Pretty Cure Super Stars! is the twenty-fourth film overall in the Pretty Cure series, and the tenth crossover film of the franchise. It was first released in Japanese theatres on March 17, 2018, which would have been a little over a month from the debut of Hugtto! PreCure. It is the first film in the PreCure franchise to feature the Hugtto! Cures, besides Cure Ma Cherie and Cure Amour. This is also Cure Parfait’s debut in the crossover films.
Series featured: Maho Girls PreCure!, KiraKira ☆ PreCure a la Mode & Hugtto! PreCure
The plot of Pretty Cure Super Stars! starts with Hana taking Hugtan to a field of alpine flowers, where she is eventually joined by Saaya and Homare. However, a monster called Usobaka appears, which is determined to cover the world in lies. Hana ends up separated from Saaya and Homare, but she does end up encountering the KiraKira and Maho Girls Cures.
Also central to the plot is a promise that Hana made when she was younger, but was unable to keep.
The film’s antagonist, Usobaka
As is the case with the other PreCure crossover films, there are original characters introduced here. The first one to show up is the film’s antagonist, Usobaka. He wants to cover the world in lies, and is something of a liar himself. As you can see from the screenshot, he looks just like your bog standard monster of the week, and isn’t actually all that impressive.
Of course, he manages to overpower the Cures in their first encounter, because otherwise it would be a really short film…
Clover, a boy that Hana met when she was younger
The other original character introduced in this film is Clover. When Hana was younger, she managed to wander into another world (the Magic World, no less), and met Clover. She promised to show him other worlds, but was unable to keep her word. There isn’t really all that much to Clover, so he didn’t leave much of an impression on me.
Three lead Cures: Hana, Ichika & Mirai
As has already been mentioned, this is a crossover film, so it isn’t too long before Hana finds herself in the company of Ichika and Mirai. Actually, those three are the only active Cures for a fair chunk of the film’s runtime; the others find themselves captured.
Saaya meets Akira
There is some silliness to be found with the three different teams meeting up. We get some Saaya x Akira kabedon – Akira did the same thing to Yui in Pretty Cure Dream Stars!, so perhaps Toei intend for it to be something of a running gag.
Another notable moment of silliness involves Mirai’s broom, and three people trying to ride it all at once.
The Maho Girls Cures bring out their Sapphire Style
The fight scenes in the film are all right; however, Hugtto! PreCure has shown that is capable of so much more than what we see here. Still, got to give props to the film for having Miracle and Magical use their Sapphire Style, even if it short-lived.
The climactic battle doesn’t really have the same punch to it that some of the best fight scenes from Hugtto! PreCure have, either.
Unlike Dream Stars!, Super Stars! sticks with more traditional animation – no CGI here.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Pretty Cure Super Stars! was released roughly a month after Hugtto! PreCure started airing. As it turns out, Hugtto! PreCure itself would go on to absolutely nail doing a crossover with all the previous entries in the franchise with its 36th and 37th episodes. Perhaps seeing those before Pretty Cure Super Stars! spoiled me a bit, and I ended up watching the film expecting more than it was going to deliver.
Those two episodes felt exactly like what a 15th anniversary celebration should be like, whereas Super Stars! is just your typical PreCure crossover film.
In terms of quality, I’d put it about level with Dream Stars!. It never quite matches the hype of the very first Pretty Cure All Stars film for me – or perhaps I should say the hype of episodes 36 and 37 of Hugtto! PreCure.
Pretty Cure Super Stars! is a pretty typical PreCure crossover film, starring characters from a season that has demonstrated that it can be so much more. Fortunately, it seems that Hugtto! PreCure♡Futari wa Pretty Cure: All Stars Memories will be closer to the 15th anniversary celebration that I was expecting Super Stars! to be.
