How many episodes are out now?

I think they're up to episode 20 now. 

Doki started sucking around episode 15 so I might be in the clear.

And yes, Pwincess is a cute patoot.



From what I hear they're really downplaying Megumi's role as the leader, to the point that it's more Pwincess's story than hers. I guess they were afraid of pulling another Mana.

Well I've just started up episode 3 of HaCha and so far I'm pretty pleased with it. I want to bop Cure Fortune on the head and tell her to stop being so harsh, but I already know why she's acting that way AND MORE IMPORTANTLY she develops out of it. I CANNOT STRESS THAT ENOUGH how important it is with characters. Simply explaining why they behave the way they do doesn't give them a free pass to keep doing it. A good character has to grow beyond their negative traits.

That was actually a beautiful scene where the jewel reacts to Megumi's feelings before her first transformation. This is what I want to show to people who say "Normal MG shows don't question why it has to be young girls." In this case it doesn't HAVE TO be her, she specifically wants to protect people. 

So it's not so much that Madoka is the only one that questions the idea. It's the only one that gives the viewers a reason to question it, since it's usually apparent to anyone who actually watches a Magical Girl show.

Megumi and Hime are both quite precious, but I can see why the fandom wants the former to chill with her ridiculous manner of speaking. "Boomin'?" Well it's unique I guess. And I'd rather have a Megumi than a cynical protagonist who is perfectly okay with letting the monster of the week rampage and hurt people because they would get a better reward for it.

I love when characters are usually timid and awkward to talk to, but the moment their particular interest comes up THEY WONT STOP TALKING. They get so wrapped up in talking about the thing they love that their shyness just vanishes, and best of all, the other person doesn't make fun of them for it.

Hime: I care a lot about fashion!

Fandom: OMG ERIKA RIPOFF!

Yea. Aside from the fashion and making quirky (though distinctly different) faces, they're completely different characters. Do wish we could get at least one scene where Hime and Erika gush together about fashion.

And now I'm currently watching episode 33. So I'm going to be mentioning potential spoilers as far as that.

I'm a little short for words, there's been almost no discussion about the show since it aired. If there was one thing I would change about it, it would be to remove at least some of the romance. 

I don't care that it's het, just that it seems to be all over the place. The whole thing with Hime supposedly liking Seiji and then finding out she doesn't really like him, that seemed unnecessary. And then Yuuko's love story turns out to be about a dog. My face got palmed. I really hope there's more to Queen Mirage's backstory than what was presented as of this point, cause this feels like a very Pretear situation, with the whole "I loved this guy but he didn't love me back, so my whole world fell apart because I apparently have no family, friends or personality of my own." It seems pretty obvious she's being controlled by that mirror though.

Speaking of Yuuko, she's definitely the show's weakest link. She never seems to talk about anything but food or rice. Her entire character is defined by it, which really doesn't make her much of a character to begin with.

I'm super glad Fortune managed to redeem herself, cause if she kept going the way she was at first she would have gone in my dislike tier.

I feel like Hime's crush on Seiji didn't leave, they're just saving it for later. I'm sure anyone can tell you the intensity of a crush can change at a moments notice. There's that little blush at the end that lets the viewer know "she's not in love....or is she?"  

Yuuko's dog love was a bit silly, but still very sweet, and since I have a new puppy in my life I hafta say, I understand...

The early precure seasons had some romances (Nozomi & Coco from Yes Pre being the most progressive) but then stopped focusing on them. I dunno if it was to just focus more on positive friendships or to make the precure seem like "Class S" characters for the otaku in the audience. But Love Triangles are in again, so I don't think of it as jarring as some people do (Megumi x Blue is pretty flimsy tho)

Wow it's been a long time coming, but I've finally caught up with this show. I think episode 38 was the best so far. It had some beautiful animation, great fight scenes, lots of emotion and didn't do something jerkish like kill the purple Cure's sister. Maybe this time we can have a purple Cure whose story doesn't end in misery.

Speaking of the older sister, I kind of figured right away that she wouldn't join the team considering she and Fortune use virtually the same costume. The preview suggests she's going to America to be with her parents, but I think it would be neat if she started traveling the world, helping out the other international Cures.

I noticed that both siblings look virtually identical save for different hairstyles, and are apparently the same age. I have to wonder if spending all that time sealed in the mirror stopped her from aging or if this is just a Precure thing.

And so the final battle has begun. It's super early for that though, these things usually don't start until episode 45 or so. 

Gotta say I'm a little bummed that Queen Mirage isn't the de-facto villain here, that she's just being manipulated. It was interesting having a female big bad outside of Yes Precure 5.

And then Phantom... I should have seen that coming, but somehow I didn't. I figured he'd be the Northa of this season, the villain who doesn't get redeemed. But then again, his anger toward Blue and dedication to Queen Mirage means he actually cares about things and isn't just evil for the sake of it.

I don't know whether him actually being a tiny mascot critter is awesome or annoying. It's understandable that he'd be so powerful considering what we've seen of Coupe in Heartcatch, but it'd be nice if just once, a fairy belonging to a main character could be anywhere near as strong as them. Milky Rose doesn't count since she's literally a Cure and part of the team.

The episode healing Queen Mirage was so touching ;.; really good art direction too.

judging from the episode preview we're still in for a ride tho (and Hime's parents come back to life too!) Really interested to see how they'll finish out this season. 

It got me to thinking - in the beginning they set up the "collect all these cards and you get a wish" thing. Mid-season the wish became Cure Fortune getting her powers back, but they kept collecting the cards since then, and everyone's wishes have slowly becoming reality without the help of the cards

Megumi's mom will recover, Hime's getting her parents and kingdom back, Iona got her sister back, and Yuko's been evangelizing and converting people to rice, all around the world even. So I wonder how they'll use the "Card Wish" subplot to their advantage in the real final battle.

It was very artsy and strange in a good way, kind of like a tamer version of something Studio Shaft would do. It was both chilling and ridiculous when Mirage pulls up in that tiny boat. Bugawd Megumi was on the receiving end of a brutal beat-down. Sometimes I still get surprised by the kind of content kids shows in Japan have. Heck, Attack on Titan is a shounen series.



Power Star spotted!

Hime's reunion with her parents shouldn't have just been a silent montage thing, and I guess all of the Cures in that graveyard are saved? Maybe they'll all participate in the final battle like the ending to Digimon Zero Two.

I totally forgot about the card wish concept. There's still one more book that needs to be filled. Hopefully this'll just be used lightly and not completely solve all of the problems.

I write this as of having just finished episode 44, and I'm kinda confused about Blue and Mirage. Back then it wasn't okay for Blue to return Mirage's feelings, but now it's okay? I thought he made the whole "Precure can't fall in love rule" because of what happened with Mirage. Feelings change I guess?

Kind of a kick to the groin for poor Megumi though. She might have out-cried the Smile Precure finale there. I love how every time someone tries to lead Megumi toward darkness, it backfires because her heart is so genuine. Even if Blue can't return her feelings, even if she's helping others for her own satisfaction, it doesn't mean she doesn't care about others, and she has so much support.

Check it out; I found Oresky

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Happiness Charge is over. 

I'm surprised that I'm not sad to see it go. It started out great. Got kind of bumpy around the 26 mark, but started to pick up again. The finale was kind of iffy. I really didn't like how the whole brainwashed Seiji plotline played out. It felt flawed from the ground up. It would have been better to just have him forcibly brainwashed without any of the phony emotional (You didn't recognize his feelings) crap.

Lotta standing around and talking this finale, with Red mostly just repeating the same "Love is meaningless!" stuff over and over. This isn't the Mana show, so why is Megumi the only one who gets to do anything? I thought it odd considering from the very beginning it felt like Hime was the real star.

And once again Yuuko continues to make everything about food.

I feel like there's a few things this season didn't properly explain. So did Red just do nothing while Mirage and the others were sealed in the Axia box? Where did Blue Sky Kingdom even fall into this? Is it even a part of Earth? Red's motivation was revealed to be jealousy toward Blue and his beautiful, thriving planet, but where does Blue Sky Kingdom play into this?

All in all I give the season a 7/10. Not one of the stronger seasons but certainly an improvement over Doki.

Yeah, the Blue Sky Kingdom didn't really get a lot of exposition. But I guess it's just part of Earth. Like they wanted to make Hime a legit princess, but didn't want to get into any real-world politics or cultural things - so they just made up their own darn country (and it's canon that Hime's good at English in school, so does that mean Blue Sky Kingdom's main language is English?)

Yeah, the finale was fine I thought, but the episode leading up to Cure Forever Lovely was just kindof boring, alot of physical attacks and alot of what I like to call "Precure Life Lesson Greatest Hits" being thrown around (eg- 'love will always keep going' and 'it'll work out if you try your hardest' and 'those feelings aren't meaningless!') . Red just wasn't a very compelling villain I guess. 

And Megumi taking centerstage in the final battle, I have less issue with than in Doki. Because Forever Lovely was powered by all of the other precure's feelings and powers - so it made sense as to why they were on the sidelines (Megumi was the canon, the other cures were the gunpowder)

In the Doki Finale, Mana just powered up and everyone else just stood around WHILE TRANSFORMED and with the ability to fight - they just didn't get to.

I'll miss these characters more than anything, I think that's what HaCha's strongest point was.