Yes! Pretty Cure 5

[CrowKenobi]

Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki

Hmm...are there any active torrents for this series still?

TV-Nihon and Twilight Revelations have started subbing this... but starting at episode 1.

[Liddo-kun]

It seems TV-Nihon has up to episode 2.
Hopefully, them or Eggplant fansubs will continue subbing it someday.

[Guido]

It's been about a year and a half since I last posted in this thread.

Today, I got to watch the Pretty Cure 5 movie.

Unlike previous Pretty Cure films, this one manages to run a little over an hour.

For any fans of Yes! Pretty Cure 5 out there this movie has spectacular visuals regarding the lighting, the frame shots, and the fights

Although I was more keen interested in the fights and the struggle, there were a couple of characters which took to my liking, and, in fact, both come from the bad guy's side.

Spoiler:

The Kingdom of Mirrors is alluded to be the fictional and literary country of the mirrors from Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass.

The synopsis is that the OverLord Shadow took possession of the Mirror Crystals (five crystals color coded as it's not surprising - Pink, Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue), thus ruining the Mirror Kingdom into a barren wasteland whose inhabitants are sealed inside Mirror Shards, save for two: Migirin and Hidarin (alluded that these furry twins are the Pretty Cure incarnations of Tweedledee and Tweedledum).

He wants the Dream Collet, so by using the crystals he copies the reflection of each of the five Pretty Cures to create his army of Dark Pretty Cures- the inversed, evil alteregos of the Prety Cure 5.

Battle ensues for the Dream Collete and each Pretty Cure is dragged into a different Mirror dimension by their evil twins, and once inside they start to duke an all out war against each other.

While the other Pretty Cure after a critical struggle managed to pull a miraculous comeback and defeat their respective dark Twins, Cure Dream manages to reach Dark Dream's heart and offers the latter her friendship.

The last battle against shadow ensues with him morphing into a giant version of himself (as Pretty Cure villains from previous films had done so before), but everyone (and not only Coco, Nuts, and Milk but also Higirin and Midarin as well) contribute their power for Pretty Cure to smash Shadow with their "Butterfly of Death" battleship attack.

The villains I liked in this movie were both Shadow and Dark Dream.
1. Dark Dream, IMO, hold an incredible potential for character development. She possessed a lot of conflicting emotions which turned to turmoil once she thought of the possibility of making friends with Cure Dream.

2. While I must admit that Shadow was an average villain, neither that good nor bad, his performance as a bad guy was well complimented because he was voiced by none other than Paku Romi.
Paku Romi is a well-known seiyuu in the Otaku community for her roles of
Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist fame;
Teresa in Claymore (a very striking role IMO);
Nana Osaki from the NANA anime series;
Hitsugaya Toushirou from the Bleach series;
and many other roles featuring tough-type ladies or lonely-tough boys.

And irony is that she later provided the voice of Syrup, the Duck mascot character who is introduced in the Pretty Cure 5 sequel, Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo, and is a good guy who can also transform to human form like both Coco and Nuts do.

Although this movie has great moments, it doesn't escape unscathed without a major letdowns.

Spoiler:

The most serious flaw, at least to me, lies in Nozomi. Very passionate and quick to deliver some of the corniest lines in the movie.

She's just too brightly optimistic and prone to smile too much.

I think this movie lacked that all Pretty Cure 5's didn't went through a type of conflict that made them argue among each other, before Shadow started to make his ruckus. However, Dark Dream's performance was enough to put a smile on my face, because through struggle and reaching bottom-down she earned her own sense of friendship.

It was this sense of friendship which made her to sacrifice herself for Cure Dream's sake, and that scene was so memorable to watch for me that I almost broke in tears.

Overall, this movie is to be recommended for Yes! Pretty Cure 5 fans who enjoy the characters the most, though average Pretty Cure fans will find it enjoyable particularly for the fights and matches.

[Guido]

Yes, YPC5 has not been forgotten, and the fansubbing is back.

It was a long way, but Aesir fansubs reached from where both the defunct Arienai and Egg-Plant left off.

YPC5 is back in the fansubs, although I no longer I feel that vibe that had over a year ago, when I lasted watch episode twenty-fourth.

To be honest, Nozomi gets on my nerves, and her pitching voice really wants me to bang head against the wall so crazy.

Add the voices of Coco and Nuts into the mix, and one of these days I'll end up being a vegetable.

Seriously, for myself I never thought that this Pretty Cure show would have turned out into one of the most cloying, as it too very sugary for my tastes.

And, there's nobody to shut-up Nozomi/Dream when she starts speaking, not to be offensive.

I'm saying this, because since right now I've been for ages dazzled with HeartCatch Precure (and later Fresh Pretty Cure), with the former possessing a better and more engaging storyline, I feel that YPC5 belongs to a past era.

Thankfully and not to irritate die-hard YPC5 fans out there, if there are still some, for the moment this will be last post.

I do not intend to review and cover the rest of the series, until watching the last episode.
Two reasons:
A) It's almost three years since YPC5 ended.
B) Nobody else aside from me has stepped into this thread for at least a year, almost.

[kellidedo]

"Ojamajo Doremi remains their best long-running mahou shoujo up to date. "

I totally agree, Ojamajo Doremi remain the best long-running mahou shoujo and i really loved Ojamajo Doremi.

---------------
best personal checks

[Guido]

I happened to recently find out that Pretty Cure Splash Star (a.k.a. Zalis) fansubs has started to release fansubs for Yes! Pretty Cure 5, beginning from where Aesir left-off with the release of the sub for episode twenty-seven.

[zrdb]

I'm just finishing Fresh Pretty Cure myself.

[Deconstructor]

Originally Posted by Guido

I happened to recently find out that Pretty Cure Splash Star (a.k.a. Zalis) fansubs has started to release fansubs for Yes! Pretty Cure 5, beginning from where Aesir left-off with the release of the sub for episode twenty-seven.

Wait. The guy who subbed Splash Star is now doing Pretty Cure 5?

...Don't know if want. Series was cool, but not as Suite.

[Guido]

It's absolutely rare for me to actually leave a post before concluding the entire series, but I want to because I felt that the thirty-fourth episode deserves a special acknowledgement from my part.

For myself I seriously believe that YPC5's episode 34 delivered such a strong content in drama and character introspection primarily focused on Karen, and I was treated with one of the coolest if not the best matches so far for this series.

The Kowainaa that Hadenya summoned was effectively scary resembling a stallion from Hell, and it was gorgeous watching Cure Aqua vs Hadenya duking out in a joust; Pretty horse-rider vs Ugly horse-rider; Aqua sword vs Stone lance.

It was a refreshing to see actually another of the Cures, that's not Dream, winning the battle and destroying the Kowainaa.

[Guido]

So, the master of the Nightmares finally appears herself to taunt the Cures and Coco with her traditional despair.

Probably, I was anticipating this episode, but it wasn't much of a big fuss like the preview from the previous episode made it appear.

Anyways, Zalis should be congratulated, because with this episode's release means that I have reached the last trek to conclude once and for all: Yes! Pretty Cure 5.

Just ten more episodes, hence, this will be my last post before the final episode gets subbed.

Keep up with the good work, Zalis.

[Zalis]

Well, I'm not sure why AnimeSuki dislikes this show (or maybe just me) so much, but contrary to what the listings say, subs are now available through episode 42:

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=111948

[Guido]

During the run of the current month, Zalis has achieved to fansub up to episode 47, and Zalis is just two episodes away of finishing up fansubs for YPC5 once and for all.

I got to say that, finally, like in Splash*Star things turned apocalyptically intense and thrilling. The last arc for YPC5 started in the 47th so will be a three episodes clash between the girls and Despariah.

Honestly, how the way this episode was handled and executed, that's how should have been for the past episodes that got serious in this episode.

The hats off to Kawarino, because of all the Nightmares not only he was the one pulling strings back on his subordinates and peers but coldly using and then throwing them like garbage in the frontlines to further his own goals before Despariah.

Spoiler:

Kawarino with his eyes open is psychotically insane, period.

Unlike the other forms of Nightmares, his true form is that of a giant human claded in a chameleon/scorpion armor.

This is a symbolism with a double meaning that says humans, after all, are the most chaotic and demented of all creatures once sinking into despair.

The bad thing is I have to continue waiting, because the cliffhanger at the end of this episode left me on the edge of my seat cringing.

[Guido]

Hi, everyone!

Just to let you know that PCSS subs released this week their subs for YPC5! penultimate episode.

Just like has been in previous Pretty Cure series our heroines are thrown into a milestone when overwhelmed by the darkness. This plot device, though generic and repetitive, is important, because it allows the Cures to invigorate themselves at full power for a dramatic comeback once learning that through bad experiences they still can dream and share those dream amongst themselves.

Spoiler:

Another plot twist since the era of Splash*Star is that throughout all episodes featuring the Nightmares at their HQ, it turns out that the monochromatic, inert, freaky-masked people turned out to be the people of the Palmier Kingdom, all along; turned into those lifeless cronies by Kawarino and his ugly masks.

The drama delivered between the Cures and Coco and Nuts what's extraordinary touching to my standards, however, I say now and say it again that both Coco and Nuts voices with that shrilly pitch of theirs is so awfully ugly for me to listen over and over, than those of the mascots from the other series that preceded immediately YPC5.

Ok. Kawarino's gone and only one left is Despariah, the main boss herself, and we're just one, one episode away for this series to be finished once and for all.

[Guido]

The title says it all, and I cannot believe that I'm finally over with Yes! Pretty Cure 5, since it took me almost six years to watch this show in the meta-franchise from beginning to end.

This show started broadcast on February 2007 with Arienai fansubs taking charge of the subbing back then, since they were still functional and brimming with energy over finished the subs for the first two Pretty Cure series in the franchise.
Checking back my initial posts, Pretty Cure 5 didn't dissapoint me at the start. It introduced several new elements into the storyline, besides the obvious team of five magical-sentai girls. I remember how this thread got quite busy while it was running the series on TV in Japan in 2007.

Arienai did a fine job releasing a whole batch for the first twenty episodes in a timely manner so as to keep the gap between the releases of the TV broadcasts in comparison to the release of the sub no more than three months in between waiting.

However, the pleasure didn't last long after Arienai retired for good from the fansubbing community, though the wait for the next batch of episodes only lasted less than a year later once Eggplant took the reins from where Arienai left off with the next four episodes after the twentieth one.

Unfortunately, Eggplant as well said goodbye eternally to the subbing community and to the fans of the series, which meant the longest waiting period ever for any Pretty Cure series to have the next episode released until over two years later.
During that in-between period of waiting, like any other person I moved on with my life as well as enjoying brand-new anime, and that's when I got completely dazzled first with Fresh Pretty Cure and later HeartCatch Pretty Cure.

Seeing how the storyline and characters was way better and executed than with Yes! Pretty Cure 5 I quickly got disenchantised with YPC5 and lost its sparkle on me. However, I came to watch over half of the show and couldn't allow myself to give up on it.

After another two more years of waiting later, Aesir fansubs took on the mantle to continue releasing the subs from where Eggplant had left by releasing the next two episodes after the twenty-fourth one.
Nowadays, Aesir as well said farewell to the fans and subs community meaning no more subs releases.

Fortunately, that would be the last waiting period for the Yes! Prety Cure 5 fansub releases, because two months later the same guy which brought to us the end of Pretty Cure Splash*Star fansubs, Zalis, took this show as the next project and consistently committed to release the remaining fansubs from episode 27 to the end of this show.

And, here I am again placing my last review for this season which took me the longest in comparison to other Pretty Cure shows in the overall franchise to watch from the start to the end.

Yes! Pretty Cure 5, as I said before, started good, but there were a couple of things that truly annoyed me to the end for much with my chagrin and frustration.
1. Nozomi's dreamy-eyed and sugary conviction to always look towards the future without flinching from fright and despair.
Sorry to say this, but her personality, besides being mostly wooden. was for most of the time farfetch'd; it wasn't realistic to make me relate on a personal level with Nozomi.
To me she looked like an exaggerated rip-off from Mai-Otome's protagonist, Arika Yumemiya.

2. Coco gets my vote for getting nominated as the worst mascot sidekick character with the most head-bashing voice. Seriously, I felt like ripping off my hair, metaphorically speaking, everytime I heard him on-screen talking and saying "Coco". Urrghh!

3. Because, it became vexxing to me the overall waiting period for this series switching from one fansub group to another, I quickly got acquainted and started enjoying brand-new Pretty Cure series that came after this one.
Moreover, I got finished both HeartCatch and Fresh both long and shortly before having concluded Pretty Cure 5.
Because of this latter point, once I started to pick-up the very last batch of fansubs releases I completely got bored from YPC5, feeling it old-fashioned and outdated.

The last two episodes before the final one were so great, because they delivered an influx of powerful drama at the climax of the final battle, however, that momentum got ruined with how they handled the conclusion with Despariah.
To me Despariah at the end turned like a quasi-ripoff from Sailor Moon SuperS Nehelenia, because of both wanted to live immortal lives with eternal beauty. However, Nehelenia's conclusion to me was handled pretty decent at the end of Sailor Stars's first arc. The same cannot be said about Despariah, because she got the most anticlimatic solution with Nozomi sweet-talking her to the very end which gave to the despair queen the much needed peace that couldn't get after getting her wish granted by the Dream Collet.

If you ask, Bloody became my favorite villain amongst the Nightmares and was a pity he got backstabbed by Kawarino before the start of the final arc. Nonetheless, in a surprising twist shown in the very last episode Bloody got his sweet revenge upon Kawarino, dragging the latter into the hell of despair.

I'm grateful that this show has been finished for good, but since Yes! Pretty Cure 5 lost its charm upon me due to all the waiting, then I can't help myself to give it a very low score of 55% approval rating.

Making the sum:
From Arienai's latest release to Eggplant's first release: the waiting period span 10 months and 19 days.

From Eggplant's latest release to Aesir's first release: the waiting lasted for 28 months and 8 days.

Finally, from Aesir's latest release to PCSS first release: the waiting ran in just two months and 8 days.

Add all that waiting plus the time I spent watching episode to episode from each of the four fansub groups starting from the beginning to the end of the show and the final result yields: 68 months and 5 days in total.
That means it took me 5 years, 8 months, and 5 days overall to conclude Yes! Pretty Cure 5.

Thankfully, this was the only Pretty Cure show in the overall franchise that took me the longest to finish, or is it not?