After a full 3 years my journey to catch up on all the Precure series finally comes to an end only a few movies remain Kirakira Precure La Mode was the last on the list. From the beginning I knew it wasnt a generally loved series so I started with low expectations which helped me face some questionable choices. So the themes of Kirakira Precure are sweets and animals. The first one is integrated quite well thanks also to the existence of the KiraPati a shop where the girls make sweets for themselves and for their customers I dont understand how this is realistically possible without apparently getting paid but lets leave it at that. Gradually they manage to build a certain reputation in the city and that place will play a fundamental role in the finale. One thing: even though its less invasive than in Delicious Party where food was forced into every situation this series also suffers a bit from that problem. Despite this this time you can feel the love for sweets and theres an effort to present the making of sweets in the most appealing way possible. Then the animal theme is included without any real logic associating the Precure with a rabbit a squirrel a lion a dog a cat and a unicorn. The associations for better or worse make sense with the girls personalities but I dont think it made sense to include them in this specific season. Also it was practically immediately forgotten that the protagonists had powers related to the animals theyre linked to making their animallike appearance feel even more out of place. Regarding the antagonists its commendable that they all fight in different ways from each other offering less monotony. The initial part with the evil fairies is definitely the weakest as their characterization was poor there were many of them and they were even similar to one another. The situation improves with Julio who Ill talk more about later as he plays multiple roles. Later comes Bibury who immediately caught my attention for her design and the fact that she carried a doll. I appreciated that she was a tool created by Noir to manipulate her and in general also her backstory which is connected to the main story and explains how she fell into darkness. Once she learns the truth about her past thanks to Ciel who will do everything to reach out to her she will definitively free herself from Noir. After her change shell go work with her and its nice that despite this she kept a slightly sour personality which contrasts well with the rest of the cast. However despite being likable Im convinced she couldve been used more especially since she doesnt have a role in the final battle like Rio. Then theres Grave who I find rather empty. I can say the idea of using a machine is fun and he was a threatening enemy especially during his final fight his backstory worked for me hes useful in the finale and fortunately he wasnt truly redeemed consistently with his character. Theres very little to say about Diable the fact that he gradually grows stronger and is connected to Bibury is nice but hes a null villain. In his favor Ill say only that his power to darken peoples hearts is beautiful it created some interesting interactions. Noir too is really terrible. Throughout the season he appears as a great mastermind capable of dragging many people into darkness only to become ridiculous in the last few episodes. First we discover his absurd backstory: apparently he was a wornout soldier we dont know anything else who was rescued by the legendary Precure Lumiere who spreads smiles to everyone through sweets. He soon commands her to make sweets only for him. Her refusal makes him hate sweets and so he throws the world into chaos for that reason. I often try to defend poorly treated antagonists and find something in them but this time its beyond my abilities. Furthermore immediately after this revelation he gets struck from behind by Elysio with no buildup and disappears completely into nothingness then yes from the finale its clear hell reincarnate as a child as will Lumiere but his story as a villain effectively ends ingloriously. About Elysio I fear he ended up in the wrong series. In fact even by Precure standards this is quite a lighthearted and much less mature series than others. As a daytoday antagonist Elysio was by far the most unsettling and difficult to deal with as he was able to identify the protagonists weaknesses and exploit them similarly to Joker. Calling Akiras sister and telling her itd be better if she didnt exist making Yukari meet her own darkness or making Himari relive her past traumas through a movie are some examples that come to mind. As a final villain unfortunately he became one too suddenly. In any case I believe he wants to carry forward an ideology far too heavy for a series like this: being Noirs body he suffers from all the evil and wars that exist so he intends to erase hatred and love the other side of the coin to create a peaceful world which he will rule as an impartial authority assisted by a police force which will prevent the reemergence of such emotions. The absence of love and hope will erase peoples dreams but thinking pragmatically there wouldnt be hatred either so there wouldnt be problems for anyone. Ichika promises Elysio that shell try to unite the world and for this will travel to bring smiles to people through sweets. Truly too idealistic a solution honestly. Also it didnt seem too in line with who Elysio had been up to that point. For one reason or another I find him a character only partially successful. Still he has a good design and his being a sorcerer is cool. As for the secondary characters the fairy population is decent I liked that they lived on Earth close to humans and not in a separate kingdom. There were some acceptable episodes dedicated to them including one about their coexistence with cats. Chourou wasnt exactly a memorable presence you remember him just for his role in the finale he did more in the last two episodes than in the rest of the series and for the fact that hes a ghost as well as for his dandy look in human form. Pekorin isnt annoying in general but she conveys much less to me than many other fairies in the franchise. So I was surprised that she got an entire episode of the final battle and became a Precure. The transformation can also make sense since it was vaguely hinted at in earlier episodes but I wonder why she transformed and not Pikario besides the fact that shes female. Also it was way too late in the series to debut a new Precure. Still its notable that this is the team with the most members of all. Now its the Precures turn. Unfortunately I think they all suffer from a particular and important problem: outside of the episodes focused on them they dont show particular signs of development or depth. They have specific traits and no space is given to anything else. The situation becomes especially problematic when each character has at most 45 dedicated episodes. Also interpersonal relationships are limited notable ones are Yukari/Akira and Ciel/Ichika +Rio and if you want Himari/Aoi. Lets see more specifically what I mean. Ill start with Ichika the protagonist of the series. I like her as a character when the focus is on her but otherwise she acts like a generic leader always cheerful silly and inspiring others. However in reality she has some distinctive traits. What comes to mind immediately is her relationship with her mother: although she greatly admires her for bringing smiles to people around the world through her work she suffers from her physical absence which is really tough for a middle schooler. Sweets themselves are like a tool to feel closer to her since they used to make them together. Then she felt forced for a long time to smile to avoid causing trouble and because her mother loved seeing her happy. She also shows small moments of rebellion towards her father who gives her a lot of attention at the start of the series she had a crush on Akira thinking she was a boy. She has deep respect for Ciel as a ptissire and plays a crucial role in reconciling the twins. Also her conclusion though fairy talelike is in line with her character and was built well: she intends to spread her love through sweets by traveling the world doing a job similar to her mothers. Shes always been a normal girl without particular talents and not fit for big stages unlike the others: she remained true to herself and kept running the KiraPati even after they split up. Since the foundations were there I wanted more from Ichika but Im satisfied. Now its Himaris turn who I consider more than a good character. She definitely doesnt have huge depth of writing but her growth is wellstructured and organic. She starts off as a girl who isolates herself from others because even though she has a great passion shes afraid to express it fearing that no one cares about what she says having been traumatized by a bad experience in the past. Instead she finds in Ichika and the others friends and people who listen to her. Over time she manages to speak in front of increasingly large audiences. I find her dedication to sweets very sweet and how she applied herself to studying them as best she could. Aoi is acceptable. Compared to the usual blue Precures she stands out because shes not refined and tries to distance herself as much as possible from her wealthy family through the band and KiraPati. Despite some good moments I find her path only partially interesting. Personally they didnt manage to convey her duality very well to me. Surely her songs are nice and I liked that she fell into darkness because of Elysio to the point that she fights her friends. I found it a bit repetitive that more than once she faced the band of the singer who inspired her. I think the episode dedicated to her that I liked most was the final one where she decides not to abandon her dream despite the departure of the bands founder and even manages to sing without a voice. As for Akira well. Aesthetically shes particularly masculine and very athletic. Shes very devoted to her younger sister probably too much: shes extremely selfless on levels comparable to Mana a trait Im not crazy about since it feels too unrealistic. The best moment showcasing this trait is the episode with the prince of the Confetto kingdom where they compete for Yukaris hand. Her relationship with the latter is the most interesting component of Akira: it absolutely cant not be seen as romantic in the first part of the series later the writers probably feared they went too far and tried to do damage control. A real shame. The fact that shes Ichikas neighbor wasnt properly developed either since its highlighted only at the beginning and in the episode where residents from different city areas clash. In general episodes dedicated to her are often actually focused on other characters especially her sister whom I like so Akira doesnt have real development. Now its Yukaris turn who at the beginning was clearly the one who attracted me the most. She was perfect and skilled in every field which is why she didnt really have something she loved. She was arrogant and praised by everyone she even has a fan club she clearly enjoys it and is able to make people serve her and laugh about it. She is undoubtedly one of the most negative Precures ever introduced. Her charm was enhanced by the fact that she was intelligent and manipulative even towards the antagonists. In fact suspecting Rio she tricks him and is the first to realize his true identity. Similar moments from a good character are quite rare. She will also show herself rather uncaring towards the feelings of some people like the love of the prince of Confetto deliberately provoking a challenge between him and Akira solely for her own amusement. Following a confrontation with the latter she will understand that her behavior was wrong. Elisio will even allow her to confront her own darkness represented by her younger self charming but lonely. She embraces that part of herself but wants to move past it now that thanks to the KiraPati she has found something to love. However from this point on Yukari will fade into the background and will have two more episodes focused on her which I dont find particularly organic to her character development. Even her relationship with Akira ends up forgotten just like her interest in Ichika which initially led her to join the group. At first even in episodes not centered on her she had a certain charisma which she later loses becoming less interesting. A real shameshe could have been truly brilliant. And now lets move on to Ciel who in my opinion is among the best in the group despite not being much loved by the fandom. One reason I appreciate her is the fact that she is closely connected to the main plot as well as to the core theme of the series. She definitely has talent for making sweets but she worked on it beforehand and had difficulties before becoming so skilled and acquiring human form. Moreover she is presented with some character flaws: being so good shes separated from the rest of her future group and aspires to become like those she has always admiredthe Precure. She made a lot of mistakes with Pikario ignoring him in his moments of difficulty and not valuing his efforts but she understood her mistakes and its wrong to condemn her since characters grow and change. She values dreams and hope a lot but as soon as she realized what her actions had caused she was ready to give up her ambitions giving in to darkness just to get closer to her brother. When he recovers and wants to leave the city out of guilt even though she really cares about that place shes willing to give it up to stay with him and will be very clingy towards him. Also now that she can sense Vibrys loneliness she invites her to stay with her and make sweets together giving her the love she had always desired. She even pushed Akira and Yukari to clear things up. She has a majestic design and her fairy/human duality is well expressed to the point that she has solid relationships with other characters in both forms. As I already mentioned the last character Id like to talk about is Rio even if unfortunately hes not one of the protagonists. As an antagonist he has a rather captivating design and causes real problems for the main characters. He does it using the usual role of the villains who will become good: that of the transfer student who manages to make everyone at school go crazy for him right away thanks to his incredible skills and beauty. The reason behind his turn to the dark side is quite original and interesting: hes a brother who had the same dream as his sister but was soon left behind and pushed aside thus the ambition to make sweets with her vanishes. Later he will give up his hatred for sweets which had been the cause of his separation from Ciel but he ends up out of the picture for a few episodes. Then he will make a glorious comeback against Grave a situation in which he also collaborates with Vibry and helps defeat him. It bothers me that he only gets one dedicated episode at the end of which he agrees to live with Ciel and stay in the city despite the crimes he committed there in the past. Hes not even acknowledged during the final battlea choice I find truly terrible. Did they really make Pekorin a Precure and not him? As for the fights they didnt particularly excite me except for rare exceptions some of the fights against Julio and the last one against Grave. The animation wasnt really toptierI guess they were saving up for HUGtto. I still think the series isnt without moments of tension like for example those in which Julio and Elisio exploit the girls weaknesses. There was a lot of controversy over the fact that there are practically no physical fights: using cream to fight was a cute idea that could have allowed for original tricks but often I didnt feel enough visual impact. The character designs especially those of the main girls didnt thrill me at first but I have to say I appreciated them more and more over time. I liked the choice to insert character songs at key moments for the characters. The opening in terms of visuals seemed quite loweffort to me but it presents the first five main characters well a bit less Ciel musically I like it. Between the two endings I prefer the second one from both a visual and musical standpoint. Ill point out that the CGI models are pretty good. I still have to comment on the final arc even though Ive already talked about some things so I wont repeat myself too much. Honestly I find it one of the weakest in Precure. The choice to switch from Noir to Elisio as the final villain was really sudden. The concept of a world devoid of love and hate is presented adequately but dealt with far too superficially Go Princess teaches us that treating strong themes poorly in a childrens series is a fault. Even dedicating a whole episode to Pekorin didnt seem like a brilliant choice to me and the final clash with Elisio is short and lacks any interesting twist so much so that even visually its not very satisfying. The only nice thing is the combination of Noir and Lumires powers. I liked that Grave was involved a little but its terrible that Vibry and Rio are irrelevant and have less importance than Chourou. The best part for me is the final episode which gives a good closure to Ichika and also shows the protagonists several years in the future. Fun detail: this time the baton pass involves Nono Hana the protagonist of HUGtto Precure which was one of my very first series so ending where my journey with Precure practically began feels like a full circle. Its strange she didnt say her meshock in that episode but it was hype seeing her use her fists against an enemy clearly not used to that kind of opponent. Still I find it strange that she wasnt with Saaya Homare or even just Harry on that occasion but by now I know that the baton passes are more fanservice done without much thought than anything else.