Smile PreCure!
Smile PreCure! is a 2012 Japanese anime television series produced 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, 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 character designs for Yes! PreCure 5. Like Yes! Pretty Cure 5, the team has five members with a color scheme of pink, red, yellow, green, and blue, but unlike it the team's members are classmates in their second year of middle school. There are no additional team members. 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 timeslot, and was succeeded by DokiDoki! PreCure. A film was released in Japanese theaters on October 26, 2012, and a novel was released in 2016, serving as an epilogue that takes place 10 years after the anime's events. An illustration book of Toshie Kawamura's works was released on February 12, 2014. The series' main topics are fairy tales and happiness.
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 are owned by Toei Animation. As of June 14, 2018, Hasbro currently owns the rights to the brand alongside other Saban Brands entertainment assets. It is the second series in the franchise to receive an English-dubbed adaptation, after the original Pretty Cure series.
The English dub was removed from Netflix on November 9, 2024, alongside Glitter Force: Doki Doki.
Plot
The kingdom of Märchenland, the home of various characters from fairy tales, is attacked by the evil Pierrot, who intends to give the world an unhappy ending, but is stopped when the queen uses the last of her energy to seal him away. When Pierrot's minions from the Bad End Kingdom plan to revive him by harnessing Bad End Energy from the people of Earth, the queen sends the fairy Candy to assemble a team of five magical girls. The series follows the formation of the team and their adventures as they fight off their enemies to collect the Cure Decor, which embodies the queen's power of happiness and can be used to upgrade their powers and revive the queen.Characters
Pretty Cures
; Miyuki Hoshizora / Cure Happy; Akane Hino / Cure Sunny
; Yayoi Kise / Cure Peace
; Nao Midorikawa / Cure March
; Reika Aoki / Cure Beauty
Mascots
;;
; Mother Goose
Bad End Kingdom
The Bad End Kingdom, are the main antagonists, who strive to revive Emperor Pierrot by collecting Bad End Energy from people. They do this by smearing the pages of a magic book with the contents of a black paint tube, which is a manifestation of Pierrot's will. This creates a spatial field called a Dark Zone, which amplifies negativity and places those unprotected into a deep despair while their Bad End Energy is extracted and collected into the book. This process advances a clock-like meter called the "Wheel of Doom" which counts down Pierrot's resurrection. Joker and the Akanbe are based on clowns, while the three generals are based on villains from fairy tales. The three generals are later revealed to be Märchenland fairies that Joker recruiting by exploiting their resentment over their reputation as villains alienating them from others. They are eventually purified back to their original fairy forms by Miyuki and return to Märchenland after Pierrot's defeat.; Pierrot
; Jester
; Wolfrun
; Akaoni
; Majorina
; Akanbes
; Despair Giants
; Pierrot Monsters
; Bad End Pretty Cure
Supporting characters
Family members
; Ikuyo Hoshizora; Hiroshi Hoshizora
; Tae Hoshizora
; Daigo Hino
; Masako Hino
; Genki Hino
; Chiharu Kise
; Yuichi Kise
; Tomoko Midorikawa
; Genji Midorikawa
; Keita, Haru, Hina, Yuta & Kota Midorikawa
; Shizuko Aoki
; Junnosuke Aoki
; Soutarou Aoki
Other characters
; Namie Sasaki; Brian Taylor
; Ms. Horike
; Fujiwara
; Officer Matsubara
Minor characters
; Irie; Runa Terada
Movie characters
Characters who appear in the film Smile PreCure! The Movie: Big Mismatch in a Picture Book!; Nico
; Demon King
; Momotaro
; Issun-bōshi
; Monkey King
; Cinderella
; Cow King
; Demon from Momotaro
; Demon from One Inch Boy
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 under its SCG Characters unit, 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 and the film 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 show is currently licensed by Hasbro. London Live began airing the series in July 2017.
Films
The heroines appear in the Pretty Cure All Stars cross-over movie series, first appearing in the fourth entry, Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage: Friends of the Future, which was released in Japanese theatres on March 17, 2012, and on DVD on July 18, 2012.A film based on the series, titled Smile Precure! the Movie: Big Mismatch in a Picture Book! was released in Japanese theaters on October 27, 2012. It debuted at the number-one spot in the Japanese Box Office and earned a total revenue of ¥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 as many people as possible could enjoy." 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 not to 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 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 The Mary Sue article on the subs vs. dubs debate.
Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media argued that while the anime "doesn't dazzle," the strong female leads shine through. Ashby also argued that the series comes across as "feeling silly and superficial" and said that the show is a "mild assault on the visual and auditory senses" through the "glitter" transformations. She said the latter is unfortunate as it is a "decent story with strong, appealing female role models."