Smile PreCure!


Smile PreCure! is a 2012 Japanese anime television series by Toei Animation and the ninth installment in Izumi Todo's Pretty Cure metaseries, featuring the seventh generation of Cures. The series is written by Shōji Yonemura, who is best known as the head writer of Glass Fleet and Kamen Rider Kabuto. The character designs were done by Toshie Kawamura, who previously worked on the character designs for Yes! PreCure 5. The illustration book of her works was released on February 12, 2014. The series aired on All-Nippon News Network 's TV Asahi network between February 5, 2012 and January 27, 2013, replacing Suite PreCure♪ in its initial timeslot, and is succeeded by DokiDoki! PreCure. A film was released in Japanese theaters on October 27, 2012. The series' main topic is fairy tales and happiness. A novel was released in 2016, which serves as a series epilogue taking place 10 years after the events of the anime.
The series was adapted into English by Saban Brands under the name Glitter Force and was released as a Netflix exclusive outside of Asia and in multiple languages on December 18, 2015. As of May 24, 2017, the Glitter Force trademark and the license was transferred to Toei Animation. Hasbro currently owns the rights to the brand alongside other Saban Brands entertainment assets as of June 14, 2018. It is the second series in the franchise to receive an English-dubbed adaptation following the original Pretty Cure series.

Plot

The kingdom of Märchenland, where various characters from fairy tales reside, is attacked by the evil King Pierrot, who intends to direct its world to have its unhappy ending, but is stopped when the queen uses the last of her energy to seal him away. When King Pierrot's minions from the Bad End Kingdom try to revive him by harnessing negative energy from the people of Earth, the queen sends the messenger Candy to assemble a team of five magical girls. The series follows the formation of the team and the adventures of the girls as they try to fight off their enemies to collect the magical tokens called Cure Decors that will enable them to upgrade their powers and revive the queen.

Characters

Characters are listed by their Japanese names.

Main characters

The titular characters are a team of magical girls who are based in the Magical Library, a pocket dimension where fairy tales and other stories is stored. They derive their powers by collecting various items known as Cure Decors which they store in a jewelry box, the collective energy needed for their mission to revive the queen. The girls places the items in a compact case, applying the compact powder to themselves while shouting Pretty Cure, Smile Charge! to transform. When all five transform, they recite their group catchphrase: "Our five lights will guide us to the future! Sparkle! Smile Pretty Cure!". They later acquire upgraded "Tiara" and "Princess" Mode transformations. In the series finale, the Smile Precure acquired Royale Mode during their battle against Pierrot while acquiring Eternal Mode in the series epilogue novel.
;Miyuki Hoshizora / Cure Happy
;Akane Hino / Cure Sunny
;Yayoi Kise / Cure Peace
;Nao Midorikawa / Cure March
;Reika Aoki / Cure Beauty
;Royal Queen

Bad End Kingdom

The Bad End Kingdom, the primary antagonists of the series, are a group who strive to revive King Pierrot by smearing the page of the magic book in their possession with the contents of a black paint tube which is a manifestation of King Pierrot's will. This creates a spatial field called a Dark Zone that amplifies negativity and places those unprotected into a deep despair while their negative energy is extracted and collected into the book. This proceeds advances a clock-like meter called the "Wheel of Doom" which counts down King Pierrot's resurrection. The leaders and the Akanbe are based on clowns while the commanders are based on fairy tale characters.

Leaders

;King Pierrot
;Joker

Commanders

Bad End Kingdom's Three Commanders are formerly Märchenland pixies whom Joker corrupted by exploiting their grudges against being mistreated by their peers, acting out their resentment on others while gradually being pushed to the edge by Joker from being continuously defeated by the Precure. In episode 45, after being forced to use a black Akanbe nose on themselves to assume stronger forms, the three Commanders are purified to their original forms and return with Candy and Pop to Märchenland.
;Wolfrun
;Akaoni
;Majorina
;Bad End Pretty Cure

Grunts

;Akanbes
;Despair Giants
;Pierrot Monsters

Movie characters

;Nico
;King Maou

Cures' families

;Ikuyo Hoshizora and Hiroshi Hoshizora
;Tae Hoshizora
;Daigo Hino
;Masako Hino
;Genki Hino
;Chiharu Kise
;Keita, Haru, Hina, Yūta and Kōta Midorikawa
;Genji Midorikawa Tomoko Midorikawa
;Soutarou Aoki
;Shizuko Aoki
;Junnosuke Aoki

Nanairogaoka Middle School

The Nanairogaoka Middle School is the main school from the cures.
;Namie Sasaki
;Irie
;Runa Terada

Others

;Fujiwara

Media

Anime

The 48-episode Smile PreCure! anime aired on TV Asahi and other Japanese stations between February 5, 2012 and January 27, 2013, replacing Suite PreCure♪ in its previous timeslot. The opening theme is "Let's go! Smile PreCure!" by Aya Ikeda. The ending theme used in episodes 1-24 is "Yay! Yay! Yay!" by Hitomi Yoshida, and the ending theme for episodes 25-48 is "Mankai Smile!" also by Yoshida. All three songs are composed by Hideaki Takatori. A Blu-ray Box Set by Marvelous AQL and TC Entertainment was released on October 26, 2012, in the same fashion as Suite PreCure. Standard DVD releases were also issued.
Saban Brands have licensed the series outside of Asia under the name Glitter Force, releasing it as a Netflix exclusive. This version consists of 40 episodes, with twenty episodes released on Netflix on December 18, 2015 and the other twenty released on August 26, 2016. The adaptation, which was dubbed into English by Studiopolis, features changes to character names, terminology, and music. Glitter Force also skipped eight episodes from the original Japanese version. The opening theme is "Glitter Force", performed by Blush, who also perform various insert songs. Shirley Pelts wrote that "Netflix is investing heavily in legacy cartoons such as Popples and Glitter Force, which it considers to be important toy and entertainment brands."
The English version was later broadcast on London Live in the United Kingdom in July 2017.

Feature films

The heroines appear in the Pretty Cure All Stars cross-over movie series, first appearing in the fourth entry, , which was released in Japanese theatres on March 17, 2012 and on DVD on July 18, 2012.
A film based on the series, titled 193,000,000, and was the highest grossing PreCure'' movie to date.

Soundtracks

The music in the anime is composed and arranged by Yasuharu Takanashi, who previously composed the other Pretty Cure series Fresh Pretty Cure!, HeartCatch PreCure! and Suite PreCure. The official soundtrack to the series is divided into two editions, "PreCure Sound Parade!!" and "PreCure Sound Rainbow!!". There are also three vocal albums as well: "Spread out! Smile World!!", "Hey, Everyone Smile!!" and the vocal best album along with the movie's official soundtrack. The background music in the Saban dub is composed by Noam Kaniel . The songs from the Saban version were performed by the girl group Blush.

Manga

A manga adaptation by Futago Kamikita began serialization in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine in March 2012 and ended in February 2013.

Merchandise

Merchandise of the anime were also issued during the series's initial run including bags, watches, raincoats, etc. Several toys featuring the Cure's transformation devices and weapons were also released by Bandai during the series' airing. Some of the Cures were also released as part of Bandai's long running S.H. Figuarts line of collectors figures.

Video game

A video game titled Smile Precure! Let's Go! Märchen World was developed by Namco Bandai Games and released in Japan for the Nintendo 3DS on August 2, 2012. The game sees the Cures take on the roles of various fairy tales such as Snow White, The Tortoise and the Hare, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel.

Reception

The original Japanese version was well-received, placing regularly in Japan's weekly top ten anime shows broadcast.
Brad Stephenson of About.com describes the English adaptation as "a return to when anime was fun and the priority of everyone involved was to make a super accessible series that could be enjoyed by as many people as possible." He liked the variety of animation for the physical attacks, the energetic singing of Blush, and that "young English-speaking children can have the same experience as the Japanese audience did when they first saw it." He also found the Japanese references to not be a deterrent and would encourage kids to look into Japanese culture as with Sailor Moon.
Ella Anders of BSC Kids, who had also reviewed many other recent magical girl adaptations such as LoliRock and Miraculous Ladybug, thought the series was better than she expected, but disliked the amount of localization provided by the Saban dub, writing that the "With the world so interconnected as it is now the removal of cultural aspects was saddening. It would be such a great chance to celebrate and focus on the Japanese culture."
Jacob Robinson of What's On Netflix critically panned the Glitter Force adaptation, prefacing his review by stating that he most certainly does not recommend the English dub, calling the script "overly cheesy, girly and downright criminal cliché". Robinson also stated that Smile Precure would have been much more bearable to watch in Japanese.
The Glitter Force dub was cited as an example in a The Mary Sue article on the subs vs. dubs debate.