As a proud fan of animation, I have been trying to get all my friends to watch anime. So of course when my old friend finally said to me she started to watch anime, I couldn’t be happier. However, her new obsession was not that familiar to me: PreCure.
For some context, PreCure is a long-running anime franchise which annually delivers new seasons. These seasons revolve around a theme and a set of magical girls. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I started to watch the first two seasons. So far, I think it is a fun show that is strangely nuanced, despite appealing to younger audiences.
However, what caught me off guard was the similarity of one of these seasons, HearthCatch PreCure, to another show, Miraculous Ladybug. For context, Miraculous Ladybug is about a girl named Marinette who’s superhero alias, Ladybug, protects Paris from the evil Hawkmoth, who turns people who are expressing negative emotions into monsters. While the show is basically a hot dumpster fire—I was literally watching an episode a few minutes before writing this article and I couldn’t stop yelling at my computer—I’m a big fan of Miraculous Ladybug.
Even with my outrage, you should consider watching both shows because of all the effort and love the teams put into them.
Both Miraculous and PreCure HearthCatch supervillains’ are characterized by their ability to demonize negative emotions. They create monsters either by looking into their heart flower and turning the character into a unique monster, or animating their negative emotions into a beastly demon. For example, in (which show) a character who is unable to feed pigeons gains the power that is controlling pigeons when he is turned into a monster.
I think this method shows an important lesson—it lets the show explore conflicts people have with their troubles being addressed, which are then solved by the episode’s end. There are really good uses of this dynamic as seen in Miraculous where the monster was able to break out of the control of the villain by talking with the hero. It shows kids how the kindness of heart can heal sadness. In addition, the super heroes charge into battle with new powers to combat the changing nature of monsters. Both shows rely on physical fighting to defeat the villain of the episode, since their abilities are enhanced due to superpowers. However, Miraculous relies more on strategy, while Heartcatch on special abilities or magic.
Another similarity is the power sets and the way their powers work. Both have small creatures that are connected to their magical devices which helps them transform into a superhero. In addition, to finally beat the big bad, both heroines use a special move that lets them destroy the monster and let the person return to their original form. I will admit, Heartcatch does a better job with this with a more elaborate special sequence every time.
So even if these shows share similarities specifically in their heroines or villains power sets, they are also uniquely different. I want to acknowledge that these shows are very different in tone. Miraculous is a 3D animated French production that leans toward more strategy and romance, with the love rectangle in the show — a reason why many fans (including me) adore the show. Heartcatch doesn’t include any romance and is more about the community and the friendship between the two heroines. I would even argue that sometimes this show deals with heavier topics even if they have a younger target audience. It has episodes that focus on a girl who can’t play soccer, or a boy who feels lonely and neglected due to his parents trying to open a second business. Issues like this that concern communication or lack of inclusion are skillfully addressed in these episodes.
Now concerning the title, Miraculous, I wouldn’t call it a magical girl show. It is more of a superhero show due to the fact there are more equal gender ratios in this show. Also, the spandex suit and mask resemble that more of a superhero. One cannot deny the similarities between the shows and how there was definitely inspiration taken from the genre, so I embraced it and entered the magical girl genre.
Spoiler Alert is an Opinion culture column used to give reviews for movies, television shows, or other related media.
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