is pretty cure more like rider or sentai?

[Kamen rider sol]

in terms of tone and ideas?

 

[TaintedSeraph]

I'd say that Precure is more of a Sentai-esque series because you have, of course, a team fighting a staple villain group from beginning to end. Sure, there's some Precure teams that have only two members bearing the title of "Cures" in the team but there's usually one or two 'Precure'-like members that help them out. The emphasis on teamwork and friendship is definitely like a Sentai series as well.

 

[CannibalS]

Its more like Andro Kamen

 

[draewon]

it's a magical girls genre, not sentai, let alone rider.

 

[Kamen rider sol]

well in tone

which is it like between the two?

 

[Ivanhobe]

Funny question deserves funny answer.

Now, before i delve into the madness that is my ranting mind, let us make something clear: for those who have never seen Pretty Cure, have you ever seen Sailor Moon, Sakura Card Captors, Tokyo Mew Mew, Corrector Yui, Doremi, or any classic Magical Girl Show*? You did? Well, Pretty Cure is absolutely nothing like that.

The Pretty Cure franchise definetily embraces the Magical girl tropes and in some ways it is a prime example of a classic Magical Girl Show, but one of the things that makes the franchise unique is the post modern approach to the material: since the very first season the show has always been quite self-aware, with the character often realizing how absurd their situation is, but the show never becomes a parody because even if the characters remain self-aware, they still play it completely straight.

But what does this has to do with Super Sentai and Kamen Rider you may ask?

Well, you see, while the show does embraces its Magical girl aspects, the truth is that the franchise is played out as a Super Hero Show through and through.

This is not a delusion of mine, this is an actual thing; while the characters are completely self-aware of what they are, the term "Magical Girl" has never been uttered within the show**, instead the characters tend to think and refer to themselves as Super Heroes. Again, this is not an interpretation of mine, this is literally a running gag in the franchise.

Now, does this make Pretty Cure similar to Super Sentai and Kamen Rider?

Kind of.

It can be argued that the first 5 seasons of the franchise (from Futari wa Pretty Cure to Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo) leaned more towards being a classical magical girl show, but they still borrowed elements and ideas from their senior franchises. After that, the production team behind the franchise changed and from that point onwards they started to borrow more heavily from the Toku and Super Hero genre, something that aligned with an increase on the popularity of the show.

The clearest example of this has to be Fresh Pretty Cure; this was the first season produced by the new team and while it is not obvious at first, the show takes some heavy inspiration from classic Super Hero Toku shows, to the point where there are literally entire episodes that are classic Super Hero stock plots wrapped in the Pretty Cure package.

I actually find this funny because the more classic Toku i watch, the more obvious it becomes. Again, if you have never seen Pretty Cure, don´t assume that just because it involves Magical Girls it has to be just like Sailor Moon***; in the case of Fresh, if you want to get a feel of the show, just imagine a weird mix up of SunVulcan, Jetman and Kikaider 01 wrapped up in a Magical Girl costume. I am so not kidding about that.

From that point onwards the show has really embraced the Super Hero aspect of itself, and even when they are not using tropes of those franchises, they still make nods to them quite often. Case in point, the 500th episode of the franchise (which aired a month ago) is a tribute to Super Hero shows (mostly Kamen Rider and Super Sentai).

Now, as for the actual question of this post, does Pretty Cure resembles more Kamen Rider or Super Sentai?

The answer is more likely Super Sentai since you have the team motif and both shows are aimed at roughly the same age demographic, so they have similar feels. That said, there are times when Pretty Cure goes to dark places that even Super Sentai doesn´t dare to touch, but that feel right along Kamen Rider´s alley (i.e. in Smile Pretty Cure, the main bad guy literally blew a chunk of the earth).

That is my answer, and if you think i am crazy, let me tell you this: i am standing right behind you right now.

*Note: In case you wonder, yes, i have seen all of those shows and more.

**Note: Yes, i have seen all 10 seasons plus the current one and i can confirm this.

***Note: Just to make it clear, i am not bashing Sailor Moon, i love that show, i just want to drive the point that Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure are two very different things.

 

[Kamen rider sol]

so overall

it is like super sentai then

 

[xSHiNOx]

more like sailor moon

 

[Clocktower]

it's a magical girls genre, not sentai, let alone rider.

That's a pretty narrow view. There are a lot of similarities to Super Sentai and many of the seasons have been more involving (and dare I say darker) than Kamen Rider. It's an anime and girls are definitely the target audience, but if you're a fan of Kamen Rider and Sentai, you'll probably find a lot to love in Precure, there's even a lot of references in some of the seasons.

And don't forget, Precure is actually the third show in the super hero time block, so it's not like Toei are unaware of the similarities.

 

[Kamen rider sol]

what things in the seasons

have been darker than the things shown in kamen rider?