KONSHUU | Volume 58, Issue 6
PRETTY CURE ALL STARS: THE MAGICAL GIRL EVENT OF THE YEAR DEVON NGUYEN
Writer
3rd Year, Anthropology
Purple Cure Supremacy
Since 2004, Toei’s Pretty Cure franchise has inspired girls everywhere with its themes of girlhood, love, and perseverance. So much has happened within its nearly twenty years of existence, but one of many constants have been the annual crossover movies. Better known as Pretty Cure All Stars, current and previous characters team up to fight a threat that they can only defeat when they’re all together; think of All Stars as the Avengers movies of the Pretty Cure universe. They’ve come a long way from the brief five minute short that spawned over fifteen years of crossover movies, both good and bad, but at its core, All Stars is a celebration of girlhood. The original All Stars short, GoGo Dream Live, was a five year anniversary celebratory short that was shown in theaters before the movie Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo! Okashi no Kuni no Happy Birthday!. It was short and sweet, just a couple minutes of excellently animated fanservice, but it laid the groundwork for what would be the early All Stars formula: all the girls gather at the same place for some event of shared interest, they discover that other Pretty Cures exist when the main antagonists make themselves known. Fighting and bonding ensues, and everything ends with one big blast of collective ultimate attacks before one big dance party breaks out in the credits. You’d think that it’d get tiring by the third movie, but no, it’s just as enjoyable as the first, only getting more insane with each new installment. Watching Cures with drastically different experiences and themes connecting with each other, and bonding over shared interests and fighting side by side never gets old. If anything,
you think of all the possible interactions that didn’t happen and cling to the ones that did. What I love about the All Stars movies is the sheer, unadulterated joy of depicting femininity and female empowerment. That’s not to say that the Pretty Cure franchise doesn’t already do that, but it takes on more of a commemoratory role in these movies. You see it in the moments where all hope seems lost. Everyone is at their lowest and the enemy seems to have the upper hand. But then out of nowhere, an army of beautiful and sparkling magical girls come to the rescue, saving everyone with a smile and a reassurance that everything would be okay. While these moments may seem like fanservice, it’s a reminder that young girls everywhere can overcome the greatest of obstacles with the help of their fellow women. There’s a unique and instant connection that’s formed between these girls upon meeting, and just like in real life, that connection can help you fight the toughest of battles. Having grown up with these movies and experiencing first hand how wonderful it is to have the support of random women around me, I can’t help but get a little emotional when I think about how much these movies speak to the female experience. As I get older, I embrace these movies more and more. I may not be the target audience anymore but I still enjoy them with the same enthusiasm that I did years ago. I love seeing my favorite Cures interacting with each other and each and every dance finale never fails to bring a smile to my face. There’s no definitive end to the Pretty Cure franchise of the All Stars movies, but one thing remains the same: the spirit of girlhood will never relent.
