Pretty Cure All Stars: Singing with Everyone♪ Miraculous Magic! Movie Review

Hello Everyone! Here is my long awaited review of the latest Pretty Cure All Stars Movie!

Synopsis: During the search for the Linkle Stones, Mirai/Cure Miracle and Riko/Cure Magical encountered the Go Princess Precure team in a battle with a fake Dyspear. Soon the girls found out that the previous Precure teams were captured by the Dark Witch, Solcieel and her follower, Trauuma and the girls rushed to save them. However nothing is what it seems to be as...

After the last all Stars movie which is litertally a musical and song montages, Toei decided to tone down the musical numbers with a plot which sounds pretty familiar to most Precure movie plots. Here the focus is Cure Miracle and Cure Magical who were overwhelmed by their seniors Precures and wonder if they could live up to their expectations.

Since the two girls spend about 2/3 of the movie separated in two different places, both of them get to interact with the various Cures. It is a bit of a surprise that the voice cast for the last three teams (Go Princess, Happiness Charge and Doki Doki) returned for this reunion and they did their jobs fairly well. From Cure Princess's reckless fighting to Cure Sword's return back to the microphone (Bless you, Miyamoto Kanako)

Like what Lulu said..it is a Mess!

I actually enjoyed the remaining Pink cures (Melody, Happy, Blossom and Peach) mixing and matching their attacks and opening speech which is both dumb and awesome at the same time. I am pretty sure that the Seiyuus for the four Pink cures were having a lot of fun and "One up each other" in the recording studio.

Now the main movie characters, Solcieel and Trauuma. Solcieel is a talented witch however when her former master did not told her about the ultimate magic spell which instead her master started singing a song that Solcieel misunderstood her and became bitter even after her master's death. With a talking horse man, Trauuma who suggested of getting a Precure's tear to revive Solcieel's master, she set upon to capture the Cures to make them shed a tear?!

Solcieel was blinded by hatred no thanks to Trauuma who convinced her that her master was jealous of her and refused to teach her the ultimate spell. However when Cure Miracle keep hearing a ghostly little girl's singing throughout the movie, she realised that the song could be the ultimate spell by Solcieel's master. (Although I would have wanted Suite Precure to figure it out since they are the Music Experts but then Cure Miracle is this seasons' main team so the voice of reasoning has to be her instead)

Although why Solcieel's master didn't tell her beforehand is partially both ladies' faults. You know in some shows where the master don't tell their student of the ultimate skill and instead go on some wild goose chase or some hint which the student knew nothing about it until the last minute. This movie felt that way. I get it that they are teaching people that don't take things for face value or for granted that everything is served on a silver platter. But seriously, if every time you went to ask a person and the person in return kept answering in a song, it's no wonder that anyone will get angry about it like Solcieel.

Traumma was the big bad which anyone can see it miles away. There were some comical moments where he tried to catch Morufun, Puff and Aroma and was driven away by a pot of Miracle Lights which Toei will never ever explain why are it is there in the first place. Traumma even tried to make the captured Precures to shed a tear by pulling off a sad puppet show and even cutting onions!

As this movie take place pretty early in Maho Tsukai's run so Cure Miracle and Cure Magical's characters were not fully developed since Cure Miracle is the optimistic one where Cure Magical is still a fish out of water character. But somehow or rather, the usual "No matter where we are, our hearts are as one" moment came and the girls were reunited before the final battle.

The final battle was pretty good actually with Solcieel realizing her folly and joining the girls into battle against Traumma. Of course, everything went well with Solcieel wanting to a Magic teacher in the end and the girls spent the rest of the day at the park...

Overall, this movie was a step forward than the previous one with a plot that is mostly familiar to every Precure movie at this point. At least Solcieel is a villain who has a misunderstood past which she redeem herself in the end. The song she performed at the finale "Lullaby of the Mage- Song of Magic" was an excellent song to go with the battle against Traumma that it is a shame the TV series of Maho Tsukai is not having such moments of story telling during this time I am posting this review.

Well, that's all I have to say about this movie. Although it is a decent movie with some good moments, it can never compare with DX3 which is still the best All Stars Movie in my opinion. Until the next all Stars movie which is titled "Precure Dream Stars" which will focus on the new Kira Kira Precure A La Mode team. Until then, see you in the next post!

Maho Tsukai Precure Ep 7 Review and my Thoughts on the Go Princess Precure Movie

Cure Up! Rapapa! Since Kokoda Koji has already done his review on this week episode, I won't talk much about it but rather my thoughts on it plus the Go Princess Precure Movie!

Overall, I felt this episode is what Kokoda explained in his review, the pacing was all over the place and I don't feel the girls are really learning magic. Maybe Mr Issac is really absent minded in his teachings. The girls meeting Loretta voiced by the wonderful Kawasumi Ayako (Saber of Fate Stay Night) was kinda of wasted since her presence is just teaching the girls of all things, making an oyster open it's mouth. You can said it is some kinda of training in teaching patience and one must learn to communicate the oyster with your heart but it also showed how lazy the writers are.

Next was Mirai and Rico (and third wheel Jun) meeting the three young mermaids, Ceci, Nancy and Dorothy. The three mermaids were excited to know more of the outside world since they spent their whole lives under the sea (Pun intended) from Mirai and Rico.

When they learned of the legendary oyster that grant the mermaids the ability to fly out of the water, it reminded me of another anime that did something similar-Macross Zero. It had a similar folk story of how the fish people took the wings of the flying people which enable them to fly. (Pretty dark stuff if you have seen it)

Again, the writers decided to abuse the clique of Mirai and Rico unable to transform without Mofurun and the girls had to spend a few minutes hiding before Morfurun ran out to meet them. The Sapphire Form that the girls transformed is all right equipped with long scarfs. Looking at their battle, it is clear that Sapphire is the speed type which also grant them flight. But the battle is pretty mediocre until their final attack-Sapphire Smartish (What kinda of name is that?) blow up the Yokubal into oblivion although I still like Diamond Big Bang Attack (Which is what I am calling it!)

Guys and Gals, I know we are only into the 7th episode of this new season and it is still too early to tell how the story will progress in the next five or sixth episode but seeing the feedback of viewers, I can tell that Maho Tsukai has really a lot to buckle up after Go Princess's Success. I know that this season is a call back to the original Futari and Splash Star but those seasons has a lot of flaws that didn't go anywhere since Toei was still experimenting the franchise back then. But now Toei is really going the easy route and expecting the same result as Go Princess.

The reason why Go Princess worked is because the characters are real people with real problems. The threat level is high as it is a race against time to find the missing Dress up keys and save the Hope Kingdom. Here in Maho Tsukai, we spent an episode boiling a kettle, chasing paper butterflies and talking to oysters! Toei might want viewers to know more of the Magic Kingdom but no thanks, I rather hang out with Haruka and company at their school any day. There is a lot of flaws I wanted to say about Maho Tsukai but you can tell that I am not enthusiasm about it despite having star power like Horie Yui, Nazuka Kaori and Kawasumi Ayako appearing. (Please bring them back for more episodes!) Hopefully Toei can do something right to make me continue doing the reviews otherwise it is going to be a drag every week.

Anyway the girls are talking to flying Peagasus in the next episode..(Yeah with less enthusiasm) Until then, see you next week for the review. (If you like this style of review, please tell me in the comments!)

Go Princess Precure Movie Review and Thoughts: For the first time, we have three different stories and animation style for this 85 minutes movie. The first is probably my favourite (and the shortest) of Cure Flora meeting some mischievous ghosts and playing a game of Simon Says. The CG animation is so beautiful which I thought there are action figures that come to life. If they do sell such figures and the rest of the Precure family, I will buy it in a heartbeat.

Next is the main story of the girls were tricked (again!) to the Pumpkin Kingdom and the main villain, Warp who is a crazed collection obsession planned to make the girls his collection. Haruka later learn that the Princess of the Kingdom, Princess Pumplulu (voiced by the sweet Hanazawa Kana) is held captive up in the sky and the King and Queen were brainwashed by Warp. There is also some creepy scenes of the natives (who are all pumpkins) being turned into pudding once they are deemed useless. Didn't the girls think for a second they are eating pumpkins people in the puddings?!

As expected, thanks to the power of the Miracle light (merchandising), the girls got the Halloween Key to become the Pumpkin Princess Form and Warp was defeated pretty quickly. Pumplulu didn't have much screen time with the girls since she spend almost 90 percent of the film held captive and the girls were entering a beauty contest in the kingdom.

Finally the last segment using the same animation style in their new ending, after the battle with Warp, Pumplulu gave the girls a doll of Princess Refi as remembrance but something happened and the girls were transported to the Night Kingdom where Refi is a real person and needed the girls' help to save her kingdom from an evil talking pumpkin being named Night Pumpkin.

The story was pretty straight forward with the usual never give up speech and the girls and Refi defeated Night Pumpkin which ended the girls performing their ending song for the people of Night Kingdom and Refi and her parents reunited. (Refi's mother is voiced by Sakamoto Maaya who voiced Asuka in the Go Princess series) Although why the girls were transported to Refi's world is a question that Toei will never answer since the movie ended with Refi's doll being replaced with the Miracle Light.

Overall, it is a bold attempt for Toei to try something different for this movie and it is quite all right since I really enjoyed the first segment. The main story was mediocre since it has been done to death by every other Precure movies before it. The last segment was good except some scenes where Toei probably didn't have time to touch up the girls expressions resulting in some big red rosy cheeks on them.

However, looking at the latest All Stars movies, look like it is going to be a musical again since the main villain (Horse dude) and the movie female lead had a number together like something out of an old Disney Princess movie. Horse dude looked kinda of weak since Puff, Aroma and Mofurun drove him off with the power of the Miracle light in one scene.

Well, this is a long review. Until then, see you next week for the Maho Tsukai episode!

Go Princess Precure Ep 47 Top 4 Moments and Review: My Dream will Never End! (My thoughts on Maho Tsukai Precure and All Stars Movie trailer too!)

Gokigenyou! This is my review of Go Princess Precure episode 47 as we begin the countdown to the last four episodes!

No 4: My wish came true!? I am a Real Princess!?

For some strange reasons, the Flower Castle in the Hope Kingdom is not covered by the Forest of Despair however the surroundings has not changed yet. The girls and Kanata arrived to investigate but Haruka spotted a blue bird calling out to her like the blue bird in her Flower Princess story and was sucked into the castle, trapping her.

When Haruka woke up, she was in the same outfit as the Flower Princess and the blue bird brought her to see the Prince in her story. Haruka accepted everything and started to live the life as a princess. But something is not right...

No 3: Nothing beat the Original!

Haruka was asked by the Prince to plant some flower seeds and the seeds immediately bloom into flowers which Haruka felt something odd. She remembered the flowers that were outside her dorm before they left which she took care of it.

Haruka then explained by taking care and giving love to something, it will be beautiful no matter what it faced. Having flowers that bloomed immediately will never be beautiful as the real thing. The blue bird revealed to be Close in disguise and claimed Dyspear created this world for her since she wanted Haruka out of the way.

But Haruka refused to accept such a world and immediately transform and escape from the castle. At the same time, the other girls were trapped by a Butterfly Zetsuborg but Cure Flora freed them and they started battling.

No 2: To be Strong, Graceful and Beautiful Forever!

Close tried to taunt Cure Flora into believing that after even if she manage to be Grand Princess, her dream will end and she will find no meaning to her life anymore. But Cure Flora did not give in to his taunts and claimed her dream will never end and she will learn to be Strong, Graceful and Beautiful forever in her life.

Cure Flora then used her new Sakura Dress up Key on the Princess Palace calling out Sakura Trobillion to weaken the Butterfly Zetsuborg and the girls finished it quickly. After that, Cure Flora freed the Flower Castle and the Hope Kingdom is restored and Dyspear's castle disappeared...

No 1: You can have Hope Kingdom! Earth is my Prize now!

As the girls are planning to free the natives of Hope Kingdom, Dyspear spoke to them and claimed she is not interested in Hope Kingdom and disappeared. Cure Flora then realised that Dyspear's plan is to turn Earth into another Forest of Despair and Dyspear appeared hovering at their school...

I will try my best to explain this episode since my Japanese isn't that good. The short version is Dyspear knew Haruka's dream of being a Princess and tried to give her a world where everything is within her whims like a real Princess should.

However in the beginning of the episode, Haruka make the perfect tea for everyone and it is due to her hard work in making it. The flowers outside the dorm (not sure of the name) still stood strong despite the winter cold and the flower name mean "Hope". So when Dyspear trapped her in the fake world, Haruka realised something amiss especially when she offered to make tea for everyone but was stopped by the prince and the blue bird as they want Haruka to be a Princess and nothing more which seriously that what most generic Princess does.

When she realised that it was fake with the instant flowers, this is where she know that by taking care and giving love to something, it is worth it and will forever be beautiful. Close tried to use reverse psychology to weaken Cure Flora however she is still angry of what happened just now, she isn't taken aback and came back with a speech that showed how much she matured till now.

Like the previous episodes when she lost her will after Kanata's words, Haruka know that only hard work and determination will make her wish come true as a Princess. But it doesn't mean that she can relax and take it easy. In life, things will forever change and Haruka will need to keep up and learn not just being a Princess but to be strong, graceful and beautiful forever in life. Overall, a great episode for Haruka and an A she is granted like Miss Shamour said!

The Sakura Trobillion's visuals looked nice with all the Sakura petals flying across the screen and the last castle is freed by Cure Flora. But now Dyspear has decided to take Earth as her prize and is hovering outside the girl's school. What is Dyspear's plan on Earth and the girls are forced to transform in front of everyone in order to stop Dyspear!? Join us next week as we begin the final battle against Dyspear and her Zetsuborgs! Until then, Gokigenyou!

Maho Tsukai Precure and All Stars Trailer Thoughts:

When I first heard that the next Precure show is called Maho Tsukai Precure, my thoughts came up with the opening speech of Mahou Sentai Majiranger Opening about Magic, Adventures and Courage which sum up Maho Tsukai Precure in a nutshell. (And every Precure series before that)

Seeing the trailer of the two main girls, Mirai and Riko transforming together with Mirai's stuffed toy bear, Mofurun acting as a catalyst goes back to how Max Heart/Splash Star needed the two girls to become Precures which can be a good and bad thing.

Good is less time on individual transformation, bad is with Mofurun or one of the girls not around, they are screwed which Toei will defintely abuse this plot device a lot. The two girls also aged a bit older when they transform which is similar to Aguri when she become Cure Ace.

After finding out that the story will take place on a magical world rather than Earth is also different from other series but it also mean many things could be alien to us viewers but if they make it interesting, I am all in with this series. Plus I am so happy that Horie Yui is playing a lead Precure this time around which means all the main School Rumble cast are Precures!

If you don't know what I am talking about, Koshimizu Ami played Cure Melody and Tenma, Noto Mamiko as Cure Echo and Yakumo, Horie Eri as Cure Magic and Eri, Nabatame Hitomi as Cure Heart and Mikoto and Shimizu Kaori as Former Cure Twinkle and Akira.

I am make a guess that Maho Tsukai might have a higher rating because of Horie Yui since she has a large fanbase. The last time it happened was with Mizuki Nana/Cure Blossom and Kugimiya Rie/Cure Ace as their fan base is huge and was a boast on the ratings. Great Strategy, Toei!

(Do you think the K-On cast will get into the Precure act since only Kotobuki Minako is Cure Diamond? I know Hikasa Yoko is starting her marriage life and the other three girls are really busy especially Taketatsu Ayana and Sato Satomi)

Although this first trailer doesn't show anything else except their transformation scene, I hope Maho Tsukai will be as good as Go Princess since this season has been a good one so far.

The All Stars movie trailer is nothing spectaular since we already have our two movie villains, A witch and a horse man with the plot of stealing the Precures's tears? Looking from the trailer with Maho Tsukai interacting with the previous four teams make me think the rest of the teams are all dummies. (What do you expect? Toei already spent all the money on making those bags when you buy the tickets in advance and didn't spent on getting more Seiyuus to join the cast)

Until then, see you in the next review! Gokigenyou!