Customer Reviews

Pretear - Vol. 1

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This is my very favorite anime ever done, and I was so excited when it was finally brought out in the U.S.

For those who enjoy the "chick-flick" animes, this one is incredibly charming, from beginning to end. It subtley combines a couple of fairy tales, but goes far, far beyond merely that.

The subtitle for Pretear is "Legend of the New Snow White," but it begins as a sort of Cinderella story. The main character, Himeno, has just obtained a stepmother and two stepsisters -- one of which is as nasty as the typical wicked stepsister is supposed to be. Himeno finds herself shunted to the side, hardly noticed, and she wonders how she can find a place in her new life. Then she meets the Leafe Knights. And she becomes Pretear, protector of the world and life.

There are seven Leafe Knights -- much like the "seven dwarfs." The story strays from any fairy-tale-esque elements until near the end, but I won't give the ending away QUITE yet. ;-)

This too-short show is nevertheless perfect, the story is sweet and romantic, while at the same time getting darker as you go along. But you'll love Hayate especially, and Sasame is great. Kei is strange -- he seems so effeminate, but at the same time he's so dully serious! It makes for a unique combination. And the kids are simply darling. You'll fall in love with this anime!

This first volume of Pretear has only the first four episodes, out of thirteen. I can only assume that there will be three other volumes, with three episodes each. This first volume is enough to hook you on it if you aren't already. The final show on this particular disk is a very strange one, I'll warn you about that.

But the DVD is beautiful, the picture is clear, and there are options to watch it either dubbed (which I would NEVER dream of doing, the original language is so fabulous), or Japanese with English subtitles.

This is a fabulous show, no anime lover should go without seeing it! I can't wait for the next episodes!

"Leafe-it is the source of life. Leafe-it's a power all living things have."

I have to thank Melissa H. for turning me onto Pretear. This fantasy/action/romance anime has some elements I find endearing, and is the second anime series I saw from start to finish. Himeno Awayuki is an energetic and sometimes ditzy high school student whose father, a widowed romance novelist and sculptor, has recently married the wealthy widow Natsue Hojo. As a result, she finds herself living on a wealthy estate and near a city where the nearby businesses are all renamed after her father's surname. However, Mayune, the long pink-haired stepsister, is a meanie with an obnoxious and loud laugh, who specializes in ridiculous practical jokes against Himeno, most of which backfire on her (e.g. a gigantic tube of mayonnaise). The introverted and soft-spoken stepsister Mawata, on the other hand, is somewhat withdrawn and indifferent to Himeno. This is different from the original manga, where Mawata was actually as bad as Mayune. In the anime, she is someone to be pitied, not hated.

Meanwhile, the seven Leafe Knights of the world of Leafenia, are out to stop Fenrir, the Princess of Disaster from conquering the Earth with her demon larva. When mature, they are huge slug-like monsters with tentacles and demonic reptilian eyes, absorbing the Leafe from all living things to feed Fenrir. Trees and flowers blacken and wilt when touched by a larva. The Knights' powers are limited, so in order to combat this menace, they need a chosen woman to "prêt" with, a Pretear, the Princess of Light. A Knight and the Pretear merge together, where the Pretear defeats the demon larva with weapons created from leafe, energy from living essence. Well, Himeno is the chosen one, and she is overwhelmed at being needed by the Knights, as she is still trying to find her place in a new family, home, and school, where she is shunned. Each Knight has a special power, be it ice, fire, wind, sound, etc. The child Knights, Mannen, Shin, and Hajime, take to her and even call her "naychan" or big sister. The dashing and quiet Sasame is an isle of reason and kindness, helping her in her training or being someone with a sympathetic ear. He's empathic, hosting a radio program, and replying to postcards, among them being from Mawata. However, the brooding Hayate arrogantly dismisses her, saying that she doesn't have what it takes, saying that they don't a Pretear, which isn't the case. Himeno's not that crazy about him either, and a state of mutual contempt exists between them. That starts to thaw by the end of Episode 4, though Hayate gives her a funny nickname based on her hairdo-"tulip head," which she isn't too chuffed about.

When Himeno prets with a Knight, there is a transformation scene complete with fanfare, where she is surrounded by coloured bubbles, reemerging with a colourful costume. Kind of a throwback to Sailor Moon, but minus the "moonlight crystal power makeup" schtick.

Once, I noticed the full title, "Pretear-The New Legend of Snow White" and it made a lot more sense. Think about it-Himeno's stepmother is mean, with two stepsisters. Then the Leafe Knights number seven. Aha! But there is an environmental message as well, on protecting the Earth from things that threaten to drain the life and life force from living things. Plus, the Knights also detect the presence of the larvae through their jobs, ever alert to a high level of depression in conversation.

Pretear also sports a host of well-known voice performers. Mikage the kindly maid is voiced by Yui Horie, best known as Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket and Naru in Love Hina, while Yuji Ueda, who is Kaoru, acted opposite Horie in Love Hina as leading man Keitaro. Satsuki Yukino (Mayune) was also in Love Hina as Mutsumi, but also in Ai Yori Aoshi as the energetic Tina Foster. Himeno's voice actress, Sayuri Yoshida, also sings the catchy ending theme song, "Lucky Star," but it pales compared to the energetic techno opening theme, "White Destiny," sung by the one and only Yoko Ishida. And Takahiro Sakurai (Sasame) is also Kamiyama in Cromartie High School. Finally, Kikuko Inoue (Natsue) voiced the landlady Hibiya-san in Chobits.

A great start for the 14 episode series.

Pretear is the latest anime show that's I've been taking in. I first read about it quite a while ago and found out that it was based on the old fairy tale "Snow White". In fact part of the title is "Snow White a New Legend". So originally I'd thought it would be kinda corny, but then a friend recommended it, so I went and got my hands on it. The story and characters are drawn from "Snow White" but are only very loosely tied to it, and it's quite different actually. The main character, Himeno, her father marries a wealthy widow and suddenly she finds herself in a whole new family with two new stepsisters. One of them is a lot like Nanami from Utena, but the other is very quiet and keeps to herself. Himeno has a hard time relating to either of them. Her father and his new wife are quite the happy lovebirds - they're hilarious! ^_^ Instead of having seven dwarfs (dwarves) Himeno has the seven Liefe Knights, each with their own brand of magical powers. They are the ones who come to this world and draft Himeno as the new "Pretear" - a sort of Magical Princess that they serve as assistants to. This show does have some new and original variations on the mahou shoujo genre that are interesting to see. I also love the opening sequence, it's one of the most beautiful I've seen yet, of any anime. The artwork in general is above average, with very pretty character designs and I just love Himeno-chan's Pretear outfits! By the time I had finished watching Pretear it was like .. wow! I had no idea how powerful the drama would be in the last few episodes. The series starts out funny and lighthearted, but about halfway through, when it starts to get into the heart of the story, I was just amazed at how good the story turned out to be. It's something that I wasn't expecting at all. And I loved the ending, but that's all I'm going to say about that - no spoilers! ^_^ Anyone who likes Cardcaptor Sakura or Fushigi Yuugi or shoujo anime in general will love this series!

The story and the beautiful way the characters were drawn attracted me to this Anime. At first I thought the fight scenes were really lame. They reminded me of Sailor Moon, which I liked when I was younger. (Which was before I entered the world of Anime.) Despite that I still enjoyed the story, character development, and actually the fight scenes grew on me. The ending was wonderful and my husband agreed that this was one of the better Anime we've seen. Pretear is very funny and very cute. (Not annoyingly so.) There were parts where I was so upset at what was happening. Now that it's over I'm sad. I only wish there were more. All in all I highly recommend this. If you're curious as to what kind of person would like this Anime let me tell you some of my favorites. Fruits Basket. Full Metal Panic. Azumango Daioh. Kaleido Star. His and Her Circumstances. Just to name a few. Go out and buy this! They did such a good job and if this kind of Anime is your thing you won't be dissappointed.

Wow! Fans of Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, bishounen, and magical girls will LOVE Pretear! Created by Junichi Sato, who worked heavily on the Sailor Moon anime, it is the story of high school freshman Himeno Awayuki, living a Cinderella life. Her disheveled and youthful romance novelist/sculptor father has just remarried to a billionairess executive. Himeno has to deal with two cold stepsisters, the aching memory of her mother, cruel classmates - and the knowledge that she is the chosen "Pretear."

Unlike Sailor Moon, who is on a team of females, Himeno is the only female on a team of seven males. She is the hub of the powerful team, summoned once again by the escape of the evil Disaster Queen. Himeno must "Pre'ete," or morph, with one of her seven Leafe Knights. Four of them are bishies, although one is foppish and feminine. The other three are young boys. As her "Pre'eting" is somewhat hot and sensual, it is kind of strange when she does it with the little ones. But, hey, it's male energy meeting female. It works.

Himeno squabbles Serena-Darien style with the ebony-haired and impossibly blue-eyed Hayate, the Knight of the Wind. Instead of "meatball head," Hayate taunts Himeno with "tulip head." But you just know there is a romance brewing. Or will she pick the more sensitive Sasame?

The opening and ending themes are absolutely delightful.

Here is the first volume in the beautiful and superbly executed Pretear series. As someone who owns the entire Pretear series, I can honestly tell you that the hype surrounding it is all true. Pretear is a strong character-driven story with adorable humour and real heart that not only makes sense, but is captivating and exciting as well. The English voice acting is very good, but the Japanese dub is brilliant! If you are looking for non-stop action (mecha or martial arts) then you need to look elsewhere. Pretear combines elements from the fairy tale "Snow White" with a wonderful, innovative story idea. Combine that with the exquisite animation, beautiful character and costume designs, and interviews with the english voice actors (spread out over all 4 volumes) and you have a classic work of anime.

In volume one of Pretear we meet the heroine, sixteen year-old Himeno Awayuki, who literally got transplanted into an entirely different lifestyle when her father, Kaoru, fell in love and married the fantastically wealthy Natsue Hojo, who happens to own and control the entire town in which they live. Natsue is so deeply in love with Kaoru that she changes her last name to Awayuki and renames the entire town after him. Now, Himeno lives in a castle-sized mansion along with her father, step-mother, and two step-sisters Mawata and Mayume. Despite her new found wealth and family, she feels alone and unloved, and starts to wonder if she could disappear.

While in the backyard of her new home feeling she has hit rock bottom, several handsome male strangers come to Himeno and introduce themselves as the Leafe Knights. The Leafe Knights are the protectors of the world's Leafe, the energy that sustains all life. Each Knight has his own special power such as sound, fire, water, etc. The Leafe Knights are searching Japan for the girl who is the Pretear, the Princess of Light. The Pretear has the special ability to Prete, or combine Leafe or souls, with each of the Leafe Knights to turn into a powerful warrior with enhanced abilities of the Knights she Pretes with. She is also the only one with the power to defeat Fenril, the Princess of Disaster, who has broken out of her prison of 16 years. If she is not stopped, she will destroy the world by draining it of its Leafe. The powers of the Leafe Knights alone are not enough to defeat Fenril, which is why they search for the lengendary Pretear. And it seems that they have found her...in Himeno.

This first volume of Pretear is funny and light-hearted. It has all of the magical-girl elements: clumsiness, newly discovered powers, new found love and friendship. The story itself is original and engrossing, and centralizes around the human heart. Pretear is one of the best anime series I have ever watched, hands down! I would definetly place it in the top 3 of my list of anime favourites. But don't just take my word for it. Watch volume 1 for yourself and see what all the praise is about.

This is a DVD that I stumbled upon randomly and, after reading the reveiws, decided it was worth a shot. And was it ever! For lack of a better comparison, it kind of reminds me of a (loose) cross between X and Sailor Moon. The magical girl aspects are definitely there, but the whole idea of the Pretear, and of preting (spelling?) in general, is very unique. It was slightly reminiscent of X the movie and TV series because of the 7 knights and the fact that each battle is blocked from harming the outside world. However, it is fairly fast paced, and doesn't seem to fall victim to the standard enemy-of-the-day routine that is always lurking around anime such as these. (or at least, it hasn't in the first DVD!)

All in all, I think that Pretear is a nice combination of many things. The fight scenes, and the practice fights, are very nicely done. Himeno's pretear outfits are beautiful, and the animation in general is far above average. The music is very nice, and the opening theme is very catchy. There is enough humor to keep things light hearted, but enough story-line to keep things from getting stale. And the english dubbing is very well done. I would recommend this to any one who is a fan of shoujo anime, or anyone who is willing to watch anime that doesn't take itself too seriously. I can't wait to get the next volumes!

That's what the box says at least. And I can see where the parallels are. Only these are better. Instead of seven dwarves we have seven handsome males--four men and three young boys. In place of the wicked stepmother and dead father, we have a (semi-kind) stepmother and a father who are madly in love. Cinderella's evil pair of stepsisters are replaced by one mean stepsister and one melancholy stepsister, the second of which might become Himeno's friend as well.

But that is where the similarities end. Himeno is a middle-class, black-belt-in-judo, somewhat uncultured teenage girl who has been brought into the upper class by her dad's marriage to the rich widow who basically owns the town. Her new stepmother is madly in love with Himeno's father, who was an author of romance novels. But her stepsisters are rather cold to the 'intruder' in their house, and Mayune plans cruel jokes to play on Himeno while Mawata just shuts herself away from the world.

The knights are not distinguished by their personalities, but by their powers (Wind, Fire, Sound, Ice, Light, etc...) And they each have jobs around the city. Jobs that fit with them (it's kind of neat how the story worked that out).

The characters are somewhat sterotypical, but endearing in their own way (most of them; there are two we haven't seen enough of to make an educated guess, even by the third dvd). But Himeno's cool. Mawata is my favorite character--I guess I just go for the angsty, feel-sorry-for-themselves characters.

The art is lovely, with bright, happy colors and a good attention to detail. Movement is smooth and natural, and the powers being used look pretty real. The fire looks like fire, things move when Hayate summmons the wind, the destruction caused by the (minor) sonic boom is in keeping with the path of the attack, and when things are frozen, they look frozen. Kudos to the animators for doing such an excellent job!

Like I said, the storyline of girl-teams-up-with-seven-hot-guys-to-save-the-world has been done before, but the writers managed to put a nice spin on it. It is fun to watch!

Voice acting...both the Japanese and the English tracks are well-done. I can switch back and forth between them, since neither one makes more of an impression on me. Sometimes I think that the English actors put a little more emotion into their acting, but that is just an opinion.

A good series with a solid cast of characters, good acting, and wonderful art. Give it a try!

OMG..this series was an awesome one. It is about these seven leafe knights that took an oath to protect the leafe of earth. But now the Princess of Disaster has escaped they must find the Pretear to stop her. Once they find her there are up and downs and even an unexpected surprise in the middle of the series that you would have not thought to happen. If you want an anime that has laughter, saddness, betrayal, and more look no further. This is one of my all time fav.

I liked this series WAAAY more than the manga, 'except' for the character development of Sasame.

The important thing is that Himeno isn't a sissy whiny meek girl like most shoujo stars are. She's extremely ammusing & manages to overcome her personal fears with anger rather than cry to her girlfriends. She hangs around with gorgeous Uniforms (men & boys). The Uniforms are such a cool, unique twist! They themselves transform into her suits! & she never has to wear the same suit all the time^.^

In the end she tells off this self-centered woman that the whole world doesn't stop because she's miserable. I think this anime has a positive message for young teen girls about overcoming fear & not beeing such a sissy^.^

I also reccomend Magic Knight Rayearth & Shoujo Kakumei Utena. I also reccomend avoiding the Rayearth OAVS & the Utena movieO_o