Toei Animation’s multi-decade-long magical girl series, “PreCure” (also known as “Pretty Cure”), makes a bold and unexpected announcement for a new spin-off series. And things are looking far darker than audiences usually associate with the hallmark magical girl powerhouse series.
In a very unexpected move, Toei Animation uploaded a teaser trailer for a new project known as “デュアルシャドウ～Precure Villain Heroines～”, or in English, “Dual Shadow ～Precure Villain Heroines～”.
The short teaser opens with what one would call a very on-brand “PreCure” visual of a bright field of flowers—that is, until it becomes corrupted. Leading not only to a stark visual change, but also a musical shift and alteration in the atmosphere. There is only one single message to be had: whoever these characters are, they aren’t PreCures. Meaning this new story will feature all-new characters that fans don’t already have a history with.
It’s jarring, a little unnerving and the last thing any fan of the series would expect.
That very same sentiment is shared with the project’s website, leading to a very clear sign that fans once more must forget everything they know about the universe of “PreCure”, as big changes are coming. Something confirmed by Toei Animation themselves when speaking with Oricon News: “What kind of developments will this new work bring, which is sure to overturn the common wisdom of fans who have enjoyed the Precure series so far!? Stay tuned for further updates!”
While this is a shattering development, this isn’t the first time that Toei has made bold steps around this beloved magical girl series. Quite the opposite. Over the years, “PreCure” has been quite bold with its narrative choices. The series has never shied away from serious topics or darker themes that some within the kids’ space wouldn’t tackle.
With the 2020 series entry “Healin’ Good PreCure”, Toei didn’t pull away from the heavier, health-focused themes central to what its lead was facing during the middle of notable world events.
But their boldness doesn’t only stand with their first 2020 series entry. Throughout this decade, “PreCure” has made a lot of very notable changes to not only its usual beats, but even magical girl storytelling. With “Soaring Sky PreCure”, we saw our first blue lead Cure, breaking the long-running tradition of only having a pink leader, who came from another world to Earth for her story. That, coupled with the introduction of their first male Cure and adult Cure, changed the dynamics fans thought they always knew.
The following season, “Wonderful PreCure” not only changed up the series’ color palette of the heroines, but allowed the team to be a mix of pets and their respective owners becoming Cures. With Cure Wonderful herself being none other than a dog and Cure Nyammy actually being a cat, the bounds of what it means to be a Cure were fundamentally flipped.
While in their feature film, and later during “Wonderful PreCure”, we once more saw our core male character become a Cure. Something that carried over into last year’s entry, “You and Idol PreCure”. While Cure Connect was a short-term appearance, the character roles changed as the fairy mascots ended up becoming the midseason duo.
These are all moves that have majorly redefined the series for fans new and old. But they are hardly the biggest changes that likely led to this new series coming to light. Oh no, that is unquestionably thanks to this year’s still-airing series, “Star Detective PreCure”.
While this year’s entry does quite a bit to shake up the typical “PreCure” norms—something I will reserve to speak on at length after the series wraps up—we see a series laced with mystery, hidden heroes, time travel and a Cure who starts out working for the enemy: Cure Arcana Shadow. Who has become this series’ fan darling.
All of these new factors are making the long-running franchise fresh, exciting and dynamic. But they aren’t the only places Toei has changed up the “PreCure” world. Since the start of the decade, fans have seen two additional spin-off series focused on young adult versions of some of their favorite teams as they are once more called to action to save the day.
But breaking away from the screen have been Toei’s live musical stage show “PreCure” efforts. While “PreCure” has always largely kept its core casts and Cures female-centric, their stage shows have flipped the script, giving fans a chance to see new teams of male Cures on their own heroes’ journeys. And with their second team of male Cures getting ready to enter stage right with “Colorful Runway! Pretty Cure The Stage” starting soon, the sky isn’t even the limit now for “PreCure”.
If anything, expanding out as we now see Toei doing is a very logical next step. Even if it was one no one ever humored the thought of becoming a reality.
Between the nearing conclusion of “Star Detective PreCure”, the start of “Colorful Runway!”, and now “Dual Shadow”—now more than ever, it is a great time for not only magical girl fans, but animation fans.
Now we wait for more news on “Dual Shadow” and the forthcoming trademark of the 24th main “PreCure” series entry that will begin in February.
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
YouTube
RSS