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Feb 21, 2021
I found Healin' Good Precure a series which didn't pretend. It was what it was, and I found it consistent with itself from start to finish. Hilariously topical in regards to the time period in which it was released, perhaps it allowed the season to benefit from a boost in appreciation from my behalf.
Overall, though, I found it a very solid season. As a matter of personal note, having Aoi Yuuki voice another pink-haired magical girl felt like a blast from the past, and having her be in a magical girl show that isn't suffering is actually quite refreshing.
Onto the review! Because the anime was
...
what it was, the review won't be as necessarily lengthy. (Except it is, whoops!)
____
Story: 8
In terms of a magical girl show formula, the story was effective. It had an engaging start, quite a few interesting mid-story arcs and an equally as satisfying conclusion. While linear, it was to its advantage since it didn't try to go places with its organization.
It -did- try to pull off some sort of allegiance switch by the end that ended up a little unexpected and out of the blue. While clumsy, it didn't necessarily impact the story that drastically.
Healin' Good also benefitted from the reduced schedule imposed by the pandemic's restrictions, as it was only 45 episodes instead of the usual 49 - that meant less filler, which, while cute, can sometimes feel like a drag.
However, I did wish they focused more on the human healing aspect of it. While the Green Aesop of "PROTECT NATURE" didn't feel out of place with the healing animals, I wish there were more aspects regarding actual medicine, in particular with Hinata's family business.
Art: 8
Everything is cute, befitting the series. I particularly appreciated the designs of the mascots - simplistic and adorable, the soft, round shapes making them look like actual plush dolls really worked to their advantage. In terms of Precure outfits, they're quite cute and don't feel overdesigned - just the right amount of detail to make them feel like cute warriors.
As for the attacks themselves, the special moves didn't feel like they dragged on for an unnecessary amount of time, which is another positive point to the series. Unfortunately, in terms of fight, I feel like while they tried to strike a balance between physical combat and magical wand usage, they sometimes leaned more towards the latter than the former, which I felt like was an unfortunately moot point in all these positive ones.
Otherwise, the rest is pretty typical of a magical girl franchise.
Sound: 7
Some of the soundtrack did appeal to me - otherwise it's pretty standard stuff. In particular, the transformation themes, one of the primary earcatches, are quite appealing this time around. The openings and endings are also quite cheerful and groovy. Otherwise, nothing really particularly struck me as astounding.
Character: 7
The precures, as always, are unambiguous forces of good with positives that far outweigh the negatives. The clumsy one of the bunch, Hinata, has flaws which still allow her to be endearing while also allowing us to relate to her. In particular, since I'm quite forgetful and anxious of people around me doing better than I am, I found myself liking her the most out of the cast!
Otherwise, the episodes don't delve a whole lot into their psyche, though we get a solid backstory with Cure Grace which allows us to understand much better the reason she is so devoted to her battle - and that helps us consider her the leader of the group! As for the inevitable sixth (fourth?) ranger that arrives halfway through, her immediate power level is counterbalanced by her unusual personality, which allows us to like this quirky addition more and forget that her ability far surpasses that of the other 3 in most occasions.
I appreciated the villains being villains and having little to no redeeming qualities. Hugtto's own tragic villains is a tough act to follow for a series like this (see Star Twinkle, who tried and, in my opinion, failed) and having villains that are unapologetically so feels like a breath of fresh air.
Enjoyment: 9 ; Final Rating: 8
Between the time period in which it aired, and the various abovementioned points, I found myself really liking Healin' Good as a whole, and think it deserves the rating I gave it. If you're hesitating on which season of PreCure to start with, I do think this one is a pleasant start as it is easy on the eyes and the mind, and may come in handy to dispel your troubles about the ongoing situation in the world.
Perhaps there is a hidden Healin' Pretty Cure somewhere in the world helping us?
(PS: I just realized that I criticized Star Twinkle for the similar things Healin' Good did. Maybe because the primary theme didn't interfere with the storytelling method? www)
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 26, 2020
(This review is spoiler-free!)
Ahh, Star Twinkle. The anime that could, but didn't.
After the ambitious Hugtto, Star Twinkle certainly had a tough act to follow. However, with the theme of imagination being advertised, one could expect something incredibly grand coming out of it. However, it... Just didn't happen as expected.
Unlike Hugtto which pushed limits of its own genre by virtue of celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of the PreCure franchise, it appears that Star Twinkle has decided falling back to the tradition. While tradition's a safe bet and makes Star Twinkle fulfill the role it was meant to play, there's little that's outstanding, here, which makes it
...
doubly ironic when the overarching theme of the season makes it imply otherwise.
Let's crack down on the details.
Story: 3/10
The plotline is basic: Notrayders are an evil faction who want to take over the universe, in particular a small little fluffy creature that the main protagonist, Hikaru, names Fuwa. Then, the cures gather up one by one and begin a space adventure to retrieve the lost Princess Star Color Pens and save the universe!
And that's it! It's a mostly linear storyline, really. It occasionally attempts to be compounded by character development moments, but they fall flat most of the time, as the vast expanse of the universe truly invited to great and epic adventures, which Star Twinkle does manage to do, but in an awkward, very awkward pacing. Some moments might catch someone off-guard, but otherwise it's a very, very basic plotline with little surprises to be had; And those that the anime attempts end up falling flat.
The ending doesn't help things either, unfortunately; As you get closer to the end, everything feels all over the place and rushed. It seems like they tried to cram what would've been better as a season's worth of development into less than 10 episodes, which is really less than ideal for an anime that spans over an entire year.
For a series all about imagination, this is particularly hurtful.
Art: 7/10
The art certainly doesn't disappoint. Fantastic cure outfits this season around, and incredible visuals for attacks. One of the attacks of the season, in fact, is currently my favorite visually! The transformation scenes are also very artistically appealing, and the background art is incredibly tasteful! The space theme is truly the sparkly goodness they wanted to convey.
However, there's one major downfall - Stock footage. It's used in borderline excess, here! Even towards the final fights, you'll find stock footage there, and tons of it! It's just time-wasting, and furthermore, the fluidity of the transformation and special attack scenes looks plain odd when put against the standard style of animation in normal fight scenes or day-to-day life. Even with the quality of the art, this flaw is really crippling.
Sound: 6/10
First in PreCure: The cures sing during their transformation theme! This time around, the song was designed for them to sing around it, and soon enough, the quartet forms and the full song is made! While this is truly an original twist, it might take some time for a veteran of PreCure transformation scenes to get used to, but trust me - you'll catch yourself humming along at some point.
Otherwise, my personal opinion is that the rest of the soundtrack fails to be as impressive. There's a clear attempt to use electronic instruments to convey the futuristic theme of space, but it tends to clash with the occasional use of more classic instruments, and not in the best of ways, unfortunately.
Character: 2/10
When it takes nearly 40 episodes for one of the leads to get actual development, there's a problem.
It was Hugtto's strong point, but Star Twinkle utterly failed here in my opinion. Now, characters being undeveloped wouldn't have been a complicated issue if they'd willingly kept it that way, making it that characterization would have been irrelevant in scoring the anime; However, they fatally attempted to toss characterization moments in some episodes to try and get more involved in the cast. However, it just turns out to be extremely off-schedule, and this characterization tends to be reverted back to its initial state later on, which makes you wonder what was the point in the first place.
When the cures are pushed into corners, there's borderline an echo chamber forming where they simply re-state their resolve with little variation. When there's no character development to be had, the cures, instead, work as the typical adventure team - which, in my opinion, fits the mood of the anime better.
The rating wouldn't be that low if they hadn't tried to cram a season's worth of development into a pocketful of ending episodes - At some point, you just want them to get on with it already and settle on how they want to handle their characters!
Enjoyment: 3/10
Yeah, the anime had me yawning towards the final episodes. It was fun on the first ones, but as it went on and it cemented its own personal characteristics, the cake ended up tasting surprisingly weird underneath the fancy coating. It does its job, though - but it's certainly not enough for a demanding person like me.
Let's hope Healin' Good will bring some NOVELTY! Some SUSPENSE! Some things that WEREN'T ATTEMPTED BEFORE! Hey, the lead cure is adorable, though, that's a good start.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 15, 2019
<This review is spoiler-free!>
Fire Force is a shonen anime that exists.
It's not necessarily 'bad', per se, but I'm tempted to say it's wholly unremarkable and does little to distinguish itself from the rest of the shonen anime clique. While the review was written before the entire anime was aired, the anime is based on a manga, which I branched out on after watching episode 18, so the anime is essentially a retelling of the manga's happenings, with a few if not several details being cut out in order to fit the 20-minute limit.
That said, most of the issues stated afterwards are issues the manga
...
also has. After reading through most of it, it's only left me even more confused about the story. Ultimately, the anime only suffers from the manga's own mistakes - but even if it's unwise to shoot on the messenger, the faithful adaptation of a poor story remains a poor story anyways.
Story: 2/10
Perhaps one of its weakest points, the story is the very definition of what 'wasted potential' means. Without going into much detail to avoid spoiling, the main premise is suddenly thrown aside as new elements are rapidly introduced, one after the other. It can make the beginning hard to follow, and it reaches the point that the primary intrigue only becomes a plot device for something much grander.
Now, tropes are tools. Hiding a bigger premise under a smaller one is commonplace and isn't necessarily bad. Unfortunately, Fire Force failed to make it interesting due to its absurd issues with pacing. You can find yourself in an extreme action-packed moment, and 3 minutes later the 8th Division is goofing around and having its stereotypical shenanigans. Characters will interfere with a tearful intrigue and insert an unfittingly comedic timeout that does little to advance, lighten or better the plot. Ultimately, you may grow weary of the story and wish they could settle on an actual stable objective already.
Art and Sound: 7/10
Judged together as I feel like this is part of an ensemble. This is probably the part that Fire Force nails the most. If you're someone who watches anime for the art, you'll be happy to hear that the battle scenes and the effects of fire, omnipresent due to the anime's overarching theme, are tastefully done and greatly contribute to the fast-paced, intense battle sessions the anime provides. You find yourself having an adrenaline rush whenever actual combat takes place, and that's when not having the time to process all information works in the anime's favor by constantly keeping the viewer's senses alert.
Unfortunately, that's about all it has going for it in terms of audiovisual performance. Outside of combat, the animation and sounds are good but not that great. You may also find awkward moments of fluid fire motions with immobile far-distance renders if you've got an alert eye; Thankfully, those flaws are rather insignificant, and the animated fight scenes truly do the anime justice.
Character: 2/10
The only reason I didn't put 1 on characterization is because of three people: Obi, Hinawa, and Iris. Those three members of the eighth division are about the only ones who get significant amount of development, and even so, Iris is forgotten for a good chunk of episodes after her own development is wrapped up and completed; What those three do share in common, however, is consistent and sturdy characterization with a decent amount of building around them.
The positives stop here. The rest of the characterization is simply awful, especially towards the female cast. The main protagonist, Shinra, witnesses the opposite of what the three former characters have; His personality gets severely washed down to only leave behind a typical shonen protagonist that could easily be swapped around with many others. The rest of the clique is simply stereotypical to a t, and barely does anything to change that: Arthur's existence only serves to be a comedic relief; Maki gets her moments, but otherwise she's almost exclusively played down to her cuteness factor and interests; You could replace Tamaki with a sexy lamppost and the story wouldn't change whatsoever; and so on.
Even if other side characters are introduced and their own little personal stories may be better, the anime gets another severe blow in terms of the characters' aptitudes; As the story progresses, you get increasingly stronger characters whose strength gets so over-the-top that it's very likely to leave you apathetic and indifferent at some point, simply because there is only so much you can do with strength levels, and Fire Force builds it too much, too quickly. Because the characters are so special, it's incredibly difficult to relate to any of them, with perhaps the exception of the unpowered Obi, who has a particularly well-written moment at about three-fifths of the anime; that's all I'll be telling, though.
In a nutshell, poor and stereotypical characterization overshadows the few poignant moments and well-developed characters that Fire Force actually has; An extreme and rapid inflation in power levels through the anime leaves a stale aftertaste in one's mouth, and it quickly loses its epic factor as a result.
Enjoyment: 4/10
It was... Something, I guess? A friend convinced me to watch it, and Obi'd been littering my twitter feed, so I guessed I should give it a try, too? I didn't come in with that many expectations, to be frank, and I guess I did good on that part, because if I'd expected more, I'm almost positive the review would've been far harsher than it actually is.
Overall: 4/10
As closing comments, I can state once again that when you look at Fire Force, what you see is what you get: A shonen. It's not as bad as it is samey, and there is nothing of relevance that could be actually pointed out that makes it truly different from every other standard shonen out there. The fights are epic, but where the audiovisual succeeds is where the story and characterization utterly fails. However, if you simply like watching shonen and are accustomed/not bothered by the common tropes within, then perhaps this anime will be a good watch for you.
Obi's hot, by the way.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 27, 2019
<This review is spoiler-free!>
This was my first contact with the Pretty Cure franchise.
It was pretty much the result of my boyfriend constantly fanboying over the series as he's a huge fan of it. I wasn't too hot on the idea, as I had this initial conception of a magical girl show as being for kids and thus, having naive values I wouldn't really relate a lot with. Still, after some brief searching, season comparing and some input from my lover, I gave the latest season a try anyways, because hey, everyone looked cute, and this was bound to be a nice little watch regardless.
Needless to
...
say, Hugtto actually went beyond my expectations and caught me off guard too many times to count.
Story: 7/10
One of the things I'm VERY attentive when watching media is the story, and I'd entered watching the anime appenehsively on that point. However, I was most surprised finding a mix of scenes, situations and values that could actually appeal to an older audience! Hugtto deals with more mature themes than I'd have expected, and albeit simplified in some parts, still managed to resonate well with me anyways. What I found most satisfying is the mix of real life and supernatural matters that more often than not go well together.
Unfortunately, the pacing occasionally suffered from less hyped episodes, occasionally poorly-timed fight scenes and a lot of plot holes that became unresolved as the final episode aired. I'd also occasionally find my excitement dying down in the later episodes as, excited for more, the episodes actually ended up with less satisfying outcomes than expected. Nonetheless, the story was very enjoyable, as it still managed to keep me hooked up for more every episode and get my theorycraft nerves working.
Art: 7/10
What is there to say here? It's a magical girl show, of course everything is going to be colorful and pretty. The monster of the week designs are your basic silly dark designs, and there's really nothing too notable or revolutionary in my opinion.
Still, I really liked the Precures' costumes overall - When I gave other seasons a preview, the other Precures had struck me as having too overcharged or wild designs, and these ones, to me, managed to be just the right amount of magical! Some of the designs' aspects did tick me off, but it didn't end up a major issue.
Sound: 8/10
Good use of sounds! I'm not quite sure what I can say here precisely, but I can definitely state that Hugtto deserves a high grade as I'd been anticipating a few of the songs from the later episodes to be released in OST format! Sound effects are also pretty fine, nothing feels out of place here.
Character: 9/10
Probably Hugtto's best selling point is the way it handles its characters. Their personalities are very well thought-out, and every main protag is given her chance to shine. I'd seen a few reviews from other seasons that stated that they'd been too "main protag-centric", but every episode manages to switch focus from one character to another, and give them relevant and relatable issues and challenges to face. Occasionally even brought a tear to my eye!
While on the last set of episodes, the focus does switch back to the main protag, there's been plenty of buildup and development on the other main characters prior, so in the end it likely passes off better! I also really appreciated the fact that the supporting cast also played a role in giving the Cures guidance and their own advice, but I wished the recurring supporting cast also got a bit more development!
How the villains were handled was also one of my most liked parts - While initially presented as your bread-and-butter bad guys, they turn out to be surprisingly complex people. Sometimes, however, the charcters' issues and challenges were handled in a clumsy manner and were slightly confusing as to how they were solved up, but this doesn't tarnish too much my opinion on character development as a whole.
Enjoyment: 8/10
Yeah, I really enjoyed it! It managed to keep me wanting more episodes every week, and the ending was also very satisfying in its own unexpected way! Hugtto definitely brought a smile to my face and is part of my more liked anime. Looking forward to Star Twinkle now!
Overall: 8/10
Hun, if you read this, you're a nerd, but thanks for recommending me the series. I'd definitely recommend this season to people who like the magical girl genre, enjoy an easy watch while also wanting to be caught off guard by some surprising elements!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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