Pretear

Genre: Fantasy

Creator/Studio: Junichi Sato (writer) Kaori Naruse (illustrator)/Hal Film Maker and Kadokowa Shoten

Distributor: Funimation, streams on Hulu

No. of Episodes: 13

Suggested Age: 13+

My Rating: 7/10

Summary: Himeno Awayuki has moved into a new mansion now that her widowed father has remarried. She eventually meets the Leafe Knights and learns that she is destined to fight the Princess of Disaster. Each Leafe Knight has an elemental power that they lend to her when she “prets” or bonds with them. The Leafe Knights’ leader, Hayate trains her for the battle. But can she truly prepare herself for what lies ahead? Can her powers help her when she needs them most?

Review: I didn’t expect to be reviewing four titles in a block like this that all had Junichi Sato as a writer, but it happened to work out that way. Thanks to this, Junichi Sato has become one of my favorite anime creators. He has the ability to make clumsy, yet relatable heroines and keep both the action and humor balanced.

Himeno is a great heroine. She is clumsy and doesn’t really feel that she fits in with her new social status and because of this, she doesn’t seem like a rich snob, unlike her neighbors. I found this great, because I don’t really like the snob stereotype.  I liked that she was reluctant to join the Leafe Knights because she was more interested in her family and her social life. I tend to like the more reluctant heroes because I’m not sure I could be heroic if the situation called for it.  What I thought was great was her unique powers. Rather than having the same set each time, she could bond with a specific knight and gain that knight’s powers. It became interesting to see which one would have the best powers to defeat the villain.

My main problem with this show was its pacing.  It took half the show before the main villain revealed herself. This would be fine if the show was the standard 24-26 episode length, but this show is only 13 episodes, so I felt it needed to budget its time more.

Overall, I think this series deserves a watch at least.  It’s not the best anime I’ve seen from Junichi Sato, but it’s not the worst.

Music/Score: Not bad, but none of the tunes really stood out. The opening was ok, but the ending theme could  be skipped.

Sub/Dub: Hulu did not have the dub past the second episode, so I stuck to the sub.

Violence: (5/10)–mostly fantasy-based violence. There was a little blood in the final battle.

Language: (1/10)

Nudity: (4/10) There’s the standard naked transformation sequence you commonly see in magical girl anime, but it’s non-descripit.

Sexuality: (1/10) When Himeno first realizes that she has to bond with the Leafe Knights, she feels flustered and embarrassed at first, because she perceives it on a sexual level rather than a spiritual one.

Religion: (0/10)

Related Media: This is based on the manga created by Junichi Sato and Kaoru Naruse.