Suite Precure The Movie
The movie is pretty fun, and the Note light gimmick works well in the context. But the movie's not necessary for the enjoyment of the series.
My thoughts on the series follow.
Suite Precure Rating On a Scale of 1-5 Clefs
Characters(Heroic)
It's no secret that I love Precure. When asked why, I tell them I love the characters and the story. Suite Precure is no exception.
Hibiki: Hibiki is an interesting character. She's a scion of a musical family, an athlete and a polyglot in training. She loves music in all its incarnations, and when she realized that she could love it not because of her family ties to music but more through her own heart, she opened up as a character. Her catchphrase being "I'll be letting us girls down if I don't..." is an interesting facet of her personality. She does everything she does not only for herself, but also to show the world that women can do excellent things.
Kanade: Kanade doesn't seem to fit any niche created by any prior Precure. She's not overly knowledgeable, except where it comes to baking. She's not overly girly, except when Ouji is involved. Her daily schedule is far more planned out than any other Precure before her. So she's hard to classify. But her goal is to make everyone smile. The difference between her and Keitarou in Kamen Rider Faiz is that Kanade eventually learns to discern between genuinely helping and being snowed. The fact that she has a little brother and a family that's always around gives her something to protect.
Ellen: Ellen is the character that goes through the most growth through the series. Going from villainous, to redeemable, to human to heroic is an amazing track for her character to follow. As she learns more about the world, we cheer for her growth. If anyone ever wants to write a story about a villain turning face, Ellen's story should serve as a model.
Ako: As far as characters go, Ako's the one with the most at stake. And yet...her rudeness to the other precures isn't a natural facet of being royalty. It's just offputting how she tries to prevent herself from making friends until it's too late. She also can't tell the difference between a circle and a star,though that's a minor quibble. Ako's the weakest character in the series, but that doesn't mean she's a bad character.
Overall score for Heroic characters: 4.5 Clefs.
Characters(Villainous)
While the heroic cast is impressive, the villain cast is extremely lacking. We'll start with the high points in the villainy department.
Mephisto: When he's the villain, Mephisto actually seems like a worthwhile villain. Sure he's being manipulated, but he plays the role well, adding just the right level of ham.
Siren: Since she becomes Ellen, we just need to cover how impressive Siren's plans are. They almost work, and they're the kind of thing a competent villain comes up with.
Now the low points:
Trio de Minor: Let's face it, these guys are hacks. They lack any real threatening nature until they get possessed by Noise. Part of that may come from the manipulation, but when put up against other villain groups, the Trio is one long flat note.
Noise: You couldn't possibly get any more emo than Noise without a livejournal account and a steady supply of black makeup. He's made from human sorrow, so will always exists wherever there is sadness. He can't die without destroying everything and everyone else, and he wants everyone to feel his pain. I complained how Dune wasn't all that threatening as a green-haired bishie, but Noise is worse. Noise is not a good villain, even for a show about music.
Villain Rating: 3 Clefs, only because of Mephisto and Siren being awesome.
Characters(Supporting)
On one hand, all the supporting character that are directly related to music are amazing. Hummie, the Fairy Tones, Otokichi and the Monarchs are all interesting characters. So too are Hibiki's parents.
On the other hand, people like Waon and Seika are just there to make the situations more grim for Precure when they come under threat. They're not really fleshed out like the people in Heartcatch, or even as far as Nagisa's two classmates in Futari Wa.
Supporting characters get 3.5 Clefs from me.
Storywriting
The show has 48 episodes and one movie that's not vital to the canon. In that time, they have to establish the characters, the world they live and the threat. And they do so quite well. Not a single episode is wasted or filler. Everything builds up to the crescendo, and everything works together really well.
If there's one failing in the story, it's that the stakes aren't high enough. Max Heart had to fight to prevent the universe from being consumed by oblivion. Splash Star had to fight for the whole universe to be reborn. Here, it's just the power of music on one small planet, tied to the happiness of that world. They can't all be universal threats though, so it's only a minor issue.
Storywriting: 4.7 Clefs
Worldbuilding
There are a lot of details about this world that are really impressive, and the vast majority of those details are presented in the first seven minutes of the first episode, and after Ako reveals herself. That's an impressive feat.
Worldbuilding: 4 Clefs
Animation
I have no complaints about the animation. 5 Clefs.
Design
Firstly, the high notes. The outfits of the Precure are not the norm for the show, but they do actually look combat capable. There's not a lot blocking their range of motion, and the heels aren't so high as to make running impossible.
Evil!Mephisto's design looks like the Sixth Doctor's outfit was put in a blender with some fossils. It's hilariously over the top and colorblind. The designs for the Major Land clothes for everyone from Mephisto to Otokichi's battle bard outfit are pretty well done.
Now the lower notes: The negatone's designs are interesting, though they all unfortunately have that rather phallic looking sickle. Noise's design as a bird and a dragon are pretty cool, but his humanoid design is just silly.
One thing I do have to say on the hero side is that I prefer Muse's masked form to her yellow outfit. Though she's fighting on impossibly high elevator shoes, I still like masked Muse better.
4.5 Clefs.
Music
The show is about music. So there are motifs throughout. The difference between the Melody of Happiness and Melody of Sorrow works, even for someone who's not trained in music. The focus on music as a restorative force is shown in the care they had for building the soundtrack.
5 Clefs.
Final Rating: 4.3 Clefs.
Reviewer Recommendation: If you're looking for a jumping on point for Precure, Suite is a good place to do it. Though the threat level is at the low end of the scale, Suite does a great job of getting you involved in the story. Watch this series!
