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My long Precure journey continues and now it’s time to make a stop at Yes! Precure 5. Expanding from two to three to four(?) in "back-to-back-to-back" seasons, the most logical step for the Precure franchise was to broaden even more the number of members in this brand new instalment. Thus, we get to meet five new senshis with a promising story, which I’ll be reviewing down here.

Story
Regarding the plot, there’s no innovation in the basic component of the story, as the precure fight in hopes of restoring the Palmier Kingdom, which has been destroyed by an evil organisation called Nightmare. The novelty, though, is ... that the senshis do not transform at the same time nor are they picked by the mascots, among other things. In fact, the first thing that struck me was that the leader (Nozomi) tries to recruit her best friend right away, telling her all the precure stuff and leaving behind all the secrecy that comes with it.

The first half dozen episodes are dedicated to the task of “choosing” the rest of the members. After all five senshis are chosen, the episodes usually unfold on the same note, with the girls slowly getting to know each other better and overcoming each one's problems together. In between that, the villains try to stop them with monsters called kowaina, which are possessed by a mask. All of them follow the typical beginning (exposition), middle (conflict) and end (resolution) structure that we are used to, so it’s nice to see that they tried to add a little bit of freshness in some of the battles. For example, when they fight inside Komachi’s story or when Karen duels a villain in a joust. Going back to the first episodes topic, they all build up to the mid-season climax nicely. That’s why I think the pacing is pretty good, at least for the first half. The second half is a bit weaker in terms of a build up to the ending, although most of the episodes are enjoyable with some of them deepening more into their relationships.

The main theme in Yes! Precure 5 is the clash between hope and despair. The succeeding battles test the protagonists to not fall into despair and always fight for hope and, ultimately, for their dreams. The two climax battles, the mid-season one and the ending one, depict very well this feeling.

One thing I left out that has an impact in the story are the pinkies. Catching these small magical creatures, 55 of them to be exact, is essential to restore the kingdom. The problem is that their importance is not displayed properly, catching most of them off screen and becoming kind of a side quest. They are pretty much ignored after collecting them, finding a use for only two of them (one of them as a copying machine, I’m not kidding). At least the heartiels from Max Heart talked in a funny way.

To wrap up the story related things, I think there’s overall more drama in each episode than in previous Precure entries. There’s definitely more romance which, if you let aside the fact that the crushes the two precure members have are some kind of alien squirrels in their original form, I think it works.

Characters
At first sight, the precure girls have the standard personalities you would expect just by looking at them. Nozomi, the optimistic leader; Rin, the sporty tomboy; Urara, the cheerful underclassman; Komachi, the shy and calm bookworm; and Karen, the smart seito kaichou. In the end, even though they don't move much past those archetypes, the different interactions between them are more than enough. There’s chemistry between them and it’s nice to see them working together to figure out their dreams.

I’m not going to talk much about the mascots cause I don’t particularly like them or hate them. They just serve their purpose, I don’t know. The only thing I can highlight is that Coco and Natts have human forms that make things more interesting.

The villain side being an evil organisation that resembles a private company was cool, and I liked watching them argue in some sort of a board meeting room. That being said, most of the underlings were pretty boring, especially the first three. Bunbee was the one I liked the most, having some funny moments. Kawarino’s role as Desparaiah’s “favourite” was well executed. The development of the latter at the end was nice to see, but other than that she didn’t have a lot of protagonism. One thing I didn’t quite like was the kowaina monsters. The majority of them were very uninspired and just a giant thing with a mask.

Finally, being five protagonists, there’s almost no room for side characters, unlike in Futari wa. Masuko is the only one worth mentioning, as she’s the only one with a character arc. Sad, because I really enjoyed the side characters in the past entries, but I understand the five protagonists needed more screen time.

Art
My biggest disappointment here is the action. There doesn’t seem to be much of it, mainly because they rely too much on their special attacks, which look almost the same to me. The action starts to pick up in the second half with some nice sequences, like one where Karen stops a punch from the chocobo-looking obasan with a flying kick. The battle outfits are okay, as well as the overall character designs. The western style town was nice too.

Sound
Not much to highlight here other than the soundtrack using recurring tracks from Futari wa. The OP and first ED follows the line of the previous ones and the second ED is a remix of the Splash Star one, which I liked, but I would have preferred a new one. Nice voice acting.

Conclusion
In short, apart from taking the Precure franchise in a new direction, Yes! Precure 5 tackles some interesting topics, like the hope vs. despair and the dream stuff, and has some great episodes. It’s not the exponent of the genre or the franchise, as it has some flaws here and there, but overall is an enjoyable show for any mahou shoujo and Precure fan.

I started watching Precure in its release order, avoiding the trouble of looking in thousands of threads to see which entry is the best one to start the series with. Thus, Splash Star is my second dive (third, if you count Max Heart separately) in this huge sea that I still have left to explore.
First of all, I’ve read some people pointing out the similarities between the OG Futari wa and Splash Star. At first sight, it may seem impossible not to look at the two Splash Star protagonists and see our old friends Nagisa and Honoka, but as the episodes progressed different dynamics can ... be seen between them that distinguish this instalment from its predecessor. With that said, I’ll try not to remark on any parallelism between both of them (even though I couldn’t stop doing comparisons between the two shows during my viewing lol).

Story
I think the story is the most remarkable thing about Splash Star and it’s all thanks to two characters. No, not Saki and Mai, but Kaoru and Michiru. These two managed to sustain and raise what at first seemed like the typical story about legendary warriors who need to save the Earth from dark villains. I got really invested in the bonds both Kaoru and Michiru created with the protagonists, as well as their whole character arc. The pacing is great, all the villains come and go at the right moment, and maybe when it can start to get a little tiresome, Kaoru and Michiru step in and refresh the story. Lastly, I’d like to point out how the anime conveys emotions in different situations very well through drawings, making Saki and Mai characters evolve.

Characters
Saki and Mai, both with their different personalities, balance each other nicely, giving some powerful and emotional moments. Regarding the side characters, I think Splash Star is capable of the best and worst. Ok, maybe not the worst, but there are a bunch of forgettable characters, like their girl friends and overall their families. Aside from Kaoru and Michiru, Kenta and Minori are the other two that I liked the most, bringing the first one a lot of funny moments and the last one extremely cute ones. The spirits or mascots were meh, I didn't particularly like or hate them. The villains were great though. I couldn’t stop laughing everytime Moerumba danced or teased Gooyaan, same with Mizu Shitatare getting mad at Saki for always saying her name wrong, and I liked how Kintoleski always made sure his opponents were fighting full strength.

Art
Not gonna talk much about the art, mainly cause I don’t really know what to say. Being a coastal city, there are some nice sea visuals, plus the giant tree of life that’s inside the town. The characters designs are good, it’s nice to see the protagonists have more than one battle outfit. Also, some fights are very well done, combining action with super powers, but overall I think they all looked pretty much the same.

Sound
The OP and the two EDs were energetic and catchy. The soundtrack was good as well, but, even though I said I wouldn't compare the two anime, I gotta say that there aren’t any cool insert songs like “Shining Star” or “Heart to Heart” in the OG Futari wa. Same as in Max Heart, where they repeat the instrumental version of the OP/EDs quite a lot.

In conclusion, Splash Star is an enjoyable anime that’s worth recommending to anyone that loves mahou shoujo and has liked any other Precure entries. Don't be reluctant to watch this anime only because it may seem the same as the previous Futari wa, since Saki and Mai (and Kaoru and Michiru) will make sure to prove you wrong.