The first Pretty Cure series I watched all the way through was Heartcatch. I got into it because of a bloggers recommendation and I never looked back. I got into the Pretty Cure fandom years ago and Doki Doki is the 4th Pretty Cure season I finished all the way through. It would have been 3rd had Suite not completely won me over. Ive seen a lot of hate for this series and...well in some ways I can agree on some things. I agree that theres a lot of potential that it could have used but wind up becoming completely wasted because of other things. Some series focus too much on different things which affect the story in the process. Doki Doki on the other hand is very plot focused...which is great but in this case it winds up being its downfall. One thing youll notice is that the main character isnt an idiotic ditz. Instead shes a competent reliable and capable girl named Mana whos the president of the student council and is always helping people out. One day a man gives her something called a lovead. Later on she witnesses a warrior named Cure Sword fighting something called a Jikochuu. She becomes the warrior named Cure Heart and joins in the fight against the Selfish. Cure Swords homeland the Trump Kingdom was taken over by the Jikochuu and she needs to find the princess or else both worlds are in danger. Joining them are Manas childhood friends Rikka and Alice Cures Diamond and Rosetta and a strange baby they name Aichan. Later on theyre joined by another enigmatic warrior named Cure Ace whos hiding a lot of mysteries. The animation for the show is...eh okay. The character designs are sleek and decent but movement is rather limited except in some fight scenes and even those come off as a little bit sub par. I do like the character designs though. For their civilian forms anyway. Their cure forms look a bit tacky. My favorite out of all of them is Rosettas Cure design. She definitely looks the cutest. The music on the other hand is quite good. Not as good as other soundtracks but it does its job decently at best. DokiDoki could have been a great series. Unfortunately it has many flaws that really bog it down. One of its biggest issues is its major focus on developing its story. Its like Escaflowne where every episode moves the plot forward with there being little to no filler. This series could really have benefited from some filler episodes because its intense focus on its story wound up costing it time to focus on its main characters and their personal lives. Makoto and Alice are the characters that have been hit the hardest by this as they get the least screentime and the least amount of meaningful character development. I like them as characters but I would have liked to see more of their personal lives such as Makotos life in the Trump Kingdom before it got invaded and where Alice goes to school. Another big reason for this is the shows intense focus on its main character Mana Aida aka Cure Heart. Now dont get me wrong. I like her for not being a ditz whos dumber than a sack of bricks like most characters in the Pretty Cure franchise. Shes smart reliable and reasonably competent. But...the problem is as much as I like her the creators loved her too much and pretty much turned her into an overly perfect Mary Sue spotlight hog. Shes loved by everyone she has no real character flaws she gets whatever she wants all the other characters give her their powers so she can use the final finishing move the series bends over backwards to ensure that shes always in the right even when she shouldnt be and she gets all the powerups while everyone else gets the shaft. I personally dont hate her like most people do but I agree with them in that the creators should have focused far less on Mana and more on characters like Alice Rikka and Makoto. It doesnt help that theres a lot of plot holes that never get properly explained or expanded upon such as the royal crystals and the previous Precure before them and the things the creators do to make every episode contribute to the story end up inevitably bogging it down. I wont go into much for the sake of spoilers but Doki Doki really could have been better had it left out certain elements. But its not a bad show by any means. It still retains Precures messages of hope friendship redemption etc. The music is reasonably good albeit it not very memorable and for the most part it takes itself seriously and doesnt try to dumb itself down for its audience. Its a shame the show came out so convoluted as a result. Doki Doki isnt the best Precure season nor will it ever be. Its not bad but again it could have been a lot better had some elements been removed and had the creators focused less on Mana all the time.