[gsilver]

Here's my knee-jerk review that I wrote just after watching the finale. It's been a few weeks since then, but looking back on it, even with my more fond memories of earlier episodes of Smile vs less favorable memories of how the show ended up, I still stand by the review, so here it is.


So, it ended, and no, I didn't like the ending. While I liked some individual episodes of the show a lot, and it was very funny in a lot of places, it also has a lot of problems. The first is character depth, or lack thereof. From the beginning to the end, there isn't so much as a hint of a character arc for anyone involved, and even when the show does try any character development, it either leaves the characters at exactly the same place they were before it started, or it was a flashback, again, leaving the characters at status quo. The side characters fare even worse than the main cast, and the show almost never makes an attempt at having them being memorable, except some of the one-offs, even though some, like the other people in the class, are technically around every episode.

The second is the story, or lack thereof. There really wasn't any kind of story arc here, and in the finale episodes, it becomes a game of “recognize the story element” which are, conveniently, almost entirely pulled from other episodes in the franchise. Third, is the drama. Yeah, I get that I'm not watching fine cinema or anything, and yes, this is a kid's show, but damn. The drama never seems to work in the show, and far too often, it just boils down to overwrought crying. Compared to something like Ojamajo Doremi (which aired on the same channel and timeslot... which Precure replaced), where there is also a fair amount of crying, Doremi comes across as genuine and sincere, while Smile just has the characters bouncing from happy to moping extremes.

Next, the fights. Yeah, they were really weak also, with a couple of exceptions. I still maintain that the mid-season climax had some great battles, but most of them, and most importantly, the final one, were not very well done. I get that it's constrained by formula, but it's by working within the formula that many similar shows have become so good. If anything, Smile so doggedly follows the formula when pulling elements from other series that it doesn't have much identity on its own, and there's really no way of seeing the show as anything other than an iterative work of a franchise.

So, how does it compare to other series in the franchise? The animation is newer and smoother than the series prior to Heartcatch, and in a lot of ways is a greatly refined take on Precure 5, and also has more flair than Suite and more refined than Heartcatch was, so at least on an animation level, it compares favorably. It's also quite hilarious at many places, moreso than the others. It's also lacking where it's truly important.

While I can say that the script is much better than Max Heart (which I dropped), it doesn't compare well to any of the others on a lot of fronts. This is the only series to lack character and story arcs, the Monster of the Week fights aren't as entertaining as the others. Even Suite, which had largely non-threatening enemies, generally had more personality to them. The drama here is also the most forced and least natural, so it frequently comes across as grating.

So, in the end, the show is left with about a quarter of the episodes that I found to be really enjoyable, and a lot more that were weak, especially towards the ending. While I watched it to the end, I really can't recommend this series. If you're curious about Precure, just watch Heartcatch which is worlds better and off the beaten track, or maybe Suite, while not being the favorite like Heartcatch, is still a quality show and is more representative of the franchise as a whole.