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Jan 20, 2019
The time to watch the first movie of this fantastic franchise finally arrived... and it was decent.
The story is pretty standard for those type of movies (or well, in the case of Precure it's more or less what it's about, just in shorter duration): some magical frogs come to ask the Precure and Hikari for help to face a baddie who wants to steal a treasure that they have which would cause chaos in the wrong hands, and it's up to them to save the day.
The characters from this movie were fairly forgettable excluding Square, one of the frogs who is way less open to
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the Precure than the rest and creates some drama for Nagisa due to his opinions, he developed pretty well over the duration of the movie to be satisfied with him.
In terms of art and music it was more or less like the TV series, which is a good thing because the action scenes were very enjoyable to watch as usual thanks to the nice animation, there is also a solid insert song in the movie that I liked, no complaints from this part.
Overall this movie was pretty unremarkable but not boring to watch, I would recommend it if you liked the TV series, but if not it's definitely skippable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 2, 2019
I'm not sure how much Toei had planned for Pretty Cure, but I really doubt that, at the time of this review, they expected it to be already close to start its 16th entry with Star Twinkle. In my way to watch all the franchise it finally came the time to tackle the original, that I wouldn't recommend as your first Precure, the fantastic main duo makes this anime well worth a watch and did overall did a great job building the foundation for one of the most successful series in Japan.
The premise is pretty simple yet effective: A big baddie wants to take over
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literally everything with the power of the seven stones, and to prevent that, our main characters, with the help of strange but pretty cute creatures, recieve the power to become Precure, giving them superhuman powers that they will use in big amounts to kick the ass of any villain (mostly in a monster of the week format) that comes to take the stones they have while hopefully trying to recover the other ones lost.
Outside of the obvious action elements that the series has due to the premise, what really makes or breaks the franchise to me is the characters and their interactions, and I think that they did a great job with the first main characters of Precure. Nagisa and Honoka are two girls with very different personalities and nothing they really shared outside of being in the same class, but after becoming Precure they are basically forced to be close to each other in order to save the day because they can't transform individually, this means lots and lots of interactions between them and if they weren't entertaining and the development of their friendship wasn't satisfying the series would have fallen apart hard, but that thankfully isn't the case.
The rest of the cast is pretty good but nothing special with an exception. The mascot characters are good source of comedy (especially Mepple and Nagisa moments) but sometimes they can be annoying as well, especially in the second half of the series, the villains are pretty one-note but their interactions and personalities are solid and quite entertaining to watch, there is a exception to that with one of them which is a character I personally loved due to his personal struggles, lastly there is the classmates which get the spotlight from time to time and while they aren't particularly memorable, they always give a push for more development for the main duo.
Now it's time to comment the other part of what makes Precure be Precure: the action scenes, and boy this first entry already did a very nice job showing that element! The fights are well animated and fun to watch, with lots of punches, kicks, and whatever movements the girls think of to gain the upper hand. They also get hit back hard and in some cases the situation is completely overwhelming for them, especially when the villains attack personally and not via calling a monster (something that Futari wa does way more than the other Precure I watched), this makes the fights tense which only adds to the enjoyment. The music of this anime is also solid with some rarely used (which is a good thing) inserts that add a lot of impact to the scenes where they play, making them very memorable.
Even if maybe I didn't talk that well of the side characters, all I have said so far has been pretty positive, so why do I say that I don't recommend it as first Precure? Well, this anime honestly suffers from repetitiveness. This isn't something particular from this entry due to the monster of the week format of the franchise (and I suffered it pretty notably with the first half of Heartcatch too) but while others like Princess or Hugtto use well their settings or themes to give variety, or Smile just does whatever it wants and it's freaking hilarious, Futari wa gets quite stale even when switching focus to side characters or events like Nagisa playing lacrosse or the small romance element this anime has with a senpai of her.
As the first entry (and so the one that has to create everything for the rest to adopt, change and/or improve) it also struggles with the transformation scene of the girls, and in general with the stock footage used, being pretty unimpressive, the girls also do attacks together and so one pretty much only sees two or three different magic attacks through the series in comparison to the better looking and more varied attacks that future entries have for the characters.
Lastly, the story of this first season is also split into two parts, with the first being pretty well paced but the second not adding enough to keep things fresh even if it still has nice episodes and more satisfying development for the main duo. I read that this series was originally meant to be two cours but went longer (up to the nearly 100 episodes including the sequel Max Heart) due to its popularity, and if true I'm not surprised at all with how I felt about the second half and worries me a decent amount for how the sequel will avoid getting stale.
Did that put you off? I can totally see why people would dislike this anime, way more than with any other Precure I watched so far (that to be fair are mostly the praised ones), yet I think that this anime is nice and well worth a watch thanks to Nagisa, Honoka, their interactions, and the already awesome fights this franchise has from the first season, but for that I think that one already needs to be into Precure thanks to another entry to know well what the franchise is capable of to get really in the mood for this one. I have read from other people (and I feel that I myself would have felt the same way) that started with Precure via Futari wa and eventually quit because they found it too repetitive and expected the rest of the series to be the same way. I'm sure that some people who will read this review actually watched this one first and loved it and watched the rest too, but from my point of view I would recommend to try some other ones first (and I have/will write reviews for them too!) Before watching this one.
In conclusion, while flawed, Futari wa Precure is an anime that also did things right and created the starting point of an amazing franchise that keeps providing hours and hours of fun up to this date, stay strong Precure!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 11, 2018
After the amazing experience I had with the original Aikatsu, Stars had a big challenge to face trying to live up to its quality, did it succeed? Definitely!
Aikatsu Stars keeps most of what makes the franchise shine with it's wholesomeness, heartwarming moments, and the constant pain in your mouth due to how much you're smiling watching it, but what this entry has is considerably more drama and serious moments through the story attached to the character development of the cast. If you prefer that this is a big bonus towards trying out Stars, while not really being a negative if you liked the original and
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you're thinking about watching this one since in my opinion it was well handled through the whole run.
Outside of two fantastic crossover episodes with the original (which are perfectly skippable if you haven't watched it) this is a stand-alone story set in an idol school which focuses on “self-producing” (finding your way to stand out and shine, encouraging the search of what makes each of the students unique and great).
There are four classes, each specializing on different things, like singing and performing, with the best student of each becoming part of the S4 (best school uniforms in anime btw), the top members of the school that everyone admires and wants to become a part of. The protagonist of the story, Yume, is one of the tons of fans they have and she joins the school wishing to reach the top, will she succeed?
With the people behind Aikatsu having more experience with the franchise, there comes two quite strong positives in comparison to the original:
- The dances are great from episode 1. The CGI of the original at the start of its run was… mediocre to say the least, but at this point of the franchise things are way different. If you can't stomach the performances at the start of the first series, Aikatsu Stars (or the also awesome Aikatsu Friends) is there for you.
- The story is more compact and less repetitive: While the original has a ton of positives on what happens during the episodes, it's clear that they were just trying stuff at times and ditching them later on to do other things instead, or some parts were like doing 2-3 episodes in a row of the same thing but with different characters, Aikatsu Stars handles this way better and presents a well paced story while keeping the quality and the character development that the original shines with.
The strongest part of the Aikatsu franchise is its fantastic characters, and Stars is definitely not an exception to the rule. Before touching on the main characters, I will talk a bit more about the S4 girls, who are some of the best role model characters I have seen. They are at the top of the school and it's well deservedly so, being extremely good at what they do and always there to help the others to improve. They also get focus and development through the series, and the interactions between them and the main characters are some of the best moments of Stars. My own favorite character of this anime is the cheerful Yuzu, there are so many favorite-worthy characters even outside of the main ones!
Now let's talk a bit about the main characters:
- Yume Nijino is our protagonist of the story. She's a cheerful girl with strong determination and her talent for singing is incredible. You will see yourself cheering for her success and the smiles she wants to give to everyone.
- Rola/Laura Sakuraba she's Yume's rival (and therefore best friend by Aikatsu standards) and one of the strongest characters when it comes to their drama and development. She doesn't like losing at all, and in a world full of competition like hers this proves to be a problem.
- Ako Saotome, usually looking calm and confident, but actually quite hot-blooded, our (cat)girl loves acting and has a talent for it. She also has a massive crush on Subaru (a member of the M4, basically the S4 of the boys and source of lots of awesome interactions with the main cast) which leads to a lot of fun moments.
- Mahiru Kasumi, the most mature girl of the main cast. She shines at modeling, and while her strong aura makes her look difficult to approach (her karate skills don't help with that), she's actually pure kindness.
- Koharu Nanakura, a quiet girl and Yume's childhood friend. She joined the school together with her due to her admiration towards the S4, and they are always helping each other.
This is just a part of the whole cast and it's definitely missing other characters you will probably get to love as much or even more as them (looking at you Lily!)
As mentioned above, unlike the original, Stars has quality performances right from the start, that together with the great songs the series has makes for such a fantastic experience and a filled playlist. When it comes to the visuals, this anime is always on point, with some of the most important episodes delivering crazy good animation to add to the impact of the moment.
Keeping strengths from the original, presenting another fantastic cast, and giving us more awesome songs that will go to our playlists, Aikatsu Stars delivers a fantastic story full of both fun and emotional moments that, together with the solid character development, makes for a very memorable experience.
Thanks a lot for reading! I hope this review convinced you to at least put Aikatsu Stars in the endless void that is the plan to watch from your list, now that I'm up to date with this franchise I feel so empty, a feeling I wouldn't be surprised if you felt as well after watching it!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Dec 8, 2018
This is an anime that I had for a long time as a "I would try it out, but it's so long..." until the day I finally gave it the chance it deserved, and boy I sure didn't expect it to become one of my favorite works.
Aikatsu is a series set in a school that has as objective training idols to make them reach stardom. This includes seeing the characters practice for concerts, facing problems and how they improve thanks to them, and seeing them participate in idol-related activities like TV programs, firming autographs (and all the awesome moments that come from seeing fans interacting
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with them) or being actresses in movies/TV dramas among others things. This gives a very solid variety to the series and together with the nice comedy coming from the cast makes each episode so enjoyable to watch.
It's worth saying that this anime has zero fanservice and has quite a lighthearted tone compared to others from the idol genre. Outside of some unique (and greatly executed) moments, the drama is never particularly big, being “rivals” is another way to say great friends to improve with, and damn if it's wholesome, it's hard to not smile all the time watching this! That doesn't mean that Aikatsu doesn't have emotional moments though, instead it actually delivers the hardest when it comes to payoff when seeing the characters succeeding and taking a step towards their dreams.
A big theme of the series is finding the inspiration for a dream thanks to another person, with the own protagonist at the start of the series, Ichigo, being clueless about what she wanted to be until she was invited to the concert of the most popular idol of the moment and was so impressed with her performance that she wanted to become one as well.
This is something that will happen many times in the future as we see the characters grow and how they end up inspiring the next students that join the school as the years pass with their actions (yes, years pass as the series progresses, leading to more focus on new characters progressively). That is such a satisfying feeling because we don't see the characters just in the “getting good” phase, but further than that.
As it's to be expected of a long length series that has a dance scene (or more) in the majority of the episodes, Aikatsu uses CGI animation for them and, being honest, they don't look too good at first, but that changes fast with the pass of the episodes to the point they look fantastic. That together with the great songs the series has (help, my playlist is full of Aikatsu songs) makes those scenes so, so enjoyable.
I will briefly talk about the three main characters at the start of the story:
- Ichigo Hoshimiya, a cheerful girl with a heart of gold, absurdly likeable and a big eater, and damn if she can be badass too, nothing stops her!
- Aoi Kiriya, a total expert when it comes to idols, she's more of the cool type and combinates so well with Ichigo, who is her childhood friend.
- Ran Shibuki closes the main trio with a more mature personality, she has been working as a model since she was younger and is praised for her style.
This is really just an introduction to the main trio, between the other idols who get the spotlight (who are a lot), the designers of the brands each idol uses, Ichigo's family, and all the other characters who have chances to shine, the cast becomes really big, but it's done in a well paced way and each character has a nice personality and actions that makes them stay memorable. And I haven't even talked of best teacher Johnny Bepp yet, yeah!
In conclusion, do you like following lovable characters and seeing them grow over time in their journey to fulfill their dreams, inspiring future generations to do the same? Do you like great dance scenes with music that you will most likely add to your playlist to listen to again? Do you want to feel awful when you realize that you're halfway through the series and you don't want to see it end of how much fun you're having watching it? Well, Aikatsu is just what you're looking for!
I hope this review gives you the push needed to watch this anime in the future, as Aoi would say, it's really something special!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Nov 10, 2018
Just as a warning, this is a review of Smile Precure and not from the dubbed version of the same series called Glitter Force, which I haven't watched (and for what I know isn't exactly loved by the fans, in any case I recommend this one).
After having watched and loved some of the more serious Precure when it comes to tone (Heartcatch, Hugtto and Princess) I was curious and somewhat worried about how I would feel for one that goes more for the comedic aspects of the franchise, well, there was nothing to fear because this one delivered hard!
Smile Precure uses the theme of fairy
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tales for its story, with the elements that the series plays around being based on picture books, including the villains who are looking for a "bad end" to the world and its all up to the Precures to stop them, the series provides a lot of variety and fun situations with this idea.
Unlike other series from the franchise, Smile introduces the main cast from the start instead of giving a new addition to the group later on, with one episode after the other bringing a new character until they form the group of five that will stay until the end of the series. This is somewhat of a risky move since that means that there is no new character to keep things fresh and give some focus on for a good amount of episodes later on, but the idea paid off thanks to how lovable they are, the character interactions between them are so solid and consistently funny, all while also giving each the needed amount of spotlight to shine and develop as a character, making me so attached to the cast not only for the character who got the focus, but also for the group as a whole, they are such great friends. I will still mention that I can definitely see some people disliking Miyuki (the adorkable and really clumsy protagonist of the series) and the mascot of the series, Candy, for their way to be, but I personally liked their interactions with the rest a lot, and even then the others can make the series really enjoyable nonetheless.
The villain side of Smile is so, so goofy, yet scary at the same time due to a single character being there: Joker. While most episodes will be focused on one (or rarely more than one) of the other three baddies going to fight the Precure with the help of the monster of the week character, failing miserably and more often than not adding to the comedy Team Rocket style with their stupidness and weird strategies (special mention goes to Majorina, who creates devices that lead to really interesting episodes when the characters have to deal with whatever situation is created by them), things are very different whenever he decides to strike, be by giving upgrades to the enemies or being the one who attacks, leading to way more serious episodes that together with some of the character focused ones were the highlights of an already really consistently nice anime.
If I have to be honest, the story was far from amazing, and while I still absolutely loved the final stretch there are things that the ending could have handled better, but I personally don't think that this was an issue at all as it could have been with the other Precure I mentioned at the start, this anime was to me what a cute girls doing cute things comedy anime has to be (with the bonus of also having awesome fights!) And despite its lightheartedness, Smile delivers as hard as the other Precure entries whenever it goes for emotional episodes.
The animation of the series is solid, always looking good and shining whenever it's needed for the fights and important moments, the music of the series is nice as well, with a good amount of memorable songs that I loved to listen to, it also reminded me a good amount to Heartcatch Precure with some of its themes if that interests you. I also want to mention that I love the opening and endings of the series, they are so catchy, and the endings also feature fantastic CG dances while providing some fun interactions with the cast, with the most important Precure of the episode having extra moments in them.
In conclusion, Smile Precure is a fantastic comedy with great interactions and emotional moments for each character, pretty much every episode was a blast to watch, one of the most consistently nice series I have watched so far.
Oh, and you can play rock-paper-scissors with Cure Peace whenever she transforms, isn't that amazing? She stomped me by the way.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Nov 2, 2018
Time for Smile Precure to tell another fairy tale with its movie, and what an enjoyable one it was!
After a mysterious girl called Nico appeared, the main cast from this entry end up visiting the picture book world, a place where stories like Cinderella or Momotaro can be seen and experienced from the perspective of the characters. However, things start to get weird in their stories, and it's up to the girls to discover why and deal with that.
The main focus of the story is on Nico and the protagonist of Smile, Miyuki, and the connection they have with each other. Even if I think
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that Nico isn't that developed (which is totally understandable considering her position as a character from a picture book, mostly focused on giving a moral for the story, something she has) this movie still delivers hard with the emotional value of their bond, providing moments deserving of some tears. The rest of the girls get their fair share of screentime but aren't given memorable scenes (other than showing that they love Miyuki, who doesn't?) Meanwhile, poor Candy is just there.
Art and sound are the standard of Smile, providing nice songs and moments of great animation between the always solid look of the series.
Overall it was a fun movie with unexpected extra feels and well worth watching alongside the TV series, 7.5/10 from my part and I can easily see myself rewatching this in the future.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 17, 2018
Dreams are beautiful and worth protecting, something that moves forward people and gives us a goal to reach in our way to happiness. Poor/unappealing execution and disliking the characters aside, the theme of "working hard to reach your dreams" is one of the most compelling ones there is to me, and well, here is an anime where the characters having a dream and the enemy trying to take them away is the main theme! I was already hooked from the start, and the execution couldn't have been better.
“I want to be a princess!” Said our clumsy, but hardworking and absurdly lovable protagonist Haruka when she
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was a kid, the rest laughed at her for having such childish dream, maybe you did you too after reading this thinking about how absurd that might be, but that hurt her, a lot. Thankfully, one day she met a mysterious person who looked like a prince and he cheered for her dream and that she could become one, and that moment is what pushed her to stay that way and continue having that dream she wanted to reach all the way to when she joined Noble Academy, a school where this fantastic story is set.
In this entry, the antagonist side is an organization called Dysdark, that focuses on bringing despair to the people by locking away their dreams (and them in the process inside of a cage), they already showed their power by taking full control of Hope Kingdom and the people living there, with the few who managed to run away asking the Precures of this entry for help. While some comedic interactions with the girls are still there, I have to say that Princess clearly went more serious when it comes to showing the villains as the evil force they are, and how threatening Dyspear (the main antagonist of the story) is definitely helps on that.
And this is where the Precure come to action, and what a nice job they made, the cast of this anime is so likeable and this is especially true for the main characters of this story and Yui, another student who isn't a Precure but is always with the girls, we follow them in their way to accomplish their dreams and this includes all the happy, sad, and very emotional moments of that, it's so easy to root for them and each episode is really enjoyable no matter who takes the spotlight, I was hooked to this anime from the first episode and it only made but get better, reaching godlike status in the last cour where it became a string of amazing episode after amazing episode into a conclusion that left me immensely satisfied.
The animation of the series is fantastic, especially delivering hard in the transformations and action scenes that are characteristic of the series, it's honestly surprising how consistent the quality is considering that Precure never really stops airing.
With that said, it's time to tackle the only negative I can think of this anime: some use of the CGI. Together with the “real life looking” issue I have with the toys the franchise obviously wants to advertise to keep going as mentioned in my Heartcatch Precure review, the magic spells and the CGI models that come along with them can be pretty jarring, but it really becomes a minor complaint when everything else in the series was just so great.
The series is also very solid in the music department, and god, I love the second ED of the series so much even if having the issue I mentioned, it's a great song and it also has different versions (one for each of the Precure), alternating between them, most of the time fitting with who was the main focus of the episode, it was unskippable and a fantastic way to end the episode.
Princess Precure is no anime “just for kids”, the themes of the story and how well they are handled are made in a way that anyone can enjoy this anime and feel connected with the cast and their dreams, maybe also being able to relate with your own ones and feel an extra push for your objectives. One of the best series I have watched and an anime I can't recommend enough to everyone.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Sep 11, 2018
After Hugtto Precure convinced me hard to give a chance to the rest of the franchise, I went for the entry that seems to be the most loved and popular (except maybe the original) of the franchise, did it live up to the hype? Well, it sure did in my opinion!
Tsubomi, the protagonist of this story, is a shy girl who definitely didn't fit with what the image of what the standard Precure protagonist looked to me, I think that this is played very nicely through the story and seeing her open up more while keeping what makes her be her was so satisfying to
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see. Together with the cheerful and absurdly lovable Erika by her side, they form the main duo of the story for a good time before the other Precure join.
Those episodes with them alone were "the weakest" part of the series to me (saying that in quotes because they were still enjoyable) and were focused on giving the spotlight to side characters (mostly classmates or the family of the MCs) and our girls helping them both via interactions, and by kicking ass defeating the "Desertrians", monsters created by the enemies of this story combining an object and the wiltered hearts of the characters. This anime uses the fact that Tsubomi loves flowers very strongly using that detail, with the flower each character has having a meaning that fits with their problem.
Once the other and equally nice Precure join the group, the plot starts to really pick up and only gets better and better, with very emotional moments and solid development for the characters. I don't want to possibly overhype it, but honestly the final episodes were some of the most epic I have watched.
With a nice main cast is also needed a nice villain side, and The Desert Apostles did a successful job on that. Precure does a very good job at being lighthearted while also not shying away when it has to be darker, and the villains were a good example of that in execution, I enjoyed the interactions and comedy moments between them and/or with the Precures a lot and they ended up being very memorable as well when it came to the more serious parts involving their characters.
The art style of the series is so visually appealing and allows for a wide array of nice reactions and goofy movements from the characters while looking perfectly fitting with the show, and the great designs by Yoshihiko Umakoshi (Casshern Sins, Boku no Hero Academia, Doremi, Mushishi...) definitely were a part of that, the action scenes are also solid, abundant and well animated, not to mention the nice transformation scenes of the characters. The soundtrack of the series is also nice and has some very memorable tracks.
After only saying more and more positives I guess that it's time to say the problems I had with the series, which honestly didn't affect my opinion in the long run:
- The first is the already mentioned slower start, while I always enjoyed watching the episodes, I didn't feel that it hooked me in nowhere as much as Hugtto or Princess Precure (which I watched right after) did, so I wasn't feeling as hyped and also a bit worried that maybe I wouldn't end up loving it as much as I wanted to, but yeah, that got fixed later on, boy it did.
- The second is the mascot characters of the main duo, that honestly were pretty annoying at first and I was never a fan of the "a heart seed is coming out!" scene after they defeat the Desertrians they face (and thank god the animation of that part got more polished, they are clearly pooping it, c'mon!) But they grew on me as the episodes passed and even took the spotlight in a comedy focused episode that made me laugh really hard and I loved.
- Lastly, this just seems to be a thing with the franchise as a whole. As a series that lives by selling the toys they make based on the anime they know that they have to advertise them, and how they do so? By making the objects the girls use look exactly like they would as a toy and even use CGI for some, this makes total sense but at times I couldn't help but feel like "man, they are really trying to sell the product here", which let's be honest, it's pretty stupid thinking about it: of course they are not making anime because why not, we wouldn't get more if it didn't sell! It's a matter of getting used to it, and why lie, I freaking want a Flower Tact! I'm not surprised at all that this is the best selling entry so far.
If you haven't watched any Precure yet and you're reading my review you might feel put off by the last two negative points and think that this is in anime that only kids might find enjoyable, but I can promise you that this isn't the case and that anyone has a chance to really enjoy it, the characters are very compelling and likeable, the comedy is solid, the action is nice looking and the story is interesting and has some darker moments that definitely surprised me seeing. This franchise is so painfully underwatched in the west and I hope that this slowly changes as time passes. Nice anime I can't recommend enough and a totally good point to start with the franchise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 11, 2018
Perfectly fitting for the 31th of October (the day it started screening), the theme of this movie is pumpkins with a tone of... cute Halloween? As the title indicates, this movie is split into three parts, so let's get into each!
The first is a short animation in CGI where a small version of Cure Flora plays with some ghosts who fake like if they were a reflection of her, up to what I watched of Precure so far I will say that this was the most "fully kid oriented" moment of the series, and... damn it was cute!
The second part is the main bulk of
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this movie, with the Precures suddenly being transported into Pumpkin Kingdom, a place that definitely lived up to its name. I would say that while definitely enjoyable, this part was pretty average in comparison to how great the main series is, the villain didn't get more detail than "yes, he's bad" and is definitely forgettable and didn't leave much of an impression, and the side characters weren't anything special either, but it delivered as usual when it comes to enjoying whatever the main cast does and in the action scenes, not to mention that some of the pumpkin fairies were pretty funny.
Lastly, there is a part where the girls (once again) get transported to another place, but this time becoming CGI in the process, I will say that how this looks is pretty hit or miss depending on the viewer, but I personally got used to it from watching the 2nd ending of the series over and over of how good it is (and it's in this movie too!) so it ended up looking pretty nice. This part was funny (goofy Zetsuborgs being the MVPs) and the action with CGI animation looked pretty nice, the story was alright and tried to be a bit emotional which didn't work due to its short duration not giving time to feel attached to the situation.
Overall I would say that this was an enjoyable movie but definitely nothing special when it comes to the story or the characters featured in them. If you like Cure Flora as much as I do I can't recommend it enough because she gets a lot of spotlight, if you liked the TV series of Princess Precure it's well worth a try, and if not or you only feel interest on it if it has a good story... definitely skippable honestly.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 31, 2018
Just as a reminder, Aikatsu Friends, as the rest of Aikatsu entries, is stand-alone and you can start with this one without worries, which considering the length of the others can be a great idea if you want to see if this anime is for you in order to try out the others as well.
In Aikatsu Friends we follow Aine, a cheerful and kind girl who can quickly make friends with anyone to terrifying levels. One day she meets Mio, a very popular girl from the idol division of their school and they quickly connect, the story focuses in their idol activities together as friends,
...
wanting to become the best duo someday.
This anime is doing a fantastic job so far handling their relationship, Aikatsu Friends seems to be centered in "becoming Best Friends", with two characters forming a unit together, and this leads to heavy focus on the interactions between pairs of characters (be the main duo or the other characters that got protagonism, all with their fun and likeable personalities). Each episode is a lot of fun seeing in what events our characters are, be preparing dresses, participating in TV programs, or doing performances between others, while also seeing them develop and becoming closer as time passes and they get to know more about each other.
Talking about the performances, the CGI animation of them just keeps shining with its quality, the dances are beautiful and full of movement and effects, making for a visual treat, the series as a whole looks nice, with very appealing character designs (I love the gradient hair of the main duo in special), the animation of the series is also solid, although as expected of long running series, some episodes can't keep the level of the rest.
Aikatsu Friends has been fantastic so far and I can't recommend enough to give it a chance, be it your first Aikatsu entry or you having already watched others before.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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