On Kaito's role in "Kimi to" "Idol Precure"
Alt title: In Defense of Hibiki Kaito (Writing Words Because Some Japanese Guy RT'd Me After Ranting "REEEEE KAITO MADE THIS THE WORST PRECURE SERIES EVER" Which Made Me Wonder How Exactly Did Grok Mistranslate My Tweet) And Another Discussion About What The Actual Themes of "You and" "Idol Precure" Are
To start: I fully understand if you can't be assed to care about Kaito because his personality is boring, or if his appearances are too sparse, or if the show just hasn't shown enough about him. What I want to do here is explain how his character doesn't detract from the story or its themes, after seeing how so many viewers don't appear to know what the actual themes of the show are about?
So what do we know about Kaito? Well, he's someone who has always loved to sing, but never to anyone else until his new best friend encouraged him to join an idol audition together. Then he passed alone, his best friend stopped talking to him, and after graduating middle school, moved away from his hometown in order to debut. While high school aged, he had a meteoric rise into "legend idol" status, took a hiatus to study in New York, then quietly returned to his hometown for at least several months before restarting his idol activities. He's currently 18, this means his career has only existed for 2-3* years. (*Unsure whether "18" means he's already 18, or will be turning 18 over the course of the show. School grades provide the most clarity for this reason.) (edit: His seiyuu confirmed they were 15 during the flashback, so chuu3. Did Kaito even get any training?) For all of the shitposting about how he's a grown-ass man leading on a middle school girl only to dump his gay backstory on her, he's still very fucking young. (For comparison: Kaito's seiyuu Sakuma Daisuke, who is a part of what is currently the most popular male idol group in Japan, is 33 years old.)
So first he lost his best friend, then he lost his connection to his hometown, then grew extraordinarily popular and busy, and then left to go study in another country before growing homesick because New York beaches are too shitty to sing about missing your ex-boyfriend on. It's no wonder he's grown so fond of the kanban idol of the cafe he frequents. In spite of his popularity with the masses, this guy is lonely.
And here comes the problem: the entire point of his character is that he's someone who lacks bonds. Because of that, it is imperative for him to be separated from the rest of the cast beyond Uta, because allowing him into the support system she's developed would just negate the entire conceit of his character. The show goes to a comical degree to literally push Uta's friends out of the way in order to make sure she is the only one that he ever gets to talk to. This makes it difficult to give him screen time in an episodic kids show when they made the active choice to not integrate him into the main cast, given that he's only really allowed to be involved in Uta-focused episodes, and she still has a life outside of him. So he comes off as bland in part because we primarily view him through the wet conch maiden gaze of someone he's always sweet and patient towards. Notice how the only times we get to see him remove his nice idol mask is when he's with people he considers his own peers, like Cure Idol and Kazuma?
His lack of screen time is a problem given just how important he is to both Uta and Jogi, but allowing him more of it would interfere with that sense of loneliness. This isn't to say though, that they couldn't have a done better job with integrating him into the show, or making him more interesting to watch in spite of these self-imposed roadblocks. The twins had the right idea with the chapter where he competed in a game show with the Idol Precure (even though they hate the guy too much to actually draw him in it lmao). The series composition kind of has an issue in general where it feels like they're artificially prolonging developments: with Meroron they reset her character development in order to drag it out for another cour, with Kaito his subplot has been very gradual and thinly stretched out over the course of the entire year.
"Idol Precure"
So I had noted in the post about Inoue Akiko's scripts that the only reason we eventually even got a Precure series with an idol motif is because Murase-P really likes idols, and reverse engineered a theme that would fit both the spirit of Precure & idols. It's important to recognize that Kimi to Idol Precure isn't actually an idol show in the end. No focus on the industry, on training, on rivalry, on artistry, some mandatory focus on the commercial/consumerist aspect of it because this is a toy commercial through and through, but otherwise it's a primarily a show about the mutual support that idols and their fans provide to each other. You have to think of it more as Oshikatsu! rather than Aikatsu!. It's not an idol show, it's an Idol Precure show.
Presently, the show depicts the girls doing idol activities only while they're transformed as the Idol Precure, but was there ever a point where you had Uta & co. become idols as themselves? Murase: No, from the very start we had envisioned them doing idol things only after they transform into their Precure forms. Although I may have chosen "idols" for the motif this year, it wasn't because I wanted to make an idol anime, I wanted to make "Precure", so I figured it was essential to depict the Precure becoming like idols at the most climatic parts of the story.
There appears to be something of an unwritten rule in the franchise up until this point, that the public shouldn't know much about how the Precure are fighting. This show takes the opposite approach with how the Precure are constantly in the spotlight, masked as popular idols. This approach felt very fresh and innovative to watch, but what are your thoughts on this aspect, Murase-P? Murase: In my mind, I figured "the Precure look just like idols when they sing and dance" → "so it makes sense that they'd receive the same kind of work that idols get"…… I didn't realize how unusual it was for the Precure to be well known to the public until the other staff pointed it out to me (laughs). So it wasn't at all because I wanted to be innovative. Also, I thought, "I want lots of people to be able to watch the wonderful performances of the Idol Precure" and "they don't refer to themselves as idols, rather, it's the public that acknowledges them as idols", so on that matter, I'm grateful towards Purirun for successfully publicizing them in-universe.
Now that Cure Kyunkyun has made her debut, the Idol Precure have become a trio. What can we look forward to in "KimiPre"? Murase: The three members of the Idol Precure have been performing solo up until this point, but as for whether or not they'll expand from solo to group activities…… I hope you'll keep an eye out for that. Moreover, while their work as idols will increase, series director Kon Chiaki has said that she wants to "put care into depicting the daily lives of ordinary middle schoolers", so there will also be stories about the school and family lives of Uta, Nana, and Kokoro. It's because of the "idol" motif that the Precure can experience a wider range of scenarios, as well as let the narrative as a whole shine even brighter. I hope you will enjoy watching all the different sides of the girls, whether as Precure, or as ordinary middle schoolers!
This year's series has settled on the direction of the Precure being not just fighters, but as figures known publicly as idols, carrying out those activities in parallel. Kon: That's right. However, I made it clear from the start that I wanted to avoid making idol activities the main focus at all costs. Of course, as idols they're allowed to record songs and have handshake events. But I didn't want to orient the Cures solely around the idea of "Let's work hard as idols!" I hope to stay true to depicting the regular lives of the Precure, while showcasing the uniqueness of this year's Idol Precure.
What did you keep in mind when crafting the story of "KimiPre"? Katou: The most important thing that we have to be mindful of is the idea that the girls aren't "idols", but more specifically "Idol Precure". While they may welcome all the attention they receive from the public, the Idol Precure aren't here to pursue a future, nor pursue success as idols. They didn't become the Idol Precure because they wanted to become idols. How will these girls grow from their experiences as the Idol Precure? That's the crucial point I take into consideration when crafting the story.
From what I can gather (conjecture) from the interviews: director Kon initially envisioned something akin to a Pierrot idol majokko series from the 80s/90s, writer Katou initially envisioned something closer to Mermaid Melody? or Aikatsu? (and personally had difficulty merging the concepts of singing with fighting like say, what Symphogear does), while Murase-P was the one whose vision had always stayed true to the spirit of Precure. Ironically enough, we still have the Pretty series going strong, jojimuke Symphogear airing in the same year as Kimi to Idol, and the revival of Pierrot idol majokko in the year following. Somehow, Precure stands out from the crowd, simply by staying generically Precure???
While we have long strayed from the days where non-human Cures weren't allowed to have "Cure" in their names, the Precure staff still values creating a cast that children can relate to. There's genuinely no reason to feature the actual industry in a prominent manner. What is the average child watching on Sunday mornings even supposed to do with that information? Murase-P also pointed out that both Kon and Katou wanted to tell a "stress-free" story, with Kon actually mentioning the "stress-free" thing quite a few times in her own interviews. They wanted to tell a fun, lighthearted show that was heavy on the gags. (Though I would argue that the Heart Kirari Lock arc was anything but stress-free, but.) Given that the staff made the active decision to shield the main characters from the difficulties of the actual idol industry, they needed someone, in this case, their guydol representative Kaito, to take on the burden of playing the one actual career idol in this show: stripped of any privacy, of the time a young adult should have had for a normal education, and of a social network of same aged peers.
When creating the character of Hibiki Kaito, the image that the writer Katou Youichi initially had in mind was completely incongruous to that of the female staff's. He wanted this character to be the egotistic, oresama type who would refer to girls more rudely. Episode 4's writer Inoue is credited to marrying together the images the staff had for him, and that was how we ended up with the kind, oniisan type, with vestiges of his wild, flirty side left over.
(Going back to the Pierrot majokko, Kaito appears to have the same role as Hiroya on paper: the kind, older idol mentor love interest. Because Kon was the only staff member who mentioned anything about romance in these interviews and because of how she described her original vision for the show, I get the impression that Fancy Lala was something of an influence here. Clearly, I ~connected the dots~.) (The age gap in Fancy Lala is so much funnier though.)
However, even if Katou was vetoed by the women when it came to Kaito's personality, I would argue that he might have had the greatest influence over the character otherwise. Murase credits the idea of Kaito as a "legend idol" to Katou, who just so happened to have already created a similar concept prior. He was main writer to the OG Aikatsu! series, which featured the character of Kanzaki Mizuki as the top idol, a goal for the main character Ichigo to strive towards. While the character dynamics are very different given that Aikatsu! is an actual idol show, it just so happens that Mizuki also started off as someone too focused on her work to have any friends. In fact, she seeks out a rival capable of standing on the same level as she. Kaito and Mizuki are conceptually similar: it's lonely up at the top, and they desperately desire someone to stand there with them.
"Kimi to"
When we first got news that the 2025 Precure title was going to be Kimi to Idol Precure♪, there was the assumption that it was going to be shortened to AiPre. When they officially revealed it be KimiPre instead, there was the assumption that Toei/Bandai didn't want it to overlap with Takara Tomy's Himitsu no AiPri. After all, there's precedent: Dancing☆Star Precure got shortened to BokuPre instead DanPre, simply because a DanPri in PriPara already existed prior. However, it turns out that the "Kimi to" part of the title is more than just set dressing, it's thematically embedded into the narrative as a whole.
「“キミ”がいるから輝ける、強くなれる！」 Because “You” are here with me, I can shine and grow stronger!
So out of the current Reiwa-era Precure producers, I would without a doubt consider Murase Aki to be the best of the bunch. She makes what she personally wants to make (mermaids! idols!), calls on the staff she wants to call (Tanaka initially resisted the offer to direct All Stars F) (girly just wanted Yokotani because she loved Free! lmao), and most relevant to this post, lays clear what the themes of her respective projects are. (Please refer to the comment Murase-P made when the show was officially announced in full.) For Tropical-Rouge, it was about staying motivated and living your life with no regrets, for Kimi to Idol, it's about how we're able to grow through You&I's mutual inspiration and support. On a surface level, this is about how idols (the Precure) are only able to shine through the support of their fans (us, the audience), who in turn are able to shine through the support their idols provide them. But Murase-P has pointed out that this theme expands more broadly to the every day relationships we may have with one another. Between family, between friends, lovers, classmates, coworkers, a teacher and his students, even the owner of a cafe and his customer, almost every episode has been centered around the core concept of You&I.
It's worth pointing out that as a legend idol, Kaito is used to receiving the support of fans, but isn't used to being a fan of idols himself. He was shocked at the audacity of Cure Idol to give HIM of all people fanservice, which is why he pulled the omoshiree onna card and subconsciously fell for her as his Idol Precure oshi. And he was touched when Uta (the oshi he is conscious about) went out of her way to cheer him up. An idol cannot exist without the support of their fans, but even an idol will need their own idol to inspire them. Uta and Kaito are both of these to each other.
On the other hand, Kaito's relationship with Kazuma is closer to that of a traditional rivalry from a traditional idol anime, even if the boys themselves viewed each other as companions rather than competitors. Rivals of course, fit well into the You&I concept: what greater inspiration and support is there than an equal you strive to surpass? However, this relationship is viewed primarily through the lens of Kaito's intense yearning for Kazuma. No amount of support from Hibiki Kaito's massive fanbase (or Uta, for that matter) will ever be able to replace the support he received from his very first fan, the one who encouraged him to sing for an audience in the first place. It's ironic how achieving the legend idol status his friend so coveted made him lose a bond that was far more valuable to him. A traditional idol anime typically has the protagonists work towards the goal of personal or group success, so the focus on You&I here truly makes this show unique among its idol peers.
Light and Darkness
In the original Pretty Cure continuity, light and darkness stood for good and bad respectively. It showed us that it was possible for someone born from darkness to step into the light, but was an otherwise simple tale of good versus evil. On the other hand, the concept of light and darkness in Kimi to Idol is closer to that of happiness and sadness in in the other previously music-themed Precure series, Suite. In Kimi to Idol, light/sparkles represent positive feelings like happiness and hope, while darkness represents negative feelings like sadness and despair. However, the actual theme of Suite was harmony: sadness will always exist, and it is something we must accept into our hearts so that our happiness can flourish.
In-universe, the stated goal of the Idol Precure is to illuminate the darkness. Idols, after all, exist so they can bring joy to their audiences. The text makes it seem as if the secondary theme of Kimi to Idol Precure is closer to Futari wa Pretty Cure/Max Heart than it is to Suite Precure, yet the framing tells us otherwise. After all, Meroron, who was born from darkness, was able to join her companions in the light. And if, as Jogi puts it, there is darkness even within the light, then it stands to say that there is light even within Jogi's own darkness. It's quite likely that Kimi to Idol Precure will conclude in a thesis similar Suite's, as Darkiine and Pikariine are clearly each other's yin and yang, and will most certainly have a You&I relationship.
Ribbons
While Kimi to Idol heavily utilizes ribbons as its main motif, the staff arguably struggled to figure out how to integrate it into the show in a meaningful manner. In-universe, ribbons most often appear as representations of the weekly victims' light/sparkles, and then later on, their darkness. Thus, the the villains are themed after scissors/snipping, as they are the ones cutting the ribbons. The exception being Darkiine, who found small tears in the ribbons of her underlings, and ripped them apart herself. Beyond the sparkles and darkness though? Murase-P pointed out that they used the tying of a ribbon to represent the girls' determination to transform. She also uh, said that they're a symbol of hope? To me these all come across as awkward metaphors for what Bandai chose as the primary toy motif.
...Until we got KANJITE YOU & I KIZUNA RIBBONNNNN. Equating bonds to ribbons makes the most logical sense, as it works perfectly with the You&I theming of the show, and is essentially its version of the red string of fate. (And personally, I consider the many unique shapes of kizuna ribbons between the cast to be one of the show's strengths. A cast with more varied dynamics amongst each other isn't something you can take for granted from the franchise.) (Glory to Nana's harem!)
This is why I adore the scene where Cure Idol summoned the Idol Heart Ribbon so much, it's such a lovely example of how to show instead of tell. Cure Idol initially points out that she doesn't know if the strength of Kaito's bond with her is on the level that she feels for him, and it's only after she and his MotW fist bump each other that the Idol Heart Ribbon emerges, confirming to us that the bond they have is indeed mutual. The new toy was essentially a physical manifestation of their bond, or in other words, their own special kizuna ribbon.
Compared to Kaito and Uta's neat chunk of plastic, Kaito and Jogi's bond is far more messy. On Kaito's end, it has been stretched and tangled, but impossible to rip. On Jogi's end, it has been snipped by him personally...yet in the darkness, still connected by a thread.
Kimi to Idol Precure unfortunately does not have much of a story in terms of either plot and character development. But for the arcs that do exist, they exist to fix bonds. Purirun/Uta was about how you can reforge bonds that were once lost, Meroron was about allowing new bonds into your heart, and Kaito/Jogi about how even severed bonds can be repaired.
TL;DR on the title of this post: Officially: The Guydol™ Advice Guy™ Love Interest Guy™ Actuality: A representation of the solitude of an actual young industry idol may experience, showing that even a popular idol needs the interpersonal bonds You&I provide. One who can only shine as bright as he does (as an idol) because of the darkness within him (guilt and regret for his friend), opposite of someone whose darkness (loathing) masks a light within (a genuine desire to support his friend).
