In some ways I do still regret not continuing to cover Idol Precure weekly. I don’t like to leave anything unfinished unless we’re talking about sequels. Since sometimes I don’t necessarily want to pick up the sequel to a show that I did cover at one point. But Precure seasons are continuous so it feels different. At the same time though, I do feel ok with that. I’m having a lot of fun talking about the shows I did pick up for the summer. And I think it’s better to talk about something I’m really engaged with. There’s more to say in that case.

This was really good

I really enjoyed the dynamic with Zakkuri and Wink. Ships in Precure can sometimes be a bit contentious depending on who you talk to, but I like what we got with them. It was mostly a two episode arc with just Nana and Zakkuri, but it worked. Her kindness reached him when he was at his lowest point and in a position to actually be moved by it. Zakkuri had been brutally beaten down by his boss to the point where he just couldn’t keep going. All it took was some pure goodness and Zakkuri was able to start on his redemption arc. And even when he pushed back or argued with her she didn’t break down over it. She was impacted by things like him saying he hated her, but not so much that she couldn’t see the bigger picture.

Girl meets…mecha?

It’s the classic rich girl and rough working class guy ship. Just with Zakkuri being rather tsundere towards Nana. What made it work was Nana’s pure determination. Even with Meroron talking about light and dark not mixing or Zakkuri literally being turned into a monster of the week…she didn’t wilt under the pressure of the situation. She could see the goodness in him when he was visibly frustrated over getting her handkerchief dirtied by the muddy water. The fact that he carried it at all said plenty to her anyways.

Their back and forth while he was still a monster was great. Both were happy to throw the “zakkuri/roughly” into their conversation just bantering wonderfully. It really showed how much Zakkuri had been on Wink’s mind and how much she wanted to help him. She wanted to understand him and get across to Zakkuri that he can do more than just be a villain. Wink was the first girl to really try to learn about him and Zakkuri was the first guy that Wink had tried to learn about to this degree. You can and I will read way too much into this and treat it as the start of an adorable ship. Not that I expect to see Zakkuri around that much going forward. Cutty hasn’t been seen since he stopped fighting either. The good thing is that the Zakkuri and Wink connection just fit.

I get what they wanted but…

One reason I did step back from this season of Precure in terms of blogging was just this lack of…agreement with the direction the story wanted to go. In general I’m fine with Purirun getting her memories back. But I didn’t want that to happen too fast. And if it did happen…then I wanted there to be consequences. Purirun should have even temporarily lost her Precure powers due to violation of the cost of her wish. But they didn’t do that. I get that Precure is aimed at a younger audience. But I think even a younger audience can have an emotionally impactful story. The writers were setting that up with how heavy they made the scene where Purirun and Meroron wished for power in the first place.

With Meroron it was mostly the same. There was more of a cost since she was trapped in the darkness for a bit. But it still wasn’t that much of a cost since she was freed in the next episode. If they could just allow themselves to actually do a (temporarily) Evil Precure there is so much this franchise could get right. We saw it with Hirogaru and it’s the case here. They tease the idea and then just don’t do anything with it.

I just want more of her

Idol is getting to the point where we do need to start seeing the main villain doing more. It was cool when she attacked Cutty. And I liked her trying to recruit Meroron. Those are good moments. But we still don’t really know what Darkrine wants or what she’s even actively doing at this moment. There’s very little pressure being applied to her followers. And we’re also in a bit of a strange moment where the leader of the minor villains group is still there and kind of launching attacks. But her replacement is also right there and creating monsters of the week using a completely different method. It’ll be interesting to see where things end up going and what moves the villains are going to make. For most of the show they haven’t been aiming for anything specific. It’s just about turning the world dark…and everything else is unneeded.

I like the idol stuff

I still love how this season is just embracing the idea of making the Precure into idols. They throw out some idol related episodes most days and it makes for a very relaxing show overall. Serious stuff doesn’t stay for too long. Even if there’s a whole world that’s been turned to darkness and it’s people having been trapped in crystals. There’s just no rush with this show. They get ribbons each time they defeat a monster of the week and the cast aren’t hurrying this along. It would be cool if at some point the Precure having widespread popularity was used in some way.

The solo finishers are so good

One thing I’ve really missed as the show has gone on has been the solo finishers. Many seasons of Precure do move the group into doing larger group finishers and that’s generally fine. What’s lost really between one flashy attack versus one that has the whole team partaking? But in this case there’s a real sense of loss. Each finisher was a performance. And there’s something missing when you don’t get Kyun Kyun’s specific song. A larger group song is nice to hear. But you do lose something when you combine all those voices together. The finishers aren’t long enough for each girl to get a verse or a few lines to sing solo. They basically have to jump right into the chorus and finish the enemy.

Thankfully the show has shown the solo finishers on occasion since the last time I talked about this show. But it is a very rare occurrence. But I do appreciate that they have tried on occasion to let those finishers shine. I still consider them some of the best songs in the show.

Give me more Kyun Kyun!

One thing I do have a frustration over is Kyun Kyun. The show hasn’t done anything with her. The Kokoro birthday/mother’s day episode was the last major focus she’s had in the show. At this point Kokoro has been reduced to the “idol expert” of the series and that’s it. She’s there to explain to the cast and the audience the various terminologies and aspects of idol fandom. Kokoro is good at that to be sure. But…they’ve just given her nothing else.

Idol was central to the Cutty and Purirun situations. Wink has been very important to the Zakkuri and even the Meroron situation. She has had a lot of good moments to shine. But Kokoro? I don’t know what the story is going to do with her or what it can do with her. The other girls had a faerie to connect with and/or an antagonist to connect with. But they are running out faeries. Is Kyun Kyun going to get a random connect with Chokkirine? Maybe! That’s about all I’ve got right now. I do hope the story doesn’t forget to do something with her. Giving her great focus early on is perfectly fine. But her character arc has basically been in park for an entire cour. Give the girl something to do!

We’ll see where this goes

It’s been nice trying to work out my thoughts on where Idol Precure is right now. It’s doing fine overall. There are elements I’d be happy to nitpick at and I’ve done so here. But it’s overall a good season of Precure. The action has been solid and there’s just something satisfying about magical girls throwing down against these silly monsters. I do hope this season nails it with the villain. One thing Precure has struggled with lately has been the villains. But there’s still time for it to get that right. I don’t expect to come back to cover the show again for the Fall Season. But I did want to catch up on where the show is right now.