PreCure offer encouragement and praise for a monthly price.
Every magical girl anime series has its own distinguishing hook, twist, or quirk, but something that almost all of them share is a positive atmosphere. Sure, there have been a handful of dark deconstructions of the genre, but if we’re talking about classic, orthodox aspects of magical girl series, the heroines are symbols of hope, embodying the attitude that as long as you believe in yourself and your friends, things will turn out all right in the end.
And for those who need a more direct pep talk, there’s now a service where the stars of the biggest contemporary magical girl anime will call you on the phone to encourage, comfort, and even say they love you.
Earlier this year, Pretty Cure, a.k.a. PreCure, started its newest arc, You and Idol Pretty Cure, introducing a cast of five new magical girls. Now Toei Animation and Media Active are getting ready to launch the Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone service (moshimoshi being the standard telephone greeting in Japanese).
To use the app, you select which character you’d like to receive a phone call from, and also what kind of mood has you wanting to hear from them, after which they’ll call you back. Options include “I want to be praised,” which could get you a call in which your favorite Cure tells you how proud she is of you for doing your best. “I want to be cheered up,” might instead have the magical girl reassuring you by saying that she’s always on your side. There’s also “I want to be encouraged,” as well as morning wakeup calls and before-bed good night calls. Preview images also include the selection “Fan service for you♡” followed by the phrase “Daisuki da yo,” which can mean either “I love you” or “I like you a lot,” depending on context.
These aren’t AI-generated messages, either, as the designers say the PreCure voice actresses have recorded new dialogue lines for Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone. It should be pointed out that the Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone website describes it as a “virtual phone” app, since the whole thing runs though the Internet, not the phone network. Still, the interface is designed in a way that mimics the operations and visuals of a phone call to cultivate a sense of immersion.
Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone is free to download, and users have access to a “You kept your promise” call from the Cures for free as well. However, the majority of the service requires a subscription, with two tiers available. For 330 yen (US$2.30) a month, the Moshimoshi Course provides full access to calls from one character of the user’s choice, while stepping up to the 660-yen-a-month Motto! Moshimoshi Course gives full access to all five Cures, plus a bonus cafe mini game. New wakeup calls are scheduled to be added every month.
The ostensible target market of the PreCure franchise is adolescent and younger girls. However, as is sometimes the case with such anime, there’s also an adult male fanbase, and some online commenters have been wondering if maybe that’s who Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone is really targeting, seeing as how most of the kids who watch PreCure are too young to have their own smartphone. Considering that the You and Idol Pretty Cure cast are the franchise’s 20th generation of magical girls, it would seem like there’s also plenty of potential to draw in more subscribers by including characters from much farther back in the anime’s 21-year history further down the line.
In any case, there’s no official upper-age restriction mentioned on the app’s iOS or Android pages (here and here), though, so grown-up fans are apparently free to enjoy Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone too, with the service scheduled to launch on September 1.
Source: PR Times, Moshimoshi! Pretty Cure Phone official website, Jin
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: Google Play, PR Times
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