Pretty Cure is Acquired by Saban Worldwide....

[Takao]

It would probably be Nick. After picking up Mysticons and Miraculous Ladybug they seem to be on a girls action spree, and besides, they're the only US kids network that seems to want to deal with Saban.

 

[GWOtaku]

I hope news of this show comes out soon just so this crazy rumor can be debunked. All this time later I still know of no signs at all that Saban actually has any rights to Pretty Cure. I think it also says something Toei has been silent about it. If it were licensed in any way for the U.S., I think they'd be advertising that by now. Hasn't happened.

 

[Light Lucario]

I hope news of this show comes out soon just so this crazy rumor can be debunked. All this time later I still know of no signs at all that Saban has any rights to Pretty Cure.

I agree. I'm still confused why anyone would see the title of this show and think that this was a Pretty Cure series. I don't think that I've seen any sign that Saban has the license to the series either, so it just comes off as a big conclusion to jump to when there isn't any solid evidence that this show is a Pretty Cure series.

 

[ChibiGoku]

Quarkboy, or Sam, the same guy who did the Anime Sols venture that recently shut down, more or less confirmed awhile back that Saban Brands had the franchise over on the Animenewsnetwork forums. This came about when an Italian website had reported on that the Italian Licensor was having issues getting further seasons of it, since Saban Brands now had the distribution rights to the franchise outside of Asia (Toei Europe told the company if they wanted anything further, they'd have to communicate with Saban). This, however, caused the Italian version to reach a stand still and hasn't budged since then. This was sometime in 2013, if I remember correctly, around the time when people were trying to figure out what Gangnam Girls/Glitter Force was.

Now,, mind you, we never 100% confirmed if Glitter Force is indeed Pretty Cure, but there's evidence to support that at least Saban Brands has the Pretty Cure franchise. Given the description information associated with Gangnam Girls, it's not hard to imagine that it would indeed be the Pretty Cure franchise.

 

[GWOtaku]

Hmm, interesting. If so, I'm on board with the "Saban has it but it's not Glitter Force" idea for the earlier reason that the description of this thing when it was "Gangham Girls" came off as a hodgepodge combination of different Pretty Cure anime, if you used your imagination. Which admittedly raises the question of what the heck is taking them so long to do something with the property, then.....

 

[ChibiGoku]

The only thing I can imagine the problem was that with the Vortexx shutting down pre-maturely, it probably left Saban without a home to market the franchise. Given how networks have been with Girl centric properties, especially with acquisitions (regardless if this is Pretty Cure or not), it probably left Saban trying to find a home for over two years now. Now, if they have indeed found another network to pick up the series, I'm not entirely convinced the networks will treat it properly. Nickelodeon hasn't exactly had the best history with handling their third party shows, same with Disney and in more recent years, Cartoon Network. Kinda makes me wonder what the exact fate of it would be on television.

Having said that, someone over at Fandom Post did suggest there is the possibility this could also head straight to Netflix, like Saban's two upcoming properties (Popples and Luna Petunia). However, I'd imagine it would struggle to find an audience, simply because Pretty Cure is a totally unknown franchise and property to most people in the US and Canada (Even with it's brief stint on Canadian television, I heard it wasn't terribly popular). Not the say it couldn't, but I'm trying to figure out what kind of marketing would allow children to discover the series in that fashion and become successful. I think one of the things though, arguably, is Saban needs to gain more of an online presence, which they've been mostly lacking outside of their Facebook support on Power Rangers (and to some degree, Digimon), but not much in terms of interacting with people. I think that's probably something they should really consider looking into, especially if this and their other series end up on Netflix.

Just my two cents.

 

[Takao]

I didn't notice this before, but the 40 episodes listed on Noam Kaniel's Linkedin fit Nick's MO. They're unique in that they tend order shows in batches of 20.

 

[Tommy Lawson]

Glitter Force now officially exists as a Saban Brands property. It is listed on page 82 in the TV Kids Guide 2015/2016. There is a short description of the series, and it will be 40 episodes. Does the description match any of the Pretty Cure series?

 

[ToonJay723]

Glitter Force now officially exists as a Saban Brands property. It is listed on page 82 in the TV Kids Guide 2015/2016. There is a short description of the series, and it will be 40 episodes. Does the description match any of the Pretty Cure series?

So the description about 5 girls and fairy tale villains matches the Smile PreCure series, but that has 48 episodes.

 

[Gold Guy]

So basically, if it is Smile PreCure, they'll probably pull an LBX and merge/skip some episodes.

 

[Mandouga]

It's still too early to tell at this point what Glitter Force will be.

Having said that however, it had better be an original creation, because if it is one of the Pretty Cure series, then I absolutely won't watch it, no matter what kind of treatment it's given. After they way they handled* Digimon Xros Wars/Fusion (which culminated in the "You don't know Japanese" comment in one [late, I believe] episode), I now know they can't be trusted (with anime dubs, I mean).

*I had my doubts right from the beginning, when I watched it side by side with the Japanese version (which is still [as of this writing] legally available on Crunchyroll). Most of them were either minor things (like leaving out Marine Day), or things that had to be edited for TV (like repainting Revolmon/Deputymon to be less realistic looking), but they crossed with the line with the implied Americanitis I just mentioned. All of this this was done right in front of everyone (yes, including mainstream, non-anime fans, who may or may not have known about Crunchyroll, and might have heard about it, and might even have been just a little curious about it) with that one comment. All despite the fact that previous dubs had acknowledged the shows as taking place in Japan.

 

[ChibiGoku]

I want to note something, without specifying where I got the information from, I definitely know 100% that Saban has Pretty Cure. This is on top of other reports that we had gotten over the years and thanks to some information I got, I can confirm this too. And at this point, since they've specified the series summary, the only conclusion I can come to now is this is definitely Smile Pretty Cure, which which will be their starting point. And given that they're cutting the series down, provided the composer's information is right, don't expect a faithful adaptation.

 

[PC!]

I'd be more upset about them possibly splicing episodes if half of the "Smile" series wasn't pointless filler.

Seriously, I started watching the series with "Suite", and "Smile" is the only Pretty Cure series I've seen thus far where Toei barely even attempts to tell a story. Ironic, considering it's a fairy tale-based series.

 

[ChibiGoku]

And as many suspected... Confirmed for Smile Pretty Cure.

http://worldscreen.com/worldscreenings/screening/832

 

[PC!]

Despite it being my least favorite PreCure series, I'm glad to see it come to America. I really, really hope it does well. It IS a very enjoyable franchise.

 

[Dudley]

It'll definitively be interesting to see how well the series will do in the States. It's girly but also has some really cool fight scenes.


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[Takao]

Page 91:

http://issuu.com/worldscreen/docs/tv_kids_mipcom_2015

 

[Tommy Lawson]

It'll definitively be interesting to see how well the series will do in the States. It's girly but also has some really cool fight scenes.

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I get the feeling it may not be popular. 40 episodes implies it would air on one of Nickelodeon's channels, likely over a two year span. Winx Club was on, then off the main Nick channel for years. There are some direct competitors like Miraculous Ladybug and indirect ones like Disney's Star Darlings that could keep Pretty Cure from becoming popular.

It's still too early to tell at this point what Glitter Force will be.

Having said that however, it had better be an original creation, because if it is one of the Pretty Cure series, then I absolutely won't watch it, no matter what kind of treatment it's given. After they way they handled* Digimon Xros Wars/Fusion (which culminated in the "You don't know Japanese" comment in one [late, I believe] episode), I now know they can't be trusted (with anime dubs, I mean).

*I had my doubts right from the beginning, when I watched it side by side with the Japanese version (which is still [as of this writing] legally available on Crunchyroll). Most of them were either minor things (like leaving out Marine Day), or things that had to be edited for TV (like repainting Revolmon/Deputymon to be less realistic looking), but they crossed with the line with the implied Americanitis I just mentioned. All of this this was done right in front of everyone (yes, including mainstream, non-anime fans, who may or may not have known about Crunchyroll, and might have heard about it, and might even have been just a little curious about it) with that one comment. All despite the fact that previous dubs had acknowledged the shows as taking place in Japan.

It's not surprising that Saban has Pretty Cure now. I just find it so disappointing that so many episodes will have to be cut to make it 40, and that the music will inevitably be changed, as Saban does that for music rights. Engish dubs should not stray so far from the source material in 2015 IMO. I also blame Toei Animation for continuing to license the English dub for shows like Digimon and Pretty Cure to Saban rather than try some new company. Are they afraid of changing things up from what they've done in the past?

 

[GWOtaku]

Not sure it's fear so much as "hey, this has been working all along, why change it". Consider what was allowed for Dragon Ball Z back in the day.

 

[ChibiGoku]

Another poster from the World Screen magazine, MIPCOM edition: