This review does not contain any spoilers. Its safe to read before watching. It doesnt require any knowledge of the franchise. As I watched more and more Precure I started comparing the series to one another. I want to write down some notes on that. Its the second Precure series Ive finished. I want to see all of them and report my opinions. Each one I see will add to my experience so Ill try to compare them a bit too. A short explanation for those not accustomed with the series: Sunday morning kids show targeted for young girls the longest consecutively running mahou shoujo franchise ever over 20 years of non stop anime almost every series follows a similar pattern introducing a new group of magical warriors fairy mascots and a lot of magical gadgets. StarTwinkle Precure is the 16th Pretty Cure series which started airing in 2019. I think its one of the most distinct with its vibrant and strongly defined theme I feel it does stand out a bit. It goes all the way to space with the whole package: flying rockets visiting distant planets meeting aliens... Aesthetics are inspired by astrology and the 80s retro vibe and the main themes are imagination and diversity both of the vast universe and the human race. 400https://64.media.tumblr.com/16ea986ecb0dc6c3f38f721ff7b034c1/00a1c1f8e93432eda7/s540x810/fb23a02d24a7386dbe59d14f67375326ed669f58.gifv The main character Hoshina Hikaru is 13 years old energetic and pretty obsessed with her hobby outer space. She enjoys watching stars and coming up with constellation ideas which she meticulously writes down in her notebook. One day she gets an unexpected guest from a galaxy far far away a cute little fluffy thingy called Fuwa. Shes followed by more alien visitors and you guessed it theres some mahou shoujo transformation incoming. Soon a curious and a bit hotheaded girl that she is Hikaru joins in on a huge savingthewholeuniversefromimpendingdoom plot. And boy is it huge. From all the Precure series Ive seen StarTwinkle has one of the most intense high stakes stories going on. The main villain isnt there to play around and the danger is imminent. Of course the group of Cures is tasked with a standard overused gather X thingies to proceed mission but the overall plot saves it from being too boring. Travelling around the galaxies is a lot of fun and really shows off a lot of different funky ideas. Yanagawa Akari the producer is responsible for the beautifully blended themes of diversity and opening up to new things. She was living in the USA for a while and attended school there. In the interviews she mentions how the cartoons on TV there featured people of various skin colours something she didnt see in Japanese media at the time. While working on StarTwinkle she decided to use the opportunity to introduce a Cure with a darker skin a half Japanese half Mexican girl. Of course we had magical girls with various origins: from space from different dimensions a robot from the future but its not that often we get one from a real life minority group. Yanagawa thought that the series about meeting alien life and learning to be openminded and accepting about it will be a perfect season to introduce a character like that. And well I for one did not expect to see mentions of reallife racism and colorism in a Precure series. Of course it was subtle and fixed with the power of friendship but still. I really loved it. I think Yanagawas ideas were beautiful and they worked perfectly when combined together. As a bonus I recommend reading interviews in which she talks about it all. Ah it would be fantastic to have her work on another season. 400https://64.media.tumblr.com/75921a20a6ee0f0167617c07577df856/53845cfa7ca9ce3190/s500x750/b571fdc180d7c65f4ff84d9c9a68a4505a2c0925.gifv As always the core of the series are the characters and this time there are five of them in the Precure team. Five Cures is quite a lot to manage but I think the show does a good job giving each of them some time to shine. As I already described Hikaru Cure Star shes your usual enthusiastic protagonist goofball. Her passion for outer space is sweet but she didnt make that strong of an impression on me. As characters go I think her companions fare better. The resident alien Lala is a stern voice of reason at the same time a stranger an alien even heh in a whole new world and I think its shown in a compelling way. The aforementioned half Mexican Elena is a popular and beloved big sister type archetype a ray of sunshine whose story is mostly focused on her big family and caring for others. Shes definitely a fav of mine a beautifully written lovable character. The third Earth Cure Madoka is lovely as well but I find her characterization the weakest shes a student council president from a strict rich family skilled in traditional arts I feel like Ive seen it before and by before I mean literally the previous Precure series I happened to review. And not just there. Shes still sweet so Im not complaining that much. The last member of the team the second alien is a funky one but theres so many interesting and fun ideas there I feel like she got too little time to show them all off. I guess its just a curse that lateseason Cures have to bear. The Cures are accompanied by mascots obviously two of them. I think Fuwa was one of the best we got but Prunce well he wasnt the worst ever but I disliked him plenty. The villains left a mixed impression: about half of them were annoying and I couldnt care about them at all but the other half fantastic. Aside from the main antagonist I especially loved Tenjou. I was a little confused by the idea of basing the alien villains designs on youkai but I guess it makes as much sense as any other theme in Precure. And speaking of designs oh my Star Twinkle Cures are some of the best dressed magical warriors around. I loved their fits I loved how distinct they were and how well they looked together. And all the Zodiac versions were simply outstanding. Out of this world really. But... thats about magical girls designs they usually steal the show. Overall I feel like a lot of the concepts were pretty plain when you think about the richness of ideas the outer space is. I couldnt find much information on how well received StarTwinkle Precure was. If Anilist users opinion is any indicator its one of the highest rated. From what I gathered the space theme was a huge success not surprising. Its definitely more appealing to the general audience than many other ideas the franchise uses. I think its a great place to start with the Pretty Cure really. The series introduces a couple of new things most notably singing in henshin sequences which was okay I guess? Im not surprised it didnt make it to the next seasons. But otherwise its a wonderful example of what the whole deal is. While the main girl doesnt shine bright like a star to me many other aspects carry the series effortlessly. Its fun lively and cute and Im sure it would be a wonderful start into the world of Precure. Is it a lighthearted kids show following a formula seen in many different series? Yeah. But this time its in space and theres a kappa with a lightsaber so if you try hard enough you can pretend its a new Star Wars show. Only better because this time its mahou shoujo. 400https://64.media.tumblr.com/bf72bc3e7b46506317147ba0eb200010/bb78f44f339db94c3e/s540x810/45eb5f79ce07c174645c73ab69f82e3031eff77d.gifv Heres my personal Precure rating its a 5 scale comparing the series. Cures: designs: mascots: villains: story: theme and vibes: Thank you for reading