Anime: Heartcatch Precure!

Just to make it clear, I am not a Precure fan, I am not following the franchise and I haven’t completed a single season beyond this one. The reason is because I find it childish. It was fine when Sailor Moon was airing, since it was breaking the mold of what mahou shojo is all about and there was nothing else similar to it on television. After it ended I moved to the Kamen Rider and Garo franchises and left behind more kid friendly stuff like the Precure franchise, which is walking safely on the established stereotypes of Sailor Moon, only with far more watered down dark themes and way more blatant toy-selling tricks.

Despite all that, Heartcatch is standing out amongst the numerous Precure seasons for its far livelier artstyle, which makes the battles far more exciting and the slapstick jokes way funnier. In other words, it’s all about the pretty colors and I’ll be damned if I say that is enough to deem the show good. Yes, it does look pretty good for a kid show aimed at little girls yet mostly watched by adult males, but what I always care the most is plot and characters. After all, the same style was used in Casshern Sins and Saint Seiya Omega, which I consider to be below average.

The story begins in a promising way, as the villains defeat the heroine and take over her magic tree of happiness or something. This tells us right away that they are powerful from the get-go and that the stakes are high. The trademark mascot critters run away to find replacements before it’s too late, which leads us to the introduction of our heroines, Timid-chan and Bold-chan. They have actual names but this is how I prefer to call them since everything in these shows is color-coded and archetype-based. They make an ok antithesis to keep things funny and engaging without being something that special as a duo.

Then in a typical Sailor Moon fashion the critters appear and warn the girls that they need to become magical girls or the tree will wither if the villains steal enough heart flowers and create monsters with them. A catchy detail is that the monsters are always a projection of the negative thoughts of the victim, which is a simple way of offering introspection to the cast. Not that it means much if we won’t be seeing most of the victims for more than one episode, but it’s still better than random demons with no relevance to what is going on.

Another nice touch is how they bother to show you can’t instantly use newfound powers, as the girls suck at fighting at first. It gives room for improvement and development, which makes a mostly episodic series not that stale when you binge watch it. And if you are wondering how do they stand a chance against the bad guys who defeated even expert Precures, it’s because there is always a Tuxedo Mask type of character saving their asses every time they are in trouble. He is not called that by the way but that’s what he is basically and it’s still nothing more than plot armor.

From there, things move in a rather standard way, as the girls go around beating monsters created out of negative thoughts and having the mascots shitting heart seeds (seriously, that’s what they do) for increasing the hit points of the magic tree. I liked how they always try to make the issue the victim of the episode is going through to be related with something they are doing, but other than that it’s pretty straightforward and predictable.

You are just waiting for the villains to do something else other than attacking random civilians; those episodes are always the most exciting ones. And no, just watching the highlights is not making the show better because they are not letting you get accustomed to the characters during their moments or relaxation. That is what destroyed the Sailor Moon remake.

Anyways, the big showdowns are cool but they are also coming down to last moment saves, which I hate. The Tuxedo Mask wannabe is always saving the day, and even Cure Moonlight is still alive, despite her apparent death in the first episode. The show is refusing to let bad consequences last permanently, which is also what prevents it from being anything beyond average.

I mean, the villains eventually manage to wither the heart tree, which should signal the end of the world, but it doesn’t because hope exists even without magic protection. If that is the case, what was the point of going after it in the first place? Better yet, why don’t they simply kill the Precures and be done with it, since only they seem to be able to defeat their monsters, and instead just constantly defeat them before running away? Yes, one of them is a relative to the heroines and it sort of makes sense why he wouldn’t really want to hurt them, but it still doesn’t explain why the main villain didn’t make sure he was loyal or was doing his job correctly. I know it’s a kid show, I am simply questioning what the villains were trying to accomplice for over 40 episodes.

Anyways, the final 5 episodes were almost non-stop action in space, and have one of the most spectacular endings in the genre. If you want sakuga, you will get it in spades. It’s just that everything plays out in a safe way and you are never made to believe they can lose, so the expected victory feels lukewarm because there is no actual tension or something bad that wasn’t undone and everything went back to normal.

So my final impressions for the show are that it carries a lot of punch but has very little impact. It’s certainly very entertaining as a straightforward magical girl show but if you expect anything more other than pretty colors and a predictable plot, you won’t like it. In fact, I find it hard to recommend it even for the animation when something like Flip Flappers is airing right now and has all the fans of sakuga going crazy. It didn’t age very well, it’s not that interesting in terms of plot or cast, and if this is the best season in the franchise you can just imagine what a bore the rest of them are. Can’t recommend it as anything more than a time passer.

Heartcatch Precure is magical girl’s seventh franchise of Pretty Cure. Although, has no relations with other Precure so it could be watched as stand alone.

That said, this series is a lot different from the rest of the franchise and it’s gotten a fair amount of interest. Probably due to character designs and superb fight scenes. Literally, it’s aimed to younger girls because it looked so girly but on the other hand, they do keep the fighting to varying degrees and mix of character development in a good way.

Audio:
Personally, the music is above average for typical Magical Girls. Seeing the composer familiar with the majority of shounen and shoujo genre, it’s quite fit for the BGM theme. The background ambiance and sound effects is very cool especially during battles.

On the other hand, I do like the voices acting. It’s excellent. The most prominent is Erika. Erika herself, has a voice a bit too loud for my liking. Since she is extremely energetic and very nosy sometimes.

Visuals:
I am really of the fan of the character designs. It’s one of the strongest points (in my opinion). We can expect a good level from of it. The character artwork is great, with great character models, details and designs. The artwork when it comes to the battle scenes are more impressive. The creator of animation really went all out. The quality of the animation is qualified throughout the series. It’s on another level. It reaches leves of greatness. The styling of the visuals and the background art it’s unique enough.

The transformation sequence was great stuff indeed even though They even reused frames so is a more a big deal to me. There were even moments when the same few frames from a special magical attack sequence were reused later on in a battle.

With all that being said, however, the overall quality is pleasant to look at. That overall proves the fact that received an award in terms of quality.

Story & Characters:
The story wise is not much, it simply could not justify its length of 49 episodes. I was definitely glued until the end. It was because I do like the characters rather than the story. The characters are mildly complex. Their relationships and interactions were dynamic which that make them so memorable. It had sense of humor as well.

The story begins with Cure Moonlight along with her partner Colonge fighting against Dark Precure which it’s located in a fairy world. However, Cure Moonlight (also known as Yuri) was defeated even though she leaves a message to Shypre and Coffret (mascots of guardian). The objective was for submit ‘a certain items’ to the right people (the chosen ones) and not to fall into the hands of men Sabaku (the main villain). The purpose of the antagonist planning to attacks the Giant Heart Tree (which hold the energy source of all human hearts). Fighting against an enemies whose goal is transform the Earth into a desert by feeding off doubts of humans and the fears. The premise sounds a bit mainstream and simple (I think).

I am not sure what to expect from HPC at first. A show which such an episodic formula where there is at least one fight for each episode. Instead, it have episodic stories that are clearly aimed at. Bear in mind, the first half it’s actually for building up and with several plot lines coming together. Meanwhile the second half will get actual a main dish. A lot of the story concerned a large cast and most of the time was spent watching the interact. That is what kept me watching. As the show progresses, rather than trying to make up for each others weakness, they learn from each other and deepen their friendship. Although, it could be said the main cast tend to start out bold but lose of their individuality within a few episodes. Still, isn’t a big deal to me.

The main cast absolutely wonderful. It’s well developed. Their backstories and their dark side is interesting to watch. No exception. Tsubomi’s personality was so good because it was gradual. Due to her encounters with other people. Well, it’s kind of different people. She actually has a likeable quality about her. She did a good job supports the people around her in a right way, though. Thus, changing her to be a more confident individual. Not to mention Erika, who become best friends with Tsubomi. Erika is a fast learner, a very mature and truly understanding side of her is own. However, Erika is completely opposite than Tsubomi. I mean, Erika is dependable person and always comfort Tsubomi whenever she is needed help. Erika often give her an advice not only a lot of fundamental strength but also room to grow. About Itsuki, she has more caring personality. It was shown that she deeply care to the people especially with Tsubomi and Erika. And then again, Yuri became more friendly and have some positive emotions despite her cold personality. Most likely she has negative personality due to her ‘trials’. She simply didn’t want to burden anyone else just because she was thinking didn’t partners. I have to admit that Yuri is amongst my favourite best girls, since she is very composed and calm. Did I mention their mascots?! Well, forget it.

Those were people who were only partially developed: they started off having an interesting backstory to them. A lot of the time between episodes, it would seem that a fair amount of time had passed and probably missed some interesting interactions between some of the cast. The fact that we’ve seen the characters working towards it for the entire arc, thus a lot of the results of the character development. For example, the fashion club arc. It appears they joined and showing how much their effort that put towards it. But this was the whole arc for building up. It may be a cliche. It doesn’t disappoint. That’s why I liked it.

HPC is a pretty decent attempt. One of the biggest issues that we had was the most common criticism is that it’s quite slow. Some say, it didn’t need to be as long as it was. We were given some insight into the backstory of a few cast especially the main cast. Still, I thought the majority of them needed for gradual interactions and character growth. It’s just their character arc engaged to me much more.

To elaborate, the main cast (1st, 2nd and 3rd Precure) are portrayed as still being in junior high. Meaning none of them are even older than 15 years old. Not to mention, the 4th Precure is 17 years old. They were given a big task to handle with mature object matters through their experience. Basically, their history has a very mature and slightly difficult tone to it, despite their appearance.

Value :
There are spectacular action scenes to look forward to, but HPC was more character development rather than story. Sitting through 49 episodes it could be stressful, unless you’re patient. I am glad I watched it once. It certainly would be added to collection. So far the quality it’s still HD and when the BD comes out I will replace it if any. I might come back to see HPC again another time, but it won’t be for a long while yet.

It’s entirely up to us (the viewer) but I recommend check this out as first (primary) priority regarding franchise (the fact that this got highest rating, one of the Precure franchise in all regard).

Enjoyment:
I do like HPC a lot. It certainly keep my attention. HPC had quality to sustain my attention. It had enough good quality to pull the whole thing off (i.e high production values, lovable cast and execution) and I was hooked. I guess for those who enjoys a Magical Girl and super sentai in it, with incredible fights and good actions will like it.