Final Impression
Happiness Charge Precure! has finally come to an end… *SNIFFLES* My heart, my emotions! The finale was all what it needed to be, action-packed, captivating and most importantly, heartfelt. I couldn’t have been happier with how they wrapped up the series after last week’s horrendous episode. And truth to be told, the first thing that crossed my mind was, “THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LAST WEEK!”. Megumi’s ultimate Precure form was entitled Forever Lovely and as I mentioned last week, she looked absolutely stunning in that form. In fact, I was sadden that we only had the chance to see it for two episodes. Hands down it is my favourite Precure design to date.
In the end, even in her ultimate form, Megumi was not able to restore the Red planet with the power of love. Instead it will require Red teamed up with Blue and Mirage to help bring life back again. (Much to my surprise, it turns out that Red is actually Blue elder brother (since he isn’t a counterpart, I am now convinced that they are twins). Red became jealous of Blue’s planet after his has died out and was consumed by that darkness.) Since Blue decided to assist his brother, he leaves Earth with Mirage and entrusts the girls and Seiji each a crystal of love to help them if danger were to ever come again.
With the worlds saved, Hime’s homeland is now restored and her parents are free. However Hime announces that she intends to continue living in the city until they graduate. I have to say, it is a good thing that they brought it up because I had completely forgotten about the Blue Sky Kingdom! We were also given the opportunity to see what had became of the three generals after they had disappeared while they were cleansed. Oresky turns out to have been a police officer, Namakeruda is a civil worker who had suffered from a heartbreak, and Hosshiwa is a daycare or school teacher.
There are a lot of moments that I wanted to discuss, but I ended up breaking it down into the top five highlights!
Top Five Highlights of the Finale
#5 Forever Lovely VS Red
This episode was definitely one of the best animations this series had to date. Was it as cinematic as some of the other eventful episodes, not quite, but it still nailed it. It was incredibly dynamic, fluid and thoroughly captivating to watch. I loved how at times it looked almost as if Megumi was simply dancing with Red, but in reality it was her just being a boss, singing a love song (aka: trying to persuade Red to believe in love again).
#4 Megumi and Seiji
They had a small moment at the end of the episode, where Seiji asked Megumi what she would do with her crystal that Blue had given them. She tells him that when she finds someone who is precious to her, she will give it to them and Seiji too shares the same sentiment. It is up in the air of what it means to see Seiji’s crystal (turquoise (since Hime had blue)) beside Megumi’s (pink) in the final shot.
As you know, throughout the entire series, I have always appreciated Megumi x Seiji’s relationship, both platonic and one-sided love. I find it is something that a lot of magical girl series these days do not have in their stories. Happiness Charge Precure showed us how when it is well executed, a friendship with a boy who who is an ordinary human harboring one-sided love towards the heroine can still work out even though they do not end up together. Sometimes writers feel like the boy and the girl have to end up together, they have to fall in love! While I certainly would have loved to have seen Megumi x Seiji romance happen, I am more than satisfied with their authentic relationship as irreplaceable childhood friends.
#3 Megumi getting closure on her unrequited love with Blue
I found this to be incredibly important and potentially an underrated moment because it’s something that they had almost slipped under the rug. With so much going on, it’s easy to forget that Megumi is still dealing with a heartbreak. Seeing her say goodbye to Blue was exactly what needed to happen.
#2 SS Phantom x Yuuko is alive!
Okay so I admit it, it’s my shipper bias making this ranked #2. I don’t care what anyone says, these guys are fucking canon. I SCREAMED internally (if I did aloud then I would’ve woken up the entire neighborhood), flailing how Phantom is capable to take on his human form. He may be a fairy, BUT THE SHIP IS STILL SAILING!
#1 Forever Lovely embracing Red
This is my number one favourite moment because it was such a simple gesture, similar to how she had embraced Seiji, but there’s a sweetness that I can’t get enough of. It was such an incredibly precious moment, that I actually teared up. And damn it, not gonna lie I had a “Oh no, I ship it” moment. Seiji x Megumi still my OTP though! 😉
Happiness Charge Precure! was an absolute pleasure for me to have covered for the past year and I am so happy that I was able to complete it. What kept me hook with this series was the story/plot. There were maybe six… at most, heck maybe even less filler-like episodes! So because the majority of the episodes all were either plot or character related, it never grew boring. It also helped that the pacing was incredibly well done, and the characters were likeable.
While Happiness Charge revolves around Happiness, Love was the core of the series and I loved the way they had explored it. They explained and showed us how Love is like a double-edge sword. It is responsible for our joy and pain. I appreciated how they explored that with making Megumi, our precious heroine face unrequited love, and showing the audience that even though your heart hurts, you will be able to get through it and continue on with your life. With Red they addressed how life can be short, and all good things, even love is fated to come to an end. We were reminded that when that happens, it is important to cherish the good memories, carry on the love you were given, the love you gave back instead of being shackled down the pain and grief it had caused.
Overall Score! 9/10
Story/Plot: 9/10
Characters & Development: 8/10 (Two points deducted due to lack of development for Yuuko and mixed opinions about Iona’s character execution. I feel like there were times when she hogged the spotlight too much).
Animation Quality: 9/10
Original Soundtrack: 10/10 (hey they had musical moments, I can’t say give them less than a ten!)
I absolutely recommend Happiness Charge Precure to anyone who loves enjoy Precure or just magical girl series in general. It has an engaging storyline, charming characters, good character development, and really went above and beyond with the animation quality this time round!
It now is time to pass the baton to Go! Princess Precure!
I pushed through 15 episodes on Sunday in order to catch up and be ready to watch this finale when it came out.
In terms of final fights, this one was interesting, although the attacks themselves were by no means the most powerful I’ve seen for final-form Precure/final-bosses in Precure series to date. But really, that makes sense. Lovely is strong and unwavering, but her strength isn’t about beating the ever-loving crap out of her enemies, but about accepting them, accepting everyone, and loving them all despite everything.
So, this series is kind of in an odd position for me. Heartcatch Precure was the first Precure series I watched, but it has been on hold somewhere in the mid-30s of episodes for a good two years or so in my backlog by the time this series started. This was the second Precure series I started watching, and it was entirely thanks to seeing your reviews here and the images reminding me of Heartcatch. But when I started there were only 4 episodes out, so I quickly ran out of stuff to watch. I remembered that you had begin reviewing DokiDoki Precure in the past, and that it had looked interesting to me at the time, and THAT spurred me to look into all the Precure series. I started with the modern stuff, from Heartcatch forward, and then went backward from the same point. The only one I didn’t watch was the original Futari wa Precure, and its direct sequel, because I could never get into it. Finally, I finished Heartcatch itself (started first by years, finished last, terrible way to watch a show). All of that was done while Happiness Charge has been airing.
So… I can say that Happiness Charge Precure is simultaneously only the second Precure series I’ve watched, and the NINTH that I’ve finished. 😛 A little nuts, huh?
I don’t know what to think about Go! Princess Precure yet, although the previews don’t make it sound like something that has the sort of strong emotional core that Happiness Charge has had. Hard to say at this point, though.
Thanks for seeing this through. It’s been good to read your reviews on the series. 🙂
Thank you! <3 And major props to you! That's like 100 episodes marathon!!!!
That's what made the fight so captivating! It was beautifully done, though at times I couldn't help but laugh because she was just beaming throughout 99% of the fight. They did a great job with Megumi's arc, it's probably my top favourite precure arc to date.
Go! Princess Precure PV makes the series questionable for me, but as per usual I will certainly be giving it a go. I am hoping it will strike nostalgia because there are elements in the synopsis and PVs that reminds me a little bit of Puchi Puri Yuushi and Fushigiboshi no Futagohime. However my biggest concern is whether or not it will be as plot heavy as Happiness Charge, because it's having plot that makes it easier for me do the coverage and most importantly, keeping me hooked till the very end.
Great review! I think I agree with you on everything! So much love for this series!
honestly, out of all the years of watching precure. Happiness Charge was honestly and very misunderstood series. It’s was either watching
cause your a devoted or big fan of the franchise or skip it cause it looks like something your seen already. Happiness charge stood out the
most for most for the lovely characters and the lack of fillers. Of course there was it’s flaws with the development of hosshiwa and yu-yu., but i really glad i found this blog and i really enjoyed reading your reviews and i really can’t wait on my 5th year of precure.
Watched all movies live performances and prays to be the first male precure (haha, not kidding).
Go! Princess will hopefully have the plot engaging story the Dokidoki precure failed to do (still watched it tho).
Hahahaha, a male Precure! Wouldn’t that be something to see! And if he can never be a precure he can at least be a Fairy, Prince or a God!
Thank you for your kind words <3
I too hope that they will have a plot engaging story again. With Happiness Charge being their 10th Anniversary, they definitely kicked it up a notch to make it special. I would love to see that quality in in the next and future Precure Series.
I agree on your review, thus Happiness Charge was already enlisted to my best personal season finales along with Futari wa, Max Heart, Heart Catch and Smile; and was my 7th season that I done watching from the Pretty Cure series. Nah to me that finale is kinda better still than in Doki Doki!’s own finale. That Cure season almost completely changed my fandom or in literal terms, being a big fan of Pretty Cure for almost a decade now because that I’ve already cosplayed as Seiji (the 1st supporting character I portrayed in my cosplay career), then Iona’s sis Maria/Tender in karate form and most recently, Red, the 1st bad guy-gone-good character I portrayed also in the industry.
To me of all the characters apart from Megumi and the rest of the Happiness Charge Cures, Ribbon, Glassan, Blue-sama, Mirage, Phan-Phan and Red, the most one everybody was talking about is Seiji. He maybe an ordinary human being, but he has some extraordinary stuff that made us shock and surprise in an instant like yeah, his karate. His own confession of love to Lovely for me was really, really different from some anime and TV shows I’ve watched in terms of romantic plot though. I think the best trademark outfits Seiji has for me were the red hoodie, summer and dark/Phantom Knight forms (Gosh, why was that Phantom Knight form make Seiji so hot still up to this day?!)
In my point that the good part was none of the villians were killed, just healed. I really enjoy HnCPC so much, but of course we must understand the lines that taught us left by Lovely and co and should always put ’em into our hearts and minds so we can use these in our real world everyday living. Man, that fight between Forever Lovely and Red was pretty intense and intently a do-or-die one for the universe’s sake! And I was surprise that he and Blue-sama are brothers in which I was correct. Also, Phan-Phan can still be a human; Hosshiwa as a daycare teacher, Namakeruda as an employee and… THAT OFFICER ORESKY OH MY GEE!!!!
I think that Happiness Charge made a big effect on me not just as a Cure fan but also it made a full-blown comeback in cosplaying after a more than 3-yr hiatus. Kudos on your review, sis! 😀 I hope Go! Princess would do something different and special from all the seasons combined, especially we have a youngest Cure leader that is Haruka/Flora.
Oh absolutely! Seiji’s character is without a doubt one of the few things that makes Happiness Charge so special and different from the previous series. His loyalty towards Megumi even when if it meant breaking his own heart to help support and later mend hers was simply precious. It made me happy how he was an active member of the team despite having no special powers.
(And gosh, Seiji was smoking hot in the Phantom Knight outfit)
Let me count for Seiji’s appearances, 1, 2, 3… Oh God! Freaking 36 episodes out of 49! That’s what I called a new record for a supporting character in the Cure series, ugh dammit!!! But I ain’t don’t know if somebody could do the break that unexpected record. Of course, I already dubbed Happiness Charge as the “season of various dark forms” because we’ve had already seen dark versions of important characters like Phan-Phan (Phantom/Cure Unlovely), Tender, Mirage and Seiji; and “SSS” or the “Seiji Sagara Season.” XD
I’d say kudos to the peeps who behind HnCPC, not to mention the Filipino-Japanese seiyuu Megumi Nakajima for a very good job in doing Lovely (and her voice, both acting and singing, is sooooooooooooo damn cute and awesome! And because of Pretty Cure, particularly Happiness Charge!, I already became her instant fan.), Megumi Han for her not-so ordinary cuddled voice to Hime/Princess, Rina Kitagawa for her as-sweet-as-a-honey-candy voice as Yu-Yu/Honey and Haruka Tomatsu for striking the season as one of the most challenging projects in her career being Iona/Fortune!
Also to the mascots’ seiyuus like Naoko Matsui and Miyuki Kobori for delivering cuteness voices of Ribbon and Glassan; the hot voicing guys like Ryousuke Kanemoto for kicking out his fame into the next level because of Seiji, Shouma Yamamoto for his oozy-ness as Blue-sama, the veteran Kazuhiko Inoue for making me pissed internally and external as Red (but I really his voice, very timeless even at his 40s), Hirofumi Nojima for showcasing his voice once more this taking Phan-Phan, Takehito Koyasu for taking part of being Oresky and Tetsuo Kanao for his hard work just to give us the very lazy Namakeruda, and oh! Special mention to Akemi Okamura for her lady-like voice postures as Hosshiwa.
Hiroshi Takaki’s music in the Cure series to me was mostly reminds me on the ones from Naoki Sato in the 1st 5 seasons. But come to think of it that I really like his OSTs so far, especially the transformation music of Doki Doki! and Happiness Charge! as well as he did composing for “Yuuki ga Umareru Basho” (Where Courage is Born) for the movie and even “Innocent Harmony.” Anyway, kudos to Takaki and yet he’s still gonna deliver us some more OST music as Go! Princess will be his third season-in-a-row!
Are you going to review Go! Princess Pretty Cure?
I always wait for Doremi-Subs which had just came out late last night, but I had to get some sleep because I am sick atm. I am almost done the entry, so please look forward to it. :3