friend””””””” and fellow hot guy squirrel, Nuts, and he joins them as the second mascot/handsome love interest.

The theme of Yes is dreams and heterosexual furry romance. It pulls off the dreams part very nicely. The het furry romance is bad, mostly because Coco is Nozomi’s teacher at school and also her love interest. However, Coco and Nuts are fairly gay and if you look past the romance part they have very good dadly relationships with the rest of the team. 

Yespre, like Futari Wa, received a sequel show, Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!. After the defeat of Nightmare some time ago, a new faction called Eternal rises up and starts stealing treasures from various dimensions. When Eternal targets the Rose Pact belonging to the Cure Rose Garden, the precure are called back into action to fight against Eternal, with new cure outfits, a new fairy named Syrup, and a new cure-like teammate named Milky Rose.

Fresh Precure!

Fresh is sort of the defining series for modern Precure, introducing a lot of plot and thematic elements to the franchise that would be used repeatedly later on. 

A concert Momozono Love attends is attacked by a monster called a Nakewameke. When Love stands up to it, she is nearly killed, but is saved when she is chosen by a mysterious power to become Cure Peach. She is joined by Inori and Miki as Cure Pine and Cure Berry, and, together with the talking ferret from the Kingdom of Sweets, Tarte, they have to prevent Labyrinth, a grey world led by Mobius, from taking over the Parallel Worlds and transforming them into identical, machine-like dictatorships, and also figure out the secret behind the Magic Baby, Chiffon, that Tarte is entrusted with. 

Fresh’s themes are happiness and nature/technology and donuts. The donuts are important. Labyrinth operates by gathering misery; the Nakewameke are created from it and their function is to create more of it and fill the Sorrow Gauge. All the girls (and the mascot) have love interests and their familial relationships are explored a lot to bring out the general stakes and emphasise what they’re fighting for.

While Fresh is very strong in characters, plot, and thematics, its lack of budget is very apparent. It looks terrible. Fortunately, it isn’t that difficult to get used to the bad animation once you get into the show, although the lack of means tends to show up at inopportune moments, like new powerups.

Heartcatch Precure!

Featuring character designs and art direction from Ojamajo Doremi’s character designer Umakoshi Yoshihiko, and written by Ojamajo Doremi and Onegai My Melody writer Yamada Takashi, Heartcatch should look and feel familiar to fans of either franchise, especially Doremi.

After having a reoccurring dream about someone called Cure Moonlight being defeated trying to defend the “Great Heart Tree”, the shy and reserved Hanasaki Tsubomi moves in with her grandmother and ends up inheriting the will of Cure Moonlight and becomes the newest precure, Cure Blossom. Finding out her grandmother used to be the legendary Cure Flower, Tsubomi vows to protect the world as a precure and learn to change herself for the better. She’s joined by her new friend and the first person she saved as a precure, Kurumi Erika, a loud girl with a big heart who means well, but doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind. Erika becomes Cure Marine and the two become Heartcatch Precure, the newest precure in the long legacy of those who have stood up to the evil Dune, a mysterious invader who destroys planets and turns them into lifeless deserts. Heartcatch Precure fights against Dune’s minions: the mask wearing Professor Sabaku, his Desert Apostles, and the mysterious Dark Precure. Along the way they meet the former Cure Moonlight, now stripped of her power, and try to help her cope with her defeat.

Heartcatch Precure’s main theme is flowers and flower language. Everyone has a “heart flower” that the Desert Apostles take and use to create their monsters every week. As an interesting result of this, the monster of the week will be the main character in the plot of the week and often their big monster form will vent about their issues which will usually lead to a resolution when the precure return them to their regular bodies. Heartcatch also has a very nice backstory and lore to it. Unlike most iterations of precure, the Heartcatch girls are not the first precure to exist in their world, there are dozens maybe hundreds of precure that came before them, fighting against Dune and his forces for hundreds of years. It adds a lot to the narrative in small ways, especially later on in the season. Also the fight scenes are extremely excellent, especially when Moonlight is involved. 

Suite Precure♪

The musical paradise of Major Land falls under siege by the forces of Minor Land, led by King Mephisto. His goal is to steal the living notes of the “Melody of Happiness” and remake them into the “Melody of Sorrow”, throwing the world into a permanent depressive state. As a last resort, Queen Aphrodite scatters the notes into the human world and tasks Hummy, the cat-like fairy, and the Fairy Tones, to find the notes before the forces of Minor Lands can capture them. In the human world, Hummy meets Hojo Hibiki and Minamino Kanade, two girls who were best friends as children, but drifted apart as teenagers because of their tendency to bicker with each other. The two find themselves thrown together again by fate and transform into Cure Melody and Cure Rhythm to protect the things they hold dear. Not long after, the two rekindle their relationship and become closer than before, despite their bickering. Soon the girls run into the mysterious Cure Muse, a girl who appears to be a precure like them, but hides her face with a mask and refuses to join in their fight, claiming to be neither friend nor enemy. Melody and Rhythm battle against Minor Land and the giant Negatones they create from the notes they gather, as well as Siren, another cat-like fairy who used to be Hummy’s best friend before turning to evil and joining Minor Land. 

Suite Precure’s main theme is music, and it is a very encompassing theme. Hibiki and Kanade bond over their piano practice, the town they live in celebrates music frequently and is aesthetically music themed, and their powers take the form of musical instruments. Harmony is also a large theme for the two girls. Their precure power increases as they harmonize with each other, and the early season is very much about them learning to harmonize with each other. Suite also features several extremely well done mystery arcs, about the identity of Cure Muse, and various other things that I can’t very well talk about without risking spoiling things myself. If you manage to go into Suite not knowing anything consider yourself extremely lucky and be super sure not to get spoiled. The show staff went to great lengths to hide certain things, including leaking fake cure designs, and creating a second version of the second dance ending to further mask the identity of Cure Muse until her true reveal. 

Also something to note, usually precure movies have nothing to do with the plot of the show itself and can be watched whenever but the Suite movie is best enjoyed right after the arc revealing Cure Muse’s identity is concluded, it has a nice resolution to plot elements in that arc and sets the stage for the last few arcs of the show, so be sure to watch it then.

Smile Precure!

Written by Kamen Rider Kabuto head writer Yonemura Shoji, Smile Precure is the second season to feature a 5 girl team after Yes! Precure 5 Gogo!. Running late to her first day of school, resident happy-go-lucky klutz Hoshizora Miyuki runs face first into a small creature called Candy, a fairy from a place called Märchenland. The two are attacked by an anthropomorphic wolf named Wolfrun, and Miyuki transforms into Cure Happy to fight against Wolfrun and the big clown faced monster he summons called an Akanbe. After Candy explains that the legends say there are five precure, Miyuki recruits four new friends: the hot blooded Akane (Cure Sunny), shy artist Yayoi (Cure Peace), responsible older sister Nao (Cure March), and refined student council vice-president Reika (Cure Beauty). The five of them become Smile Precure and fight against Wolfrun and his allies in the Bad End Kingdom, who attempt to revive the slumbering Pierrot by trying to put the world in a “Bad End”. 

Smile Precure’s main theme is fairy tales, in a general sense. The Bad End trio are based off of the big bad wolf (Wolfrun), the oni from Momotaro (Akaoni), and the witch from Snow White (Majorina), and Miyuki herself is utterly captivated by fairy tales. The secondary theme is happiness, and the happy go lucky tone of the series often turns on its head during serious arcs to deliver extremely powerful emotional moments. Smile Precure is light on plot, and most episodes are an ultra happy experience, but the show knows how to get serious when it needs to and Smile is exceedingly competent at pulling off drama when the time comes. Smile knows how to get you invested in its characters and use that to pull on your heartstrings during the big moments. The last 10 episodes of the show are the absolute pinnacle of the show’s emotional drama, and each cure gets her own episode for closure before the finale sets in and emotionally destroys you. Also you get to play rock paper scissors with Cure Peace during her roll call so that’s always fun.

Doki Doki! Precure

Doki opens with Trump Kingdom’s destruction by the Selfishness as Cure Sword looks on, helpless. Switching to our world and brighter topics, we meet Aida Mana, Student Council President of Oogai Middle School, whose dream is to become the Prime Minister of Japan. Whenever Mana sees someone in trouble, she’ll help them out, so when a monster attacks the city, Mana does the obvious and tries to stop it. And when, chosen by the fairy Charuru (Charles? Cheryle? Cherry?) to become a Precure and defend the world, she meets Cure Sword, she has to befriend her and help her restore Trump Kingdom and find her happiness. 

Mana (Cure Heart) is joined by Rikka (Cure Diamond), her studious companion and supporter, and also the immeasurably powerful and rich (in that order) Alice (Cure Rosetta). Together they have to unravel the mystery of the man who gave them their transformation items, the missing princess of Trump Kingdom, the strange, evil girl called Regina, and Ai, the chaotic neutral baby who hatches out of an egg. 

Dokipre’s theme is love and selflessness. It also has Deep Lore, a lot of which is established in extra-series material. The show does try to explore concepts like past cures and manages a very nice repeating pattern effect with the plot, in terms of past and future happenings. There’s a lot of foreshadowing. Compared to most Precure seasons it’s very plot-heavy and even the filler usually ends up being plot-relevant. 

Happiness Charge Precure!

The 10th anniversary of Precure! The Phantom Empire is spreading across the world, and Precure are rising up all over the globe to fight them off. In Japan there are two active cures, Cure Fortune, strong and capable, and Cure Princess, scared and unsure of herself. As Cure Princess, Shirayuki Hime, struggles desperately to do her duty as precure, Cure Fortune refuses to work with her for reasons Hime doesn’t fully understand. Realizing her only hope is to find a partner to work with, Hime bumps into Aino Megumi, a super friendly girl who has a tendency to drop everything and help others any time she sees someone in need. Megumi becomes Cure Lovely, and bolstering Hime’s confidence, the two of them become Happiness Charge Precure, tasked with protecting Japan from Queen Mirage and her Phantom Empire. The two are joined by Cure Honey, and eventually Cure Fortune, and the four of them receive support from Blue, the God of Planet Earth. As the girls continue to fight and defend Japan, they are assaulted by Phantom, the ruthless Precure Hunter who has defeated and trapped countless Precure in his Precure Graveyard, and the Oresky Trio, the Phantom Empire generals who oversee the invasion of Japan. 

Happiness Charge Precure’s themes are romance and happiness. There are several arcs dedicated to the budding romances of the cures, and the backstory of the show is heavily tied to romance. Happiness might as well be Megumi’s middle name, she makes it her business to spread happiness to as many people as she can, and takes every chance she can to help others. Happiness Charge is also the first season to have form changes for the precure, each cure has a small selection of forms they can change to for different big attacks, and this concept would later be expanded and used as a core concept in Maho Girls Precure. Like Heartcatch before it, Happiness Charge exists in a world where multiple precure exist, but unlike Heartcatch all those precure exist at the same time in the present day. Other precure teams make cameos every so often and the concept creates a great world in which the whole planet is being protected by teenage girls with superpowers, creating a wonderful sense of scale that really makes the big victories of Happiness Charge Precure feel even bigger. 

Go! Princess Precure

The first precure series to take place at a boarding school! Years ago, a young girl named Haruno Haruka meets a very royal looking person named Kanata who gives her a Dress-Up Key, a big key shaped like a dress. A teenager now, Haruka starts attending Noble Academy, a prestigious boarding school, all the while holding tight to her dream of becoming a true princess, in a quasi-literal sense. Not long after starting the school year, Haruka meets Pafu and Aroma, two fairies from the Hope Kingdom desperate to revive the legendary precure to fight back against Dyspear and her minions who steal dreams to create their giant Zetsuborgs. Realizing what her Dress-Up Key is meant for, Haruka uses it and the Princess Perfume to become Cure Flora. Together with student council president Kaido Minami (Cure Mermaid), and Amanogawa Kirara (Cure Twinkle) a fashion model with huge aspirations, they become the new Princess Precure, tasked with learning to become true princesses along with protecting the Dress-Up Keys from Dyspear’s forces. 

Go! Princess Precure’s main themes are princesses (duh) and dreams. Dreams are a driving force behind all of the cures, and most of the plot of the week characters. Dyspear steals dreams to make monsters, and the precure fight to return those dreams. Characters follow their dreams with conviction, pride, and full commitment. This is also where the princess theme intersects, since it’s Haruka’s dream to become a true princess. One should note that princess is used sort of liberally in this series, it’s not that Haruka wants to somehow become someone of noble birth or have political power, she just wants to be strong, kind, and beautiful, the traits of a true princess in Princess Precure’s own terms. Also she wants to wear pretty dresses and such but who can blame her really. 

Mahou Tsukai Precure! (Maho Girls Precure!)

Quite literally putting the magic in magical girls for the first time in the franchise, Mahou Tsukai Precure was the first season to have its cures be actual magicians. Izumi Riko lives in the magical world, a world where magic is real and she attends a magical academy to hone her craft. She leaves the magical world to travel to the “non-magic” world, to search for a legendary item called the Linkle Stone Emerald. In the non-magic world she ends up catching the attention of another girl, Asahina Mirai, who sees her using magic. After trying to show off some magic and messing it up, Riko is attacked by Batty, a servant of the dark wizard Dokurokushe, who is seeking the Linkle Stone Emerald as well. As fate would have it, both Mirai and Riko carry stones that turn out to be the Linkle Stones Diamond, and the two of them use them to become Cure Miracle and Cure Magical, the legendary Mahou Tsukai Precure. Additionally, the power of the Linkle Stones grants life to Mirai’s lifelong companion, a teddy bear named Mofurun. Having discovered the world of magic and become a precure, Mirai is invited to spend time in the magical world learning magic alongside Riko, before the two, joined by Mofurun and a baby fairy named Ha, return to the non-magical world to search for the Emerald and protect it from Dokurokushe and his minions.

Mahou Tsukai Precure’s main themes are bonds and separation. It’s strengths lie in how it shows the relationship between Mirai and Riko. The show takes its time building their relationship in the first dozen or so episodes of their adventures in the magic world, highlighting their similarities and differences as they grow closer and learn to live with each other and fight as precure together. Well before the halfway mark it’s clear how strong their bond is and how deeply they care for each other, and the lengths they would go to for one another. Mahou Tsukai is an emotional ride in so many ways, every emotional moment hits its mark and the more you get attached to the characters the more the show will hit harder and harder with its moments, both sad and happy. Even side characters get satisfying and emotional conclusions to their storylines outside of the episodes they’re introduced in, it’s all wonderfully crafted.

KiraKira☆Precure A La Mode

Another return to the five cure format, Kirapre is also the second season to feature a sixth team member after Yes! Precure 5 Gogo!, as well as the second season to feature high school age precure after Heartcatch Precure. Usami Ichika is in her second year of middle school and loves sweets, especially making sweets. One day a hungry fairy named Pekorin finds her way into Ichika’s kitchen, and after being fed teaches Ichika about Kirakiraru, an energy source that exists in all sweets, and something that can be stolen and used for evil, leaving the sweets gray and tasteless. Utilizing the power of kirakraru in the shortcake she baked for her mother, Ichika becomes Cure Whip, one of the legendary patissiers, Precure. One by one other precure appear, the smart but shy Arisugawa Himari (Cure Custard), the rock band headliner Tategami Aoi (Cure Gelato), the fickle catlike Kotozume Yukari (Cure Macaron), and the responsible and helpful Kenjou Akira (Cure Chocolat). The five of them fight against the evils of Noir and those he has influenced: Julio, the mysterious masked boy who runs “experiments'' using kirakiraru, and Bibury, a mean spirited girl who uses her talking doll to steal kirakiraru and create monsters.

Kirapre’s main motifs are sweets and animals, and it has a pretty general togetherness and happiness theme going on, the standard precure stuff, mostly viewed through the lense of sweets and sweets-making. All the precure work as patissiers for one reason or another and it’s the main way the team bonds early on. The team, as well as the people of their small town, love sweets as a part of their culture and sweets maintain an important role as the emotional tie that binds most things together in the story. Overall Kirapre is a wonderful show with a great cast on both sides of the conflict, and a lot of care has been put into the show to make sure characters have their moments to interact with each other as well as have their own stories , even on a team of six every precure gets more than enough time to shine on her own. Kirapre is at it’s best when it takes two girls and puts them together for an episode, letting each unique dynamic play out in a fun and satisfying way. Kirapre is also noteworthy for the almost inarguably canonical relationship between two of the cures. It's not exactly explicit and it does leave something to be desired, since this is a Toei children's show, but there’s not really any other way to read the evolution of their relationship or their duet song, so I’m more than satisfied calling it canon.

This season is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll 

HUGtto! Precure

Precure’s 15th anniversary! This season is in many ways a celebration of all things Precure, bringing together a lot of familiar elements from past shows into one. Hugtto! is another five cure season whose main themes are destiny and future. Nono Hana (Cure Yell) is a thirteen-year-old girl whose dream is to be a "cool and stylish woman," although she worries that others see her as childish. One day, a hamster named Harryham Harry and a magical baby named Hugtan fall out of the sky into Hana's house. They're being chased from the future by an evil organization called Criasu Corporation, who are trying to use Hugtan's power to freeze time forever. Hana makes friends with two of her classmates: the responsible class representative Yakushiji Saaya (Cure Ange) and the reclusive ex-figure skater Kagayaki Homare (Cure Etoile), and together they fight Criasu while taking care of Hugtan and figuring out the many mysteries surrounding her. Expect some light sc-fi elements and an emphasis on modern technology/social media.

Hugtto! explores its themes primarily through the lenses of childcare and the workplace, giving us a look at how each girl comes to terms with the transition from childhood to adulthood. This season does a good job of letting each member of the team shine; you spend several episodes with each girl (or duo of girls) and there's a real sense of a complete character arc for all of them. The romance aspect is, unfortunately, pretty bad: there’s a return of hetero furry romance between Harry and Homare, and Hana’s love interest exhibits some really creepy behavior towards her. There’s uncomfortable age gaps in both of these relationships too so it’s a just a bit…. Yikes. Thankfully, it’s fairly easy to ignore like past seasons, but a warning for it nonetheless.

Something that makes this season stand out is its LGBT subtext; there's a TON of it even compared to the normal amount that Precure is known for. Without giving away too much, two of the cures this season are heavily coded as lesbians (though not with each other per se), and there's a subplot concerning a side character who is pretty explicitly (well, as explicit as Toei dares to be) a gender non-conforming man/nonbinary person in love with another man, and it's all very wholesome and presented in a positive light. Again, this is Toei, so don't expect anything too radical, but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with how Hugpre handles it.

Finally I'll just say that while Hugpre is a fantastic season on its own, I would personally recommend waiting to watch it after you've seen some other seasons (notably Futari wa). It's not required, but since Hugpre is an anniversary season, there are a few episodes (especially near the end) that will really hit different if you have an emotional connection to the franchise already. Ultimately though this is a fairly minor part of the show, so watching this season first won’t ruin it or anything like that, it’s just something to keep in mind.

Star☆Twinkle Precure

Precure… in space! Our protagonist, Hoshina Hikaru (Cure Star) loves space and cryptids, to the point of drawing her own constellations. One of her constellations is an adorable alien puffball, who warps into Hikaru’s room almost immediately after she draws it. The puffball quickly befriends Hikaru, who names her Fuwa. They are later joined by Prunce, the team dad friend/alien mascot, and Lala (Cure Milky), a humanoid alien who is an adult in her own culture. After our initial duo gets off to a bit of a rocky start, they are joined by the student council president, Kaguya Madoka  (Cure Selene) and a biracial upperclassman who is considered to be the “sun” of the school, Amamiya Elena (Cure Soleil). Together, they explore the universe and befriend all sorts of aliens, while also defending them from the Notraiders, who want to rid the universe of all imagination. On top of that, the universe is dying and the cures need to find the 12 astrologically themed Star Pens to save it and the 12 Star Princesses. This series is notable for attempting to break the “monster of the week” format, instead making it a “fight of the week”.

The major themes of Star Twinkle are space, imagination, and maturity. The cures have to explore the universe to find the Star Pens, and in doing so, visit a bunch of different planets. About half the series is spent on Earth, but the world still feels developed! Honestly speaking, the theme of imagination is forgotten pretty quickly and I’d refer to it more as free will. The theme of maturity is where Star Twinkle really shines. All of the cures have had to grow up too fast in some way, and the series is partially about just allowing them to goof off. Lala is considered an adult on her planet, and this plot point is treated realistically. Well, as realistically as it can be. This is one series I’d recommend avoiding spoilers like the plague for, because part of the fun is in how the plot twists are pulled off. Also Star Twinkle is notable for featuring the first ever dark skinned precure, as Elena is half-hispanic. 

Healin’ Good Precure

The currently airing Precure season, as of this writing. The Byogens seek to revive their king by inflicting viruses on Earth, the Healing Garden sends three medical interns to combat them. These interns, fairies named Rabirin, Pegitan, and Nyatoran, along with a baby fairy princess named Latte, journey to Earth to find partners to become Precure. They end up meeting Hanadera Nodoka, a kindhearted girl who was hospitalized for most of her young childhood. After Nodoka risks her life to protect Latte, Rabirin chooses her to become Cure Grace. Joined by older sister type Sawaizumi Chiyu (Cure Fontaine) and the outgoing Hiramitsu Hinata (Cure Sparkle), they form Healin’ Good Precure, and defend their friends and the Earth from the Byogen’s newest wave of attacks. 

This season is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll.

Where To Watch Precure Online

Unfortunately for us, Precure isn’t really a thing in the west. There was a dub of Futari Wa back in the early 2000’s and Smile and Doki both got “adapted” into Glitter Force over on netflix (I don’t really recommend checking those out), but really Precure just doesn’t exist over here.

However, as mentioned above, there are currently three seasons avalible for streaming on crunchyroll. The original Futari Wa Precure, Kira Kira Precure A La Mode, and the current season, Healin’ Good Precure.

Beyond these isolated examples of official releases, you can really only watch precure online on streaming sites or through torrents. You can find precure pretty much on any major anime streaming site, kissanime, gogoanime, the works. You can also try your luck torrenting the seasons, i’ve found that pretty much every season has a working torrent you can find on sites like nyaa.si or the like. For more recent seasons you should have little difficulty getting torrents, and last time i checked every season was on one of the aforementioned streaming sites. What I’m saying really is there’s no single place to find precure, but it’s not impossible to find for sure.

Thanks for reading this post, I hope you decide to check out precure and I really hope you end up loving it.Thanks to my wonderful friend @meltorights​ for writing the sections on Yespre, Fresh, and Dokipre, to @wonderlilane​ for writing the sections on Splash Star and Huggto, and @cure-cosmo​ for writing the segment on Starpre. 

If you have questions feel free to drop me an ask I’d be happy to help. I will literally go out of my way to help you if it means getting someone new into precure so please do not hesitate by any means. 

which precure should one watch first. i’m a lesbian and the only magical girl show i’ve ever watched is madoka

Short answer: I’ll list the ones I’ve watched (completely or not) and rank them from best to worst. I suggest that you watch them in that order.

Go! Princess Pretty Cure

Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure

KiraKira☆Pretty Cure à la Mode

Healin’♥Good Pretty Cure (ongoing)

Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star

Futari wa Pretty Cure and its direct sequel, Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart

Fresh Pretty Cure!

Suite Pretty Cure♪

Doki Doki! Pretty Cure

Happiness Charge Pretty Cure!

Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure!

HUGtto! Pretty Cure

However, if you asked the majority of the Precure fandom what the list should be like, it would look like this:

Heartcatch Pretty Cure!

Go! Princess Pretty Cure

Smile Pretty Cure!

HUGtto! Pretty Cure

Futari wa Pretty Cure

Fresh Pretty Cure!

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!

Yes! Pretty Cure 5

Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart

Suite Pretty Cure♪

KiraKira☆Pretty Cure à la Mode

Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure

Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure!

Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star

Doki Doki! Pretty Cure

Happiness Charge Pretty Cure!

Healin’♥Good Pretty Cure

So you can choose which list you’d rather follow.

Long answer is under the readmore.

I highly suggest you do not watch Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! or HUGtto! Pretty Cure first for different reasons. Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! is so different from every other Precure and so much worse that watching it first would give you the wrong impression about the quality of the franchise overall. HUGtto! Pretty Cure is the 15th anniversary series, and it has references to Futari wa Pretty Cure that will fly right over your head and reduce the emotional impact of some scenes if you don’t watch Futari wa Pretty Cure first.

Also, keep in mind that Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart and Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo! are direct sequels of Futari wa Pretty Cure and Yes! Pretty Cure 5, respectively. You need to watch Futari wa Pretty Cure and Yes! Pretty Cure 5 before you watch Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart and Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo! to understand them completely and appreciate them as sequels.

Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★ Star is not a sequel to Futari wa Pretty Cure or Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart. You can watch it on its own. I know it looks similar, but it’s not the same thing at all. Trust me on this.

Note that Precure is mostly not dubbed. You have to watch it subbed except for three seasons. Futari wa Pretty Cure has a dub which is not Americanized too much, but it’s old and must be watched illegally. Smile Pretty Cure! was dubbed into Glitter Force, and it can be watched legally on Netflix; it is heavily Americanized and is not faithful to the original show. Doki Doki! Pretty Cure was also dubbed as Glitter Force Doki Doki. This dub can also be watched on Netflix, but like Glitter Force, it is not faithful to the original show and is heavily Americanized.

Most Precure fans say that Heartcatch Pretty Cure! is the best season ever made, and I hear it has the most dark and serious elements. It starts out silly like every other Precure, but I hear that by the end, it has the best storytelling and darkest themes. If you like Madoka, I suggest you start here. I have not watched it myself and cannot speak for it since I’m saving the “best” for last.

I have watched much of Fresh Pretty Cure!, and it is the next darkest Precure in my opinion; you might want to start there. It’s a fantastic season.

If you want to support Precure and watch it legally and easily, then go for the two available options on Crunchyroll: KiraKira☆Pretty Cure à la Mode or Healin’♥Good Pretty Cure. Healin’♥Good Pretty Cure is the ongoing season, so if you want something completed, go for KiraKira☆Pretty Cure à la Mode. Be aware that KiraKira☆Pretty Cure à la Mode has many less physical attacks than other seasons, which may give you the wrong impression at first: Precure is all about punches and kicks, which makes it unique as a magical girl series that is not aimed at teenagers or adults.

You can watch Futari wa Pretty Cure on Crunchyroll, but the quality of the rips they got from Toei Animation is really bad. I’d watch this one illegally.

You can find all of Precure (barring some movies) on illegal streaming sites, though, and this is honestly the best way to watch it.

My only suggestion at this point would be to go to the Pretty Cure Wiki and read the synopsis for each series! This will give you a good feel for the plots and themes of each season, as they are all so different! Every series is someone’s favorite (even the less popular ones like Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! or Doki Doki! Pretty Cure), so try watching some and see what speaks to you! I hope you find some you like!

Futari wa Precure Episodes 01-26

Am I rewatching precure? I can't believe this!

Yes, this is not a fever dream, I'm really rewatching precure, and not just Futari wa but THE WHOLE FRANCHISE. Am I crazy? Yes, because I'm already watching too much stuff at the same time and I barely have time for that as of right now, but I love screwing myself over so here we are!

I can't really remember the exact thing that sprung this desire of rewatching precure on me, but I've been thinking about it for quite some time now, at least since I wrapped up on the Aikatsu marathon before On Parade started, in fact, one of the reasons I started doing the old Kamen Rider reviews was because of this. I just didn't start it earlier because I'm the kind of crazy that picked a calendar, looked at the dates, and made the calcs, and realized I could watch pretty much everything in one year so I decided to keep this "project" for 2020 and start the new decade with a bang.

So this is how it'll go: I'll be dividing each season into quarters and pretty much covering one season per month with posts coming out weekly every Wednesday, the only exceptions for this rule are Futari wa and Yes! since these are the only seasons with sequels so instead of dividing into quarters I'll divide them in half and watch two seasons in a month rather than just one. Also, different from Kamen Rider's case, since I'm more familiar with the franchise and I know how the movies go I'll also be watching the movies and posting about them as I go along (All stars movies will come out usually in between the first and the second week, while solo movies will be in between the third and the forth). I really hope I don't go nuts and that this can go as smoothly as possible. XD In any case, it's precure time!

I promised myself I'd keep nostalgia out of these rewatches and do them like if it was my first time watching the series so that I can be less biased on certain aspects, but when it comes to the OGs is really difficult to not have my thoughts clouded by it. I may not have been around since Precure first aired, but Futari wa was effectively my first precure season too, I joined this bandwagon when Heartcatch was airing and I was so in love that I wanted to watch the past seasons and Futari was was my first choice and it holds a very special place in my heart because of that. I tried my best to keep those feelings out of this review and in some cases I was able to it effectively while on others not so much so, I apologize for that. XD

I usually try to separate these reviews on blocks of Plot, Characters, Designs, and commentary on specific episodes and I'm gonna try to apply this structure here more or less.

Talking about the plot... there's not a lot of it. XD

Like yeah, there's the whole Dark Kingdom attacking the Garden of Light thing, and the sort of scavenger hunt for the Prism Stones (not the Pretty Rhythm ones, just to be clear) and all of that, but there's not a whole lot going on beside it, is just Nagisa and Honoka goofing around while their friendship solidifies, they sometimes bump heads but that's pretty much it. And honestly, that's not bad, as while isn't a story about Nagisa and Fujipi the more slice-of-life portions are amazing.

The cure portion that is the problem, to start the action in these 26 episodes isn't the greatest, most of the time is just the cures being thrown away until they get fed up, say "I'll never forgive you!", hold hands, and they throw either a Marble Screw or, in rare occasions, a Rainbow Therapy. Of course, special fights with generals sometimes get a little more flare, but in general, they're pretty lackluster. Also, it feels like things weren't paced properly with the beginning and the end happening very fast and the middle being overly long in comparison. And of course, there's the element of defeating a villain or a set villains while there's still half a season ahead which means change of villains for people who we never knew existed before and apparently were a big deal, and if you read my Kamen Rider review you know how I feel about huge changes affecting the antagonists...

But oh well, I have lots of things to get through so I won't hammer on this for too long. MOVING ON.

Futari wa's biggest strength, at least for this first half, is CHARACTERS. The side cast has many hits or misses, but the protagonists Nagisa and Honoka more than compensate for it. One fun thing of this whole experience was kinda re-discovering them? Because I never watched the OG precure and Max Heart again after my first time watching like 10 years ago and I also don't have the best memory so I forgot a lot of minor things, like how Nagisa is such a downer in regards to their mission, and how positive and bright Honoka is and these are traits that are kinda opposites to their personalities with Nagisa being more outgoing and energetic and Honoka being more calm and polite, and this is so perfect and so much fun, I love it to that. Speaking of surprises I forgot how much of a savage Honoka was, like, the girl put a group of thieves on the line by just yelling at them. THAT'S THE DEFINITION OF POWER.

Unfortunately, they don't come alone. Their fairy partners, Mepple and Mipple, are... annoying. Mipple not so much, she has moments where I go "Really queen?" but for the most part she doesn't bother me, in fact, I'm sympathetic towards her who has to be partnered romantically with such a piece of crap of a male that Mepple is. I don't know why but I completely forgot the jerk that Mepple actually is and let me tell you, it wasn't fun seeing him being misogynist, selfish, and just plain rude, not just to Nagisa regularly but also with Mepple, it's actually very sad. I don't remember if he gets any better in the future, but for now, I'm hating him.

The side characters aren't very special, the girls in the Lacrosse Team and the Science Club are more or less just extensions and supporters or Nagisa and Honoka but I overall like them. The major highlights in terms of side characters are Akane and Fujipi. Akane is a huge positive because she has great energy, she's very fun, and he not only provides a meeting point for the girls but also has a mentor role, though its a very little one, that is great to see. Fujimura on the other hand... I admit, the dude is okay, he never really did anything relevant so there's nothing to hate on him per se, but he's a love interest and his situation with Nagisa never develops on any sort of way is just a very flat experience which makes his relevance even smaller so I can't help but think "what is he still doing here, just disappear with him already" every time he's up on the screen.

There's no other way to put this, the villains are plane as hell. Some of them have good designs but overall, they're very band. Pissard seems like it could've been a cool dude but we spent only 5 episodes with him, that's not enough time with him to make him interesting. Gekidrago is the boring and stereotypical "dumb villain", I think I don't need to write anything else after that. Irukubo is the stoic powerful villain, but much like in Pissard's case, we barely see him in action so it's not enough to make me care for him, and the Dark King is just a horrible CGI blob of darkness. The best villains of this first half are the siblings Poisony and Kiriya, Poisony is actually the best one of the generals seeing that she's a strategist and most of her plans were all pretty good so she was always able to get the cures corned in some way, she may have flunked her cover in that episode where she disguises as Honoka for not doing her research well before assuming the role, but overall she's amazing. Kiriya is the villain that never attacked the cures directly, as far as I remember he never summoned a Zakkenna, and putting it like this may sound like a bad thing, but trust me, it's not. He's the first precure villain to get a "redemption" and as rushed as it was his presence in the story and his arc as a character was also pretty well done so he deserves to share the podium with his sister as best villains.

Since we're talking about villains let's talk about the cures now. Black and White have a very simple design and that's not a bad thing, they're simple but they're still pretty different from each other and it's not a difference that screams to the eyes like id there was something wrong, they complement each other perfectly which only helps in making them this iconic duo that they are. The transformation items, as well as the Prism Hopeish and that notepad thingy, are very 2000's but they have their charm. I think the thing that didn't age very well were the effects for the transformations and the attacks, don't get me wrong I love their original transformation, there's a frame on it that is just marvelous, but watching with 2020's eyes there are parts that feel very wonky. Following the theme, the attacks have a very simple animation but in this case, it works because they can make some very interesting stuff with it, like launching a Marble Screw through Poisony's Umbra Witch hair.

Going into more detail on the episodes, these 26 ones feel like a normal seasonal anime, despite the pacing problems if these 26 episodes were a single season it would've worked well because there was no loose end lost in the mix, maybe the Fujipi stuff would be the only thing that would end with no proper closure, but then again that's not important so it would be a satisfying end. There were four major arcs inside this mini-season so I'll comment on them separately.

The first and shortest arc is the introductory arc that goes from Episodes 1 to 5. And there's not a lot to say here, they introduce the characters, the mission, and the character relations on a good way, there was nothing stellar but it's a good introduction to the series, the only let down is the fighting portion that is very lackluster, in special the final fight against Pissard that was supposed to be a big important moment but that in the end was just very not impressive at all.

The second arc goes from Episode 6 to 11. This is probably the most boring arc of all despite some interesting happening here, we have the introduction to the Prism Stones and the Prism Hopeish, they first use the Rainbow Therapy here, and we also have the famous arc where Nagisa and Honoka fight for the first time and tighten their bonds. These are all interesting points but the set-up for these things to happen weren't the best, like for example Nagisa and Honoka's fight, I always remembered this as a very important moment, AND IT IS, the lesson learned at the end is pretty good and it results on them calling each other for their first name which is a key moment, but all of that happened because of Nagisa's feelings for Fujipi and all that misunderstanding and ughhh that's such a boring reason to make them fight, it was really a letdown. I think after everything the thing that stroke me the most was Honoka's birthday episode and how badass she was for putting some sense into the head of three adult men, which was really magnificent. Also, the first proper fight happened in this arc in the final battle against Gekidrago, it was short but it was good nonetheless.

The biggest arc is the third one that goes from Episodes 12 to 21. This is my favorite arc and a big part of it is because Poisony and Kiriya start to get active here. I don't know how to explain but their addition to the cast made things more dynamic and interesting to watch. Poisony's plans always led to interesting situations like when she hypnotized their classmates that were playing dress-up as the cures, or when she trapped them inside that mirror dimension, or even her last moments in the show where she used that old trick of impersonating someone and making the protagonist having to choose who's the real and who's the fake one, you know even if the precure portions weren't the best, they were put in the most interesting situations in this arc. Together with that, we have Kiriya that goes through a very interesting arc, until now I don't really know why he infiltrated in the school since, as I mentioned, he never acted directly as a villain against the precure (not as far as I can remember) but his interactions with the crew and especially his relationship with Honoka was quite interesting to see it develop. My high points from this arc were episode 18, the one where a girl confesses her feelings for Kiriya - there's a lot of interesting stuff happening here, and episode 20, Poisony's defeat and one of the best fights of this portion of the season. My low point would be episode 19 more because Mepple is being a jerk here than anything else, but I didn't enjoy this episode as much as I did to the other in this arc.

The final arc of this portion is another small one, it covers episodes 22 to 26, and this one is very odd. We start with a filler centered around Honoka's dog of all things that are followed by two two-parters that wrap-up this first half. I'm gonna be honest I don't like this arc, one because it introduces Pollun and two because the "final" fight is very unimpressive, yeah Shining Star debuts here and is a big moment but overall isn't the best, which is understandable after all are two girls launching a beam at a giant dark blob of CGI and there's not a whole lot there, but its fun to see a preview of what will become the Extreme Luminario in the next season. I also don't like how they didn't let the episode finish on a downer note with both of the girls missing their partners and such. But oh well, at least we had Episodes 23 and 24 here there were very interesting, they had this mystery/horror film vibe to it and I loved it.

And that's pretty much all I had to say! Thank you for reading all of this mess, I really appreciate it, I'm very excited to be doing this and I hope I can count with your support through this year. What are your thoughts on Futari wa? Let me know in the comments. I'll see you, folks, on a next time, and don't forget, if you ever see a shooting star be careful with what you wish for, a cellphone thing may fall from the sky right on your head and unless if you're an anime girl you will be in risk of having a concussion. XD In any case, see you around. o/

Precure Day 141

Film: Futari wa Precure Splash Star The Movie - Tick Tock! Escape in the Nick of Time! Date watched: 11 July 2019 Original release date: 9 December 2006 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/2vJnPUD (over 200 pictures, so enjoy!) Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

this is about the closest we get to a movie form

This movie really demonstrates what the series is capable of. The animation is gorgeous, fluid, and very dynamic. The fight scenes have the characters moving all over the place and the character expressions are wonderful. It’s going to be hard for me to go back to the series after this (although I do want to pick up the story of Michiru and Kaoru). There’s so much quality in this, it really proves what you can do with animation. But I’ll elaborate on my thoughts after I put them in context.

The Plot

Saki and Mai are planning to enter a karaoke contest, but Saki oversleeps and is almost two hours late meeting Mai, who has wandered into a nearby clock shop to wait. Saki is annoyed that she wasn't at the meeting point and hurries her along. They take a shortcut across a river, but are stopped by a strange man who inquires about a very old clock. They direct him to the shop they just came from and continue to the contest. However, at the registration desk they're told that they're too late to enter. They apologize and beg to be allowed in, and the staff relents and puts them in the last spot. Saki is happy that everything worked out but Mai reminds her that she was late and that they are only being allowed entry out of kindness. There's some friction developing but they both try to put their best foot forward and continue. They prepare silently in the dressing room, with Saki putting on a monkey kigurumi and Mai dressing as a poodle. Eventually it's their turn to perform, but seeing the crowd gives them massive stage fright and they freeze, silently begging for time to stop.

Then time stops. They take a moment to collect themselves and try to figure out what happened when they see two spirits land near them. They follow the spirits back to the clock shop, where they are transported to the Land of Clocks, and the spirits named Hours and Minutes explain that an evil man stopped the Infinite Clock. Surprise surprise, it's the man who stopped Saki and Mai earlier, who introduces himself as Sirloin from Dark Fall, and they transform into Precure and battle him. Unfortunately, he can keep up with the girls and he even tricks them into attacking each other before he sucks them and all the fairies into a maze.

When the girls regain consciousness they find they've been separated from Moop and Foop, and they argue over whether they should prioritize getting out of the maze or finding the fairies first. They wander around for a while but ultimately they get fed up with each other and Bloom storms off, only to come running back when she hears Egret getting attacked by an Uzainaa. By the time Bloom arrives, however, she can't find Egret, and the monster punches her back across the desert. It turns out Egret was actually nearby but she was trapped behind a disappearing door, unable to call out to her partner or do anything to get her attention before the door faded away and they were separated. Being separated causes their feelings and strength to waver and the two wind up detransforming. 

They wallow in their doubt for a while but Hours and Minutes encourage them to make up with each other, so they each start looking for the other. Saki is yelling Mai's name, and Mai calls back, but their shouting attracts unexpected company: Moop and Foop with a bunch of clock spirits, and the Uzainaa, who swoops in to attack the girls. The monster stops them from transforming but they realize there is a double door on its head: the escape! Saki and Mai each jump to grab a handle, at great personal risk, and the Uzainaa dissolves as everybody is sucked out of the maze and lands back in front of the Infinite Clock, while Sirloin just looks confused.

He commends them for escaping before trying to crush them in a pillar of sand, but Saki and Mai finally come together, hold hands, and apologize to each other. They slowly begin to transform into Cure Bright and Cure Windy as they explain how much they value each other's friendship and declare how, when they're together, they can save everyone and there's nothing to be afraid of! They break free of the sand and fight Sirloin again, and this time they manage to break through his barriers and dodge his attacks, defeating him before embracing each other.... until he transforms into a giant red bull. He yells out that he wants to stop time so he can be alone, but the girls counter that life is more fun together and they won't let him destroy everyone's lives. They perform Spiral Star Splash as he fires his own beam of sand at them, but despite him seeming to have more power, Hours and Minutes contribute their energy, all the clock spirits give strength, and the Infinite Clock itself comes to life as the animals of the zodiac, carved into its border, shine and burst out to surround the Precures. They add their energy to the attack and then they charge Sirloin one by one while the girls yell that even if he's more powerful than them, when they're together, they can do anything, and that's why Pretty Cure is two people! All together they manage to finally destroy Sirloin, and restore the flow of time. The first credits roll past the screen as Hours and Minutes reaffirm their own friendship by holding hands like the Precures, and then Saki, Mai, and their fairies are all instantly transported back to the moment they left as time is fully restored. The music has stopped, so the MCs restart it and Saki and Mai dance to Ganbalance de Dance.

The Analysis

This movie is beautiful in every sense of the word. Beautifully animated. Beautifully written. Beautifully paced (okay maybe that could use a little work...). It shows the truest sense of what Splash Star can be, and that long, non-stock transformation while Saki and Mai talk out their feelings may be one of the best things ever put to film in this franchise. Interestingly, the upgrade in animation means there’s less use of spirit power, as Bloom and Egret fight much more physically than what we typically see in the series. And the motion! The first battle with Sirloin has everybody moving around extremely rapidly, with none of the lag that commonly plagues the show’s attempts at dynamic motion. The final battle is similarly spectacular, with the addition of some creative ways to use the moon and wind powers. Plus, the scene of all the zodiac animals coming out of the clock and aiding the Precures in their attack is really cool! Some of them are only represented very briefly, which makes me appreciate the effort all the more.

There are some moments of less than stellar animation and drawings but those shots are still on the level of an average TV episode.

I adore the message about two people coming together. Obviously, teamwork and partnership are at the root of Precure, but the movies especially give them a chance to shine a light on what it means and why. Despite Sirloin being stronger, the heroines are fighting together! Their bond is their strength, and when they aren’t perfect, when they can’t do something alone, they have help from each other, and help from everyone around them! That’s why Hours and Minutes lend their strength, and all the zodiac animals on the clock appear because of the power of their partnership. Their journey through the film cements this. They had a conflict, it weakened them, but even when they separated, when they were at their lowest, they still cared about each other and wanted to apologize, and that is where they started to rebound and become stronger, strong enough to defeat Sirloin.

I found the plot to be a little uneven. It’s similar to the second Max Heart film in broad strokes: the two girls have a disagreement that causes friction between them, which impacts their ability to fight, they are separated from each other but eventually reunite and make up, and with their resolve now stronger than ever, they overpower the villain, proving that their bond is strong enough to overcome any obstacle. The big differences between the two lie in the approach. MH2 began with a pretty minor offense and there was fairly equal blame to go around, while in Splash Star it’s pretty clear-cut that Saki’s extreme tardiness and subsequent lack of consideration for the burden she imposed on everybody else as a result is the problem, and Mai getting irritated at her for this is perfectly reasonable. It seems like the narrative wants you to say “Saki was late but Mai wasn’t where she was supposed to be so they’re both at fault” but I can’t really agree with that. This doesn’t break the movie, but it affects the perception of the resolution. Instead of Saki apologizing for being late and inconsiderate, they both apologize for their own faults. This is not bad, and it’s true that Mai has some issues to apologize for throughout the film, but treating the two as equal just.... doesn’t quite make sense to me. Saki was almost two hours late to meet Mai, which caused them to miss the deadline to sign up for the event that Saki wanted to do in the first place, and she gets pissy at Mai for not being at the exact meeting point when she finally shows up, and again when Mai reminds her that she inconvenienced the registration folks. Frankly she’s lucky Mai had confidence in her and didn’t just go home.

Additionally, the pacing feels a tad rushed in the middle. This movie is 50 minutes, the shortest of any Precure film period (the Go! Princess triple feature counts as one movie, fight me), when they’re normally about 70-75 minutes. They didn’t necessarily need another 20 minutes, but I think a further 10 minutes exploring the maze (especially separately) might have helped the resolution feel more earned. Them feeling remorseful almost immediately after they sit down and think about their fight makes sense, but have them work harder to reunite! Have them really desperate to find each other for that little bit longer, and it would be better to me.

That being said, there’s a particular sequence I like, when Saki and Mai are walloing in their doubts, they both flash back to the night they met as children at the carnival, but in each of their flashbacks, they are their current age looking down at the younger version of the other, who acts uncertain and runs away, visualizing their fear of separation.

There’s a bit of distortion, like a soft fisheye or something, that really sells the unease.

When I was first getting into Precure back in the early 2010s, the people I chatted with described the Splash Star film as exceptionally gay, and in particular were fond of describing the slow transformation as essentially an open declaration of love. Love is much less of an overt topic in this film compared to the Max Heart films, where Nagisa’s romantic frustrations were at least shown, or outright contributed to the plot. In this movie, Kazuya is only shown once, sitting in the audience with the rest of Mai’s family, and absolutely no allusion is made to Saki’s crush on him. However, is it there beneath the surface? All I can say is that it’s an understandable read of the film. The text of it treats them as good friends who care deeply for each other’s well being, and want to rectify their wrongs to each other. Fundamentally, that’s what love is, but they never quite spell it out to the audience for multiple reasons, so what you’re left with is subtext. After my MH2 review, I had a discussion with @punk-mahoucore who pointed out that the writers gave themselves plausible deniability about the intent of the romantic subtext in that film by the inclusion of a male love interest, so it’s interesting that they don’t even have that here. You can choose to see them as close friends, or as girlfriends, and there’s nothing but heteronormativity to really say you’re wrong.

Veering away from the heavy subjects, I have a few minor things that don’t merit paragraphs of discussion.... starting with Sirloin.

Okay, sure, the movie is probably not canon, because it’s hard to fit it into the quest to revive the Fountain of the Sun, but Sirloin flies in the face of Dark Fall’s objectives, since he wants to stop time for everyone, eternally, and this would undermine Akudaikaan’s rule. It makes much more sense for him to just be a rogue villain as he doesn’t fit in with Dark Fall thematically, aesthetically, or in motivation. I don’t know why they chose to do that. Also, it’s such a silly name, I legitimately laughed out loud the first time they said it in the movie. I wonder if it was meant to be a pun with a title, Sir Loin, like Miss Shitataare. As it stands it’s just a strange name until he reveals his bull form. Also he’s voiced by Aizen from Bleach so that’s neat.

Hours and Minutes are a fun batch of movie-only mascots. They’re a bunch of references in one: Hours is shorter than Minutes because the hour hand is shorter than the minute hand, they are a turtle and a rabbit respectively because turtles are slow (like the hour hand) and rabbits are fast (like the minute hand), and they also represent the fable of the tortoise and the hare. They manage to not be particularly annoying! In fact I really like them! They’ve got a fun dynamic, with Minutes being more sentimental while Hours is a bit more aggressive, but he’s nice at heart and very open about how much he cares about his partner in time. Also, they don’t speak with a vocal tic, a rarity for fairies in this franchise, and that’s a plus. They’re brought to life by a couple of veteran seiyuu, Tarako as minutes and Kikuchi Misami as Hours.

The Land of Clocks itself is a pretty interesting place. It’s got lots of rock formations with various rocks shaped like numbers just scattered about, as well as grassy fields with lots of clocks laying there. The Infinite Clock is a giant hourglass inside aperture, with some gearing and weights. The disc that it’s in is shown to have illustrations of the zodiac animals on it, although the reason for this is never made clear.

Saki and Mai also get some really lovely outfits for this movie. Saki has a yellow belted dress or coat that has rolled-up sleeves and her cat emblem on the left hem of the skirt, with a pink long-sleeve shirt underneath, and she’s wearing dark gray pants with tan boots. Mai’s attire is a light pink shoulder-cut sweater with a darker pink collar and waist, worn over a white button-down shirt. She wears a blue skirt with tan hose or leggings, light blue pumps, and white leg warmers with a blue bow at the top. They’re outfits that evoke cool weather, which makes sense as this movie was released in late fall/early winter.

I want to move on to the opening and ending. I really love how the opening wordlessly tells the story of how Saki is desperately running late and Mai patiently waits for her, and it also showcases just how gorgeous the animation is going to be in this film. Take a look!

As cheesy as it is I’m especially fond of Saki rolling down that hill.

The ending, meanwhile, is “Ganbalance de Dance - Saki & Mai ver.” and while it plays in-universe, they don’t actually sing (weird for a karaoke contest), and most of the footage is external stuff. I do like the shots of Saki and Mai dancing with both of their alter egos, though, that’s pretty cool.

In conclusion, this movie is excellent. The Precure movies so far have all been strong. I don’t think it passes MH2 as my favorite movie but it’s a close second for sure. Some minor issues with pacing in the middle keep it from its full potential but it’s in the upper echelon of series films due to its strong characters and wonderful animation.

Finally, I want to note for the record that Kenta is present and has a few lines at the beginning of the film, but none of the other major cast members have any dialog. Mildly strange. Also, the judges for the karaoke contest are two real-world people: Uchiyae Yuka and Mukai Aki.

Uchiyae Yuka (on the left) sings the opening song, so her inclusion makes sense, but Mukai Aki has no involvement with Precure except for this part. I looked her up and she seems to be a TV actress and talk/variety show host from the late 80s and 90s, who has continued to make public appearances. I have no idea why they tapped her for this movie but I guess she fills the minor celebrity quota.

Next time we resume our normal activities. It’s Kintolesky and Dorodoron’s turn to attack, and Michiru and Kaoru get to celebrate their reunion with their friends! Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 Zekkouchou Nari!

It is February 1 in Japan, meaning that it is now the 15th anniversary of the PreCure series, starting with Futari wa Pretty Cure in 2004. This first episode would launch the beginning of a long-running hit Magical Girl franchise for years to come and years still to go. 

You may have been aware that PreCure ‘officially’ celebrated it’s 15th anniversary last year in 2018, however that was more literally celebrating it’s ‘fifteenth season’ Hugtto! PreCure at the time. In terms of actual years, 2019 is the actual 15th anniversary of the series. 

Celebrate its 15th birthday by watching the first season legally on Crunchyroll. 

Futari wa Precure: Thoughts from Episodes 1-5

I finally started the Original Duo’s show, and so far, I like it! Also bye Pissard holy fuck I know the first season actually ends at Episode 26 but damn that was an early death.

First of all, I want everyone who said Milk was the worst fairy in the entire franchise to tell me if they never watched the Max Heart duology or if they forgot about it. Because if Nagisa at some point decided to murder Mepple I would support her wholeheartedly, fuck Mepple oh my god. Mipple is fine if flat so far, my issues are only with Mepple.

I actually love how Nagisa does not want anything to do with the Magical Girl deal and how she’s right in the fact this was just dropped onto her wiithout any actual explanation? She also actually asks questions about everything, she complains how this is ruining some of her days, and oh my god I love you please keep doing that. The crush on Fujipi isn’t being annoying yet, either.

Honoka is also great, for how calm and collected she seems, she would also beat you up in a heartbeat and I love that. And her trying to become Nagisa’s friend also feels very realistic - they really don’t have anything in common between them, better start slow and see how they can go from there.

Bonus point to Pissard - you pulled moves that normally happen near the end of the season at the start of the season, that’s commendable at least. And bonus points for making the girls go “holy fuck we killed a man” at the end of Episode 5. I know it’ll probably won’t matter in the long run but having the girls realize that was a nice touch nonetheless.

Also I actually do like how the girls are struggling so much in battle? Yeah, being a Cure grants you super strength and a lot of resistance, but when you’re just starting it’s gonna be hard on you. Also OUCH do some of those hits actually look really painful. The elevator scene in particular was brutal.

Also, aside from aesthetics - how are Saki and Mai similar to Nagisa and Honoka? Saki’s a ball of sunshine while Nagisa seems cynical as fuck so far, and Mai is way more chill than Honoka is.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’ll update again when I get to Muscle Dude’s death.

Japan Box Office 2018: Detective Conan Zero the Enforcer Became Top-Grossing Anime Film

As 2018 wrapped up, the box-office figures for Japanese anime films and live-action adaptations of popular manga and anime released from January to December are arrived. 

  The top-grossing anime film of 2018 was Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer, the 22nd feature film based on Gosho Aoyama's long-running mystery manga series was released in Japan on April 13, 2018. It made a massive 9.18 billion yen from its domestic run, becoming the most successful film in the franchise and the second top-grossing Japanese film of last year, behind only Japanese idol Tomohisa Yamashita-starring medical drama Code Blue: The Movie that earned 9.23 billion yen. The 23rd film The Fist of Blue Sapphire is already set for release on April 12, 2019.

  Meanwhile, Gintama 2: Okite wa Yaburu tame ni koso Aru (The Rule is surely there to be broken) was the most successful live-action film adaptation of Japanese manga. The sequel featuring the

same cast and staff members from the first film in 2017 made 3.65 billion yen, which was slightly

short of the first film's total of 3.82 billion yen. While the cast have expressed their desire and

anticipation, the announcement for the third film has not yet been made.  

     2018 anime films box office results:

  1. "Detective Conan Zero the Enforcer" (April 13/9.18 billion yen)

(C)2018 GOSHO AOYAMA/DETECTIVE CONAN COMMITTEE All Rights Reserved 

2. "Doraemon the Movie 2018 Nobita's Treasure Island" (March 3/5.37 billion yen)

3. "Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us" (July 13/3.09 billion yen)

4. "Mirai no Mirai" (July 20/2.88 billion yen)

5. "Dragon Ball Super: Broly" (December 14/2.03 billion yen) *still showing

6. "Crayon Shin-chan Burst Serving! Kung Fu Boys ~Ramen Rebellion~" (April 30/1.83 billion yen)

7. "My Hero Academia: Two Heroes" (August 8/1.56 billion yen)

8. "Hugtto! PreCure ♡ Futari wa Pretty Cure: All Stars Memories" (October 27/1.11 billion yen)

9. "PreCure Super Stars!" (March 17/790 million yen)

9. "Natsume's Book of Friends the Movie: Tied to the Temporal World" (September 29/790 million yen)

  11. "The Laws of The Universe Part 1" (October 12/670 million yen)

12. "Soreike! Anpanman Kagayake! Kurun to Inochi no Hoshi" (June 30/610 million yen)

13. "The Seven Deadly Sins the Movie: Prisoners of the Sky" (August 18/540 million yen)

14. "Mobile Suit Gundam NT (Narrative)" (November 30/520 million yen)

15. "Yo-kai Watch Forever Friends" (December 14/510 million yen)

16. "Bungo Stray Dog Dead Apple" (March 3/490 million yen)

17. "Monster Strike The Movie: Sora no Kanata" (October 5/360 million yen)

18. "Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World: Memory Snow" (October 6/250 million)

19. "Mazinger Z Infinity" (January 13/240 million yen)

20. "Waka Okami wa Shogakusei!" (September 21/230 million)

  21. "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas" (September 1/220 million yen)

21. "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: Detonation" (October 19/220 million yen)

21. "Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Take on Me" (January 6/220 million yen)

24. "MAQUIA: When the Promised Flower Blooms" (February 24/190 million yen)

25. "Godzilla: The Planet Eater" (November 9/170 million yen)

26. "Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle" (May 18/100 million yen)

26. "Zoku Owarimonogatari" (November 10/100 million yen)

26. "Non Non Biyori Vacation" (August 25/100 million yen)

26. "Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love: The 6th Chapter" (November 2/100 million yen)

30. "Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love: The 4th Chapter" (January 27/90 million yen)

  31. "Modest Heroes" (August 24/60 million yen)

32. "Haikara-san ga Toru Part 2 - Tokyo Dai Roman" (October 19/20 million yen)

    (no box office data available)

   "Attack on Titan Season 2: The Roar of Awakening"　(January 13)

 "Full Metal Panic! 2nd SECTION One Night Stand" (January 13)

 "Full Metal Panic! 3rd SECTION Into The Blue" (January 20)

 "The Testament of Sister New Devil Departures" (March 28)

 "Macross Delta the Movie: Passionate Walküre" (February 9)

 "Tokimeki Reatsaurant ☆☆☆ MIRACLE6" (February 10)

 "Infini-T Force: Gatchaman Saraba Tomo yo" (February 24)

 "SERVAMP - Alice in the Garden-" (April 7)

 "Liz and the Blue Bird" (April 21)

 "Digimon Adventure tri. 6" (May 5)

 "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion III - Glorification" (May 26)

 "Peacemaker Kurogane Part 1: Belief" (June 1)

 "Kase-san and Morning Glories" (June 9)

 "Laughing Under the Clouds Gaiden: Shukumei, Soutou no Fuuma" (June 9)

 "K SEVEN STORIES Episode 1'R:B BLAZE'" (July 7) and all of other episodes

 "Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head The Movie" (August 24)

 "Peacemaker Kurogane Part 2: Friend" (November 17)

    Live-action adaptation films top 10

  1. "Gintama 2: Okite wa Yaburu tame ni koso Aru" (August 17/3.65 billion yen)

2. "Chihayafuru Musubi" (March 17/1.73 billion yen)

3. "Sensei Kunshu" (August 1/1.16 billion yen)

4. "We Love." (November 9/780 million yen)

5. "Inuyashiki" (April 20/710 million yen)

6. "Koi wa Ameagari no youni" (May 25/680 million yen) 

7. "HIBIKI" (September 14/530 million yen)

8. "Kasane" (September 7/500 million)

8. "My Little Monster" (April 27/500 million)

10. "Bleach" (July 20/490 million yen)

       Source: Pick Scene 

   (C)2018 GOSHO AOYAMA/DETECTIVE CONAN COMMITTEE All Rights Reserved 

  By: [email protected]

Worst to Best Precure Seasons (Futari Wa - Go! Princess)

I’ve decided to do this just to get it off my chest. Remember, this is my personal opinion. Note: Max Heart and GoGo are not included in this because I honestly never had any interest in the sequel series.

SPOILERS FOLLOW 10. HappinessCharge Precure! I'm only 13 episodes into this season, but so far it's boring the crap out of me. The animation and their uniforms are beautiful, as is with most of the newer seasons, but I'm confused why they have SO many attacks and forms. Megumi/Lovely and Hime/Princess are kind of hard to watch; them, along with Yuuko/Honey seem pretty underdeveloped. I was expecting myself to like Hime because I had really loved Erika from HeartCatch, but she just doesn't have her charm and comes off as annoying. But, maybe my opinions will change as I continue with the season. FAVORITE CURE: Iona/Fortune 9. Yes! PreCure 5 I found this particular season to be pretty forgettable, unfortunately. Not only did I find Nozomi/Dream pretty annoying, I didn't approve of her thing with Coco because 1) he's kinda her teacher and 2) he's a chipmunk?? Like is she still attracted to him in his chipmunk form??? The whole thing is weird, and the same goes for Komachi/MintxNuts. Also, Milk was equally as annoying and this plot line wasn't too creative either. Plus, those Despair Mask-things were creepy af! FAVORITE CURE: Rin/Rouge 8. Suite PreCure One of my biggest problems with this season was the design. HeartCatch was such a big improvement in the animation from the previous seasons, and this one just looks like it falls flat. I kinda hated Kanade/Rhythm, and I had a couple of problems with Ako/Muse (specifically, I don't understand why, if she wanted to GET TO her father, why she disguised herself, or what the point of the disguise was at all). I did like her sassy personality though,and I was upset that they just sorta forgot about that once she joined the Cures. I will applaud this season's humor, villains, and Hibiki/Melody's characterization. FAVORITE CURE: Siren/Eren/Beat 7. Futari Wa Pretty Cure Splash Star As with most Precure fans, I assume, this season felt very similar to the Futari Wa. Saki/Bloom and Mai/Egret are pretty much descendants of the original pair, down to their personalities and voices. However, this season did feel a little newer, as it did introduce the whole "bad guys turn good and get Precure powers" trope with Michiru and Kaoru, even if they didn't officially become Precure. Also, Muup and Fuup are adorable af. However, I didn't understand why Saki and Mai got their Bright and Windy, forms, to be honest; it just didn't seem very necessary? Plus, the concept of two Precure forms wasn't really ever brought up again (not counting HappinessCharge). FAVORITE CURE: Saki/Bloom/Bright 6. Fresh Pretty Cure! When I first watched this season, I didn't like it very much because its animation looked stiff and the girls, besides Eas/Setsuna/Passion, barely had any difference in personality. However, I realize now that it was better than I thought it was. For example, I find this season to have the best use of the "bad guy turns good" trope; it's played out very nicely. This season also had a good deal of humor, especially in Westar and Soular (who I low key kinda shipped.) I also liked the idea of Love/Peach and Setsuna being adoptive sisters, since they had surprisingly good chemistry. I always saw Chiffon as just another damsel in distress, but Tarte is my bae because he was funny af and looked out for Chiffon like a big bro. Also, the concept of having the big-baddy be a computer was interesting and creative. FAVORITE CURE: Eas/Setsuna/Passion 5. DokiDoki! PreCure Okay, I can see why people love to hate this season, but personally, I kinda loved it. As mentioned before, the animation is beautiful, the girls and villains are well written (except for Aguri/Ace, which I'll get to), and the story is nice. Ai just overwhelms me with cuteness and Sebastian is the best side-character ever, I swear (he's basically Precure's Alfred Pennyworth). I think people hate the Mana/HeartxRegina pairing mostly because it takes up too much of the plot line, but I thought it was a nice divergence from the usual formula seen in Precure. Plus, they're pretty much canon already (they were holding hands in bed for fuck's sakes!) But there things with this one that will hang over my head every time I rewatch the scenes. One is Rikka/Diamond, who annoyed me just a little cause she was kind of a smartass. But my biggest problem is AGURI. Oh my lord, where do I start? How about the fact that she's like 9 in her normal form, but is suddenly 14 as Ace? Or that her transformation, while it is cool, is overdramatized and doesn't fit well with the others? Or how about the fact that when Mana becomes upset that she lost Regina again, Ace comes with no remorse and fucking TAKES AWAY HER LOVEADS??? FOR CRYING OVER A LOST LOVE??? Excuse me, bitch, what right do you have to determine whether or not a girl can be Precure. Get the fuck back, you're not helping. #LeaveManaAlone. Okay rant over lol. FAVORITE CURE: Mana/Heart 4. Futari Wa Pretty Cure Like with most franchises, the first is always a classic, and that's the case with Precure. Nagisa/Black and Honoka/White were both very likable characters, and I adored the love-hate relationship between Nagisa and Mepple. I liked how it was mostly hand-to-hand combat with this one, unlike the later seasons. I was also rooting immensely for the HonokaxKiriya pairing, and I was upset to hear that Kiriya is not even mentioned in Max Heart after what happened to him. I just felt like he was such a great anti-hero and they kinda just forgot about him entirely. FAVORITE CURE: Nagisa/Black 3. Smile PreCure! I will admit, I first watched this one as Glitter Force. However, I then went back and watched it as Smile, which was obviously better. This is the season that got me into Precure in the first place, and I'm glad it did. All of the girls are likable (notably Yayoi/Peace, she is my smol weeb bean and I luv and relate to her), their uniforms are easy on the eyes, and I loved their attacks. Joker was quite the villain too, especially for a kids' show. Everything in this one pops, and it just really uplifting, except for that one scene where they're all crying near the end. FAVORITE CURE: Yayoi/Peace 2. Go! Princess PreCure I had wanted to see this season for a while, after watching the transformation sequences ahead of time; when I did catch up to it, it was as good as I expected it to be. Everything about this season is so cool, from the proper-yet-badass style of the entire season to the girls' outfits and Keys. Pafu was really pretty, and Aroma was funny and cute too. While I didn't ship Haruka/FloraxKanata too much, Kanata is fuckin gorgeous, his hair is goals. This show definitely handled the whole dream motive better than Yes! 5, and I thought it was a great choice of character development to have the ever-optimistic Haruka lose her faith in her own dream when the one who initiated in the first place put her down for it. The girls are all great, Kirara/Twinkle is a queen of sass and super goals as well. I just wish they would've expanded on their future selves longer than the last 2 minutes of the series. One thing I wasn't a fan of in this season was those CGI attacks and scenes; they looked strange. FAVORITE CURE: Haruka/Flora 1. HeartCatch PreCure! You knew this was coming. Okay, so my first reason for this one topping the list is the animation style. It's vivid and energetic, just as the series itself is. I'm also lauding the much different tone of story in this one; it gives a sense of maturity in PreCure as a show for more than preteen girls. Specifically, my favorite parts were the whole Yuri/Moonlight vs. Dark PreCure battle (which contained some pretty fucking lit fight scenes) and Moonlight's history. I'm amazed they went as far to actually kill a fairy in this one, but I'm glad they decided to go through with it (not that I wanted little Cologne dead at all). I also loved Kaoruko/Flower as Tsubomi/Blossom's grandmother, I thought that was a nice twist. As with the others higher on this list, the girls are all well done, and this is the only season where I have more than one favorite cure. This season also had some pretty lit songs, and the final battle between the PreCure and Dune is pretty epic. FAVORITE CURE(S): Erika/Marine and Yuri/Moonlight

Hey, do you do recommendations? Like, if I've only watched battle shonen and (too many) silly slice-of-life anime, and wanted to try watching a Magical Girl series, what would you recommend? I'd kinda like something that isn't A LOT of episodes (at least to start). In terms of a show, I'm fine with either a light or dark tone, and elements that turn people off like "this show is too childish" or "this show has too much fanservice" are generally things that don't ever really bother me.

If you want a just solid anime that’s enjoyable without being a genre nerd, I’d recommend Cardcaptor Sakura. I...may not have finished it and that’s bad but I know it’s a well put-together show that a lot of people like.

I really don’t know any really good magical girl anime that’s under, like, 45 episodes long. Well, besides Madoka Magica, but Madoka Magica shouldn’t be your first exposure to the genre, because it’s more of a subversion of it.

If you want to go with Precure, I’d suggest Futari wa Pretty Cure (the first season), Heartcatch Precure or Go! Princess Precure. I love Hugtto Precure and I wish I could recommend it, but it also has three crossover episodes for the series’s 15th anniversary that would probably confuse people who don’t understand that magical girls are, like, a franchise. And they can’t really be skipped over.

I’ve also heard Princess Tutu is a good one. I have not watched it and don’t know where I can watch it. But it’s on my list.

Precure Day 148

Episode: Futari wa Precure Splash Star 49 - “In Top Form! Forever Friends Under the Starry Sky!” Date watched: 29 July 2019 Original air date: 28 January 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/LingrF5? Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

words don’t do this justice

note: I may revise this later if i look back and think of more to say. I probably will, bit i wanted to push this out now for personal reasons.

This is it. The finale. We finally made it! From November to now, Splash Star has been a long road plagued by personal difficulties and stubbornness and some lost sleep along the way, but I made it! And boy do we have a lot to discuss!

The Plot

When we left off, Saki, Mai, Michiru, and Kaoru, were infused with the power of spirits and transformed into Cures Bloom, Egret, Bright, and Windy. Gohyaan mocks their resolve and points out how all life is gone and there’s no light, no wind, nothing. It’s a world of ruin, except for the four of them, and he’s about to fix that. They battle, and as the girls again try to explain why they consider life so valuable, Gohyaan explains his backstory. He is an existence predating the universe, and he doesn’t like the commotion of life, so he wants to go back to the quiet. The girls won’t let that happen, because they have so much to live for. Gohyaan destroys the entire Earth, and thinks this is the end for them, but no! Saki explains how she needs to lead the softball team to victory. Michiru wants to try baking bread, because Saki’s is so delicious. Kaoru wants to draw with Minori and Mai, Choppi wants to live in the Land of Fountains, Flappi wants to confess his feelings, and Mai wants to keep drawing everyone’s smiles. They stand up, gather their power, and all together they perform a brand new four-person finishing attack: Precure Spiral Heart Splash Star!

This is too much for Gohyaan to handle and as the girls proclaim the strength of their hopes and futures, he is blown away.

The spirits of the various fountains and the Fairy Carafe reappear, and they restore everything to its original, beautiful state. We see all six fountains one final time, as the girls stand in front of the Sky Tree as they realize that it’s connected to the World Tree in the Land of Fountains. Princess Filia is fully restored to power, and Korone returns to being a normal, non-talking cat. However, Michiru and Kaoru have exhausted the last of their remaining energy, and they begin to fade away. Saki, Mai, Flaapi, Choppi, Moop, and Foop all cry deeply, not wanting to let their friends go, and even Filia seems sad but unable to do anything. However, a miracle occurs as the spirits of the Land of Greenery flow into the two, and Filia deduces that the spirits themselves want to live with the Michiru and Kaoru. They’re restored to life, and Princess Filia finally returns to her place in the Tree of Life.

At this point the first ending theme begins to play as we get a montage of events: All four girls visiting the Fountain of the Sky at long last, fulfilling that promise. Waving a tearful goodbye to their fairies. Mai and Kaoru drawing in school. The girls sitting on Gourd Rock in the spring. Saki and Michiru baking. And then, the softball tournament. Kaoru and Minori have drawn a picture to support Saki, while Michiru baked some bread in the shape of Saki’s head. Kaya, Miyasako, Kenta, Hitomi, Yuuko, and Mai are all in the stands anticipating the game. Saki looks into the stands and sees Izumida, the former captain, and suddenly gets nervous. She walks out of sight, and Mai walks up to her. They hold hands and Saki comments about how holding hands lets Mai’s energy flow through her, a callback to an earlier episode.

Then Saki walks out onto the field. Next thing we know, we’re treated to a few of Mai’s drawings: Saki holding the championship trophy, indicating they won. Everybody gathered together with Saki: Mai, Michiru, Kaoru, Kenta, Miyasako, Kaya, Hitomi, Yuuko, Izumida, Ms. Shinohara, Saki’s parents, Mai’s parents, Minori, Kazuyua, Korone, and all the fairies. Basically, every major character in the series. How nobody saw the fairies is not answered, and I have to assume it’s actually a photograph that Mai copied but details aside, it’s a great picture.

We zoom out to see Saki and Mai sitting beneath the Sky Tree, closing the sketchbook, and the real credits roll.

The Analysis

I absolutely love every minute of this. Even with the powers of all four spirits, Gohyaan is a formidable opponent, but the girls hold their own and manage to overcome him in the end. What is the power of destruction next to an indestructible will? He underestimates the power, the value, of life, and that is his ultimate undoing. He gets the peace and quiet he wants.... at the cost of his existence. And, indeed, this explains the Uzainaa’s name. It’s derived from “Urusai na”, which means “it’s annoying”. Gohyaan is an existence that predates the universe, and he doesn’t like the commotion created by life. It’s a darkly mundane reason to want to try to destroy everything, and frankly he should find a new hobby, but maybe in the end he learned that life is precious. Doesn’t seem like it, though. Honestly I don’t have much to say about the battle itself. There’s some good scenes, like this part where the cures all flip Gohyaan, but it’s more of an exchange of wills than a physical fight. Both are important aspects, as I’ve commented many times, I just want to note that the physical stuff was done last episode.

Let’s talk Michiru and Kaoru. Officially, they don’t get new designations even with the powers of Moon and Wind, because the idea at the time was still that Precures were only ordinary girls, but I think they deserve to be called Cure Bright and Cure Windy. Their journey is heartbreaking, even if their death was an inevitability and they were given a new lease on life very quickly. They never deserved what they got, but their tragedy is a part of this show I honestly forgot about, and I think it makes it more powerful. I knew Splash Star was an underrated gem but I had forgotten the depths of tragedy the Kiryuus were in, I kind of thought everything was pretty hunky-dory when they got back. Their journey escalates this show to a higher tier in my view, and I’ll have to remember that when making recommendations.

Obviously, they already had powers from being Dark Fall denizens, and getting Cure abilities doesn’t make them innately better, but it’s a great next step for them, epitomizing the journey they’ve undergone from mindless servants of Akudaikaan to friends and sisters who have a network of people who care about and support them, discovering their own interests, and getting to live life. They are every inch heroes in the way that Saki and Mai are and they have been done dirty by the franchise writ large.

The epilogue gives us a lot of things I really wanted. Michiru and Kaoru finally get some casual clothes, and they are really stylish.

Also, we fast forward to spring and see them in spring outfits and Michiru’s outfit is extremely similar to Nagisa’s spring clothes.

I’m happy to see them living normal lives, practicing baking and art and getting to experience life, finally. They seem so happy and I’m sure they have a bright future ahead of them and GOD DAMN IT TOEI WHY DO YOU IGNORE THEM. They were lucky to get Figuarts.

The softball championship game is something else I honestly forgot happened. I commented back in the last softball episode (35 I think) that we would never see Saki lead the team to victory the next year, because the show didn’t get a second season. Well, they took care of that here, and Saki did live up to her promise to Izumida by winning the championship.

In general it’s a lot of tying up loose ends that I really appreciate. Flappi finally confessed his feelings to Choppi and they’re a couple now, Kenta and Miyasako are still going strong as a manzai duo, Yuuko feels inspired by his encouragement even if they don’t seem to be a couple, and... well, the last closure we got on Saki and Kazuya was in the Christmas episode, but that’s just as well because Saki’s only love is Mai. For real though I love that the episode closes out on them being close, and you can choose to interpret their friendship any way you choose. It’s just perfect for this show.

Oh and there’s a little epilogue after the ending theme. On the TV broadcast it was probably a preview for Yes! 5, but we don’t get that here. Instead we get  , some stills of Saki and Mai thanking everybody for watching, and saying that Precure will continue for a long time! And boy, truer words were never spoken.

Next time on precure Daily, I’m going to revisit a little Splash Star something that I forgot to do sooner. After that, I’m going to try to push out a retrospective on the entire Futari wa era, before we change up the formula big time with Yes 5. My goal is to finish Yes 5 by the end of 2019, but if I’m really good I might even be able to start GoGo this year. I don’t want to drag another show out for 8 months, so we’ll see where we end up. I hope to see all of you again soon!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 Zekkouchou Nari!, in the title of the episode.

Precure Day 128

Episode: Futari wa Precure Splash Star 30 - “Amazing Power! Precure’s Great Transformation!!” Date watched: 9 June 2019 Original air date: 3 September 2006 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/jfdQJOk Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Gohyaan forgot to look at the schedule   

When we left off, Gohyaan had kidnapped Flappi and Choppi and retreated to Dark Fall, leaving Saki, Mai, Moop, and Foop in shock. We meet up with them the next day at school, as Saki and Mai are extremely dejected. However, after school they vow to search for their missing partners. They search the beach, as well as the Sky Tree, but come up with no leads. However, Miss Shitataare is still fuming over Gohyaan stealing her thunder, so she pays the girls a visit and coyly leads them to Gohyaan’s hideout. Although initially taken aback by the intrusion, he quickly slips back into taunting Saki and Mai by showing them how he’s tortured Flappi and Choppi.

Then he throws the spirits at their feet, saying he’s gotten all the information he can from them. Saki and Mai scream at Gohyaan that they’ll never forgive him. He brushes this off, because he’s not interested in their forgiveness, and asks what they will do instead, daring them to transform, but the Flower and Bird spirits are too weak to transform Saki and Mai into Precure. Moop and Foop try to apologize to their seniors but Gohyaan takes the chance to capture them instead, and then prepares to destroy Saki and Mai with a gigantic energy ball. The girls bravely stare imminent death in the face and vow that they’ll never give up, because they know if they remain strong in spirit, their wishes will always be granted! It’s a powerful speech, but Gohyaan still isn’t impressed, dismissing their chatter as cliched. Saki and Mai reiterate that the two of them are friends with each other, with Flappi and Choppi, and with Moop and Foop, and that all of their friends are precious to them and they will protect the fairies with their lives! Just as Gohyaan is about to strike the killing blow, Moop and Foop are empowered by the outpouring of love and break free of their restraints, and they fly back to Saki, Mai, Flappi, and Choppi, and encase all of them in glowing light.

Flappi and Choppi are healed and re-energized, and Moop and Foop transfer their powers of Moon and Wind into them. The two larger fairies suddenly transform into their alternate modes, but these aren’t the Mix Communes. Instead they turn into new forms: the Crystal Communes! A new power is being born! Saki and Mai are confused about the change but with no time to worry about such things, they let the spirits guide them into transforming and lo and behold, when they transform this time, they emerge not as Cure Bloom and Cure Egret, but in all new forms.... Cure Bright and Cure Windy, the precures of the Moon and Wind!

The girls don’t have much time to marvel over their new appearances before Gohyaan sets about trying to destroy them again (rude). However, they find that these new forms come with greater power and abilities than they’ve ever experienced, and they manage to gain the upper hand in the battle! Moop and Foop chip in again and give the duo the Spiral Rings, but this time the center emblem is in the shape of a five-pointed star rather than a heart. Gohyaan taunts that he’s going to show the girls a sliver of his true power, and it is strong, but they remain resolute, and with the Spiral Rings equipped, now their attacks are even stronger, even  faster, even more dangerous to the beings of darkness than ever, so they overpower the imp and perform their new finisher: Precure Spiral Star Splash!

Unfortunately, he gets away before we can see the full effect of the attack, but the finisher was powerful enough to bring down Gohyaan’s entire hideout, so the girls flee back through the portal in the ceiling they came in by, suggesting Miss Shitataare left them the escape route. She’s a curious one. Anyway, Saki and Mai regroup with all their fairy partners back at the Sky Tree and the mascots thank the girls for saving them. Saki and Mai push back, though, saying they powered up because everyone’s feelings came together as one to produce a miracle, and with that the episode ends on a beautiful sunset atop the hill.

(okay there’s also some jokes about how Saki and Mai still haven’t finished their summer homework, but given the circumstances, how could they?)

Where do I start with this episode? The epic conclusion to the dramatic cliffhanger from last week, culminating in Saki and Mai receiving a powerup and becoming Cures Bright and Windy! This is one of the defining moments of the show. Although the concept of multiple forms would be revisited in a few different ways in the subsequent years, Splash Star is still the only show where the girls have two separate transformations with different names. Cure Bright, obviously, represents the Moon, while Cure Windy’s motif is pretty self-explanatory. They showcase greater ability than they had as Bloom and Egret, being able to control light and summon strong gusts of wind. Their spirit power is strong and they withstand a flood thrown at them by Gohyaan. With the Spiral Rings their power is even further amplified and they are able to send Gohyaan running for the hills even with his great strength. As the representation of the bond between the girls and fairies, and what’s possible when they join their individual strengths together, it’s beautiful.

On the villain side, the level of treachery Miss Shitataare demonstrates is almost amazing! She is so determined to be Akudaikaan’s right hand, and in denial about her own failures, that on the cusp of a victory for Dark Fall, she brings their greatest enemy into the fold just to sabotage Gohyaann. Her actions bring the girls and their fairies so close to the edge that they unlock an all-new power, which will definitely come back to haunt her soon. Animosity between villains is nothing new in superhero shows, but infighting to the degree seen here is a rarity. I’m impressed. I kind of think I might have been reading her character wrong all this time. I initially thought of her as being similar to Poisony from the first season, who was fairly good at using disguises and sneaking into places to lay traps for the Precures, but she’s really nothing like that. While she uses disguises, they don’t often serve any purpose to her plots. Miss Shitataare cares only for herself and her well-being, she’s very strong but she doesn’t have a lot of foresight. If she did, she would realize that helping the girls win this time just to spite Gohyaan would definitely come back to bite her.

Finally, this is the last episode in which the current ending theme, “'Smiling is Victory' so GO!” by Mayumi Goji plays. I have failed to talk about it for the last 6 months, and this is my last chance, so let’s dig into it.

It’s a bit more melodic than some previous tunes, though it still has that upbeat cheering going on. The lyrics are about how the future is bright even if the present is rocky, so press on and be happy. The visuals show Saki and Mai, separately, engaged in their favorite pastimes: softball and drawing. At sunset, they stand apart from each other and timidly reach out to hold hands, before running home. That night, they each look at the stars from their homes as the lyrics talk about the possibility of never being happy again, and how life is a roller coaster of emotions. Then a meteor shower starts as the lyrics turn more positive. The next day, the two are sitting under the Sky Tree, basking in nature’s beauty. Next we see them running along the beach, turn to each other, and slowly grasp hands again, this time their fingers intertwined, and they stare at each other with huge smiles on their faces.

Then they go back to playing on the beach as the sun shines on a bright friendship and future.

Depending on your read of the song and visuals, it is either about two strangers becoming friends, or it’s super gay. I like the SakiMai ship but I’m not going to weigh in on this matter any further than that. It’s a nice, mid-beat (is that a term?) song with some striking visuals, I think the most striking of any of the FW trio ending songs, and what replaces it is the start of a franchise staple.

Next time, the status quo returns, and we get some of the hardest content to translate to a non-Japanese audience: manzai comedy. Look forward to it, maybe.

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 Zekkouchou Nari!

Miracle Drop Count: 5

Precure Day 127

Episode: Futari wa Precure Splash Star 29 - “Flappi and Choppi are in Dire Straits!” Date watched: 8 June 2019 Original air date: 27 August 2006 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/9LKKaID Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

“I’ll kill you!” - Optimus Prime, 2014, colorized

I was all ready to write this episode off as more goofy filler. But then, I changed my mind. Why? Let’s set the scene.

Saki and Mai are chilling at the Mishous’ place, finishing up their summer homework. Interestingly, despite Mai being a little more academically inclined than Saki, she also hasn’t made much headway on her homework, because she’s gotten absorbed in drawing all the sights around town over the summer. This results in both of them helping each other when they gain some understanding about a concept the other is struggling with, and it’s lovely.

Unfortunately, the fairies are restless and rambunctious. They keep disrupting the girls by making lots of noise and running around them.

and through them

Saki and Mai try to distract them in various ways: television (where Moop and Foop get entranced by an ad for soap which reminds them of the Fountain of the Sky, more on this later), letting them run around in the next room, letting them run around outside, but invariably, Moop and Foop do something that sets Flappi off as he’s trying to make moves on Choppi, and he starts chasing them around.

Yeah, he’s actually the big troublemaker this go-around, not them. A little surprising, I know. Little dude has murder in his eyes (see top pic) and it takes Saki telling him to chill the fuck out before he calms down temporarily. So the lesson here is that even Moop and Foop can see that his love for Choppi is one-sided. Where does that put him on the maturity scale? Low.

Moving on, down in Dark Fall, Akudaikaan is giving Miss Shitataare crap for being inept, as usual, but she says she has a plan that will work this time, as usual. Once she leaves, Akudaikaan tells Gohyaan to go after her.

Up at Mai’s place, the doorbell rings and they receive an unexpected package from Underwater Delivery Services later (lit. Mizushita something something) which is not at all suspicious. It turns out to be a set of bath soaps, which they don’t really know what to do with, but they smell nice. Flappi continues to flirt with an oblivious Choppi, only to be distracted by that most treacherous of enemies..... bubbles. The younger fairies have gotten into the soap and made soapy water that they’re using to blow bubbles. This sets him off and he gets in a shouting match with them about their intentions, trying to spoil his advances, which results in Saki and Mai having to intervene again, placate all parties, and get an understanding about what’s going on. However, someone interrupts.

raise your hand if you saw that coming

Yes, it turns out the soap was from Miss Shiitake (actually I think they make that joke in a later episode), in some ploy to capture Moop and Foop and learn the location of the Fountain of the Sun. She gloats that she has the upper hand because of the soap, which she makes her Uzainaa out of, but it’s not shown to be especially dangerous without her making it into an actual monster, and she could have used literally anything else aquatic, like the water in the pond that the soap bubbles were in, or the kitchen sink, or the toilet, or the plumbing itself, or [insert long list of water-adjacent objects in a modern household]. What I’m saying is that, as usual, her plan doesn’t make any sense and last episode was an anomaly. In fact I’m going to pause the recap here to analyze her methodology thus far, because there are particular reasons I don’t want to do it at the end.

Miss Shitataare was introduced as a bigger threat than the enemies the Cures had faced thus far (except for Gohyaan and Akudaikaan, of course). She came out swinging, attacking the girls with water sickles at point blank range before they had even transformed, and even when they did transform, she was still able to overpower their Twin Stream Splash and leave them weakened until Moop and Foop gave them the Spiral Rings, powering them up enough to win the fight. She’s seemed to have a grudge against the tiny fairies since then, because in almost every subsequent appearance she’s made it a point to hold them hostage. Her strategy is generally: Put on a disguise, get close to the girls, and then attack. The one time her disguise was useful was the last episode, where she separated the girls. In this episode, she makes a big show of presenting the soap to the girls and acts like it’s a key component to her plan to defeat them, but as far as I can tell it’s just soap. Then there’s the detail that her Uzainaa are generally not particularly more threatening than we saw the prior generals using. The eel was fast and gave the girls the runaround but that’s been about it. Without any particular signs of struggle greater than what they were able to overcome without the power boost, they always summon the Spiral Rings to finish off the monsters. Granted, this is a creative choice driven by the desire to sell toys, and there’s narrative gain by showing how their new friends contribute their power to the cause, but as far as purely needing the power boost, there hasn’t been much need for that. However, that’s an endemic problem to a toy-based franchise and I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole too far.

Back to the matter at hand. This Uzainaa’s special ability is that its bubbles are apparently explosive, and it manages to force Bloom and Egret all the way down the mountain from Mai’s house to the beach. They get tossed around a little but they trick Miss S. into momentarily letting go of Moop and Foop, who break out of their bubble and provide the Spiral Rings so that the Cures can finish off the monster with Spiral Heart Splash. With peace restored, Saki and Mai ask Moop and Foop why they were dead set on playing with the soap bubbles, and they explain that the scent reminds them of their home in the Fountain of the Sky, which everybody present is able to sympathize with. Following this exchange, the screen fades to white and the credits-

JUST KIDDING!

Remember that exchange in Dark Fall earlier? Well, since Miss S. failed, Gohyaan is here to pick up the slack, and he’s no slacker. With three minutes left in the episode, he brutally attacks the detransformed Precure and grabs Flappi and Choppi, taunting them that they’ll have plenty of time to tell him where the Fountain of the Sun is, or if they truly don’t know, divulge whatever they do know, and mocks the girls because they can’t do anything in their current states. Then he descends back into Dark Fall as the two lunge at him, but they are too late and are left grasping at sand. Thus, the episode actually ends with Saki, Mai, Moop, and Foop staring at the ground looking shocked and afraid at what just happened. They can’t transform, they don’t know how to reach Dark Fall, and their fairy friends are in serious danger. How’s that for a cliffhanger?

As I said at the start, I was ready to write this one off as goofy, inconsequential, maybe a little sentimental but not better than the emotional bonding and general fun of the last two episodes. By the end, I had almost forgotten about Gohyaan (probably a side effect of spending ~90 minutes watching a 24 minute episode to get screencaps, ps check the gallery), so when by all accounts it was looking like a textbook happy resolution, the fairies will work out their differences and everybody will get along, I was surprised when Gohyaan showed up and kidnapped Flappi and Choppi. Consider me rightfully shocked. Then I remembered what happens next episode, and realized maybe I should have seen this coming, but I’m glad I didn’t because it allowed me to be surprised. The twist ending doesn’t completely negate the wishy-washy (no pun intended) rest of the episode, but it certainly makes for a powerful subversion of expectations, and I give the show a decent amount of credit for that.

Next time, the moon shines bright on a windy night! Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 Zekkouchou Nari!

Miracle Drop Count: 5

Precure Day 121

Episode: Futari wa Precure Splash Star 23 - “A Showdown at Last! The Menacing Akudaikaan” Date watched: 12 May 2019 Original air date: 16 July 2006 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/pX1bIr8 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

When we left off last time, Michiru and Kaoru had revealed themselves as agents of Dark Fall to Saki and Mai, and begun fighting them, clearly going against their personal desires but overwhelmed by the fear of betraying Akudaikaan, who gave them a life and a purpose. The cold open of this episode flashes back to their creation and assignment to the Fountain of the Sky, which is barren and dried out as you might expect.

Never knowing anything but gray skies and dry trees, they assumed it was normal, because it was the way Akudakiaan liked it, but when they did visit the Land of Greenery, and met Saki and Mai, their lives changed...

We return to the fight. Bloom and Egret continue to refuse to fight their friends, which only angers them further because they insist that they can’t be friends. Egret realizes they’re the ones who rescued them from Dorodoron, and both cures thank them. Bloom and Egret remind them of the ways they’ve helped out, and the nice things they’ve done, and point out that these are not the actions of people who want to truly destroy all life. Kaoru and Michiru admit that it’s to make Akudaikaan happy, which translates to making them happy, but Egret sees through the anguish on their faces as they say this. Bloom insists that they can change their destiny, and she’ll show them how. Michiru doesn’t believe this is possible but Kaoru stops her, as she starts to accept Bloom’s words. They propose to renew their friendship and restore the Fountain of the Sky to its full glory so Michiru and Kaoru can see it in all its beauty, but Gohyaan arrives to interrupt. He drags Michiru and Kaoru back to Dark Fall, and Bloom and Egret latch on, not wanting to let them go, and end up in Dark Fall as well. Thus, they all come face to face with Akudaikaan.

Bloom and Egret want to fight him, but Michiru and Kaoru stop them. Instead, they march up to him themselves and beg him to spare the Land of Greenery. Their passion is genuine and the courage it must take to stand up to such a powerful force like this, to betray your purpose, is immense, but they do it. Akudaikaan is not impressed, however, and he starts to torture the two of them for their insubordination.

Bloom and Egret rush to their wounded friends and demand to know why he would hurt them like this. Akudaikaan goes on to say that they are merely servants to him, nothing more, and he has no room for servants who don’t follow his orders, and no forgiveness for those who defy him. He prepares to torture them again but this time the Precures spring into action. They block his attack, kick and punch him, and even launch a Twin Stream Splash directly into his chest. Unfortunately this is not enough to even tickle the ruler of Dark Fall and he taunts them by saying he hasn’t even used half of his full power. As he gets ready to attack the Legendary Warriors, this time Michiru and Kaoru come to their rescue. They exude bright yellow light, overpowering Akudaikaan’s dark energy, and sincerely thank Saki and Mai for showing them kindness, compassion, and friendship. They hand over their six remaining Miracle Drops from within their necklaces and teleport the Precures away, sacrificing themselves to Akudaikaan’s power.

I don’t have the words to properly describe this scene, but it is both moving and sorrowful as the culmination of Michiru and Kaoru’s journey. I will discuss it more in the analysis.

The next thing Saki and Mai know, they’ve been transported back to the Land of Greenery outside the Sky Tree, about where they left, and they’re back to normal. They beg Flappi and Choppi to return them to Dark Fall so they can rescue Michiru and Kaoru but the fairies don’t have that kind of power. All four of them are crying at their inability to save their friends, and the incredible sacrifice that was made. Saki says that a victory like this is unbearable, and the screen fades to black as the episode ends.

I’ve said all along that the Kiryuus’ arc has a lot in common with Kiriya’s arc from the first season. This is pretty plain to see: both of them are human-looking school-aged villains who decide to infiltrate the human world and get close to the Precures in their daily lives to figure out their strengths and weaknesses, while another general makes more overt attacks. They sometimes work together but the infiltrator always maintains their secrecy. But Kiriya honestly didn’t do much. There were a few episodes where he either didn’t appear at all or only appeared to make ~evil grins~ when Poisony failed. Since Verone was a gender-segregated school, he didn’t have classes together with Nagisa and Honoka, so their bond was formed entirely outside of school, and he only really made a connection with Honoka, who was willing to help him learn but not to let him slack off or be rude to others. Meanwhile, Kaoru and Michiru are present in every episode starting from their debut, they get heavily involved in the school and personal lives of Saki and Mai, they give Dorodoron some tips on how to be more effective (but also undermine him on one occasion), they make bonds with both girls and find themselves entangled in their personal affairs. Kiriya feels he isn’t strong enough to challenge fate, and fights the Precures before yielding his Prism Stone and returning to the Dark Zone to face destruction. Michiru and Kaoru thought they couldn’t change their purpose, but after fighting Bloom and Egret, who refused to fight back, they realized the two cared much more about them than they realized, and that they, too, cared about Saki and Mai. They didn’t want to fight, but rather than simply resigning themselves to their fate, they went to Dark Fall and stood up to Akudaikaan. Kiriya was interesting to watch but the Kiryuus are downright incredible. You can see when they first start to question what they believe, how they subtly help the Cures, how they begin to realize in their hearts that the humans are all right but don’t allow themselves to think it. They aren’t interested in mundane human activities, but Saki and Mai are always so nice to them that they gain an interest by proximity. They simply can’t fight them without lying to themselves about what it is they truly care for, and eventually Saki and Mai make it impossible for them to keep lying to themselves. This is excellence.

Kiriya believed he couldn’t change his fate. Michiru and Kaoru believe they can, and they set out to do so. Even if their pleas fall on deaf ears, they try to appeal to Akudaikaan to share what they’ve learned about the world and change his mind. And they learned that skill from Saki and Mai, who always stood up for what they believed was right, not tolerating interference or injustice, whose first reaction when they were unknowingly manipulated was to apologize to each other instead of getting upset. So they appeal to him. It doesn’t work, and they are tortured for it, but in the end they manage to muster enough strength to protect their friends the same way Cure Bloom and Cure Egret always do, even if it cost them so much more. They want to save the Land of Greenery, and to do so they have to sacrifice their own ability to enjoy it. This is so much more powerful than Kiriya’s own sacrifice, as he simply resigned himself to his fate, while these girls fought against it. I don’t want to sound like I’m knocking his arc (although, in hindsight, it was deeply flawed in ways that the Kiryuus’ arc fixes). It laid the groundwork for these two and many other future turncoat characters in the franchise, some of whom are done better than others. When we get to Fresh Precure, you’ll see the next step of the evolution of this concept as Setsuna becomes Cure Passion, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. (Next year? Fingers crossed.) For now, enjoy the pinnacle of Splash Star as the two villains become the girls’ greatest allies, even sacrificing themselves for the greater good.

Although it’s not quite halfway through by episode count, this is the mid-season climax of Splash Star. The growing threat of the first half culminates in Bloom and Egret fighting Akudaikaan for the first time, much like how Black and White defeated the Dark King for the first time in FWPC 27, and Baldez in Max Heart 23. Normally (and especially in later seasons) this first major defeat is accompanied by a new finishing attack (which just so happens to correlate to a new toy on the toy store shelves that kids can buy), however the Splash Star girls don’t get their new toy until next episode, and in FWPC, they didn’t get the Prism Braces until episode 30, but this concept cements itself more in later shows. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that, we’ll have to see.

In an effort to keep my screenshot gallery from getting exhaustively long (the kind of long I reserve for movies and finales), I was a bit light on the details. There are a number of good facial expressions that I didn’t capture, but I got some, so be sure to check out the gallery linked at the top of this post (and every other one!) for more pictures than I was able to squeeze into the review.

The next review will not be until Sunday, May 19 at the absolute earliest, as I will be on a road trip with only my phone to tie me to the outside world. I may use what little free time I have to catch up on Star Twinkle, and I might share some stuff over on PCD-Status so if you’re not already following that account, be sure to do so.

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 Zekkouchou Nari

Miracle Drop Count: 7