Heartcatch Precure | A Landmark of the Genre

[@mrknight3269]

in the manga she first transforms to protect her mother whose flower has withered because her dad left them, so you can imagine her fighting her first monster while listening her mother's feelings. Her only fault was that she was getting overconfident and could handle her own just cure Flower did in the past and that as you said cost her the most, because she thought she didn't need any other precure

[@jmredguppy2799]

This was definitely the season where they wanted to try more newer things after experimenting with the season prior Fresh. Heartcatch did so much right, has a great team of Cures that all are very memorable, great artstyle, has lots of good emotional moments, and it genuinely felt like something that really was a spectacle that everyone could see and love it:) Tsubomi/Cure Blossom: what could you say about a great kind but shy lead cure who was different and someone that you could definitely relate to a lot. Absolute one of the franchises’ greatest Pink cures^^ Erika/Cure Marine;a absolute delight to watch and a great contrast to the shyness of Tsubomi. While her personality can definitely be annoying to some, it does provide some funny comedy moments that got me^^ Itsuki/Cure Sunshine: you said it yourself, “she’s girly and a badass.”^^ Her journey of accepting herself as being feminine was great, even though I do agree with her thoughts on how it was handled especially when compared to other cures that had followed this similar trait before her, though of course, she’s still a great character. And I do like them toying the idea of a female character that’s mistaken as a male. It does provides some unique storytelling, and the moments of Tsubomi being smitten by her did make me smile, I thought it was cute^^ though of course, your comparison is still valet. Can we get some Tsubomi x Itsuki respect?^^ Yuri/Cure Moonlight;absolutely great^^ for our 1st “older” cure, they definitely handled her fantastically as again, like you said, “the one who lost everything,” she really went through at essentially regaining herself. Absolutely fantastic^^

[@RockyThe3rd]

Oh yeah, and my first Precure was actually Smile, on Netflix of course. So I was blessed to compare HeartCatch to both past and future seasons. It truly stands out. It’s visually the most interesting of any season, and the writing was phenomenal! I can confidently say I have cried every time I rewatch this season because of how real it is compared to other seasons. I’d love another season to be as visually and narratively made in the future. And Suite starts off really well imo, I hope you enjoy it!

[@newfieldcharlotte324]

On the Itsuki issue: I absolutely love the Itsuki thing. I love the tomboys of Precure. They show that human beings are varied and diverse. They can have traditionally male interests together with feminine traits. So can men, Ban in Heartcatch can be a good example of this with his Precure fantasy and artistic interests. Having masculine and feminine traits just make characters belieavble.

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

Oh yeah! Like I said, I love Itsuki! I just think that when looking at the franchise as a whole up to this point, they had an opportunity to do something with her and didn’t follow through with it. I love that she has a mix of masculine and feminine traits to her, but I’m not fond of the way that it feels like every girl who has some more masculine traits so far has explicit attention drawn to their feminine traits. The balance is fine, but it’s the trend of doing it every time that bothered me. In isolation each of them are wonderful, but tracking the trend is where I raise a brow.

[@tsubasana]

@@magicalgirlmel3289 i respect your opinion but seeing your and another precure content creator’s reactions to this makes me think it’s a fundamental cultural difference that’s led to this discomfort. It might’ve been better to look at this from the perspective of japanese feminism, their ideas of masculinity and femininity, as well as how the japanese patriarchy and filial piety work. In my view, it’s similar to how the moment someone shows feminine traits, they are seen as inferior. And historically (and even linguistically), japan just hasn’t had a good track record for female empowerment. Women are also often robbed of agency and purpose with a prevalent insult for women “having lost their womanhood” being equated to “having lost their place in society.” It’s this implicit and lived reality that is unique to japanese culture that is also inherent in precure’s message of girl power: from the very first installment of honoka and nagisa having traditionally masculine interests (science and sports) to the often boisterous personality of leads when women are often expected to be quiet and subservient. I’m not saying yours and others’ reactions are invalid because it’s not but i think it would help if analysis also take into account these cultural differences. Another example is the Japanese trope and phenomenon otokonoko (boys dressing up as girls) being received very differently in the West as automatically being an indication of transgender characterization when in reality that’s just one possibility for them because it’s mostly a reaction to the rigidity of japanese gender norms and breaking the mold with men embracing their femininity in general. Same goes with the idea of yaoi, fujin/fujoshi/fudanshi, and geicomi being drastically different in japan and internationally.

[@jibekmechler139]

I just love the art style, it’s so unique

[@ChocolAnimeV4]

Fun fact: Coppe wasn’t supposed to be in the show. He was Umakoshi’s idea. He designed him and production was like “yeah ok, we can keep him”.

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

Love that. He got to sneak his little pet blorbo in there.

[@alexjackson7929]

Incredibly, Dark Precure wasn't part of the original concept either. She was created because Minami Takayama came in for an audition and the staff were so thrilled that they came up with a whole new character just for her to voice.

[@alyssaagnew4147]

Heartcatch is my second favorite series in the franchise. While I don't think I'm qualified to declare a "best" one, if I had to choose a series to recommend to newcomers, this is the one I would pick. It's not perfect (I do think Fresh had better villains) and there is one series I personally prefer more, but I do think Heartcatch deserves all the credit and praise it gets.

[@dmrosales]

I marathoned all your Precure videos and am a huge fan! You provide a thorough analysis that is appreciated and can be thought provoking. I got into the series through Heartcatch when it came out and then slowly watched the prior seasons. *It took many years before fans eventually subbed the earlier seasons other than Futari Wa* I look forward to your continued Precure adventure and can honestly say I wish I could say the series stays as fresh (pun intended) as this season was, but i wouldnt want to get your hopes up. There are many future seasons that take some risks or have likeable aspects, but none that i can honestly say made it all come together like Heartcatch did.

[@rdnry]

just watched all of your essays and i loved seeing your perspective on all those seasons! we have very different things we like to focus on so that's really fun to compare what really struck me vs what you point out. excited for you to continue your precure journey, especially as id consider heartcatch to be the best season of the first half of the franchise, with the second half of it generally having a major jump in quality compared to the rest! and cant wait to see your impressions on my favorite season when you get to it

[@Shortcake_ALM]

IM SO EXCITED TO WATCH THISSS. Heartcatch was a season that despite now being in my top 5 I was always skeptical about until I watched it considering how hyped it is. I’m excited to see your takeaways from it as it’s one of my most cherished seasons!

[@Shortcake_ALM]

Alright, I’m finally done! (Couldn’t watch this all at once mb) I have a few thoughts on this that I’d like to share :D First off, I’ve seen many people think about Itsuki’s character like how you mentioned, but personally I just never felt her arc was about gender. To me it was always more about Itsuki as a character and learning to accept her badass yet soft self as not feminine or masculine, but just as herself. There’s also the fact that she’s mainly dressing more stereotypically masculine because of her family, but ends up picking up things like martial arts as genuine interests. This kinda gives the impression of her building onto her already established character to create a blend unique to her. But idk I could be completely wrong and they could have written gender in there. I personally just felt that gender was used more as a part that connects her story to the audience rather than her actual character if that makes any sense. Although if you’re looking for a character that embodies the more masculine archetype that doesn’t fade away throughout the series I think Cure Chocolat from Kirakira is a great example! Also if you’re annoyed at the brainwashing, just be aware that it doesn’t go away. I won’t spoil anything but definitely be ready for a few brainwashing jumpscares because precure really loves the easy cop-out that brainwashing is to getting the villain on the audience’s side. It does do it pretty well sometimes though. And while I won’t spoil exactly what, I think Go Princess and Kirakira do this especially well with 2 certain characters since the brainwashing lingers as some sort of trauma or self realization that they have to go through. I think suite suffers the unfortunate situations of both the 2011 incidents in Japan and the fact that it’s sandwiched between probably the 2 most popular precure seasons to date (heartcatch and smile). I think there’s a lot to love about it and me along with many others consider it an underrated entry, but after the surreal experience that is heartcatch suite just kinda feels like the bottom of a roller coaster ride. I rewatched it a while ago and I can say that it was definitely better than when I first remembered, probably because I had watched Mahou Tsukai before it the first time and ended up really enjoying that series and not wanting to let go of it. Overall I’d say it’s a good entry but it unfortunately does suffer a bit like I mentioned for reasons almost completely out of its control sadly.

[@Sylveon_Fer]

I think that fir the fashion corner you should also talk about their everyday outfits and their school uniformn, that'll be a nice touch

[@PedroHenrique-mk5zi]

Since Heartcatch is considered the best of the franchise, I will delay to watch this video until I actually go through the season myself (something I didn't feel was needed to watch your previous reviews). So have a "Like" right now and I will be back in a few weeks or months. Keep up the good work. Your videos are always a joy to watch.

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

Completely understood! As someone who can sometimes have a "Watch Later" list that's a mile long, I respect it!

[@Egalemanly]

I heard Kira Kira Pretty Cure thanks to a King of the Hill Meme , years ago random I know , also fan fact the My Hero mangaka is a Precure fan , and the character designer of this season work on the My Hero anime by Studio bones

[@Egalemanly]

Also grunts of this season are based on Shocker Grunts from Kamen Rider another Toei meta series

[@andredrw289]

HeartCatch is definitely one of my favorite seasons of PreCure, mainly in my top 5. I went into it with high expectations cause from the forums that I frequent when talking PreCure, it was very high ranked among all seasons and I was not disappointed.

[@magicalgirlliz]

MEL THIS IS HUGE- Lemme binge this

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

Just a casual silly little video for the holidays.

[@Bigdoggamingftw]

I've been waiting for this video since I found your channel! It was the first I saw and I'm rewatching it with my girlfriend who's never seen it!

[@Bigdoggamingftw]

1:31:08 My Biggest complaint with the outfits would probably be that the heart perfume gets transformed into a pink bag for everyone which makes it clash with the blue or Marine and yellow of Sunshine

[@RockyThe3rd]

Yeah, something i want for the transformations is a group transformation with the whole team on screen interacting with each other. That’s why I love the duo transformations. I’d love to see more in future seasons.

[@joeljohansson3615]

Next season might have duo transformations. Just have to wait and see

[@RockyThe3rd]

@@joeljohansson3615 I know it does, but I want FULL team transformation animation. I know it would cost more and stuff, but a full team interacting to transform would be dope

[@cauavasconcellosgaldino9541]

Cure blossom is my favorite precure of all time 💖💖💖💖

[@brockk.9482]

14:58 I have to say I do appreciate this analysis of Erika. She’s one of my least favorite Cures period as I think she’s very annoying and sorta made Tsubomi’s arc a bit weaker by forcefully dragging her into developing but it is nice to see actual analysis of her that isn’t just how “funny” she is. I may not like her but I have a new understanding of her.

[@Prismabom]

im almost done w max heart and was thinking id pick and choose around w precures other seasons since most of them are seperated, im very excited o watch heartcatch first!!

[@eliknight1810]

I like all the precure shows equally I can’t choose just one of them to be my favorite show

[@Cerestrella]

HOW DID I MISS THISSS😭

[@nguyenhoangnam8609]

Heads up: adjust your expectation for Suite. Its reputation is a fairly mixed one.

[@CureCrystal1]

YAY Best Season! this was my first Japanese season I've watched first actual season was the Canadian English Dub of Futari Wa Pretty Cure in 2009 and i love it from minute one iTsubomi to me will forever be Best Pink of the franchise, Erika is the walking talking meme factory of the franchise, Itsuki was a great character as well and Yuri oh damn Yuri her story heartbreaking

[@ElysianLys]

Hi hi there! I have a question about how you balance catching up on PreCure seasons; is there a certain schedule you stick to, or do you just play it by ear on how many episodes you finish and it takes as long as it takes? I also want to catch up on this massive franchise, but I'm worried about the formula, designed to be watched weekly, will get repetitive and lead to burnout if binged the way I usually do. I figured you might have a better grasp, since you've been through several of these already! Any advice is super appreciated, thank you!!

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

It takes as long as it takes, honestly. I tend not to watch more than 5/6 a session in general and I pace myself out. If I don’t feel up for watching it. I just don’t. Like I hadn’t watched any Precure for the past week for example. I don’t hold myself to a schedule. If you feel yourself getting burnt out, just pick up another show for a bit as a palette cleanser. These shows are a marathon, not a sprint.

[@ElysianLys]

You're so right and it's the answer I should've expected 😔 I'm a spreadsheet gay at heart and have a nasty habit of optimizing the fun out of everything so I'm gonna try and take it easy for this, thank you so much for your perspective!!

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

@@ElysianLys I literally have a spreadsheet that I update that tells me what percent of Precure’s completed seasons I’ve watched. Number going up makes brain go brrrrrrrrr

[@kittygardenva2741]

Another banger video by you!

[@AnimeStarSky]

I can see the influence of Sailor Moon in the writing and charter development of this series I enjoyed your review Have nice day Namaste Neil 😁

[@bethanysanders8406]

YES GOD I'M SO EXCITED

[@paulkemner829]

The CC text gives "Deus ex machina" as "Day sex machina". 😆 You get more solidly masculine-ish Cures later, like Akira in Kira Kira, and Sora in Hirogaru Sky. Sora's totally focused on being a hero, and doesn't have a big girly side-interest. Heartcatch impressed me by having the two main Cures both be somewhere on the autistic spectrum. Tsubomi's the more typical easily-masked type, and the girls all want to be friends with her, but she's got an intense special interest and doesn't pick up on subtle cues. Erika is more blunt, because who wouldn't want to know the truth about their fashion choices? She misses Tsubomi's heartbreak about her first love. Her fashion club should be like free candy to the girls- design an outfit just for you, learn to draft a pattern and make it yourself to fit you perfectly. But Erika is poison at the beginning. In the Heartcatch/Tropical Rouge movie (by far the most tragic Precure story) Erika gets into an argument with Laura the mermaid about a truly tasteless costume. Later she tells Laura's friend that she went too far- she always says what's on her mind without thinking. The friend says Laura's not going to let something like that get her down. Erika says she might just be putting on a brave face to seem OK. "Even when I act like I'm fine, really I feel all disheartened on the inside. That girl's probably the same way." There have been some interesting articles about Precure's history in the Japanese press, related to the release of the 20th season. If you paste the katakana characters for Precure in a search, you can translate the articles you find. Interviews with Precure's creator, Takahashi Washio with his goals for the series, are particularly good.

[@besthuman8964]

I love heart catch 😊

[@jethiliusavalar6449]

Erika: aggressively herself

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

YES

[@afroditavaitovska7507]

I love ❤ Tsubomi 🌺

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

She’s ✨babygirl✨

[@Cerestrella]

Sunshine is def my fav characters this season I totally agree with all your points about her character with the context of the other season's i never thought abt it like that ngl For me personally, ofc its impossible this is what toey was going for seeing as it was 2010 among other things, when i watched heartcatch i saw Itsuki as being very trans coded, i heart itsuki i heart heartcatch fr

[@Cerestrella]

Help i didnt watch the end of this video when typing this LOL But still I headcannon Itsuki as being a trans girlie

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

@@Cerestrella My beautiful GENDER girlie 😌

[@Cerestrella]

@@magicalgirlmel3289 FRRR🌻🌻

[@hombrelagartoenemigod]

Sasorina should've let her hair down longer on the show

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

Agreed! Hair down Tsubomi from the movie also hits different.

[@hombrelagartoenemigod]

@@magicalgirlmel3289 The movie had too much France tho

[@HyperXCITE]

YES! We've reached peak fiction, ladies and gentlemen! I was immediately endeared to Tsubomi on such a level that I almost thought Erika couldn't be redeemable in the first half of the first episode. Wasn't long until her charming antics won me over, and they're, to date, my favourite duo in the series. I do have a personal favourite in a season yet to come, but Heartcatch is easily top 2.

[@RadiantBlazeVA]

Don't worry, your qualms with Itsuki get fixed with Akira in Kira Kira thankfully.

[@davidsabillon5182]

❤

[@arielalejandrodelfabro1740]

A bit sad that isn’t mentioned but This is the First season were I see the male cure being at least posible With Cure Fire A boy that wishes to be a cure Maybe it isn’t of much relevance but I wanted to say it, since I find that cute

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

Yeah. That’s something that is definitely there and neat, but I didn’t feel like I had enough to say to justify talking about it much. I’ll likely mention it when getting to later seasons implementations of the idea

[@arielalejandrodelfabro1740]

@@magicalgirlmel3289 that’s ok Making videos has a lot of effort of choosing what is best to say or remark I honestly enjoy these videos since they gave me a bit more context and information of a series I enjoy So, keep going as you wish

[@maloo897]

Now to wait 3 years for the Go! Princess Review 😎 it's gonna be great

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

Ha! Considering I’ve got plans to cover the first set of crossover movies and otona before suite…. Yeah.

[@FaselBasel]

@@magicalgirlmel3289 Do Suite first. The first Crossover-Movies are DX1-3 and DX3 is a Suite Movie.

[@seyspectra]

I haven’t even watched the full video yet, but I really liked your segment on Itsuki and masculine women in Japanese media. While I do agree with literally everything you said, I‘d like to add onto the discussion: When I first switched from the European and American children cartoons I grew up with to Anime, I was pleasantly surprised by the depiction of masculine women with feminine sides. I felt like in a lot of children’s cartoons the female characters were either the most stereotypical girly girl ever OR they were „not like other girls“ that hated anything remotely feminine. I never felt „represented“ by either one dimensional stereotype. The female characters in anime, that could be both, were like a breath of fresh air for me. But in the end I have to agree that they probably created those feminine masculine girls, not to represent the variety of human nature, but more so because of a failure to commit to writing a fully masculine female character out of fear they would be off putting and not marketable.

[@magicalgirlmel3289]

Yeah! I totally agree and love when a female character can be both. The reason I felt the need to comment on it the way I did was because I was starting to see a trend within this franchise. 💖

[@Alex1jag]

While fresh was what introduced me to the franchise, HeartCatch was the first one I watched to completion. There is alot to like about the season, and while I do agree with many of your points Itsuki is not one of them. Itsuki is by far my least liked Cure in the entire franchise. She just feels wholly unnecessary and is never integrated into the team. All in all, nice retrospective, I am currently in the process on catching up with some of the seasons I haven't seen and would definitely comeback to hear your thoughts on them once I do ( though I have no interest in the seasons that precede Fresh).

[@sterok1099]

Heartcatch goes back and forth as the best season with Yes 5 for me. Yes 5 has slightly better character writing and interactions despite being by the numbers in everything else. Heartcatch is a complete package of great characters, nice theming, good messages, and consistently strong fights. It knows how to mix up a formulaic show so as to make consistent progress and not feel repetitive. The show got dark, but only enough to as appropriately push its themes and characters. Though Yuri might think otherwise with how she saw her fairy partner die, then she killed her younger sister, and then had to witness her father get killed in front of her. Being older doesn't always have its benefits. Tsubomi remains as one of the best and most unique leads in the franchise. A few more should take after her. My main criticism has to do with Itsuki overall. Not just with gender presentation, but also how she's mostly just relevant for her debut arc. Once that cools down and Yuri takes over the show Itsuki just falls off and struggles to get any screen-time. Being the weak link in a show with Tsubomi, Erika, and Yuri isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's still disappointing. Also the villains have surprisingly little going for them considering how entertaining they are. Even Dark Precure, which is a shame considering how cool she is. Even with its problems, it's impressive that Heartcatch remains the standard bearer of the series, and only two later seasons are in contention to match it to me.

[@SpongePedulum]

Honestly I almost completely agree with your thoughts about Itsuki. I know this a kids' show in 2010(Meaning parents would be angered if this was actually implemented) but honestly I've always thought Itsuki's arc(And every arc like hers in different media) would be more interesting if she was a trans girl rather than a cis girl who felt she had to be more masculine to fill in for her chronically ill brother As a masc person whose gender leans more towards being a girl most of the time, it's really hard to find masculine girls in media that are actually masculine and don't have some feminine qualities to compensate for being masculine, and it's always disappointing to see this sort of trope whenever it pops up because of how rare masc girls are to see in general. It's especially annoying when it seems like it's trying to teach girls that it's okay to be feminine as if femininity hasn't been enforced on girls everywhere(I myself have been made fun of for my lack of femininity a lot), especially in contrast to the complete LACK of media telling girls the reverse. I've rarely if ever seen media that has the reverse of a feminine girl who has a "secret masculine" side and becomes more of a tomboy as she becomes comfortable with herself, because that would require telling girls it's okay to be masculine, which people never want to say

[@SpongePedulum]

Even the most optimistic view of stories with this trope is "I GUESS you can be masculine, but DON'T outdo the actual MEN. Know your place, you'll get over this tantrum anyway."