Eva’s First Impression
Space, aliens and magical girls?! It’s my three favourite things all put together!
Star Twinkle Precure starts off with Hoshina Hikaru drawing constellations and summoned the adorable alien she named Fuwa (otherwise known as: Spegasus Pulalan Mofpit Prinsewink). The little fluffy dude ends up being responsible for warping Lala and Puruns to Earth after having detected they were in danger. Apparently they were previously traveling altogether and were somehow separated. The enemy pursuing them are the Notraiders, who are looking to take over the universe through with the help of Fuwa’s powers.
Well this premiere was certainly a wacky one, but in a way, I actually found it to be quite endearing. It certainly made itself clear how this is a series that won’t be taking itself too seriously, especially when you have a heroine like Hikaru who just accepts the craziest things or situation as it is, and just goes with the flow without stopping to think about the potential consequences. I guess you could say this girl is fearless to a certain degree, or maybe we should just say she’s incredibly naive. I haven’t quite developed an opinion on her yet, but I do like her spontaneous, perky personality and wild interests of space, aliens, cults and cryptids. I thought it was hilarious how she readily accepted ‘summoning’ Fuwa as she did, and discovering it wasn’t a dream and nonchalantly chilling with it, oh and boarding an alien ship without knowing where they were going to go!
Lala and Puruns were also introduced, and I liked that they retained Lala’s alien language, using Puruns as the translator between them until Fuwa did something to enable the girls to understand each other. I thought their introduction was hilarious, with the way Lala was nauseated from the rough ride of the hot pursuit and Puruns just grabbing Fuwa and rushing back on board with the intention of leaving Hikaru behind. I am looking forward to learning more about these two next week.
Although the plot of the series hasn’t quite been explained beyond the fact the Notraiders are invading planets in attempt to take over the universe, I am definitely curious about how the the girls defeating the villains will be approached. What I found particularly interesting in the fight between Cure Star and Kappard was how it didn’t involve a “cleansing” process we have been so used to seeing, but rather her final attack (Star Punch) was more of a direct hit to force the enemy to retreat. If this is the direction the series is going to go, I’m definitely excited to see what’s in store for the future, because it will certainly help switch up the formula that has been in use for a while now.
As for the art-style, I don’t know about you but I am absolutely obsessed with it. There is something so fresh about it, that I can almost taste it. Maybe because everything is so fluffy and it reminds me of sweets and candy. I am also a huge fan of the Hikaru’s and Lala’s character and precure’s designs, alongside what we have seen from the villains, they are all popping off. I especially love Lala’s teal palette! However I think it was because of how much I love the art direction of this series that I found myself surprisingly underwhelmed by Hikaru’s Cure Star Transformation sequence. Though I like the sparkle effects and adore her outfit design (especially since it matches her bubbly character so well), it still left more to be desired. To be quite frank, I found it to be quite plain in comparison to others we have seen in the past.
Speaking of the transformation, I wasn’t particularly a fan of the little tune that was added to it. I am sure this wasn’t a problem for others, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t cringe when it started….perhaps it will grow on me in due time. Regardless, it’s not for certain whether or not this is something we will be seeing on a regular basis from here on out. In fact I wonder if it was just a one time thing, because unless they mash everyone’s song together, when it comes down to the group’s transformation, that’s when it can get quite tricky, unless the songs have been crafted specifically to compliment each other to enable a seamless transition between them. Anyhow, whichever way they choose to go with this, in reality it’s an incredibly minor problem that can be quickly resolved with getting used to timing when to slap the mute button, should it become an annoyance to me.
Another thing I am definitely going to have to get accustomed to, or at least learn to bear with it if I am to have any hope of watching this series is dealing with Fuwa’s high pitch squeals. Goodness, the pitch is really sharp. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I weren’t using headphones, but nonetheless, it really irritates my ears. I almost wonder if I am ever going to get used to it, as my hearing is very sensitive to a certain pitches…
Overall I thought this was a super fun episode and I enjoyed a lot. It’s bubbly, weird, crazy, but also charming! I am looking forward to meeting the rest of the characters, and learning more about what kind of story we are in store. I just hope the characters will be properly fleshed out, and better set of villains who will actually play their part properly. But with the ambitions to take over the universe, I don’t think that should be too much of a concern!
Possibility of Blogging: Moderate – As per usual, for long series like Precure, I will give this show up to ten episodes to see whether or not this is a series I would like to blog. It’s certainly a wacky one, so I am curious to see what kind of story we are in store for!
Lastly, before I wrap things up, I do just want to quickly mention the 12 Precures featured in the Opening Sequence. We saw some of them briefly when they deployed Fuwa as their final hope. For those who are curious, I have included the list of who is what below! Additionally, it’s quite fun to see The fun part how their Precure power are based off their horoscopes!
The precure designs were all based off the 12 horoscopes.
*Note: They may not be in chronicle order because it was tricky to capture the screenshots to inspect them carefully!
- Green: Cancer
- Teal: Gemini – Lala
- Light Blue: Leo
- White: Virgo
- Yellow: Libra
- Orange: Scorpio
- Lilac: Sagittarius
- Violet: Capricorn
- Blue: Aquarius
- Rose Pink: Aries
- Pastel Pink: Pisces
- Pink: Taurus – Hikaru
eva another thing that never happened before is there was no monster of the week in the first episode compared to pervious seasons
SNAPS FINGERS* YES, THAT’S IT! I knew I was forgetting something! That was what I thought about it when I was thinking about the past cleansing process!
Another year, another precure,eh? I tell ya, these opening episodes are always the hardest for me to sit through. Here’s hoping thing will be different this time around.
Ever since the Precure franchise was picked up for English dubbing, they started adding the cures’ voices during the transformation starting from Hugtto!
And I don’t like it at all.
This is all because the dub has the girls say “puff! Puff!” or something just as silly during their transformations. Would not be surprised if all future transformations have dialogue just so the English dub doesn’t look awkward if the transformation sequences have no open mouths but there are voices saying “poof” or “puff”.
I din’t understand why Precure has to be called Glitter Force…. they kept Yu-Gi-Oh! And there are games for Precure so was the change really necessary? It sounds so weird to have “Glitter Happy” or “Glitter Whip”… “Cures XXXXX” sounds more logical and cooler.
On second note, is this the first time we’ll have a 12-team Precure as main characters? They’ll be tight in character growth episodes then.
I like the lack of monster of the week- retreats and battles are the reality in wars.
A month ago Berry and I were discussing the same thing! Why in gods name did they rename it? I can’t understand it. It feels like that ridiculous 4Kids era mentality, which considering how global this day and age is, shouldn’t even be an issue. (Also WTF, why would the eng dub even add “poof and puff” to the transformations??!?!?! Did we have magical girls dubs back in the day say such things? I can’t even….)
Yeah I’m not a fan of adding dialogued into the transformation either. Unless there’s a good purpose for it, I don’t see any value in it.
I don’t know if there’s going to be 12 precures as main characters, but I kinda hope not because I’ll be concerned about how each of the characters are going to be fleshed out. I like the theme of the horoscopes, but that doesn’t mean we need all twelve of them…. per say. If they are going to do it though, I really hope they do it right.
if each girl will have her own song during her transformation it will be good in my opinion they will just need to make it a little short as the season goes
I remember it once has something to do with Canada owning the rights to the name Precure, thus the US has to go for the next best possible thing.
The current future with Netflix and Glitter Force is unknown. Sometimes I hear the license got cancelled by TOEI, other times about a new possible season …. I don’t know what to believe anymore.
As for 12 Cures they are no Cures – just 12 Star Princesses.
Also someone on tumblr said the girl with the top hat reminded them on the Oncler in blue.
//As for 12 Cures they are no Cures – just 12 Star Princesses.//
CRISIS AVERTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😂 Nonetheless they all look really cool, so I’d like to see them at some point or another.
We will surely see them again as the official synopsis mentioned they’ve turned into Star Color Pens, the collectible items of the show.
I forgot to mention it has been pointed out that each Cure will be associated with 3 Star Princesses based on their color scheme.
There’s totally going to be a lot of Yuri stuff between Pink and Blue.
One’s a space nerd, the other’s an alien. It’s a match made in heaven.