Are Magical Girl Transformations too long?? (a Precure study)

People seem to say modern day magical girl transformations are too lengthy, but is there any greater reason as to why? Today we're taking a look at just how much of a role the time lapse of transformation, plays in how well it sells.

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0:00 - "It was all an ad!"
2:49 - Precure Transformation length & Sales study
13:33 - Is there a relationship here?
15:16 - The True meaning of Magical Girl transformations (for me)

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Music:

[lilypope]

Those 20+ minute transformation compilations are how I got into Precure and Doremi 💗✨

[confusingTM]

It's actually quite interesting that Go! Princess was the worst selling season before the pandemic, because that was the season where they didn't animate the objects that were obviously meant to be toys. They were animated in 3D as opposed to 2D, making it _very_ obvious that these were toys meant to be marketed. Not to mention at the end of each episode it displayed all the keys, Scarlett's violin, and the Music Princess Palace at the ends of the episodes.

[grahamohea]

The increasing length of the transformation sequence can be easily explained because it is basically stock footage that can be reused again and again without viewers complaining about it. The longer the sequence, the less you have to animate the rest of each episode, which translates into lower production costs.

Fresh is probably the best example of this, because it was the last attempt at keeping PreCure going after the relative failure of GoGo, so they cut costs wherever they could, introducing CGI dancing in the ED as it was also cheaper than the standard EDs prior to Fresh. It is therefore no wonder that Fresh also had some of the longest transformation sequences. Fortunately, Fresh did fantastic and found a formula that transitioned PreCure from being a derivative Sailor Moon knockoff that was Yes/GoGo into a darker and grittier format in Fresh, HeartCatch, and Suite, some of the more profitable and popular series in the franchise.

[constantartblock]

for those who want updates: hirogaru’s final sales were right below healin good!

[SBoy.]

Go Princess transformations literally left me breathless the first time I saw them💖. Hate they got stuck with the worst selling season title.

[EeveeFromAlmia]

I like to imagine that the transformations are actually instant, the one doing it just imagines it to be so long. Or: it happened like that once before and it’s more fun to imagine it the same. Best of the both worlds.

[Kindrick]

I kinda wanna make a magical girl anime where most of the transformation sequences are about 30 seconds per member involved besides the hyper-aggressive one, and then have that one transform last as a sort of punctuation to the sequence, with her transformation being less than a second long, compressed to the point that it creates an explosion that she tactically uses outside of the transformation sequence, either pushing surrounding enemies back, propelling herself at the enemy/enemies, or concentrating it into a point-blank blast at a single enemy, immediately starting or resuming the fight with no room for dialog exchanges or monologues, and following up with the strongest attack she can use without a teamwork sequence, before having to fall back and work with her team.

[usami_ichika]

To be honest, I love the lengthy transformations! Sometimes I'm having a bad day, and just want to turn on the tv and vibe to the music and colors 🤩. My Personal Favorites are Happiness Charge - Mahou Tsukai (as well as star twinkle ofc) I can't help but just go KIRAMEKUUU~ every time I hear them 😭.

[sapphic.flower]

PPGZ never felt that long to me as a kid but maybe I was just jamming out to their transformation songs (Bubble’s song is gold btw)

[kaylaskye]

Go! Princess Precure transformations give me literal chills. They are eating. Yes....they are quite long....and I watch them all the whole thing and never me the dramatics PLEASE

[artisthonyajta]

I’ve always assumed that the lengthy transformations was to save money each episode. They can utilize the scenes to promote toys to sell, while saving money for later parts of the episode. Either way… I got nothing against it because I love me a good transformation, especially the PPGZ ones that people complained about.

[cervicalvertebrea]

I know Mahoutsukai gets a bad rap sometimes, but I really love it as a season. The small main cast makes it easy for every episode to treat them all as important characters, I love the relationships between the characters, and it may very well be the last season centered on a true Cure duo.
Also episode 49 is a strong contender for best precure episode ever.

[thegoattvletsgo]

The colors are what kills me they just be getting brighter and brighter every new season of precure😭😭 I wish they would just dim the brightness of the colors a little

[mixedmango]

I'm so glad you're doing deep dive video essays on PreCure! This is exactly what I need as a fan

And my thoughts, I get the annoyance of the length but especially in PreCure (and especially Star Twinkle) I just love them so much! It weirdly resonates for me to see the transformations but just as a fan of animation it's great to look at

[Anonlyso]

Coming from way across the demographic side, Toei also dabbles in live action Henshin (transforming) Hero genre with Kamen Rider and Super Sentai (what power rangers's footage is based off of). And yes both of those properties are JUST as much ads for toys with their transformation presentation, but the plot integration is almost subconsciously embedded in the genre and stories for Monster Fights of the Week that it actually might've just had as much fans in creating them to do them for the sake of it.

It actually might be better answered with a control group of Magical Girl (or really any other Henshin Hero) show where the transformations DON'T have a tie-in toy/merch product, of which many parody series (or with stuff like Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna is a Yuusha as cynical satires of the genre), just to see how they present themselves.

Coming from a Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha fan (coincidentally which came out the same year as the original Futari wa Precure), Nanoha had all the tropes of the genre (elementary school girl, cute mascot power-explainer, small gem like device to transform) but one of the key differences was...there wasn't a tie-in product at least not until MUCH later than the show itself.

My hunch is at least some of the production staff actually appreciates just making the transformation scene, both in aesthetic and personality showcased in the sequence but also cuz, y'know, it's a great place to show off their animation skills in pretty much a self-made music video (lyrics optional, or see Symphogear). I'd reckon they do it cuz "it's just so cool" is actually more than enough reason for shows to keep putting it in, even if that coolness never translates into actually selling something

[arcadebun]

this video got me to check out some of the precure transformations and oh my GOD the personality in the tropical rouge ones like they could have just had them all have similar expressions but they didn’t! all the characters’ personalities come through so much through just the transformation sequences! summer seems really excited about everything, coral is more reserved, papaya’s just kinda going witht the flow of it all and FLAMINGO. i love her so much already. she seems so unabashedly confident in herself and uses her transformation kind of to show off a little bit? and i LOVE IT yes girl you are the coolest person around. ohmygod and it totally stops the transformations from getting repetitive too cause there’s a lot more going on than just a costume change (not that there’s anything wrong with that)! i need to watch this show genuinely thank you so much

[analyzgolden]

I like to think time stops when these transformations are happening. For any magical girl show.

I say this because of Sailor Moon. The titular character has this long transformation, but in the manga, it's literally just FLASH, and she's transformed. It makes me thing magical girl transformations have the crutch of that ability.

With that said, as a Pretty Cure Fan, I'm mixed on longer transformations. They can be memorable in some instances, like Go! Princess has my favorite transformation sequences of the franchise, and Star Twinkle's song element makes the whole thing feel magical and like you're in the scene too.
But I feel like the only time I felt like the length was a huge problem and dented my enjoyment of the sequence was Cure Felice. I think that's because it's really slow and her body is just standing/floating there.
If you're gonna have a long transformation, do something with that time. Same goes for short transformations too. It's a huge selling point on magical girl shows. You got to make it memorable.

[takeshiyt]

Yes my Heartcatch Pretty Cure hahaha that's my girls Cure Blossom, Cure Marine, Cure Sunshine, Cure Moonlight and Cure Flower ✨🙏🏻❤️ so happy that they were famous after all when it comes to their transformation sequence and plots... ❤️✨ I hope all Pretty Cures shines a lot when it comes to their individuality and plots 🌟

[cureice]

I really love looong grandiose transformations like Cure Felice. I appreciate the build up and think snappy ones are less fun for me. Delicious Party did it best with pacing and music.

[SUTAZZZ]

I totally agree with you! The transformation are one of the best parts of Precure tbh😭 I always do the poses and say whatever they say and it's rlly fun pretending to be them and stuff!