DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionHealin' Good♥Precure
ANIME ComedyKirakira☆Precure a la Mode
ANIME ActionTropical-Rouge! Precure
ANIME AdventureStar☆Twinkle Precure
ANIME ActionHUGtto! Precure
ANIME ActionGo! Princess Precure
ANIME ActionMahoutsukai Precure!
ANIME FantasyHappinessCharge Precure!
ANIME FantasySmile Precure!
ANIME FantasyDokidoki! Precure
ANIME ActionHeartcatch Precure!
ANIME ActionFresh Precure!
ANIME ActionSuite Precure♪
ANIME ActionYes! Precure 5
ANIME ActionFutari wa Precure: Splash☆Star
ANIME ActionFutari wa Precure
MANGA Mahou ShoujoDelicious Party♡Precure
MOVIE ActionDelicious Party♡Precure: Yumemiru♡Okosama Lunch!
SPECIAL Mahou ShoujoWatashi dake no Okosama Lunch
ANIME ActionHirogaru Sky! Precure
MOVIE ActionPrecure All Stars F
ANIME FantasyWonderful Precure!
ANIME ActionKimi to Idol Precure♪

REVIEWS

• 

  Juliko25

  72/100
  Better than Tropical Rouge, and a cute season in its own right, but in the end, insubstantial and flavorless.

  After the colossal disappointment that was Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure, once Delicious Party Pretty Cure was announced, I was like "PLEASE let this be good! PLEASE let this be better than Tropical Rouge!!!" Thankfully, to my relief, Delicious Party did go out of its way to address a lot of issues that TroPri had, though even as it is now, DeliPre still has a lot of issues of its own. The CooKingdom is the origin place of all cuisines from all around the world. However, because of a theft incident involving the sinister Bundoru Gang, a group of elusive phantom thieves, the kingdom's prized treasure, the Recipe-Bon, is gone. Three fairies of the CooKingdom must venture to Earth and meet three girls in order to reclaim the Recipe-bon from those phantom thieves. When they cross paths with Yui Nagomi in the town of Oishina City, they grant the little easy-going, vegetable-loving girl the power to become a Pretty Cure to combat the bandits, with her friends Kokone Fuwa, Ran Hanamichi, and Amane Kasai joining her in their cause. Together, they must defeat the Bundoru Gang and make sure food in general doesn't get erased out of existence.

  I'll get the positives out of the way first, because there's a lot that DeliPre manages to do right that Tropical Rouge just flat-out didn't. In Tropical Rouge, the main narrative was that the villains stole people's energy and motivation and gave it to their leader, and the way it was presented there gave the series no real sense of tension. All it really resulted in doing was making people lazy, and as a result, the battles were about as boring as eating lunch, and there was literally no real conflict save for the very end. DeliPre addressed this in that its villains basically want to either steal food, make it taste bad, or make it disappear completely, which is shown to have very serious implications and consequences, especially if you think about it on a grander scale. They basically want to make people starve to death by erasing food completely, which makes for a far more compelling, palpable, and serious threat than just making people lazy. Granted, this is a children's show, so we know that everything's inherently going to be all hunky-dory at the end of every episode, but that doesn't change the fact that the villains' schemes here, if left unchecked, are inherently more threatening and compelling than TroPri's could ever hope to be.

  It also helps that DeliPre actively spent quite a bit of time fleshing out its main plot, even if it didn't do so all the time. Again, TroPri had such a thin plot that it resulted in a lot of useless filler episodes that could have easily been used for other, more important things, like fleshing out any character that's not Manatsu or Laura. DeliPre remedies this issue by having several episodes dedicated to trying to figure out just what's going on, who stole the Recipe-Bon, and other things related to its plot, particularly in regards to several side characters, even if not all of those episodes manage to hit the mark. Points for trying! Speaking of characters, another issue TroPri had was that it not only gave so much screentime to Manatsu and Laura, it did so at the expense of the other Cures, who didn't even get relevant character arcs until over halfway into the series' run, with several not even getting so much as whole arcs. Poor Sango/Cure Coral. She deserved so much better. Plus, it didn't even try to flesh out or develop Manatsu beyond having her be an overexcited five-year-old who had too much sugar. DeliPre, while not doing it as well as other series, manages to flesh out not only the other Cures, but other side characters as well, giving them all their time to shine and compelling character arcs that actually make them feel more interesting than at first glance. Kokone and Ran especially wound up being more well-developed than I initially thought, with Kokone in particular being the most fleshed out of the cast, IMHO. The villains manage to do their job and are genuinely more threatening than the TroPri villains ever were, but barring Gentlu, their backstories could have used more fleshing out, and the resolution to Narcisstoru's plotline seemed kind of...half-baked. But overall, the cast is much better this season.

  ...Though the producers might have gone overboard with trying to remedy TroPri's mistakes, because in their attempts to flesh out the other Cures and even some of the side characters, they completely dropped the ball on giving that same treatment to their main character: Yui. Not gonna lie, Yui literally has nothing to her beyond worshipping her grandma and her dumb catchphrase "Deliciousmile!" Any development she eventually gets is relegated to the finale, rather than having it naturally occur across the entire series or a lot earlier, and because she's basically spent the whole series relegated to the sidelines, any attempts to flesh her out come too little, too late for it to really have any real weight to her character. To be fair, I found Yui to be a lot less annoying than Manatsu from TroPri, but while TroPri had the problem of giving Manatsu a lot of screentime and not using it to flesh her out as a character beyond her one main personality trait, Yui has the opposite problem—she was constantly put on the back-burner in favor of the other Cures, and as a result, she comes off as bland and woefully underutilized. Even her friendship with Takumi doesn't get fleshed out enough. Speaking of Takumi, for all the show's posturing about him being a Tuxedo Mask-like figure for the Cures and helping them out, he was hardly ever relevant half the time, and was often excluded from the group except for when the girls could benefit from involving him in an activity outside of fighting. The series really should have made him more involved with the girls and the plot, and like Yui, a lot of his important character moments were shoehorned into the finale rather than having it happen across the entire series. On the flip side, you have Kome-Kome, one of the mascots, who the series tries to claim is more important than she actually is, and even gave her a lot of cool powers and focus episodes, but not only does her whole aging from a human baby to a teenage girl thing feel needlessly tacked on, but any development Kome-Kome gets doesn't really go anywhere, especially when all it results in is her being a MacGuffin for the Cures' power-up.

  But mismanaged and underutilized characters aren't DeliPre's only problem. For God's sake, would it seriously kill anyone to NOT talk about JUST food for more than two seconds?! Seriously, I know food is the series' big theme and all, but it seems like every single thing in the characters' lives revolve around food and only food! They literally never talk about anything outside of food or show interest in anything besides food! It borders on being almost creepy in how obsessed these people are with food. People can have more than one interest, even if some aren't as strong as others! For example, Heartcatch Pretty Cure's big theme was fashion and flowers, but the characters in that show did have varied interests and lives outside of those two things, which gave them a lot of depth and additional layers to their personalities! Furthermore, later episodes in the show seemed to just either shoehorn in new elements that came out of nowhere or just flat-out pulled them out of their ass, with literally no foreshadowing or build-up whatsoever. For the sake of not wanting to spoil things in the review, I'm going to refer to this reviewer's posts on episodes 37 and 38 in particular, which detail the issues those had far better than I could hope to do, but illustrate my point. Warning that the links spoil pretty much everything that happens in those particular episodes.

  So while Delicious Party Pretty Cure tried its hardest to rectify the mistakes Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure made, it's still plagued with plenty of its own issues, preventing it from being one of the better Pretty Cure series. But that doesn't mean there isn't anything to like about it, and is still a fairly cute show regardless. I am looking forward to Hirogaru Sky Pretty Cure after this, so you can rest assured I'll be watching that for sure, especially since it seems to be trying to break a lot of Pretty Cure conventions right out of the gate.

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• 

  princefado

  65/100
  An attempt at deliciousness which, for all its possibilities, sadly falls short in the end.

  Introduction

  I'm by no means a PreCure veteran, but my first, and current favorite season, was Kirakira PreCure a la Mode. I think Kirakira did a great job at using desserts in the show as a metaphor, and really brought home various ideas about self-worth, especially through hobbies that others might consider 'useless'. And so, I was really very excited for DeliPa, and curious as to how they would use food as a vehicle to communicate the central message.

  There are a lot of things to like about this season; a great cast, great designs, lovely art style, and wonderful music. Unfortunately, DeliPa refuses to follow through on any of its themes until the very last moment. But we'll get to specifics on that later. For now, I'll be giving an overview of various things I liked and didn't like. I'll be spoilering every section just to help condense things for ease of reading.

  Character Designs

  I love the designs for this season. As a whole the Cure costumes have a maid/waitress theme, but each Cure adds their own twist to it, each based on their family's restaurant. For Yui, she gets an adorable kimono-style maid outfit, along with tabi heels that I just love. Kokone's restaurant is French, so of course her outfit reflects this with a more Western style outfit, and her hair rather reminds me of braided bread. Finally, Ran-Ran gets noodle-y ringlets sprouting from iconic Chinese-style buns, a short and frilly qipao, and a striped bow in the back which reminds me a little of dragon scales. I also love the way each characters associated shapes are repeated throughout their designs; Yui has triangles at the bottom of her skirt, Kokone has circles, and Ran-Ran has lots of thin golden ornamentation.

  Lastly we have Amane, who, while a little derivative of Cure Parfait in my opinion, manages to stand on her own. She is again more Western themed, but gives off a feeling of being the lady of the house, or a hostess of a party, rather than one of the servants, which suits her as the mid-season Cure. I sort of wish they had gone with a less Western style outfit, maybe a fusion of the other three's outfits, but I'm not really sure what the best solution is. As it is, she makes me feel like the trio looks a little unbalanced. More on my problems with Amane later.

  The CooKingdom characters are also well designed, and while they all wear a uniform, they wear it in enough different styles to let their character shine through without becoming too complicated. You can take one look at Rosemary and know what he's about; he's quite stylish with his coat thrown over his shoulders, his heels, and his scarf, but he's still quite practical. He's a nice balance between a character like Fennel, who wears very little ornamentation, and Ginger and Cinnamon, who are both very flashy.

  Lastly we have the Bundoru gang. I also really love their character designs! They play upon classic Phantom Thief visuals (Gentlu and Narcistoru especially) while still having their own flair that reminds me a bit of villains like Bowser. I really like the way Secretoru's leather jacket over her shoulders contrasts with her more proper office-like outfit, and Narcistoru's whole... everything... is just pure catnip to me. It took me until writing to realize it, but the bone detail on their outfits might be a nod to Ginger's outfit!

  That said... as inspiring as their visuals are, many of the characters leave a lot to be desired.

  Characters

  In the interest of organization, I'll go through character by character, although some characters I have a lot more to say on than others.

  Nagomi Yui/Cure Precious
  I wanted to like Yui a lot. Her first impression in the first episode was quite refreshing, and I loved her displays of super strength in both stopping the baby carriage, and straight up carrying Rosemary back to her home. I also loved how quickly she accepted both Kome and Rosemary, as well as the existence of the Bundoru gang. Literally forcing herself through the Delicious Field so she could rescue the Recipeppi? Iconic.

  Unfortunately, that's as good as Yui gets. She has a few more good moments, especially early in the series, and in the finale, but besides that, she's reduced to repeating her catchphrase and acting as some minor comic relief. She is endlessly cheerful, barring a few exceptions, which is sort of disappointing, given how much more dramatic attention I felt could have been given to her grandmother's death.

  Fuwa Kokone/Cure Spicy
  I like Kokone, but I find her quite disappointing. She has a very cute design, and I really enjoyed seeing her struggle with social anxiety, both with connecting to her friends and to her parents, and I thought the scene where she forgets her bento was very sweet. Unfortunately, she doesn't get to have any real impact on any part of the main plot, so I can't really write any more than that. She has no connection to any of the villains, or any of the secondary characters, so all she can do is support Yui... who, as I've discussed, has very little impact on the plot anyway.

  Hanamichi Ran/Cure Yum-Yum
  My personal favorite Cure for the season, although once again, I feel as if her potential was wasted. Ran has a couple great episodes which deal with her feelings of being an outsider/weird; which I think works great considering her Chinese theme! I don't expect a children's show like PreCure to directly deal with topics like intercultural conflict (although I do think Mahoutsukai worked in this theme), but having Ran and her family be very vocally Chinese-themed, I felt it might have been a great opportunity to at least hint at the subject. Unfortunately, Ran's character arc pretty much ends entirely with... a celebrity guest-star episode, and she, like Kokone, really has no impact on the larger plot.

  Kasai Amane/Cure Finale/Gentlu

  Amane, I think, represents a lot of problems this season had. She is the, significantly more powerful, mid-season cure who is redeemed from villainy. Unfortunately... this redemption is entirely unearned. I don't mean that Amane doesn't deserve to be a PreCure, but rather that it's not remotely interesting, because we never learn why she became Gentlu in the first place. Moreover, she was brainwashed into becoming Gentlu, so it's not even really something she has to "atone" for. Which is a shame, because I really do like Amane's personality, and I liked that she and Narcistoru had a connection which led to him softening a little. I really did love seeing the real guilt she felt over being angry, and not wanting to forgive Narcistoru. Rosemary straight up told her that thought crimes weren't real! And that was awesome! Too bad that's as good as it got.

  Rosemary
  The BEST character of the season. I'm not biased when I say this (I am). Rosemary is such a refreshing character, and I really loved seeing a male character be given this spotlight in PreCure. I loved Rosemary's femininity, I loved the way he interacted with all the girls, and I loved that Rosemary actually got to DO things. As is tradition, Rosemary loses his magical abilities at the very start, forcing Yui to fight. But he doesn't become just a secondary character! He's funny, he's talented in strategy, he regularly participates in their battles at an incredible risk to his own self, and gives much needed guidance to the girls. He, Fennel, Cinnamon, and Ginger, all have the workings of a GREAT story. Unfortunately, I do not feel as if that story got told. I'll leave the other CooKingdom Fighters for later.

  Shinada Takumi/Black Pepper
  I like Takumi a lot in theory. His design as Black Pepper is great, and I like his clear homage to Tuxedo Mask. He also has a really cute dynamic with Yui, and I loved her reaction when his secret identity was revealed. That said, a lot of time is spent on him that I felt could have been spent tightening up other parts of the story, and I really feel like his status as 'descended from the CooKingdom' should have been given to one of the PreCures, as Rosemary already fills his role as being a non-PreCure who helps in his own way.

  Secretoru & Narcistoru
  Another two characters who I felt were not used to their full potential. Narcistoru's plot of picky eating could have been really impactful. However, we don't get to see anything but vague hints at his backstory. However, I do like that he began to enjoy some food, and he gets an overall pass for being very cute. Secretoru also had great potential, but we have no time spent on her backstory or personality either, which leaves her bonding with Kokone's mother feeling a little empty. I wish she had instead bonded with a main PreCure, perhaps Kokone herself.

  And that brings us to how these problems coalesce in the form of the main plot.

  The Kingdom With No Cooks: Or, How the Story Fails

  This obviously contains heavy spoilers.

  As is revealed in the final few episodes, the true leader of the Bundoru Gang... was Fennel. I actually really like this. In theory. In practice, there were basically no hints that this was going on. Fennel is barely part of the plot; he makes some contact with Rosemary, but the rest of the story is dedicated to one-off episodes exploring the PreCures personal lives. This would be fine in any other season with some kind of cosmic horror or great evil; but Fennel is meant to be sympathetic! We're meant to root for his redemption! And yet his backstory is reduced to three EXTREMELY brief flashbacks. Like, less than 30 seconds total footage. We don't get to learn any more about his relationship with Ginger, with Rosemary, with Cinnamon. We just find out that he felt horribly jealous of being passed over as the caretaker of the Super Speshul Delicioustone, and that's... it.

  But. Nowhere in his backstory is anything about... cooking? Food? The entire theme of the show?

  We see Ginger and Fennel eating onigiri, and onigiri are a major motif throughout the show, being the associated food of the ostensible protagonist, and her grandmother. But like... how do those onigiri connect to Fennel's jealousy? How does that food connect to Fennel deciding that he wants to horde power for himself? How does that food connect to Fennel deciding to starve the entire world if they don't bow down to him? How does that connect to the ways the other members of the Bundoru Gang have been hurt by food?

  The answer is it doesn't, because the Cook Fighters don't really have anything to do with food, except in name!

  Maybe some of this could have been helped by Ginger's presence throughout the series... but we just don't get it. What we do get is a random time travel episode wherein we meet Ginger for the first and last time and learn basically nothing about him except that... well he's a good person, I guess. We don't learn about why he chose Cinnamon over Fennel. We don't learn about his relationship with Fennel hardly at all!

  In the finale, Fennel gets zero closure. Yui tells him that Ginger must have wanted to "protect Fennel's smile" but... what? That says nothing! If the message was "sometimes people hurt us and we don't get closure", I would be fine with this but... I really don't think that's the message!

  Ultimately, all this unsatisfying plotline does is distract from the actual protagonists of the show, you know, the PreCure! There is an entire half of an episode where they are all completely knocked out and do nothing! Yui, of course, has an emotional involvement in all of this, because Takumi is her best friend, and his family is important to her. She also clearly relates to Fennel's grief over Ginger's death, given her relationship with her grandmother. But the other Cures have zero skin in the game (beyond the usual hero stuff) and it just makes them feel like extras in their own finale. There's a brief attempt to shove in a connection between Kokone and Secretoru, but Ran and Amane get... just about nothing.

  Maybe this is a little harsh for a kid's show review. But I truly believe there could have been something AMAZING here, in this season. Something about the complicated relationships people have to food. Something about how the things that make us happy, don't always make other people happy, and what we can do to understand eachother better. Instead we got a story that is, superficially, about food, but fails to really bring any of the deeper themes it raised to a satisfying conclusion.

  10/10 for Rosemary fabulousness, 5/10 for satisfying plotlines. 65/100 overall.

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