Pretty Cure is the first Precure! of the Precure! series. It features Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro, two girls of Verone Junior High’s 2nd year Sakura class. One night Nagisa makes a wish to be noticed by boys instead of girls and is greeted by a strange creature named Mepple from the Garden of Light. Honoka finds a box containing a cellphone that turns into Mipple, the Princess of Hope. Mepple and Mipple were sent from the Garden of Light to find Pretty Cure and gather and protect the Seven Prism Stones from the inhabitants of the Dark Zone. From that point on, Nagisa and Honoka fight the Dark Warriors as Cure Black and Cure White to protect the Garden of Light and their own realm, the Garden of Rainbows.
Characters:
Nagisa Misumi is the ace of Verone Junior High’s lacrosse team and Honoka is a member of the science club. The most compatible match? Hardly. But the two make it work over time. Nagisa is tomboyish and athletic and it shows when often she spaces out to think about takoyaki or chocolate. Honoka on the other hand is more literal and at random times blurts out information that really doesn’t need to be known. The combo of the athletic Nagisa and the brainy Honoka makes for interesting interaction between our Precures throughout the series.
Art & Graphics:
The art in the anime is acceptable; nothing to particularly wow you but it’s nothing that will turn you off either. At some points in the series, you’ll notice the quality of the art being a little lower than usual while at others, you’ll notice it better than usual. This being a Mahou Shoujo, I have to talk about the transformation scene in the art section. At first, I wasn’t impressed with it comparing it to things like Sailor Moon, Nanoha and Corrector Yui but after a while I got used to it. Their Precure attacks were particularly fun to watch, especially in the second arc of the series. In fact, they were one of the highlights of the episodes :D
Music & Sound:
The opening and ending themes were typical cardboard Mahou Shoujo songs; perky, upbeat and girly. At first I listened to them but after a while you just find them stuck in your head playing over and over all perky like. On the point of voice acting, Yukana’s voice as Honoka jumped out at me instantly. She’s so kawaii ^_^. Nagisa on the other hand is voiced by Youko Honna who I’d never heard in an anime before. At the beginning I thought her to be a little annoying but by episode 10 or so, I got used to her catchphrase ‘Arienaiiiiiii’ every episode. One thing that I HAVE to mention talking about voice acting was the way they said the names of their attacks. I never got tired of hearing them chant ‘Black Thunder! White Thunder! Pretty Cure Marble Screw!’ all through the series. I was able to pick out Yukana especially from the duo and she sounded extra cute saying it. All in all, a great job by Youko-san and Yukana-san.
Enjoyment & Closing Comments:
Being a fan of Mahou Shoujo because of their light friendly atmosphere that’s able to pick me up when I’m feeling down or just in the mood for some cute. Pretty Cure was no disappointment. It was a little slow at times and I thought the story dragged a little toward the end but Mahou Shoujo fans will like Pretty Cure. The typical and cliché elements like young love and balancing their fight for justice with their regular lives are important in this series and it shows up quite a lot throughout the show. All in all I gave the show a 7. It lost points for slow pacing, the drop in art at some points and the cardboard sound of the opening and ending. Despite these things though, a mahou shoujo should take some time to watch this enjoyable series.
