Category: Magical Girl

Smile PreCure! The Movie: Take a Look, It’s in a Book!

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When I recently reviewed the Kamen Rider Fourze movie, I noticed that one of its biggest appeals is that it let me revisit a series I really enjoyed with minimal baggage and maximum enjoyment. In that way, the Smile PreCure! movie has much of the same appeal. Smile PreCure! The Movie: Big Mismatch in a Picture Book! lets you return to the Smile world that has characters you love for one last ride while still having everything you enjoyed about the original.

Unless you just watched the original for Majorina Time or as fodder for your Wolfrun fan-fics. In that case, you should just be ashamed of yourself.

In fact, the movies have a lot of similarities when push comes to shove. They are both based on extremely long running franchises that have variable quality and mass market appeal. They are both fairly goofy iterations of their respective series with an emphasis on having a good time over drama. Both movies are self-contained stories inside a larger and more complex plot. They both take place near the end of the series so they let the cast use most of their high level powers but just early enough that none of the end game events of the series’ climax have started taking place. Both of them also have the old gaiden trap of being important enough that SOMEONE should have mentioned the events of the movie sometime during the TV series but don’t because that is how self-contained side stories work.

But most of all they are fun little stories that can be watched inline with the TV series as a long episode or after the TV series as a refreshing sorbet to complement the main course that is the main story.

I found the Smile PreCure! TV series to be a charming, feel-good show that brightened up my week. So, for the life of me I can’t imagine why I sat so long on this movie without watching it. Happily, it follows in the “everyone is hanging out and having a good time”-formula of the show.

Smile PreCure! The Movie: Big Mismatch in a Picture Book! This also happens to be the first PreCure! movie I’ve watched despite there being at least two for every year in recent memory. I had no idea there was an audience participation portion either!

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Manga of the Month: Codename Sailor V

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Codename Sailor V (コードネームはセーラーＶ) by Naoko Takeuchi

Any Sailor Moon fan will tell you that it was a long-time wish for Codename Sailor V to get an English translation. It is so special to us because Sailor V is a character that appears in Sailor Moon but has a much larger back story that most of us couldn’t actually read. Sailor V is a legendary warrior already in the Sailor Moon series and her exploits (and video games) are often mentioned. And again alongside Sailor Moon it is a title that helped transform the magical girl genre. Beyond that though, it is a fun adventure for anyone with a young heart. No deep Sailor Moon knowledge needed since it comes before, too.

Codename Sailor V follows 14-year-old Minako who becomes a champion of justice, somewhat against her will, thanks to a talking cat named Artemis. She battles dark forces in the town as they manipulate the masses through various schemes. Mina has great energy as a lead with a peppy and amusingly dramatic attitude. While her studies suffer as she’s more apt to play video games and daydream about idols, she excels in athletics. This makes the action scenes fun as she loves kicking baddies, literally. Sailor V also becomes something of an idol herself as the story goes on getting her own video game, fan club, and best of all police detective rival who vows to catch her. There is a plenty of humor which should be obvious and nothing gets incredibly serious but Mina does start to realize something bigger is going on. While all the incidents are tied to a deeper story, they are mostly quick adventures.

At only two volumes this is a great, quick read! It adds a little something extra for fans of Sailor Moon but can also entertain with its poppy fantasy. Of course if you want to know the bigger story you’ll have to pick up Sailor Moon next (like you weren’t going to anyway).

Bonus Round – Monkey Mice, Surf Ninja Elephants, and Incest

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It is a revolutionary episode of the Bonus Round on Anime3000 where we talk about part one of the 1997 J.C.Staff show Revolutionary Girl Utena. This is a license rescue and remaster of the classic deconstructionist shojo anime by Nozomi Entertainment. The story centers around Utena a girl who has decided to become a prince to find the man who saved her in the past. She becomes involved a game of surreal duels with the enigmatic student council over the doll-like Anthy. The Student Council Saga introduces many sinister mysteries with some comedy to help break the tension. To put the bonus in the bonus round we have a commercial for a new product from the Mumbai Curry Company before the review. It has the commercial debut of Evan Minto from Ani-Gamers.

Anime3000 – Bonus Round – Revolutionary Girl Utena DVD Set 1: Student Council Saga

Don’t worry. We will return for Part 2: The Black Rose Saga.