What BlackAeronaut is Watching (Was Magical Girl Spec Ops)

[classicdrogn]

The original Futari wa Pretty Cure and the second season, Futari wa Pretty Cure MAX HEART, have a very similar feeling but less pastels IIRC. (e: and a VERY catchy theme song/remix, and less obnoxious transformation scene stock footage. I'm kinda iffy on the special attack being called "marvelous screw" for a couple of preteen girls, though... engrish strikes again I guess. It's subbed as "marble screw" at least some of the time, but that isn't much better.) The enemies are more typical supernatural/dark kingdom types, but the first one to appear is basically Anime Goblin King David Bowie, so that alone is worth checking it out. The combat is beautifully animated and often surprisingly physical and tactical rather than the genre standard of making speeches and blasting away with magic, and both sides get hit and show that it hurts. If not for the whole cute girls in bright costumes it really could be a shonen series. Sadly, while I did check out a the first few episodes of Splash Star and ... I forget the other one, something about flowers? ... they didn't impress me like the originals and Star Twinkle, which had me hooked from just the first few minutes.