Just finished Heartcatch Precure!
Length: 49 episodes
Rating: 7/10
Genre: Magical Girl
Being a huge Nanoha fan, I have been pretty curious of the Precure series for a while, but just hadn't gotten into it. After watching Futari wa Precure for about a dozen episodes, I decided to give Heartcatch a shot because I had read that it's one of the best in the series. That isn't to say that I thought Futari was bad, it's just that it's a bit older and is showing its age. I will definitely go back and finish Futari at a later date. Heartcatch really hooked me, and I rode it through to the end.
Tsubomi is a shy, introverted middle schooler who wants to break out of her shell but is always holding herself back. Erika is an extremely upbeat and outgoing girl in Tsubomi's class. The two couldn't be any more dissimilar, but after the extraterrestrial agents of the Desert Messengers attack with the intention of turning the earth into a desert, the two girls are forced to join forces as precure to stop the bad guys. Harnessing the power of love and friendship, the two girls become Cure Blossom and Cure Marine to beat the hell out of their foes, always finishing with a massive blast that comes straight from the heart!
The story is mainly your typical "monster of the week" thing. However, Tsubomi (Cure Blossom) and Erika (Cure Marine) grow a lot over the course of the show, which was quite endearing for me. Seeing Tsubomi especially grow from such a quiet thing to a kick ass precure was nice. Cure Moonlight's story was interesting and surprisingly deep for a so-called "show for little girls." There were a few times, especially during the last 10 episodes or so, where I was asking myself "Is this really for kids?" Not only does this show explore the emotional trauma of ultimate failure (not to mention the death of a best friend), but it also teaches important lessons about letting go of anger and loving and accepting yourself despite your flaws.
The animation in this show is what you might expect for a show that ran for 49 weeks. It can get sloppy in some places. As is common for a magical girl show, where, despite being a nicely detailed animation, every transformation scene and every Floral Power Fortissimo is recycled every episode. Sometimes these budget-saving techniques get kind of old. But there's some great combat animation in this show to be had. I would say most of the budget was probably spent animating the fights, and indeed the fighting is certainly one of the big draws for the fans of Precure. The choreography is very good, and no two fights during this show are the same. The final battles that take place in the last ten episodes are especially intense and I loved them.
Another animation-related thing to note is the camerawork. This show has a very unique way of moving the viewer around, and is fond of very quick extreme closeups through what I can only call a fisheye lens. Generally, this kind of camerawork is only applicable to the fight scenes, but it's definitely unique and has a charm of its own.
The intro/outros for Heartcatch are normal J-POP songs, with the exception of the 2nd ending, which sounds very similar to gospel music. While I don't really think that it fits here, it's definitely something I've never heard in anime. It's just bizarre. After every episode during the second half of the series I feel like I'm in a Baptist church or something. The score is pretty good overall. Though I probably won't download the OST, there were some very appropriate orchestral pieces that fit well.
I would recommend Heartcatch Precure! to anyone who likes magical girl shows. If you like Heartcatch, definitely check out Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Cardcaptor Sakura, and to a more sinister extent, Puella Madoka Magica. They are all three outstanding anime that happen to be magical girl shows.
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