#Non binary Precure my beloved

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Precuruary: Mahou Tsukai Precure

Finally, I review the series that seems to be the most hated Precure series, even more so than Doki Doki and Happiness Charge! I also reveal why I actually kinda like it....

“Asahina Mirai, a soon-to-be student in junior high, witnesses an object fall from the sky one night during spring break. Excitedly exclaiming that it could be a witch, Mirai sets off the next morning with her beloved toy teddy bear Mofurun to search the park. At the park, Mirai witnesses a girl soaring through the air on a broom. Excited and curious, Mirai barrages the girl with questions. The young witch introduces herself as Riko and explains that she's come to the "No Magic" World to search for certain objects. The two girls notice that they're wearing similar pendants. Meanwhile, Batty, a companion of Dokurokushe the Wizard of Darkness, appears in front of Mirai and Riko! Batty demands that Riko hand over the "Linkle Stone Emerald", which Riko herself had been looking for. To make things worse, Batty uses dark magic to create a monster known as a Yokubaru! Mirai, Riko, and Mofurun join hands. With the magic words "Cure Up RaPaPa!", their pendants shines a magical light over them! The legendary witches "Pretty Cure" are born!”

So, why does everyone seem to despise this series so much? Well, the main issue with this series is it’s writing and execution. The plot tends to throw some immature or just plain weird scenes at random and it seems like the writers just didn’t know what to do, so they just put whatever they thought was a good idea at the time. The plot is also a bit rushed and sadly, the characters suffer a lack of proper development. Put it short, the plot and the development is just a big mess. I heard it was because the writer and director kept clashing, like one wanted to something real dark and epic like Go! Princess and the other wanted it to stay cutesy and safe. I really wished they had stuck with the more darker route. I mean it’s a series about witches.Dark and witches go hand in hand together. The cutesy parts can get a little boring too for some folks, I didn’t mind it too much. 

So, despite all that, why do I actually like it and even get a little defensive for it? Shouldn’t I hate it like I do Doki Doki and Happiness Charge? Well I’ll list my reasons in so is to be consistent, unlike the plot of Maho Tsukai.

1.) Kinda likable characters.

I will admit, while they’re not the most deepest or complex of characters, most of the MTP characters are pretty likable. 

(Well okay, I said MOST, not all.)

I really do like Riko. Yeah, she can be snobby but this melts away rather fast and the way she does it, is very appropriate for her age. She’s a kid that wants to be more grown up, so she tries to look impressive. She’s has a lot of insecurities that come natural for someone her age and she acts a lot like how I expect a kid would act.

Which speaking of which, I feel like the three main trio are actually suppose to be in Elementary School, but they felt they needed to have them be in junior high. They don’t even look 13! They look more so 10 years old at the oldest but decided to changed it to 13 so is to fit with the other precure franchise. Come on, Toei! This franchise is aimed at elementary school kids anyway, we wouldn’t mind if you made them younger. Look at Cardcaptor Sakura and some of the older magical girls series. Some of the main cast in those are 10!

Anyway, I also like Ha-chan. Yes, she can be annoying at times, but I thought she was pretty cute and I really like her design as Cure Felice. She’s absolutely gorgeous in this form. 

I also really enjoy some of the kids, teachers and staff members at the Magic School, especially Kochou. At long last we get a handsome male supporting character that is both useful, interesting, likable and not look like a creeper (Such as Joe from Doki Doki)! His relationship with Kushy is very sweet. Some question whether or not it’s gay. I kinda wonder myself. I would be lying if I said I didn’t see this, that’s for sure. It could be just a real firm friendship but well, you ship who you want.

Bad ass design too! Though I really question on why he’s wearing a lampshade for a hat....

Mofurun can be a little unsettling to me at times and get a little annoying with that baby like voice, but they did grew on me. (Yes, I see Mofurun as non binary because well, teddy bears don’t have reproduction organs) I like how Mofurun is useful in many other ways besides being the transformation device. Most fairies that aid with transformation, tend to fall flat when it comes to being useful in other ways. Mofurun can sense linkle stones and was willing to risk their life to protect the stones from getting in the wrong hands. That’s pretty solid for me. Go teddy!

Not to mention, but Mofurun as Cure Mofurun is just adorable! I wish that Mofurun was actually a witch doll with Cure Mofurun’s design. It would have been way cuter and well...None of the Cure Mofurun plushies would be over 40 bucks! (US dollars). Speaking of which...

2.) The Relationship Between Mirai and Mofurun

As someone that was really close to her stuffed animals, I kinda understand Mirai’s feelings towards Mofurun. In fact, I think most kids get the connection. It’s common for kids to love their toys, especially a toy given to them by someone really close to them. The belief of it gaining a personality is also a common thing kids like to do and also a belief in Japanese culture. The belief goes if you love something such as a toy or even an accessory so much, that object will gain a soul and that soul will protect you for loving it so much. (Same if you treat an object badly and the object hates you). It’s kinda silly but this is a nice touch to the culture and to childhood. Well Mirai is certainly not my favorite, she’s really bland on her own, the relationship with Mofurun is pretty cute and again, I can see a young kid having a close bond with their stuffed animal. When I was a kid, I use to pretend my stuffed animals had personalities too and especially loved this tiger plush, given to me by my grandma.

3.) This is short but the nods to old Precure series and designs.

The whole holding hands and use of attacks, even the speeches before the power up, are actually nods to old Precure series that also did this. It’s kinda nice of them contributing to older series. 

The designs of the outfits, especially Sapphire and Over the Rainbow are really well done and the transformations are fun to watch. The animation can be a little mediocre but beautiful in the transformations and I’m glad they decided to just do mostly 2D animation this time, with only resorting to 3D in the endings.

4.) The Witch World and How They Convey Witches As A Whole.

This is what I think MTP does a lot better than Ojamajo Doremi. How they convey witches. Well they use the same similar tropes such as the pointy hats and the broom flying, the way they convey witches is kinda surprising and kinda respectful. Believe it or not, witches do exist in a way. They don’t fly on brooms and the magic isn’t as instant as shown in this series. I’m mainly talking about witches and connection towards nature, as well as some of the lore tied in.

In the Magical World, nature seems to be a major key element to the magic of witches, which is true to actual witch beliefs. From their wands coming from trees, to taking care of mystical animals and right down to how the Magical World is made, is direct tie in with the belief of witches. 

 In some lore, mainly Wiccan, there is a belief that there is a Goddess and horned king in charge of taking care of the world.  Mother Rapapa and the Deustmas generals kinda seem to be a representation of that belief. I dunno if that was their main intention, but kudo points for adding in anyway, especially if it was.

I also like how witches in this world are just ordinary people that just happen to use magic as a passionate subject. That’s what I found inconsistent in Ojamajo Doremi. In Doremi, it seems like witches are not human. There’s not even wizards in their world. They’re in another one. They’re like some sort of weird creature not connected with people at all, since they can’t be found out by humans thus turn into frogs. Yet, somehow humans can become witches when given these magic jelly bean looking things.

Plus the designs of the witches in Doremi I found disrespectful and lazy! At least in Mahou Tsukai, witches and wizards are treated like their own person, with their own style. Yeah, they have the typical hats and such but they at least try to make them interesting. I also didn’t like how magic was given so easily in Doremi. With Mirai, she had to kinda prove herself that she was willing to put in effort to do magic. Yeah, it consisted of saying the magic words over and over, but at least it just wasn’t given to her like “Here some magic jelly bean things. Now you can do magic!” Part of the belief in witches is putting spiritual effort into the thing you desire. Doremi it seemed more like the magic was coming from the seeds, then themselves. As for Reiko, well, she comes from a line of strong witches so magic is born in her and she doesn’t get good in her magic until later.

5.) Deusmast Villains

Oh, come on, you knew this was coming! Deustmast generals are the best in the series. There the ones that caused some people to come back and watch this series again, especially Orba! They’re threatening, they’re smarter and they have great designs! 

Fun fact is not only are these guys really cool but also may have from different beliefs, including from witches. Not only can they presumably be based on the horned king of Wiccan and possibly (though more obvious) the Muslim belief of Jin/genies, but also the belief that help create Halloween. In ancient times before people started really getting into religious beliefs, people turned to witches to help  fight off monsters and demons that were said to appear mostly during Halloween. The witches would dress kids up in costumes, to confuse the monsters into thinking the kids are one of their own demon brethren. They would also use spells and incantations to fight them off.

I heard they were too scary for kids. Too scary my butt! DysDark villains were far from “cute” and went all out dastardly at times! If Precure starts getting lame villains because of that notion, it will be forever before we have a good series like Go! Princess! Threatening villains help create intensity, making you feel there’s more at stake for our heroes!

Either way, the Deusmast generals were certainly a lot better than the Idiot Trio. No, I refuse to call them “Dark Magicians”. That’s an insult to Dark Magician from Yugioh and I refuse to stoop that level!

Plus, come on. Orba is like the hottest character to come out of a magical girl series! He’s a package! He’s a book worm, he’s a hot without his glasses and when he powers up, he’s a hunk! It’s like 3 hot dudes in one! Who knew you could get such in a show aimed at kids! Plus, it’s said he’s based on the one wing angel and fallen angels. I believe that because he certainly looks like one. I always said his face is angelic and it is!

So, yeah, there’s a bit to like and appreciate from this series. Some people may disagree and if you’re one of them that’s fine. I can understand it. I’m a big fan of anything witch related as you can probably tell, so I’m usually forgiving. The only witch series I don’t like is The Familiar of Zero, mainly because I hated the main character and to some extend Doremi. I do like the idea of musical witches and they did convey what childhood is like real well, but the characters were annoying to me and again, I just didn’t like how the witches are represented in that series. 

So, I do like Mahou Tsukai a bit actually. In fact, it’s become my second favorite series. I like it not as a good series but as a guilty pleasure. I appreciate what it was trying to do, quite a few characters are likable, just a bit under developed and the ideas put in it, is pretty interesting. Sadly, I have to judge this as a whole so I’m gonna have to rate it a bit low.

I give Mahou Tsukai Precure 4 and a half stars out of 10. My recommendation is for anyone that can enjoy a series that’s cute, with some nice ideas thrown in there and don’t mind that the plot can be a bit messy. Put it short, if you like cute guilty pleasures, you’ll like this fine. Some of the bad moments can be laughable especially some of the dialog. Just whatever you do, don’t watch episode 50. It’s pointless and this is coming from a fan. I rather like to believe that episode just didn’t exist.

If you’re looking for a series that is intense with a good story line, you’re better off skipping this whole series, but I do recommend it more than Doki Doki or Happiness Charge. At least it tries to stand out with some interesting characters and ideas. Those two series are just horrible and the only good idea of Happiness Charge was different precure from other countries. 

**** /

Level: “It’s okay.”

#Mahou Tsukai Precure #precure #Futari wa Pretty Cure #pretty cure