Futari wa Pretty Cure

Futari wa Pretty Cure (ふたりはプリキュア), is a Japanese magical girl anime series, part of the Pretty Cure metaseries produced by Toei Animation and broadcast across Japan by Animax, TV Asahi and Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. The series is watched mostly by elementary and secondary students in Japan; it is also broadcast around the world. The original Pretty Cure series, directed by Daisuke Nishio (known for Dragon Ball Z and Air Master), premiered on TV Asahi February 1, 2004. The series is continued in Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart (ふたりはプリキュア ー マックスハート) which premiered on February 6, 2005.

Plot
The first story revolves around two girls, Nagisa Misumi, and Honoka Yukishiro, who by encounter the Garden of Light's Mipple and Mepple who give them the means to the fight the forces of the Dark Zone&mdash;a dimension of evil that encroached on the Garden of Light and as now about to do the same to the Garden of Rainbows, Earth. The initial run of the series has Cure White and Cure Black searching for the Prism Stones, and they place them in a heart-shaped device known as the Prism Hopish. The Hopish is protected by the Guardian, Wisdom. Once they have discovered all the Prism Stones, its power takes them to the Garden of Light and repairs most of the damage done by the Dark Zone. Later in the series, Porun, the Prince of the Garden of Light, grants the Pretty Cure duo use of their Rainbow Bracelets as they defeat the Dark King.

Max Heart continues the story when Nagisa and Honoka meet the mysterious Hikari Kujou, revealed to be the "Life" of the Queen with no memory of her life before and powers scattered in the form of the "Heartiel." But as the Pretty Cure duo attempt to find the Heartiel, remnants of the Dark Zone are protecting a mysterious boy suspected to be the "Life" of the Dark King. Cure Black and Cure White fight back these new enemies with Hikari backing them up as Shiny Luminous.

Characters
Nagisa Misumi (美墨なぎさ) is the ace of the school lacrosse team. She is also a close friend of Akane-San (or Alex in the English Dub), who has her own Takoyaki Stand(Doughnut stand in English dub). Her alter ego Cure Black (キュア・ブラック), is the strong fighter of the Pretty Cure duo. She is the one with the strength and the heart. She is quite girly and image conscious, and has a large collection of stuffed animals. Nagisa is weak in academics but makes up for it with pure spirit and energy. She also has a large appetite and loves to eat chocolate and, according to Honoka, foods with the word "yaki" in the name. She likes shopping but tends to squander her money and ends up having none when she needs it most. Nagisa has a crush on Honoka's friend, Fuji-pi, also known as Fergison (or Fergy in the English Dub), and gets flustered whenever he is around. To her dismay, Nagisa is more popular with the girls than the boys. She has a younger brother, Ryouta (Ryan), who seems to have a crush on Honoka. Aside from Honoka, Nagisa's best friends are Shiho (Shawna) and Rina (same name in English Dub). She is also considered the life of the party, because of her fun spirit and pure heart. As Cure Black, Nagisa wears a black and pink outfit.

Honoka Yukishiro (雪城ほのか) is the quiet and reserved one, but that does not keep her from having her own friends and following. She can be quite strict when the situation calls for it. Her alter ego is Cure White (キュア・ホワイト). Her specialty is the science club, where she is looked up to by the others. Honoka hasn't had many friends, but the few she has seem to be really close to her. It has also been noted that she's relatively popular with the boys, though she seems to have little interest in them. She has a love and friendship bond with Kiriya (Kirea) during the first season, and realized it in the second season. She lives with her grandmother and their dog, Chuutaro. Her parents are art dealers and spend most of their time overseas. They return once a year for Honoka's birthday. Despite their prolonged absences, they seem to have a good relationship with their daughter. (Japanese) Michelle Molineux (English) As Cure White, Honoka wears a white and blue outfit.

Mepple (メップル) is the chosen protector of the Princess of Hope. Because of this, he and Mipple have a "lovey-dovey" relationship. He tends to be a little more agitating and controlling, constantly making fun of Nagisa as they get into arguments. He is also mildly jealous of Pollun and wishes Pollun would act less selfish at times. However, Mepple is just as selfish, constantly eating or whining about being hungry and noting to himself that Nagisa is easy to manipulate. He resides with Nagisa and ends his sentences with "mepo". Both Mipple and Mepple can only stay in their true forms for a short time before growing tired, so they generally take energy-saving forms resembling cellphones.

Mipple (ミップル) is the Princess of Hope from the Garden of Light. She, like Honoka, is generally more reserved than her male counterpart. She's always sticking up for Pollun, though, once he comes on the scene, and that tends to cause problems between her and Mepple. She resides predominantly with Honoka and ends all her sentences with the word "mipo". She gets annoyed of Mepple getting angry at Pollun very often.

Porrun (ポルン) is the Prince of the Garden of Light. He is sent to Earth after Pretty Cure gather all the prism stones. The Queen gives a cryptic statement about his powers aiding Pretty Cure. Later, when Wisdom is in trouble, Wisdom places the power of the Rainbow Stones into Porrun without his knowledge. This gives him the ability to remain in his regular form as well as the ability to communicate with various people from the Garden of Light. When communicating with members of the Garden of Light, he turns into what looks like a gaming console and everyone can hear what is said and communicate openly. He also grants Pretty Cure the power of light which gives them their Rainbow Bracelets. He tends to be extremely selfish and think only of himself. He is quite childish and has a lot of energy. He can get a little annoying at times and definitely annoys Mepple. He lives predominantly with Nagisa in Pretty Cure and with Hikari in Max Heart. He tends to end his sentences with "popo". He enjoys getting between Mipple and Mepple.

Lulun (ルルン) is the Princess of Light who can connect the future. She thinks of Porrun as her older brother and always annoyed him. Lulun can give the Heartiel Broach to Luminous. She ends her sentences with "-lulu".

Queen
Queen (クイーン) is the ruler of the Garden of Light (光の園), a realm protected by the power of the Prism stones. She appears as a huge CGI woman sitting on a throne, though she is easily overtowered by the Dark King. She carries a heart-shaped item of some sort. She has stated that she is impressed with the courage of Pretty Cure and aids them when she can. She seems to always be closing her eyes. During Max Heart, the Queen's being broke apart and became Hikari.


 * Hikari Kujo (九条ひかり) has no fighting strength, but she can enhance the power of Cure Black and Cure White when she transforms into Shiny Luminous (シャイニ・ルミナス). She is the "Life of the Queen", having lost all of her abilities and memories from being Queen and is living as a passive human girl. She makes friends with Nagisa and Honoka.

Heartiels
The Heartiels (ハーティエル) are twelve fairies who are the embodiment of the Queen's Will. The Pretty Cure duo gather the Heartiels and place them in the Queen Chairect, an item that represent the Queen's Heart, in hopes of making Queen whole again. When Pretty Cure wants one of the Heartiels to come out of the Queen Chairect and help them, Seekun will turn the knob around to let out one of the Heartiels.


 * Seekun (シークン): The first of the Heartiels discovered, representing the Queen's sense of adventure and discovery. She asks a lot of questions and seems relatively naive about the world. When the girls need the help of another Heartiel, it is Seekun's job to call the Heartiel out of the Queen Chairect. She is the last Heartiel to enter the chairect. Her symbol in the chairect is the telescope. She seems to prefer Nagisa, as she enjoys spending time with her more than Honoka.
 * Pation (パション) can sometimes be seen flying with a white dove in some episodes. His symbol in the chairect is the torch. His Pigeon always lands on Nagisa's head.
 * Harmonin (ハーモニン) first appeared in episode 9, but met Pretty Cure in episode 10. She is mostly seen with a treasure box with her. Her symbol in the chairect is the treasure chest.
 * Pyuan (ピュアン) Her symbol in the chairect is the snowflake.
 * Intelijen (インテリジェン) is the only Heartiel who has been entrusted with the Book of Wisdom. In episode 22, she helped Pretty Cure find a solution to oppose the power of Baldez with the help of the Book of Wisdom. At first, she did not like Nagisa, but she soon developed a liking for Nagisa, after seeing her Pure heart. Her symbol in the chairect is the book.
 * Wishun (ウィシュン) Her symbol in the chairect is the mirror.
 * Horpun (ホープン)
 * Braven (ブレイブン) First seen at the end of episode 31.
 * Prosen (プロスン)
 * Hapinen (ハピネン) Her symbol in the chairect is the bell.
 * Lovelun (ラブラン)
 * Eternalun (エターナルン) His symbol in the chairect is the pocket watch.

Dark Zone
The villains of the first series emerge from the Dark Zone (ドツクゾン), which is a realm of darkness ruled by the Dark King.

Dark King (ジャアクキング) is the imprisoned ruler of the Dark Zone, somewhat humanoid in form that appears to come out of the ground. He is very tall and muscular with red eyes and extremely long arms. He does not appear to wear clothing. He wants to acquire the Prism Stones to prevent the "power to consume all things" from eventually destroying his own body, and to become immortal—he believes that it is the fate of all things to be consumed by the darkness. Like the Queen of the Garden of Light, the Dark King is animated by CGI.

Zakenna (ザケンナー) are the grunts that serve under the Dark Zone, infecting people or items to turn them evil.

Dark Five
The Dark King's first wave of servants.


 * Pisard (ピーサード) the first of the Dark Five to appear. Pisard is often thought to resemble a member of KISS, but when one looks closely, his look is closer to that of a male Kabuki actor in "keshō" ("make up"), having long hair and a painted face. His human form resembles David Bowie.


 * Gekidrago (ゲキドラーゴ) is the strongman of the Dark Five, large and muscular with a moai-shaped head. He relies on his brawn rather than his brain. Easily having the highest fortitude of the group, Gekidrago can take a direct, unprotected hit from a Marble Screw (or Twister in the English Dub) and only be knocked out for a few minutes. He often ends his sentences with "-Muka".


 * Poisonny (ポイズニー) is the only woman of the Dark Five. Instead of making a big show of calling on Zakenna like Pisard and Gekidorago, she snaps her fingers and is much more discreet about it. She often takes on a human appearance to gain the trust of the girls before attacking. In her true form, she resembles a vampire: She is pale, dresses in black tinted with red, wears a cape and has fangs, dark-rimmed yellow and red eyes and long red hair. She is often mocked by her brother, Kiriya.


 * Kiriya (キリヤ) The youngest of the Dark Five, Poisonny's younger brother, he comes to the Garden of Rainbows (Earth) in order to spy on Natalie and Hannah, infiltrating their school as a freshman and ends up becoming friends with them, developing a fondness for Honoka after she shows kindness to him. Later on he starts to have emotions and feelings for Honoka while trying to understand human emotions, resulting with him unable to fight the Pretty Cure duo. This act results with him sent back to the Dark Zone, but not before willingly giving a Prism Stone to the Pretty Cure duo. After the Dark King is destroyed, Kiriya returns as a normal human and lives an equally normal life.


 * Ilkuubo (イルクーボ) is by far the most powerful of the five and the Dark King's right-hand man. He can block the Marble Screw with just his abilities, as well as many other attacks, but his fortitude isn't as high as Gekidrago, as a direct hit will still hurt him. He first appeared on Earth, but did not start seriously fighting the girls until after Kiriya is sent back to the Dark Zone. He is defeated in episode 24 but made a brief comeback in episode 25 in which he battles Pretty Cure and takes them to the Dark Zone in a far more monstrous (and powerful) form. He is large, pale and bald with pointed ears and dark-rimmed eyes that resemble those of Kiriya. He wears a white robe and carries a purple prism stone.

Three Seeds of Darkness
When the Dark Five are defeated, new enemies appear: the Three Seeds of Darkness. The Seeds of Darkness are joined by Macaw, their pet bird; and the Butler Zakenna (執事ザケンナー). The butlers serve as comic relief, as they are unintelligent and tend to fight and bicker a lot. However, unlike other Zakenna, they speak human language, only using "-zakenna" to end their sentences. The taller Zakenna is laid back and somewhat clumsy, while the shorter Zakenna is quick to anger.

Belzei Gertrude (ベルゼイ・ガートルード) is the de facto leader of the group. He's a plotter and a sadist. He is first seen in the series impersonating a doctor. He is able to blend in by making people think he is someone else. Due to his own ego, it's always someone of a high position, like head doctor or principal. His human alias is Hidehiko Yuuki (ゆうき ひでひこ). (Japanese) Paul Hudson (English)

Regine (レギーネ) is the lone female of the trio. She starts out as a pretty red head, but then transforms and her hair stands straight back, then bounces into six curls. When in human form, she has a tendency to mumble things twice, then suddenly she'll scream out without warning, shocking everyone. She is far more confident in her dark form, though. Her human alias is Shoko Koyama (こやま しょうこ), made her original form in the English version who seemed to be very lonely. (Japanese) Carol-Anne Day (English)

Juna (ジュナ) is the tall young man of the trio. More the muscle of the group, Juna is quite stoic and his expression seldom changes. His human alias is Edgedale (かくざわ りゅういちろう) who is made as his original form in the English version. (Japanese) Brendan Hunter (English)

Four Guardians
The Four Guardians are what remains of the Dark Zone, serving as the protectors of The boy in the mansion (館の少年), the "Life" of the Evil King whom they go to lengths to revive.

Baldez (ヴァルデス) is the strongest of the four Guardians. He can repel the Marble Screw, Luminous Heartiel Action and Extreme Luminario attacks. Moreover, his true form is the spirit of the Dark King.

Circulas (サーキュラス) appears to be the "leader" of the group whenever Baldez isn't around. He often bickers with Uraganos.

Uraganos (ウラガノス) is large and dim-witted. He is clumsy and tends to destroy things by accident due to his size and strength. Uraganos also to never seem to hear people finish their sentences, especially Circulas.

Viblis (ビブリス) is the more serious of the group. She often scolds Uraganos and Circulas when they argue and is more intimidating. She is also the type to never apologize even when she was wrong.

Special powers and items
Nagisa and Honoka have a number of special powers they possess. However, they cannot use them in their civilian forms. Instead they must become Pretty Cure by sliding the Queen Card into a slot in their "Card Communes"/"Heartful Communes" and shouting "Dual Aurora Wave!" In the sequel, the pre-transformation phrase is the same, but the card is inserted into the top of the phone and then the casing is spun. This is followed by both girls scanning one hand over the base of the phone.

Similarly, Hikari in Max Heart must transform into Shiny Luminous in order to utilize the powers she possesses. She waves her hand over Porun who "reawakens" and becomes a "Touch Commune" and shouts "Luminous! Shining Stream!" Her transformation involves light, a nod to both her name and her Pretty Cure alias.

In the first and second season, Cure Black and Cure White have the power to manipulate black and white thunder. For the first season, they use their Pretty Cure Marble Twister attack ("Marble Screw" in the Japanese version) either to revert inanimate objects to their normal form(Black Thunder! White Thunder! We stamp out the darkness and we summon the light! We join together to set things right! Pretty Cure Marble Twister!), and use Pretty Cure Rainbow Therapy to heal humans and animals of their evil influence(Black Pulsar! White Pulsar! With the power of the light, we will make the darkness depart! We'll break the chains that binds your heart! Pretty Cure, Rainbow Therapy!). Later in the series, they are given their Pretty Cure Rainbow Bracelets by Porun, fired from him in a rainbow blast.(With the powers of hope and the will of light, We face the future and continue to fight! Pretty Cure Rainbow Storm!) They are pink devices that sit on their wrists with a heart shape in the center filled with rainbow energy. This gives them enhanced strength and the power to do Pretty Cure Rainbow Storm. In Max Heart, the Marble Screw/Twister attack becomes more enhanced(Precure Marble(1)Screw Max/ (2)Twister Blaster){1 is Japan ver., 2 is English ver.}. The power-up they receive in the second season is the Sparkle Bracelet. It gives them the power to do Pretty Cure Marble Screw Blaster Sparkle. According to Intelligent, it is the "power of hope granted to Pretty Cure by the power to create all things." They get the Spakle Bracelet by holding hands, and strongly wish for hope. Then, a bright light will shine from the base of a tree, the light spreading all over the ground will then spread into the air. Pretty Cure will raise their arms out, thus receiving the bracelet.

Shiny Luminous has a Heart Baton which can be used to perform Luminous Shining Heartiel to temporarily freeze an enemy and restore Pretty Cure's power or to combine powers with Cure Black and Cure White to perform Extreme Luminario. Her power-up is a Heart Broache, which Lulun turns into. (Note that Lulun is in her Miracle Commune form when she does so.) Lulun then uses the power of the Heartiels to create a barrier around Luminous.

In addition to these items and attacks, Pretty Cure has a number of miscellaneous items that can be used by them in their civilian forms. Firstly, the Prism Hopish is a heart-shaped pink device that holds all of the Prism Stones. Mipple accused Mepple of dropping the Prism Hopeish into Lake Hyoutan. The Guardian, Wisdom, appears standing over top of it with his hand constantly above his head. Next the Pretty Cure Diaries are notebooks Nagisa and Honoka have, and they are predominantly used as a diary or journal. They can write anything inside, but only they can read them. Once they were arguing and they accidentally switched notebooks and were able to read how the other felt. Thirdly, the Prism love checker is a game that can test the compatibility of two people.

Locations
Garden of Rainbows (虹の園)
 * The term used by Mepple that refers to the Earth.

Garden of Light (光の園)
 * The world where Mepple, Mipple, Porun and Lulun come from. The Garden of Light is protected by the power of the Prism stones. It is daylight all the time and flowers bloom all year long. Also time works differently here than in the Garden of Rainbows. Mepple and Mipple had visited the Garden of Rainbows 100 years before the start of the 1st season. From their point of view however, the 100 years that had passed was merely a single day.

Verone Academy
 * Nagisa and Honoka's school.

Kappa Mountain and Lake Hyoutan
 * Places where Mepple dropped the Prism Hopeish into. The outline of the lake looks like a figure eight. In Max Heart, Pretty Cure went to the same place to find a piece of shining earth that "contained great power of hope which was surrounded by six pillars" in Lake Hyoutan.

Tako Cafe
 * A mobile cafe created by Akane-san (Alex in the English dub). Hikari works here and Nagisa and Honoka are frequent visitors.

Movies
Two movies set in the Max Heart season. The first, Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart: The Movie (映画 ふたりはプリキュア ー マックスハート) premiered April 16, 2005. In the movie, the creatures Round, Square, Marquis, Oval, Heart, Pear and Triliant who reside in the Garden of Hope (希望の園 Kibou no Sono) have called in Pretty Cure to save their world from a witch from the Dark Zone who wants to take the Garden of Hope's Diamond Line, which consists of several pieces of jewelry worn by the Queen of Hope on her birthday. These jewels, if fallen in the wrong hands, will cause the Garden of Hope to become unbalanced, thereby causing everything else to become destroyed and enabling the restoration of the Dark King.

The second movie, Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart: Friends of the Snow-Laden Sky (映画 ふたりはプリキュア ー マックスハート) premiered December 10, 2005. In this movie, Sage accidentally drops the egg containing a houou to the Garden of Rainbows. Hikari retrieves the creature and names it Hinata (warm). Sage eventually finds Hinata and travels up into the Garden of Clouds with Pretty Cure and Hikari. Sage explains that this rare houou is important in contributing heat and warmth to all the worlds. They need a blessing from the queen in the Garden of Light to ensure its healthy life. However, Frozen and Freezen, both against warmth, inhibits Hinata's success by freezing her.

Latest news
In celebration of Pretty Cure's fifth anniversary, on 20 March 2009, a special "Pretty Cure" movie was released.

Reception
The series has proven popular enough with Japanese viewers to warrant four spin-off series. In a TV Asahi opinion poll, Pretty Cure appeared in the 45th position, above other series of the magical girl genre like Cutie Honey (technically not a "magical girl" series in the same sense; see article for details), Cardcaptor Sakura, and Magical Angel Creamy Mami. Sailor Moon appears in the Top 20.

Its popularity has also led to a spoof of the show in an episode of the Gin Tama anime.

Licensing
On February 25, 2006, 4Kids Entertainment announced broadcasting and distribution rights for Pretty Cure in the United States, however 4Kids Entertainment never aired the show or produced an English version of it. As of 2008, Toei Animation has attempted to market it themselves in the US. In July, 2008, they began making episodes available through IGN's Direct2Drive service subtitled into English. , and have also started making those same episodes available for free internet streaming on the Crunchyroll website. The subtitles were produced by "Nippon Golden Network", a Hawaii-based cable network that broadcasts Asian programming (mostly from Japan).

On December 16, 2008, Anime News Network, citing Animation Magazine, reported that Toei Animation made an agreement with the cable network, YTV to air a new English-dubbed version of the first Pretty Cure series in Canada. The series premiered on March 6, 2009 at 7:30 am Eastern on YTV, with Nagisa and Honoka renamed "Natalie" and "Hannah" respectively. The dub was produced by Toei Animation in association with Ocean Productions in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and recorded at Blue Water Studios in Calgary, Alberta. In October 2009, Pretty Cure was pulled from the YTV schedule after airing 31, and then 44 episodes, with no explanation given. In December 2009, YTV's Pretty Cure page announced that broadcast will resume on January 9, 2010. . The reason was later revealed to be production delays in dubbing. According to Zap2It, Pretty Cure's final five episodes of their first series aired on July 31, 2010.

In April 2009, Funimation licensed the English-subtitled version of the series for online distribution on the company's website, but whether or not there will be a DVD release or a U.S. TV broadcast is unknown.