The movie Precure All Stars New Stage 3: Friends Forever is presented as a sequel to the previous New Stage. In fact, the introduction takes place at the Fairy Academy and reintroduces Enen and Gureru. Taking a prominent role in the initial phase are the Doki Doki and Happiness Charge (only Hime and Megumi) Precure, although I find it unusual that, in a series like the latest one with so many Precures in the world, no one seems interested in all the other existing teams. Logically, it isn’t ideal for all the series to take place in the same universe, but by now it’s become the standard for crossovers.

The story that the movie wants to tell is also rather interesting: a fairy-tapir mother wants to protect her son, who is unable to fight nightmares and is sad that the friends he makes forget him when they wake up, and she decides to take everything on her shoulders, kidnapping children and making them live forever in the dream realm. This will push Yumeta to grow as an individual: he will aim to improve himself personally, to fight and not hide behind difficulties, and to show his mother that he can handle it. It demonstrates, therefore, the damage that excessive protection toward children can cause.

Besides that, another noteworthy element is the dreams in which the Precures end up. I especially liked the space dedicated to Nozomi, who rejects an ideal and effortless life as a teacher, but in general, seeing Mana as prime minister, Yayoi as a manga artist, Hibiki as a pianist, Saki as a baker, Urara as a celebrity and others was enjoyable. I would have liked to see them as adults, but that wouldn’t have made sense with the theme and restrictions given to powers in the film. Also, Blue finally did something (I’m currently at episode 13 of Happiness Charge) and I found Hime laughing at the eyes she drew on a sleeping Megumi really funny. Certainly, I didn’t expect Mana’s harem to expand to include Megumi…

I’m sorry that certain characters didn’t have a role, like Yuri, Ako, Setsuna, Hikari, and others, but I suppose it was necessary. The return of Cure Echo and connecting her to Enen and Gureru are choices I appreciated, as they give them continuity, but I would have liked to see this earlier, and I would have liked her to fight alongside the others. Cure Honey’s cameo was quite avoidable, as it logically implies that she hid randomly the entire time. The fight against the Nightmares was quite long, probably even too much. At least it had several well-animated scenes, but it's also worth noting that quite a lot of CGI was used in an invasive way. Some combinations between Precures from different series were very nice; my favorite duo remains Peace and Lemonade. I find it unfortunate that they didn’t interact with each other, except in the final scene—Hime and Erika would have been perfect together. The scenes with Cure Black and White were great, showing an incredible strength.