Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure

This is two shows in one. The first, which lasts until Episode 23, is an awesome show with a kickass lead, entertaining villains, and a dramatic and moving climax that truly reaffirms Sora's heroic strength. The second is a mess of inconsequential filler episodes with boring villains and a main plot hastily infodumped in the last 5 episodes, only for its potentially interesting conflict to be quickly discarded by a cheap Korra Equalist twist. But even its weaker second half is still watchable due to the chemistry of the main couple: Sora and Mashiro. It is always a rare joy to see a headstrong tomboy leadcharacter in a magical girl series, a Pippi Longstocking level powerhouse in a striking and pretty Sky Land dress. Beside her is the gentler Mashiro, whose side story of becoming a children's author is very sweet. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is a mixed bag. Tsubasa, the series' first male Cure, is very relatable in his scientific interests, but his character arc is weirdly patriarchal for a series about female empowerment. Ageha, the nursery school teacher with the personality of an excited kids' show host, is very entertaining to watch and I would like to say is my favourite of the bunch...except she gets shafted to supporting roles more often than not. Her sad backstory regarding her parents' divorce is only given a few token nods, denying her the character depth she could have otherwise had and a chance to connect with those who went through similar broken families. And the baby, Ellee, is basically a plot device, even after the awkwardly executed reveal of her true nature. So is it worth watching? Well, maybe? It's one of those shows that sets up a mystery box for 45 episodes only for its contents to be underwhelming, but if you're just in it for the action and cute character interactions, you could do a lot worse. If this show was more consistent, it could have been a magical girl classic, but as it stands, it falls apart in the second half and we just have to deal with it.

A review of Hirogaru Sky! Precure, or Soaring Sky! Precure. The Precure series as a whole is a vast one, with many different shades and styles to it, however they always have a few things in common. They're made for kids, they're about magical girls, and they always have some form of villain. This review is going to take a semi deep dive into this show, looking at it's strengths and flaws, and how Soaring Sky! Precure makes itself a Precure series that despite being a show designed for kids, has some exceptional strengths that can make it a good show regardless of age. There isone topic to breach before we begin, the Precure series is designed with an audience of as young as 3 years old, to as old as about 10 years old in mind. As such there are things the series CANNOT be faulted for, as a show that's main target is that audience will have inherent limitations on the show in many ways. As such this review will keep the shows limitations and target in mind when discussing and pointing out it's flaws and giving criticism to ways it could improve. The first and most important topic to breach is the story, as shows designed for kids usually end up on one side of the bar, they either have what is essentially no story, or they have an extremely simple to understand story, but one that's effective for it's target audience. Soaring Sky manages to be neither one, it's story does have quite a few typical cliches of this genre, a baby princess, villains targeting her, the Precure protecting her, you get the gist. But what sets Soaring Sky! Precure apart is how it uses it's rather cliche start to form a excellent story and plot through good execution. Now this review is abiding by the no spoiler policy, so I can't get into specifics however I can give insight into how it makes for a good story. The show has a big focus on heroes, given it's name doubles as a pun in that sense, and this show doesn't just do kick and punch to beat the bad guys. It takes a much better approach and focuses on what makes someone a hero, and how to become a hero. Not just doing what is right, but being able to figure out what IS right to do, and even more so than that, choosing to do the right thing, no matter how painful it is to endure, it takes a very moral approach to heroes and does it excellently in other aspects as well. And if that was the only thing, Soaring Sky! Precure would still be a hair better than most of the Precure series I've seen, but amazingly it's Villains also get a cut of the cake. I've gotta say, Villains in kids targeted shows are usually bad, and more often than not, it's not exactly the shows fault but rather that it's hard to write good villains in the story due to the legal limitations of the shows target audience. Soaring Sky! Precure actually has good villans, for the most part, they fulfill their role as the scary villains, but they also do so much more than that for the story. I'll touch on them more in the character section, however story and plot wise, the villains have their own reasons and morals for what they do. They're goal isn't some simple "I'm gonna take over the world because I'm evil!" They have reason, and motivations on a level that even makes our main Hero, Sora, question if what she's doing is really the right thing. On the whole the story is truly quite good, especially taking the shows limitations into account. Now, lastly here is a question you may have reading this right now. What about the flaws? What does this show's story NOT do well? Yes, I'd be lying if there wasn't things this show didn't do so well story wise, however 99 times out of 100, I believe it's something I cannot fault the show for as they're likely unable to do better than that with their limitations. The biggest issue I can point out is the more "filler" feeling episodes, they're certainly not bad or anything, but you can easily tell they're extra things added in for the kids watching the show. I wouldn't say they detract from it too much, but they'll leave you with a few episodes feeling more boring than others. Well here it is, the characters, and this is by far Soaring Sky! Precure's biggest strength. When I watch this show, I wonder how the heck the average show in a season often times fails such keys aspects when this show can do it despite the limitations. Put simply, they carried a large portion of this show, the characters have depth on a level that blew me away for this kind of show. The characters have development, they learn, they grow, they struggle, and in various ways too, not only that, the incredible depth the characters have, the last thing I expected to see here. Characters are deep, they have good backstories, motivations, goals, and definitely don't leave the villains out of that list either. Sora herself, goes through so much, and even sacrifices things to achieve her goal of becoming a hero. Our villains aren't villains to simply be evil, they're villains to achieve their own, almost noble even, goals, and it's a goal that isn't formed by simple "I'm angry and going to be evil" reasoning. It's a goal formed by their own hardships and struggles. If all that wasn't enough, Soaring Sky! Precure, isn't afraid to get very emotional either, and take it to a fairly deep level too. On the whole the characters carry this Precure series above and beyond and are the main reason from my view, making this a Precure series that despite being a kids show, carries it's weight as being fairly enjoyable for adults who aren't picky about "quirks" kids shows have. Lastly here, let's look at the production, the directing here is simply excellent, they have a director who knows how to direct a show well, while staying within the boundaries of a kids targeted show. Combined with a overall very good OST to make the scenes feel even better to the viewer. The Animation on the whole is quite good, but with 1 major issue, the art. I don't believe most of the "older" Precure series from the 2010s had issues are large as this, but Soaring Sky! Precure is a well animated show but has some major issues with art inconsistency or art quality at times. There were a couple specific episodes that you could really tell something was off as the characters eyes would occasionally look misaligned, most of the episodes didn't suffer from this however it's still worth noting. From what I can tell, this looks to be a rushed production problem, as there was some areas where art just looked outright unfinished, and unrefined in a way you wouldn't expect from a finished work. All this could be completely false speculation, however it is still worth pointing out the mostly minor, but noticeable art issues and the effects it has. Hirogaru Sky! Precure or Soaring Sky! Precure, is a show that certainly isn't for everyone, after all it is a Precure series, however for those who already like the Precure series or those wanting to start watching the Precure series, this is absolutely one of the better ones in the series. For those who naively think the Precure series is only for kids and is a poor watch if you aren't one, it is definitely a series targeted at kids, but that does not inherently make it only enjoyable for kids, because as with any and all types of movies, show or other media content, the genre, idea or even the simpleness doesn't make a bad story. It's what they do with the story, and how well they use and execute it. Soaring Sky! Precure deserves it's 8/10 for knowing what It needs to be, but despite the limitations it doesn't shy away from going beyond trying to be simple kids entertainment and having a well refined story and characters.

Soaring Sky Pretty Cure the 20th Anniversary Season , and the 20th Season of the Precure franchise as a whole , this was a surprisingly good Season for a Anniversary Season, its pretty great from a animation standpoint , and a Character standpoint , the problems are the lack of good villains or really anything good from past seasons , Cure Sky a good main character , Cure Prism a good secondary character, Cure Wing the first male Cure also fits in really well , Cure Butterfly the first 18 years old Cure is also here, there also a spoiler Cure for the last one but I won't ruined that for ya Soaring Sky Pretty Cure is a right direction for Precure , the lack of good villains is a minus for me , and the lack of Edge from Past season really irks me in that regard Hope Wonderful Pretty Cure fix that