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HEARTCATCH PRECURE - February 7th, 2010

GO! PRINCESS PRECURE - February 1st, 2015

I may be away from home at the moment, but I'm not gonna let that stop me from celebrating milestone anniversaries for two out of three of my favorite Precure series. (The only reason I'm not celebrating Hugtto's second as well is because the whole team hasn't been released yet.)

2010's Heartcatch Precure was a landmark year, catapulting the franchise from a success to a genuine phenomenon with its fantastic characters, more complex story, jaw-dropping fight scenes, its tackling of deeper and more mature themes than they had ever attempted before, and its casting of voice acting legends Nana Mizuki and Aya Hisakawa as Tsubomi / Cure Blossom and Yuri / Cure Moonlight, respectively, cementing a trend that continues to this day. It was the first Precure I watched for any significant length of time (though in the interest of total honesty, I should clarify that I didn't actually finish it until I plunged headlong into diehard Precure fandom with Smile two years later).

It's impossible to overstate how enormously important Heartcatch was and is to both the fandom and to me in particular. Tsubomi was unquestionably my favorite pink Cure for a stunning eight years, and is currently right behind my beloved Hana from Hugtto... I can't express how much it meant to me to have a quiet, bookish introvert as the leader of a magical girl team, one who was just like me when I was her age. Tsubomi is to date the only exception to the rule of Precure leaders being energetic, extroverted, hot-blooded, tomboyish, sporty, or some combination of all of those. Most of those typical pink Cure traits instead went to glorious goofball and reigning Precure Queen of Meme Faces Erika / Cure Marine, whom I also adore beyond all reason. Itsuki / Cure Sunshine was a great first step towards Precure being more inclusive (you can't tell me that she's not genderfluid to some degree), and Yuri gave us the franchise's first Cure who could angst like a pro and be a wicked-cool badass at the same time.

And then there's Go! Princess... ah, GoPrin. While tragically not as critically or commercially successful as it should have been, I will forever defend GoPrin as Heartcatch's equal, something that I used to swear was impossible. In fact, as some of you know, I was sure I would hate GoPrin based on the initial character and story reveals. It blew past my every expectation and didn't stop surprising me for its entire run. There was the story, which turned a potentially cliche "become a princess" plot into a thoughtful examination of what exactly that would entail. There were the gorgeous, movie-quality action scenes, the best in the franchise in my book. There was the Twilight arc, which started with a deliciously hateable new villain, then made her into a tragic victim of an even nastier villain, and concluded with the spectacular birth of Cure Scarlet, still my favorite extra Cure debut ever. There was Hiroshi Takaki's score, especially the epic transformation theme and the genius composition of the violin duet, which accompanies a scene that still makes me tear up. There was Kirara and Towa, whom I shipped hard even before it was revealed that they would become roommates... that one prompted a high-pitched fanboy squeal of sheer glee, let me tell you. And oh yeah, there was YUI MOTHERFUCKING NANASE, she who got 1000% done with having her dreams stolen and turned into monsters, and FrFwho by the end of the series was making the villains pay for it with her own bare hands... the most badass civilian ever.

So yeah, I could gush on and on for many more paragraphs, but instead I'll just wish happy birthdays to these two wonderful series. I proudly point to both of them and say "See, this is why I love Precure." This tribute is a little less elaborate than some of my others, due to time and tech constraits, but I hope it doesn't come off as any less heartfelt.

Figures used:

S.H. Figuarts Cure Blossom

S.H. Figuarts Cure Marine

S.H. Figuarts Cure Sunshine (Faceplate from S.H. Figuarts Super Silhouette Cure Sunshine)

S.H. Figuarts Cure Moonlight

S.H. Figuarts Cure Flora

S.H. Figuarts Cure Mermaid

S.H. Figuarts Cure Twinkle

S.H. Figuarts Cure Scarlet

Flower brushes used:

From redheadstock : www.deviantart.com/redheadstoc… , www.deviantart.com/redheadstoc…

From TheatruMundi : www.deviantart.com/theatrumund…

23 flowers, from artflower.de

Logos used:

FFPreCureSpain fav.me/dclhjv6 , fav.me/dbhvd4n

Description

HEARTCATCH PRECURE - February 7th, 2010

GO! PRINCESS PRECURE - February 1st, 2015

I may be away from home at the moment, but I'm not gonna let that stop me from celebrating milestone anniversaries for two out of three of my favorite Precure series. (The only reason I'm not celebrating Hugtto's second as well is because the whole team hasn't been released yet.)

2010's Heartcatch Precure was a landmark year, catapulting the franchise from a success to a genuine phenomenon with its fantastic characters, more complex story, jaw-dropping fight scenes, its tackling of deeper and more mature themes than they had ever attempted before, and its casting of voice acting legends Nana Mizuki and Aya Hisakawa as Tsubomi / Cure Blossom and Yuri / Cure Moonlight, respectively, cementing a trend that continues to this day. It was the first Precure I watched for any significant length of time (though in the interest of total honesty, I should clarify that I didn't actually finish it until I plunged headlong into diehard Precure fandom with Smile two years later).

It's impossible to overstate how enormously important Heartcatch was and is to both the fandom and to me in particular. Tsubomi was unquestionably my favorite pink Cure for a stunning eight years, and is currently right behind my beloved Hana from Hugtto... I can't express how much it meant to me to have a quiet, bookish introvert as the leader of a magical girl team, one who was just like me when I was her age. Tsubomi is to date the only exception to the rule of Precure leaders being energetic, extroverted, hot-blooded, tomboyish, sporty, or some combination of all of those. Most of those typical pink Cure traits instead went to glorious goofball and reigning Precure Queen of Meme Faces Erika / Cure Marine, whom I also adore beyond all reason. Itsuki / Cure Sunshine was a great first step towards Precure being more inclusive (you can't tell me that she's not genderfluid to some degree), and Yuri gave us the franchise's first Cure who could angst like a pro and be a wicked-cool badass at the same time.

And then there's Go! Princess... ah, GoPrin. While tragically not as critically or commercially successful as it should have been, I will forever defend GoPrin as Heartcatch's equal, something that I used to swear was impossible. In fact, as some of you know, I was sure I would hate GoPrin based on the initial character and story reveals. It blew past my every expectation and didn't stop surprising me for its entire run. There was the story, which turned a potentially cliche "become a princess" plot into a thoughtful examination of what exactly that would entail. There were the gorgeous, movie-quality action scenes, the best in the franchise in my book. There was the Twilight arc, which started with a deliciously hateable new villain, then made her into a tragic victim of an even nastier villain, and concluded with the spectacular birth of Cure Scarlet, still my favorite extra Cure debut ever. There was Hiroshi Takaki's score, especially the epic transformation theme and the genius composition of the violin duet, which accompanies a scene that still makes me tear up. There was Kirara and Towa, whom I shipped hard even before it was revealed that they would become roommates... that one prompted a high-pitched fanboy squeal of sheer glee, let me tell you. And oh yeah, there was YUI MOTHERFUCKING NANASE, she who got 1000% done with having her dreams stolen and turned into monsters, and FrFwho by the end of the series was making the villains pay for it with her own bare hands... the most badass civilian ever.

So yeah, I could gush on and on for many more paragraphs, but instead I'll just wish happy birthdays to these two wonderful series. I proudly point to both of them and say "See, this is why I love Precure." This tribute is a little less elaborate than some of my others, due to time and tech constraits, but I hope it doesn't come off as any less heartfelt.

Figures used:

S.H. Figuarts Cure Blossom

S.H. Figuarts Cure Marine

S.H. Figuarts Cure Sunshine (Faceplate from S.H. Figuarts Super Silhouette Cure Sunshine)

S.H. Figuarts Cure Moonlight

S.H. Figuarts Cure Flora

S.H. Figuarts Cure Mermaid

S.H. Figuarts Cure Twinkle

S.H. Figuarts Cure Scarlet

Flower brushes used:

From redheadstock : www.deviantart.com/redheadstoc… , www.deviantart.com/redheadstoc…

From TheatruMundi : www.deviantart.com/theatrumund…

23 flowers, from artflower.de

Logos used:

FFPreCureSpain fav.me/dclhjv6 , fav.me/dbhvd4n