Monday, January 16, 2023

Precure Max Heart (Series 2)

Almost every Precure season stands on its own, with a new cast, new mascots, new costumes, and a new setting. Max Heart is the rare exception of being one of two Precure seasons to be a direct sequel to another season, in this case Futari. Does Max Heart justify the concept Precure sequel seasons? Hard no! 

Precure Max Heart is about the resurrection of the Queen (aka last season's Big Good) and the Dark King (aka last season's Big Bad). After being wounded by the Dark King last season, the Queen gets split apart into her heart, her life, and 12 fairies called Heartiels. Thus, this season's main storyline is pretty much a race between Nagisa and Honoka to bring back the Queen before the villains, a team called the Shitennou, do the same for the Dark King. The twist is that the Queen and Dark King's life have both found themselves in kids named Hikari and Hikaru (later revealed to be siblings). Hikari ends up joining Nagisa and Honoka as the third Precure, while Hikaru has no idea what the hell is going on and spends the whole season goofing off with the Butler Zakenna. As far as plot goes, it's alright? It's a solid conceit for a sequel and the core "gotta catch em all" structure of the plot should give the season a good amount of momentum, but it doesn't work in execution. The Heartiels just appear most of the time, rarely do the leads ever have to do anything to get them, so it leaves Max Heart just feeling like a 47-episode-long waiting game. And most of the potentially intriguing elements are either revealed super early (Hikari's identity), blatantly obvious (Hikaru's identity), or completely wasted (Elder and Wisdom rooming with Nagisa). To put it simply, this storyline couldn't have supported a full season of anime, and it definitely doesn't help that I didn't find Hikaru or the Shitennou all that interesting.

Hikari, aka Shiny Luminous, was always going to be fighting a losing battle from her concept. The beating heart of Futari wa Precure was the relationship between Nagisa and Honoka, which leaves Hikari as a bit of a third wheel. But it definitely doesn't help that Hikari is literally a blank slate by the start of the series, having just awakened as the Queen's life. Hikari's sole personality trait is being nice. She takes everything super seriously and spends much of her scenes seeming detached from the rest of the cast. Unlike characters such as Mepple, Wisdom, and Akane, Hikari lacks the wit or energy to bounce off of Nagisa and Honoka. I also hate what she adds to the fight scenes, since her transformation into Shiny Luminous pretty much always marks the end of the fight. It leaves Nagisa and Honoka feeling kinda useless for most of Max Heart, since battles are won not by their own skill or determination, but by Hikari deus-ex-machina-ing whenever she finds it most convenient. Hikari's "fish out of water" status could at least lead to some fun comedic moments, but aside from a few episodes, this rarely ever happens. 

Another issue I have with Max Heart is just how many fairy characters we have here. Season 1 had Mepple, Mipple, and eventually Pollun, along with Wisdom and the Elder. Season 2 adds in not just the irritating Lollun but 12 different Heartiels each with their own personalities. I love cute characters and some of these Heartiels are legitimately fun (Pation and Intelligen in particular), but there are points where the whole screen is flooded with cutesy high-pitched fairies and I just couldn't take it anymore. But as bland as I found Hikari, the Shitennou fare even worse. You can tell the writers learned practically nothing from the Seeds Of Darkness, because this is yet another set of dull, identical-looking villains with zero personality or depth. When my favorite antagonist of the season was the oblivious little kid who spent most of it wrecking the evil base, you know you're doing something wrong.

But hey, at least there's the school-related slice of life stuff, right? Eh, kinda. It is true that the school is easily the best part of Max Heart. Nagisa, Honoka, and their classmates are still super fun to watch, the show continues from last season and puts the cast in new leadership positions as graduation looms, and there is a fair share of neat storylines. Max Heart is probably at its strongest whenever Nagisa is dealing with being lacrosse captain, and trying to figure out if lacrosse is what she wants to do with her life. However, just like with the main storyline, there are also plenty of episodes that don't really have a plot, instead boiling down to the characters going to a location and having fun there until the villains show up. And whenever there is some sort of conflict, expect it to be ripped straight out of the previous show, like the lacrosse championships, Honoka's birthday, and most egregiously the return of Fuji-P. However, while the majority of Max Heart was a massive slog, it actually manages to end on a solid note. Around the late 30s, the episodic storylines start to improve a bit, the animation gets a bump, and plotlines start to resolve on (mostly) satisfying notes as graduation loomed. It was definitely an improvement, but still way too little too late.

Highlights:

An Aspiring Upperclassman Is A Close Friend?! (Episode 15): This episode was one of the few times it felt like Max Heart actually lived up to its fullest potential, at least as far as slice of life is concerned. Hikari's fish-out-of-water status is actually explored as she starts making friends and gets roped into a basketball game, the fairies are kept off to the side, the plot gets less priority over actually entertaining character interactions, there's a pretty well animated basketball scene, and NagiHono fangirls Nao and Miu are genuinely really fun additions to the cast who actually play off of all the main characters incredibly well. Wait... this is their only appearance? Unbelievable!

Infinite Darkness, Eternal Light (Episode 45): I never grew to care about Hikari, but the characters did, so when she disappears and everyone but Nagisa and Honoka forget about her, it still hit surprisingly hard. Infinite Darkness, Eternal Light has such a crushing and hopeless atmosphere to it, especially as it builds up to the return of the Dark King.

Open The Door! The Story Begins From Here (Episode 47): How the hell is this finale so good when the rest of the show is so mediocre?! Nagisa and Honoka's relationship is giving front-billing here, every scene with the two of them is phenomenal. I love the opening where we see their childhood, that scene where they talk about what they want to do after the battle is over, obviously the graduation scene too, it's those emotional touches that really elevate this finale. Because this is also an action-packed episode, with some of the best action and plot twists in the whole series. I mean, we get Queen physically fighting the Dark King with the Earth as their battlefield, how can you even top that?! Hikari's storyline ends on a very satisfying and emotional note as well, and while I'm not as fond of Mepple and Mipple not saying goodbye this time, I think it works so that we don't just get a repeat of last season's ending. I may not have liked Max Heart all that much, but I'm much happier with where it left the cast.

Overall, Precure Max Heart is a disappointing followup to Futari wa Precure and a pretty poor show on its own merits as well. Despite an intriguing premise, Max Heart refuses to do anything actually interesting with it and instead goes for a passive plot where the cast rarely faces any engaging conflicts or difficult decisions. The bland or unlikable new characters bloat out the cast, and the stuff that Max Heart does do right are usually ripped right out of the first show. There's a fair share of solid episodes, the returning cast from Futari is still as likable as ever, and the final stretch is solid, but otherwise, this was a massive step down.

1/5 Stars

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