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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 13 May 2015: Go! Princess Precure is more Go! than it is Princess

Twilight
Yes, Sawashiro Miyuki voices a a Pretty Cure character now.

I'm pleased that Go! Princess Precure continues to have solid fight scenes and generally has good production values. These are pretty important attributes when your primary reason for watching Pretty Cure is to see girls in pretty dresses kicking deadbeats in the neck. Oh yeah, the characters are also good. I'm particularly enamored with Kirara, the model who chimes in to remind impressionable young viewers that it's also important to be beautiful after Haruka boasts about being strong and Minami adds, "Be excellent to each other!" But seriously, though, it must be humiliating to get your ass beat by a 13-year-old calling herself Cure Twinkle.

Ranko and Kirara
This is not a pretty dress.

All three of them routinely wreck shit, actually. It's a relief since I was expecting Cure Flora, the lead Cure, to be freaking out about being more princessish by now. The inevitable fourth Cure hasn't appeared yet, but I don't have any reason to worry she'll usher in a wave of nonsense about feelings and stuff. Actual spoilers are probably available now, but based strictly on guesswork, I'm presuming the fourth Cure will either be Haruka's roommate or the recently introduced Sawashiro Miyuki villain. Just as long as it isn't Pafu, the dog mascot thing. I'm still racist when it comes to non-human Cures.