#I've not even gotten started on some of the great fan ideas re laura not actually getting legs so easily or at all

[kirric-the-fan]

There's a problem with Tropical Rouge Precure.

So I've been watching precure of late, and something odd started happening when I got to Tropical Rouge: I frequently zoned out or mentally switched off from the story during the episodes, particularly in the first half of the season, which isn't something that had happened with other series in quite the same way.

I've been thinking about it, and It's taken me a little while, but I think I've figured out exactly why (and it's quite interesting from a writer's/narrative perspective.) (And if you've been struggling to get into it yourself, you might benefit from watching EPs 30 onwards)

Tropical Rouge's issue, is that it lacks driving narrative, which for a series with motivation as its theme, is a massive faux pas. It commits the cardinal sin of being boring.

This mainly applies to episodes 1-29. The issue is, we have the setup of Gran Ocean being in danger from the witch of delays and her minions, Laura being sent away to find the pretty cure, and then...nothing. She just sort of hangs out in the human world occasionally stopping the Yaranedas, and seems to forget about her home entirely.

This situation isn't helped by the lack of character development too- there's barely any in the first half of the season (at least, any that sticks), and while the activities the tropical club get up to are fun, it ends up becoming a bit too dull and repetitive monster of the week stuff as a result.

It's also the only precure series where I've got halfway through, and I still can't remember all the cures human names because they've been that forgettable. In fact, beyond Laura and Manatsu, I still couldn't remember the others names!

(For context, the only cure whose human name I've forgotten before is Chiyu, and that was a. After I'd watched the series and had seen other series too, and b. Because I mentally got stuck on Saaya and forgor (sorry Chiyu! Blue cure blindness. But I did remember you weren't called Saaya. I just couldn't remember your actual name!)

Returning to Laura and her lack of action: okay, it'd be understandable from one point of 'she's been told to find the pretty cure, and they'll help', but then like, yeah okay they don't know what they're doing. But Laura never pushes the matter, and it comes across like she doesn't care about what's happening to her home, and then we don't care.

All it would take is Laura to be a little more invested in protecting her home, maybe berating the cures for being so inept (maybe implying they're unmotivated), and the Cures seeking to respond to that, to add that connection and driving narrative through the season.

Ofc, the response from the cures would be that actually, they don't know how to be cures, or save Gran Ocean either, and while trying to get stronger and save a whole kingdom would be overwhelming, focusing on what they can do in the moment, and what's important in the moment will play to their strengths, keep them growing, and keep them going through. (And preserve their motivation). Which ties back nicely into the tropical club and its activities. Those activities would also naturally boost their cure skills (which I'm surprised we didn't see more of), and doing a wide variety of activities like that should naturally boost each of their character development (which is another bugbear, as it seems almost non-existent before episode 30. Like there's very little beyond the character's introductory episodes that seems to stick.)

Like, character-wise, Laura could still be keen to become the queen, but it could be used as more of a mask for her missing home. It would make her character a bit more likeable, as she is in danger of coming across as too obnoxious sometimes.

Before anyone says 'It's a kids show, it doesn't need a strong narrative', please know I am comparing it directly to other precure seasons: every single one is a kids show, and every single one (I have seen so far, 14-15/20) has had some cross season purpose, or even a distinct per-episode storyline (another point where Tropical Rouge seem to be weak. Even where the club is setting up activities for other clubs, there seems to be limited consequences or payoff for things going wrong/right. There's not so much to get invested in early on from a narrative point. It tends to be a bit wishy-washy, which isn't good, and a sunny upbeat coating can only go so far.)

So yeah. I think the most frustrating thing is that the potential was there, but the writing seemed to almost like constantly stop short.

Which for a series about motivation...

...almost feels like they were lacking it.

(And one additional comment about the movie: there was a moment in the movie, which I thought seemed to sum up all the series issues very well: when they all start singing towards the end, the characters do nothing but sing. For almost the whole song, all we see is them. As perfectly stationary characters, singing. There's no movement besides their mouths. It's boring, it drags, and it was the perfect opportunity to be showing all the MC's memories of the place the song was about. A simple narrative/directing choice that would have added depth and connection to the scene. And they didn't. I don't know whether it was a cost-cutting measure for whatever reason, but the sheer lack of any movement or emotion in the scene (beyond the actual vocal work, which was very nice. But if that's not well conveyed onto the characters, then what's the point?) kills it. It was immensely frustrating, and made me wonder if there were moments like that which dragged down the TV series pacing too (not that I specifically picked up anything like that during the watch, I will caveat that. )

TL;DR: Tropical Rouge lacks driving main storyline, has weak character development in the first half, and there is a moment in the movie that has cheap directing choices, which makes me wonder if that happened at times in the series too contributing to pulling it down.

Shorter TL;DR: Setting's great, storytelling; not so much.