Anyone else feel this is one of the weaker Precure seasons?

ZodiacBeast said:
To me Dokidoki feels like a "solid" entry - nothing more and nothing less. What I mean by this is that I have no real problems with it. Joe does creep me out a bit, but I think he does that for everybody. I should mention that I'm at episode 35 of the original, 45 of Smile and am caught up on Dokidoki but plan to watch all seasons at some point. Here are my thoughts so far:

Original: Solid all around, except that the villains are pretty stock. I'd give it a 7.

Smile: Enjoyed the humor and characters, but there's not enough of a "story arc" - it feels like every episode is devoted strictly to the monster of the week until the major fights. Also, the character development wasn't really there or was really wonky. Take episode 19 for instance (the Yayoi father one). She doesn't get scared when she prepares her finisher because she became stronger due to her father's memories...then goes right back to being scared of it the next episode. Wolfrun, Akaoni and Majorina were ok as well, since they were just pawns being used by Joker and Pierrot. I wished they would have been more threatening in the beginning though, but like I said they weren't too bad. I'd give it an 8.

Dokidoki: So far this has also been a solid season, but I do think that there are some characterization issues. Mana is just waaaay too friendly for her own good, Alice just kinda exists until she's needed (I guess she doesn't go to the same school, being rich and all), and why does Regina take such a strong interest in Mana anyways? Just because Regina's not really evil? Also, it seems that there's actually TOO MUCH plot going on, in a complete reversal of Smile. I don't mean that there are too many plotlines going on at once, but (unless my memory is failing me) I don't believe that there's been a filler episode yet. Usually there would be "rest" episodes in between plot important episodes to balance things out, which is where I think Smile failed big time (even though it was enjoyable). So far it seems like a solid 7.5.

Is Dokidoki really doing that bad in the ratings?

Dalek-baka said:
Last results I've seen were that average TV rating is 5.2 - which is lowest one along with Suite and bit lower than Smile. To compare first two seasons had 7.3 and 7.9, with Yes at 3rd place with 6.6.
Now what will be equally important will be Bandai's financial results - those will be in 2-3 months and than we will know how well it works - for example Suite had low rating but one of best sales, for DDP they also set high goal but this we might know by September. And of course movie, Next Stage did good as always - $10+milion.

And I agree that villains aren't strong part of original - not only they are rather dull but they don't think too much (ok they once did and result... were rather nasty for them). Still only Splash Star had rather intelligent team - and to some extent Fresh especially in case of Wester.