What is Precure?
Precure is an anime franchise from Japan that has been airing for over 10 years with Precure meaning "Pretty Cure". Each series introduces a group of young girls aged between 13-14 typically, that use magic to transform and fight an evil dedicated to destroying the world. The first series Futari Wa Precure introduced the franchise with the original pair Cure Black and Cure White, two heroines so different in their personalities and interests that they represent the Ying Yang in the fact the are stronger together. Below is the opening sequence from their series.
As the franchise increased the number of heroines over the years they have had a variety of themes and powers for the series. Series such as Heartcatch Precure!, Suite Precure! and DokiDoki Precure have had a major focus on a theme. Heartcatch saw a theme of flowers and fashion run throughout, Suite had a focus on music and sweet where DokiDoki used playing cards and love as their theme.
Heartcatch Precure!
The Cures were all based off of various flowers and they faced the Desert Apostles that wanted to turn every world into an endless desert. They targets the "heart flowers" of weak people to create desertarians in a hope to achieve their goal.
Cure Blossom (pink) - Cherry Blossom
Cure Marine (blue) - Blue Daisy
Cure Sunshine (gold) - Sunflower
Cure Moonlight (silver) - Silver Rose
Suite Precure!
With Suite Precure the heroines were named after aspects of music, Cure Melody (pink), Cure Rhythm (white), Cure Beat (blue) and Cure Muse (yellow) and they faced off against an enemy called Noise who had the Trio De Minor as his generals in battle. Cure Beat also had an electric guitar that was her primary weapon.
DokiDoki Precure!
DokiDoki used the traditional names of the playing cards for their heroines seeing Cure Heart (pink), Cure Diamond (blue), Cure Rosetta (yellow) and Cure Sword (purple) who were finally joined with Cure Ace (red) who was based off of a specific card. They had to save Trump Kingdom and find the princess of the kingdom to reunite her with her fiance the brave knight.
The shift in theme can create dynamic character designs from series to series.
Heartcatch Precure!
The Cures were all based off of various flowers and they faced the Desert Apostles that wanted to turn every world into an endless desert. They targets the "heart flowers" of weak people to create desertarians in a hope to achieve their goal.
Cure Blossom (pink) - Cherry Blossom
Cure Marine (blue) - Blue Daisy
Cure Sunshine (gold) - Sunflower
Cure Moonlight (silver) - Silver Rose
Suite Precure!
With Suite Precure the heroines were named after aspects of music, Cure Melody (pink), Cure Rhythm (white), Cure Beat (blue) and Cure Muse (yellow) and they faced off against an enemy called Noise who had the Trio De Minor as his generals in battle. Cure Beat also had an electric guitar that was her primary weapon.
DokiDoki Precure!
DokiDoki used the traditional names of the playing cards for their heroines seeing Cure Heart (pink), Cure Diamond (blue), Cure Rosetta (yellow) and Cure Sword (purple) who were finally joined with Cure Ace (red) who was based off of a specific card. They had to save Trump Kingdom and find the princess of the kingdom to reunite her with her fiance the brave knight.
The shift in theme can create dynamic character designs from series to series.
As you can see from the slideshow above, each series bring their own designs to the character with some featuring designs very similar to each other and others which are drastically different. The other part to have an influence on each character's design is what magic power they have as this can have an effect on their colour, transformation sequence and attacks. Two series of the franchise, Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! and Smile Precure both used elements as a key part to their characters designs.
Yes Precure 5 GoGo!
Cure Dream (pink) - The power of starlight
Cure Rouge (red) - The power of fire
Cure Lemonade (yellow) - The power of light
Cure Mint (green) - The power of plants
Cure Aqua (blue) - The power of water
Smile Precure!
Cure Happy (pink) - The power of light
Cure Sunny (orange) - The power of fire
Cure Peace (yellow) - The power of electricity
Cure March (green) - The power of wind
Cure Beauty (blue) - The power of ice
Below is a video of the Smile Precures' attacks and transformations.
Yes Precure 5 GoGo!
Cure Dream (pink) - The power of starlight
Cure Rouge (red) - The power of fire
Cure Lemonade (yellow) - The power of light
Cure Mint (green) - The power of plants
Cure Aqua (blue) - The power of water
Smile Precure!
Cure Happy (pink) - The power of light
Cure Sunny (orange) - The power of fire
Cure Peace (yellow) - The power of electricity
Cure March (green) - The power of wind
Cure Beauty (blue) - The power of ice
Below is a video of the Smile Precures' attacks and transformations.
As the series progress the heroines will achieve greater power in their attacks as seen towards the end of the video above. Sometimes these upgrades in their powers can create upgrades in their appearance and create group attacks. In Happinesscharge, the heroines had to undergo a series of tests to obtain the Shining Make Dresser. An item that firstly granted them a group attack, however after proving themselves the Shining Make Dresser granted them an Innocent Form which came complete with a new attack for each and a more powerful group attack. Below is a clip of when they achieved their most powerful group attack.
With all these elements they then take it a step further. Now it is traditional for them to gain a final powered up form for their final battle in the series against the main bad guy! Sometimes it is the entire team, where others it is just the leader (pink) to gain the upgrade. The final battles have come to be an event fans of the franchise look forward to witnessing as it tends to be extremely well thought out in how it is choreographed. Below is the final battle from DokiDoki Precure! I apologise for the lack of subtitles on this clip, however it is more to give an example of the fight sequence in the first half.
What is unique to the franchise is how it is an all female team using more feminine themed designs and plotlines, while combining it with action sequences seen more in franchises aimed at males. This got me thinking about how a much more mature toned series could be created using the formula from Precure.
The First Shine of a Star.
I started by considering what themes Precure has yet to utilise and I started thinking about that stars. Pretty much instantly I considered the Zodiac, 12 constellations that each represent one of the four elements. While 12 would be a number never attempted by Precure before, what did work into my advantage was how the four elements Earth, Water, Fire and Air create four groups of three.
Earth: Virgo, Capricorn and Taurus
Water: Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio
Fire: Leo, Sagittarius and Aries
Air: Libra, Gemini and Aquarius
Another aspect of Precure is a series will bring the majority of their characters all in at the beginning and sometimes add an additional heroine half way through. With 12 characters I was presented with an opportunity to introduce the 12 characters slowly. So I began to consider a series plot line to help me pin-point when characters should arrive.
Please click the following link to take you to the plot and how it was created:
http://neptunestritonproductions.weebly.com/shining-stars---creating-a-story.html
Earth: Virgo, Capricorn and Taurus
Water: Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio
Fire: Leo, Sagittarius and Aries
Air: Libra, Gemini and Aquarius
Another aspect of Precure is a series will bring the majority of their characters all in at the beginning and sometimes add an additional heroine half way through. With 12 characters I was presented with an opportunity to introduce the 12 characters slowly. So I began to consider a series plot line to help me pin-point when characters should arrive.
Please click the following link to take you to the plot and how it was created:
http://neptunestritonproductions.weebly.com/shining-stars---creating-a-story.html