Smile Precure isn't any of those.
Story (3/10): If you've ever traversed near the Kamer Rider fandom, you've probably heard the meme 'Decade has no story'. That's as close a descriptor to Smile if I've ever heard one. Also, it's fairly ironic, considering that that show was also written by the same person that wrote Smile (well...the second half, but easily the worst half). But your enjoyment of Shōji Yonemura's works isn't what I'm here to talk about.
Smile Precure has the most bare-bones plot of any Precure series that I've seen. A good chunk of the show is easily considered filler, the entire premise of fairy tales shows up once in a while (if at all), and what plot there is is just boring. I can understand that this is written for younger girls, but that's not an excuse for relying on the Monster of the Week formula so often that you could, in fact, call the entire plot of the episode before even watching it. Plus, I do know about the ending and how it rips off 3 different Precure series/movies all at once, and that's kind of insulting, since it does seem like the writer just saw the previous seasons and said 'Hey I'll add that in!'.
Art (6/10): The art of this series is probably the only saving grace that I can think of. All of the Pretty Cure's designs are actually quite cute, along with having some very pretty power-ups and attacks. But being pretty can only go so far.
Sound (5/10): The music in the show was OK, from what I remember. It just wasn't anything that I would write home about. The opening was, to be fair, quite catchy and got me to smile (ha, pun). Otherwise I think it was fine for what it was.
Character (3/10): This is another one of the big problems with this season. The characters are really just so stagnant that it's almost like character development just slips right off of them. Our main heroine Miyuki is easily the most annoying leader Cure yet, with the groups fairy Candy being somewhat cute but mostly useless. Akane, Yayoi, Nao, and Reika are somewhat interesting (and less annoying), but it seems like they get stuck in their stereotypes more often than not. The Cures are also so prone to holding the Idiot Ball at any given time that it's not even funny.
There is also little to no secondary characters, so there's nothing really to say about that. And the villains? So ineffective and nonthreatening that when they decided to show some kind of challenge, I was more mildly amused than anything. The only one that seemed to act like a villain was Joker, and he was probably the better part of the show.
Enjoyment (4/10): When I watched the first few episodes of SP, I was waiting for the traditional fun of the Precure franchise to take hold. And it really never did. This show ultimately bored me and never made me want to actually take the time to watch it. Plus, the complete retcon that occurs in episode 24 pretty much told me what I wanted to know about the future of this season.
One thing that I was stunned that this show got away with was that there were never really any fight scenes, which is a guaranteed fan favorite staple of any Precure season. It was always 'say catchphrase -> get beat up slightly -> fire off finishing attack -> collect thing'. Hell, they never even took part in the Precure tradition of beating the crap out of their foes until like episode 22 and 23! That's seriously crazy! Actually, the opening has far more action then a regular fight scene has, if I'm being honest.
The season does have it's funny moments, but when I could read the summary of an episode and not even be inclined to watch the corresponding episode, that's just not worth it for a couple of laughs. Granted, some of the things I've seen of later episodes do, in fact, look amusing (but again, that's not enough to make me want to watch when, in the end, it's all filler). There is also the point in that it fails on holding onto it's own premise, even down to the collectables that they need: Heartcatch = flowers + Heart Seeds / Suite = music + Notes / Smile = fairy tales + ...Decors?
Overall, I'm sorry to say that Smile is just not a good entry into the Precure franchise. It has really no plot to speak of, little character development, BARELY any good ol' beatdowns that it's predecessors are famous for, and is generally too reliant on the MotW formula. You can be lighthearted and funny, there's nothing wrong with that at all. But when 3/4 of your series is filler and easily skipped over, you have a problem.
(I really and truly apologize for this review being overly negative, but...this show kinda annoyed me.)
