DokiDoki! PreCure


Doki Doki! PreCure, is a Japanese anime series produced by Toei Animation as the tenth installment in Izumi Todo's Pretty Cure metaseries, featuring the eighth generation of Cures. The series is produced by Hiroaki Shibata, who produced Digimon Data Squad and written by Ryōta Yamaguchi, who wrote the scripts for The Vision of Escaflowne. Character designs were handled by Akira Takahashi, who previously did the designs for Suite PreCure. The series aired on the ANN network between February 3, 2013 and January 26, 2014, replacing Smile PreCure! in its initial timeslot, and was succeeded by HappinessCharge PreCure!. An animated film based on the series was released on October 26, 2013. This series' main topic revolves around love, emotions, and selfishness, with playing cards for the cure's main motifs.
Saban produced an English dub of the series, Glitter Force: Doki-Doki, abridging the original forty-nine episodes into thirty. Despite the Glitter Force trademark having moved to Toei in June 2017, Saban Brands was still credited with production of the English dub. The first fifteen episodes began streaming on Netflix from August 18, 2017. The second season, also consisting of fifteen episodes, was released on November 10, 2017. It is the third installment of the series to receive an English dub, and the second English adaptation under the Glitter Force brand. Hasbro currently owns the rights and names to the program and the brand alongside other Saban Brands entertainment assets as of June 14, 2018.

Plot

Trump Kingdom is a magical world where everyone's hearts live happily with the guidance of their ruler Princess Marie Ange. However, one day, an evil force known as the Jikochu attacks the kingdom. A warrior who served Marie Ange goes to the human world with her pixie partner to find the missing princess, and they bring a trio of young pixies along to find the special girls who can be granted magical powers to help save the kingdom.
Sharuru, one of the pixies, finds an enthusiastic middle-school girl named Mana during a visit to the Clover Tower. When Mana encounters a monster Jikochu, which is formed from the soured heart of a person, Sharuru gives her the ability to transform into the magical heroine, Cure Heart using items called Cure Loveads and a smartphone-like device called a Lovely Commune. Mana is joined by her friends to form the magical girl Precure team.

Characters

The characters names and terminology are presented from the assumed Japanese translations. The Saban version is as shown in the Netflix English dub as alternative names.

DokiDoki Pretty Cure

The title characters are a team of girls who become the magical Pretty Cure. They derive their powers by collecting pins known as Glitter Charms which they place in a smartphone-like device called the Magical Lovely Pad. When transforming into their magical form, they shout Pretty Cure, Love Link! and trace out the letters L-O-V-E on their devices. Charms can be added to enhance their powers. In later episodes, the girls upgrade to use the Love Heart Arrow and the Magical Lovely Pad to execute more powerful purification attacks. They introduce themselves with the phrase: Listen to the heart beat of love! DokiDoki! Pretty Cure!.
;Mana Aida / Cure Heart
;Rikka Hishikawa / Cure Diamond
;Alice Yotsuba / Cure Rosetta
;Makoto Kenzaki / Cure Sword
;Aguri Madoka / Cure Ace
. She uses a unique lipstick/sword-like weapon called the Love Kiss Rouge, which allows her to use various powers based on the color of lips she puts on and is mainly used for purification. Her theme color is red and her card motif is the Ace card.

Trump Kingdom

Characters from the magical world of Trump Kingdom:
; Sharuru
;Raquel
; Lance
; Davi
;Joe Okada
; Princess Marie Ange
; Ai

Jikochu

The Jikochu Desired by an ancient darkness possessing the King of Trump Kingdom, their goal is to turn all feelings into hatred and selfish desires into "Janergy" to revive their leader the Jikochu King and create more of their kind. Each of the Leaders and Generals represent one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Leaders

; King Jikochu
; Proto Jikochu
; Regina

Commanders

The Jikochu Agents were previously composed of seven members, each an embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins. As revealed in episode 46, the members Jikochu Agents Lust and Goma were destroyed by Makoto's comrades during the Jikochu' attack on the Trump Kingdom.
; Ira
; Marmo
;Bel
;Leva
;Gula

Grunts

; Jikochu

Other recurring characters

; Sebastian
;Kentaro Aida
;Ayumi Aida
;Sokichi Bando
;Reina Itsutsuboshi
;Mr. Kido
The headroom teacher of Oogai First Middle School. He seems to trust Mana a lot seeing as she is so reliable. He has long gray hair and maroon eyes.

Movie characters

;Marsh
;Mannequin Carmine
;Silver Clock
;Purple Buggy
;Bebel
;Clarinet

Media

Anime

The series aired on ABC and other ANN stations between February 3, 2013 and January 26, 2014. Marvelous AQL began releasing the series on DVD from May 29, 2013 and on Blu-ray Disc from September 27, 2013.
Saban produced an English dub of the series, titled Glitter Force: Doki Doki. The English dub abridged the original forty-nine episodes into thirty. The first season was released on Netflix on August 18, 2017, comprising 15 episodes and covering multiple languages. Doki Doki is the second series to be released under the Glitter Force brand following Toei's acquisition of the trademark from Saban Brands. However, Saban Brands was still credited with the production of the English dub.

Films

The DokiDoki Pretty Cures made their theatrical debut in the Pretty Cure All Stars film, Pretty Cure All Stars#Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage 2: Friends of the Heart, which was released in Japanese theatres on March 16, 2013, with an official soundtrack released on March 13, 2013. A film based on the series, titled DokiDoki! Precure the Movie: Mana's Getting Married!!? The Dress of Hope Tied to the Future'', was released on October 26, 2013 as well as the official soundtrack on October 23, 2013.

Music

The series uses three pieces of theme music, one opening theme and two ending themes. The opening theme is "Happy Go Lucky! DokiDoki! Precure" by Tomoyo Kurosawa. The ending theme for the first 26 episodes is "Kono Sora no Mukō" whilst the ending theme for the remaining 23 episodes is "Love Link", both performed by Hitomi Yoshida. The opening theme is composed by Chiho Kiyooka, the ending themes by Dr.Usui and the background music by Hiroshi Takaki. A character song album featuring songs performed by Kanako Miyamoto, titled "Songbird", was released by Marvelous AQL on May 29, 2013, alongside the original soundtrack's first volume, Pretty Cure Sound Love Link.
The first vocal soundtrack titled DokiDoki! PreCure Vocal Album 1 ~Jump up, GIRLS!~ was released on July 17, 2013. The second vocal album for the series entitled ~100% PRECURE DAYS☆~ was released on November 6, 2013. Then on November 20, the second original soundtrack for the series was released under the title Pretty Cure Sound Arrow. On January 15, 2014, the vocal best album for the series was released.
For Glitter Force: Doki Doki, Noam Kaniel composed the "Glitter Force: Doki Doki Theme Song" and it was performed by the Asian girl group Blush, who previously performed the Glitter Force theme song.

Manga

A manga adaptation by Futago Kamikita began serialization in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine in March 2013 and ended in February 2014.

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.

Video games

The characters in the series appear in the dancing video game, PreCure All Stars: Everyone Gather Let's Dance!, which was released for the Wii in Japan on March 28, 2013. A game based on the series, Dokidoki! PreCure Narikiri Life!, was released by Bandai for Nintendo 3DS on August 1, 2013.

Reception

Let's Talk Anime panned the English adaption of Doki Doki, criticizing the dub for skipping 19 episodes, the episode merges leading to numerous plot holes, the complete removal of Aguri's characterization, and the name changes.