Welcome to the Fantasy Zone
This Zone is dedicated to the lesser known elements of anime hosted by the cast of Victory Script.
What weapon is the best?
Who will win in this Death Battle?
Is this costume practical?
You name it, it's all covered here in the Fantasy Zone!
Moving on from princesses to witches and due to it being a return to it's roots I may have to tweak some elements.
Mirai and Riko have the honour of being the best Precure duo in the franchise only matched by one other duo and the original, but unlike the classic lovely angel trope that the franchise began with Mirai and Riko take a different approach.
Both girls mix well due more to their style in magic and personalities, Mirai being a performer and Riko being a technician, the extrovert Mirai to introvert Riko which relies less on tropes and utilizes more of the characters and this plays so well that you would believe they are real girls which is strange to talk about being an animation but real life girls don't follow the tropes that groups them into categories and that's impressive.
Hanami as the 3rd precure is nothing like Luminous in the original. Starting as an infant fairy and growing into a beautiful graceful Precure fairy through the parenting skills of the lead Maho girls is probably when the series really starts talking to their former older fans who by that point in the franchise are now young adults and while this acknowledgement doesn't return until Hugtto it really gives some emotional, mature weight that later sees it's two leads become an actual couple. That's how you make strong female characters.
Asahina Mirai - Cure Miracle - 9.5/10
Izayoi Riko - Cure Magical - 9.5/10
Hanami Kotoha - Cure Felice - 9.7/10
Best Dressed Award - Cure Felice, not only the best dressed but the most beautiful Precure in the whole franchise both in looks and personality.
Going into Princess Precure it may surprise you how invested they get into the whole princess theme and that could be good or bad depending on who you ask.
Haruka is the type of character you'd expect to play the wannabe princess and it works for her because unlike other characters of the same type in other franchises she displays noticeable faults and accepts the notion of dreams and despair being two sides of the same coin which really gives her character more dimensions.
Minami is essentially a prettier Cure Aqua, while her lonely rich girl works better here, she loses points by having less development than her expy.
Kirara is Princess Daisy, I can't really unsee it, she's Princess Daisy, sassy personality, athletic and same colour scheme but I like that personality and her higher taste in fashion adds more dimensions to her character.
Towa is a former villain which is an automatic high score and she gets extra for a dark transformation, the only character to do so, but she's exactly like Cure Passion.
Haruno Haruka - Cure Flora - 9.1/10
Kaido Minami - Cure Mermaid - 8.2/10
Amanogawa Kirara - Cure Twinkle - 9.3/10
Akagi Towa - Cure Scarlet - 8.9/10
Best Dressed Award - EVERYONE IS FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!
This Precure does have a more interesting side to it. While the format of the plot is a big upgrade, the precures themselves are a mixed bag.
Megumi is very much the default precure protagonist and never really brings anything new to the table but makes up for it alot by being one of the most creative fighters in the franchise.
Hime has a story that makes her the real protagonist of this season as she was tricked into unleashing the bad guys and all plot points seem to lead from her and her development from incompetent to strong Precure along with her willingness to forgive Fortune makes her one of the strongest written characters in the franchise.
Yuko is described as a fluffy person who acts as a Precure backup to the various teams around the world, I give her points as she's the only magical girl who knows how to use a magic baton properly.
Iona on the other hand, her actions and personality make her the most out of character Precure in the whole franchise. Her toxic disdain for Hime was way over the line, she selfishly uses the other team members as her backup rather than as actual teammates, she's a hypocrite as she was more at fault for losing her sister to the enemy and even when she does forgive Hime and started being an actual Precure, she didn't really earn it.
Aino Megumi - Cure Lovely - 8.3/10
Shirayuki Hime - Cure Princess - 9.6/10
Omori Yuko - Cure Honey - 8.1/10
Hikawa Iona - Cure Fortune - 4.0/10
Best Dressed Award - Honorable mention to Hime but it's Cure Lovely that gets the best forms.
So I come into this Precure thinking we have lost some luster as I consider Doki Doki to have the weakest team.
Mana can be best described as a steam train trying to be the ultimate helpful girl; her ambitions are noble and it reflects in her precure form but my god slow down.
Rikka is just the poor sap who has to play caretaker to the hyperactive Mana and practically has no personality that hasn't already been done to death by now, she brings nothing new to the table and is way too generic to be a proper precure, worst precure so far.
Alice is the precure equivalent of Batman, she's insanely rich and uses it for her hero activities, and has an insane temper for a shorter girl, probably the best of the team in terms of personality.
Makoto doesn't sit well with me, her royal guard act strikes me as trying too hard to be a strong character but doesn't really mix well with her idol persona nor her attempts at understanding the human realm.
Aguri is the hardest precure to rank overall, her role as a super cure creates conflicting opinions, is she a badly needed mentor cure to the current team or is she a deus ex machina that renders the others useless and her so called time limit also feels very shoe horned in to justify her staying on equal levels with the other cures. In my mind if she's making me think this much then she's a good character.
Aida Mana - Cure Heart - 7.4/10
Hishikawa Rikka - Cure Diamond - 3.6/10
Yotsuba Alice - Cure Rosetta - 8.0/10
Kenzaki Makoto - Cure Sword - 5.6/10
Madoka Aguri - Cure Ace - 9.0/10
Best Dressed Award - Cure Ace, not the best team for costumes.
Smile Precure can be often seen as the franchise poster child incorporating everything that makes Precure, Precure.
Miyuki is like her cure name, Happy, pretty much without fail but it isn't brought on automatically and comes from her own courage, so it's a lot more bearable, it's also funny watching her faceplant everything.
Akane is the typical tomboy but with a difference, she's Kansai, so she does have more dimensions than other characters of her type but it's still not enough to be noticeable.
Yayoi is so frickin cute, that it's infectious; timid, crybaby, scared of her own attack but enthusiastic and happy to be part of the Precure.
Nao is a second tomboy? That's quite a rarity but her type is reliable big sister and caring about her family, doesn't really stand out much but then again this seems to be the curse of being a green cure.
Reika is this seasons graceful lady but is the most happy to go with the flow, she has the best character arc in the series and has the one of best solo battles in the franchise.
Hoshizora Miyuki - Cure Happy - 8.7/10
Hino Akane - Cure Sunny - 7.9/10
Kise Yayoi - Cure Peace - 9.0/10
Midorikawa Nao - Cure March - 8.3/10
Aoki Reika - Cure Beauty - 8.9/10
Best Dressed Award - This one is hard but if I had to be totally honest Cure Happy claims this one.
