"Petit Cure ~Precure Fairies~" is a short anime spin-off of the popular anime series "Precure". It is the first in the "Precure" series to tell the story of "little friends" including fairies, and is a heartwarming and soothing anime. We spoke to director Yuko Okumura about the behind-the-scenes production.
◇Don't make pictures that aren't cute
"Petit Cure" is a non-verbal anime with no dialogue, and season 1 began streaming in April. Season 2 is currently being streamed every Thursday at 6:30 pm on the official "Petit Cure" YouTube channel and various official social media accounts of the "Pretty Cure" series.
The short animations are between 30 seconds and 1 minute long and are produced using CG. The director is Okumura, who has worked on the CG for numerous anime series such as "Doraemon" and "Sumikko Gurashi." Okumura is a veteran with over 30 years of CG experience, and has also worked on the "PreCure" series, including "Heartcatch PreCure! A Fashion Show in the Flower Capital...Is That Really?!" and "PreCure All Stars New Stage 3: Eternal Friends."
"It's an anime with no dialogue, so I thought about how much of the characters I could express. From the scenario stage onwards, we decided not to impose many restrictions, such as 'this character won't do this,' so even though it's a long-running series, there weren't many restrictions from the series itself."
While the action scenes are one of the highlights of the "Pretty Cure" series, "Petit Cure" is not about fighting enemies. We wanted to make it a cute, soothing, and fun anime.
"It's important to me not to create pictures that aren't cute. When creating animation, the angle at which a character is viewed can often result in an uncute shape, but I aim for pictures that look cute no matter where you stop and look at them. All the characters have short limbs, but I try to make them use their whole bodies to move lively. There are also flying characters that don't walk on two legs, but I try to make each one's individuality come through in just the way they move. At the character design stage, they're all made to look 'cute' even when lined up, so it's not too difficult to turn them into animation."
The movements are cute and each character's personality comes through.
"Rather than drawing each picture individually, we create them in a way that's somewhere between 3DCG and hand-drawn animation. Like paper-cutting animation, we separate the ears and limbs into separate parts and make them bendable. We've devised a way to express the softness of the characters as they bend their elbows or sink down. That said, making characters move in a cute way is largely down to the skill of the animators. I think the secret to making these cute anime is that the animators create them with love for the characters."
Not only are the characters cute, but the backgrounds are cute as well. Season 1 was set in an amusement park. This season will be set in a "Strange Paradise."
"Some of the backgrounds are processed to look like 2D 3D, while others are hand-drawn, and we use different colors to ensure there is no sense of incongruity. Season 2 is set in a world of sweets, with a sweet atmosphere based on pink. In the world of sweets, various locations appear, such as gingerbread houses, and there is more variety in the backgrounds in Season 2, so I think it is more worthwhile to watch."
◇Cross layout supports vertical and horizontal animation
There are no lines, so the script is just stage directions. Even so, the individuality of each character comes through.
"With short animations, it's easier to bring out the characters' personalities if they have dialogue, but that takes time, and it can be difficult to show their movements. The constraint of no dialogue is a good fit for short animations, and in some ways it's easier to work with. We want adults as well as children to watch, so we want people to enjoy the story at a leisurely pace rather than rushing through the action."
Vertical animations are also being distributed on TikTok and other platforms. The impression doesn't change significantly between horizontal and vertical formats, but...
"You can make a horizontal anime and then add white space to make it vertical, but with Petit Cure we took a risk from the start and made a cross-shaped layout so that if you cut off the top and bottom it becomes horizontal, and if you cut off both ends it becomes vertical. We designed the layout so that it would work in both ways. It's very difficult, but characters that you can't see in portrait mode are on the screen in landscape mode, and what you see in landscape and portrait mode is different, so you can enjoy both. Considering how people will watch on smartphones, we think that vertical video will become the norm in the future, so we're continuing to study."
It's a cute and soothing anime, but it's also packed with meticulous calculations and meticulous attention to detail. Season 2 will see a change of setting and the introduction of new characters. "New characters will appear, but some of the characters from Season 1 may also make an appearance..." It seems there will be some surprises, so keep your eyes peeled for Season 2.
