I had mixed feelings toward this series even beyond the halfway point before I made up my mind on what I thought of it, and those thoughts never really changed or felt challenged afterwards: that this is a wholly average, yet enjoyable series.
The show developed a good bond between Nagisa and Honoka and fleshed out their respective personalities quite well. This extended to the fairies also, which is more noteworthy in Mepple's and Popo's cases because I didn't like either of them at first. The villains' personalities and motives fluctuated a lot in quality, but overall I thought they were quite serviceable.
The plot was a lot more shaky and was the overall low point of this Precure iteration. Although there were definitely highlight episodes in relation to the plot, the big picture always felt very simplistic, and while that in itself isn't a bad thing, the straightforward nature or the villains' goals (regardless of their motives) combined with the repetitive feel this iteration had at times made the majority of the plot aspect feel lackluster. I do caveat that the ending was still pretty great and surprisingly bittersweet though.
Regarding themes, this is the first Precure I've encountered that was so theme-light, which unfortunately also contributes to its non-standout nature. There's a vague idea of never giving up and keeping hope that is conveyed, but little more.
And as for the action, the Precure claim to fame, it was serviceable and on occasion well choreographed, but rarely ever well animated. For as much as I've seen Futari wa Precure hailed for the Cures getting their hands dirty with the action, I can't help but think those claims are somewhat exaggerated.
All of that being said, aside from some of the repetitive aspects there's very little I could point to that the series actually did "wrong", and the characters carried it pretty well enjoyment-wise. Futari wa Precure did the bare minimum I'd require from the mahou shoujo genre and as such it will in some ways work as a baseline for me going forward. This show is the line where, if a mahou shoujo isn't at least doing this well, I'm going to start levying criticisms more heavily and will consider dropping the series.
The thing is, if you can handle the repetitive aspects in Futari wa Precure, you can probably handle them in, say, Sailor Moon as well, and Sailor Moon gets much much better than this series does when it gets good, so if given the choice I would rather relegate this series moreso to people who are already mahou shoujo fans or those who really want the historical context. It's just not standout enough to recommend to most people outside those categories.
If you're interested, then go for it. Just be aware of where your expectations ought to be. Even within the Precure franchise there are iterations better at pretty much anything you could want from a mahou shoujo, be it great characterization, a great plot, great thematic development, or just great action. As such I'd ask that others don't base their views of the franchise on this installment, especially if they insist on this one as their first Precure.
