Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to announce we’re starting off on a new journey, and watching the premiere of a production I’ve been curious about for years now: HeartCatch Precure! I had an absolutely phenomenal time watching through Hugtto with you all, and from what I hear, HeartCatch stands among the very best entries in the Precure catalog. It’s frankly been kinda depressing not having a Precure to be working through, and I’m eager to see what this storied entry in the franchise has up its sleeve.
Based on its main staff alone, it’s easy to see why this entry is so acclaimed. Director Tatsuya Nagamine is a Toei legend, who before his tragic passing handled both Dragon Ball Super and One Piece’s absurdly accomplished Wano arc. Meanwhile, our character designer is friggin’ Yoshihiko Umakoshi, the legend responsible for Ojamajo Doremi’s marvelous designs, alongside such other distinguished projects as Casshern Sins and Mushishi. Beyond that, we’ve got the tantalizing promise of Rie Matsumoto’s debut film awaiting down the line, the project that preceded her triumphant Kyousogiga. I’m eager to see what this dream team has cooking, so let’s not waste another moment, and get on with the Precure!
Episode 1
We open on flowers billowing across a brightly lit hill, rich pastel colors as presumably Precure warriors clash, and a driving soundtrack behind it all. Already we can see the distinct appeal of Umakoshi’s character designs – their simplified, angular forms are easily distorted into pure shapes at a distance, immediately calling to mind the dynamic compositions and visual distortions of Casshern Sins. My god, if this show falls about halfway between Doremi and Casshern, I will be so well fed
Strong contrasting character designs between these black and white themed warriors, alongside smart use of smoke or fog to create a sense of depth and continuous movement in the composition
The one-winged devil look, always a strong aesthetic
The white-colored one is “Cure Moonlight.” Makes sense
She is protecting the Heart Tree. So both nature generally and flowers specifically seem like some of our motifs here
And “Fortissimo,” so music as well. Though I assume that’s common to a lot of Precures – Hugtto was fundamentally centered on “hope for the future,” but for Lulu and Emiru that hope was largely expressed through music
God, these compositions and effects animation are so good! One neat thing about Umakoshi’s designs is that they’re so angular and distortion-friendly that they can directly compliment the effects animation, acting like an extension of or counterpoint to the swirling colors surrounding them
Evil prevails, and the ominous man to the rear states that “the world shall be ours, under the Desert Messengers!” Presumably “Desert” because it represents the absence of nature
Quite funny to see this Casshern-adjacent scene cut to our Precure bunny mascots
Thus they are entrusted with the duty of finding the next Precure
Interesting how this season actually begins with the dramatic sacrifice prologue, really setting the apocalyptic tone before we even get to our protagonist. It would take many episodes before Hugtto started doling out similar secrets
At last we jump to our presumed first Precure, Tsubomi
Her design calls back to Doremi’s roundness, but is otherwise a bit more realistic, favoring relatively grounded proportions over Doremi’s rubber hose limbs. Seems appropriate for this show’s apparently somewhat more serious tone
Apparently she’s been having dreams of that hilltop encounter. Quite a nice painted backdrop as we see their car heading down to a coastal city; I like the loose, rounded swirls of the shading
Tsubomi’s grandmother also has a strong design, with basically all of the lines of her face and outline contributing to this downward-sloping impression. Umakoshi’s designs have a tendency to inherently draw the eye in a certain direction, their matching slopes helping the characters supplement the momentum of an overall composition
They’ve just arrived at Kibougahana
Ooh, love these superdeformed expressions in the OP. There’s that Doremi looseness
It seems we’ll be sticking with two Precures for a while, with a third seemingly attuned to that hilltop from the opening
Terrific blink-and-you’ll-miss-it expressions in the midst of this blue Precure’s attacks. I’m getting strong gremlin vibes from her
Our lead’s full name is Hanasaka Tsubomi
Her parents just opened a flower shop, making it all the clearer we’ve got a flower theme going
“I’m very shy and introverted. But since I’m transferring to another school, I want to change my personality.” Much like Hana from Hugtto. Little surprise there – the idea of personal reinvention through adolescence is basically baked into the magical girl genre, embodied even in the base idea of transforming into a more powerful, confident persona
“It’s a four-leafed clover! In flower language, it means good luck!” Hey, even I know that one
Love her absurd loping walk cycles. This animation is so full of personality – and as with Doremi, it’s capable of manifesting that energy purely through stills, without any fluid animation required
I like how Tsubomi’s opaque glasses act as a sort of social shield, emphasizing her nervousness
Excellent defeated expression as her introduction is immediately interrupted. I like that Umakoshi’s carried over those peeved fish-lips from Doremi
Yep, there’s our loud, squawking second Precure, complaining about Tsubomi’s tiny handwriting
What a shit-eating grin she has. I love her already
Welp, here come the noodle limbs
Her heckler’s name is Kurumi Erika
In spite of her modest introduction, the class gives her a rousing round of applause. An immediate lesson in that – don’t be bound by your fears, as you’ll often find others are actually rooting for you
Another terrific reaction face for Tsubomi learning she’ll be sitting next to Erika. Fun variations on the line weight here, making Tsubomi look like a hastily drawn finger painting
Erika of course immediately strong-arms Tsubomi into a first-name-basis relationship
Erika opens her face like fuckin’ Pacman to steal Tsubomi’s chicken
Lots of neat depth-rich compositions conveying the scale and various activities of their school grounds. Little surprise, given Nagamine’s voluminous approach to One Piece and Dragon Ball
Erika next tries to bully Tsubomi into joining the fashion club, prompting Tsubomi’s first genuine outburst in defense of her own feelings
Our eyecatches emphasize both fashion and flowers, a compromise between our two leads
Erika apparently lives right next to Tsubomi
God, their delightful noodle forms. The base designs are definitely a bit more restrained, but that’s not stopping the animators from turning them into wacky wavy inflatable tube girls whenever the occasion calls for it (which is always)
Apparently Erika also wants to change herself. She is at last chastised for her adversarial friendship techniques by her sister Momo
“You always blurt out what you’re thinking in the moment. It’s a bad habit.” Setting our leads as pretty direct foils, each of whom could stand to learn a lot from the other
More of those great thick line weight close-ups as Erika fumes over her sister’s advice. Highly relatable transition from grumbling her way to the bedroom to just lying dead in bed
This episode is effectively using windows as a sort of emotional partition between our two leads, presenting them as adjacent but consistently separated by the glass – the trick was used effectively during the fashion club scene, and now again for their parallel bedrooms
“The legendary warrior, Precure.” Always interesting to me how the idea of Precures is treated in the show’s own universe. Fantastical yet relatable, mythic yet just out of reach
And at last our mascots slam head-first into Tsubomi, pursued by the nefarious Sasorina
Coffret and Shyprett are our mascots
The Desert Messengers apparently steal people’s “Heart Flowers”
Ooh, I love that Tsubomi just immediately struts over to Sasorina and demands Erika’s flower back, without any further understanding of this situation or powers to speak of. The heart of a hero, even if she doesn’t believe it yet
Of course, she immediately flees as soon as a giant doll monster appears. Interesting that Sasorina was just able to transform a random doll lying on the ground; Hugtto wove those transformations into its main theme, making monsters of those who had lost hope for the future. Then again, I suppose that theme is more widely applicable
Great panning cuts and transitions through this stumbling chase – I particularly like this one transition where Tsubomi’s foot steps in front of the frame, allowing her leg to serve as a wipe to the next cut of her running away
Ah, I see. We actually are doing a similar system, with the doll calling out the frustrations of Erika’s Heart Flower
Truly terrific momentary Tsubomi reactions. They’re so generous with these expressions that you couldn’t possibly catch without pausing
Thus we get our first Precure transformation, which of course takes thorough advantage of Tsubomi’s fluid, mutable character design
“Make up a name, quickly!” Oh my god these useless fairies
And Done
Thus Cure Blossom takes the stage, as Tsubomi soars forth on her journey of reinvention! My god, that was such a delightful premiere on basically every metric. Umakoshi and his team of animators have done a brilliant job bringing Tsubomi’s world to life; while I expected this episode’s extraordinary bounty of reaction faces and character acting, I was also delighted to see compositions and action sequences drawing on his incredibly slick Casshern Sins aesthetic. Our leads also seem quite strong – Tsubomi appears a reluctant leader with a lot of room to grow, and Erika absolutely stole the show with her absurd faces, squawking noises, and implacable approach to making friends. This show already feels like an improbable dream production, and I’m eager to see how Erika handles this whole “my new friend’s a Precure” situation. It’s so good to be back!
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