Zorome is a Franxx pilot with the code name 666. The code name fits him well considering the abrasive boy is easy to offend and constantly criticizes others, including his co-pilot Miku. He completely idolizes the adults and consistently seeks Papa’s approval. The idea of growing up to be an adult is his entire goal in life. Zorome seems slow on the uptake, not realizing that the adults do not necessarily return his loyalty. The children and most of humanity are eventually betrayed by Papa and Zorome's world is shattered. It takes some time for his psyche to recover, but when it does his animus that was reserved for those who challenged Papa was now directed toward Papa. A big moment in life is when those we idolize fall from grace and we have to reshape our beliefs because of it. Zorome matured slowest out of the others because of his wholehearted acceptance of the status quo. He does, in the end, become a teacher for the next generation but we never get a complete view of him as a grownup or see that his relationship with Miku or the others really changed.

Goro, or Code 56, is tall, handsome and calm. At first glance, you'd assume he was the leader of the group, yet that role falls to his partner, Ichigo. He does have a lot of leadership qualities, though. He is willing to sacrifice himself for his friends and attempts to do so in episode 9. He also slowly develops feelings for Ichigo but understands that her heart belongs to Hiro. Goro’s big moment of maturity comes after he chastises and punches Hiro for wanting to run off to space and save Zero Two. Goro later realizes he was being a hypocrite for criticizing Hiro. Goro was most concerned about how Hiro being gone would affect him. He also saw that Hiro was willing to chase after what he loves most. Goro realized that Hiro was braver than he ever was because he was still unable to tell Ichigo his true feelings. The introspection it takes to admit you’re being selfish is truly a moment of maturity.

Miku, or code 390, is a classic anime character template: the twin-tailed tsundere. She is paired with the other tsun of the bunch, Zorome. She is also the girliest of the group. She attempts to act aloof and adult but is quick to react when provoked. Miku could also be described as opinionated and unapologetic. She isn’t one for backing down. She also seems to have more of a brother/sister relationship with her partner than a romantic one. She, despite her youthful appearance, is one of the first of the characters to show a sign of actual aging. Miku begins sprouting gray hairs as early as episode 16 and by episode 24, as one of the new adults, she pulls the bands from her twin tails and lets her hair fall down her back. In the process, she lets go of her childhood making that the most visible aspect of her maturity.

Nana, as her name alludes, was the nanny-like manager of the children in Squad 13, the group of Franxx pilots that make up our main cast of characters. She is also one of the first adults we meet in the world of Darling in the Franxx. Nana, like almost all of the adults, is very reserved and almost emotionless. She demonstrates this when she says she is willing to leave one of the children behind when the plantation they are defending is in jeopardy. We are led to believe later in the series that she had most of her emotions conditioned out of her in a re-education facility. When Kokoro becomes pregnant, the shock of how that conflicts with Nana’s programming causes her to revert to puberty, at least mentally. The idea of showing emotion and feeling actual love is considered something that is less evolved. Nana’s moment of maturity is actually in this regression. She regresses once, is reconditioned, and then regresses a second time. The second regression breaks her conditioning, leaving her – for lack of a better term – human. Her ability to realize the rules of the world as she knew them were lies is probably one of the greatest achievements of a character in the show becoming a clear moment of maturity.

Zero Two is the main heroine of the cast. She is a klaxo-sapien hybrid and a skilled Franxx pilot. She is the disrupter. The Franxx pilots in Squad 13 all do their duty by living, fighting, and dying without really asking any questions until Zero Two shows up. She is also impulsive and arrogant, yet has a childlike innocence about her. Hiro (who was already a little bit of an anomaly on the obedience scale with his willingness to question things like their mission and Papa and the other adults' motives) is quickly influenced by Zero Two. She refers to Hiro as “my darling.” She loves him but acts selfishly and quickly becomes jealous when she realizes Ichigo has feelings for him. In many ways she was both the most mature in the beginning and yet not. She begins to mature when she realizes that she needs to take more into consideration than her own feelings and her connection to Hiro. Her journey takes her from self-centered, too possessive, constantly bucking the system to keep Hiro with her, to taking on a lonely painful burden battling a new enemy so Hiro and the others can try to remake the world. Zero Two matures constantly over the course of the series just as the main heroine should.

Futoshi is a big boy with a big heart and pilots a Franxx. You could describe him as the optimist of the bunch who is always trying to find the bright side of a situation. He constantly wants to make his squadmates feel better. He is devoted to his friends and was completely committed to his partner, Kokoro. He may not have understood the word love but he was in love with her. He is heartbroken when she breaks off their partnership in order to partner up with Mitsuru. He cries and throws a tantrum like a child, not sure how to handle the complex emotions he was feeling. He eventually comes to term with it in his best show of maturity. Futoshi quickly forgives Kokoro but takes longer to forgive Mitsuru. He eventually decides to embrace the love Mitsuru and Kokoro have for each other and support their relationship, understanding that loving Kokoro is wanting her to be happy -- with or without him. Futoshi even demands to be the priest when Kokoro and Mitsuru get married, conducting a ceremony that they had only ever heard of in banned books. Futoshi in many ways matures in the most relatable way for the outside audience by understanding true love is unconditional love.

Since a young age, Hiro has been different than most of the children. Hiro was the one that gave most of the children names, a practice not necessarily done by the adults who only referred to the children by their code numbers. As a child he was naturally curious and wanted to explore the outside world. Hiro and Zero Two meet when they were very young children as they attempted to run away. He wasn’t at all disturbed or afraid of Zero Two’s otherworldly appearance with her dark red skin and horns. She could barely speak yet he found a connection with her. Despite being reconditioned after being captured the two never truly forgot their encounter. They’re immediately drawn together when they meet for the second time. Hiro’s moment of maturity comes when he realizes that he actually has to make a real sacrifice so the others, the rest of humanity, can live on. He realizes that Zero Two and himself will be cheated out of the life together that they desperately wanted. He knows the only way to ensure that humanity and their friends live on is by sacrificing themselves in the process. The two of them don’t meet their end with anger but with hope and determination that one day they would meet again and get the life together they earned.

At first glance, Mitsuru makes you think he is a clean cut, by-the-books guy. He may have been this way in order to compete with his best friend, Hiro, who was a standout student in every metric. Hiro promised Mitsuru that they would pilot together one day. Mitsuru even risked his life taking an injection that would increase his ability to pilot a Franxx when he got older just to be able to stand by Hiro. Hiro forgot all about his promise to pilot with Mitsuru due to reconditioning. Mitsuru became resentful of Hiro, thinking he just forgot. As a result, Mitsuru becomes fiercely independent because he never wants to rely on others. He has no use for his comrades other than their official duties and has even less interest in his partner, Ikuno. He begins to change, as most men do, upon getting to know a girl: Kokoro. The two begin getting to know each other in the greenhouse as he reads and she tends to the plants. The two fall in love, even though they aren't sure what love means, and even get pregnant and decide to marry. His moment of maturity comes as he slowly erodes through the conditioning that wiped their relationship from his mind and takes on the responsibility of being a father. Kokoro never made him feel like he was obligated to be a father, he just knew he was and felt the need to be.

Ikuno is one of the Franxx pilots and was paired with Mitsuru until he left her for Kokoro and she partnered with Futoshi. She has a calm and put-together personality, attempting to maintain control of her emotions at all times. We first feel that something is different about her when Zero Two licks her -- as Zero Two is known to do from time to time -- and says that Ikuno “tastes like a secret.” She has absolutely no chemistry with her partner Mitsuru and seems to barely tolerate him or the other boys. She obviously shows a fondness for Ichigo, their female squad leader. She frustrated by the fact that Ichigo is in love with Hiro despite that Hiro essentially ignores Ichigo because he is in love with Zero Two. Ikuno confesses to Ichigo and kisses her. She tells Ichigo that she hates the boy-girl system of pilot/copilot in the Franxx. She confesses to loving her and that she has loved her since they were small children. She fights with self-doubt, wondering if she is creepy for being jealous of the boys who get to partner with her just because they are boys. She’s confused by the feeling of wanting Ichigo all to herself. We cite this confession as her maturity moment. The bravery it took for Ikuno to come out in a society that sends you off for reconditioning if you deviate too much from the norm is admirable. Her ability to not only accept herself and enter into a relationship with another girl in the future shows a maturity that we all hope we have.

Kokoro is the warm and nurturing kind of person that likes to see things grow. She is always there to care for people and ferociously defend those she loves. Kokoro is also one of the more thoughtful members of her squad, preferring to sit back and watch the more energetic members of the group. She is careful about what she says and often holds back her true feelings. She also has some very good moments of introspection. She tells Mitsuru that she is a liar, admitting that she isn’t the sweet, innocent, nice girl that they all think she is. She finds a book on childbirth in a ruin and is captivated by it despite society saying they had “evolved past the point of something like that.” She questions why the human race stopped having babies the natural way. Kokoro, wanting to have a baby, convinces Mitsuru to impregnate her as a natural part of their relationship. The two even marry, and even though the ceremony is broken up by the adults and they are both re-conditioned to forget about their relationship she remains pregnant. Kokoro’s ability to be introspective is the key to her maturity. She is able to identify her faults and accept them. Kokoro is also making the most obvious leap of maturity in the Franxx universe by becoming the first mother in centuries. She is driven by a primal urge to create life as well as rekindle her bonds with Mitsuru even if they had forgotten their past together.

Well damn! While Happy Sugar Life was a front runner this summer before it aired, it seems that the enthusiasm for it has really cooled down. Still though, the story is good. In the most recept episode we see the raped boy from episode 1, Taiyou, return and this time he’s working with Satou at her new job. Terrified of older women, understandably, he is scared of his new boss. Satou helps him and then leaves the room. Afterwards, we learn that his new love is shio. SOMEHOW, because anime characters are idiots, Shio gets out, clearly she has been drugged or something as we have no idea why Shio can’t remember anything, Shio meets Taiyou after he meets the other hooded boy, who is clearly Shio’s brother, and is looking for her. This is a mess. Shio is helping Taiyou feel better, but it’s not his tears, but his mouth watering in desire over wanting to have sex with Shio. We don7t get why Taiyou cannot put 2 and 2 together to figure out that he knows Satou, but the episode ends with him leading Shio away to let her stay with him while he looks for Shio. Our money is on Taiyou dying in the next episode. Either that, or Satou will drug Shio, take her back, and THEN kill Taiyou. The weird teacher is now on Satou’s side helping her dispose of bodies and it’s just a matter of time until she snaps. Either way, her sweet moments are cute, but the bitter ones are a stark contrast. Either way, Happy Sugar Life is going to get darker and more violent as we go.

In Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes this week, they introduced the notion of a Happiness Strap on the train in Kyoto. This made Aoi a bit solemn as she thinks about her current state and her troubles. While I suppose this is logical, especially for a teenager whose boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend (not explicitly stated but come on, you do the math). Anyway, I can understand how upset Aoi must be, but the inclusion of the Happiness Strap seems a bit odd, not that I have ever used a train to travel around Kyoto so its existence may or may not be real most tourists use the bus anyway). It feels like the Happiness Strap is used just to remind us, rather terribly, that Aoi has her own drama going on, even though it’s really not explored any more than it is in episode 1. When they showed Aoi getting sad, I will admit that I had no idea what was going on at first. Also, I wonder why you would just have a train strap be some sort of lucky charm to bring you luck. It’s a bit odd. Why not go to one of the many Kyoto shrines for an actual charm? Do you think that holding a train strap would bring luck or do you think they just want to add a bit of superstition? Or maybe that was their weak way of mentioning that there’s drama?

Even if it’s a Sports anime, there’s definitely some drama in Hanebado!... and even if there’s some drama in Hanebado!, you would’ve never expected its main character to become the best badminton player in order to claim her mother back. I mean, in the first episodes we noticed something odd in Ayano’s approach to playing badminton, but this? After losing to this beautiful yet mysterious and cocky blonde Connie, our sweet Ayano has some doubts not only about her skills but also about her past. For some reason, Connie knows Ayano’s mother —Uchika hanesaki, a legendary player herself— and uses this to mind break her opponent, but after the match is over she finally confess: ¡she’s also Uchika’s daughter! Well, sort of. After leaving Ayano, Uchika has raised this other girl and taught her everything about badminton, thus making her better than her own child. Oh, you gotta see poor Ayano’s look when every puzzle piece came into place, and obviously Connie was enjoying every second of it! I don’t think Uchika would like to see Ayano “fight” Connie not even if it means just a badminton court, but I can totally see where this is going. Are you up to some “winner gets to keep mum” kind of match?! To be fair, we yet have to see how things develop, but that would be cruelly cool for an anime. Yeah, you keep saying it’s just fanservice with great animation.

After finding out that the Mage Academy is the dark force pulling the strings behind the ongoing war between kingdoms and lords, Lady Marrine’s fears are confirmed when a mage announces through their wands that the Mage Academy is purging all the mages who support the lords. And in a very Mission Impossible style, he tells all who are listening to destroy their wands, as they can be spied on and located that way. The Mage Academy and the Lords are officially at war and the academy is taking no prisoners. The birth of the Grancrest is officially a reality and the academy deems the new Emperor and the Lords a threat. The plan is now to unite the Treaty, Union, and Alliance and fight the Mage Academy in Eram. Theo and Siluca’s allies destroy their wands, pledging allegiance to their lords and assuring they are not being spied on, save a few who decide to stay true to the academy and are allowed to just walk away. (Not sure why they didn’t imprison them or something…). Siluca and her father have a sweet moment talking about how they are getting to work together and when Aishela walks into the tent, we find out that she and Siluca are sisters and Aishela is not a big fan of Aubeste. Aubeste, however, thanks Aishela for taking care of Siluca this whole time and calls them both his precious daughters. During this conversation, Aishela mutters that she is not a Meletes anymore… odd… Everyone goes to sleep, including Siluca, who passes out at her desk. Siluca is soon woken up by Aishela, who is asking her to come out. As soon as Siluca steps out… holy crap! An expressionless Aishela takes a literal stab at her chest! WTF!? Oh no! Are we losing our main heroine!? No. Luckily, Irvin stops Aishela right on time and she admits to attempting to murder Siluca and that Theo was her next target. Theo wakes up and they bring Aishela inside, where they strap her down after she admits to being sent by a secret agency from the academy. What a twist! The academy has been watching Siluca all along and it turns out Aishela “tried” to kill her because otherwise, if she didn’t, the academy had placed a spell on her that would kill her. She still loves her sister and did a poor job on purpose. However, the spell or “geas” they placed on Aishela’s chest is activated and is seemingly being murdered through it by the academy’s secret organization. But just as the moment is getting intense and emotional and we think Aishela’s a goner, the sweet Priscilla says “She’s not destined to die here” and pulls out her Holy Grail Crest to free Aishela from the magical shackles of the academy. I knew that girl would come in handy! It was a very exciting episode full of surprises and twists! We didn’t lose any of our favorite girls and things are heating up by the minute! What’s happening next!?

There are nine legendary suits which, when gathered, make up the armor of the evil emperor Talpa. He has obtained four of these armors and is seeking to gather the other five so he can renew his attempts to conquer Earth after he failed thousands of years ago. The other five are worn by five of Earth’s bravest humans, but when Talpa scatters them across the earth, it’s up to a young boy named Yuli and a student-teacher named Mia to reunite them and stop Talpa’s invasion. Ronin Warriors is a classic anime that takes the aesthetic of samurai and does something new with it. This series takes extreme pleasure in giving its nine armor-wearing characters particularly great poses to highlight their one-of-a-kind samurai armor. This is especially true of the protagonist Ryo’s Inferno Armor which is basically a samurai armor in mech form, or alternatively, Talpa’s armor which screams evil samurai emperor. Ultimately, Ronin Warriors is a classic shonen about five warriors who live up to the standards of an idealized samurai to overcome great evil, and it’s always a comforting watch.

Heizou Hasegawa is the Chief Officer of the Arson Theft Division. It’s the Edo period and peace reigns thanks to the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. Even so, there are always people intent on disrupting the peace for their own selfish needs. The man known as Demon Heizou isn’t one to allow crimes to go unpunished. Investigating incidents, taking in criminals, and helping the misguided to repent, Heizou is determined to uphold the law and order granted in Japan during the Edo period. If you want to enjoy a show about the everyday life of a samurai in Japan when they weren’t busy waging war, then Onihei will satisfy your needs. It’s basically a police procedural with samurai that reflects on its own society and general musings on life. Heizou doesn’t see the world as black as white and is a widely compelling character both to see his views on his society and the human condition and to see how he interacts with the other well-developed characters he encounters and analyzes. Onihei is about as straightforward a samurai show as you can get, and you’re missing out if you haven’t checked this well-written series out.

During the Edo period, there is one group of people capable of saving the people of Japan from invading giant insects: the Insect Magistrate Office. Composed of the finest warriors in Japan, it’s the responsibility of the warriors of the IMO to exterminate the monstrous bugs that plague their land. Jinbee Tsukishima is an aspiring swordsman who joins the Insect Magistrate Office after an accident prevents his father from doing the same and he hopes to play a part in the extermination of insects from Japan. Mushibugyo props up a ragtag group of samurai, ninja, and priests against giant insects and it’s a complete load of fun. Aside from the general idea of giant bugs being outright disgusting, it’s hard not to enjoy the awesomeness of samurai going head to head with what basically amounts to kaiju. The characters and action carry the outlandish but straightforward plot, and ultimately it lives up to the samurai spirit of protecting Japan against invading forces even if, in this case, they are giant bugs.

Tetsunosuke and Tatsunosuke Ichimura’s parents were murdered by Chosu rebels, a pro-imperial group. While Tetsunosuke is determined to avenge his parents, his older brother is content to live a life free of violence. All that said, Tatsunosuke happens to become the accountant for the Shinsengumi, the legendary samurai group Tetsunosuke happens to want to join to achieve his vengeance. Tetsunosuke ends up joining the Shinsengumi as a page but will quickly discover the price of being a member of the group. The most famous samurai are undoubtedly the Shinsengumi, a group of samurai tasked with preventing revolutionaries seeking to re-establish the emperor as the true seat of power in Japan. Peace Maker Kurogane depicts all the popular historical members of the Shinsengumi and is truthful to the grey-morality of the conflict between the revolutionaries and those seeking to uphold the shogunate. The main attraction is the development of Tetsunosuke, who matures from a bratty and loud 15-year-old into one of the finest swordsmen in Japan.

Jubei Kibagami is a samurai disenchanted with the politics of feudal Japan. He’s a swordsman-for-hire but finds himself embroiled in the political webs of his country once again when he saves Kagero, last ninja of their clan, from a man with skin-hardening powers. He’s blackmailed with an antidote into helping Kagero figure out the connection between a village-killing plague and the skin-hardening man after he’s poisoned by a government spy. Jubei will find himself pulled in deeper into the political web with every discovery he makes. It’s hard not to enjoy seeing Jubei, a lone samurai, being a one-man army against a faction of superpowered ninja. That isn’t to discredit Kagero, the poison-testing ninja he teams up with, or Dakuan, the old and clever government spy who helps Jubei out in key moments and even save him from grizzly fates on more than one occasion. Ninja Scroll is a grim tale combining violence, sex, and tragedy to make for a thrilling story.

It’s the Meiji period and the emperor has been restored. As a result, swords are now being banned from Japan and that’s the final nail in the era of samurai, at least for those who don’t rebel. A combination of rebelling samurai, rising crime because of the lack of samurai to enforce the law, and prisons overflowing with those criminals who are caught has made the early part of the Meiji period rather tumultuous. A giant prison is built to accommodate the many criminals and three brothers called Tenka, Soramaru, and Chutaro have the responsibility of ferrying them across the lake and into the prison. There’s more to the job than they expect, the prison is situated where a legendary creature is said to appear every 300 years, and many factions want their hands on it. Laughing Under the Clouds is set during the downfall of the samurai, but don’t let that fool you, there’s plenty of sword-wielding samurai in this one. The best part of Laughing Under the Clouds is the family dynamic between the three brothers; Tenka, the eldest, feels like he has a responsibility to protect his younger brothers, Soramaru is desperate to catch up to Tenka in skills, and Chutaro outright idolizes his eldest brother. They may be the main focus of the show, but Laughing Under the Clouds also has many other family dynamics in play that make for a show full of interesting relationships.

Afro Samurai’s father was the number one samurai in the world until he was killed by the only man capable of challenging him, the number two samurai Justice. Years later, he has obtained the status of the only man capable of challenging Justice, he is now the number two samurai. Of course, while he wants to get his redemption as soon as possible, he now must contend with the fact that every other samurai can challenge the number two and will be desperate to take that mantle for themselves. Juggling overcoming every other samurai while pursuing Justice will push Afro Samurai as far as he can go. Surprisingly, Afro Samurai isn’t the only anime to have thought of combining samurai with hip-hop culture, but it seems to be a match made in heaven because it produced another tremendous series. This short series is particularly delightful if you watch it in English thanks to Samuel L. Jackson lending his voice to the titular Afro. It’s a straightforward revenge tale, but stick around for the hip-hop aesthetic and the great fights.

The two legendary ninja clans Iga and Kouga have finally entered an era of peace thanks to the order of the Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa. This temporary peace has an opportunity to become permanent when the heirs to the respective clans fall in love and plan on marrying. Unfortunately, a conflict with the successor of the title of shogun causes Ieyasu Tokugawa to engage the Iga and Kouga clan in a battle royale with each clan representing one of their heirs. The clans will pick 10 of their best warriors to compete, and the winning clan will gain the favor of the winning shogunate. The heirs of the clans, Gennosuke Kouga and Oboro Iga, will have the challenging decision to decide between clan loyalty and personal love. Basilisk puts a new spin on the classic rivalry between the two legendary ninja clans Iga and Kouga, with a Shakespearean star-crossed lovers tale under the narrative push of a battle royal. The stakes are high from the very first episode combining a tragic love story with the thrilling fast-paced action of the last man standing tale. You aren’t likely to find a lot of anime that will mix these two elements and somehow excel at both, and part of that might just be because you’ll quickly find all the characters embroiled in this conflict extremely compelling.

The Mutsu family is legendary for practicing a unique unarmed martial art called the Mutsu Enmei-Ryu. Throughout history, the Mutsu family has been involved with many historical figures and have fought many great warriors but managed to remain undefeated. Time of Shura is the story of the fighters of the Mutsu family and their adventures. Time of Shura picks up heavily from Japanese history and has plenty of historical figures like Musashi Miyamoto, the Shinsengumi, the Tokugawa shogunate, and many more. In a show full of samurai, it’s the Mutsu family’s unique unarmed fighting style that stands out the most. There’s a thrill in seeing the members of the Mutsu family go swordless against some of the most formidable samurai ever and come out victorious, as well as seeing the sort of influence and impact this fictional family has had on real-life iconic figures.

Toyohisa Shimazu was on the brink of death when he woke up in a room full of doors. He is sent through one of these doors and emerges in an alternate fantasy world. There, he meets other historical figures like the legendary warlord Oda Nobunaga and the archer Yoichi Suketaka Nasu. They are Drifters and must work together to combat the Ends, historical figures with evil ambitions for the world they now all live in. Drifters grabs iconic warriors from across history and tosses them in a fantasy setting with elves, dwarves, giants, dragons and basically any European traditional fantasy race you can think of and lets them hash it out in an epic war. The show doesn’t let off either, it seems there’s another epic figure brought in every episode to up the stakes. If the premise of seeing our world’s greatest warriors wield fantasy armies against each other doesn’t excite you then I’m not sure what will.

The first hint that early Shogi was played was in the year 1058 after shogi pieces were found at the pagoda of Kafuku-ji. It was thought to originate from the early form of Chinese chess. However, the game was not officially recognized by the Japanese government until 1612 and the rules were then established nationwide. This is why some believe its origin to be around the same time as European chess, approximately 500 years ago. However, from the evidence of the ancient pieces, early Shogi originated far beyond 1612. Now Shogi is played in many countries around the world after being popularized in the 1990’s. Shogi is a popular game in Japan and national tournaments are held annually. Since the shogun, Yoshimune made the game of Shogi all the rage, we now set November 17th as national Shogi Day as this is the date that he set the tournaments in his castle.

The game is played with two players, each with 20 pieces which include 1 king, 1 rook, 1 bishop, 2 gold generals, 2 lances, 2 silver generals, 9 pawns, and 2 knights. Each piece can move in a different pattern, some with the same rules as European chess and some different ones as well. Rather than the elaborately carved pieces you see in chess, Shogi pieces are flat with Japanese calligraphy on them indicating what rank the piece is. Your initial pattern tends to be spread over three lines, always with the same set up as your opponent. Once you are able to move your players into your opponent's three original rows, that piece can be promoted; this will allow the piece to move in different patterns and become more deadly. The aim is to capture your opponent’s king which will ultimately end the game.

Pretty Cure began its life back in 2004 when Toei Animation released its aptly named first installment Futari wa Precure (meaning “The Two of Us are Pretty Cure”). It tells the story of two young girls who must work together, despite their conflicting personalities, to defeat the evil monsters threatening their world by transforming into the superheroes Cure Black and Cure White. This kind of concept had obviously been done before, but the two things that set Precure apart were its focus on character relationships and, most importantly, its surprisingly intense fight scenes. Cures Black and White didn’t just fire spells at their foes; they punched and kicked and got right up in their faces. Seeing these cute girls beating the crap out of their enemies was what made adult anime fans sit up and pay attention. Who knew girls in frilly outfits could throw down like they’re in Dragon Ball Z?

As of 2018, Pretty Cure has 15 installments covering 13 different teams of Cures (Futari wa Precure and Yes! Precure 5 had second seasons). Like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, each new series exists in a separate continuity, so you can pick one at random without needing any context. They all have different art styles, themes, and team structures, so you’re bound to find one that fits your style. Be sure to check out “Finding the Right Precure Series for You” for detailed recommendations! One of our favorites is Smile Precure (Glitter Force), which features a five-person team themed around storybook tales. It’s a great place for a new viewer to start since it uses a more familiar Sailor Moon/Super Sentai team structure and strikes a balance between traditional magical girl cutesiness and kickass intensity. And since it’s from 2012, the CG during transformations and the end credits dances is crisp and beautiful. If you’re looking for a good introduction to the franchise, you can’t go wrong with Smile Precure.

Unlike Super Sentai, which was adapted into Power Rangers, Precure hasn’t seen much popularity outside of Japan. Futari wa Precure got a Canadian English dub in 2009 (which was pretty faithful to the original, despite some Westernized names), but its limited success meant that Western fans had to rely on fansubs for every series afterwards. That is, until Netflix came into the scene. Saban, the localization company behind Power Rangers, dubbed Smile Precure as Glitter Force on Netflix in 2015. It’s a pure ‘90s-style dub, with American names for everyone and episodes chopped up to create new narratives. It’s not the worst thing ever, but unless you’re watching with your little sibling, it’s best to stick to subs for this franchise.