If you were to go back to the beginning of 2013 and asked a general Precure fan what the worst season was claimed to be, the chances are they would've said Suite, and usually for the universal reason that it wasn't the well-acclaimed Heartcatch season. If we're to go back to the present and you asked a general Precure fan what the worst season is, you'll probably hear them say DokiDoki, except for very, very good reasons.
DokiDoki Precure is a Precure season that not only fails to be a good show in general, but it fails to be a good show for this franchise in
...
general. When I say that, I mean that there are general things in Precure that makes the franchise very worthwhile, and DokiDoki fails at even delivering those.
While the plot of this season appears to be a simplistic one, the show is intent on continuing to expand upon the plot until many holes begin to to show up and many things are left both unexplained or are given improper care time. People praised DokiDoki in the beginning for being more plot-centric than past seasons, though DokiDoki ultimately suffers from this formula.
Since the plot and characters go hand in hand, let's discuss the characters too. The reason DokiDoki suffers from its plot-centric formula is because it shafts its characters, their development and their interactions in favor of things like a badly done plot point or more time for our main character. (whom I'll rant about later) There is one characters whose school uniform we don't get to see until episode 49. The last episode. That's how long it takes.
The show also made two instances of randomly introducing new characters into the plot in the middle of the show. First case was with a poorly-done character, Regina, who basically starts off as a bad guy, decides she's pretty much in love with our main girls, tries to become good, becomes bad again, becomes good again, then becomes brainwashed into being bad and we don't see her again for about 20 episodes since they decide to shoehorn in another character who we had no indication of appearing prior. This character is Madoka Aguri, Cure Ace.
Fun fact: There's a video up on YouTube where a 5 year old girl who watches the episode that Ace debuts is very confused and upset because of how random her appearance is. That's how bad it is. Ace is, essentially, an over-powered 10 year old who had no foreshadowing of appearing and is there to basically lecture the other girls into "getting stronger" and takes credit for a lot of their development episodes. She is bound by a time limit which the plot removes when they need it too, and is basically the second strongest character next to the over-overpowered main lead.
Speaking of this main lead... Mana Aida. In some seasons, there is definitely some leader bias, but never before has it been this bad. The worst part is that Mana is bland. She is bland, she is flawless according to the show, the show never acknowledges her flawed logic, and she is given everything. Mana has all the other Cures transfer THEIR power to HER. Teamwork? Who needs that, just give all the power to Mana! Most of their combo attacks revolve around giving Mana the power and her taking them out. She is loved by everyone. She is the student council president, has a bunch of friends, and when she outs her Cure identity everyone is okay with it.
Mana is also the only one who gets a leader upgrade at the end of the season. She single handedly takes out the big bad using everyone elses' power. She is the one who basically restores everything. All the Cures' and their resolves revolve around Mana. Their reason to fight? Mana. It's all about Mana and it's terrible, because this show has 5 other characters, 3 of which are already shafted as it is, that it could focus on and develop but it instead focuses on and DOESN'T develop the overpowered and generic main lead.
Other Cure leaders may have been some spotlight hogs, but at least they had some good interactions and growth with their friends. At least it somewhat made sense that Nagisa had a lot of attention since there WERE only two cures (eventually three) in that season. There is no excuse here, just bias, and it results in an extremely bland main character who gets everything without reason and sucks everything away from all the other characters who deserve it. When the show didn't focus too much on Mana, it focused too much on Reginas' shoddily written character arc that relied on shifting her sides when the plot demanded it, or too much on Ace, who bossed the Cures' around and took credit for their growth and served as a deus ex machina plot device.
The villains, honestly, the only one with actual character was probably Ira. He had one interaction episode with Rikka, one that had lots of great potential with her, only for that episode to end and for it to never be directly spoken about again. Its implied a few times in the finale, yes, but overall his time with her is wasted in favor of, you guessed it, more Mana.
Basically, the plot is a big mess that ends up shafting a bunch of characters in exchange of more Mana, Ace, Regina, or some other plot points that they feel like bringing up to expand things more that only result in everything becoming more confusing and unnecessarily complicated and stupid.
Art and sound are mediocre. The transformations, aside from Ace, are extremely average at best and are very dynamic and honestly pretty boring. The endings have some nice artwork and some catchy tunes, though nothing else really stood out besides that. There's quite a lot of QUALITY inducing scenes within the show, but the overall art isn't exactly that bad.
I mean, as someone who likes mahou shoujo, I enjoyed it.. to an extent. Sort of. Though honestly, there was nothing appealing in this season. A plot centric season? Yeah, a BADLY written plot-centric season. Character centric? Well, it was Mana centric, where none of the girls' interactions with Mana went outside of 'we need you.'
DokiDoki has nothing going for it, nothing at all. Not as a show in general, or as a Precure season. When it fails on both accounts, there's nothing really worth watching here. If you want to start Precure, go with any other season that isn't Max Heart or GoGo!. (They're sequels) Just don't start with this, there is nothing to gain from this season of Precure and let's just hope the next season succeeds in the things DokiDoki didn't.
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Doki Doki! Precure, Doki Doki! Pretty Cure
Japanese: ドキドキ! プリキュア
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
49
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Feb 3, 2013 to Jan 26, 2014
Premiered:
Winter 2013
Broadcast:
Unknown
Producers:
Asahi Broadcasting
Licensors:
Saban Entertainment
Studios:
Toei Animation
Source:
Original
Genre:
Action
Theme:
Mahou Shoujo
Duration:
24 min. per ep.
Rating:
G - All Ages
Statistics
Ranked:
#59492
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#4372
Members:
30,436
Favorites:
166
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 8 / 18
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Your Feelings Categories Jan 26, 2014
If you were to go back to the beginning of 2013 and asked a general Precure fan what the worst season was claimed to be, the chances are they would've said Suite, and usually for the universal reason that it wasn't the well-acclaimed Heartcatch season. If we're to go back to the present and you asked a general Precure fan what the worst season is, you'll probably hear them say DokiDoki, except for very, very good reasons.
DokiDoki Precure is a Precure season that not only fails to be a good show in general, but it fails to be a good show for this franchise in ... Jan 27, 2014
Once upon a time when the topic of the worst Precure Season was brought up, I'd have no idea what to say. Even putting aside my lack of experience with the franchise, I had no idea what would drive me to think so negatively about a light hearted kid's show with healthy morals. Even when I went and watched past seasons that were looked upon unfavourably I still enjoyed them for what they were despite their flaws. And now we come to the present day. While I've still yet to make my way through every past season of the show, I can now confidently answer
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Sep 23, 2013
Dokidoki Precure is a typical shoujo anime, involving a young girl who transforms and fights evil. Full of predictable outcomes, fillers and frustrating transformations, this show certainly just floats with the rest of the like.
Story (4) Like previously stated, this story is too typical. It concerns a young girl who discovers her ability to become a PreCure. With her newfound ability, she influences her friends to join her as they fight the evil Selfish. Nothing really struck me nor was it awful, but it has just been done too many times before, and like mentioned above, it consists of way too many fillers. Actually, it's basically ... Aug 6, 2015
The first Pretty Cure series I watched all the way through was Heartcatch. I got into it because of a blogger's recommendation, and I never looked back. I recently got into the Pretty Cure fandom last year, and as of now, Doki Doki is the 4th Pretty Cure season I finished. It would have been 3rd had Suite not completely won me over. I've seen a lot of hate for this series, and...well, in some ways I can agree on some things. I agree that there's a lot of potential that it could have used but wind up becoming completely wasted because of other things.
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Nov 23, 2013
Unforunately, doki doki overpromises, and ended up causing people to fall out of love with it. Many will remember being impressed by the first episode, however that high was a one-time and things have since never reached that high.
By the point where I stopped the characters have unfortunately turned stale and are not as endearing as previous instalments of Precure. This is a shame since the series started off promising. The only few things that I do like about this is the animation of the henshin/power-up sequences, which look dynamic. I will point out that the introduction of the 5th Precure (Cure Ace) complicated things. The ... May 23, 2019
WARNING: This review will NOT be spoiler free because I honestly cannot explain the issues with the anime without delving into it's second act, where it all went downhill.
Dokidoki Precure's first half honestly wasn't that bad. Mana and her friends all have dreams and motivations, the villains are interesting, and I liked Regina's characterization. Dokidoki showed promise from the first few episodes, but the second half of the series is where it all goes downhill. Let's address the elephant in the room: Cure Ace. Cure Ace's addition really takes away from the story. It really feels like she was added for marketing purposes, and the ... Aug 11, 2021
Dokidoki! Precure had a solid start but it didn't take long for everything to fall into the same old clichés and repetitiveness we've all seen from previous seasons.
Visuals: decent to look at but nothing too flashy, even during action/fight scenes Sound: 1) most seiyuus are very talented, experienced and some have even worked together in other anime projects. Once again, the casting is a major highlight for the Precure series. There are a few inexperienced seiyuus chosen for important roles but their inexperience isn't noticeable 2) the soundtrack isn't always fitting to the situation Story and characters: I was enjoying the season up until the 7th episode. ... Dec 8, 2023
Doki Doki is a mid Precure season , Smile is way better , also don’t watch Doki Doki Dub too , The villains are alright , the heroines are pretty okay , it’s a step down from its Smile sisters , Doki Doki got some good themes of being a bit selfish is a good thing in life , to keep it in balanced, I don’t like the monster designs in this season , well that that Doki Doki was having a up hill battle to be a good Precure season , the movie did something shocking , but I will not tell
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