HappinessCharge PreCure! the Movie: The Ballerina of the Land of Dolls explained

HappinessCharge PreCure! the Movie: The Ballerina of the Land of Dolls
Native Name:
Kanji:映画ハピネスチャージプリキュア!人形の国のバレリーナ
Revhep:Eiga HapinesuChāji PuriKyua! Ningyō no kuni no barerīna
Director:Chiaki Kon
Screenplay:Yoshimi Narita
Music:Hiroshi Takaki
Cinematography:Yoshiyuki Anzai
Studio:Toei Animation
Distributor:Toei Company, Ltd.
Runtime:71 minutes
Country:Japan
Language:Japanese

is a 2014 Japanese animated action science fantasy film based on the Pretty Cure franchise created by Izumi Todo, and its eleventh series, HappinessCharge PreCure!. The film is directed by Chiaki Kon, written by Yoshimi Narita, and produced by Toei Animation. The film was released in Japanese theaters on October 11, 2014.[1] [2]

The catchcopy of the film is .

Plot

One day, after Megumi, Hime, Yuko, and Iona help put on a puppet show at a nursery, they come across a living doll named Tsumugi, who claims that her homeland, the Doll Kingdom, is under attack from the Saiarks. As the girls follow Tsumugi to the Doll Kingdom, where they fight against a Windmill Saiark, Blue, who had never heard of the Doll Kingdom before, is attacked by darkness that emerges from his mirror. After defeating the Saiark, the girls are introduced to the Doll Kingdom's prince, Zeke, who Hime gains a crush on, and are taken to the kingdom's castle for a celebratory party. As Yuko and Iona suspect there is something amiss, Seiji is ambushed by Bee Saiarks and transformed into a doll. As more Saiarks suddenly appear, Megumi learns that Tsumugi is the one who created the fake Saiarks and led the Cures into a trap. It is revealed that Zeke and the other residents of the kingdom are all Tsumugi's dolls. She loved to dance in the real world but one day lost the ability to use her legs, becoming shut off from her friends and family. She was brought into a man-made kingdom by a commander of the Phantom Empire named Black Fang, who stated that if she wanted to continue dancing in the kingdom, she had to defeat the Pretty Cures. After the Cures retreat, Megumi laments that she can't help cure Tsumugi's legs, but the others assure her they can do something if they work together. Together, they try to show Tsumugi what she truly needs to be happy, but they are all ensnared by Black Fang, who reveals that he stole Tsumugi's ability to dance to wield the power born from her despair. Wanting Tsumugi to remember happiness, Zeke and the other dolls sacrifice themselves to free the Cures, allowing Megumi to reach Tsumugi. Stating her firm desire to help her, Megumi helps Tsugumi realize there are things besides dancing that bring her happiness and stops her flow of despair, freeing Seiji and Blue in the process. Black Fang uses the despair he has collected to transform into a more powerful form, which blocks out the power of the Miracle Dress Lights Blue sends to people around the world. However, Megumi's undying determination gives Tsumugi the strength to turn her despair into hope, allowing the power of the Miracle Dress Lights to reach Megumi, who transforms into Super Happiness Lovely and defeats Black Fang alongside the other Cures. After assuring Megumi that she has the power to make everyone happy, Tsumugi returns to the real world and regains the use of her legs, finally able to dance the way she wants again.

Characters

Happiness Charge PreCure

Guest Characters

Production

Chiaki Kon was appointed as the film's director, the first one outside of Toei Animation. Producer Hiroaki Shibata, along with character design/drawing director Kazuhiro Ota, both outside-appointed, said:

Kon was a fan of the previous Pretty Cure series, and had a dream of directing Pretty Cure. He asked Shibata to produce a performance from the previous year's DokiDoki! PreCure and became the film's director.[7]

Yui Horie, Daisuke Ono, and Toshiyuki Morikawa voice the film-only character Tsumugi, Zeke, and Black Fang.[8] Additionally, Funassyi, an unofficial mascot of the city of Funabashi, Chiba, appears as himself and was appointed as a support captain of this work.[9]

The film had a large-scale tie-up with Yokohama City. In honor of the dolls being the motif of the story, a special display of doll goods was held at the Yokohama Doll House,[10] and stamp rallies were held throughout the city.[11] On October 5, the four seiyu attended a ceremony to light the ferris wheel at Yokohama Cosmo World pink.[12]

At Shinjuku WALD9, a public event was held the day before the film's theatrical release. A free screening of the Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart film on Niconico Namahōsō to commemorate the Pretty Cure 10th anniversary; this was the first time a Pretty Cure work was screened there.[13] [14]

Reception

It was released on 210 screens nationwide, and in its first two days (October 11 and 12), 85,396 people attended the film. With a revenue of ¥1389600, this was the first time Kōgyō Tsūshin ranked a Pretty Cure film at fifth-place in film attendance.[15] In addition, it ranked #2 in the first-day satisfaction ranking by Pia's survey.[16] However, box office revenues were sluggish, with the final office revenue ending at ¥530 million.。

It was analyzed by Otapol and Itmedias Netolab division that several issues hindered people from splitting income for the film, thus causing the film's box-office decline:

Music

The opening song is HappinessCharge PreCure! WOW!, sung by Sayaka Nakaya, and the ending song is Party Has Come. The insert song is .

Single

Where Courage is Born
Type:single
Artist:Cure Lovely (Megumi Nakajima); Cure Princess (Megumi Han); Cure Honey (Rina Kitagawa); Cure Fortune (Haruka Tomatsu); Tsumugi (Yui Horie)
B-Side:If You Look to the Blue Sky
Released:October 8, 2014
Genre:J-pop, Anime song
Length:19:50
Label:Marvelous
Composer:Hiroshi Takaki
Lyricist:Masaori Koda (#1)
Sumiyo Mutsumi (#2)

is an insert song of the anime film HappinessCharge PreCure! the Movie: The Ballerina of the Land of Dolls released on October 11, 2014. It is sung by four Cures (Nakajima, Han, Kitagawa, and Tomatsu) appearing in the film.

The single was released from Marvelous on October 8. The B-Side is the image song "If You Look to the Blue Sky" by Megumi Aino (Nakajima) and movie-only character Tsumugi (Yui Horie).

Overview

Producer Hiroaki Shibata wanted to make another Pretty Cure insert song like with DokiDoki! Precure the Movie: Mana's Getting Married!!? The Dress of Hope Tied to the Future the previous year. Director Chiaki Kon agreed to this, and decided to use a song that would heat up the climax battle scene like with s "Moon Revenge". He also specifically ordered composer Hiroshi Takaki to make the song "contemporary style with a hot feeling".[19]

The songs were recorded in the order of Tomatsu, Nakajima, Kitagawa, and Han. Although they were not asked which scene they were used for after-recording of animation, they were immediately used in which scene when they read the lyrics.

Horie said of If You Look to the Blue Sky:

The single topped at #59 in the Oricon Singles Chart on October 20, 2014.[22]

Track listing

  1. (5:01)

Sung by: Cure Lovely (Megumi Nakajima); Cure Princess (Megumi Han); Cure Honey (Rina Kitagawa); Cure Fortune (Haruka Tomatsu)

Lyrics: Masaori Koda

Work and Arrangement: Hiroshi Takaki

    • Insert song of HappinessCharge PreCure! the Movie: The Ballerina of the Land of Dolls
    • Later used as a song in episode 44 of the main series.
  1. (4:56)

Sung by: Cure Lovely (Megumi Nakajima); Tsumugi (Yui Horie)

Lyrics: Sumiyo Mutsumi

Work and Arrangement: Hiroshi Takaki

  1. (5:01)
  2. (4:56)

Soundtrack

The film's original soundtrack was released on October 11, 2014. Hiroshi Takaki recorded the soundtrack. In addition, the movie-sized theme song is included. A jacket-size sticker was bundled as a first-time limited-time offer. It topped at #254 at the Oricon Albums Chart on October 20, 2014.[23]

Home media

The film's DVD/BD was released on March 18, 2015. On March 30 the special-version DVD and regular-version DVD charted at 55 and 139 in the Oricon DVD Chart, while the BR charted at 28 in the Blu-ray Disc Chart.[24] [25] [26]

Notes and References

  1. News: Funasshi Pear Fairy Mascot Makes Movie Debut in Precure. Anime News Network. 2018-02-06. en. 2018-12-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20181222223548/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-08-10/funasshi-pear-fairy-mascot-makes-movie-debut-in-precure/.77503. live.
  2. News: Funassyi to Make His Film Debut in "HappinessCharge PreCure" This Fall. Crunchyroll. 2018-02-06. en. 2016-03-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114527/http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2014/08/10/funassyi-to-make-his-film-debut-in-happinesscharge-precure-this-fall. live.
  3. Animage, November 2014
  4. Animedia, November 2014
  5. Web site: Funassyi to Make His Film Debut in "HappinessCharge PreCure" This Fall. Komatsu. Mikikazu. Crunchyroll. 2019-07-21. 2016-03-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114527/http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2014/08/10/funassyi-to-make-his-film-debut-in-happinesscharge-precure-this-fall. live.
  6. Web site: Funasshi Pear Fairy Mascot Makes Movie Debut in Precure. Anime News Network. 2019-07-21. 2021-03-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20210330104134/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-08-10/funasshi-pear-fairy-mascot-makes-movie-debut-in-precure/.77503. live.
  7. 『エンタミクス』2014年11月号P106,KADOKAWAエンターブレインBC,2014年9月20日発行
  8. http://www.cinematoday.jp/page/N0066197 堀江由衣、小野大輔、森川智之!「プリキュア」映画に人気声優集合!
  9. http://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/f-et-tp1-20140826-1356943.html ふなっしー「プリキュア」でアフレコ挑戦
  10. http://www.sankei.com/region/news/140922/rgn1409220024-n1.html 「これもこれも全部欲しい!!」 横浜人形の家でプリキュア展
  11. Web site: 『映画ハピネスチャージプリキュア!人形の国のバレリーナ』 横浜で公開記念イベントを実施します! (2014年9月19日). エキサイトニュース.
  12. http://eiga.com/news/20141005/15/ 中島愛らプリキュア声優陣、横浜を“ビッグな愛”のピンク色に染め
  13. http://www.ota-suke.jp/news/128048 「映画ハピネスチャージプリキュア!」前夜祭を生中継、声優特番も
  14. http://blog.nicovideo.jp/niconews/ni048901.html プリキュアMax Heart無料上映&最新作前夜祭
  15. http://news.walkerplus.com/article/51310/ 夫婦連れやシニア層が後押し!『ふしぎな岬の物語』が『るろうに剣心』を抜いて首位スタート
  16. http://cinema.pia.co.jp/news/164265/59561/ 吉永小百合主演『ふしぎな岬の物語』に高い満足度
  17. http://otapol.jp/2017/11/post-precure-movie171106.html 『映画キラキラ☆プリキュアアラモード パリッと!想い出のミルフィーユ!』小ネタ満載で実にコミカル!終始笑いと感動の大傑作だった!
  18. http://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1711/09/news018.html 「映画ハピネスチャージプリキュア!」の興行収入はなぜ半減した? 2014年の出来事から考える
  19. [Animage]
  20. [Animage]
  21. http://dogatch.jp/news/ex/28774 中島愛、潘めぐみ、北川里奈がドレスアップして『映画プリキュア!』史上初の前夜祭イベントに出席!
  22. Web site: 映画ハピネスチャージプリキュア!人形の国のバレリーナ 挿入歌シングル | サントラ. ORICON NEWS. 2019-07-21. 2022-02-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20220211041304/https://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/74438/products/1091652/1/. live.
  23. Web site: 映画ハピネスチャージプリキュア!人形の国のバレリーナ オリジナル・サウンドトラック | サントラ. ORICON NEWS. 2019-07-21. 2022-02-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20220211041304/https://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/74438/products/1091642/1/. live.
  24. Web site: 映画ハピネスチャージプリキュア!人形の国のバレリーナ【DVD特装版】 | アニメーション. ORICON NEWS. 2019-07-21. 2022-02-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20220211041306/https://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/34386/products/1116437/1/. live.
  25. Web site: 映画ハピネスチャージプリキュア!人形の国のバレリーナ【BD特装版】 | アニメーション. ORICON NEWS. 2019-07-21. 2022-02-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20220211041305/https://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/34386/products/1116486/1/. live.
  26. Web site: 映画ハピネスチャージプリキュア!人形の国のバレリーナ【DVD通常版】 | アニメーション. ORICON NEWS. 2019-07-21. 2022-07-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20220727215221/https://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/34386/products/1116474/1/. live.