#viblis

love how in the second Max Heart ED, we get a family Christmas picture of Hikaru and his four evil parents, plus the Zakenna guys dressed as reindeer, it's so cute :D

of course, four of the people in the picture will be dead come season's end, but shhh

(I wonder if Hikaru ever misses them...)

Pretty Cure Max Heart Review

I fear if I say anything here, I'll just end up repeating myself several times over during the rest of it. However, here we are, the first series review of Wave 2! Unfortunately it's not a good one.

Dare I say and open this with, that for the most part, I regret watching this as the damage it does do Futari Wa is not an understatement.

Let's be fair though, it does have a few plus points, like successfully pulling off a single group of villains for the whole series, despite the villains getting no power ups or changes through out.

Max Heart biggest plus though, is probably the relationship between Honoka, Nagisa and Hikari. Heck even bonds in general, Akane and Hikari, Hikari and Hikaru, the school clubs, general Senpai/Kouhai relationship; they all sit at different levels and they hold different importances and it does come across clearly.

Another plus point would be that it follows on smoothly from Futari Wa and we do literally end the series with having Honoka and Nagisa graduating, which is a really nice spot to wrap up; even if it could have done with some more nods or references to events prior as those past battles and experiences probably could have been helpful to overcome current ones.

On the other hand, nearly everything else and that's quite serious. It baffles the mind how a show could set a bar so high and then completely botch it up the second time around, instead of just doing what they did before? And if they thought they had, that may be even more confusing?

Plot threads that I can't quite tell if they got bored of or just flat out forgot about them? A cast size that got too big they couldn't manage them all effectively,Hikari and Hikaru, squandered, they should have had more focus, villains that did not get the explanation they deserved or needed, Dark King's revival being under whelming, Queen just being a thing who does little once again. Honoka with no storylines of her own and little solo screen time, a lover angle that hits a brick wall after spending nearly two whole series on it, it doesn't get a satisfying wrap up in anyway, no new attacks off Cure White or Cure Black? Shiny Luminous who only exists to occasional power up the finishers and really, the worst culprit, it is the Nagisa show; the flaws and follies of Futari Wa are gone, now everyone treats her and speaks about her as if she's the best thing since sliced bread. (っ- ‸ - ς)

Our big bad wasn't anything particular and we're just pinning it down to Precure miracles for most of the rest of the stuff. Is a shame though because fight choreography was on point a lot of the time in Max Heart.

(YES 5! Is somehow still worse though)

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Cure White/ Yukishiro Honoka

Honoka is here by default but is a shadow of her former self. Cure White was better in every regard in Futari Wa, in Max Heart she was rather forgotten, even worse than the second half of first series. Aside the science club, did she even have any storylines herself? I swear most of the time she was either being Black's cheerleader or being saved by Black, what happened to the grounded, strong willed, unrelenting, tirade giving, determined, awesome fight from Futari Wa? These two were better when they were on equal ground, they both shined better as characters.

Shiny Luminous / Kujou Hikari

I so much wanted to like you, you checked all the boxes to be something interesting and at no fault of your own, nada. Honestly, I don't know why the writers included her? They didn't care about her, this big plot point was an after thought, that faded into the background, who could do nothing for herself. There was just so much more that could have been explored and explained with her. Luminous/Hikari should have been the driving force of the story. I do like her design though, it's a nice middle ground of the two but I can only assume they went with pink because girls show.

Cure Black/ Misumi Nagisa

Where the mid-drift was something to be feared apparently? You had to know it was coming, good gravy, characters that take 90% of the spotlight do tend to get on my nerves and don't say she's the protagonist, this series is dual-tagonists/co-tagonists. For every two eps it felt Nagisa got, everyone else fought over one and the ironic thing is, she didn't really have any notable storylines. Her best one was probably her as Captain of the Lacrosse team, during the tournament season but the more you saw of her, the less favourable she became.

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Polun

Let's face it, once more Polun was the hero of the hour, again. However, out of all of them, he probably got the best treatment, he had definitely matured a bit and was taking on more responsibilities, with out leaning on Mepple and Mipple as much. It's unfortunate, that the suggested bit of a character arc, in learning to be a good big brother for Lulun never materialised.

Lulun

I've got nothing for her? The power up for Luminous, an odd little arc about wanting to protect others, especially Hikari? Was that suppose to be some tie in to the Queen? Lulun simply followed Polun around, while also giving him a taste of his own medicine and lived with Hikari. It felt like they wanted to give her a mini character arc but the series just had so many extra characters to tackle, they forgot just as many.

Mepple

A lot more tolerable with less screen time. While in Futari Wa it was easy to list his antics that made him so annoying, in Max Heart, he felt more like a second thought, being the chosen hero never really came up. Feeling more background filler is ironic, considering how much focus Nagisa had. Regardless, the screen time he usually did have, either had him trying to annoy Nagisa or getting annoyed at Polun again.

Mipple

There isn't a lot to be said about Mipple, it was easy to forget she was even there but when she did show up, she was very much the maternal figure, even more so than before. If anything, aside from worrying about Honoka, that may have been her only trait.

Heartiels

They were a mixed bag, some were quite snazzy, others gone in the blink of an eye, that they made no impression at all. They just started to feel like a chore or a plot thread they forgot about? Aside Seekun, the only other two you ever saw again were Inteligen and Wishun.

Although, impressively, despite their small size, they are all quite unique looking. I do like most of their designs but I think I'll give it to Pyuan for simply representing her trait best. (Bravun = Zelda is not lost on me)

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Best:

Circulas

The guy who took forever to learn the name of because he just didn't feel like sharing it, despite being the first to appear. He's the only one who makes sense and again, the bar isn't too high but still higher than the darn Seed trio from the end of Futari Wa. (Uranganos had a personality but was boring, Viblis has A,B,C but absolutely on idea why on any of them?) Outside that, I don't have much, his feuds with Black were usually fun to watch.

Baldez

The guy shows up, with the whole, oh no, he's the worst of the worst, gets wiped out in the ep he appears in, takes a limbo like vacation only to come back and do squat all but speak in riddles until the very end. Then, to top it all, he's still perceived to be the strongest of the four, has the gull to go and replace the Dark King and in the end, still folds like paper... seriously, what was the point of you that one of the other three couldn't have covered?

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⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ I jest not, this may be one of my fave attacks so far, well one for the list anyway.

(Pre-redemption)

Submitted Propaganda

The funny numbered ep count comes into full swing this week, they really are all over the place, I dunno how I thought they were all just normal 50 eps a piece?

EP 44

You know what, these two have not been explained; they're Zakenna but not your usual kind, nothing like it, the Seed trio from before conjured them up but why? Why are they more sentient, why are they butlers and why didn't they disappear with the Seed lot before if they were the ones who created them? Just what is their actual story details? (At this point though, that feels like asking for a lot -.-'')

And that is what you call a extremely direct title. However, I will never complain about Wisdom cameo's! I miss his snark.

Speaking of groups who could do with some extra details, just what is there story and how did they come about? If they were already around, where were they all hiding prior? There's still time to fill in some gaps but it's going to feel rather belated at this point. Still, I'm surprised they are all still standing for the finale... and they have managed to remain relatively interesting for a whole series villain group.

Now that's quite the turn out, Hikari is a Disney Princess! However, this is meant to be such a big deal but they've done such an awful job with Hikari, making her quite the lack lustre, background character... just how am I suppose to bring myself to care? You've practically all but forgotten her for the last 40 eps, if the writers aren't fussed, it comes across to the viewers to.

No one with a straight face could convince me otherwise, that this isn't the Nagisa show! (White should be able to do so much better than this!)

But it's 3 on 2, why are they taking it in turns, if they want the Precure out the picture?

Well isn't that a bit tragic, they could have made a nice sibling pair.

I know they only have about 30 secs for the next ep preview but I never really noticed how much it sounds like the pair are in fast forward mode while speaking through out it o.O?

EP 45 I know they kind of gave the big surprise away at the end with the preview but that was a really weird opener before jumping straight into the intro.

Unrelated but an authors note! Haven't seen a lot of those with this one and admittedly, I do not recall that ep but I'll have to go back and take a look.

How to make some one's day, just admit to their face, that they are nothing more than pawns for a greater cause.

Aww, look how far he's come! (Don't tell me the save is going to Porun again?/ And in a way, he actually did ^^")

Don't know if its that shot or their winter uniforms but the pair do look older.

And with Porun's big heartfelt moment, the last actual Heartiel shows up... can Eternity really be considered an emotion though? Shows up, speaks in riddles and just dives right into the chair... what a short appearance for something so long awaited...

Those are good final words.

Ok, I feel like I missed something, I have no idea what it is but Viblis seems to have quite a beef with White over something ??? She's keeps singling her out and cutting in just to send White flying.

They've done it again! Darn, some one on the Precure team clearly love this shot.

Saw that coming but dangit Luminous, you just don't have the track record to support such wild claims.

And for the third ep from the end, that felt super tedious, it really dragged, so much so that I actually found myself checking the time while it was playing, just to see how much longer we had to go... a finale shouldn't be like that.

Mon - Pretty Cure Max Heart - EP 46 + 47

The week that didn't feel like it would ever get here and there's no denying that this series has been a difficult one to get through. How could you get it so right the first time and so wrong the second? Was this rushed out?

EP 46

Now there's a mouthful of an ep title.

And that's as exciting as it gets in this ep for our resident plot McGuffin (っ- ‸ - ς) (That break card never did get updated with the other Heartiels.)

🍪 A cookie to who ever choregraphed this part of the fight! (Also White with a serious concussion after this battle with a head shot like that...)

Cure Black pulling off her Rey Mysterio impression! More wrestling moves in Precure! It was an amazing couple of minutes of fight time!!! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

>.< Darnit Futari Wa, you did it again, gosh darn Circulas jump scare.

Just going to put it out there but don't they look awfully similar to a certain trio from the end of the last series like that.

Gotta have some appreciation for mass Percure collateral damage, it is such a rare treat.

Σ(°□°˶) !! They actually travelled through the finisher... even the powered up version and despite getting destroyed, they took the braces with them, which now means the Precure have no power up to even the playing field. Fair play, that was quite the sacrificial power move.

( ._. )"" The moment you think you're safe and then remember there are four of them...

However... the heck Luminous, they've just written out and benched her at the start, no cool finale moment for her... or cool fight scene just poof.

But kudos for the final preview trailer just being clips from old eps (mostly the first series, read into that what you like?) so the final ep will actually remain a pleasant surprise.

EP 47

This ep couldn't open at a more random scene only to lead into Galdez screaming at you o.O?

Huzzah for proper, actual time progression!

Still waiting ¬.¬...

And after that impressive performance from the other three, the braces are back with out an issue and came with a free heal.

There's a good shot though, just wish it had a bit more context behind it narrative wise.

It's a bold claim but all it seems to have done is make his chin longer... (and what ever happened to the boy? We never saw him disappear?)

It's another intro shot moment! Some on that team really loves their intro.

Still seems ironic that they say so much has happened and it's only ever flashbacks of Futari Wa, nothing with in Max Heart (it's like the secretly knew).

And they wrap it all up with one more Extreme Luminario Max and the poof, we're at graduation...just because?

٩(^ᗜ^ )و ´- Huzzah! Best result! They even upped the animation budget for this last scene.

Well... It was something, a finale with some extra budget thrown in and nice choreographed fight scene moments, plagued by the same glaring issues that the series has suffered with since the start... which I will save for the series review.