Pretear

Publisher
US - ADV /UK - ADV
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
13 episodes x 25 minutes
Year
2001

Pretear Thinpack Boxset

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
17th Sep 05

“The new legend of Snow White” is the a line I saw a few times when researching Prétear, and to be honest I don’t see the comparison.

Himeno Awayuki is finding life rather difficult since her father remarried a rich woman. Her stepsisters refuse to accept Himeno, one is constantly playing pranks on Himeno and the other just pretends Himeno doesn’t exist. Himeno wonders if things will ever look up, unbeknownst to her however her life is about to get even more complicated. In the mystical land of Leafeania the “Knights of Leafe” (four pretty boys and three cute kids) have found that the Princess of Disaster has escaped from her imprisonment and has travelled to Earth in order to destroy it by absorbing all Earth’s Leafe (the source of life). In order to battle the Princess of Disaster the knights must find the legendary Prétear who has to power to merge with one of the seven knights each with different powers (the powers of wind, sound, fire, thunder, water, ice and earth). As you would expect already it turns out Himeno is the Prétear the knights are quick to ask for her help but Hayate the knight of wind is reluctant to accept Himeno. Can Himeno and the “Knights of Leafe” stop the Princess of Darkness and will sort out her home life in the process?

Prétear is a “magical girl” anime and shows a number of similarities between other popular shows of the genre like Sailor Moon. Of course this likely due to the creator of the anime version of Prétear also worked on the anime version of Sailor Moon. Still there is an unsettling similarity between the two, the relationship between Himeno and Hayate is almost identical to the relationship between Usagi and Mamoru (Serena and Darren) Hayate gives Himeno the nickname “Tulip Head” similar Mamoru’s “Dumpling Head”. If you’ve seen Sailor Moon then you’re extremely unlikely to be shocked by many of the plot developments throughout the series, and even if you haven’t seen Sailor Moon the plot is still somewhat predictable.

There’s a wide range of characters in Prétear, from the brooding Hayate to the fiery Go. Unfortunately outside of a small handful of the cast few are given much room to develop. This is more acceptable when the series is only 13 episodes long but still leaves you feeling unsatisfied. A few more extra episodes for character development would have been nice but then there is an advantage to telling a relatively simple plot in 13 episodes as opposed to the 40-odd episodes it took the first series of Sailor Moon.

The animation is of good quality but nothing seems to stand out, although there does seem to be a bit too many flashbacks, often of the episode just gone which when your watching a few episodes in a row can be annoying. There were a few vocal tracks played during certain events throughout the series, the amount of times that the opening theme was fitted into the background music was a bit much. The English language dub is what you should expect from a company like ADV very good, although there did seem to be a few grammatical errors.

Prétear is certainly more aimed towards the female viewer, the Knights of Leafe are all likely to get the fan-girls heart beating a tad faster. Himeno is constantly falling over, but her panties are not shown whereas in a lot of other anime they would have been. Of course this isn’t to say the series is without any fan service for the male viewer such as the transformation sequences where Himeno is partly nude aren’t exactly totally necessary.

Prétear is available on region 2 DVD, however there is no box set available as of yet, and seeing as how the region 1 thin-pack box set can be picked up for only slightly more than you’d pay for the one region 2 DVD it doesn’t make much sense if you have the option of buying the region 1 box set. The series comes across as feeling rather average or that it’s been done before (which it has!). If you’re a fan of the genre or you’ve enjoyed the manga version the Prétear box set could be a nice addition to your collection, if you dislike Sailor Moon your best giving this series a miss.

R1 DVD Notes

Features: English 5.1 audio, Japanese 2.0 Audio, English Subtitles, Trailers

Release information: Publisher: ADV Films Avaliable: Now Classification: PG

Notes: There's no extras on this box set, unless you count trailers. Dissapointing but the set is rather cheap which makes up for this.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 17th Sep 05

Pretear Images