[DreamSword]

KiraKira Pretty Cure a la Mode

I finished my second dive into the Pretty Cure franchise!

This time with the season that directly proceeded my first exposure to the series in Hug: Commonly affectionately referred to as Furry PreCure.

And while I didn't like it as much as Hug, I still had a fun time with it for what it was as a more simplistic magical girl show that still manages to throw in some rather nice messages and themes throughout.

Using sweets as its primary vehicle, the show is all about the importance that hobbies and the sharing of them with others are in our lives. The love of baking is not only what brings our cast together, but is what allows them to explore various avenues of their own lives and grow as people.

What is particularly interesting about that in terms of the show's' plot is that the final few episodes of the show have the plot slowly transition into the themes that would be fully explored in the next PreCure season: Planning for your future and the importance of not giving into nihilistic despair. To the point that the final episode almost feels directly out of Hug.

And on both of those notes, my favorite character this season ended up being Yukari, or Cure Macaron. To me she was a much better take on the sort of character that was attempted with Tsukasa from Kamen Rider Decade. The majority of her arc is about how many people will only find value in others based on outward appearances and natural ability as shallow tasks, and how important it is to find love not only in yourself, but for yourself.

She's someone who's so naturally gifted at everything she does that she grows bored with life, and all the praise she gets showered with feels entirely fake. It's only when she attempts to bake macarons, noted to be a higher level sweet to bake, and fails at it that real passion begins to blossom within her, and her working with the other patisserie in the Pretty Cure that she not only finds love in the romantic sense, but looks inwardly at how she treats not only those around her, but also herself. "Beauty and excitement" are her core values, afterall.

And even if she didn't have a great character arc, she's just in general a really fun character to watch. Her primary attitude with almost any given situation is looking at it and going "Can I have fun with this?" and she almost always proceeds to in a way that messes with everyone that's really funny or cartoonishly petty to the point of hilarity. She's very much framed as the token evil teammate early on, but none of her actions are really heinous or mean spirited to the point of making her unlikeable. That she ends up in a romantic relationship with Akira is just icing on the macaron.

Outside of that, while not as physically involved as many other Pretty Cure shows, the fights in KiraKira are still rather fun to watch, with alot of the magic flung around being used in rather creative ways most of the time and rather nicely animated to boot. Chocolate that's molded into a sword, a giant macaron turned into a buzzsaw, ice cream turned into a storm of icicles, the list goes on. All while set to a rather well done musical score throughout the entire anime. Again, not as good as Hug in my opinion, but still done well overall in a way where I have no real complaints. Though sadly some of the best songs are soundtrack only.

Now, is it a perfect show? No. There's definitely fumbles here and there such as one character's' mother being treated like a saint despite her being totally neglectful of her daughter, the conclusions of certain arcs being rather unsatisfactory, and the ending being somewhat contentious. But, none of these made me think of the show any less and I still had an overall fun time watching it. As such, I give PreCure a la Mode a 4/6. Is it anything super deep or amazing? No, but it is an overall fun ride from start to finish with fun action and equally fun and endearing characters while still having some surprisingly solid looks into some slightly more mature aspects. And hey, if representation is your thing, this show has a cast full of lesbians, and one of the Cures is even autistic. Points for that.

It's a good time all the way through, and I do recommend checking it out.