YES! PRECURE 5

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionYes! Precure 5 GoGo!
MOVIE ActionYes! Precure 5: Kagami no Kuni no Miracle Daibouken!
ANIME ActionFutari wa Precure
ANIME ActionFutari wa Precure: Splash☆Star
ANIME ActionHUGtto! Precure
ANIME ActionFresh Precure!
ANIME ActionHeartcatch Precure!
ANIME FantasyDokidoki! Precure
ANIME ActionGo! Princess Precure
ANIME ComedyKirakira☆Precure a la Mode
ANIME ActionSuite Precure♪
ANIME ActionMahoutsukai Precure!
ANIME FantasyHappinessCharge Precure!
ANIME FantasySmile Precure!
MOVIE ActionPrecure All Stars DX: Minna Tomodachi☆Kiseki no Zenin Daishuugou!
MOVIE ActionPrecure All Stars DX2: Kibou no Hikari☆Rainbow Jewel wo Mamore!
MOVIE ActionPrecure All Stars DX3: Mirai ni Todoke! Sekai wo Tsunagu☆Niji-iro no Hana
MOVIE ActionPrecure All Stars New Stage: Mirai no Tomodachi
MOVIE Mahou ShoujoPrecure All Stars New Stage 2: Kokoro no Tomodachi
MOVIE Mahou ShoujoPrecure All Stars New Stage 3: Eien no Tomodachi
MOVIE FantasyPrecure All Stars: Haru no Carnival♪
MOVIE ActionPrecure All Stars: Minna de Utau♪ Kiseki no Mahou!
MOVIE ActionHUGtto! Precure ♡ Futari wa Precure All Stars Memories
MANGA AdventureYes! Precure 5
ANIME AdventureStar☆Twinkle Precure
ANIME ActionHealin' Good♥Precure
ANIME ActionTropical-Rouge! Precure
MOVIE Mahou ShoujoPrecure All-Stars DX the DANCE LIVE❤: Miracle Dance Stage e Youkoso
SPECIAL ActionPrecure All Stars GoGo Dream Live!
ANIME ActionDelicious Party♡Precure
ANIME ActionHirogaru Sky! Precure
MOVIE ActionPrecure All Stars F
ANIME FantasyWonderful Precure!
ANIME ActionKimi to Idol Precure♪
ONA FantasyPetitCure: Precure Fairies
ANIME Mahou ShoujoMeitantei Precure!

REVIEWS

• 

  shainess

  70/100
  Leaving the Futari formula behind, Yes! Precure 5 takes the franchise in a new direction with an enjoyable show.

  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 where the girls’ clashing personalities (plus the help of Milk, the recently introduced mascot who acts as the trigger for the conflict) reach a point where the confrontation is inevitable. Taking advantage of the situation, the bad guys decide to use their ace up their sleeve, a black mask filled with despair that transforms the villain into a real threat. In addition, these masks are used with the precure, trapping them in their minds and allowing us to witness a great introspection of each of the girls. Their fears, insecurities and intrusive thoughts are shown in an uncanny atmosphere as they face their “shadow” versions. I particularly loved this, mainly because I didn’t expect a show like Precure to explore such issues in such a “dark” way.

  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.

  On a side note, one thing I realised was that, until now, all the precure had a traditional two-parent family (excluding Hikari, obviously), so I find Urara’s family situation a breath of fresh air.

  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.

  
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• 

  cureV

  70/100
  The first Precure group - a rough but engaging start of mahou shoujo modern classic

  __This review does not contain any spoilers. It’s safe to read before watching. It doesn’t require any knowledge of the franchise.__ *** As I watched more and more Precure, I started comparing the series to one another. I want to write down some notes on that. It's the third Precure series I've finished. I want to see all of them and report my opinions. Each one I see will add to my experience, so I'll try to compare them a bit, too. A short explanation for those not accustomed with the series: - Sunday morning kids show targeted for young girls, - the longest consecutively running mahou shoujo franchise ever - over 20 years of non stop anime, - (almost) every series follows a similar pattern, introducing a new group of magical warriors, fairy mascots, and a lot of magical gadgets. *** After seeing two new-ish Precure titles, I decided to check out one of the oldest - _Yes! Precure 5_. It’s the fourth series, the third one if you omit one sequel season. So, the third one introducing new setting, a new story and new protagonists. It’s also the first one to make them a bigger group - there are five girls instead of two. The series starts with Yumehara Nozomi, a 14 years old girl, book-loving, kind, and clumsy. She randomly stumbles upon squirrel-looking magical fairy beings from another world, and decides to help them fight a mysterious dark group known as Nightmare. She’s soon joined by four more girls, and together they become the largest yet Precure party. The series lacks a single major theme. The characters are representing various human emotions, and visually, there’s heavy use of butterfly motifs. The fairies are from a fairytale-ish magical land, and the villains are a corporation. It’s all a bit random, but it’s sewn together pretty nicely. The dynamic between the magical girls is obviously much different from the previous series. The duo seem easy to manage compared to five of them. Everyone should be given some time to shine, to explore their background and dreams, all that. Of course the main protagonist gets the most time, but the rest shouldn't be neglected. But… I think they kinda were. At least some of them. While Cure Mint gets some additional screen time due to her relationship with a mascot (I'll explain it in a bit!), the rest isn't that lucky. Out of the three left, I feel like Lemonade got a pretty okay treatment too - we get to see quite a bit of her passion - but Aqua and Rouge were kinda just… there. Not completely left out, but not showcased enough. A shame, really. I like their designs and overall personalities, but the lack of focus made them into some of the most forgettable Cures I’ve seen. Still, the girls do work together nicely. The scenes of their day-to-day life and their friendship are sweet. During action sequences they’re also a good match, even though, again, some are a little underused. I guess it’s only natural that the first attempt at a bigger group is a little rough and wonky. The mascots are very prominent in this series, not only as little fairies fluttering about - they also have human forms and serve as love interest for two of the Cures. I don’t mind this idea, but damn, I despise those two little things. I found them incredibly annoying and just couldn’t stand them in either form. I admit they weren’t the worst love interests a magical girl could have, but still, they were unbearable. I swear, their fairy form voices are one of the most annoying sounds in the world. The third mascot that joined them started out just as awful, but at least grew on me with time. My favourite part was the antagonists. The evil corpo theme worked beautifully. All the low level employees played their roles nicely, and the management was perfectly awful. The way they interacted, all the mobbing and manipulation, it was surprisingly dark - but engaging, too. Out of the antagonist group mentioned in the reviewed series, this one is not only the most entertaining, but also the most vile. Nightmare seems like one hellish workplace, but watching its employees try to fight the magical girls - and survive - was really fun. There’s an additional little treat in the form of the Dark Cures, a minor antagonist group being the evil versions of the Precure team. While it’s a shame there aren’t more of them, they were still wonderful enemies with fantastic designs. In this series Cures’ outfits aren’t unique, they all wear basically the same uniform in different colours. It’s not a bad thing in itself (Sailor Moon does make it work after all), but in Precure's case it’s really underwhelming. Speaking from the perspective of someone who's seen a lot of their looks by now, it's just such a disappointment. And hell, even judging only by _Futari wa_ and _Splash Star_ girls’ standards. _Yes! 5_ protagonists still look pretty, especially when they're standing as a group, showing off all the colours, but… it could've been better. I was watching it after _Go! Princess_ and _Star☆Twinkle_, which had incredibly unique, diverse designs - it made _Yes! 5_’s simple uniforms even paler in comparison. While I may complain about some things, it's hard to ignore the importance of the _Yes! Precure 5_. It's the first Precure series being more “Super Sentai”, similar to Sailor Moon in form. It took the _Futari wa_ template and enhanced it. It’s hard to imagine a Precure series with only two characters now, and it’s partially thanks to _Yes! 5_. I’m glad they decided to make this change, even though a hand-holding duo was sort of a staple of the first series. I wonder if there were fans angry about it, opposing the idea of a bigger team. No matter, _Yes! 5_ is an important title. I had fun watching it, even if it didn’t work that well in most aspects. It’s not a series I would recommend to people completely new to the genre, or the _Pretty Cure_ franchise. It may be better to start with something a little more polished. This one is kind of rough - the Cure don’t look their best, and the focus is out of place. Still, an important watch for all the series fans.

  ---

  Here’s my personal Precure rating - it’s a 5 ✿ scale, comparing the series.

  Cures: ✿✿✿
  designs: ✿✿
  mascots: ✿
  villains: ✿✿✿✿✿
  story: ✿✿✿
  theme and vibes: ✿✿

  ---

  #__Thank you for reading!__
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