Doki Doki is the worst season of Pretty Cure in the franchise. It would already be a bad enough show on its own but also decides to tread on the spirit of Pretty Cure, be something it's not, and ends up as everything a season of Pretty Cure shouldn't be.
The show is much more plot focused than any other season and here is the first major problem. While heavy focus on the plot isn't inherently a bad thing, in Doki's case it unfortunately comes at the cost of developing the characters and their relationships with each other, especially in the first half of the
...
show. And despite the creators trying to make a more complex story they fall flat on their face and Doki ends up having numerous plot holes in addition to the ones you'd commonly see in any other season. It's a kids show built around selling merchandise and they simply tried to do to much with it and failed, there are numerous concepts and ideas brought up that never really get expanded on. The pacing in the show feels like they just tried to cram in as much stuff as possible without allowing for any breather room or for things to naturally develop. There are so many plot devices and power ups that come out of nowhere with no or very little build up or foreshadowing. Pretty Cure usually has this to some degree but Doki takes it to a completely new level.
The Cures themselves are mostly okay characters. The problem is what the show does with them. You'll never see a Cure more poorly treated and wasted than Cure Sword. She is a veteran warrior from the devastated Trump Kingdom but the show has no idea what to do with her or how to keep her relevant later on. Diamond and Rosetta similarly get the short end of the stick, especially in the first half once again.
The fairies are okay for the most part, Davi is in fact one of the better ones from the franchise I think, but they and their relationships with the Cures aren't well developed and for the longest time they don't really feel like friends or even partners with their Cure. Ai-chan unfortunately never stops feeling like she's a plot device more than a character.
When it comes to comedy the show is a little weird. At times it tries to emulate the wacky and silly style common in Fresh or Smile but with far less success. There's a lot of really out of place stuff poorly integrated into otherwise serious episodes and it kind of ruins the atmosphere or just comes across as dumb. It has plenty of fun moments and episodes still but a lot of stuff feels like it would've been better or fit in more in a different season.
The villains are the Jikochu. The minions in the show are boring. They follow a seven deadly sins theme but it never amounts to more than a one-note character trait at best or at worst having nothing to do with them at all. Bel is an okay villain but keeps going back and forth between comic relief and serious threat and excelling at neither. Anything set up with the minions never really amounts to anything good.
Regina starts off as the only entertaining villain the show has but what the show does with her quickly becomes repetitive, annoying, and boring. The main villain of the show is King Jikochu and he is surprisingly a pretty interesting and entertaining villain through the whole show. It would be too big of a spoiler but he's rather unique for a few reasons.
The monsters of the week are okay. Some of them have pretty interesting designs and gimmicks and are pretty funny. A lot unfortunately don't really get to shine and there are barely any remotely good fights against them.
The fighting in the show is on the whole very weak. Poor animation quality during the fights leave most of it unremarkable and without any impact. Doki does have quite a few silly and unusual fights to somewhat make up for it but it's never great at that. There is a lot of strategy used in some fights and the properties of what a Jikochu is made from sometimes factor into it. For instance a Jikochu made from a stereo runs out of batteries when it's not plugged in. But this happens less as the show goes on and it becomes more straight-forward action. Which is unfortunate because it still isn't good.
The general soundtrack is good, the opening and endings just okay.
The stock footage in the show is bland. All but one of the transformations are terrible. The one good one is so good it looks like it should be in a different show. The attacks are nothing special, some bad and some okay ones.
Possibly the biggest problem with Doki is its main character. Aida Mana, Cure Heart. The show completely revolves around her. Instead of it being about friendships and bonds between all the Cures it's all about how everyone loves Mana and that's why it's everything Pretty Cure shouldn't be. She's completely perfect from the beginning of the show and doesn't grow or learn anything at all. Any supposed lessons she learns are forgotten and repeated later. The show sets up things like how her amazing selflessness might cause problems for her but nothing ever comes of this. Everyone loves her and she never fails. She's completely uncompelling and unrealistic and even worse is a terrible role model for children. Even when she shouldn't be the center of attention or have something in the plot revolve around her it happens anyways because she's the creators favorite. Add to that she's also just a terribly written character as her intelligence and fighting ability fluctuate episode by episode. She is the worst Cure of the franchise because everything she's about spits on what it means to be a Cure.
The finale of the show is strange. It's not good by any means. It's hilarious in the same way a particularly bad movie is hilarious. There are some nice moments in it and some nice ideas are used but there is also plenty of dumb stuff, out of place comedy, terrible plot devices, a shoehorned in final fight that makes no sense, and generally poor animation quality and action that ruins it. The finale leaves one wondering where the animation budget went as despite there being some good moments it's really not that good looking and neither were the episodes leading up to it.
So Doki Doki is the worst season of the franchise. At most times mediocre, sometimes terrible, never that great, with boring villains, and with the worst lead Cure ever.
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: 3 / 18
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Your Feelings Categories Jan 26, 2014
Doki Doki is the worst season of Pretty Cure in the franchise. It would already be a bad enough show on its own but also decides to tread on the spirit of Pretty Cure, be something it's not, and ends up as everything a season of Pretty Cure shouldn't be.
The show is much more plot focused than any other season and here is the first major problem. While heavy focus on the plot isn't inherently a bad thing, in Doki's case it unfortunately comes at the cost of developing the characters and their relationships with each other, especially in the first half of the ... Jun 8, 2015
(spoilerish)
I'm not gonna lie, this was a terrible show that I enjoyed sitting through. But it. Was terrible. If you're unfamiliar with Precure, I'll give you a rundown: Toei Magical Girl Cash Cow about girls who fight evil by utilizing powers bestowed onto them by little floaty creatures that are usually some brand of sugary cute. It's standard shoujo, extremely formulaic, and often features stories of friendship and Girl Power (tm). Think Sailor Moon, but with new stories and continuities every season. You're free to look up the movie poster for Pretty Cure All Stars Haru no Carnival♪ if you want to know the beast ... Nov 2, 2016
Let me be very clear, here, this show is awful. It has a contrived and awful plot, 2 dimmensional characters, and badly conceived monsters and enemies. And it is for those reasons that I love this show. You'll notice I rated it as bad, so don't get me wrong thinking I am trying to defend it or something. On the contrary, I want people to watch this show because it is awful.
Sometimes, in between all the drama and heart crushing plot of other, decent anime, you just need a terrible traffic light monster to lighten the mood and give you a good laugh. They probably ... |


