You and Idol Precure ♪ – Episode 1

By: Cy Catwell February 3, 20250 Comments
A close up shot of Cure Idol at the end of her transformation.

What’s it about? Middle schooler Sakura Uta lives in Hanamichi Town and loves to sing every chance she gets. When she discovers a giant peach-like object and a fairy within, her life changes and music becomes more than just something to hum to herself…


You and Idol Precure ♪ marks the twenty-second entry into the now-sprawling Pretty Cure franchise. This entry combines idols and magical girls into one of my favorite tropes: Magical Idol Singers, kind of in the same vein of Mermaid Pichi Pichi Pitch, though the season with oceanic vibes will forever be Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure

Now, as Anifem’s in-house Idol Lover (I’m upgrading my title since I’m the biggest idol fan on the site) I understand that idols aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, and in the fairness of being a reviewer, I objectively can see where idols and idol culture can grate against notions of feminism, gender equality, identity, and even sexuality. There’s serious issues with idol culture in and out of Japan, and while I follow hundreds of kaigai (overseas) idols and dozens of active groups in Japan, I also am not above critique and being critiqued.

But You and Idol Precure ♪ might just be the way to go when it comes to enjoying idol media. While you can’t necessarily take the idol of the anime, it feels different, and I’m not just saying that because I love idols. Well, I mean, I am saying it because I love idols. But I also just think this is a great gateway into the larger Precure franchise, which has always shown a lot of respect for girls and what they can be–ways that now include but aren’t just idols. Also, like…who could say no to idols AND magical girls? I certainly can’t, and maybe after this review, you’ll feel a little bit the same.

Sakura Uta, our heroine, approaches a strange, peach-shaped item floating down a river.

Episode 1, “Cure Idol Debuts!” starts off in the middle of a magical concert with our would-be magical idol before immediately going to the everyday life of Sakura Uta, an upbeat young girl walking her dog; suddenly, she spots a large, peach-like object that’s rather heavy. Naturally, it’s not a peach, or even a peach-like anything at all, but a vessel for Purirun, a very cute fairy that quickly becomes a member of the Sakura household no questions asked.

And for a while, things seem normal, but Uta quickly discovers that Purirun can speak and is invested in making Uta into Idol Precure—a savior who will bring light to the darkness of the realms, including Purirun’s native home of Kirakiland. Why? Because Uta has a visible magical sparkle that marks her perfect for the role. With her passion for singing, she’s perfect, if not a bit reluctant for the first part of the episode.

What ensues is our first taste of a new Cure, alongside her foes Team Chokkiri, who aim to cloak the world in darkness. Will Uta rise to the occasion? Of course she will, but half the fun of these premiers is seeing the moment a heroine goes from just a girl to a magical girl.

Uta kickstarts her transformation into Cure Idol.

One of the joys of Precure is that they get to the point really quickly. There’s no wasted time with when we’ll see the magical companion and the first magical girl. You don’t get a taste—you always get the whole damn meal. It’s a formula that continues to entice because you get enough action and intrigue in the premiere to know whether or not this entry will be one you follow. And I’m not just saying that because I got immediately invested as an idol fan.

But formula isn’t the only thing that works here. You have to have likable characters as well. Honestly, I really like Uta: I love it when young girls get to be cutesy and feminine without it serving a masculine audience. Her passion for singing and her cutesy vocal tic of adding a literal sparkling phrase to her sentences in the form of an occasional “kirakilala” actually serves to really show how perfect she is for the role of becoming Cure Idol, which she does, naturally.

This is the kind of anime that slots into Saturday Morning Cartoon vibes: you can’t help but kind of be charmed by Uta and Purirun’s antics as Uta desperately tries to find Idol Precure while wrangling her new fairy companion. It leads to a lot of well-timed comedic bits that play on Japanese phonetics and Uta’s reluctance to become a hero. Combined with the bits of singing we get from Uta, everything is shaping up to be a really cute series.

Cure Idol frees the manga author Ema from the control of Team Chokkiri.

I firmly believe that you both can and can’t judge a Precure premiere because it’s doing a lot to anchor the story and also, it’s aimed at a younger demographic and has a different path to establishing the foundational premise of each series in the overall franchise versus an adaptation pulling from a manga. This is its own thing before any additional media come out, including the March 2025 manga adaptation. 

That said, one thing I always walk away with anytime I watch a new entry is a feeling of assurance. Precure understands that young girls have depth and deserve stories that go beneath surface level cuteness. Here, I think the foundation is being laid for a dynamic story that’s going to go beyond idol-level cuteness and occasional antics. I also really love that the series continue to respect the bodies of their young heroines: there’s no inappropriate shots of Uta’s body at all. Instead, we get a sick concert with Cure Idol as the climax attack that really further reminds you that this is the magic of a young girl, and that there’s still fun to be had in enjoying seeing her growth into a heroine. Heck, it’s so good that our Team Chokkiri monster of the week villain joins in with light sticks!

Overall, I really liked this and absolutely will be following along. I think Uta is charming and I think that Team Chokkiri is sick: they have this really great design that feels like a natural counterpart to a magical girl. I also love the transformation scene for Cure Idol, and the impetus for Uta’s transformation into her. I feel confident saying that this is going to be another solid entry into an already fantastic franchise that I’m fully invested in, especially because it’s idols.

About the Author : Cy Catwell

Cy Catwell is a Queer Blerd journalist and JP-EN translation & localization editor with a passion for idols, citypop, visual novels, and the iyashikei/healing anime genre.

You can follow their work as a professional Blerd at Backlit Pixels, get snapshots of their out of office life on Instagram at @pixelatedrhapsody, and follow them on their Twitter at @pixelatedlenses.

Read more articles from Cy Catwell

We Need Your Help!

We’re dedicated to paying our contributors and staff members fairly for their work—but we can’t do it alone.

You can become a patron for as little as $1 a month, and every single penny goes to the people and services that keep Anime Feminist running. Please help us pay more people to make great content!

Comments are open! Please read our comments policy before joining the conversation and contact us if you have any problems.

%d bloggers like this: