So, like

This is a weird one

when this season is on, it's banging

But it also has what is unquestionably the worst stretch of episodes in the franchise's history

Usually when Precure's not good it's just kind of boring

But there's a 17 episode leg from 8 to 25 that is bad

(The Regina episodes in there are good on their own but are feeding into the Cure Ace swerve which is just indefensible)

I don't think the ideas behind the Aguri/Regina thing were bad but every single decision they made about how to bring Aguri into the show was the wrong one

And then even after Cure Ace is in the show properly it still stays bad for quite a while because. Man trying to combine the 'sassy lost child' character and the 'mysterious mentor' character sure was a bad call

THe show doesn't get better until we meet Aguri's grandma and Aguri starts to be, like, a real character

Also, a not insubstantial portion of episodes of this season just. Look really bad.

I love Low Poly Precure In The Distance, I find it very charming but there are a lot of episodes that are just full of outright animation errors

Mostly directed by Hiroyuki Kawano

The funny thing is the man's directed a lot of episodes in other seasons that I've watched but for some reason he stood out to me really hard this year

It definitely feels like there was some creative retooling behind the scenes in th emiddle of the season because suddenyl it started doing stuff that it should have been doing from the beginning, like integrating Ai into Mana's family (although...this too gets weird, Mana's mom keeps acting like the baby isn't her problem)

Also I'm 90% certain that episodes 41 and 42 were supposed to air in reverse order

Because if Aguri's grandma already knew that she was Cure Ace in 41 everything makes sense

but if she DOESN'T the scene of her leaving her ten year old behind to deal with the monster is completely insane

ANyway after the mideseason retooling the show definitely improved a lot

the finale is genuinely a banger

but...man. This first half of this season has got some BIG problems

One of which is that. Like okay. The concept of 'lead Cure who wants to become Prime Minister of Japan' is a rocking concept

And clearly it's core to Mana's concept, like that's why the Cure Heart design has a sash

But also it only comes up twice in the whole series?

And isn't spoken of at all until the show's halfway over?

Wasted!

Also...man, I'm sorry, this one is not dethroning MahoPre for the position of gayest precure

Like, yes, Rikka is very gay for Mana

and Regina comes across that way sometimes too

But like gestures at Mirai and Liko

'There's a love confession!' There's a scene that can be read that way that doesn't really come across like that in context, which is then later rehashed in the finale with like four people jumping in to no homo it

Unless something happens in the movie, watch this space in a week I guess

So yeah overall it ended on a very strong note and I feel pretty positive about the back half but

man am I glad that this didn't get chosen for anime club

I think watching the Quality Valley on a weekly basis would have made me so sour ont he whole show that I woulpdn't be able to engage with the better parts

One thing that I want to call out as especially cool in the finale

Me at the end of episode 46: “Wait they’re doing the transformation sequence now? The episode’s basically over! What the hell is this?”

Me a minute later when I realize what’s about to happen:

stock footage is a limitation of the format but I love. Love. LOVE it when they turn it into an advantage