Ask John: Should Fans Be Worried About Pretty Cure Splash Star?

Question:
I’m a Pretty Cure fan, and knowing from your previous entries that you are too, I feel I should ask you this question. What do you think of Toei’s idea to replace Nagisa and Honoka with a pair of new Cures for Splash Star? I’m willing to give it a go myself, but I have to admit, I’m put off by this somewhat. I love Pretty Cure because of its characters and the relationships between them, and the fight scenes. I fear that the things I love about the series will disappear with this change. Am I wrong to?

Answer:
Over the past two years and two weeks I’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to watch all 98 Pretty Cure TV episodes aired in Japan so far, and the first of the two theatrical movies. So I think it’s safe to say that I’m a serious Pretty Cure fan. So I can sympathize with your anxiety over the drastic changes to the franchise instigated by the third TV series, Futari wa Precure Splash Star. To address your concerns, I’ll first supply a formal explanation, then provide my own subjective thoughts.

A native Japanese member of the AnimeNation Forum has reported that Toei Animation publicly announced that the goal of Splash Star was to create a new Pretty Cure that Japanese parents would feel confident to let their children watch. In other words, Toei’s official goal with Splash Star is to create a new version of Pretty Cure that reigns in its violence to a non-controversial, non-objectionable level. Although not stated, it’s also possible that Toei executives felt it necessary to establish a new, younger cast to appeal to the show’s target audience of young Japanese girls. At the end of Pretty Cure Max Heart, Nagisa and Honoka graduated from junior high, meaning that they were older than the show’s intended target viewer. Splash Star protagonists Saki and Mai are younger, making them easier for young Japanese girls to identify with. Over the past two years, Pretty Cure has become one of Japan’s most successful new anime franchises, so logically Toei Animation executives are eager to perpetuate the series’ profitability by making it ideally suited to its target audience. However, in doing so there’s a danger that Toei will actually eliminate the characteristics that have made Pretty Cure so popular.

Undoubtedly Pretty Cure became successful among Japanese children because of its exciting pace and action, and its very likable characters. Pretty Cure became a surprise cult hit among older viewers and otaku because it deftly merged a mainstream conventional magical girl anime series with characteristics of Dragonball Z and more than a little sexual tension. At least the revolutionary combination of martial arts and magical girls may be attributed to director Daisuke Nishio, who directed Dragonball Z and the girl fighting anime Air Master before directing Pretty Cure and Pretty Cure Max Heart. However, Nishio was replaced by Komura Toshiaki as director on Splash Star. (Toshiaki has previously directed the boxing anime Ring ni Kakero and a handful of Pretty Cure episodes, so he’s not entirely unfamiliar with Pretty Cure and fighting anime.) With only two episodes of Splash Star broadcast in Japan so far, it’s difficult to make predictions about the future of the show.

Reportedly the reactions of Japanese fans to Splash Star has been divided between critics that accuse the new series of being just a rehash of the original series, and supporters who are pleased with the show’s new revitalization. With the first episode of Splash Star, I fell into the former camp, with the second episode, the latter. The first episode of Splash Star is basically just a revised version of the first episode of the original series, but lacking some of the impact of the original series. The second episode is a significant improvement because it already depicts a developing relationship between Saki and Mai and Cure Bloom and Cure Egret as friends and partners. And the second episode of Splash Star does a competent job of establishing a satisfying physicality to the action. While the new Pretty Cure team isn’t as aggressive or physical as the former pair, the second episode of Splash Star does establish Cure Bloom and Cure Egret as able to be aggressive and offensive, and also able to endure physical punishment from their enemy’s attacks. While I was tentative after watching the first episode of Splash Star, I think that the second episode may be reassuring for established Pretty Cure fans.

Toei employs animators, but isn’t primarily an anime production company. Toei executives are businessmen, not anime artists, so they make their decisions based on economic concerns more than loyalty to anime fans. Toei has made some mis-steps in the past, which may make American anime fans nervous about the future of Pretty Cure. When Dragonball Z came to its natural conclusion and creator Akira Toriyama wanted to retire the Dragonball franchise, Toei executives attempted to prolong the cash cow franchise with the disappointing Dragonball GT, which wasn’t very successful and limped through less than a quarter of the number of episodes that Dragonball Z sustained. I’ve heard very negative reviews of Toei’s recently released St. Seiya Hades Inferno saga OAVs, reviews to the effect that the series seems to have been under funded and rushed to market prematurely. American anime fans are familiar with Toei’s failed attempt at releasing American anime DVDs with apparently minimal market research into the expectations and demands of the American DVD market. However, Toei is also a tremendously successful company, and logically Toei wouldn’t want to ruin one of its most profitable franchises. At this point it’s too early to confidently predict how Pretty Cure Splash Star will develop and how fans will react to it. The first two episodes feel a bit deflated compared to Pretty Cure Max Heart, which had the benefit of two years of prior development. But the first two episodes of Splash Star also don’t seem unusually bad. If Splash Star does carry out its plan to be a more childish and less violent series than Max Heart, it may be less thrilling for mature Pretty Cure fans used to the style of the Daisuke Nishio directed series. But considering the foundation established by the first two episodes of Pretty Cure Splash Star, I think that long time Pretty Cure fans should approach the new series with a receptive, rather than fearful attitude. In this case, I think there’s cause to expect the best (or at least good) rather than the worst.