Category: Heartcatch Precure

An adorable episode, focused on Yuri again. Most of those series that introduce an extra hero or heroine to the team never really make those characters stand beyond their role of side-characters. Like, they may add extra abilities, but the show still revolves around the lead characters. Heartcatch is completely different: Yuri is completely awesome, and she is as important as Tsubomi and Erika. The latter already had a lot of episodes dedicated to them in the first half, so right now the creators are really focusing their effort on making Yuri a proper lead character. It’s awesome to see a bit in what she was like when she was still in middle school.

The story of the boy that she grew up with is also really charming. Again, he’s a kid, but he’s far from annoying. This episode was about the love between two childhood friends, but the age difference between the two here made it miles away from the usual cliches. At the end, the way in which the boy confessed his feelings, yet said that he knew that he was way too young for any real romance was very manly.

Speaking of manly: the OP was updated with the most awesome scene involving Koppei. Seeing these scenes alone was just amazing, but something is telling me that the creators were foreshadowing here. I’m dying to see Koppei in action again. This episode was in no way meant to be dark, but there were plenty of hints at future dark episodes with dark precure awakening. Not to mention that Cobraja seems to be the next one heading into the way of Sasorina. There are too few episodes left to make this progress go as smooth as it went with Sasorina, so the creators are going to have to end his story in a bit of a different way than with hers, and i can’t wait to find out how they will do it.

There has been some bad news this week, though: we got our first look into what Suite Precure will look like, and it looks utterly terrible. For those who haven’t seen it, click here. The fact that Toei isn’t returning with Heartcatch Precure’s character designer is just a minor issue here. The mascot also doesn’t look too good (I’m much more a fan of a realistic drawing of cats than with anime’s trend of reducing them all to moe blobs), but that too is just a detail.

No, instead the big thing that bugs me is how little effort was spent into drawing that promo art. It’s a really bad sign when the freaking promo art of a series is off model. The poses are completely moronic, the hair feels literally pasted on and the clothes are unnecessarily detailed with pointless frills. I’m calling it right now: enjoy the three months that we’ve still got left on Heartcatch Precure, because that’s where the awesomeness is going to end. Toei have shown that they don’t really care anything about maintaining quality with Digimon Xros Wars, they’ve shown that they can make enough pointless sequels that come nowhere close to their original with Marie & Gali 2.0, so at this point I’m not expecting anything from Suite Precure anymore.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

We’re getting close to the end now, Dune is about to unleash his chaos onto the earth, the Sabaku are getting more and more desperate to take out the Precure, and the grand finale is only a few months away. So naturally, this episodes puts our cast in a kindergarten and has them fight a giant stuffed animal. Of course!

This is exactly what this series needs at this point though. The problem with a lot of these light-hearted series that get near their end is that they become too epic: things either become too serious, letting go of the charms that made them once fun to watch, or the saving the world feels so out of place or sense that it becomes just cheesy. This episode was exactly needed in order to keep the light hearted fun still in the series while the creators are closing off the story. It’s exactly because of this that the creators waited so long with going to the kindergarten, because it’s really effective at that, and on top of that it’s also more than just another “child with worries”-episode. Seriously, when was the last time we had an episode that followed that formula anyway?

I also have to praise this show for not giving Tsubomi any magical upgrades because she’s the main character: this episode again very much stated that Cure Moonlight is by far the most powerful Precure. It’s really great to see that the creators stayed true to this, even through the various stages in which the powers of the Precures were developed.

On the topic of the next Precure series, it finally got its own website, but apart from that no new information has been revealed. Based on the logo it’ll probably revolve around music, but then again: Heartcatch Precure’s main theme was flowers, and yet you don’t see any of that, while Fresh Precure had a very watery-themed logo, and yet I failed to spot any significant hints to liquids in the episodes that I watched aside from an occasional pool. There are some interesting possibilities for this becoming an animated musical of some sort, but for that to work the creators had better prepare an awesome soundtrack that can dwarf even Heartcatch Precure’s, otherwise it’ll have lost its entire point.

Toei, you’ve really set yourself a challenge here. Heartcatch Precure pretty much already is really close to the perfect way to handle the classic mahou shoujo premise. At this stage, it’s very much possible that Suite Precure will be some sort of cash-in, however Toei is strange. I’d love to see them really grab the ambitions to try and trump even Heartcatch with the next Precure. But ah well, once the staff gets announced we’ll be a lot wiser.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Just when I thought that this show couldn’t get any better… and it surpasses itself. Yet again. I mean, I’m running out of superlatives here, the previous episode made it seem like it was going to quietly build up until the final climax, and instead here this show comes with one of its best episodes so far. How the hell do these creators keep doing this?

It’s exactly as I hoped though: the final quarter of this series really is going to focus on the bad guys. But holy crap, to think that they already finished off one of them at this stage… what the hell do they have in store for the rest of these episodes? Sasorina’s end was incredibly sad, especially with the twist that she pretty much was just another Desatorian.

I mean, this is hard core for a kids’ show: they pretty much put three people (perhaps even five, if the same is true for Sabaaku and Dark Precure…) into a coma for more than a year. Sasorina was a fun and quirky character to follow throughout these past forty episodes, but things get a completely new dimension here when you think at how all this time, there was her body lying around in a coma, waiting for the Precures to heal her heart. It’s a fantastic way to develop her character, and I also loved the subtle parts that Kumojacky and Cobraja played in this episode.

Also, the creators also found a solution of keeping this show from becoming too epic and losing its charms. There have a been a lot of different things turned into Desatorians over the past few episodes. But an entire freaking school building?! That’s just cool on so many levels. On top of that, the story of this episode was also a really charming one that actually used an overused anime trope really well. There have been plenty of series by now who had this underdog who suddenly gets powers and authority for himself, and he starts daydreaming of how to absolutely not use these powers. It’s annoying and overdone, and yet I loved how maturely this show treated this by really showing that he knows better after getting scolded by Itsuki about it.

Oh yeah, and Itsuki also deciding to retire as the student council president. These are the kinds of things you expect at a penultimate episodes and we’ve still got ten episodes left!
Rating: **** (Fantastic)

In the previous episode, Dune sent a huge monster to the Precures, which took all of their powers to take out. In this episode… his weakest goons threaten two children and take their toys. Okay,yeah this was a bit of a step back: an intermezzo before the final arc happens, meant to lighten the mood.

A filler this was not, though. It was more like a side-story which could have been omitted, or aired earlier on in the series preferably. It mostly was hilarious because of the banter between Erika and Coffret, which really was perfect to lighten up the mood. The entire premise of the episode was based on”yeah we’re fighting but after a bit of a fight with the bad guys and each other we make up again”. Don’t get me wrong, this still was a very enjoyable episode, but it’s not within the standards that this series has set before.

Yeah, it’s a bit of a shallow episode, but it had plenty of stuff to redeem itself with. This was the best episode yet for the Snackies (or whatever they’re spelled), especially their “maintenance squad” was hilarious, but their visual comedy in this episode was also priceless, now that they finally got the chance to be the main bad guys. Coffret’s voice actress also was really good in this episode, and she prevented what could have been an annoying whiny episode into quite an enjoyable one.
Rating: * (Good)

This series really is unbelievable: it uses some cliches that have been beaten to death in the mahou shoujo genre by now, and yet it manages to avoid all of the pitfalls. Now that the power-up arc is finally over, I really have to say that I’m delighted with how it turned out: it was built up really well, the characters knew the disadvantages, and yet they also knew that in order to beat Dune, it really was a power they needed. In the past two episodes, Dune finally arrived close enough to earth to start sending his own monsters, and they’re a complete league apart from what they’ve faced so far.

And then there are the transformation scenes: this series just has so many different ones, and they’re all completely gorgeous in their own ways. This episode again was a visual orgasm: it may not have had the incredibly smooth framerate of Cure Sunshine’s transformation, but it was incredibly varied, especially for a transformation scene (usually they just have one theme and stick with it with really not a lot of creativity). There was so much going on in that scene, and it looked really gorgeous. If I had to give a criticism, it’s that CG hand of Blossom: it’s here where the CG stood out a bit.

As for Cure Blossom, the creators did a wonderful job on her, accepting her shy side. I really love the choice of having her take much longer than the others, because it made her character stand out even more, even though she had to do the same as everyone else. It’s the difference in which they all managed to accept their flaws that really made this a wonderful arc.

I’m so curious to that final quarter of this series now. I mean, when was the last time that we had a random story in this series? The past number of episodes have all had their purpose, so I really doubt that this show is going to close off by going back to the desatorians. What I really want to see here is 13 episodes of quality time, dedicated to fleshing out and developing Dune and the people from Sabaku. That really would be awesome.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Agh! Freaking cliff-hanger!

Last week I predicted that this would be another random story. I couldn’t have been more wrong: this episode was chock full of character and plot development. We finally see Dune come into action and threaten the planet, just like he did with Tsubomi’s grandmother. Alongside this comes a monster that really can’t be beaten with the regular powers of the precures, and only now do the four of them search for their power-ups that have been introduced ten episodes ago. I said this before, but power-ups in mahou shoujo (and many other anime as well, by the way) often feel a bit cheap, and are often introduced from out of nowhere. This however was really well done: it was properly introduced, the creators made sure to give it disadvantages, and so the characters tried to survive as long as possible without having to resort to it.

In any case, the really awesome part of this episode came when everyone had to take the test in order to obtain this power: fighting your shadow self (who all looked awesome, by the way). While this has been done before, the unique twist to this was that instead of defeating these shadows, Erika, Yuri and Itsuki all ended up accepting and embracing these sides of them: they weren’t trying to run away from them, and I especially love how the creators did this with Yuri.

But god dammit, we have to wait an entire week in order to see the best part! I mean, Itsuki, Erika and Yuri at this point are pretty stable characters: this episode really completed their character development, by convincing them that they shouldn’t hate the way they were. Tsubomi however was completely different: throughout the entire series, she was the one who kept running after everyone: first this was Erika, then it became Itsuki. She really helped and supported both of them.

To me, it really seems like she’s looking up to her other three companions, and that’s what the end of this episode pointed at: she wants to improve so badly so that she’ll keep within their shadow, that she can’t accept her own shadow. Or at least, that’s what I make of it. Next week can’t come too early.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Awesome idea: when it’s finally time for the school festival and the fashion show, the creators call in the help of the local light music club. Again it’s within the whole theme of Tsubomi and Erika not being the only ones with stress and nerves, and on top of that it was also a nice excuse to make the fashion show even more awesome than it already was.

The desatorians in this episode were even more on the background than usual. The real climax of this episode was the fashion show, and combined with the performance of the light music club it really was a wonderful end to all of the effort that Tsubomi, Erika and the other members of the fashion club put into it. And I usually have no interest in fashion whatsoever! Also note how the creators tried to insert as many family members as they could: the only one missing was Yuri’s mother.

Overall, the school festival was a very interesting detour here. Directly it had nothing to do with defeating Dune and Sabaaku, but it was a really excellent way to flesh out both the main cast, and the people around them: it allowed some of the previous characters to make a reappearance, and overall it was just really fun to watch. After this we should probably get a few more random stories, and I am very curious, both in what part Cure Moonlight will play in it, and what the creators have in mind for the next arc. We’re nearing the final quarter here, so they should start to develop the bad guys by now.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

This pretty much was the school example of how you should do a school festival episode. Seriously, school festivals in anime really are a staple, but I don’t know how long it’s been since I watched a school festival episode that did so many things right. And it’s not even over yet: this episode just showed the preparations, while the festival is only going to start next week.

The thing is, at our school we never had clubs like the baseball club, fashion club, et cetera: if you wanted to join such a club, you’d have to join it outside of your school. These school festival episodes are obviously meant for the Japanese audiences to relate to them. For foreign audiences meanwhile, these episodes are instead a chance to see different cultures. After a few of those episodes, this just gets old and rather shallow: the lead characters work hard on whatever they’re working on, they make their deadline and they present their work, often with not much meaning put into things.

This episode of Heartcatch Precure really had me surprised, though. It really managed to put a lot of different things into just one episode: there first of all was the fashion club, and the creators portrayed the stress of Tsubomi and especially Erika, trying to get everything ready. There were many things that had to be done, and many errands that had to be run, on top of Tsubomi who was running around the school, trying to find where the heck Yuri went. This episode didn’t focus on the making of the clothes: it has already been established that the cast knows how to do that. Instead, it really detailed what needed to happen, what they were planning to do, and some of the challenges they faced.

On top of that,the creators also brought the rest of the school alive: Tsubomi and Erika were nowhere near the only ones who were also busy trying to meet their deadlines: this episode saw all kinds of different clubs running around, like the drama, art, movie, photo, baseball and Judo club, alongside Itsuki’s tasks as the student council president. It really stressed that everyone was having the same stress as Erika, and everyone tried handle this deadline in his own way.

Really, I think that this was one of the very few school festival episodes that really showed me how those school festivals must feel to Japanese teenagers.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Really… this show is unbelievable. This could very well be the best episode of Heartcatch Precure yet. It was completely awesome, from start to finish. I’m really starting to run out of praises for this series without sounding like some repetitive fanboy here.

I mean, Moonlight’s return gave a completely new dynamic to the action here, especially with Dark Precure present. The Dark Precure, who had consistently kicked Blossom and Erika’s ass throughout the series was much more of a match for Cure Moonlight, who also fights completely different from the other Precures so far: it’s far more calculated, wasting as little energy as possible with fancy movements or dodges like especially Tsubomi and Erika like to do. Also, this episode really reminded us of a whole subplot that somehow suggests that Dark Precure and Cure Moonlight are actually very similar (part of the same moon). It’s also great to see Sabaaku finally getting off his damn chair, in order to actually save Dark Precure.

This really was Cure Moonlight’s episode: everything was meant to show her pwn as many bad guys as possible, but at the same time I am very surprised that Tsubomi and Erika… didn’t actually get much stronger in terms of hand to hand combat. With the upgrade episode, they probably received some kind of ultimate weapon, but if things are like this episode, and the bad guys keep them busy and spread out, they actually can’t get the chance to use it. Now THAT’s a power-up: something more than just a Deus ex Machina that the creators cheaply use in order to balance out the power level differences.

The aftermath in this episode may have been even more awesome than the fight. I mean, how many mahou shoujo actually kill off their mascots? Seriously, Cologne… he was just some temporarily spirit made by the Heart Tree in order for Yuri to get her spirits back. I really did not expect the creators to have the guts to actually keep him dead, and actually erase that spirit as well, not to mention how well the creators did justice to that series. It was just two minutes long, but it showed so much within just those two minutes. I really have to applaud this series for that.

And if that wasn’t incredible enough, the creators just had to end that episode in such an adorable way, in which Yuri ends up joining the fashion club. It’s awesome to see how much she stands out there, being more than three years older than all of the other girls there. Being dragged around by a bunch of kids who have been dying for her support since episodes, I’m really looking forward to seeing more of the quiet moments in this series.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)

It’s cure Moonlight’s return. Of course this episode was awesome!

I mean, this entire episode was dedicated to Yuri and her past as Cure Moonlight. The creators here really waste no time to use their new powers in order to help Yuri get her powers back, and even then it wasn’t just a cheap revive that completely negated the build-up of the earlier episodes: despite how extremely badass Yuri’s fairy looked, he remains dead, and can only talk to her through some sort of illusion from the heart tree. The main reason why Yuri was able to transform again was due to Tsubomi and Erika’s work, both in collecting the heart seeds and bringing back her motivation.

Yuri’s fairy was even more proof that this series has some of the best animal mascots I’ve seen in in a mahou shoujo. Most of the time they’re either just a device to get girls to transform, acting as annoying and cute as possible. Here things are completely different, especially the veterans like Koppei and Koron: both are just totally badass in their ow way, and both really are crucial in their support, yet at the same time they never try to steal the spotlights.

Moonlight’s transformation looked gorgeous, by the way. It didn’t have the huge amount of frames that Cure Sunshine had, but really made up for it with its gorgeous art. Right now, I really am convinced that she has the best character-designs of the entire series, hence why she hooked me from the first episode.
Rating: *** (Awesome)