Heartcatch has one massive point in its favour over every single other Precure: It can do drama. It’s not stupid. I can’t stress enough how important this is. In Heartcatch, the evil monsters that fight the Precure are created using the wavering hearts of humans. What that means is every episode has someone worried about something happening in their life, and the episode tends to revolve around how they get over that problem. Usually the issue is just that they don’t have enough confidence in themselves. A girl is afraid of talking to the Student Council President she admires so much because she gets all
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nervous when she’s around her. A boy is afraid his mum won’t approve of his ambition to become a manga author. Very simple little stories, but each one is handled with care and enough heart, without the solution ever being something pathetic and pulled out of nowhere. Sure, the solution is generally “you’re not weak at all!”, but the solution to each problem is generally the person just needs more confidence in themselves. At its centre, that is what Heartcatch is about. Have confidence in your own mental strength and you can achieve anything.
Another point in Heartcatch’s favour is the animation style. It’s done by the same team who did Casshern Sins, which is a bit of an odd mix. Casshern Sins is a great show, but it’s hella depressing post-apocalyptic material, and to have them do a Precure seems like a match made in “didn’t think this through properly” land. But it works, certainly in the animation style department. Heartcatch is stylish. The designs seem to be made with movement in mind, rather than other Precures where the characters don’t move freely at all and every fight scene is simply them panning across the screen (*cough* Fresh Precure *cough*). The animators are rather happy to let their characters go deformed for the sake of more fluid animation, but the artstyle suits the free-flowing designs quite well. Heartcatch’s fight scenes are far and away the best out of the Precure franchise, albeit that’s not particularly high praise. In comparison to other action anime, it doesn’t compare to Bones or Gainax level material, but it sure is pretty to look at.
The transformation sequences are…well, actually they’re not all that bitching at all. At least, the main two aren’t. They decided a cell phone was too unoriginal for this version of Precure, so instead decided to use perfume as a Precure transformation aid. Full points for originality I guess, but this does mean what you get is a spray-on Precure costume, which is rather underwhelming. It’s only until the third Precure shows up that we get a proper bitchin’ transformation sequence
Not that Heartcatch solved all the problems of the previous Precures. The magical pets are still as annoying as fuck. The BUY OUR TOYS still isn’t that well integrated into the plot. No really Precure, I’m cool with your amazing gospel 2nd ending song having awesome CGI dancing in it, but it’s jarring when every instance of BUY OUR TOYS is accompanied with the product in question being in CGI itself. It makes it stand out all the more jarringly, especially when they have to go through gimicky actions that the toys can also do. Like, come on. What sort of magical girl has to wind up their wand before they can use it? But the fact that it had a brain and wasn’t painfully stupid with its episodic plotlines far outweigh the problems I had with BUY OUR TOYS and annoying magical pets.
And yet…
And yet…
Precure is a cartoon aimed at little girls. Kids like repetition, or so I’ve been told. I did too, when I was, like, 4. Heartcatch’s non-plot related episodes follow such a strict formula that they start to get boring after a while. It’s the same problem I had with Hell Girl, and even that tried to mix things up a little more than Heartcatch ever tried to. Every episode follows the exact same damn pattern, to the point that they start to blend together. This is Not Good for an episodic show. Each episode should have something that makes it stand out from the rest. That was the one where they all talked backwards for the episode. That was the one where the colours all inverted. I dunno, I’m not a scriptwriter, but there’s nothing remarkable about most of the episodes. They don’t try to make them stand out, except on very rare occasions. Even the ones where plot-related stuff happen, the show still goes through the exact same motions. It doesn’t matter how great your formula is, it will be less interesting with every repeat of the formula if you don’t mix it up a bit.
Then there was the plot. Yeah. The plot. For gods sake, why do even the apparently good Precure villains fall foul of the pathetically dumb Precure villain syndrome? Dark Precure is Cool. She has a single black wing and is amazingly overpowered compared to our heroes. Then why does she not attack them? There is a scene where she is about to deliver the finishing blow, but then retreats because Mysterious Voice From The Sky calls her away. There was no reason for her to be called away either, she just went anyway. And it’s not like the villains don’t realise what a threat the Precures are to them. I don’t necessarily mind that the underlings are stupid, spending their time admiring themselves in the mirror. They’re meant to be stupid, and the show embraces that. But why are Sabaku and Dark Precure not attacking the Precures when they realise what a threat they are? What the fuck do they spend their time doing in the dark castle? She had no problem defeating Cure Moonlight back in the day, why not these two Precures before they get stronger? Oh wait yeah, I know. Precure Villain Syndrome. Give them a stick and a banana just out of their reach, they’ll proceed to choke on the stick.
But even the plot with the good guys is stupid. Every single revelation to the plot was lame. The revelation who the fancy man who kept saving them was an incredible anti-climax. The reveal of who the third Precure would be was a let down. Every time a plot related incident would occur in the episode, it would never result in something I particularly cared about. The plot related episodes were never particularly good, apart from maybe introducing a new bitchin’ transformation sequence or new move. The best episode of the series was the Mother’s Day one by an absolute mile, and that had nothing to do with the plot. It was just a well-directed episode that told a powerful message. But non-plot related episodes, as I explained earlier, got repetitive and dull. I found myself watching the next episode previews to see if anything potentially different would happen. But this too was a misnomer, as new events never succeeded in improving the quality of the episodes. Next episode has a new Precure, hopefully that will improve the quality, right? Nope, still the same old stuff it has been pumping out since episode 1, except now there’s an extra part to the transformation sequence.
I reached the episode where we got the fourth Precure. But her becoming a Precure was telegraphed to us for the past several episodes, so there was no joy in seeing it be realised. How she came about gaining the power to become a Precure was done via several randomly introduced plot elements over the past few episodes, such as a magical flying castle and the fact the Heart Tree can apparently travel across time and space, and that magical pets come from heart seeds, and all sorts of totally randomly introduced plot points for the sake of advancing the plot. But it’s not like the show ever changed. The villains were still being stupid. The Precures were still going through the same routine. The end of the episode showed the fourth Precure doing her bitchin’ transformation sequence and getting ready to fight Dark Precure. I thought to myself “well that was boring, but I gotta see the next episode because she fights Dark Precure in it”
…and stopped myself. I had fallen into that trap. I’m not watching the anime to see what’s happening. I’m watching the anime to see what’s going to happen. Nothing that’s ever happening in the present ever entertains me. Only the promise of changes in the future keep me going. Even if there is something worth watching, it comes out of non-foreseeable, non-plot related events like the Mothers Day episode. And there was where I dropped it. Episode 33. At the very point of the grand reveal, I gave up.
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Heartcatch Pretty Cure!
Japanese: ハートキャッチプリキュア!
Information
Type:
TV
Episodes:
49
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Feb 7, 2010 to Jan 30, 2011
Premiered:
Winter 2010
Broadcast:
Sundays at 08:30 (JST)
Producers:
None found, add some
Licensors:
None found, add some
Studios:
Toei Animation
Source:
Original
Theme:
Mahou Shoujo
Duration:
24 min. per ep.
Rating:
G - All Ages
Statistics
Ranked:
#7072
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#3882
Members:
32,456
Favorites:
697
Available AtResources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 8 / 11
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Your Feelings Categories Jun 28, 2011
Heartcatch has one massive point in its favour over every single other Precure: It can do drama. It’s not stupid. I can’t stress enough how important this is. In Heartcatch, the evil monsters that fight the Precure are created using the wavering hearts of humans. What that means is every episode has someone worried about something happening in their life, and the episode tends to revolve around how they get over that problem. Usually the issue is just that they don’t have enough confidence in themselves. A girl is afraid of talking to the Student Council President she admires so much because she gets all
...
Sep 11, 2018
After Hugtto Precure convinced me hard to give a chance to the rest of the franchise, I went for the entry that seems to be the most loved and popular (except maybe the original) of the franchise, did it live up to the hype? Well, it sure did in my opinion!
Tsubomi, the protagonist of this story, is a shy girl who definitely didn't fit with what the image of what the standard Precure protagonist looked to me, I think that this is played very nicely through the story and seeing her open up more while keeping what makes her be her was so satisfying to ... Jul 22, 2014
How many times have you heard the saying that ‘The flower who blooms slowly is the best of them all’? Yeah, you are probably thinking that you might have heard it in some other ways, but, anyways, as old and boring as that saying sounds, Heartcatch is proof of that. And it takes it to another new level.
Flowers, like everything else, have a reason for being given, gifted. Heartcatch is here to explain that, and the main character’s heart seeds beautifully bloom. One thing that I will always like about Heartcatch is its creativity and experimenting with different flowers. At each episode’s end, they will ... May 12, 2010
Story: Story has never been a strong point for any tokusatsu/magical-girl anime. This is proven again as we're treated to a fun, albeit predictable story. If you've seen Sailor Moon or Power Rangers growing up (and let's face it, who hasn't?) you know the monster-of-the-week formula by heart. Having said that there is enjoyment to be found in it's light hearted fluffy plot, assuming you don't take it too seriously.
Art: Definitely a strong point for Heartcatch. The animation is very smooth and colourful, making the series a treat for the eyes. Bright colours, explosions, Dragonball level beam-spam and fun to watch battles make up ... Sep 6, 2018
Heartcatch Precure is absolutely gorgeous to look at and Yoshihiko Umakoshi’s character designs are absolutely stunning, the fight scenes in this series are well-choreographed. If you’re looking for a series that is rich in pretty sakuga then Heartcatch is definitely that, oh!, and if you like this then Katanagatari would definitely be up your alley!
• To me, Heartcatch is far more of a story-driven plot than character. I didn’t feel much of an affinity for any of the characters. I felt like a had a girlfriend, who looked very pretty, but I didn’t like hanging out with her for too long. Yeah, that’s an apt ... Jul 23, 2023
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 ... Mar 31, 2022
Back in 2010, I wasn't the biggest fan of the Precure franchise, and it's mostly because I hardly ever saw any of the shows back then. I remember watching the first episode of the first series long ago but I never went further than that because one fairy's voice annoyed the living heck out of me. But since about 2014, I've actually made an effort to watch a good majority of the shows for that franchise. So far, including this one, Heartcatch Pretty Cure, I've seen ten whole series in their entirety, though I did watch the first episodes of every series. Basically, Precure pretty
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Jul 25, 2021
Heartcatch Precure was another disappointing Precure season for me. This will be spoiler free.
Visuals: 1) it's a drastic change from all previous seasons. It has a very cartoonish, very western style that I don't appreciate. I thought that maybe I would learn to like it but it wasn't the case; 2) poor monster design Sound: 1) legendary seiyuus, as usual 2) soundtrack was okay ... |