All Stars New Stage 2 is the first of two movies related to Doki Doki Precure and is in continuity with the other All Stars films. Similar to the first installment the plot is initiated and primarily driven by two movieoriginal characters EnEn and Gureru. The first EnEn is a very shy and tearprone fairy attending a school where fairies are trained to become Precure companions. The setting is rather cute though it doesnt quite align with the lore of the various series. The second Gureru reminds me of one of the series antagonists Regina though Im still on episode 20 so my interpretation might be flawed. He isnt inherently evil but hes very childish and craves attention. Gureru wants his classmates focus to be on him rather than others and he dislikes school finding it boring. However he secretly admires the Precure and cares for his friends. He is a child left to run wild with his imagination which leads him to aspire to prove himself stronger than the warriors he idolizes and to avoid responsibilities like studying. His shadow exploits this growing stronger and in the face of the destruction he causes Gureru realizes that this isnt what he truly wanted. To stop the enemy he is even willing to sacrifice his life but the words of a true friend EnEn who had been saved by Gurerus mere presence in the past give him the strength to live despite the guilt of having created that monster. In the end Gureru apologizes for his mistakes in front of everyone and decides to start over as Cure Passion and Beat who were once enemies of the Precure before joining them advised. Among the legendary warriors the Smile and DokiDoki teams play a more prominent role as they are the ones who engage in dialogue with each other. I liked how the Smile team retained their distinct characteristics I would highlight moments like Miyuki forgiving EnEn for not intervening earlier and greeting him with a smile or Reikas quick response during the enemy attack. My favorite interaction is between Yayoi and MakoPi where Yayoi shyly asks to perform a combined attack and MakoPi immediately agrees calling her senpai. Peace is overjoyed and for the Peace Thunder attack they use footage from episode 19 where she has a more determined expression after being struck by lightning. There are also some cute scenes with Blossom and Marine where the latters eccentricity stands out as well as interactions between Nagisa Honoka and Hikari who in addition to being highlighted during the battles share some funny moments together. As for the other teams there are few or no speaking characters. I also appreciated how some mascots played an active role in the story: Tarte acts as a teacher instructing the other fairies effectively contextualizing the Miracle Light while Candy and Pop do their best in battle. I find the concept of the antagonist quite original compared to others seen in Precure and perfectly aligned with the themes of the series to which the film is tied as I mentioned earlier. The shadow is the darker side of Gureru but its still him: in the final confrontation Kage frees himself from the darkness and leaves with a smile. It also makes sense to focus on certain teams and characters rather than trying to please everyone. The fights however werent anything extraordinary only the combination attacks and a few cuts were interesting to watch. I hope this was a deliberate choice to better handle the next movie. The theme song was nice.