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This Week in Anime - What's So Great About Tropical-Rouge! Precure?


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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 12:45 pm Reply with quote
I think this is the most fun I've had with a seasonal Precure premiere since Mahoutsukai, everything is so confidently silly. The designs also work great for me but I have the tastes of a gradeschooler when it comes to color.
And oh boy Laura, her inclusion as the typical fairy mascot replacement was bold, puzzling (having such a human-but-not-quite girl in the group messes so hard with the formula) and highly effective. Although sassy mascots are always fun, Milk forever.

While the motivation theme itself is surprisingly weak, the villains have been honestly fun. After watching so many seasons most of the villains (including the Desertrians) just blend in together. So having these lazy guys just half-assedly doing their job with no care or fear, unlike all those other fearful zealots, feels pretty fresh. At least from a basic 6-episode concept, in the long run villains like Wes, Bumbee, Kintoleski or the Star Twinkle aliens are better than any gimmick like this.

Quote:
Where Super Sentai and Kamen Rider doggedly refuse to cast female leads (all you pedants about to type "ShinkenRed" can kindly sit down, you know they did her dirty), Precure has gone so far as to even allow boys to be Pretty Cures!

Now, let's not be too dishonest here: Henry was a cure for about 4 minutes, consciously named himself, was working on borrowed power and in the end it tied in with absolutely the whole world getting a powerup. Although the previous season did feature a guy that was a cure in everything but name, he got done dirty (weren't there rumors that he was supposed to be Cure Pancake but later scrapped?).
Meanwhile Super Sentai has the obligatory female team member or two every season and Kamen Rider features a female Rider every now and then (I think? Honestly I only followed Gaim and the one female Rider there was an antagonist).

Not like there's anything wrong with having a girl superhero team, they're quite rare as it stands, but Precure is definitely not more inclusive than its toku counterparts.
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FireChick
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Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Posts: 2385
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 12:58 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, this article sums up my feelings on Tropical Rouge so far: It's cute and it's fine, though kind of low stakes so far. But Healin Good is way better IMHO. I do really like Coral and Papaya though! They're my favorites so far! Very Happy
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Beansprout Midget



Joined: 17 Apr 2016
Posts: 145
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:13 pm Reply with quote
I've decided to dive back into PreCure again, given it's legally streaming here now (and to indulge the part of me that used to watch old fansubs of PreCure in middle school). This feels really refreshing, and I actually find myself really enjoying this so far. Asuka has also won my heart as my favorite Cure of the season so far. Her shade of red/pink is really pretty, and I love how it matches with the team!

As for Sentai and Rider, KR has been making a lot of interesting strides. Since Gaim, they've had some sort of female Rider in almost every season (save for Ghost/Build/Drive, though should have had Kiriko, but they just didn't). Valkyrie was a main character through Zero-One, and I know Saber just introduced a female Rider as well. If anything, PreCure is a bit of a middle ground between KR and Sentai (which is a bit more traditional and stubborn IMO). PreCure has it's traditions, but it also appears to be taking interesting and new strides within the franchise.
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JoelBurger





PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:22 pm Reply with quote
Beansprout Midget wrote:

As for Sentai and Rider, KR has been making a lot of interesting strides. Since Gaim, they've had some sort of female Rider in almost every season (save for Ghost/Build/Drive, though should have had Kiriko, but they just didn't). Valkyrie was a main character through Zero-One, and I know Saber just introduced a female Rider as well. If anything, PreCure is a bit of a middle ground between KR and Sentai (which is a bit more traditional and stubborn IMO). PreCure has it's traditions, but it also appears to be taking interesting and new strides within the franchise.


Calling Valkyrie a main character is incredibly generous, the show barely did anything with her and she got basically no forms compared to everybody else.

But I feel like people are going to turn on TR pretty fast, especially if they are expecting some big overarching plot or threatening villains. It's our new Smile, just have fun and enjoy the nice characters.
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Horsefellow



Joined: 01 Jan 2020
Posts: 262
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:36 pm Reply with quote
Yuvelir wrote:
I think this is the most fun I've had with a seasonal Precure premiere since Mahoutsukai, everything is so confidently silly. The designs also work great for me but I have the tastes of a gradeschooler when it comes to color.
And oh boy Laura, her inclusion as the typical fairy mascot replacement was bold, puzzling (having such a human-but-not-quite girl in the group messes so hard with the formula) and highly effective. Although sassy mascots are always fun, Milk forever.


Precure is at it's been when it's being fun, energetic, and cute. Tropical Rouge fulfills that superbly. In my opinion the main cast is the best we've gotten in a long time in terms of design and personality.

Quote:
Now, let's not be too dishonest here: Henry was a cure for about 4 minutes, consciously named himself, was working on borrowed power and in the end it tied in with absolutely the whole world getting a powerup. Although the previous season did feature a guy that was a cure in everything but name, he got done dirty (weren't there rumors that he was supposed to be Cure Pancake but later scrapped?).
Meanwhile Super Sentai has the obligatory female team member or two every season and Kamen Rider features a female Rider every now and then (I think? Honestly I only followed Gaim and the one female Rider there was an antagonist).
Not like there's anything wrong with having a girl superhero team, they're quite rare as it stands, but Precure is definitely not more inclusive than its toku counterparts.


Yeah, that attempt at trying to take a shot as toku seemed... really odd... given how many great female ranger and riders there are. In terms of 'good characters of the opposite gender this show is aimed at', Sentai and Kamen Rider have Precure beat easily. Although personally I don't care about guys in Precure. I watch the franchise for cute girls. If the writer wants to include one, sure, do whatever they want, but I'm not going to be pushing for it myself or be concerned over it. Although I'll agree what happened to Julio in A La Mode was super scummy.
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Ming Yi



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 207
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:56 pm Reply with quote
Horsefellow wrote:
Yeah, that attempt at trying to take a shot as toku seemed... really odd... given how many great female ranger and riders there are.


I've been out of toku for a while but the only female rider I remember is Kivala from Decade. There have been female rangers who were the leader of their groups (GekiYellow from Gekiranger) but most of the time it feels like it's in name only.
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FinalVentCard
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Joined: 28 Oct 2018
Posts: 483
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 4:14 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, so like, I may not have been clear about the "female lead" bit--I didn't mean "female characters" at large, because I know there have been plenty of female--and now with Naki in Zero-1, non-binary--Riders. But I meant Sentai teams led by a woman (hence the ShinkenRed remark). And female Riders have a pretty bad track record (to say nothing of there ever being a show led by a female Rider).

I still feel PreCure does a way better job at taking risks as far as its characters and writing go. Provided, I don't begrudge Tropical Rouge for not being Heartcatch--like I said, TR is gonna be someone's favorite and I'll take a bullet for any Cure Flamingo defender who logs in. Smile

Quote:

I've been out of toku for a while but the only female rider I remember is Kivala from Decade. There have been female rangers who were the leader of their groups (GekiYellow from Gekiranger) but most of the time it feels like it's in name only.


Ryuki had Femme, Fourze introduced Nadeshiko in one of the movies, Decade introduced a Female Hibiki-oni-Rider in one of the movies (Amaki), Ex-Aide had Poppi and Nico, Gaim had Marika, Wizard had Mage(?), and Zero-1 gave us Valkyrie. And they all kinda got hosed...
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2251
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 5:56 pm Reply with quote
Jean-Karlo's theory about reacting to Healin' Good is interesting. I don't remember if it was ever confirmed (because this was 10 years ago) but there was at least thought Kamen Rider Fourze was super light and fluffy on purpose as a result of the 3/11 disaster.

And Wizard was...fine? Little underbaked, but had a banger of an opening.
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 6:06 pm Reply with quote
Joe Mello wrote:
Jean-Karlo's theory about reacting to Healin' Good is interesting. I don't remember if it was ever confirmed (because this was 10 years ago) but there was at least thought Kamen Rider Fourze was super light and fluffy on purpose as a result of the 3/11 disaster.

And Wizard was...fine? Little underbaked, but had a banger of an opening.

A similar theory was sprung about Suite Precure, which was a bit acid since Hibiki and Kanade were constantly at odds and Siren was pretty angsty for a talking cat. One earthquake later, the tension between those two was gone and everyone became much goofier.
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StarFan13



Joined: 06 Aug 2017
Posts: 336
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 6:20 pm Reply with quote
toei brings me a new magical girl anime where mermaid melody meets makeup
i mean they already made a Tokyo Mew Mew look-a-like in a form of KiraKira A La Mode. back on 2019 i wanted to have a space-themed season that have the main girls named after a planet like sailor moon's sailor guardians but tuns out they named them after some other space-related things like Star, Milky, Soleil, Selene and Cosmo. at least toei want to a make new precure season that's themed after cyberspace or somthing for 2022


Last edited by StarFan13 on Thu Apr 08, 2021 11:20 pm; edited 2 times in total
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AmpersandsUnited



Joined: 22 Mar 2012
Posts: 633
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 7:11 pm Reply with quote
Yuvelir wrote:
A similar theory was sprung about Suite Precure, which was a bit acid since Hibiki and Kanade were constantly at odds and Siren was pretty angsty for a talking cat. One earthquake later, the tension between those two was gone and everyone became much goofier.


These series are written and planned a long time in advance with a lot of behind the scenes production They have to figure out all the different characters, their upgrades, and plan when the merchandise comes out to manufacturers and retailers well in advanced. That's how we usually get leaks for tokusatsu shows - toy catalogs that show up well in advance.

spoiler[Heck, we already knew who the 5th Precure in Tropical Rouge was before the series even aired]

I think it's unlikely Suite was changed in any major way as a result of 3/11. I think Suite was always meant to be the way it is. A very laid back and low stakes series. Trio de Minor were goofball villains right from the get go spoiler[ until their upgrade forms later, anyway]
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FireChick
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Joined: 26 Mar 2006
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 7:47 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I think it's unlikely Suite was changed in any major way as a result of 3/11. I think Suite was always meant to be the way it is.


I know one scene in episode six did get altered because of the earthquake, but that's about it. I say this as somebody who really likes Suite.
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AsuraTheDestructor



Joined: 24 Dec 2013
Posts: 466
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 8:05 pm Reply with quote
AmpersandsUnited wrote:
Yuvelir wrote:
A similar theory was sprung about Suite Precure, which was a bit acid since Hibiki and Kanade were constantly at odds and Siren was pretty angsty for a talking cat. One earthquake later, the tension between those two was gone and everyone became much goofier.


These series are written and planned a long time in advance with a lot of behind the scenes production They have to figure out all the different characters, their upgrades, and plan when the merchandise comes out to manufacturers and retailers well in advanced. That's how we usually get leaks for tokusatsu shows - toy catalogs that show up well in advance.

spoiler[Heck, we already knew who the 5th Precure in Tropical Rouge was before the series even aired]

I think it's unlikely Suite was changed in any major way as a result of 3/11. I think Suite was always meant to be the way it is. A very laid back and low stakes series. Trio de Minor were goofball villains right from the get go spoiler[ until their upgrade forms later, anyway]


It was actually confirmed in later interviews that Suite was intended to be a fairly dark season, and 3/11 DID change it a lot.
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JoelBurger





PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 8:06 pm Reply with quote
AsuraTheDestructor wrote:

It was actually confirmed in later interviews that Suite was intended to be a fairly dark season, and 3/11 DID change it a lot.


Got a link to the interviews? Would be interested to hear the specifics.
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 8:14 pm Reply with quote
AmpersandsUnited wrote:
These series are written and planned a long time in advance with a lot of behind the scenes production They have to figure out all the different characters, their upgrades, and plan when the merchandise comes out to manufacturers and retailers well in advanced. That's how we usually get leaks for tokusatsu shows - toy catalogs that show up well in advance.

I think it's unlikely Suite was changed in any major way as a result of 3/11. I think Suite was always meant to be the way it is. A very laid back and low stakes series. Trio de Minor were goofball villains right from the get go spoiler[ until their upgrade forms later, anyway]

Well, it isn't THAT hard: as long as you keep the toys, character designs and voice tone, the production comitee will be happy. Of course it's still a swerve hard to pull off because of animation lead-in times but these were extraordinary circumstances. Goofy seasons like Fresh and Smile (huh) started out way goofier than Suite.
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