I actually liked how Aguri was a completely new character that we had not met before. This hasn't really been done in any Pretty Cure seasons. However I do think they pulled it off badly. There wasn't any build up and Regina was used like a red herring.

Honestly I think a better idea ay to go with Regina was to have her be so conflicted with trusting what her father or Mana that the royal crystals and Cure Ace transformation trinket splits her in two: One half good, the other evil and good Regina becomes Ace. She could struggle with stuff like wondering if she’s just a copy or if she destroy her evil half and whether that would have severe repercussions and Mana would have to cope with putting her friend through such an internal conflict and reevaluate her ideals.

I'm so glad I'm not alone on considering Mana one of the best pinks

Never in my life have I had such a massive spark of joy followed by a large fall that left me broken and sad. That's my reaction to episode 22 followed by 23. I loved it and even found Regina's face turn back to evil to be brilliant in a way. Every redemptive character before he either became a cure or were captured till the end of the season, one time both but still as much as I love Kiriya and Michiru and Kaoru's storylines in their seasons and their ultimate goodbyes for the time being it felt like a waste and Reigna managed to carry that pained idea in a different way. She turned back to the side of villains and while yes she was out of it for awhile once she came back it was always a heartbreaking moment to see her fighting Mana and the others. Hell even Ace's appearance which shocked me as I to thought it was Regina held so much of a great moment with her being a badass that I was excited. The next episode after that made me feel as much anger as when Antonio (the only great character from this season mind you) has his mopher taken away by Mentor J. I had a Linkara moment asking who the hell this mysterious girl was to take an item and make the choice she wasn't fit to be a cure anymore especially with her bullshit motive. Oh you don't have love in your heart because your crying over your friend who you loved dearly being turned back to evil and hating you. No you need to move on even though it just fucking happened I mean christ let the girl actually morn and get her feelings out. Now mind you yes who she is does make it less worse but it was a terrible first impression. Honestly Ace is my least favorite cure in the whole series. Yes Milk was terrible as a fairy but at least she grew so much more tolerable in Go Go and hell even when she was terrible I could at least tolerate it but Ace nope. And no I am not calling her ace because her name isn't revealed when she first appeared I am because that is the biggest insult I can throw at her, no acknowledging her as a person but instead by her power. Now yes she does get better later but every time I see her I can't help but feel pure rage. Episode 23 is my least favorite episode of the whole series cause it purely angered me and made me hate a character in just one scene. Granted yes the season gets better after that but still it almost killed Doki Doki for me which sucks cause up to this point this season was on pare with Heart Catch for me as I loved everyone including the villains and was captivated by the story. After this though the season went below smile and next season once I finished it. It also introduced two terrible villains in my opinion but that's mostly the designs and that they take over for villains I do like also cause they really gave me Go Go flashback to two..really pointless villains. Don't get me wrong the episode has some good scenes with Ai cheering Mana up and Mana's quick thinking as well something I wish more cures would do that being even without their powers stepping up and fighting no matter what like a certain transforming series I love. But I just feel the idea that Mana has to get over something so painful so fast was so dumb. That's not a good way to deal with her feelings especially so quickly. I feel for it to be effective she should've had her powers taken in the middle that way we see Mana is being to moody and its hurting those around her. Still that's not what we got and I wish we lived in the universe where Regina did become Cure Ace and the second red redemptive cure instead of Towa. Not to say I hated the girl I loved her a lot but Regina is way better in my opinion being redemptive villain who from the start was so different from her contemporaries and just had so much likability despite being a little shit sometimes.

About the running Joke of that writer who keeps doing episodes about being trapped in a dimension playing games. That tradition actually goes back to episode 118 of Sailor Moon, 29 of Sailor Moon S. "It's In The Cards" "The Battle Inside the Demonic Space: The Sailor Guardians' Gamble" Transcription: "Makū no tatakai! Sērā Senshi no kake" (Japanese: 魔空の戦い!セーラー戦士の賭け)

I’m still mad about how Cure Ace debuted via Deus Ex Machina.

There is another possible comparison with Makoto's episode (and her decision to retire from singing/her career or not) to Sailor Moon you may have overlooked. In the live action series, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (PGSM), Minako (Venus) was thinking of retiring as a result of her decision to focus on her past/duty. She did end up changing her mind in the end. Though the next episode and her "condition"... yeah, no spoilers...

Honestly I say that while it was a huge troll move to have it so that Aguri stole Regina's 6th ranger spot and future developments making the whole thing a double twist one thing that they could have done is give Regina a cure form later in the series as either a 2nd 6th ranger or as an 11th hour ranger (the name Cure Joker sounds cool to me and would with the card theme) and heck amongst the cures Regina has the least amount of screen time with Regina out of all of the cures which is a shame since I feel their interactions would be really fun and heck we haven't had two cures who have their type of relationship yet. yeah they dropped the ball but but at least Aguri is a decent enough character that I'm only slightly salty at Regina not being cure Ace.

azenzone after reviewing doki doki precure you should review Tokyo mew mew its very good

Although I never liked the intense amount of spotlight Mana was given (getting two super forms while the others just get wings doesn't help either), I think she was pretty unique compared to the other pink cures we had before her. Mana was the president of the student council (Usually a place that Blue Cures get), she was good with her notes (Seriously, think about someone other than Tsubomi that is good at studying), she was responsible, she was always trying to help (A frequent thing in Cures but Mana and Megumi were more extreme and annoying), she was ambitious (Prime minister. SHE HAD A CLEAR GOAL ALL THE TIME.) and she wasn't always happy-go-lucky. Now, if we go to Ace. She was a *mistake* . Her way to speak and treat the older ones was rude, considering she's a elementary student, she was quite full of herself and her justice sense to the point of taking off Mana's powers and trying to kill Regina because she's her dark side regardless of how her partners know more about Regina's good side as a person. That brat was only a good character when it was about her adoptive grandmother.

Regina not being ace just makes ace feel like a copout because she literally comes out of nowhere

you mentioned someone on the writing staff worked on episodes of sailor moon stars specifically....well it looks like they may have taken a bit of inspiration from that when it came to ai considering the part where ai became mana's "little sister" was almost exactly like what chibi chibi did to usagi's family (which was already just like chibiusa)

Notification Squad! And TBH I feel as if Doki Doki would've been just fine without Ace.....That's my opinion

I do think that Mana is an okay lead Cure. She’s not on the same level of greatness as Love, Tsubomi, or Hana, but I never really disliked her.

No joke, Doki Doki would’ve been my favorite season if it wasn’t for the sudden introduction of Aguri/Cure Ace. I literally dropped this season during its original run and haven’t returned since I was so mad (and still am). Would Regina becoming a Cure be an overdone trope, yes, but I’ll take that anyday over a random new character. I swear she was introduced just cause the writer wanted to be “different”.

Damn it, I wanted to sleep tonight! But yeah, here is where things started going south for the season, thanks to blondie here. Regina’s arrival created a complete shift in focus from the main cast. It’s already daunting that Regina steals the show from episode 13 on but here obsession with Mana just adds strains under the DD’s belt considering people started to rant on the amount of attention given to the Pink Lead. This is probably going to trigger a few people for me saying this but I can’t help but believe she feels was completely shoehorned into the plot for the friendship conflict despite the fact we already gone through this. We already have the girls feeling conflicted about Mana hanging with someone else which probably would have been the perfect time to build the relationship among the team but then Regina showed up and it’s back to square one with the continued growing pains of the four girls being pushed aside in favor of Regina’s story. Basically, what I’m and probably manly other people who feel the same way are saying is that Dokidoki didn’t do a good job to tie the two together in a way that makes me care about these events. We all know Mana saving the Trump Kingdom is equal to her fascination with anyone whom she wishes to help but that’s just simply the result of her selfless nature. Similarly, Rikka and Alice’s interest in the fate of the Trump Kingdom stems from Mana’s interest and their love for Mana. Ask for Makoto, she lives there. It’s not just blind hate, it’s an actual problem. Speaking of which, let’s talk more about this season’s Pink Lead. To some, the character is a breath of fresh air for all the clumsy and/or scatterbrained but charming (Save for a few) Pink Cures we were introduced before and after. For others, it can be seen as her being too perfect (Though, she couldn’t sing for crud), giving no room for development and makes arguably one of the least relatable Cures hence receiving the infamous fan name, Mana Sue. To be fair, as you pointed out, leader bias have always been present in Precure and other franchises in general such as Power Rangers but Dokidoki took it further than others in comparison. Honestly, DD took the diverging trope way too far and it shows, which is why Mana is a very controversial lead. More on her on another part but this one of the many reasons is why I just can’t bring myself to care for her, her team, or the season as a whole. It’s not hard to see why after Smile, Precure took a nosedive for awhile until Princess. She’s far from the worst lead but she’s a lead I can’t bring myself to like. Honestly, Tsubomi is an example of Pink Lead who is different from the usual trope but done right. I actually rooted for her.

I have an idea, why don’t you make a poll for who people thought were the most popular/ favorite Cure was for each franchise. I think it will show who the Mary Sue really is.

Thats what I get for being patient....

Regina tryna Thanos snap everyone.

I'm pretty early! I've seen Shinta's Reviews too. What a coincidence lol. In regards to Makopi, I understand she was brought out pretty early than expected, but I still find her becoming a joke character the worst thing to happen to her. There are plenty of things they could've touched on with her such as more on her past, more on her work as a Precure pre-invasion of her kingdom and so forth and it's all kind of wasted. Don't get me wrong, she gets some good moments, but it doesn't excuse that her character floundered about until she got there. (Especially when others needed it). As for Mana, rewatching the series again and with some backup info I don't see her as a Mary-Sue...she's the opposite, and Anti-Sue. Don't get me wrong, I have a feeling they knew about the typical pink lead getting old. The problem as mentioned with Sentai and such is that I'm not against them making characters that are admirable. Some of the most famous well-beloved characters in media are more admirable than anything (superman, wonderwoman, etc) and looking at the interviews I can understand that they wanted more admirable cures. That's fair. But here lies the problem. With Kyroranger from what I remember, while the main character gets attention, it never really took away from the series like in other Sentai. They never really screwed themselves over. The writers for Mana really did mess up though. Because she's not an interesting character. They really don't have a lot to work off of for her other than her recklessness. Which sucks because she had potential, but it got squandered pretty badly. Whenever we finally get bits of something more interesting it immediately gets pushed aside by the story. It feels like out of all the main cures (minus Megumi and Ichika) I barely knew a lot about her other than as status symbol for the team. What I'm trying say is that Mana had the potential to be a more interesting character, but she falls back into the same tropes they were trying to write her out of. She's another pink lead who's reckless only this time she has some qualities of a blue cure. And I can appreciate making a pink cure smarter really. I really do, but I wish what we got was better. And don't even start me on the Regina thing, I'll be here all day.

Thank you, thank you for popping this up cause I really needed something bright and funny to lift my spirits. I'm sure a lot of people feel that way too.

40:40 its her surname

Love this. You are great. But. . . I JUST GOT STAR TWINKLE'S SONG OUT OF MY HEAD AND YOU JUST HAD TO MENTION THEM! 😩

Thank you for these videos! They always bring a smile to my face! Keep up the good work!

So basically, it's a less wacky Nobu that turns into a super serious Cleo.

A deus ex machina character that shows up out of nowhere 37:57

Slowly reaching Happiness Charge

I humbly respect your opinion, but I can’t stand Mana, but for some reason I like spoiled and bratty Regina

I love every detail of how Regina's arc played out. Not everyone character has to become a PreCure.

I actually really like that Ace came out of nowhere, especially since I have never cared much for Regina. However, I am not a fan of Ace as a character which is mostly due, and I know this sounds dumb, to the fact that I hate her design. She looks. So stupid. Regina's design at least is just boring, but Cure Ace is on the same level as Cure March's horrible, unforgivable hair.

I love how doki doki precure managed to have a princess as a mid season for the first time

17:27 Me: I don't destroy homes. I didn't destroy your home, Cure Sword.

Is it bad that I really dislike cure ace?

i liked Mana/heart, shes a very memorable cure like flora, yell and blossom. her character is consistent and most of her scenes are sensible to the character and its what you think she will do in that moment. this season also paved the way for age change during transformation and im pretty sure that ace inspired scarlets design. this is also one of the few seasons where summoning a monster was unique, by whispering to the target and tainting their heart ( it was creepy and genius the first time i saw it )

*Late because I was busy* I love your reviews. They really put a spotlight on things I didn’t even noticed. -Mana being called a Mary Sue isn’t completely her whole character, she had really good qualities to balance it out a little. -for some reason, I was happy that Regina didn’t become a Cure. Because it gave Mana a really good reason to be a Cure herself: to save her friend, not just because she was given the ability to be one. It gave her a stronger reason to save Trump Kingdom (not that helping Makoto isn’t a good reason all by itself). Mana can try harder to save Regina and even a great scene where Mana apologizes about involuntary giving Regina more pain. It even gave Makoto a really great scene later. Yeah, just randomly putting in Ace was odd, but personally, it worked. If they did something like Muse from Suite Precure, it would have worked out even better, but whatever. This is just my opinion though XD

If you can read Chinese, the online discussion among Chinese fans of this series goes cray into theories.

As for some episode time-stamps! Let's go! It's a long one folks so buckle down! 6:20 Damn @AzenZone took this better than me. I nearly raged when I first saw this. lol"Yeah, let's not see how the girl who can wilt roses is evil! I wonder how that'll go?" Like, come on even past cures weren' t that dumb. 6:59 You know about Shugo Chara too? Man, the pain is real with Party. We don't talk about Party. 9:00 Poor Alice. The Rosetta Effect starts here and sadly continues on from here. Good luck seeing this folks she only has a handful of episodes related to her left. 16:34 Thank you for point out how much of a deus-ex-machina that Ai-chan is. And this isn't even the worst part. It's clear that the writers didn't know how to solve the episode conflict without some sort of magical-thing happening. At least in previous seasons they had some reason for the baby-fairy acting up. 18:00 I disagree. Mainly because the episode earlier we saw Regina nearly destroy the studio Makopi was working in. It makes her look more like an idiot than anything. If the previous episode came afterwards and then we saw Makopi and Mana have their disagreement I would be down for that because then you have the set up for the conflict. This set-up doesn't make sense because Mana LITERALLY has no reason to trust Regina after what we've seen of her so far. This is another case in which the episode order really screws over the characters 25:20 Here comes the character that kind of sidelines Makopi's entire concept. Wooooooo... Like, I don't hate Joe, but it felt like the writers took everything cool about Makopi and put it down a drain. Only person to survive her kingdom's fall minus the princess? Nope. Not anymore. Also, let's make Makopi jealous of him too. At least he gives some needed exposition and Makopi accepts him. 27:26 That train definitely is on something. 28:22 Wow. Glad I'm not the only one who recognized the Smile references. While this does have some better set-up I'm not a fan of Mana immediately wagering ALL the crystals they have for one of them. Seems like an unfair trade. And it doesn't help that the other cures were not on board with it 29:29 As someone else said "WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT?" It's almost like the selfish girl....is selfish! 34:26 I wish we got more moments like this from Mana. It's stuff like this that makes me want to like her *sigh* 37:54 Ohhh booiii Here it comes! 38:04 Toei dun goofed. I don't know why the hell they wasted an opportunity like that. Say what you want about Regina, but she was at least starting to change. And now you introduce a character who comes off as really rude to the other girls. Like damn, it's a great moment for Mana, but still. 40:06 That was weird. It's sweet we get this. Too bad it's happening RIGHT BEFORE Regina gets zapped back to evil-land. 40:23 This is when I really started not to like Ai-chan. Say what you want about Chiffon or Potpurri or whatever else, but they didn't MANIPULATE their partner's family. I'm glad that at least in Hugtto they realized it was wrong. 42:00 Agreed. I am a fan of how Mana can defend herself in civilian form, but having to nerf the other cures was bullshit. At least Moonlight's intro was cool. 44:52 Yeah, I agree. I know she was a Knight, but at the same time, Makopi kind of lacks agency when she starts to talk about her princess all the time. And also FINALLY. Sparkle Sword works. I was peeved when she said it wasn't working. It has to be one of the most useless moves in the series. I just noticed she never really finished off a Selfish with it. Even Mint got to destroy a MOTW. 46:44 Thus the Rosetta Effect Continues.... 49:50 Aguri does become better but enough said. Making decisions like this to troll the audience is really a bad move. And seeing the royal crystals turn into a toy was really disappointing as the other cures HAVE NO CONNECTION TO ACE. What a rip-off. Overall, thanks for the review! I really love these. I think the extra time is helping you out a bit here.

With what happened in this season... I have a feeling Studio-Interference may have been the cause of the problems of the season.

Hey nice video and thanks for not talking about doki Doki English dub!

21:20 My sentiments exactly about Tri

If Cure Ace had successfully killed Regina in episode 45 before Mana could stop her, what changes would there be to the final few episodes such as when the good king is set free and how he would react to Regina's death?

Anyone notice that he doesn’t have haguto or Kira Kira precure in his intro

THANK YOU! I am glad that there are people who didn't think Mana is a Mary Sue, and not spread silly misinformation about this whole series. While after watching this review, I can kinda see why, but I still think it isn't that bad. Mana throughout the series have flaws, regardless if anyone thinks they are big or not, she has them, and she did confront them and able to grow as a better Precure. And I still think she is my hero in the Precure franchise. I love Regina's growth and development throughout the series, and I am a bit disappointed that she didn't get to become a Precure, and let another person whom we never met before get to become one. But just like Mana, the episodes that came after really makes up for it. At the very least, they brought out the reasons why Aguri is chosen, and it made sense, unlike say... Suite. Sorry I still didn't buy the idea that Mephisto is Aphrodite's husband. Furthermore, Regina is not completely forgotten, and she later did become a sort of guess cure in her own way. Watching this review made me feel again why Doki Doki Precure is one my most favorite, and one of the best, because there are still more elements in this Precure series that we never seen and never will see in other Precure series. Also I still think Doki Doki Precure is better than Hugtto, because of a lot of many reasons, plot consistencies is one of them.

I actually had an amv idea that depended on what we thought was going to happen to Regina.

So does that mean Regina is the Lancelot to Mana's Artoria? Because I'm seeing that from the heel turn and the Fate clips.

13:10 epic Karuta match!

16:20 Ah. The same one Discord got his trick to discord Fluttershy?

May take on Aguri. I had heard she stole Regina's spot as the 6th ranger. I Had gotten to enjoy Regina and realized why Aguri showing up was so controversial. Heck I didn't like her in the beginning, finding her drill sergeant aspectand more mature than everyone personality annoyin . Come the episode were she would be taken down a peg, I was like 'Yeah shut this smug girl up'. But surprisingly, it was the episode that begun my actual liking of Aguri. The 5 min issue at least gave context as to why she was so harsh. Then it did something I don't see much when dealing with character flaws, making the flaws more endearing. The Bravo stuff, went from this patronizing praise to her using it to gush over a gingbread house enemy. Her dislike of carrots served to crack that 'mature' facade and then finding she really was literally born yesterday, helped give context to her character. And it didn't take 30 episodes for her do that unlike another OP sixth ranger cure.

36:55 Regina becomes the Next Sasuke.

Azen thinks Mana is okay????? (*Aggressive eyetwitch*) NEMESIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Wouldn't Doki Doki make more sense, if the Frozen Princess IS Cure Ace instead of some Random Kid Out of nowhere, cuz she look like her.

29:26 uh oh it looks like pinkie pie is really mad

The character that says “You Never brake a pinky promise” at 29:27 is that Pinky Pie?

Might as well call Doki Doki Precure "The Mana Sue Show"

50:43 *TAKE NOTES, AMERICA!!! OR ELSE...*

0:27 Thank you so much for your honesty!!!! I couldn’t agree more.

Weeeeeee just- wait.... oh no happiness charge precure is next. Then princess and what Ive been waiting for Mahotsukai

16:32 here she comes to wreck the day!

18:44 *AAAAAUUUGH* JUST ALLUSIONS TO THINGS SHE DOES CAN MAKE HER APPEAR!!! *NOTHING IS SAFE*

38:03 you blew it!

38:16 Regina maybe she will turn out to be a pretty Cure that was the original idea was no we got to make sure Pretty Cure answers to Shazam I know Cure ace I know she is the same voice actor as Harley Quinn in Batman Ninja

good review @Azenzone! Even though I'm not a fan of Mana as a main lead, but you did put up some good points. This is not gonna make me into a Mana fan, but you have good points on her.

51:22 theres a ranger key (or whatever the super sentai counterpart is called) of OOO?

Personally, if i have tbh in terms of Mana, long before watching this review, im rather upset about her, power-up wise. I mean having 2 additional forms only to herself? What about the rest of her team? They only have wings and thats it?! that's not fair. where's the part of teamwork?! =A= *sigh* ok ok...getting off track in terms of her power...but as a charcter...back then, i put her on the Mary Sue joint, alongside Megumi and Ichika (Mirai is bad too...but for a different reason), given that many people adore her, praising her to the nth degree of all the "good deeds" she did (making a all female harem...), to the point that I'm getting sick of it. SHOW. DONT. TELL. But then watching this review, u mentioned something that kinda change my mind about her for a bit: Being called out on for her ideals and recklessness. That's something i didn't even noticed until now. Like i get her trying to help people as much as she could but sometimes, she pushes it too far to the point that its annoying. i understand she has good intentions but still...hey, personal preference. i kinda lessen my anger about her, knowing this...but ill just have to wait and see what you think in both the finale AND their movie. Mana’s STILL on my hate list despite those notes. I mean yes, she’s being called out on at times for her ideals...but she keeps doing it anyway. =3= Now, for the whole Cure Ace and Regina thing...that's where i get both angry and upset when that twist happened when i was a kid the first time i saw it. For her gaining a lot of character growth, despite not having much screentime...only to just tossed her aside like a dirty rag doll upon knowing she's not Cure Ace (Regina) but rather her "other half" is...Aguri. *a big sigh and a facepalm*

18:45 oh no it’s Monika

18:42 I mean it's called Doki doki for a reason LOL

Why no episodes? I miss watching pretty cure my #1 is doki doki

20:21 Well, after the final movie came out, people don't like Tri that much, anymore.

11:00 I don’t get it

Dat Strawberry Panic reference!

I agree Mana is amazing

I have more pinks that I personally prefer but I honestly like mana quite alot, I mean she doesn't come even close to be as good as Nagisa, Nozomi, Hibiki, or even Love

100% agree with the sly Digimon Tri review i hate Mei so much i hate her more then actual digimon villains.

39:19 it's play originally Captain Atom become to be monarch Hawk turning into monarch Pretty Cure answer the

38:47 you heard Christothat was the original plan one pher Daniel play play the higher power

YES! YOUR REVIEWING KAMEN RIDER OOO

16:31 Here she comes to rekt the Day

how is the gudaguda rerun for you first time for using nobu

I'm actually fine that Regina didn't become Ace. Regina is just a lot to take in and if she had been in more episodes, I feel like she would have gotten really annoying to people. Not to mention, we wouldn't have gotten Mana's recovery part. Thou I'm not a huge fan of Ace, I think this was just the better option.

But I will say this 2016 was not a good year for Kamen Rider , Super Sentai or Precure if you don't believe me try watching Ghost, Zyuohger and Mahou Tsukai and then come back and talk me.. I tried my best to defend Zyuohger but after a while I see the humongous flaws in that show.

37:55

STELLA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Arash is best boi

Whare part 3

Damm it school I’m 56 mins late

41:29😂😂😂that's my jam 29:17

kamen rider ooo?

Love it

6:40 that's what Regina's Japanese voice sounds like? Boy am I glad I watched Glitter Force instead.