{Tokusatsu Thursday #1-aPC} Futari wa Pretty Cure: Episode 1
Hello, Internet, and good mornight to you all!
My name is Taffryne, shoppekeeper of Midnight on Memory Lane, and it is my absolute delight to welcome you to the first installment of Tokusatsu Thursday!
'Tis a pleasure to bring you along this retrospective journey.
As the title says, this post is about the first episode of the Toei Animation anime, Futari wa Pretty Cure. I've finished the first episode; thusly, I humbly present my thoughts for your enjoyment and consideration. Accordingly, please mind the spoilers ahead.
Since this is the first post regarding this show, allow me to present you with the relevant synopsis and background information:
Futari wa Pretty Cure
Pretty Cure Watch Order Number: 1 of 23
Director: Daisuke Nishio
Season: Winter 2004 (aired Feb 2004 - Jan 2005)
Main Voice Cast: Youko Honna (ζ¬ε ι½ε), Yukana Nogami (ιδΈ γγγͺ), Tomokazu Seki (ι’ ζΊδΈ), and Akiko Yajima (η’ε³Ά ζΆε)
Platform: Crunchyroll with English Subtitles
Duration: 49 Episodes at ~24min/each
Plot Summary: "Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro couldn't be more different. Nagisa is sporty and Honoka bookish, and while they attend the same school, they have very little in common - until one day, a shower of shooting stars brings two very unlikely visitors into their lives: Mipple and Mepple, refugees from the Garden of Light, which has been conquered by Darkness. Endowed with new and startling powers, Nagisa and Honoka become Cure Black and Cure White, magical defenders of the light - together, they are Pretty Cure." (Source: Anime News Network)
AniList Link: Click here!
Trigger Warnings: Cartoon Violence
Episode 1
Right off the bat, even though I didn't watch this show when it was airing, the old quirks and art style of early 2000s anime has me utterly cuddled by nostalgia. Everything from the title/middle/ending cards (oh how I miss you, title cards) to the fact that it's in square-TV format and not rectangle-TV format. Card Captor Sakura (another one of my favourites) hit me with the same exact age markers. Agh, it's all so fuzzy and gooey in my soul. But, let's go ahead and actually talk through this, yeah?
For starters, the opening is an absolutely addicting bop. I will undoubtedly be singing along to it every so often from now on, because γγͺγγ£γ§γγ₯γ’γγ₯γ’δΊδΊΊγ―γγͺγγ₯γ’ (puriti de kyua kyua futari ha purikyua) is a most heavenly earworm. The ending song is also catchy, but I think the opening is just too epitomous(?) to ever be beat. I'm not quite sure if the Pretty Cure series has alternative op/eds as the series goes on (or maybe that's even a new-age thing), but I kinda hope they keep this same one for the rest of the series.
As for our main characters and their designs, holy smokes are they wonderful. For starters, (and for those who might not be familiar), Toei shows like Pretty Cure have super big merchandising power when it comes to their character designs and transformation items. Honestly, while I don't know if it's actually true, I would be of the mind to say that making the designs and toys merchandisable is probably the biggest driving factor outside of simply having good character design. Now, that's not to say it's a bad thing, not at all. In this instance, it's the driving force behind their funding and it's really just an accepted "gimmick" of Toei Tokusatsu so to speak. The transformation items being literal magic flip phones with swipe cards is completely an artifact of it's production time though. Does anyone remember those flip phone toys that use to have makeup in them or fit your Littlest Pet Shops/Polly Pockets? I sure do. The cards themselves and the art on them remind me so much of the Bella Sara cards. Sincerely, nostalgia is one of my favourite sentiments. Sometimes it can get spiced by the taste of longing for a time since passed, but I think it's more of a treasure to experience than a punishment. Back on topic, the little phone pouches with a card pocket is also peak "how many toys can we fit into this" design.
For the girls themselves, I love how their designs work together to compliment each other as Pretty Cures but still distinguish their own personalities and backgrounds. Nagisa is the more tomboy/sporty archetype, so she has running shorts, fingerless gloves, shoulder-pad looking cap sleeves, and her overall outfit vibe just feels more athletic and practical. Honoka's outfit on the other hand is far more decorative and frilly almost in an apron-like way. It's not quite a lab coat or anything, but it feels more distinguished to match her background as the "Queen of Wisdom". We've not seen much of their personalities yet aside from Jock Nagisa being a hit with the ladies (though the ladies are unfortunately not a hit with her) and Honour Student Honoka being from a presumably well-off family (*I say presumably because typically if someone in anime has a traditional home and a Grandmother who uses the formal question particle...they're either wealthy or Yakuza). Mepple and Mipple are so adorable I just want to crush them in my fists or bang them around like squeaky toys. To no one's surprise, I'm sure, cute aggression is a common affliction of mine. Their little call signs of "mepo" and "mipo" are so precious and they remind me so much of the Toys-2-Life craze from back in the day.
Turning to our introductory villains...I swear to you all that "Pisard" is flat out just photo-negative David Bowie from 1986's Labyrinth with a bit of KISS-style makeup added. You cannot tell me otherwise, and from now on I will only be referring to him as Evil Bowie. His outfit is cool though; very within the trend of the late 90s/earl 2000s where all the evil-but-hot guys wore tons of leather. For Zakenna/Gomenna, I think they're an adorable little demon who's having fun playing mischief. For those who don't know Japanese, their name is actually a pun. I'm admittedly not entirely sure on the "zakenna" front (it could be referring to a very slanged version of ιͺζ° γγγ jyaki, which means "malice" or "ill will"), but I do know that gomenna is absolutely a pun of γγγγͺγγ gomennasai which means "sorry". Our feisty little creature goes from being a giant spirit of evil called "Malice" (allegedly) to a bunch of little sprites saying "sorry" over and over. It's so freaking cute and I wish I could bundle them all into a little cage and feed them teeny tiny crackers.
Thanks to the ending sequence, we've seen glimpses of the other villains, but I'll hold my thoughts on them for now until they properly make their debuts. However, Chutaro's little walk in the ending sequence deserves and award and he better get so much praise and treats for being the best boy that he is. We better see tons of Chutaro to balance out the Evil Bowie in society jump scares.
Episode 2 Preview
Ah, the classic plight of a protagonist chosen to save the world who really doesn't want to. She'll get over it though, as the plot demands. On the other hand...why a vacuum cleaner of all things???
Thanks for Reading!
I hope you've been able to watch and enjoy the show for yourself! If you haven't, that's okay too. My thoughts are here to keep you updated in the meantime! There's still the Kamen Rider portion to get posted before I'm out of nighttime and into tomorrow, so I'll cap this one here and hope to see you at the next post!
May we meet again when the clock strikes 12:00!