Heartcatch Precure!

Young flower enthusiast Tsubomi Hanasaki is often modest and quiet. But with her family moving to a new town, she aims to reinvent her image at her new school as someone more confident and outgoing. On moving day, she dreams of a mysterious tree in the sky guarded by a warrior named "Cure Moonlight."

Tsubomi quickly learns that this was no ordinary dream when she encounters two mysterious fairies—Chypre and Coffret—who are being hunted down by a strange woman. When the woman summons a giant monster to attack the city, Tsubomi finds herself transforming into a warrior to fight the enemy! Taking on the alias "Cure Blossom," Tsubomi learns that the woman is part of a villainous group that aims to turn the world into a lifeless desert, with her new duty being to stop it from happening. As Tsubomi continues to battle more monsters and uncover the secrets behind Cure Moonlight, will she find the confidence needed to overcome her timid nature?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kurumi, Erika Main

Mizusawa, Fumie Japanese

Hanasaki, Tsubomi Main

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Tsukikage, Yuri Main

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Myoudouin, Itsuki Main

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Potpourri Main

Kikuchi, Kokoro Japanese

Chypre Main

Kawata, Taeko Japanese

Coffret Main

Kumai, Motoko Japanese

Dark Pretty Cure Supporting

Takayama, Minami Japanese

Kumojacky Supporting

Takemoto, Eiji Japanese

Dune Supporting

Midorikawa, Hikaru Japanese

Sasaki, Reiko Producer

Umezawa, Atsutoshi Producer

Nagamine, Tatsuya Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Sakai, Munehisa Sound Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Jul 23, 2023

Phasar2022

Recommended

Funny

Heartcatch Pretty Cure taught me the importance of the precure template used in each series. The heads and bodies are of similar design. Factors as eyes, hair color and texture, relative size work to differentiate each girl of the team. These external factors plus that most important internal.

Personality.

I was surprised at the animation style used for HeartCatch. The characters appear more cartoonish than the precure series before and after them. Eyes accentuate each member. But, for the extremely different style, I would say that important changes were made with the coming of Cures Sunshine and Moonlight. As if ... their entry into the plot demands a stricter presentation. So much so, that I would have Cure Sunshine as one of the 'Five Most Stunning' Pretty Cures in the franchise. For the record, my picks would be 1. Cure Beauty; 2) Cure Ange; 3) Cure Sunshine; 4) Cure Melody; 5) Massive tie involving 45-50 other precures (and please, don't ask me for the 'Ugliest Precure." Such things aren't possible!). I could offer you the rationale for these selections, but we need to get back to the important matters of Precuria.

So much for intriguing animation technique. Let's get back to the issue of personality.

Tsubomi (Cure Blossom) is painfully shy to the point of introversion. We meet her as a bookish bespectacled girl just moved to a new town with all the feelings of inferiority which meshes with being the new girl in school. Devoted to her family and their love for flowers, Tsubomi enjoys the company of her grandmother who also has Prety Cure roots.

Erika (Cure Marine) is the converse of Tsubomi. Extroverted to the point of being pushy, Erika needs the gentle touch of Tsubomi to become more giving to her growing cadre of friends. Her gift is fashion, and she envies her older sister because of her popularity as a renowned fashion model. Erika wishes to be a model, too, but her talent is in fashion design. Ironically, her older sister envies Erika because of her ability to gather friends; the life of a model draws fickle admirers, but few friends.

Itsuka (Cure Sunshine) admires her older brother, but his sickly frame has disabled him to advance in his grandfather's dojo. So, Itsuka assumes the aura of masculinity to thrive in the arena of martial arts. But, she is a girl at heart and loves cute things as dresses and plush toys. Still, she must maintain this act of being strong and male. Tsubomi falls in love with the boy-like Itsuka and is disappointed when Erika tells her that Itsuka is a girl.

Yuri (Cure Moonlight) is the first Pretty Cure we meet and the last one to become part of HeartCatch Pretty Cure. She failed to defeat the forces of desertification years ago and has lost the ability to become a cure. She has the knowledge of the legendary warrior and offers Blossom and Marine sage advice in facing the foe. All this while enduring the depression which comes from the knowledge of failure. But, it is Blossom and Marine which motivates Yuri to strive to become the strongest precure ever. This in light of the fact that Tsubomi suffers the stigma of being the weakest precure ever.

It will take nearly the full forty-nine episodes for these girls to come together and weld into a well-disciplined fighting unit. Cure Sunshine enters in at episode 23 and Moonlight about ten episodes later. But the glue to the team is Tsubomi's grandmother who had been Cure Flower two generations prior. She leads the four girls into battles with self to prove their merit as Pretty Cure; Tsubomi has a particularly difficult time in facing her alter-ego, for this means the resentment of her introversion. She must accept that personality change does not mean the hatred of self but the acceptance of the change anyone is capable.

The villains are multi-faceted. A trio of generals who are resolved to destroy the Pretty Cure. A created cure called the Dark Precure who was responsible for the defeat of Cure Moonlight. A treacherous professor who has conspired to destroy Cure Moonlight. Then the ultimate foe, the world-destroying Dune who cannot be beaten by hatred, but is a poor mark for the reception of love.

The plotline was strong as we watch each girl develop into a stronger personality capable of the rigors of being a Precure. The whole series created a range of personability where Cure Marine could become the clown princess of Precuria, whose antics and facial rages would not have parallel until the coming of Cure Princess in Happiness Charge Precure. Where Cure Blossom could be the symbol of gentility which overcomes all obstacles. Where Cure Sunshine could find her proper role as a girl without sacrificing the power and strength of the martial arts she truly loves. Where Cure Moonlight can recapture the courage needed to face all challenges ... and win.

Where personalities, like flowers, bloom.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 13, 2024

Wszechmistrzyni

Mixed Feelings

"Heartcatch Precure" didn't quite live up to my expectations as the highest-rated and critically praised entry in the franchise, but this title isn't exactly unmerited either.

The things it does well, it does really damn well. Heartcatch certainly doesn't pull its emotional punches, even more so than other Precure series. Most episodes focus on deeply personal problems and emotions that most of us will have to confront at some point and are able to empathize with. Even background, victim-of-the-week characters were given lots of emotional depth. Themes of death, family loss, and depression were handled very gracefully and to an extent no other Precure season did ... even 14 years later.

Unfortunately, as all fans of the series know, Precure fillers are generally hit-or-miss, and this season is no exception. Many episodes were a drag to get through. Fluid animation style doesn't translate into fights - aside from the final Moonlight vs. Dark Precure/Sabark fight there were no memorable fights in the season. Aside from having one of the most competent villains in the franchise - Dark Precure - the villains don't really feel threatening at all and we don't get to gain any understanding of their motivaton. The final episode and fight vs. Dune felt rushed, the timeskip felt out of place (unlike in other Precure series).

Overall, a solid 7.5.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 19, 2022

Animelover875

Not Recommended

Spoiler

Honestly, I was pretty underwhelmed. Based on how hyped this season is, I was at least expecting a more solid finale. Like reviving the past Cures (or at least showing them for more than 3 seconds at a time) among other things, which I'll add in a series rating below this message. But honestly, this finale was pretty bad. I was really expecting more from this type of series. 2/5 for the final episode, unfortunately.
With the entirety of Heartcatch Precure, I honestly need to say I went into it looking forward, and...I was pretty disappointed. Not because Erika and Itsuki's arcs are written weirdly, it's ... the entire thing. This season has a lot of pretty good twists and plot developments, but they fail to follow through on anything. Tsubomi for instance, one of the best characters, promises to change "bit by bit," although, from an objective point of view...she's still the exact same person she was all those episodes ago. I understand that in order to keep the characters identifiable but this shouldn't be exaggerated to the point of obstructing character development. Tsubomi was even wearing her glasses in the final episode, which I believe symbolized her "shy" nature that she'd outgrown earlier in the series (written in tandem with her character wearing them less and less, until they stopped appearing almost completely.) For her to wear them in the finale, after the battle, is an indicator that her character hasn't changed; she's still the same introverted, shy person she was at the beginning, self-actualization or not. As for other character arcs, all I have to say is that they were extremely uneven in their pacing, and their development. If we take, say, Sasorina's character arc, let's look at it a little bit. I made a comment earlier that her character arc began in episode 25, and was put on the backburner and stagnated until episode 40. This is not an exaggeration; she still appeared to fight the Precure in typical episodes as if nothing unusual had happened (besides changes that were too subtle to even consider that she was acting differently.) Kumojacky and Cobraja's redemption arcs on the other hand, felt rushed; they were crammed into the span of two episodes, the latter of which being the second to final time they appeared (having been reborn like Sasorina in episode 49)
I would say the characters who I was most disappointed to see were Dune and Sabaku, for a multitude of reasons. As I mentioned with Dune many times, Dune is power scaled far beyond the average villain; he was able to practically annihilate the Precure "without" his powers in his official debut appearance, and died to a single punch from Blossom in the finale. Sabaku is unfortunate as his character itself leaves more questions than answers. Here are just a few off the top of my head: Why did he feel the need to create Dark Precure? Why was he so intent on hurting his daughter? Was he sadistic, or was this an attempt to test her strength? Did Dune manipulate him? On the last question, this is made more difficult to answer as Sabaku went to Dune of his own free will. His entire character arc needs more explanation, not to mention the complete lack of handling of any level of grief or resentment Moonlight held toward her father. Based on the amount of grief she felt based solely on Cologne dying, I find it near impossible to believe she would have no ill will towards her father whatsoever, and the series' failure to address this simply complicates the issue, since it isn't even mentioned afterwards. Dark Precure also needed more explanation; all we received was a vague explanation that Sabaku created him, but the answer left out the perhaps more valuable reason of why she was created in the first place. Why was she suddenly able to understand Sabaku's love for her at the end, if she was programmed to not feel compassion or emotions? Did Dune convince him to create her? Did he create her before he turned evil? Overall, this series leaves more questions than answers, which isn't something any fan wants to hear. I would also mention that this series is not as "dark" as, even previous seasons. Fresh Precure, Splash Star, even Yes 5 all had moments much darker than anything here, and while that doesn't make it inherently bad, a series
needs to have a reason to be dark without appearing as though it's only for shock value. Compare say, themes of communism present in Fresh, the Kiryuu sisters dying in Splash Star, even Desperiah, a pure out-and-out villain at face value, sealing herself within the Earth to save everyone. I feel this review has gone on long enough and would like to end it here, although Cure Moonlight's character specifically can be analyzed for hours. I regret that this series was not one I enjoyed more, but it did give a solid effort. Final rating: 4/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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