#just season 2 of futari wa precure

[meringuejellyfish]

there is nothing funnier than the fact that futari wa precure 2004 was just so good that when they made a precure iteration in 2006 with new characters they were just slightly to the left versions of nagisa and honoka

futari wa precure was so good that they made futari wa precure AGAIN

[mahou-furbies]

Once again it is time for

This year's event will be hosted by mahou Zeldas, because I've been spending a lot of time in Hyrule this year.

Mahou anime of the year:

(Futari Wa Precure Splash Star, Yes! Precure 5, Yes! Precure 5 GoGo, Smile Precure!, Mahou Tsukai Precure!, Hirogaru Sky Precure!, Otona Precure, Tokyo Mew Mew New s2, Magical Destroyers, Zettai Bouei Leviathan, Petite Princess Yucie, season movies for Splash Star, Yes5, Yes5 GoGo, Smile & Delicious Party, Crossover movie for Fresh Precure!)

Then the stuff I read:

(Saint Tail, Stellar Witch Lips, Magical Girl Tsubame, W.i.t.c.h. reboot, Smile Precure novel, Null Magical Girl, Magia Record Scene Zero)

I also keep up with what kind of designs Magia Record releases though I don't play it or otherwise follow the story.

Extremely Precure year this time around though that was not intentional, usually I only manage one backlog season per year. But I started with Smile, and then we were hit with the news that we'd have a Yes5/Splash Star sequel in autumn, and in preparation for that I had to power through some 150 episodes for the original series. And then I somehow ended up watching all of Mahou Tsukai in less than 2 weeks. And then there was Otona as well of course.

Now there's only three backlog seasons left, and they should be doable in a year if the Mahou Tsukai sprint is of any indication, though we'll see how that goes. I'd like to take a look at other similar shows too (like Doremi and Sailor Moon) but I want to clear Precure first before moving to the next thing.

The W.i.t.c.h. reboot was also a thing this year, which seems to have come and went with a thud. Which is a shame because I was looking forward to it, but... well it wasn't particularly good. I guess it can pick up of there's more to the story.

For the first time I've followed a Magia Record (game) story, with Scene Zero. The format is difficult but I am interested, so it's possible I'll look into more MagiReco stories once Scene Zero is over. The game has so many cute characters so I'd certainly like to know more about them.

This year I also took part in ArtFight and did some mostly mahou themed OC art, which was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to doing the same next year as well if they host the event again.

Now onto the awards!

Best henshin design goes to Cure Sky! Blue lead Cure aside this is a top tier magical girl design, and that is mostly thanks to the cape, especially the red inside and yellow fringe. It looks so majestic! But being a half-cape prevents her from looking too stuffy. The thin twintails also look great with the cape in action shots. And of course she is also stupidly cute.

Also a shoutout to Saint Tail's simple but very effective look with a rarely seen colour scheme.

Best team design goes to Stellar Witch Lips! Similar enough to be a team but everyone has their own take on the theme, black makes for a good base colour and the sparkly tops look amazing.

Best powerup design goes to Cure Felice's Alexandrite form! She looks so regal and powerful, truly a nature goddess!

Best civilian design goes to Cure Sky in general! I just like her practical style and the clothes look all comfy.

Best hair goes to Junia! It looks so soft and poofy and her pastel colour palette makes everything even cuter.

Best magical item goes to the tiara and amulets in Petite Princess Yucie! They aren't that special to be honest but I'm always ready for magical items that don't look like cheap plastic toys.

Best henshin scene goes to Cure Sky! A lot of dynamic animation, the tinted split screen at the end is fresh for Precure, the modulation in the middle amps up the power, the dark background makes everything a little bit cooler, and the cape flip and wings at the end just look amazing.

Best fan creation goes to ArtFight in general! It was my first time participating, and getting to draw other people's ocs on a low threshold was great, and obviously receiving a ton of art of my own ocs felt amazing.

Best relationship goes to the group in Petite Princess Yucie! I really like how the side characters have distinct relationships with each other and not just the main character, and how not everyone gets along all the time (or most of the time with Glenda and Elmina). The fact that they're also rivals makes things more interesting and everything culminates successfully in the power of friendship in the end.

Best mascot goes to Saki's cat Korone! Not exactly a traditional Precure mascot but he does become more mascot-like towards the end. Absolute unit of a cat, gets a funny deep voice and even lands a hit on the final boss, and most importantly isn't annoying.

Best supporting character goes to Kintoleski from Splash Star! He's a pretty simple character but I like villains who are honourable and polite, and he managed to be consistently funny as well.

Best visual goes to Stellar Witch Lips! The story wasn't really anything to write home about but the ultra cute and sparkly art is just magical.

Best audio goes to Updradft Shining bgm! It's surprisingly epic for such an early series attack and it'd be cool if the franchise used music like this more.

A honourable mention to Tsubasa's eagle sound effect in the Majestic Halation attack, Mabayu's (MagiReco) silly "nuwawawa" scream of pain in a decidedly serious scene, and every "Haa!" from Ha-chan.

Best scene goes to the separation and reunion scene from Mahou Tsukai Precure! Or I guess that's more like half of an episode. Really impressive how they spent so much time on pretty low-key character stuff like this.

Honourable mention to the big battle towards the end of Petite Princess Yucie.

The Innovation award is given to a magical girl work that I think does something fresh for the genre. This year it goes to Hirogaru Sky! Precure for having a boy Cure, an adult Cure and most importantly a non-pink lead Cure! Which isn't particularly notable for the genre as a whole but a gigantic achievement for this franchise. Hopefully it wasn't just a 20 year celebratory fluke and we'll see more variety in the future too.

The Golden Mana award is the prize given to one thing I didn't like.

This year it goes to the henshin forms in Otona Precure, or more specifically the way it did absolutely nothing about them. No adults-as-magical girls, no new looks as 14-year-olds, and not even a new powerup form for the final finisher. Boo! I'm not really saying that the show is required to include new forms just because I wanted it or because it's common in the genre, but that would definitely have made me a lot more forgiving of its many other flaws. And this is my list so I get to complain about my preferences.

Dishonourable mention to Nozomi's catchphrase in Yes5 and GoGo for exemplifying the selfish and pushy aspect of pink heroines like this that often goes uncriticised.

Best character goes to Cure Sky! In addition to the excellent character design she also has a fun personality, "earnest dumbass" is a great combo, and her determination is just great. I also like that she isn't super girly for once. The story of Hirogaru isn't that good so Sora too is held back from having a truly awesome story, but as a character she is still enjoyable enough.

Best work goes to Petite Princess Yucie! It has fun characters, great designs, good group dynamics, interesting world and a really strong ending. It's a shame they don't seem to do kids' anime like this nowadays?

Plans for 2024

Onwards to 2024! I swear this year I'm going to continue with MagiPro, I've been stuck at volume 7 for several years.

[rh3maji]

Some musings abt the soon to be Precure season

So i took a look at the new website and bruhhh

they're so tacky looking and cute I love them! I'd actually gotten spoiled for Cure Wonderful and Cure Nyami's designs thanks to fanart on pixiv, and at the time I thought the season was going to have an Alice and Wonderland motif thanks to Wonderful's crown [thought she was gonna be like the queen of hearts but nope]. After checking out the website and trailer tho, it seems like the theme is more of a zoo and or animal companion theme. When I first realized that I thought to myself "wait haven't we been here before?" but thinking about it further Healing Good's theme was more along the lines of veterinarians and the earth[?] and Kira Kira Precure's was moreso just animals as window dressing/attack inspo with sweets being the main theme so I suppose we're not technically retreading old ground here. Speaking of not retreading old ground- HOLY SHIT THE MAIN CURE IS A DOG??

Just like...a full on dog dog bruh, like dang man I never thought i'd see the day where we'd essentially get a fairy leading the team. It seems like the team's split into both humans and animals, with Cure Nyami definitely being that white cat

This is exciting! I love that Precure's held onto having fairies transform into humans, it's so heckin fun! Back to the designs- In order of my favorite to least favorite it's Cure Nyami [look at that hair bruh! she is beauty, she is grace]

Cure Friend [the poncho and hair are my fav]

Cure Wonderful [she looks like such a peppy kid awwww]

and lastly Cure Lillian [her arm thingies remind me of Futari Wa and I adore that ribbon]

Honestly, I think this may be the first time since Kira Kira Precure that I've been immediately on board with the designs. I ended up loving Hirogaru's over time but at first glance, I couldn't get over how weird they looked [never fully ended up liking Cure Wing's design but still love the character]. The only thing I dislike about them is Lillian's headband, and the big heart on Friend's shoes. I'm sort of a big sucker for poofy/frilly skirts, long straight hair, and ponchos so I feel well-fed. I'm especially looking forward to seeing them all in motion, especially Lillian since based on her turnaround she seems to have a bit of sass to her. Based on Nyami's turnarounds/previews she seems to be more of a kuudere[?] type which isn't something we've gotten for a main cure in a while. There's also all of these guys just hangin' out on the site too

Can't wait to see what these lil guys can do, hoping that they'll be connected to powerups and maybe even special outfits/attacks [really enjoyed it when Happiness Charge did that]. But maaaan this is so cool. It seems like ever since Hirogaru decided to play around with Precure conventions they're going all out with unique approaches to the formula. One thing I hope they continue doing this season tho, is keeping the fighting style as a literal fighting style like super sentai where they actually throw punches. I love Kira Kira, but there's only so many times [like 2] that I can watch someone fight by pointing a wand at something before I start skipping the battles. Really loved how Hirogaru frequently would have the characters strategize in battle, it really kept me engaged even if I always know how it'll end. All-in-all, it's sad to see Hirogaru go, but I'm excited with what new stories await in the new season! ^^

[muthaz-rapapa]

Hirogaru Sky Impressions (2/5)

Full starting team now assembled. Yay~!

That said, I'm going to keep this "short" as I'm not feeling well. Also got some other things I need to finish but I can't concentrate on that if I don't get this post done and out of the way first.

Overall, the season is continuing to be a very delightful watch. I'm pleased with the pacing and that the writers are diligent about not giving away too much of the main plot just yet. There will be a proper time to dive into that later.

In the meantime, dedicating all the fillers to further fleshing out the Cures and building their team rapport and bonds with each other are exactly what we should always see from Precure.

Sora certainly holds the MC role the most prominently out of all her friends since her arc is tied closely to the main plot. So it's just a matter of waiting until the story returns to that for her arc to move forward. Namely, the reason behind the conflict between Skyland and the Undergu Empire (aka this season's lore), what Ellee-chan's significance is in the grand scheme of things and where the hell Captain Shalala is.

Though I think most of us have already theorized that her sudden disappearance is a setup for the eventual reveal that she is actually in league with the villains and will re-emerge as the third general. Or perhaps even the big bad boss because c'mon, you don't hire a veteran seiyuu like Mitsuki Saiga for only two or so episodes and call it a day.

Villain roles are mostly performed by well-established seiyuu in the industry so we can definitely expect Shalala to return in a fashion that would shake Sora's core beliefs (i.e. the broken pedestal trope). Which will then push her to re-evaluate what it means to be a true hero and come back even stronger after recovering from the shock.

On another note, I have my doubts whether Shalala is really the boss because the superior we heard Kabaton conversing with in ep 11 is actually voiced by Takako Honda, another veteran, and not Mitsuki Saiga.

...maybe Shalala is playing a double agent in order to get close to the Undergu leader and get rid of the threat once and for all that way?

Possible. But we don't have enough clues or evidence to confirm that yet so we'll just have to wait.

On another note, I like that they're doing something new again with this season by having the villain generals retire from their post right after their last defeat. Not sure if Kabaton will return as an ally in later episodes or not but it was heartwarming to see him turn over a new leaf and aim for a new and better purpose after he's been spared from death.

Back to the Cures.

Sora and Mashiro's friendship is just beautiful to behold. Thanks to Sora's arc being set aside for the moment, there's more time to focus on developing their relationship. Noticeably, it's during these fillers that Sora has increasingly become the one to support Mashiro rather than the other way around while Mashiro takes her own lead in finding her own path and discovering what she wants to do and what her dreams are (so yes, she isn't a Cure without a personal story arc, that's such a relief!).

Their partnership is quite balanced in that respect and I couldn't be happier.

Adding onto it, they're continuing to pay tribute to the original Futari Wa pair through Sora and Mashiro this way without disrupting the team camaraderie which is also a plus.

Tsubasa and Ageha as the beta pair provide very fun interactions, too, and I think I favor them over Sora and Mashiro. Whereas Sora and Mashiro are best friends who strive to do their best for each other, Tsubasa and Ageha have a more sibling dynamic between them with all the fond teasing and nagging.

The only complaint I have about them is their duo attack.

I mean yea, Wing looks so cool in his phoenix form (I'm calling it that, you can't stop me) but that shouldn't be a trade off for Butterfly getting all the lines while he becomes her nuclear pudgy mount.

I'm afraid that for all the progressiveness Toei has shown with HiroSky, they're still too chicken to go the full mile with the changes they implemented just yet.

We took two steps forward by finally including a male member to the main team...but took one step back with them still placing more importance on the girl cuz it's easier to sell her than the boy when their positions should be equal.

Granted, it's just one stock footage that only lasts about a minute but...it just bugs me, that's all.

That said, Butterfly's debut was omg, so awesome?!

The whole transformation sequence captured Ageha's vivacious personality perfectly.

She was already more than qualified to become Precure with her natural confidence and heroic drive. To see her slip right into the call like a duck taking to water (or er, a butterfly to the air) and then proceed to kick utter ass in her alter ego form...

Absolutely WONDERFUL.

I also love that though they constantly refer to Ageha as an adult and regularly show her dedication to her studies and jobs, they don't let her duties be the only things that define her.

Yes, she is mature and responsible but she's also living her best life and enjoying herself right now. She's interested in fashion, make up and has other personal interests outside her aspirations. She looks out for the kids who are younger than her while also having fun alongside them.

Yes, she's 18 and still in her youth but the point about Ageha/Butterfly's character is that there's no limit on choosing what you want for yourself. Just like how gender should not be an obstacle to becoming a magical girl (the metaphor for one's dreams and wishes), age shouldn't be one either.

Wear the accessories you want, pursue the hobbies you like, dance and sing without a care in the world.

As long as you're not hurting anyone, do what you find is fulfilling for you and do it without shame. You can be 30, 50, or 80 years old and that shouldn't matter in loving what you love.

Be like Ageha.

Act your age but don't be that. Be yourself foremost.

And that's all for now, I guess.

I suspect that midseason Cure debut will happen sometime before ep 30 so that we can have the ultimate forms + whole group power up attack around ep 40.

And then the remaining 8 episodes will center more or less around the main plot.

K, bye for now.

[sneakygoldie]

Mepple’s Discovery, Nagisa’s Weakness!

(So far, the only precure I have fully watched was Futari Wa Precure season 1, so this won’t have anything related to season 2, nor the finale few episodes. This is a bit before Pollun/Porun appears.)

Mepple: Finally done with that lacrosse tournament I see~mepo!

Nagisa: Geez, it sounds like you were waiting for me to stop just to give you attention!

Mepple: I mean, I am a adorable little thing after all~mepo! Who wouldn’t want to~mepo!

Nagisa: Give me a break.. is there anything you really need right now, though? I’m starting to get just a bit worried..

Mepple: Yep! I want you to see a very happy Nagisa~mepo!

Nagisa: *causally falls from the fact that that’s all he needed* GIVE ME A BREAK!!

Mepple: People are going to notice~mepo..! *whispering*

Nagisa: Look, let’s just go back home or.. maybe see what Honoka and Mipple are up to? The science club seem to be here still..

Mepple: Well, you don’t want to interrupt, huh~mepo.. WAIT MIPPLE~MIPO?!

Nagisa: Shut it..!

Shiho: Nagisa, what was that?..

Nagisa: Hahahaha nothing!

Shiho: Mhm..

Rina: So glad we won! We all did so amazing!

Nagisa: Yeah!

Shiho: Hehe!

(Back at Nagisa’s home, Mepple was complaining to the chef about his “ridiculous” food.)

Chef: Fine, I don’t want to hear you complaining any further!

(A bunch of takoyaki appeared)

Mepple: Whatever you said I didn’t do~mepo! Time to dig in~mepooooo!!

Nagisa: That looks so good!!

Mepple: Come on Nagisa~mepo! I know you want me to do something for you to be happier, not complimenting this takoyaki~mepo!

Nagisa: What makes you care about me so suddenly, Mepple?

Mepple: I-I actually don’t know~mepo..

Nagisa: It’s okay, you can tell me anything..

Mepple: Do you want me to make you happy~mepo?

Nagisa: I think it’s adorable, of course!

Mepple: Oh really, then? Are you suuuure~mepo?

Nagisa: *nodding cutely* Wait.. are you trying to teas-

Mepple: Okay~mepo.. *goes out of his gadget and tickles Nagisa’s sides*

Nagisa: M-M-MEPPLE WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS HEHEHEH!!

Mepple: Haha! Tricked you~mepo! Well… I kinda did, maybe didn’t trick.. I want to see you happy always though~mepo!

Nagisa: THIS TICKLES HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHA!!

Mepple: You’re lucky I am not tickling your feet~mepo!

Nagisa: W-WHY DO YOU SAY THAHAHAHAT!?

Mepple: I am not tickling your feet if they probably smell from lacrosse~mepo..

Nagisa: HE-HEY STOP THAHAHAT’S SO EMBARRASSING HAHAHAHAHA!!

Mepple: *he began to aggressively tickle her ribs*

Nagisa: ME-MEPPLE STAHAHHAHHAHAHAP HAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHA!!

Mepple: Geez, you’re quite the sensitive one~mepo!

Nagisa: HAHAHHAHAHAH OKAY IM SMILING AHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA IHIHM OKAY HAHAHHAHHAHA!!

Mepple: You sure~mepoooo? *poking under her knees*

Nagisa: EHEHE! YES IM NOT LYING HAHAHA!!

Mepple: You’re 1000 times more ticklish than I thought~mepo!

Nagisa: Whew.. give me a break you cutie..

Mepple: Hehehe!

Nagisa: Hahahahaha!

(The first gif definitely was Nagisa in this fanfic fr)

Also @fukastarr the one of my many fic ideas you’ve been waiting for XDDD

[ikuhara]

I got tagged by @houkagokappa (thank you <3!) so let's go

Last song listened to: the new deresute event song, Watashi Otogibanashi.

Currently reading: Actually shamefully little. My main focus has been on Glass Mask, which has fully captivated me. But I've been trying to pace myself with it because it's so good that I almost don't want to burn through it all. Otherwise I just read all of Sensei wa Koi wo Oshierarenai the other day and started catching up with Cipher Academy, Mahou Shoujo Risuka, and Four Knights of the Apocalypse again since I was varying degrees of behind on all of them.

Currently watching: In terms of seasonals, with my friend I've been watching Dungeon Meshi, Majo to Yajuu, and Four Knights of the Apocalypse. And then on my own I also keep up with Sousou no Frieren, Urusei Yatsura Season 2, and I'll be starting Wonderful Precure! once the subs are out for it. As for older series I've been alternating around with watching: Yawara!, Kodomo no Omocha, Touch, Futari wa Precure, and rewatching Creamy Mami.

I also started rewatching Penguindrum with the same friend since we finished our Utena rewatch (and then we'll do Yuri Kuma and Sarazanmai subsequently.) And very importantly, soon I'll be watching Revue Starlight -LIVE #4- Climax with themt oo. Wondering maybe if the concerts are worth doing too ????

Currently obsessed with: Unsurprising answer (probably) but Utena has again been the #1 thing in the front of my brain since watching the musicals for the first time then rewatching the anime. The Mikage brainrot is especially back at dangerously terminal levels I'm afraid. But just in general I've really lost impulse control and have lately been building my Utena doujinshi and merch collection.

Outside of that, Revue Starlight still has me in a chokehold since I first finished it (and the Lives only are adding to it) and I've been getting back into my Monogatari era with Off & Monster Season announced. More largely back into just being utterly obsessed with all of Nisioisin's works.

Tagging (with zero obligation/you can ignore this): @hakonohanayome, @thesweetmacaron, @princefado, @penguindrumblr, @purpleriot, @ramjam, @mabithebard and anyone else who just wants to take this meme just say i tagged you.

[ambloom]

I wanna get into precure, do you have a fav or ome you think people should start with?

Ye!! I want to preface this by saying Precure is basically a collection of advertisements to sell children toys, but it's fun head empty activity if you like magical girl stuff. I think it's best to just scroll through the Wikipedia page and pick whichever one looks the most interesting to you, but I'll talk about the ones I like and dislike below:

1. Heartcatch

My favorite season. Great characters, art, feels so incredibly full of love. Character design is by Yoshihiko Umakoshi (Magical Doremi). The stylized animation really adds to the fight scenes. I've seen a lot of trans girls resonate with a particular character and it's fun to keep that headcanon in mind when watching. Theme song plays in my head everyday.

2. Hirogaru Sky

The newest season. Really easy to get into and features a lot of firsts in the series such as a blue main cure, first magical boy on the main team, and adult cure on the main team (she's only 18 though lol). I just wish the fight scenes were more punch-y since the protagonist, Sora, is an athlete.

3. Kirakira Pretty Cure a la Mode

This one is hated by a lot of people because there's no hand to hand combat, but I feel like it more than makes up for that with the characters and general bubbly vibe. Has a budget Haruka/Michiru cat girl x dog girl couple for the yuri fans. I never skip the transformations.

4. Futari wa Pretty Cure

The original. Fight scenes only went down in quality after it imo. Really distinctive among magical girl shows.

5. Fresh Precure

The art isn't really up to par with other entries, but if you don't mind that it has a character who really tugs at the heartstrings. Invented the concept of a mid season cure (cure joins halfway through) and no one else has done it like her. Truly believe she suffered more than Jesus.

Others I recommend are Star Twinkle, Tropical Rogue, and Suite.

As for the ones I'm like... Eh about..

Go! Princess is a fan favorite. It has a nice storybook feel, dynamic fight scenes occasionally, and the transformations are stunning. But as an Utena fan it felt weird to watch them go "no it's okay to want to be a princess actually! princesses can be strong too!" Very annoying message to see be sent to kids to buy products lol

Yes 5... There are two episodes I think are like the best in this franchise and then the rest was ruined by a chipmunk I wish was roadkill. The romance is between the protagonist and her teacher (who also happens to be the mascot character lol). It's the season that got a sequel that's currently airing with the cast all grown up, but they had to bring that ugly flea-ridden fuck back.

Huggto. The thing is I was spoiled for this and it was a spoiler that made my neurons kind of short circuit so I decided it definitely was not for me.

Sorry, I know I rambled a bit but I hope you have fun! (Disclaimer that this is just my opinion, I'm aware it's a kids show for kids in case green cure anon is following me)

[rubyashes]

Since the start of last year, I've decided to watch every episode of every season of Precure (and their related movies and such). Yesterday I finally finished watching Heartcatch, and decided it best to start logging my feelings on the generations for the most part.

Since this is the first of hopefully many posts, I'll just shotgun my feelings of everything leading up to Heartcatch, starting with:

Futari wa Precure/Max Heart: As far as precure seasons go, the first gen is great at making action and combat scenes engaging while also taking special care to make trying to recreate them as safe as possible through little things like a focus on guarded body blows and the girls landing flat on their backs instead of their limbs or heads. More importantly though, it was a believable depiction of the relationship between Nagisa and Honoka (and eventually Hikari) as middle school girls, along with their growth as people over the course of 2 years. Totally worth a watch as a piece of media.

Splash Star: This might be a bit disingenuous, but for the most part Splash Star copies a lot of Futari Wa's homework on story structure, with even some of the episode progression feeling like a beat for beat retelling. However, even in these parts it still tells a story of the girls' personal growth. Where it has an edge as a series though is easily in fostering a sense of community between the precure, their school and the town as a whole, as well as really hammering in the importance of not giving up into the minds of the younger generation. It's a bit of an inherent second placer, but it's got strengths that no other season so far has been able to meet.

Yes! Precure 5/5 Go Go!: Even when not immediately touching on the problems with Coco and Nuts as a whole, I can't say the precure 5 did all too much for me as a group. I love the French aesthetic of the city they live in, but it felt underexplored as far as landmarks went. Rin and Karen being rivals, along with the episodes where Urara got to follow her singing endeavours were good, but I just feel like they were phoning it in overall. Precure 5 de chance is still the best animated episode(s) in the series so far though, so you can watch it just for that.

Fresh Precure: Where the precure 5 felt like they weren't giving their best at what they were doing, Fresh Precure felt like they didn't know what to give their best to. It felt like a lot of episodes were dedicated to exploring a type of storytelling style that could engage the new, older audience they were gunning for, but for the most part their inability to commit cost them some points. Still, I appreciated how the finale was handled a lot, and I think if they spread that a bit more over the series it would have done a lot to help the narrative.

Heartcatch Precure: Giving credit where it's due, this season did try a bit harder to give the girls unique skillsets, even if it's still just energy blasts and shields. It helped with characterization and was generally good design. The Desert Apostles are also distinctively unique to the point they could be sole antagonists of their own arcs, and seeing them interact with each other was always endearing. I probably still like Dark Fall better as an evil organization, but The Desert Apostles are a strong second place.

I still have a long way to go, but I'm happy I started this journey, and I hope Suite Precure innovates even further.

[magical-demigirl]

Put all of the English Singapore Dub Clips into one archive hopefully someday we will be able to find more of the dub even if just another clip of the series.

[harufallinwonderland]

Ranking each precure season by how much I want plushies of the mascots

Futari wa 6/10: they would be neat I guess

Splash star 7/10: I like them more as characters besides that eh

Yes 5 9.5/10: I like all the faires but honestly i hate nozococo and Komanutts with such A passion I would prob fuck up the plushies in some way (besides Milk and Syrup my children)

Fresh 2/10: the fairies are kinda ugly

Heartcatch 6/10: I want the yellow and purple ones the others I’ll pass

Smile 10/10: just yes there so cute!

Doki doki no: the baby is ugly

Happiness charge: no the fairies are ugly

Go princess 8/10: not the faires biggest fans but whatever they cute

Mahou Tsukai 15/10: GUVE ME MY RUCKING MOFORUN OLEASE TOEI

Kira Kira 8/10; I want Julio’s and Ciel’s I’ll pass on the rest

Hugtto 100/10: I will probably cry tears of joy

Star twinkle 7/10: I’ll take A fuwa in A heartbeat the Prunce is fine

Healin good 15/10: some of my fav mascots in the franchise GIVE ME

Tropical rouge 10/10: I want the empty head no thoughts seal

Delicious party 8/10: I just want the dog and the dragon the other one ugly

Hirogaru sky 8/10: *squishes Tsubasa* /aff

[hapuriainen]

Hapuriainen's animation, comics & games (and other) of 2023

Got the wrap up almost sort of out on time this year!

Anime: Frieren (cour 1), Re:Zero (season 1) Futari wa Precure Splash Star, Yes! Precure 5, Yes! Precure 5 GoGo, Smile Precure!, Mahou Tsukai Precure!, Hirogaru Sky! Precure, Otona Precure, Zettai Bouei Leviathan, Petite Princess Yucie, Tokyo Mew Mew New s2, Magical Destroyers

Did I legit not watch any other non-magical girl anime than Frieren and Re:Zero? I'll have to try harder this year. Overall 2023 was a very Precure year and I'm done with almost all of the seasons, only 3 left. But Frieren has been amazing, it looks so beautiful (and is certainly an improvement from the manga on this front), the music is great and of course I already liked the story. Re:Zero was compelling enough that I might watch the second season even if the isekai aspect really isn't for me. Emilia best girl.

As for Precure, usually I manage to watch one backlog season in addition to the airing one, but this time I surprised myself and did five. Which may not have been smart since it was kind of a chore at some points, but I wanted to prepare for the Otona sequel (which turned out to be a disappointment). The 2023 season Hirogaru was one of the better ones thanks to the excellent heroine.

Manga: Are You Alice, Saint Tail, Stellar Witch LIPS, Zelda manga (Oracle of Ages/Seasons, Ocarina of Time, Four Swords)

On the manga front there wasn't much of note, the ongoing series from previous years (OP, MHA, Undead Unluck, Spy x Family, Frieren, Witch Hat Atelier…) continue and I don't have a lot to say about them, except that my interest in One Piece is still very low even if we finally got out of Wano.

I did manage to finish Are You Alice after it being on hold for years, so that's something at least. It has absolutely lovely art and I like the concept, but it did get kind of complicated at times. And I wish we had seen more Alices.

Movies: Super Mario movie, Puss in Boots 2, The Bad Guys, Strange World, the Boy and the Heron, Barbie, various Precure movies

Barbie enters the scene as one of the few live action anything and it was great. The message didn't really speak to me personally but it has an amazing aesthetic, fun story and something to say. And like everyone else has already said, I agree that Puss in Boots 2 was great on all fronts and The Bad Guys was a lot of fun too.

Comics & novels: W.i.t.c.h. reboot, Null Magical Girl, Smile Precure! novel, Magia Record scene 0

The W.i.t.c.h. reboot came out of nowhere and landed with a thud, I was willing to give it a chance but the story just wasn't that interesting. Not sure how I would rate it if it didn't have the comparison against a childhood favourite.

Games: Zelda 1, Zelda Oracle of Ages & Seasons, Ocarina of Time, Tears of the Kingdom, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, Pokemon Arceus (or half of it), Usagi Shima

From the anime side 2023 was a very Precure year, but on the game side it was an extremely Zelda year. Or it started as a Pokemon year with Brilliant Diamond, which was not enjoyable, and continued with Arceus, which has been the best Pokemon game I've played. Haven't cleared it yet though since I got this sudden need to play Zelda, and I didn't want to rush it. But I'm looking forward to finishing it.

On the Zelda front Tears of the Kingdom was just as great as I hoped, and it effectively monopolised my summer. But as much as I like botw Link, I'm ready for a new Hyrule. As for the older loz games, the OG game was too retro for me, but I really liked Oracle of Ages. Seasons had fun gameplay but the story was very nothing.

Then there was Usagi Shima which was cute for about 2 weeks but once I completed the bun book there wasn't really anything left to do. But it was fun for what it is.

Best work: Tears of the Kingdom

Best music: Frieren (A Powerful Mage)

Best visuals: Barbie looked amazing, especially for a live-action movie. Frieren on the anime side. As for manga, Are You Alice

Best character design: Cure Sky

Best OP: Hirogaru Sky Precure for the song, Frieren for visuals

Best ED: Frieren also

Biggest WTF: the sequel to a goddamn Shrek spin-off being so much better than it had any business being. Also the entirety of Null Magical Girl.

Best Girl: Frieren

Best Boy: Botw Link again I guess, I spend a lot of time thinking about him

Best Side Girl: I dunno, Ha-chan (Mahou Tsukai Precure)? She is just so cute.

Best Side Boy: Rauru (the goat one not the owl guy), he got a compelling story that lets us see him displaying many different emotions and he has such a pleasant voice. I'm not a furry but…

Worst Girl: Nozomi (Yes! Precure 5 & GoGo, she was ok in Otona though)

Worst Boy: I don't think there's enough works with a notable male main character this year and I don't remember hating any of them. I guess I didn't particularly like Subaru (re:Zero) but he wasn't like, the worst.

Worst Side Girl: Ellee-chan (Hirogaru Sky! Precure), baby characters just really don't work for me

Worst Side Boy: I don't really like the friendly rivals in Pokemon, so Barry.

Best romance: I continue to ship Link and Zelda (botw/totk)

Best non-romantic relationship: The fact that botw Link isn't alone any more and has friends who are happy to see him and fight with him

Worst romance: Main girl x main guy from Stellar Witch Lips, they barely had any scenes together

Worst non-romantic relationship: the group dynamics in the W.i.t.c.h. reboot didn't work nearly as well as in the original.

Plans for 2024:

Tiger & Bunny and Spy x Family part 2

Wonderful Precure!

Starting three backlog Precure I haven't seen yet with Heartcatch

Maybe it'll be Evangelion's year this time?

Ghost Trick is currently downloading on my Switch since it was on sale

More Zelda in general

Case Study of Vanitas started getting published here so I'll probably catch up on that

[mahou-furbies]

It is time for

This year the event will be hosted by Snow Miku! Not exactly magical girls but close enough design wise.

Here is the magical girl media consumed on this blog this year:

(Delicious Party Precure, Futari wa Precure Max Heart, Magia Record s3, Machikado Mazoku s2, Tokyo Mew Mew New, Magic Users' Club! (OVA), Magic User's Club! (Tv), Tropical Rouge! Precure season movie, Futari wa Precure Max Heart season movies 1 & 2)

At first it looked like I barely read any magical girl manga this year, but then ended up reading a couple in the final few weeks of the year:

(Magilumiere co ltd, Time Stranger Kyoko (reread), The Life After Retirement of Magical Girls, No Match for Aoi-kun, Magical Lollipop)

Also I read a lot of magical girl webcomics!

(Magical Mom, Sleepless Domain, Cloudy Wondrous, Apricot Cookie(s)!, Miss Guillotine, Strawberry Seafoam)

Then let's go through the events that happened this year. We had a tournament for the favourite Precure, and Cure Milky was the winner! This time it has taken even longer to draw the celebratory art for the winners than last year and I'm still not done, but I guess nobody but me really cares about that so all is well.

We also had a poll for most/least favourite magical girl elements, which I used to compile the most liked and least liked magical girls (though I think the least liked one turned out to be more popular). I really liked this idea and would like to do something more with it one day, or at least just get statistics on people's opinions on different magical girl tropes for fun.

I also did both Mermay and Witchtober this year (and Adorkastock Draw Everything June which I've done every year since its inception), which included a lot of magical girl content. I like these monthly drawing challenges since I enjoy drawing a set of themed characters, and usually the results are a lot more varied than the stuff I usually draw. So next year I'd like to do some more, but I'll have to find different challenges so it won't get repetitive, this was the second Mermay I did and while it mostly involved characters I never draw otherwise, I'd still like to give that spot to something else next time.

Saban Moon was unleashed to the public this year, which did not affect me that much since I have very little relationship with Sailor Moon, but I can still appreciate unearthing a secret alternative version of a well known character (also it was my most popular drawing this year)

This year I started and exercise project by trying to motivate myself with the reward of buying a Miku Nendoroid each time I exercise a certain amount of times. It has been mostly successful, or there are breaks but they are a lot shorter than they would ever be without a prize looming in the future. Much recommended!

Finally one thing that's different from last year that I didn't draw a lot of characters for my magical girl chibi series, because I was busy drawing a different kind of chibi series (hundreds of Pokemon chibis on my other blog). And this chibi style spread to several of my other fandoms too, I used it on the Witchtober, and I've done four (I think) sets of requests in it.

Finally a mention to my frustration on the lack of green Precures culminating in a series of green Precure OCs. 

Then onto the awards!

Best Henshin Design goes to Cloudy Wondrous! A solid design where everything works together (I’m especially a fan of the cloud motif used in different places), and the unique details (crown, wing eyepatch thing) make it more memorable.

Best Team Design goes to Tokyo Mew Mew New! Granted I think I like the original designs more, but TMM team design is still strong here as well, it's recognisable as TMM but highly customisable for OCs.

Best Powerup Design goes to Strawberry Seafoam! Or they should probably rather be called separate forms on the same level with different purposes rather than increasing in power, but who's counting. They are all pretty (as are the other mermaids' transformations) but let's say the jellyfish one is my favourite, it has such warm glowing palette (but also an illuminated dark mode!) and it creates a unique silhouette.

Also a shoutout to Cure Spicy's Party Up Style "hat".

Best Civilian Design goes to Amane's winter look from Delicious Party Precure! It just looks so comfy...

Best Hair goes to Sae from Magic User's Club! It's pretty simple compared to the usual absurd magical girl hairstyles, but I like how the angular shapes make it memorable.

Best Magical Item goes to Bijou's pen from Strawberry Seafoam! It looks pretty, and I like magic where you actually draw your spells. And it's fun to see her style evolve!

Best Henshin Scene goes to the dresser henshin in Magilumiere! Overall it has a lot of creative henshin and I really hope it gets animated some day!

Best Fan Creation is the catch-all award for everything that's not from, like, a big corporation, and this year the competition is really tough with all these highly polished webcomics, on a normal year any one of them would have been the winner but now I have to pick one. And it is also this year's Best Work, so more on that later! 

Best Relationship goes to the group in Magic Users' Club! Their relationships feel very natural, and everyone has something different going on with the other characters. And while there is a little drama, the overall vibe is delightfully positive.

Best Mascot goes to Kome-Kome from Delicious Party Precure! Personality or plot-wise there's nothing that interests me about her, but it must be said that I'm a sucker for progressively aging designs and she's also stupidly cute.

Best Supporting Character goes to the 4th wall breaking Director of Darkness, from Apricot Cookie(s)! He just cracks me up every time he is on panel with his friendly and welcoming attitude. 

Honourable mention to Mari-chan from Precure who is the best character in the season but who unfortunately doesn’t get to do much.

Best Visual goes to the art style of Strawberry Seafoam! Bold and unique glowing saturated colours that somehow feel nostalgic. Special mention to all the swirly magic.

Honourable mention to the art style shifts Apricot Cookie(s)!, sometimes the art goes to retro manga or anime or 3d idol dance models for fun. And another honourable mention to the visual presentation of the Apricot Cookies website.

Best Audio goes to the Shiny Luminous / Queen theme in Futari wa Precure Splash Star (not the henshin one but the one when she’s doing something epic). Feels very majestic.  

For the Best Scene I don’t have anything specific that comes to mind over everything else this year, so let’s say Kuroe’s fate in MagiReco, Shiny Luminous in the Max Heart finale and Grandma’s fate in Apricot Cookie(s)! can share it.

Innovation Award is for honouring a work doing something new and refreshing for the magical girl genre. This year I read several webcomics (that generally get to be more innovative than commercial anime) and even one actual manga that focused on "magical girls as a job", but each with a little different angle. So a shoutout to Magilumiere Co ltd, Sleepless Domain, Cloudy Wondrous, Apricot Cookie(s)!, Miss Guillotine and Magical Mom! With this many of them it'd feel a little weird to pick any for the "innovation award" over the same topic, so let's reward Magical Mom, for having, well, the magical mom! Magical girls whose mother is also a magical girl are of course a thing, but this time the child is a boy, and the mother also is an active and prominent character (and not just a background mentor), so that is new to me.

Then the Golden Mana Award, that is the dishonourable mention awarded to one thing I didn't like this year! 

This year it goes to Porun from Futari wa Precure Max Heart. Frankly he was probably more annoying in the original Futari wa but I had something else to complain about that year so now it's his turn. For the life of me I can't understand how this would be an appealing character concept even for children, like don't even 5-year-olds get annoyed at a toddler sibling's tantrums interrupting their big kid play? Even his less overtly irritating scenes don't do much for me, since they rely on "aww isn't it cute how the baby wants to be with you" mushiness.

Also another dishonourable mention to downgrading Pudding’s jumpsuit into a dress.

Best Character goes to Kuroe! (from MagiReco) I really like her design (especially how it mirrors Iroha’s), her quiet and hesitant personality and her melancholic story that felt fresh among all the magical girls who excitedly jump into saving every passerby. Or I don’t really like how she fit in the larger narrative, but in isolation I think her story was interesting.

Best Work goes to Apricot Cookie(s)! It's really funny and the art is great, and the character designs are memorable. The heroine is charmingly dumb and everyone in her family is great. And it took a while to grow on me, but in the end the weeb references make me feel at home.

Plans for 2023

I didn't manage to get any of the shorter mg shows from last year's list (though I did watch Magic User’s Club which wasn’t on the list) so those are still there. I'd also like to watch two series from the Precure backlog, this year I only managed one.

Art-wise I plan to do more for the chibi series, and do another "x colour Precure oc" series. And I'd really like to draw more art that has, like, a background or a mood or a composition, but let's see if that goes anywhere.

(also hopefully more Miku Nendoroids)

[spectralreplica]

where and in what order do i watch precure?

Hey! Just saw this.

In terms of officially... the very first season (Futari wa Precure) along with 4 recent seasons are on Crunchyroll (Kirakira Precure a la Mode, Healin' Good Precure, Tropical-Rouge Precure, and Delicious Party Precure). ...technically Netflix dubbed 2 seasons under the name Glitter Force, but it was a 4kids style mess, (cut episodes, editing to be more "child friendly", changing all names to Western ones, etc.) so avoid unless showing to a younger relative who can't handle subs

Unofficially, all the seasons have been fansubbed and are available at whatever website you normally use.

Each Precure season is like 48 episodes, and each are totally standalone outside of some little continuity gags, like the same stores existing in multiple seasons. The only exceptions to this are two early seasons that have direct sequels (Futari wa Precure Max Heart and Yes Precure 5 Gogo) and a yearly non-canon crossover movie where all (or at least the 3-4 most recent seasons worth) of the Cures meet up and fight some new enemy (no one ever ages, though).

So, basically, you can start with whatever season you want! I'd recommend looking at the wiki and reading the description of each season to see which one sounds the most interesting. Personally, my favorite is Star Twinkle, and I really like Heartcatch, Smile, and Tropical-Rouge. I've also heard Fresh, Go Princess, and Hugtto are pretty good. Alternatively, if you want to have the maximum interaction with other fans, Hirogaru Sky Precure, the latest season, is about to start airing on February 5th (available on Crunchyroll or less legally).

If you want my opinions specifically:

Futari wa + Max Heart: Yin yang themed; not great pacing because they were still figuring things out plus some CG that aged badly, but people really love the focus on the relationship between the leads

Splash Star: nature themed; seen as a ripoff of the 1st seasons, but some people swear it's actually way better? features the tackiest outfits

Fresh: fruit + clover themed; animation can be rough, but the story is apparently really great, esp. concerning a villain who changes sides

Yes Precure 5 + Gogo: butterfly + then rose themed; animation can really suffer sometimes; some people seem to really like it, but I mostly know it as The One Season with an Explicit Het Romance

Heartcatch: flower + fashion themed; The Edgy Season and the one with the most unique artstyle + strong animation; has really good character arcs and cool concepts (the MC's grandmother was a former Cure!)

Suite: music themed; people used to really hate this one in comparison to Heartcatch, but it's seen more fondly now? apparently has good character work but the animation suffers because the outfits were very detailed. Also, the ending got changed last minute to be lighter and softer because that was when the big typhoon hit japan

Smile: fairytale themed; not very plot heavy but consistently cute and funny; just a silly little show, but a few eps made me cry. Avoid the Netflix dub (Glitter Force)

Dokidoki Precure: playing card themed; had a lot of cool plot things going for it, but fell apart a little; MC gets accused of stealing the show, which is rare for Precure, which tends to be more team-focused than, say, Sailor Moon, where Usagi is the strongest and the main focus

Happiness Charge Precure: fashion/dance themed?; a really really cool concept where there are a whole bunch of Precure all over the world and they're known to the public and covered on the news, but the ending is weaker than the rest of the show; also, the international Cure designs can be a little stereotypical, and even the Egyptian and Indian Cures are very pale...

Go Princess Precure: princess themed; I've heard the plot is really good, but I don't know much about the details? Utena references apparently

Witchy Precure/ Maho Girls Precure: witch themed; one of the Precure is a witch from a magical world and one is a normal girl, and they both spend like half their time at magic school? despite this cool concept, it's apparently very light on plot and I've not seen any huge fans of it

Kirakira Precure a La Mode: animal + sweets themed; another light and fluffy season, but with semi-canon lesbians? very cute designs, and lots of comparisons to Tokyo Mew Mew

Hugtto Precure: future + career themed; heard it's very strong in terms of plot and characters, although some people have quibbles with the ending; started the trend among newer seasons of having a decades later epilogue to show you how the Cures grow up, which is always nice to see; features a boy or nonbinary (depends on your interpretation) Cure near the end of the season

Star Twinkle Precure: space + imagination themed; kind of an 80s aesthetic visually and with really strong designs, plus a really cool plot and good character development; the one season with a mixed race Cure; episodes split between aliens attacking Earth and the Cures visiting other planets; also, the movie is way better than it has any right to be and makes me cry every time

Healin Good Precure: healing + nature themed; the season that was cut slightly short due to COVID; also the one themed around health care? It was in production pre pandemic, so just weird timing. ...apparently it's kind of mid

Tropical Rouge Precure: mermaid + makeup themed; lots of focus on the main girls forming a club and going around the town doing fun stuff and helping classmates interrupted by going to magical mermaid places and learning some plot related stuff (there's not... NOT plot... actually there's more there than I expected! But it's very slice of life heavy); every character gets their own arc, and all the designs are super nice

Delicious Party Precure: cooking themed; do not watch on an empty stomach; kind of a light and fluffy season; has a cool nonbinary character in a support role, plus a boy who is not technically a Cure, but Cure-adjacent (still transforms, different name); I bounced off it a little, but mostly because I was busy?

Hirogaru Sky: sky + heroism themed; we only have promo stuff, but I'm very hyped

[punchy-mchurtyfist]

I'm finally caught up on all the seasons of Precure that I thought were interesting so now I get to watch each episode of Hirogaru with you guys every week but after watching the series for over a year now here's my favorite seasons in order:

1. Heartcatch

2. Suite

3. Hugtto

4. Fresh

5. Smile

And of course the original Futari wa is fantastic but my favorite cure of all time is Peace so I had to have it on my top five and if I didn't I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself.

Overall a very cute show full of genuinely sweet moments and I legit broke out laughing on more than a few occasions that's for sure, but the majority of it is just feels like capitalistic nightmare dystopia designed to hypnotize babbies into stealing their parents money;

But the seasons that were good were REALLY good.

[lunar-wandering]

How is Precure? Been considering getting into it

What you need to know about Precure is that a lot of it is just. Straight up filler. Like no joke you will go into these and a lot of them will be like 70% filler. The quality of said filler varies. Each season is different though, some of them are slightly more plot focused, and the animation styles change every season too.

When it does get into the plot and the actual fight scenes and stuff though, it’s very good.

It is a show intended for young girls, so some of it is a lil childish, obviously.

You can read the descriptions/look into whatever season you want and pick which one is the most interesting to you because. When I say each season is different I mean it. Outside of Futari Wa and Yes! Precure 5, both of which had 2 seasons, each year a completely new set of characters + plot line is introduced, a little bit like power rangers. 

Next year is supposedly the 20th anniversary of the series.Considering what the 10th and 15th anniversaries were like, I’m very excited.

[raincandy-u]

two questions! 1. fave cure from every season youve watched so far? 2. whats the pretty series? ive seen you reblog a lot of images from/of it but i have no idea what its about :0

gonna answer the second question first so i can shove my fave cures under a readmore!!

pretty series is the catch all name for the pretty rhythm series, pripara series, kiratto pri chan series and waccha primagi. all of which are basically a kids idol (/figure skating hybrid??) anime as well as arcade games in japan.

i've only see the pretty rhythm series as well as waccha primagi so far but im planning on getting through pripara and kiratto pri chan eventually! they are a fun time tbh, kind of magical girl adjacent i'd recommend if you like girly kids anime

as for my fave cures,

gonna do this by just listing each season and then saying the cure just for ease

if anyone cares about precure spoilers i wouldnt look too into these characters listed as a lot of them are actually later additions to the season so are kinda spoilers in themselves

futari wa precure - cure black futari wa precure max heart - shiny luminous splash star - cure bloom but my favorite characters from this season aren't cures proper. shoutout to michiru and kaoru yes 5 - cure rouge yes 5 gogo - milky rose fresh precure (MY FAVE PRECURE SEASON TO DATE) - cure passion heartcatch precure - cure sunshine with cure blossom being a close second suite precure - cure beat smile precure - cure sunny. although this is a hard choice, cure happy and cure peace arent far behind i'm currently still only like 3 episodes into dokidoki so skipping that + seasons i have yet to see tropical rouge precure - cure la mer delicious party precure - cure yum yum hirogaru sky precure - cure butterfly but maybe actually cure prism

which brings us to wonderful precure which is currently airing so i have no clue there but i do love cure wonderful so much currently!