I used to catch the final minutes of one season's ED, Star Twinkle I do believe, on a regular basis back when Kamen Rider Zi-O was airing.
I remember being blown away by the quality of their CG animation and how full of personality the characters were (granted, in 2018-2019 or so, I barely knew anything about magical girls and kinda just assumed most of them were boring and samey at best, horrid fetish bait at worst - Precure was a major factor in changing my views). In fact, I later checked out EDs from all previous years and it genuinely amazed me how even the oldest seasons to utilize CG had the same sort of fluid movement to it. While not every single design is up my lane, I adore just how much thought goes into each dress the heroines have (for the lack of a better term, Precure costumes look like actual artists worked on them and prioritized having clever decorations, not just dumping a bajillion pointless details everywhere like it's some generic gacha).
At some point I heard that apparently the show tackles some pretty interesting topics, too - correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a show where a random subplot involved one of the characters' moms having to undergo a C-section and it was this whole thing about how it doesn't make her any less of a mother and stuff, right? While I lack the full context, I remember finding this info really heartwarming and frankly, pretty great for a kids' show to even address (I feel like integrating stuff like this into a kids' show helps to show that These Things Happen and it's not some nebulous concept that a kid should be afraid of, which is something a lot of Western cartoons could learn from imo...give people more of that instead of 30-episode long shipping drama, lol).
The only season I watched a substantial chunk of was A La Mode, and while I paused watching it sometime around the episode Parfait debuts, I remember it fondly. In this season in particular, I remember the thing that especially struck out to me was how much emphasis was put on the characters' feelings, and how non-banal they felt. Temari's subplot especially - I know that a lot of people interpret her as an autistic child, but personally I thought this whole experience of having a unique interest, constantly getting told to shut up about it by people who only wanna discuss The Latest Thing, and slowly isolating oneself further just to take comfort in the "safe" things one likes was scarily realistic. Absolutely fantastic stuff. I also rememeber the old married couple dynamics between Akira and Yukari were really funny.
I also can't help but applaud how good at gatekeeping the series most of the fanbase seems to be, too. Their commitment to keeping deplorables out of most discussion spaces is nothing short of commendable. Sure, it might sound a bit silly to gatekeep a show primarily aimed at little girls, but I believe it's necessary in this crappy modern internet of ours.
Also, every Kamen Rider fan worth their salt is honorbound to respect Precures. They're like our fellow allies of justice, after all. |