Hug tto! Precure

It's her first day at a new school, and the cheerful Hana Nono is ready to make a fresh start, dreaming of becoming mature and reliable—a far cry from her usual childish self. Although she makes a disastrous first impression, Hana soon befriends two of her classmates: the gentle and studious class representative Saaya Yakushiji, and a cool and mysterious girl Homare Kagayaki.

That night, a magical baby falls from the sky right onto Hana's balcony. She is immediately smitten with her and names her Hug-tan. Alongside Hug-tan is a snarky talking hamster, Hariham Harry, who mutters that Hana "isn't the one" before vanishing with the baby.

The next day, Hana believes the encounter to be a dream, until people all over the city begin collapsing and a giant monster appears, feeding on their energy. As Hana escapes, she spots Hug-tan and Harry under attack. Making a stand to protect them, she and Hug-tan suddenly both glow with energy and a heart-shaped gem forms.

With the crystal's power, Hana transforms into a hero called "Cure Yell" and defeats the monster. Surprised at Hana's power, Harry explains that he and Hug-tan came from a future frozen in time by the Criasu Corporation, the same organization that created the monster. Only the Future Crystals, manifestations of one's hopes and dreams, and the Precure they create have a chance at defeating Criasu and saving the future!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nono, Hana Main

Hikisaka, Rie Japanese

Amour, Ruru Main

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Aisaki, Emiru Main

Tamura, Nao Japanese

Kagayaki, Homare Main

Ogura, Yui Japanese

Yakushiji, Saaya Main

Honizumi, Rina Japanese

Hug-tan Main

Tada, Konomi Japanese

Misumi, Nagisa Supporting

Honna, Youko Japanese

Haruno, Haruka Supporting

Shimamura, Yuu Japanese

Yukishiro, Honoka Supporting

Yukana Japanese

Hoshina, Hikaru Supporting

Naruse, Eimi Japanese

Umeda, Kazusa Producer

Yazaki, Fumi Producer

Naitou, Keisuke Producer

Tanaka, Takashi Producer

Reviews

Jan 27, 2019

MetaThPr4h

Recommended

First of all, I really have to say thank you to all the people who were talking nicely about Hugtto, without them I wouldn't have given a chance to a franchise that is now giving me endless hours of fun between all the entries. I hope this review helps other people to do the same.

As I did with the provisional version of this review while the series was airing, I want to tackle some points that people have against giving a chance to Hugtto, or this franchise in general:

- "This is a kids show": Locking yourself to demographics is such a waste, a good ... story is good be a seinen, a shoujo, or whatever it is. Precure in special also falls into a fantastic spot where it pleases fans of cute girls anime due to the lovable and funny character interactions the characters have, fans of actions series that want to see great fight scenes, and also to people who don't care as much for those thanks to the (completed!) story and nice drama and character development. Hugtto in special delivers with that touching some controversial themes that left me so satisfied with the execution. And as with all the entries I watched so far, it's not afraid at all to get dark whenever the story requires so, delivering hard hits that left me wondering if kids are really the main target audience.

- The mascot characters: I could understand it for some Precure entries, but that's definitely not the case for Hugtto. Hugtan is a well done baby character that is 100% adorableness 0% annoying crying, and Harry is far from being just a mascot, he's a fantastic character that adds so much to the cast and the story.

With that out of the way, let's talk about the series.

The story of Hugtto is focused on the Criasu Corporation, an evil company that tries to stop time and put an end to the future of the planet, Harry and Hugtan come from the future to avoid this with the help of the Precure. This anime is not afraid of going in the dark direction showing the danger of the villains while at the same time being honestly fun characters to watch, one roots for the protagonists but still enjoys the interactions with the bad side.

The big theme of this story that I adore and in my opinion had flawless execution is about moving forward and keep dreaming despite the fear for the future. The characters in this story have their traumas they can't deal with and/or fears for what might await for them as time passes, this is especially visible for the villain side, who I found myself really emphatizing with after we got to know more and more about them. This theme hits close home for most people (myself included) and this anime can really give a push of motivation to any watcher who can relate to the characters and how they feel.

I only have good things to say about the villains and so I feel about the good side. The main characters of the series are fantastic, having likeable personalities and very solid development with honestly one of my favorite character arcs in anime included for one of them. Their interactions are lots of fun to watch and both comedy and drama moments coming from them are a blast to watch. The protagonist of the story, Hana, deserves a special mention after becoming one of my favorite characters, her cheerful and lovable personality only does but increase how hard it hurts the drama focused around her and how painful is to see her working so hard to make everyone happy when she herself is one of the characters struggling the hardest.

After this we get to the fights, Hugtto did a very nice job at keeping the story and development always going, with close to zero episodes feeling like filler, but that doesn't change the fact that the episodic action scenes are a staple of the franchise and this anime hasn't changed that, nor it needs to because they are awesome to watch. The animation is constantly great for them (and honestly the whole show looks nice, it feels so alive) and so much fun to watch, this also includes the mandatory transformation scene before the fights that are sooo good looking, Precure knows that they will be reutilized a lot so they go full power on them to make them look as great as possible, and I can say they deliver.

With that said, I will go for pretty much the only complaint I had for Hugtto: the fights sometimes felt unnecesary and out of place. This is a small issue but one that Hugtto in special suffered compared to the rest of the franchise I watched so far due to its big focus on character drama. Some episodes delivered really emotional moments to then make the monster of the week appear out of nowhere into transformation into fight (sometimes shorter than the transformation) to end the episode. I wish they had just kept going with what the plot was delivering instead of the mandatory fight, although sometimes they managed to make the fight add to the meaning of the episode so this wasn't always a bad thing at all.

As I already briefly mentioned for the fights, the art and animation quality are very nice and consistent, and I'm also impressed with the direction of this show which delivered fantastic execution of scenes, especially in dramatic moments where it provided great shots that added so much impact to them. The music comes from Yuki Hayashi (which you might know from other works like Boku no Hero Academia, Haikyuu or Death Parade), and as with those, he did such a great job in that department, giving us some very memorable songs.

I hope the points made in this review convince you to give Hugtto a try, I really don't want to see a franchise as fantastic as Precure stay this ignored here in the West as it currently is, and if my reviews of the series help changing that even if just a bit I will be so happy.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Apr 14, 2020

CureChronos

Recommended

Hugtto Precure is the third season I watched in the Pretty Cure franchise and is also to this day one of the best seasons I've watched. With the mediocre setback of its prior two seasons since 2015, this season did an amazing job. I may not exactly have the experience with Precure to write a 100% accurate review but I might as well give my own take.

Story: 9/10
Okay, so I know this is going to trigger a lot of people. But at the time I was still relatively new to Precure and what I saw in this season blew my mind. The theme was an ... excellent choice for its time and it seemed fitting for an anniversary season (Even though it's technically only 14th year, not 15th), as I look back now on Precure always having used protecting the future as a common, subtle theme. This season took it to a very new level on its own, combining it with the design theme of career prospects. Some of the most memorable and powerful episodes came from this season for me as well.

Art: 9/10
Although not the season with the best animation like Go Princess Precure (2015), the art was a splendid work done by the animators of Hugtto. It served its purpose well, adding mood and atmosphere into each scene. I initially didn't like the character design, but it grew on me after a good chunk of the season and just continues the unique character design for Cures which is very creative.

Sound: 10/10
Not much to say here since the sound mixing is already very good, but in a BGM sense, Hugtto had many golden moments, including the use of character songs, and once again matching the scenes very well.

Character: 10/10
With the slight exception of Cure Ange, the development for the Cures this season was memorable, down-to-earth and led to powerful moments. Cure Yell by far is one of my picks for one of the best Cures in Precure history (I have watched a few more seasons since then). Not only is she a great leader, but she also has her quirky moments sometimes which is great for making her story seem a bit more realistic.
Besides the nice development of Ange and Etoile towards their own futures and the touching story of Macherie and Amour, the villains of the season are mostly very good, especially the main villain George Kurai, due to their harsh villain side yet still showing signs of being human, including emotions. This is the kind of villain I would believe in and Hugtto made their story reasonable imo.

Enjoyment: 10/10
This goes without saying- Hugtto was filled with action and touching moments. Also, while I'm not a hardcore fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the anniversary episode (Episode 36-37) special. While showing a serious side at times, the series did not fail to make me smile through the light-heartedness of the story and watching the cures I like so much grow.

Overall: 9.5/10
Hugtto Precure brought something new to me in the cartoon scene, once again defying demographic stereotypes. Besides conveying the message of striving for bright futures, it was an absolute thrill and introduced me to characters I would likely never forget as I stay in the fandom.


Of course, don't take my word for it, since I am used to giving high scores to animes than the average. But for me, that's my verdict.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jan 27, 2019

ZettaiRyouiki

Mixed Feelings

[Spoiler Warning]

One year ago, smart PreCure fans were devastated. KiraKira had been terrible and hurt the franchise for all time. But there was hope left, for Hugtto was starting. Surely a more traditional season that brought back physical battles would be much better, right? ...Right?

Huh...

Story: Easily the worst part of this season. The story is awful beyond words. Now I'm not expecting any masterpiece from little girl anime created to sell toys, but at least some sort of consistency and logic and basic writing skills are expected. However series composer Tsubota blows her nose at things like proper writing and consistency. The series is choke ... full with Deus Ex Machina and too many things are solved just too easily, both small and big things. Besides that you have things like the personal storylines from the main cast. One girl solves her personal plot when she joins right at the start of the show and other girl solves her storyline in the most ridiculous way possible simply because similar characters from seasons before had a similar resolution.

The themes of the series are parenthood, jobs, and doing anything, and oinly the first one was handled okay sadly. Jobs gets forgotten and the way the anime shows the last one is the most ridiculous scene from the entire franchise. The series also involves time travel and does a terrible mess with that since apparently having consistent time travel rules is really hard. Some individual episodes and scenes are good, but that's about the best we can give this show. It's better than KiraKira for all that helps, since at least this gets the basics right, but every other season is far better.

Art: Animation and art are usually on point thus good. However the fights are pretty boring and also often unrelated to the plot of the episode. It's not like Toei can't make good fights since the cameos get those, meaning they're holding down either because of budget reasons oir angry parents who complain about violence but not about bad writing. Maybe both. Either way these subpar fights certainly are not pleasing. Also the ending dances are getting really tiresome.

Sound: It's not bad. The song that resembles Corridors of Time plays every now and then and still feels jarring. The voice actors are fine, but hearing Yui Ogura not use her usual cute voice was real weird even if that shows she has range. And poor Yukari Tamura being in this bad season...

Character: Another big issue for the show. The main Cures feel split into two groups since the two that join halfway barely interact with the original trio. The original trio also gets the shaft for story except for the pink one, who has the usual Pink Cure Bias the franchise adores. And then there freaking was Henri the worst character from the entire franchise. He exists solely for pushing the agenda from the series composer on gender roles and the like. The problem is the guy was written horribly and the way he's handled looks more ridiculous than anything else, making the whole issue not end serious. And yes, like you probably heard he transforms once. However it's really forced and the guy does nothing, meaning no matter whenever you like the idea or not this does not delived one bit and just fails. Just like the rest of the series.

Enjoyment: The show is probably alright if you pay zero attention to the plot. Otherwise any older season will serve you much better. Except KiraKira for obvious reasons.

Overall: Star Twinkle better improve, since we've got two messes consecutively. This mess has better moments and really bad ones, instead of just awful mediocrity, but it's very much a mess and thus better avoided. We really need a rival magical girl show to give Toei scares and get them back into actually putting effort.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Hug tto! Precure Episode 49 Discussion Dalek-baka - Jan 27, 2019	35 replies	by KanameYuuki »» Jul 13, 12:11 PM
	Poll: Hug tto! Precure Episode 48 Discussion Dalek-baka - Jan 20, 2019	16 replies	by KanameYuuki »» Jul 6, 2:24 PM
	Poll: Hug tto! Precure Episode 47 Discussion Dalek-baka - Jan 13, 2019	8 replies	by KanameYuuki »» Jul 1, 10:04 AM
	Poll: Hug tto! Precure Episode 46 Discussion Dalek-baka - Jan 6, 2019	8 replies	by KanameYuuki »» Jun 30, 1:33 PM
	Poll: Hug tto! Precure Episode 45 Discussion Dalek-baka - Dec 23, 2018	13 replies	by KanameYuuki »» Jun 26, 1:56 PM