Hello there, my fellow inmates! Guess who finally got around to writing this piece? What´s that you say? Asking rhetorical questions to no one in particular since this is a written media does not fall within the boundaries of normal behavior? Is my inner monologue pushing the limits of post-modernist style into overkill? Okay now you are just over thinking it. What I was trying to say before I was so rudely interrupted is that I have added a new entry to my series of reviews/articles/retrospectives/screen plays, and this time I will be taking a jab to last year season, Doki Doki Precure!.
Worth The Watch: DokiDoki! Precure!
Here´s a fun fact to entertain you while I come up with something witty to say: DokiDoki Precure is not only the 10th season in the franchise, but just like Fresh Pretty Cure before it, DokiDoki is a milestone of sorts as the series went through yet another change in the production team, putting the franchise in the hands of Hiroaki Shibata. I say that´s a fun fact because, again just like Fresh, DokiDoki has a card motif going on. I would say that it is a funny coincidence, but knowing Toei it might just be further proof that everyone there really does love J.A.Q.K. Dengekitai.
But leaving that aside, when you have a long running franchise like Precure where there are certain elements that must remain constant in every season, it is always interesting to see how a new producer will shake things up; a change in the production usually means a change in the staff, from chief animators to composers and writers, so there is usually an influx of people who have never worked in the franchise trying to live up the existing legacy while also trying to re-invent it. This process can certainly be violent, but it is necessary to keep things Fresh (tee-hee) and prevent the franchise from dying out, though admittedly, just as this can lead to a new age of enlightenment for the franchise, it can also go horribly wrong.
And with that, I have started with the right tone.
Story
I like stories. Like, I really, really like them, to the point that whenever I watch anything I tend examine the story structure thoroughly from beginning to end. I will be the first one to admit that Magical Girls shows designed to sell toys are not exactly masterpieces of storytelling, but I do expect a certain level of quality in the writing, and I find true joy when a PreCure series goes out of its way to surpass my modest expectations.
Goat Monster? Brilliant!!
That is probably why I find DokiDoki to be such an incredibly frustrating show: even by children television standards, the story of DokiDoki PreCure is an inconsistent mess.
Notice that I did not say that DDPC has a bad story, because it doesn´t; I used to think that the show´s story was terrible, but after doing some research and reading some facts about the original draft of the story, I realized that the plot of DDPC was actually okay and maybe even great by the franchise´s standards, but the execution of it was so all over the place that at times it seems like they were just making it up as they went.
If we get down to it, DDPC has a really complex plot, but that plot hinges on the back story of the show and it just so happens that, for reasons that only those who work at Toei are privy to, most of that back story was either cut out or heavily edited from the final product. What is left is a story line full of plot holes and inconsistencies, and while having a plot hole is hardly a crisis, as the show goes on the problems add up and the way in which the lack of back story negatively affected the show almost becomes amazing to behold. Because I really like to drill my point into your collective skulls, let me give you a good example: The entirety of Jonathan Klondike´s story line.
AKA The non-adventures of Blondie McCreepHat.
Jonathan Klondike, also known as Joe Okada, is one of the most important side characters in the show as he was basically the one who provided the Cures with the Loveads they need to fight and is also the one responsible of providing most of the exposition for the story. Really, during the first 15 or so episodes he just goes around as “that mysterious guy who gives Loveads and cryptic words to 14 year-old girls”, which admittedly does make him come out as a creep, but the mystery of his character is an important element of the plot until his identity is revealed, at which point it all goes downhill.
What a conveniently appropriate screen cap.
Jonathan is actually a Royal knight native of the Trump Kingdom, just like Cure Sword, and he was also the fiancé of Princess Mari Ange, our monarch in distress for the season. According to his alibi, he was away from the kingdom patrolling the borders or something when the Selfish attacked, which explains how he managed to escape and travel to earth to help the Cures. Eagle-eyed readers might have noticed something fishy about this back story; while it does explain both his knowledge of the Cures and his ignorance of what happened to Mari Ange, it does not explain how he obtained the Loveads, how he knew he had to help the Cures awaken and why did he kept following our main protagonists around.
Also, what´s up with the apron? He doesn´t even sells food.
Eventually he does vanishes from the show and only returns during the final arc with the explanation that Mari Ange´s plot-moving ghost instructed him to recover one of the Sacred Precure Relics, the Royal Crown, which was hidden away in some ruins on the Trump Kingdom. Later, during the final episodes, we learn that the King of the Trump Kingdom had used said Crown to cure Mari Ange from a terminal plot-decease and in the process had unleashed the selfish. This creates a contradiction with Jonathan´s alibi because the flashbacks during the King´s monologue imply that the Royal Crown was hidden somewhere within the Trump Kingdome itself, since it was the selfish who caused Mari Ange´s decease in the first place, and Jonathan´s story claims that the Crown was hidden away from the kingdom, not to mention that it is never really explained how Mari Ange´s Exposition Ghost knew about the Crown.
Or how she became a popsicle. Seriously, I want to know.
I know it may seem that I am being nitpicky, but this is actually really important because the events described in Jonathan´s back story literally kick start the main plot of the show, and yet they are full of contradictions and things that are downright never explained. But this is where it gets interesting; after the show ended, supplemental materials for the show were released and those actually provided an explanation for all of this.
As it turns out, the reason why Jonathan was away from the Trump Kingdom was because he was the lead of an expedition into some ancient ruins, and it was in there where he discovered not only the PreCure Loveads, but also the seal of the selfishness and the Royal Crown. This not only explains his connection to the Loveads and the legend of Precure, but it also provides the origin story for Cure Sword; after the Loveads were brought into the Kingdom by Jonathan, one of them reacted to Makoto, choosing her to become a Cure. Mari Ange´s plot illness is also explained: a fragment of the selfishness escaped the Royal Crown´s seal and attached to Jonathan, piggybacking all the way to the Trump Castle where it infected the Princess.
That sounds suspiciously like the plot of a Horror movie.
These might seem like unimportant details, but the perspective they add to the plot is outstanding: the expanded origin of Cure Sword almost completely changes the way her development play´s out, most of Jonathan creepiness suddenly makes sense and it adds more importance to the PreCure Mythology that the show itself seems to forget that it even exists half of the time. All the little mishaps and inconsistencies of the plot seem like things that the show wrote off as unimportant, but they are actually key elements that were thought out and developed, which not only creates a very solid background for the show to develop its story line but it also goes a long way into making a coherent show.
Coherence might be a bit of strong word.
There are certainly more inconsistencies within plot, the complete lack of a purpose for the character of Ai-chan springs to mind, but for all the problems the plot has I have to admit the show has a very good sense of storytelling: even with its messy execution, the show does manage to keep an interesting narrative, constantly pushing the plot forward and adding new developments every few episodes, so it never feels like nothing is happening. It does have a couple of issues though; the show is divided into several story arcs that play one after the other, and while these arcs are very well done, there are no proper bridges between them, so most of the time it feels as if the show is just jumping around from story arc to story arc without properly finishing or starting any of them. Again, these arcs are actually very well written and are fairly entertaining, but the lack of cohesiveness can be quite jarring and even take you out of the show sometimes.
While I have complained a lot of the lack of a proper storyline, in retrospective I can see why it might have been cut out: as I said, the show manages to maintain a good narrative where there is always something going on, so I can see how adding all the back story could have saturated a show that already had problems focusing on other elements, such as the supporting cast or the development of the villain faction. Still, the poorly executed story did have a very negative effect on the show as several elements and characters seem to be introduced and removed at random, which feels like an afterthought from a careless production when in truth it was all part of a complex story line that hinged on a very big plot twist that ends up feeling pointless because of its messy execution.
Spoilers: Jonathan was a homeless man all along.
Music
Remember when I said that a change in the producer of a show usually means a change in the staff for the series? Well, if you don´t then I just said it again, and if you do then here´s the pay-off: a new producer means a new composer for the show, and in DDPC´s case this means that long time composer of the franchise, Takanashi Yasuharu, left the franchise to pursue new opportunities (i.e. Sailor Moon Crystal) and was replaced by one Hiroshi Takagi.
You are not at fault if you failed to notice the change, Hiroshi´s style doesn´t seem too different from Takanashi´s at first glance, but I have got to say that I actually enjoyed Hiroshi´s style a bit more this time around. It might just be the exhaustion of listening to the same composer for four years straight, but I feel that Hiroshi´s brought a more elegant style to the soundtrack, something that perfectly complements the more serious aspects of the show. Still, while there are definitely some good melodies in there, it does not compare to some of Takanashi´s best scores, which might be an unfair comparison, but I think that Hiroshi can still do better; his work in DDPC OST was good and I quite liked it, but he could have done more to distinguish himself from his predecessor and create a more unique score. Still, for being his first venture into the franchise, it is a strong beginning.
You can´t hear it, but this is one epic score.
Moving on onto musical things people actually care about, what about the opening? Well, this is one case where I have conflicting feelings for reasons I can barely understand. It´s not because it’s a bad opening mind you, it is actually pretty good and has an unique style that makes it stand out amongst its own kind, but when I listen to it I can help but to feel that this is an opening that could fit almost any other kind of show, as in, if you were to edit the actual opening to remove any instances of Magical Girls punching things, you could almost be lead to believe that this was some sort of middle school drama about the wacky misadventures of four friends and their daily lives.
Correction: Four Friends and their Flying Pink Baby thing-a-mala-doo.
That does not mean that it doesn´t fit the show; for the most the opening is a very good representation of the series itself, if maybe a little too over the top, and the lyrics are certainly PreCure-ish (you can pretty much sum them up with “we are girls, we are friends and we punch evil”), so I guess my only issue with it is that its style has such a broad appeal that it goes beyond the boundaries of the usual style of the franchise and that bothers me because I am a PreCure elitist or something.
This is Art, damn it!
Now, moving on to musical things that I care about and you should too, “Beyond the Sky” is one of the best PreCure songs ever made and if you disagree with me I will fight you. Seriously, think of “Beat it”, but with J-Pop. As to why this song is so good, well, I really cannot give you a concrete reason (friendly reminder: my knowledge of Music is limited to being able the hum the Superman theme. All of it.), the song is certainly catchy, but not as catchy as “Yay! Yay! Yay!”, though it is certainly more elaborate than most PreCure songs. I guess it really boils down to it being a really good song, complex enough that it never gets repetitive and catchy enough that it becomes unforgettable. But seriously, I WILL fight you and I WILL win.
Love Link on the other hand… is actually pretty good too. Really, they are both very good songs and for very similar reasons, which is a bit surprising because in the history of PreCure´s dual endings songs one of them is usually better than the other one, so having two very good songs is relatively rare. That said, I think I still prefer Beyond the Sky over Love Link, mostly because while it is also pretty damn good, Love Link is not as catchy. It is a very small preference margin though.
Animation
Back when we got our first glimpse at the main designs for DokiDoki, I remember actually liking the design aesthetic they were going for quite a lot. The character models looked a bit like a throwback to the Washio era of PreCure, but with the added bonus of modern design techniques and a particular style that allowed for more elaborated designs. It is kind of hard to explain, but the characters use this curvy pattern that gives everything a sort of plastic look that while it does look odd at first, it gives the show an unique and rather pleasant look.
What I am trying to say is: Bubblegum Hair.
So from a design standpoint, I was actually looking forward to this show, but my love for the designs came with apprehension; PreCure is a show with a limited budget that is far from what Prime Time anime usually gets, and history has taught us that when you have character designs that have a certain level of complexity, corners have to be cut and we end up with animation quality that ranges from pristine, consistent and sparkly to something Picasso would most certainly approve of. Suffice to say that I expected a letdown.
Well, I am glad to report that DokiDoki actually has a very consistent animation with very few drops of quality. Back when I talked about Smile, I mentioned how the show had great animation quality thanks to several animation tricks that were no doubt the result of an experienced animation director, and one of the things that surprised me about DokiDoki is how very few of those techniques were actually used. Now, I have no way to actually fact check this (my Google-fu is limited to underground, counter-culture movies and web comics), but I think that DDPC had a slightly higher animation budget than usual, not only because of the increased quality but also because of the use of CGI effects interspaced with the regular animation; the transformation scenes, the special attacks and the “restoration” sequences use computer effects to enhance the animation, though several of this effects are so subtle that are only really noticeable on the blu-rays (go buy them kids!).
DokiDoki´s animation was certainly better than what we are used to, at the very least it was an improvement over Smile, which was already pretty good to begin with, but there are still a few rough edges here and there, particularly when it comes to background elements/characters and a few cases of the characters being well drawn yet incredibly unsettling.
GAAH!
Now, while I do love the character designs for the Cures, I´ve got to say that I found the character designs for the villains to be lacking: the main trio (Bel, Mamo and Ira) look okay for the most, but they pale in comparison to the Cures. The two mid season villains don´t fare much better, though at least they stand out from the other three. Regina probably looked the best, particularly in her red-black variation, but the fact that she looks so different from the others only exacerbates this problem. Besides that the other grip I have is the general design for the Selfishe: they certainly have their own unique look, but it is not unique enough. Mind you, they don´t look bad, but considering some of the previous designs for monsters of the week, they are remarkably minimalist. Sadly this problem extends to the main villain of the show, King Jikochu/Proto Jikochu; I don´t want to say that he looks bad, but considering that he was the final big bad of the show that was foreshadowed for some time, his design is certainly underwhelming.
Four arms I get, but Six? Now that´s just tacky.
Moving onto the CGI endings (because they are awesome and if you disagree then you are wrong), I am actually pleasantly surprised with how the animation for them has improved: the first ED retains the same quality as the Smile endings with maybe slight improvements on the 3D models, so while it is not a mayor upgrade it still looks great. It is worth nothing though, while the CGI technology seemed to be the same from last season, they really pushed the envelope in terms of choreography, general direction and overall spectacle. It´s almost as if they were trying to compete with some sort of anime about girls who sing and dance.
Like ‘Idols’ of some sort.
Personally I really like the first ED, but by the Gods the second one is a tremendous improvement over it: the models are far more detailed this time around (they even have teeth, TEETH!) but keep up with the simplistic approach that was adopted in Smile. In comparison, the animation of the second ED actually looks like it was produced In proper 1080p high definition, but that may be because of the increased color saturation and more defined character lines that almost look like a cell shading effect. In any case, the increased quality in the CGI really does bring the DokiDoki designs to life, and I would argue that, in terms of animation, the Love Link ED is the best looking CGI ED in the franchise so far.
TEETH.
Overall, I feel like DokiDoki has one of the best animations in the franchise. It is not perfect and I am pretty sure that, if you look for them, you can find plenty of examples of awkward/cheap animation, but for the most the drops in animation quality are a non-issue. That, coupled with the excellent designs, makes for a show that is quite pleasant to watch.
Characters
Oh boy, this is going to be a ranty one, isn´t it?
Okay, I will go straight to the jugular point: in terms of character writing, DokiDoki has some of the best AND some of the worst examples of what the franchise has to offer. For the purpose of this article I will stick to the six main characters because let´s face it, you are not here because you are interested on my opinion of Rikka´s mom or Mana´s pseudo/halfassed love interest boy whose name I can´t even remember.
…Fujimura?
Because I believe in strong (Batman) beginnings, I am going to start with the surprise of the season: Yotsuba Alice/Cure Rosetta.
Why is she surprising? Well, in what I honestly don´t know if classify as a miracle, karma, or good old trolling from Toei, Cure Rosetta is a Yellow Cure who actually got a decent amount of focus and had some surprisingly well written episodes, which is amazing because PreCure has a tradition of underwriting the yellow Cures, to the point that sometimes it seems that the show forgot about them.
Do you see the Yellow Cure? Neither does Toei.
Now, just because they did a better job than usual it doesn´t mean that it was perfect: the focus on her might more consistent, but her character arc is not. I swear, her character motivations change every 10 episodes or so, going from a privileged youth who wants to use her wealth and (mighty) power for good, to a girl who just wants to have friends and sell flowers. There is nothing wrong with having layers on a character, but since the show seemed to have troubles deciding on a solid foundation, her development comes out as erratic sometimes. To be fair, her handling does improve towards the latter half of the show and I would argue that she is the most successful support Cure to date, but it took her a long while to get there and the journey wasn´t always interesting. Thinking about it, she is responsible for one of the franchise´s coolest moments, so I guess I can forgive that.
Don´t pretend you don´t know what I am talking about.
And from there we go into… oh man, already? Well, I guess I had to get to her eventually: Kenzaki Makoto/Cure Sword. I will be honest with you, I really, really wanted to like Cure Sword, but the show managed to consistently disappoint me with her. Not that she was badly written or had little focus, it’s just that when looking at the whole show, there never seemed to be a clear purpose to her character, and of course this goes back to the writing issues the show has.
See, the back story and first arc of the show actually revolve around her; she acts as the link between our main characters and the tragedy of the Trump Kingdom, so you would figure that she has to be a pivotal element in the show´s narrative, similarly to the way Cure Passion and Cure Moonlight did in their respective shows. The problem is that even though the opening seem to hint at it, her role in the show is far from prominent as once she officially joins the team and her focus arc is over there really seems to be no point for her to be around. Really, most of her actions end up being inconsequential and all the important plot points that could have been related to her are instead given to other characters. At the end all she really has is the ‘Idol’ angle to her, and even then that feels like a tacked on gimmick intended for selling merchandise (which in all fairness, it probably was).
You want to know what the real problem with her character is? I´ll tell you: the problem with Kenzaki Makoto is her lack of a proper back story.
Not to mention her lack of an actual Sword.
If you go by the background given by the show, Kenzaki Makoto is a veteran Cure who is the last survivor of a fallen kingdom and now must lead the charge against the Jikochu while trying to overcome the trauma of failing on her mission. With that back story it’s no wonder I was so disappointed; she had the potential to be the main focus of the show but ended up being pushed aside in favor of other characters that either had nothing to do with the Trump Kingdom or literally came out of nowhere. But that was my failing, for you see, after the show ended the supplemental materials revealed the actual origin of Cure Sword and that completely changed my perspective of her: the character I assumed was a veteran warrior turned out to be a novice Cure who essentially failed on her very first mission and lost everything that mattered to her in one fell swoop. That small detail completely changes her dynamic as a character for she stops being a “failed” leader and becomes a lost girl who needs the help of her friends to save her kingdom, essentially getting a second chance to do right.
This extended back story really does improve her character a lot, not to mention that it makes her character arc far more congruent, but given that this is something that the show almost completely lacked (the only real hint about her past we are given is the revelation that she is an orphan), it simply cannot be ignored. That said, not everything about her character was a miss; she does have her funny moments, her few action scenes were pretty well done and the show actually handled her really well during the final arc. It still paled in comparison to some of the other characters but at least it felt like she had a place in the show and it was nice to finally see her “facing” her destiny, so to speak.
Some days, destiny really does look like a giant Gorilla.
Technically Cure Sword is not a badly written, but in terms of expectations and pay off I would say that she is by far the most disappointing character in the show. I mean, she is still cool and all, but that can only take you so far.
How about we move onto a better, less depressing character? And what better character there is than Mana!!!
*loud wailing*
Just so you know, I am perfectly aware of the polarizing opinions surrounding Mana, and let me just say that all the people who hate her are wrong and should really stop watching Japanese cartoons intended for young girls. Mana is great and if you disagree with that fact then don´t let the door hit you on your way out. Yes, I am a Fanboy, why do you ask?
All joking aside, even if I do love Mana (I will repeat that at least 5 more times), I do understand many of the complains against her, and all I got say is that, well, while some of them are technically true, they are not actually bad things.
You tell ´em, Cheryl.
For example, one of the main complains against Mana (whom I love) is that the show has some excessive focus on her to the detriment of all the other characters. This is actually true, Mana IS the main focus of the show… because she is the protagonist. You would figure that all that pink would be a dead giveaway. As for the second part of that argument, she actually does not take away from the others: the real problem here is that the writing for the rest of the main cast is so uneven and Mana is so straightforward and over the top that she stands out above the rest, but that´s why I love her and you should too.
I will say that her character does lack some deep (*gasp*), a problem that was actually addressed in the movie, and as such most of her conflicts as a character do make her seem shallow and one-dimensional, but this is something that circles back to the writing of the show; Mana is a character that remains almost completely divorced from the main sources of conflict in the show and she seems to exist solely to solve those problems as an outside force, like some sort of Goddess looking over the rest of us mortals. There are some conflicts and storylines that involve her in a more personal level, but the most prominent among them, the saga of Regina, ends up being a bit underwhelming since the selfish princes is absent for most of the show.
While I really do enjoy how Mana´s attitude is usually her greatest trump card, I feel like the show could have taken her further in terms of conflict, not because I wanted to see her suffer but because a hero is really only as great as the challenges he faces, and the show could have really used more instances of Mana displaying why exactly she is the number one in the universe.
Words to live by.
Still, Mana is a fun character and I personally love her that unrelentingly good personality of hers, like, she is going to help you and if you have a problem with that then it sucks to be you. Seriously, she is so good that she really doesn´t give a damn, so hating her is rather pointless. Also, if you think she is a Mary Sue, you should really look up the definition of that term.
Since we are already in the “Love Mana” bandwagon, let´s talk about Hishikawa Rikka/Cure Diamond! (See what I did there? I am so clever!)
This might come as a surprise given how I just spent five paragraphs explaining why I love Mana (which I do), but if you were to ask me who is the best character in the show, I wouldn´t even need to think about it: Hishikawa Rikka is the character with the best development on the whole series. It might sound like a hyperbole but it is true: she has a simple but solid background, a good amount of focus, a consistent character arc and most if not all of her episodes are actually very well written.
Pictured: Superb character writing.
That´s enough to make any character good, but what makes Rikka so great is (in my opinion at least) the very particular role she has in the show. We could talk lengthily about how Mana is amazing and how she exists at the center of the show, and in fact I kind of already did, but the show is actually very clear about how the only reason why Mana can be the number one is because she has the most amazing number two; Rikka is a supportive character, yes, but the only reason why Mana can do the things she does is because Rikka is there to make sure that she does not fail, and I would argue that the same can be said about the whole team. Think about the Christmas episode; the whole plot revolved around the Selfishe trying to separate Mana from the group, thinking that without their leader they would crumble and could be easily defeated, but they were proven wrong as the Cures were able to fight and win even without Cure Heart, and that was only because Cure Diamond held them together.
Like a Boss.
That is why characters like Rikka are so important: maybe she is not the Leader that will bring victory to the team, but she is the one who makes sure that they do not fall, so even if Mana is the most important character in the show, Rikka is the second most important one and I cannot overstate how great that is; maybe Cure Heart is invincible, but Cure Diamond is Unbreakable.
Okay, now that I talked about the two greatest characters in the show, I guess is time to address the most problematic ones: Cure Ace of Space and Regina. Notice how I didn´t say that they are badly written characters, because they are not, is just that those two are the most fundamental characters for the plot and, as I already stated, the plot of DokiDoki is an all-around mess and Madoka Aguri/Cure Ace and Regina ended up paying the price for it.
Think about Cure Ace for example: she is probably one of the most controversial aspects of the show given how she was introduced (she literally came out of nowhere), but when you get down to it, she is not really a bad character at all. She might have her quirks (like all 10 year olds do), but there are actually some interesting aspects to her character, like how she is essentially an adult in a kid´s body, the weight of being bound by her duty and how deep down she is just a little girl who wants to lead a normal life. That is just one aspect of her though; Cure Ace is literally the most important character of the story as the big plot twist literally hinges on her real identity, which is a problem because Aguri is only introduced half way through the show and even then her identity is only revealed during the final episodes.
I knew it! She is an Android!
Because of that, the show seems to hold back on her character in order to not spoil the ending, and that represents a problem because it means that Cure Ace doesn´t really add anything to the show until final arc. That is actually really sad because the secret of her identity has some rather interesting implications that are worth exploring and it even makes the aspects of her that the show did focused on far more interesting. I understand why they did what they did, but I still think that her character could have been executed so much better had they introduced her earlier in the show and added more relevance the her mystery, maybe even revealing the truth earlier and then exploring the implications of who Cure Ace is and her relationship with Regina.
Hey, speaking of the (adorable) Devil.
Does this qualify as ‘Moe’? I am seriously asking.
Now, it must be said that Regina and Cure Ace are two characters very closely intertwined due to plot reasons, and as such Regina suffers from most of the same problems that plagued Ace, but when it comes to actual execution I think that Regina managed to fare better than her counterpart. A lot of that has to do with the fact that Regina was introduced earlier in the show and became a recurring member of the cast before any aspects of the plot were heavily developed, so she didn´t have the kind of expectations that Aguri had to deal with. Besides that, she also had the ‘daughter of the selfish king’ angle to keep us invested in her and gave her something to do even when there was no plot in sight. I know it might seem like I am bashing on Cure Ace, but the fact that Regina had that aspect to develop her character does give her an advantage when compared to the Trump Card of Love.
To be fair, Fire Transformation.
That said, Regina is not without her problems: for one, her characterization on the first half of the show can be quite inconsistent, and while there are plot reasons for that, I feel that it could have been handled better. There is also the fact that, for a character that is fundamental for the main plot, she is only in the show for like 20 episodes. Granted, you can do plenty on that time, but the main problem here is that the show tries to develop a rivalry of sorts between Ace and Regina, something that is actually very relevant to the main plot but that it ends up falling flat since it is really hard to build up a proper rivalry when your characters have had barely any interaction with each other until their final battle.
Which admittedly, was kind of epic.
You know, it might seem that I dislike every character that is not Mana and/or/with Rikka, but for the most I really did enjoyed that cast of DokiDoki; sure, in terms of writing they are all over the spectrum, but it never really reaches the point where a character becomes annoying, boring or a dread to watch. They are not perfect and some of them are one or two issues away of being great, but overall I think that DokiDoki has one of the most solid casts in the franchise, and that is really saying something.
Also, I forgot to mention that Sebastian is Boss, but you already knew that.
Merchandise
If there is one thing that amaze me about PreCure´s merchandise is how Bandai manages to either design a toy line that fits with the themes of the show or throws some random things that the show has to sell in ludicrous ways. Like, remember in Splash Star where they had to carry a PC everywhere? Yeah, I don´t see how they expected for PreCure to sell that in a believable way. Luckily, the way in which they design the merchandise has really improved in recent years; Suite for example, had a Toy line almost entirely based on music concepts and even if the Smile Toys didn´t revolve exclusively around fairy tales, they did focused on makeup and accessories while following a common aesthetic.
I bring this up because in comparison I find the DokiDoki toy line to be quite baffling. The show certainly has great toys, but it’s kind of hard to find a common link between them. Take their transformation item for example, an honest-to-god Smartphone.
Confirmation of Android support pending.
Now, in concept this is actually a great idea since it works as a modern ‘upgrade’ of classical Magical girl paraphernalia, and while it is kind of odd, it is still cool. My issue here is that the next big toy in the show is the Love Heart Arrow, a multifunctional bow and arrow that feels slightly out of place when compared with 21th century technology. Usually I would let that go, but the very next Toys, Cure Ace´s transformation item and weapon, are a jewelry box and a lipstick, so we are barely halfway into the show and we already have three toys that might as well belong to three different toy lines.
Not to mention that Cure Ace kind of got the shaft here.
The cherry on top of this cake of expensive Japanese Toys is the upgrade item for the season, the Lovely pad, a Toy iPad that makes you more powerful and by all means should sell like Pizza, but again, is barely related to the previous items, save for the Lovely Commune. The weirdest thing is that the Lovely pad actually has an upgrade that transforms it into the Lovely Harp, which is a really bad trade off if you ask me.
Especially if it has iTunes.
Let me just say that DokiDoki has by no means a bad Toy line, individually each of these Toys are pretty great, but the odd inconsistency between them seems to be a symptom of one of the minor problems of DokiDoki: the lack central theme. Think about it, they had the whole Love and selfishness thing that did made sense with the Love Heart Arrow and the Love Arp, which were plays on Cupid, but then you have the technological side of the Apple devices and the Card Motif that while well implemented, was hardly relevant to the rest of the toy line.
There were many themes within the series, but none of them were dominant enough nor did they created a common link within the many elements of the show in a solid way, which again, doesn´t make the toys or the show bad, but it does makes it hard to define the series as an entity since there is not one theme that really makes it stand out among the many entries in the franchise.
Battles
Something that strikes me as odd about the battles in DokiDoki is how they managed to incorporate elements from previous series as a way of a homage, and yet most of the time the combat remains unremarkable.
Obvious exception notwithstanding.
The combat is certainly not lacking and it is by no means bad, but save for a few instances it is clear that the action takes a backseat to the story and characters. It is certainly not a bad trade-off, especially on episodes with heavy character focus, but at times I did missed some of the bigger action pieces from series past. Actually, here´s something really interesting I noticed regarding the fighting in DokiDoki: each character dresses differently.
Well duh.
What I mean is, even though they are all part of one team and their outfits do share some common elements, their dresses are quite different from each other, and while I am sure that this is meant as a homage to previous season, I couldn´t help but to notice that each character is dressed in a way that complements their fighting style.
High heels = Flying kick.
Look at Cure Heart for example, she is probably the most balanced fighter and as such her outfit is probably the most practical, but then you have a character like Sword who is more of a vanguard and has a slimmer outfit for better mobility. On the opposite side you have Cure Rosetta who has the simplest dress for a defensive style and Diamond who has arguably the worst outfit for fighting but compensates by being the most intelligent and clever warrior.
Pictured: Cleverness.
Thinking about it, if there is one thing that this show handled really well was the progression of the attacks and power-ups: since this is a toy-driven show, the constant influx of weapons/merchandise is to be expected, but while sometimes a series makes very little effort to shove the toys down our throats in a subtle way, DokiDoki is rather successful at integrating that aspect into the plot of the show.
Obvious exception notwithstanding.
This means there is a steady progression on the threat level of the villains and the power levels of the Cures, which is great because it keeps the show interesting by regularly changing the status quo of the battles, avoids repetition, and creates a tangible sense of the Cures getting stronger as they get better at fighting. It is probably not very noticeable since, again, the battles are not a priority of this show, but at least it avoids those awkward situations when the Cures go for the overkill with their ultimate special attacks against a normal monster of the week for no discernible reason.
This makes so much sense.
When looking at it closely the fighting in DokiDoki is certainly balanced, but again, since the action is clearly not the focus the show does lack some of the bigger action scenes used in seasons like Fresh and the individual, climatic fights from shows like Smile or Max Heart. There are certainly a few of those, but they are usually relegated to the background and the characters moments end up being more relevant. The show certainly has great battles, but most of them take place in the final arc of the show, like the fight against the gargantuan King Jikochu which, in what I am sure it’s a massive coincidence, is a remake of the battle against the Z-Master from GaoGaiGar.
After all, Magical Girls and Super Robots are basically the same thing.
You know what, forget everything I said, the fighting in this show is fantastic.
Villains
The Selfish in DokiDoki are a rather unique group of villains because, without going into spoilers (a ship that may or may have not sailed already), the plot hinges almost entirely on their actions; the whole conflict between The Selfish King, Regina and Cure Ace is basically the entire point of the story, not to mention that the origin of the Selfish is a very big part of the show´s background and mythology. This is why I am so annoyed at the fact that the show didn´t handle them very well.
Take the Selfish king for example: when you really look at his origins, his is a story about a King who falls from grace and becomes a villain, a particular plot that has been used before in PreCure (Mephisto from Suite) but that works better in here since it doesn´t rely completely on a brainwash plot device and it is actually very well thought up. Sadly, the show barely scratches the surface of his character and we only really learn about him on a flashback during the final arc of the series. To be fair, it’s not like I expected for the show to dedicate half of its running time to The Adventures of King Selfish and the three stooges who stood around on his general vicinity, but having him interact with his minions more often and fleshing out his characterization beyond “Big Tower of Evil” would have made the big plot twist way more poignant.
Question: How does not fall? Is there no wind in the Trump Kingdom?
This of course also affects the actual final villain of the show, the Proto-Selfish; while I do admit that keeping him under wraps for most of the show could have made for a clever plot reveal, the fact that we barely know anything about the origins of the Selfish or even understand what they are makes it seem like he is an impromptu final villain that the show made up at the last minute instead of a lurking threat that was there all along. This really goes back to something I mentioned before; the whole plot of DokiDoki depends on a single plot twist, and as such most developments on the show try to build up towards this huge mystery without giving anything away, which is a problem because the Selfish are a big part of it and giving them too much of a focus could compromise the plot.
But enough of that, how about the evil trio of the show, Ira, Mammo and Bel?
AKA Chibi-Takumi, Natasha and Boss Karasuma.
You know, considering the history of this franchise with evil trios, the Selfish Stooges (yes, that´s how I call them) actually fared quite well here, though they were not without their issues; for the most, Ira was a good character to have around, particularly because having a young villain does lends itself to interesting developments, but the best part about his character arc (his relationship with Rikka/Cure Diamond) remained in the background for most of the show and was only relevant a handful of times. Following next we have Bel, who is quite remarkable because PreCure seldom has characters that are pro-actively evil; most villains on PreCure tend to follow the big bad without any real motivation whatsoever, but Bel defied the norm by actually having an ambition that grew along with the story until he eventually became the final villain of the show. It was a really good idea for a character but I feel that the show was not very successful at making him a threatening villain since most of the time he ended up as the butt of the joke, so it was hard to take him seriously even when he became a real threat.
This is terrifying for all the wrong reasons.
And that leaves us with Mammo, who actually got the short end of the stick in terms of villainy since she really doesn´t do anything beyond standing around complaining about things. To be fair, PreCure villains are rarely deep unless the narrative calls for it, but pretty much every other villain in DokiDoki had at least some dimension beyond being the henchmen. Mammo never really went beyond being the woman of the group, a position that quickly became irrelevant the moment Regina was introduced. I don´t dislike her character but she was certainly under used.
Hey, speaking of under used, there were those guys.
Abbot and Costello?*
Leva and Gula where the mid-season villains who only appeared for a few episodes because, eh, status quo I guess? Personally I don´t mind them, they were introduced half way through the show under the excuse that they were busy conquering another world (plothole? what plothole?) and while they do bring an increased sense of threat to the show, their presence becomes ultimately pointless since they were only really there to provide an excuse for the introduction of the Lovely pad. I don´t think they are bad characters and they did have some good moments, but I feel that they were only in there to briefly fill the Regina-shaped hole that was left in the show after the introduction of Cure Ace, so while their presence was an interesting addition it ends up being inconsequential to the overall picture.
The selfish group is an interesting group of villains not because they were an effective evil organization, but because their very nature and personalities lend themselves to develop effective drama in the series: while it wasn´t truly developed, the Rikka/Ira storyline allowed to explore those character´s personalities beyond the scope of good and evil, Bel machinations were quite interesting and a good way to escape from the repetition of the status quo and Regina´s role was a very interesting take on the villain turn-face tradition. As characters, the selfish group brought some interesting dynamics, but as a villain faction I feel that the show could have made better use of them.
*Note: if you are too young to get that joke, don´t worry, so am I.
Final Thoughts...
If I were to describe DokiDoki PreCure, I would say that it was an ambitious show; it had rather high production values, it paid tribute to previous seasons and it had a lot of good ideas that could have revolutionized the franchise. Sadly, that ended up becoming its downfall since they simply could not cram all of those things into the show, so the finished product was riddled with plot inconsistencies, half executed ideas and elements that were introduced and promptly forgotten about. That doesn´t mean it is bad though; for the most, DokiDoki is fairly entertaining, it has a very good pace and some genuinely ambitious ideas that could have really brought the franchise to new heights, but the execution of those ideas was not always succesful. Still, there is plenty to like in DDPC and if you are willing to look past it’s most glaring flaws, you can have a perfectly good time with the show, and then you can presumably write a long rant on the internet about it.
So, what do you think? Is DokiDoki a master piece the likes of which humanity is unworthy? Did everyone forget about the goddamn Dragon they fought? Do i really love Mana that much? Of course i do, why would you even ask that. In any case, leave a comment below if your brave and i will see you next week with the next part of Toku Special!
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