HeartCatch Precure

After seeing the Suite Precure series, I naturally became curious in the franchise that was the Precure. In case you didn't know, the Precure series spans out to seven different series, each standing independently  of each other. After I saw Suite Precure, I decided to check out the series that came before it, Heartcatch PreCure. How did it compare to Suite Precure?

The story is basic: Hanasaki Tsubomi and her family have just moved the little town of Kibougahana, where Tsubomi's grandma resides. Soon after moving there, she starts to have dreams about Cure Moonlight being destroyed in order to protect the Heart Tree.  On a walk one day, tumbling out of the sky come Shypre and Coffret, two little fairies who protect the Heart Tree, the source of people's happiness in the world, and their description matches Tsubomi's dream. They then make her into a Precure in order to fight the Desertrian, a monster made from people's wilting Heart Flowers, due to negative feelings. Along with her best friend, Kuromi Erika, Cure Blossom and Cure Marine take charge and fight for the sake of people's heart flowers.

The plot for this anime is pretty decent for a fourty-nine episode mahou shoujo series. True, in every episode there was not character development, but it still was an enjoyable watch. Also, the story needed to move a bit better, and maybe need a bit more explaination, however, it also explained some stuff rather well.

The art for the anime was actually what drove me away from it when it first aired, I will admit. It looked sloppy, a bit odd, and washed out, but once I started watching, the art steadily grew on me. Each character was distinguishable, and well drawn and it wasn't washed out at all, just very, very bright. The expressions were also well ddrawn, and when they went into shock, it also showed the thick lines, and added well to the effect. The magical girl transformations were also well drawn, and colorful, and didn't take too long like they do in other magical girl anime, but they still could have cut down on the time it took.

As for the characters, the are either the strong point in the anime, or the weak point, depending on you point of view. They are the strong point due to the fact the main characters are well distinguished, and drive the plot well. However, the side characters are bland, and they maybe come up for one episode. The main cast is not with out its weak points: they are just too damn happy. The main cast fights against negative emotions with happiness, sure, but I do feel like they are just blindly fighting sometimes. For a while, their motives were questioned, but we never get a definite answer besides the whole"We are Precure. We are trying to do the world good. We will stop all negative emotions and depression because we are good!" speech.

Overall, I enjoyed this anime a lot, even to the point of marathoning it. As a mahou shoujou, it was refreshing and cute, and even a bit strange, however, it was a good watch.The art was stunning, and the opening and closing songs were catchy and cutesy and matched the tones of the anime very well. I would recommend this anime to anyone who loves mahou shoujou and/or just cutesy anime in general.