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Dated 17 February 2014: Belated season introduction to winter 2014 shows

Mazinger
Pilder fucking on!

I should probably put together a season introduction for Winter 2014, considering that half of it has already passed. At this time, I'm still following 14 15 of the shows currently airing this cour (Jesus Christ, fourteen FIFTEEN?), and may add Gundam Build Fighters if I ever get around to starting it. I present the following shows in order of their precedence on the chart at the time I started writing this sucker, but you shouldn't put too much weight on their positions or particular ratings because this ain't anime titration, you know.

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Dated 29 March 2014: So much for my Pretty Cure rankings

Bomber Girls
There's a new sheriff in town.

Although mostly tongue-in-cheek, I've fastidiously maintained an ever-growing list of Pretty Cure rankings, both for the Cures themselves and for their civilian personae. However, HappinessCharge Precure! pretty much puts an end to this practice. Both lists appear below, frozen in their likely final forms:

Black > White > Bright > Windy > Egret > (Michiru) > (Kaoru) > Bloom > Peach-han > Dream > Passion > Rouge > (Milky Rose) > Marine > Beauty > Heart (Overmana) > Berry > Pine > Aqua > Lemonade > Flower > Melody > Rhythm > Beat > Mint > March > (Shiny Luminous) > Sunny > Ace > Rosetta > Sword > Sunshine > Moonlight > Heart (Regularmana) > Diamond > Blossom > Happy > Fortune > (Ange) > Muse Kamen > Lovely > Echo > Peace > Princess > Candy > Shrimpy Muse > Empress.

Mai > Honoka > Nagisa > Saki > Michiru > Kaoru > Rin > Love > Setsuna > Detective Komachi > Erika > Reika > Malice > Kurumi > Kanade > Hibiki > Inori > Karen > Ellen > Miki > Alice > Makoto > Mana > Rikka > Regular Komachi > Urara > Hikari > Nao > Akane > Tsubomi > Nozomi > Kaoruko > Ayumi > Itsuki > Madoka > Miyuki > Aguri > Iona > Megumi > Yuko > Yayoi > Yuri > Himelda Window Cure Queen of the Blue Sky (Shirayuki Hime) > Ako.

The problem is HappinessCharge Precure! wasn't content with merely swelling the Pretty Cure ranks with Cure Fortune, Cure Princess, Cure Lovely, and Cure Honey. No, now there are Cures all around the world, presumably native to their respective territories (although possibly still Japanese teenage girls stationed overseas as a form of mahou shoujo force projection similar to how the United States stations its military globally).

The French Cure
Oh, it's a paintbrush, not a broom.

If you think I'm going to start ranking dozens of unnamed Cures each week just because they get a few seconds of screentime, you're out of your mind. I can at least tell you Cure Princess ranks pretty low, though. She's even less useful than Cure Blossom on a bad day.

Dated 20 April 2014: Winter 2014 Season Summary

Hachiken
Hachiken's actually about to have his mom's home cooking for the first time in ages.

I feel as if I watched too many shows last season. However, there also isn't anything that I regret not dropping. Does that mean the winter 2014 season was particularly good or does it mean I'm not making very good use of my spare time? Maybe it's both. There were quite a few good shows, or at least okay shows with lots of good moments.

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Dated 17 June 2014: The End of Tonari no Seki-kun ~HappinessCharge/My Purest Love Link for Thee~

Hime and Iona
Go on, Iona. Curse the bitch out.

One spring 2014 show ended too early, and another is just getting started. Tonari no Seki-kun was a continuation from the winter 2014 season. It concluded its anime run (only temporarily, right?!) with its 21st episode a few weeks ago. HappinessCharge Precure! is still just getting warmed up and has about another nine months to go on its yearlong season.

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Dated 30 September 2014: Summer 2014 season conclusion

Slaine
Slaine has seen some shit.

Aldnoah.Zero was far and away the best show from Summer 2014. I know a lot of viewers disagree with this opinion, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of its episodes. I've written a lot about it. Probably too much, considering I don't like it thaaat much even though it did almost get a perfect score on my little chart jobbie.

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Dated 17 February 2015: The Changing of the Cures was the highlight of my visit to Buckingham Palace

Window
Sure, Window, go ahead and sit this one out. Cure Lovely has got this.

After more than 10 years of Pretty Cure, it's sort of amazing how quickly its one-year seasons pass now. It seems as if it wasn't that long ago when Window was busy making a name for herself as the new Worst Cure Ever. She turned out all right, though, and of that I am glad. A girl can go a long way once she starts distinguishing herself by punching people in the face. As a series, Happiness ChargePrecure! distinguished itself in three major ways: (1) Its filler episodes were actually pretty good, which is fortunate because its high marks didn't hit all that high. (2) It reminded viewers that Pretty Cure as a franchise is decidedly in favor of heterosexual schoolgirl crushes on older boys, no matter what manner of lesbian dreams some of its male viewers might have. (3) There were shit-tons of scrub Cures from all around the world—enough that I fell into despair when I thought about trying to keep my Cure Rankings list updated.

Cure Flora, Aroma, and Pafu
Relax, kid, you'll get used to it.

Following the HappinessCharge Precure! conclusion (which was fairly lackluster in my view), Go! Princess Precure sprang into action, ushering a level-up in CG integration. Thus far, I have a fairly positive view of the new series, partly because of the gokigenyouing, partly because of the ballet, and mostly because it seems to be more about beating ass than cultivating feelings. I know I'm supposed to be opposed to the CG integration as a matter of principle, but so far it's been a net gain. None of the characters seem to stand out all that much for me, but that's the sort of minor complaint they can cure by devoting a few episodes to kicking deadbeats in the neck. If they keep up their early episode aggression, these erstwhile princesses and I will get along just fine.

Dated 6 December 2022: I stopped caring about Delicious Party♡Precure

Secretoru
I'm dismayed I know so little about Secretoru even after 38 episodes.

Typically, when I lose interest in a series, I'll still say that it's fine and it's just that the show doesn't align with what I want to watch at the moment. Well, Delicious Party♡Precure is not fine. I don't really want to say that it's "bad," but I've watched a lot of children's anime, and this installment of Pretty Cure is uninspired, even for (especially for?) a kids' show. There's just not really a reason to watch it, I'm afraid.

Rosemary
Adults in Pretty Cure should be adversaries or appear only sparingly.

Delicious Party♡Precure doesn't do anything really objectionable, but perhaps that's its problem. The no-stakes way it handled Amane's Cure Finale arc is indicative of the show's broader problems. It doesn't really provide any reason for me to think anything that happens matters at all, and there's an unavoidable sense of arbitrariness and randomness to the storylines that make me wonder if writers are just punting any time there's a potential conflict and treating any obvious questions as unimportant nitpicks. I, at least, feel this contributes to my sense nothing matters, even within the narrow confines of a Pretty Cure series.

Black Pepper
At least two things wrong with the series are visible in this screenshot.

I suppose I'm compelled to make at least one food-based reference, so I guess I'll say Delicious Party♡Precure is neither a hearty meal nor a junk food snack. It's mostly just sort of bland and thin without any genuine substance or taste. There are still enough episodes remaining for the series to potentially pull off a strong finish, but it's looking almost certain now it will displace HappinessCharge Precure! as my least favorite installment of the franchise.