#that's what the miki trade was . imo

[glitchyred]

Loving the more nuanced interps of Mike wanting to trade for Miki I've been seeing recently. Old fandom was stuck in a loop of "Mike did NOTHING wrong" or "Mike was EVIL and DESERVED TO DIE" for so long that seeing alternative takes from him being totally innocent or totally malicious is so refreshing. Morally Grey Mike My Beloved. "Fucked Up Bad But Did Not Deserve To Die" Mike My Beloved

[muthaz-rapapa]

Favorite Archetypes in Precure

I was going to keep this above cut if it weren’t for the fact that there’s no way I’ll ever be able to go over every single archetype (and trope) there is...so I decided to feature just my favorites instead.

Therefore, expect this to be more self-indulgent than the usual post.

Also, big WIP, will add more as I think them up.

Ojou:

Honorable Mentions: Honoka, Hibiki, Yukari

That one extremely rich gal in the main cast, complete with an esteemed family name, giant mansion, loyal servants and maybe even an exclusive villa for the beach episodes among other things. We don’t have one every season, thankfully, but it’s a very common occurrence in Precure... and honestly, pretty much almost every other anime genre out there.

The girls in honorable mentions aren’t as financially influential as the Ojous here but they do live in a big house so it’s not wrong to say they’re a little more well-off than the average person.

Also, it’s notable that despite their wealthy background, none of them really display qualities of the haughty rich bitch. If anything, a rival who does have those characteristics (especially the “ohoho!” laugh) is sometimes brought in to make them look better by comparison.

Though I can’t deny it’d be super interesting to get an Ojou Cure like that in the future, if possible. One who is selfish, arrogant and insufferable about her social standing but is noble deep down and after some time and development, learns to trade in those negative traits to become more likable. Except she keeps the “ohoho!” laugh because it’s dumb and fun. :)

Princess:

Honorable Mentions: Hikari, Aguri

Sort of like a sister trope to the Ojou, maybe? Well, the aristocratic tendencies are alike.

Only included literal princesses, btw. No girls who are only princesses in name or by virtue of magic or anything like that (sorry, Haruka). They have to come from a well and alive royal family and they also need to have an existing kingdom to be princess of.

So when you narrow it down by those criteria, we actually don’t have a lot of them in Precure. But since we get a variety of otherworldly Cures anyway, we don’t really make that distinction often.

Oh, and for Aguri, she sorta counts as well, being one half of Marie-Ange who was the princess of Trump Kingdom and all. But since the monarchy has been replaced by a republic, she has no princess title to claim anymore so...nope.

EDIT: Added Hikari to honorable mentions since her situation is similar to Aguri’s.

Yamato Nadeshiko:

Honorable Mentions: Karen, Minami

For those who aren’t well-read in this concept, please read this first. 

That said, even though culture and values have changed greatly over the years, I believe the core definition of the Yamato Nadeshiko has remained mostly the same that there is no need for extra interpretation into it. As far as this post goes, anyway.

A soft-spoken, very well-mannered woman hiding a will of steel beneath her serene composure. The simplified version but pretty straightforward if you ask me.

Regarding Honoka and Mai, I’m still not familiar enough with the first two Precure teams to know for sure if they really match the description (especially Mai, Honoka I can more or less agree with based on what I’ve seen)...but I’ll go along with it for now.

As for Karen and Minami, they do show shades of it in their personalities given their upscale upbringing (especially Minami who cried at the thought she might be betraying her parents for wanting to chase her dream) but they’re still more Ojou than actual Yamato Nadeshiko, imo.

Lady Warrior (Cure only):

Honorable Mentions: Ace

Lady of War.

Every Cure fights, of course, but then there are the few who enter the battlefield almost as if they were born to conquer it while maintaining all the grace and elegance of a refined lady.

Moonlight is the epitome of this trope for the franchise as a whole and to this day, I’ve yet to see any other Cure who can surpass her. But that’s fine. It doesn’t mean any of the other Cures listed here is less of a Lady Warrior than she is.

Ace is only an honorable mention because while she possesses a lot of the traits found in this archetype, including the overwhelming strength and confidence, the way she constantly and pretentiously barked on about “what makes a lady a lady” really brought down her value as one.

Not to mention, she’s a bit too flashy compared to the others and that takes away the seriousness I always associate with this archetype.

Fashion:

Well, there isn’t a Precure season where nobody delves into this topic but among the Cures, these girls are known to be the most style-conscious. 

Miki and Kirara aren’t in a sub-tier, btw. They’re just grouped separately because they’re actual models.

Bifauxnen:

Yep. Don’t think I need to say much about this one.

Feline Femme:

Cat girls. Girls with (stereotypical) cat-like characteristics.

I threw this title together with words I thought would sound the nicest but reading it now reminds me of what a friend once told me. That “felines are rather feminine creatures”.

And I think that fits these three, don’t you?

Aoi is not an honorable mention, even though her character concept is based on a lion, because she rejects the girlish image in favor of being a tomboy rock star.

Student Council/Class Rep:

Overall, we have a good number of honor students among the Cures but this category is reserved for those who are shown or stated to be a class representative and/or participate in the student council. Strangely enough, this trope isn’t a favorite of mine or anything but I like “collecting” the ones who have these things in common.

- Known class reps: Kanade, Saaya, Chiyu (iirc?)

- Known vice presidents: Reika, Rikka

- Known presidents: Karen, Itsuki, Reika, Mana, Minami, Madoka

...alright, I’m positive I missed a few people or forgot certain details so if anyone can point out which ones, that’d be appreciated.

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Miscellaneous

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These aren’t archetypes so much as just tropes but I don’t quite feel like putting them in a separate post yet so I’ll leave them here for now.

Glasses:

Self-explanatory.

Hell, everyone here minus Rikka form the Precure idol group, Anata no kokoro o mitoshi-tai, because of this very feature.

Makoto is not included because I believe she only wears class to be incognito when going out.

Keigo (Civilian):

Too lazy to explain this in an eloquent and concise manner so read up.

You know someone is just ultra polite to a T when their formality doesn’t let up even when they’re around the people they’re closest to. Some cases are understandable especially if they were raised under more traditional, classy circumstances or trained in etiquette (like the Ojous, princesses, etc) so this is normal for them.

Others are just more humble in nature like Tsubomi and Himari or speak that way because everyone is older than her like Urara.

I find this trope incredibly charming on certain characters and hope I’m not the only one.

Keigo (Cure):

Carried over from their civilian forms, there isn’t that much of a difference except for the addition of Felice, who went through a huge maturity growth during transformation.

Ace is similar in that aspect, too, since she sounds less bratty than Aguri does.

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Update log:

4/29/20 - Post published.