[Jao]

I think you're running a little too fast and loose with your definition of what makes a good Precure series. Most of Smile's problems were far more evident in Fresh, which had a tonne of its own. Fresh had a plot when it felt like it, with an arbitrarily vague countdown timer and Fresh's gimmick episods (And the long swathes of filler, because what else do you call it when you can't see the countdown counting down) were borderline insulting.

Yes, Smile has no story to speak of and no real character development to speak of. The fact that it manages to be a consistently funny show despite this is its best defense. It's a different kind of Precure. It still has what I would consider the heart of a Precure series, and if you gave it a different name and took the spats off, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't mistake it for anything else. I wouldn't want it two years in a row, but it's nice to have once.

Also I think someone here mentioned early in the Smile thread that to use the term 'moe' when describing Precure is pretty meaningless given its target demographic (And the fact Smile seems to be nailing its target demographic as well as the older fans). Slice of life would work better, or maybe just straight up comedy.

I'll definitely agree with you that Yes has the very best character development in the franchise, though I'd also call it the least Precure-y. So yeah.