After a full 3 years, my journey to catch up on all the Precure series finally comes to an end (only a few movies remain)… Kirakira Precure À La Mode was the last on the list. From the beginning, I knew it wasn’t a generally loved series, so I started with low expectations, which helped me face some questionable choices.
So, the themes of Kirakira Precure are sweets and animals. The first one is integrated quite well, thanks also to the existence of the KiraPati, a shop where the girls make sweets for themselves and for their customers (I don’t understand how this is realistically possible without apparently getting paid, but let’s leave it at that). Gradually, they manage to build a certain reputation in the city, and that place will play a fundamental role in the finale. One thing: even though it’s less invasive than in Delicious Party, where food was forced into every situation, this series also suffers a bit from that problem. Despite this, this time you can feel the love for sweets, and there’s an effort to present the making of sweets in the most appealing way possible. Then, the animal theme is included without any real logic, associating the Precure with a rabbit, a squirrel, a lion, a dog, a cat, and a unicorn. The associations, for better or worse, make sense with the girls’ personalities, but I don’t think it made sense to include them in this specific season. Also, it was practically immediately forgotten that the protagonists had powers related to the animals they’re linked to, making their animal-like appearance feel even more out of place.
Regarding the antagonists, it’s commendable that they all fight in different ways from each other, offering less monotony. The initial part with the “evil” fairies is definitely the weakest, as their characterization was poor, there were many of them, and they were even similar to one another. The situation improves with Julio, who I’ll talk more about later, as he plays multiple roles. Later comes Bibury, who immediately caught my attention for her design and the fact that she carried a doll. I appreciated that she was a tool created by Noir to manipulate her and, in general, also her backstory, which is connected to the main story and explains how she fell into darkness. Once she learns the truth about her past thanks to Ciel, who will do everything to reach out to her, she will definitively free herself from Noir. After her change, she’ll go work with her, and it’s nice that, despite this, she kept a slightly sour personality, which contrasts well with the rest of the cast. However, despite being likable, I’m convinced she could’ve been used more, especially since she doesn’t have a role in the final battle (like Rio). Then there’s Grave, who I find rather empty. I can say the idea of using a machine is fun, and he was a threatening enemy, especially during his final fight; his backstory worked for me, he’s useful in the finale, and fortunately, he wasn’t truly redeemed, consistently with his character. There’s very little to say about Diable, the fact that he gradually grows stronger and is connected to Bibury is nice, but he’s a null villain. In his favor, I’ll say only that his power to darken people’s hearts is beautiful, it created some interesting interactions.
Noir too is really terrible. Throughout the season, he appears as a great mastermind, capable of dragging many people into darkness, only to become ridiculous in the last few episodes. First, we discover his absurd backstory: apparently, he was a worn-out soldier (we don’t know anything else) who was rescued by the legendary Precure Lumiere, who spreads smiles to everyone through sweets. He soon commands her to make sweets only for him. Her refusal makes him hate sweets, and so he throws the world into chaos for that reason. I often try to defend poorly treated antagonists and find something in them, but this time it's beyond my abilities. Furthermore, immediately after this revelation, he gets struck from behind by Elysio with no build-up and disappears completely into nothingness (then yes, from the finale it’s clear he’ll reincarnate as a child, as will Lumiere, but his story as a villain effectively ends ingloriously). About Elysio, I fear he ended up in the wrong series. In fact, even by Precure standards, this is quite a lighthearted and much less mature series than others. As a day-to-day antagonist, Elysio was by far the most unsettling and difficult to deal with, as he was able to identify the protagonists’ weaknesses and exploit them, similarly to Joker. Calling Akira’s sister and telling her it’d be better if she didn’t exist, making Yukari meet her own darkness, or making Himari relive her past traumas through a movie are some examples that come to mind. As a final villain, unfortunately, he became one too suddenly. In any case, I believe he wants to carry forward an ideology far too heavy for a series like this: being Noir’s body, he suffers from all the evil and wars that exist, so he intends to erase hatred and love (the other side of the coin) to create a peaceful world, which he will rule as an impartial authority, assisted by a police force (which will prevent the reemergence of such emotions). The absence of love and hope will erase people’s dreams, but, thinking pragmatically, there wouldn’t be hatred either, so there wouldn’t be problems for anyone. Ichika promises Elysio that she’ll try to unite the world and, for this, will travel to bring smiles to people through sweets. Truly too idealistic a solution, honestly. Also, it didn’t seem too in line with who Elysio had been up to that point. For one reason or another, I find him a character only partially successful. Still, he has a good design and his being a sorcerer is cool.
As for the secondary characters, the fairy population is decent; I liked that they lived on Earth, close to humans, and not in a separate kingdom. There were some acceptable episodes dedicated to them, including one about their coexistence with cats. Chourou wasn’t exactly a memorable presence, you remember him just for his role in the finale (he did more in the last two episodes than in the rest of the series) and for the fact that he’s a ghost, as well as for his dandy look in human form. Pekorin isn’t annoying in general, but she conveys much less to me than many other fairies in the franchise. So, I was surprised that she got an entire episode of the final battle and became a Precure. The transformation can also make sense, since it was vaguely hinted at in earlier episodes, but I wonder why she transformed and not Pikario, besides the fact that she’s female. Also, it was way too late in the series to debut a new Precure. Still, it’s notable that this is the team with the most members of all.
Now, it’s the Precures’ turn. Unfortunately, I think they all suffer from a particular and important problem: outside of the episodes focused on them, they don’t show particular signs of development or depth. They have specific traits and no space is given to anything else. The situation becomes especially problematic when each character has at most 4–5 dedicated episodes. Also, interpersonal relationships are limited — notable ones are Yukari/Akira and Ciel/Ichika (+Rio), and if you want, Himari/Aoi. Let’s see more specifically what I mean.
I’ll start with Ichika, the protagonist of the series. I like her as a character when the focus is on her, but otherwise, she acts like a generic leader — always cheerful, silly, and inspiring others. However, in reality, she has some distinctive traits. What comes to mind immediately is her relationship with her mother: although she greatly admires her for bringing smiles to people around the world through her work, she suffers from her physical absence, which is really tough for a middle schooler. Sweets themselves are like a tool to feel closer to her, since they used to make them together. Then, she felt forced for a long time to smile, to avoid causing trouble and because her mother loved seeing her happy. She also shows small moments of rebellion towards her father, who gives her a lot of attention; at the start of the series, she had a crush on Akira, thinking she was a boy. She has deep respect for Ciel as a pâtissière and plays a crucial role in reconciling the twins. Also, her conclusion, though fairy tale-like, is in line with her character and was built well: she intends to spread her love through sweets by traveling the world, doing a job similar to her mother’s. She’s always been a normal girl, without particular talents and not fit for big stages, unlike the others: she remained true to herself and kept running the KiraPati even after they split up. Since the foundations were there, I wanted more from Ichika, but I’m satisfied.
Now it’s Himari’s turn, who I consider more than a good character. She definitely doesn’t have huge depth of writing, but her growth is well-structured and organic. She starts off as a girl who isolates herself from others because, even though she has a great passion, she’s afraid to express it, fearing that no one cares about what she says, having been traumatized by a bad experience in the past. Instead, she finds in Ichika and the others friends and people who listen to her. Over time, she manages to speak in front of increasingly large audiences. I find her dedication to sweets very sweet, and how she applied herself to studying them as best she could.
Aoi is acceptable. Compared to the usual blue Precures, she stands out because she’s not refined and tries to distance herself as much as possible from her wealthy family through the band and KiraPati. Despite some good moments, I find her path only partially interesting. Personally, they didn’t manage to convey her duality very well to me. Surely, her songs are nice, and I liked that she fell into darkness because of Elysio, to the point that she fights her friends. I found it a bit repetitive that more than once she faced the band of the singer who inspired her. I think the episode dedicated to her that I liked most was the final one, where she decides not to abandon her dream despite the departure of the band’s founder, and even manages to sing without a voice.
As for Akira… well. Aesthetically, she’s particularly masculine and very athletic. She’s very devoted to her younger sister, probably too much: she’s extremely selfless, on levels comparable to Mana, a trait I’m not crazy about since it feels too unrealistic. The best moment showcasing this trait is the episode with the prince of the Confetto kingdom, where they compete for Yukari’s hand. Her relationship with the latter is the most interesting component of Akira: it absolutely can’t not be seen as romantic in the first part of the series; later, the writers probably feared they went too far and tried to do “damage control.” A real shame. The fact that she’s Ichika’s neighbor wasn’t properly developed either, since it’s highlighted only at the beginning and in the episode where residents from different city areas clash. In general, episodes dedicated to her are often actually focused on other characters, especially her sister (whom I like), so Akira doesn’t have real development.

Now it’s Yukari’s turn, who, at the beginning, was clearly the one who attracted me the most. She was perfect and skilled in every field, which is why she didn’t really have something she loved. She was arrogant and praised by everyone (she even has a fan club); she clearly enjoys it and is able to make people serve her and laugh about it. She is undoubtedly one of the most “negative” Precures ever introduced. Her charm was enhanced by the fact that she was intelligent and manipulative, even towards the antagonists. In fact, suspecting Rio, she tricks him and is the first to realize his true identity. Similar moments from a good character are quite rare. She will also show herself rather uncaring towards the feelings of some people, like the love of the prince of Confetto, deliberately provoking a challenge between him and Akira solely for her own amusement. Following a confrontation with the latter, she will understand that her behavior was wrong. Elisio will even allow her to confront her own darkness, represented by her younger self, charming but lonely. She embraces that part of herself, but wants to move past it, now that, thanks to the KiraPati, she has found something to love. However, from this point on, Yukari will fade into the background and will have two more episodes focused on her, which I don’t find particularly organic to her character development. Even her relationship with Akira ends up forgotten, just like her interest in Ichika, which initially led her to join the group. At first, even in episodes not centered on her, she had a certain charisma, which she later loses, becoming less interesting. A real shame—she could have been truly brilliant.
And now, let’s move on to Ciel, who, in my opinion, is among the best in the group, despite not being much loved by the fandom. One reason I appreciate her is the fact that she is closely connected to the main plot, as well as to the core theme of the series. She definitely has talent for making sweets, but she worked on it beforehand and had difficulties before becoming so skilled and acquiring human form. Moreover, she is presented with some character flaws: being so good, she’s separated from the rest of her future group and aspires to become like those she has always admired—the Precure. She made a lot of mistakes with Pikario, ignoring him in his moments of difficulty and not valuing his efforts, but she understood her mistakes, and it’s wrong to condemn her, since characters grow and change. She values dreams and hope a lot, but as soon as she realized what her actions had caused, she was ready to give up her ambitions, giving in to darkness just to get closer to her brother. When he recovers and wants to leave the city out of guilt, even though she really cares about that place, she’s willing to give it up to stay with him and will be very clingy towards him. Also, now that she can sense Vibry’s loneliness, she invites her to stay with her and make sweets together, giving her the love she had always desired. She even pushed Akira and Yukari to clear things up. She has a majestic design and her fairy/human duality is well expressed, to the point that she has solid relationships with other characters in both forms.
As I already mentioned, the last character I’d like to talk about is Rio, even if, unfortunately, he’s not one of the protagonists. As an antagonist, he has a rather captivating design and causes real problems for the main characters. He does it using the usual role of the villains who will become good: that of the transfer student who manages to make everyone at school go crazy for him right away, thanks to his incredible skills and beauty. The reason behind his turn to the dark side is quite original and interesting: he’s a brother who had the same dream as his sister, but was soon left behind and pushed aside; thus, the ambition to make sweets with her vanishes. Later, he will give up his hatred for sweets, which had been the cause of his separation from Ciel, but he ends up out of the picture for a few episodes. Then, he will make a glorious comeback against Grave, a situation in which he also collaborates with Vibry and helps defeat him. It bothers me that he only gets one dedicated episode, at the end of which he agrees to live with Ciel and stay in the city, despite the crimes he committed there in the past. He’s not even acknowledged during the final battle—a choice I find truly terrible. Did they really make Pekorin a Precure and not him?
As for the fights, they didn’t particularly excite me, except for rare exceptions (some of the fights against Julio and the last one against Grave). The animation wasn’t really top-tier—I guess they were saving up for HUGtto. I still think the series isn’t without moments of tension, like, for example, those in which Julio and Elisio exploit the girls’ weaknesses. There was a lot of controversy over the fact that there are practically no physical fights: using cream to fight was a cute idea that could have allowed for original tricks, but often I didn’t feel enough visual impact. The character designs, especially those of the main girls, didn’t thrill me at first, but I have to say I appreciated them more and more over time. I liked the choice to insert character songs at key moments for the characters. The opening, in terms of visuals, seemed quite low-effort to me, but it presents the first five main characters well, a bit less Ciel; musically, I like it. Between the two endings, I prefer the second one from both a visual and musical standpoint. I’ll point out that the CGI models are pretty good.
I still have to comment on the final arc, even though I’ve already talked about some things, so I won’t repeat myself too much. Honestly, I find it one of the weakest in Precure. The choice to switch from Noir to Elisio as the final villain was really sudden. The concept of a world devoid of love and hate is presented adequately, but dealt with far too superficially (Go! Princess teaches us that treating strong themes poorly in a children's series is a fault). Even dedicating a whole episode to Pekorin didn’t seem like a brilliant choice to me, and the final clash with Elisio is short and lacks any interesting twist, so much so that even visually it’s not very satisfying. The only nice thing is the combination of Noir and Lumière’s powers. I liked that Grave was involved a little, but it’s terrible that Vibry and Rio are irrelevant and have less importance than Chourou. The best part for me is the final episode, which gives a good closure to Ichika and also shows the protagonists several years in the future. Fun detail: this time, the baton pass involves Nono Hana, the protagonist of HUGtto! Precure, which was one of my very first series; so, ending where my journey with Precure practically began feels like a full circle. It’s strange she didn’t say her “meshock” in that episode, but it was hype seeing her use her fists against an enemy clearly not used to that kind of opponent. Still, I find it strange that she wasn’t with Saaya, Homare, or even just Harry on that occasion, but by now I know that the baton passes are more fanservice done without much thought than anything else.