Futari wa Pretty Cure revolves around two girls, Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro, who encounter the Garden of Light's Mipple and Mepple, who give them the power to transform into the emissaries of light; Cure Black and Cure White, to fight against the forces of the Dark Zone: a dimension of evil that has encroached on the Garden of Light and is now about to do the same to the Garden of Rainbows, Earth. The Cures search for the Prism Stones, placing them in a heart-shaped device known as the Prism Hopish, 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.
In Max Heart, Nagisa and Honoka meet the mysterious Hikari Kujou, who is soon revealed to be the "Life" of the Queen, whose powers were scattered into the form of twelve "Heartiels" following her battle with the Dark King. Meanwhile, remnants of the Dark Zone are protecting a mysterious boy, who is suspected of being the "Life" of the Dark King. Joined by Hikari, who gains the power to become Shiny Luminous, the Pretty Cures once again fight against the Dark Zone in order to retrieve the Heartiels and restore the Queen.
Where appropriate, names on the left are from the original Japanese version, whilst names on the right without Japanese text are from the Canadian English dub. Character descriptions pertain to the Japanese version of the show.
Nagisa Misumi / Natalie Blackstone (美墨 なぎさ, Misumi Nagisa) aka Cure Black (キュア・ブラック, Kyua Burakku)Voiced by: Yōko Honna (Japanese); Rocio Barahona (English)Nagisa is a student in the second year (third year in season 2) of Private Verone Academy Sakure Class, the ace of the school
lacrosse team. She is strong-hearted, though it usually quite lazy when it comes to her homework. She is also a food lover, her favorite dish being the
takoyaki served at Akane's stand. Although generally courageous, she will become quite flustered when near Shougo, who she has a crush on. She is often known for her catchphrase of yelling "Unbelievable!"
(ありえな～い!, Ariena~i). As Cure Black, she is strong and passionate. She introduces herself as "The Emissary of Light, Cure Black!"
(光の使者, キュア・ブラック!, Hikari no shisha, Kyua Burakku!).
Honoka Yukishiro / Hannah Whitehouse (雪城 ほのか, Yukishiro Honoka) aka Cure White (キュア・ホワイト, Kyua Howaito)Voiced by: Yukana (Japanese); Michelle Molineux (English)A quiet girl who is Nagisa's classmate in both second and third year of her middle school. She lives with her grandmother Sanae and her dog Chuutaro, as her parents are constantly working overseas. She is quite knowledgeable and is often nicknamed 'The Queen of Knowledge.' Her specialty is the science club, where she is looked up to by the others. Honoka has not had many friends, but the few she has seem to be really close to her, and she has come to appreciate Nagisa's friendship. As Cure White, she is swift and graceful. She introduces herself as "The Emissary of Light, Cure White!"
(光の使者, キュア・ホワイト!, Hikari no shisha, Kyua Howaito!)Hikari Kujo (九条 ひかり, Kūjō Hikari) aka Shiny Luminous (シャイニー・ルミナス, Shainii Ruminasu)Voiced by: Rie Tanaka (Japanese)A shy blonde girl who appears only in
Max Heart. She is "Life of the Queen" in human form after the Queen got split apart following her last encounter with the Dark King. Going under the guise of Akane's cousin and working at her
takoyaki stand, Hikari enrolls into Private Verone Academy two years under them and becomes friends with them. She later gains the ability to use Porun to transform in Shiny Luminous, gaining further power from Lulun. Although she does not have much strength or skill in fighting, she can use her abilities to hamper opponents and enhance Black and White's attacks. She introduces herself as "The shining life, Shiny Luminous!"
(輝く命, シャイニールミナス!, Kagayaku inochi, Shaini Ruminasu!)Mepple (メップル, Meppuru)Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (Japanese); Roger Rhodes (English)Mepple is the chosen protector of the Princess of Hope who allows Nagisa to transform into Cure Black. He is rather lovey-dover with Mipple and is often annoyed when Porun takes her attention away from him. He is noticeably selfish as he often bothers Nagisa to feed him and occasionally pokes fun at her. 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, Mippuru)Voiced by: Akiko Yajima (Japanese); Angie Beers (English)Mipple 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 Porun, 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 Poron very often.
Porun (ポルン, Porun)Voiced by: Haruna Ikezawa (Japanese); Kris Rundle (English)Porun 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 when he wants to be alone with Mipple. Conversely, he himself is bothered whenever Lulun wants to play with him. 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, Rurun)Voiced by: Asuka TaniiThe Princess of Light who can connect the future who appears in
Max Heart. She thinks of Porun as her older brother and always annoyed him. Lulun can give the Heartiel Brooch to Luminous. She ends her sentences with "-lulu".
Queen (クイーン, Kuīn)Voiced by: Kaya Matsutani (Japanese); Elizabeth Ludwig (English)The ruler of the Garden of Light
(光の園, Hikari no Sono), 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 is split apart into Hikari and the twelve Heatiels.
Wisdom (ウィズダム, Wizudamu)Voiced by: Taiki Matsuno (Japanese); Glenn Howard (English)Wisdom, often referred to as simply The Guardian
(番人, Bannin) is the keeper of Prism Stones, often residing on top of the Prism Hopish. His expressions often range from very sleepy to overly spooked.
Elder (長老, Chōrō)Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka (Japanese); Johnathan Love (English)A wise sage who resides in the Garden of Light. Despite his wisdom, he often keeps forgetting Nagisa and Honoka's names and referring to them as the
Pretty Cura.
Heartiels (ハーティエル, Hātieru)The Heartiels 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.
The villains of the first series emerge from the Dusk Zone (ドツクゾーン, Dotsukuzōn, (Japanese; lit. Hit Zone)), which is a realm of darkness ruled by the Dark King.
Dark King (ジャアクキング, Jāku Kingu)Voiced by: Kenichi Ono (Japanese); Tom Edwards (English)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.
Zakennah (ザケンナー, Zakennā)Voiced by: Hitoshi Bifu (ep 1-22), Satoshi Taki (ep 15, ep 28 onwards) (Japanese); Tom Edwards (English)The
Zakennah are large purple monsters that are summoned by servants of the Dark Zone. These monsters combine with objects or living things to oppose the Pretty Cure. When they are defeated by a purifying move, they burst into numerous little star-shaped monsters called Gomennah
(ゴメンナー, Gomennā, derived from the word for 'sorry') who scurry off apologising.
The Dark King's first wave of servants.
Pisard / Pijard (ピーサード, Pīsādo)Voiced by: Hiroki Takahashi (Japanese); David Belke (English)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.
Gekidrago (ゲキドラーゴ, Gekidorāgo)Voiced by: Kouji Ishii (Japanese); Kevin Gilese (English)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 / Pandora (ポイズニー, Poizunī)Voiced by: Sakiko Uran (Japanese); Kris Rundle (English)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.
Kirea (キリヤ, Kiriya)Voiced by: Reiko Kiuchi (Japanese); Scott Roberts (English)The youngest of the Dark Five, Poisonny's younger brother, he comes to the Garden of Rainbows (Earth) in order to spy on Nagisa and Honoka, infiltrating their school as a freshman and ends up becoming friends with them, developing a fondness and love 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.
Ilkubo (イルクーボ, Irukūbo)Voiced by: Issei Futamata (Japanese); Jonathan Love (English)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 sphere.
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, Beruzei Gātorūdo) / Genbu Yuuki (結城 玄武, Yüki Genbu)Voiced by: Tomomichi Nishimura (Japanese); Paul Hudson (English)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.
Regine (レギーネ, Regīne) / Shoko Koyama (小山 翔子, Koyama Shōko)Voiced by: Rika Fukami (Japanese); Carol-Anne Day (English)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 will scream out without warning, shocking everyone. She is far more confident in her dark form, though.
Juna (ジュナ)Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto (Japanese); Brendan Hunter (English)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 'Ryuichiro Kakuzawa
(角澤 竜一郎, Kazukawa Ryũichirō, Edgedale in the English dub) who is made as his original form in the English version.
Butler Zakenna (執事ザケンナー, Shitsuji Zakennā)Voiced by: Rika Komatsu and Satoshi Taki (Japanese); Jonathan Love and Dean Galloway (English)The Zakenna butlers are intelligent Zakenna (though not by much) who look after the mansion resided by The Three Seeds and the Four Guardians.
The Four Guardians are what remains of the Dark Zone, serving as the protectors of the "Life" of the Evil King whom they go to lengths to revive.
Valdess (ヴァルデス, Varudesu)Voiced by: Kenichi OnoThe 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, Sākyurasu)Voiced by: Hitoshi BifuAppears to be the "leader" of the group whenever Baldez isn't around. He often bickers with Uraganos.
Uraganos (ウラガノス, Uraganosu)Voiced by: Wataru TakagiLarge 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, Biburisu)Voiced by: Ai KobayashiThe 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.
The boy in the mansion (館の少年, Yakata no Shōnen) / Hikaru Kujo (九条 ひかる, Kūjō Hikaru)Voiced by: Haruhi Terada (Japanese); TJ Ramini (English)A mysterious boy who is actually the 'Life' of the Dark King. He often plays games with the Butler Zakenna though often seeks fun outside of the mansion. He is seemingly linked to Hikari, as various incidents occur when the two come face to face. At the end of the series, the boy becomes Hikari's little brother, Hikaru.
Akane Fujita / Alex Fujita (藤田 アカネ, Fujita Akane)Voiced by: Mikako Fujita (Japanese); Annika Odegard (English)Akane is a previous captain of Nagisa's lacrosse team who now runs her own takoyaki stand, which Nagisa frequently visits. In
Max Heart, she serves as Hikari's guardian under the assumption that she is her cousin, possibly due to the manipulation of the Queen.
Shougo Fujimura / Shawn Ferguson (藤村 省吾, Fujimura Shōgo)Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio (Japanese); Will Wood (English)Often nicknamed 'Fujipi' (or 'Fergy') by his friends, Shogo is a childhood friend of Honoka who Nagisa has a crush on. He is a hardworking player on his soccer team and often finds comfort in Nagisa's advice.
Ryouta Misumi / Ryan Blackstone (美墨 亮太, Misumi Ryota)Voiced by: Naozumi Takahashi (Japanese); Leah Dubbin-Steckel (English)Nagisa's little brother, who has a habit of annoying her and getting put in a headlock as punishment.
Sanae Yukishiro (雪城 さなえ, Yukishiro Sanae)Voiced by: Masako Nozawa, Yuki Matsuoka (young) (Japanese); Michelle Armeneau (English)Honoka's grandmother who takes care of her whilst her parents work overseas. She appears to know a lot about the Pretty Cure, as she found Mipple at a young age, though she keeps this a secret from Honoka and Nagisa.
The original Futari wa Pretty Cure anime aired in Japan between February 1, 2004 and January 30, 2005. The opening theme is "Danzen! Futari wa PreCure" (Danzen! ふたりはプリキュア, Danzen! Futari wa Purikyua, "Definitely! Together, We Are Pretty Cure") by Mayumi Gojo whilst the ending theme is "Get You! Love Love?!" (ゲッチュウ！らぶらぶぅ？！, Getchū! Rabu Rabu?!) also by Gojo. The follow up series, Max Heart, aired in Japan between February 6, 2005 and January 29, 2006. The opening theme is "Danzen! Futari wa Pretty Cure (Max Heart ver.)" (ＤＡＮＺＥＮ！ふたりはプリキュア（ｖｅｒ．ＭａｘＨｅａｒｔ）) by Mayumi Gojo. The first ending theme, used for episodes 1-36, is "Muri Muri!? Ari Ari!! In jaa Na~i?!" (ムリムリ！？ありあり！！ＩＮじゃあな～い？！, "No way!? Unbeliveable!! Is that Okay?!") by Mayumi Gojo with Young Fresh, whilst the second ending theme, used for episodes 37-47 is "Wonder Winter Yatta" (ワンダーウィンターヤッタ, Wandā Wintā Yatta, "Wonder Winter Alright") by Gojo.
On February 25, 2006, 4Kids Entertainment announced broadcasting and distribution rights for Pretty Cure in the United States, though never produced an English version of it. In July, 2008, Toei Animation 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). In April 2009, Funimation used to license the English-subtitled version of the series for online distribution on the company's website. The series is currently available for streaming in North America on Crunchyroll and Hulu. The theme song of the English dub is: Together We Are Pretty Cure.
An English-dubbed version was produced by Toei and Ocean Productions using their Blue Water studio in Calgary, Alberta which aired on Canada's YTV channel from March 6, 2009 to July 31, 2010. The English dub makes several changes to character names, cultural references and theme music, though mostly retains the original version's main soundtrack. This dub also aired in the United Kingdom on the Pop Girl digital channel from September 6, 2010.
The anime later re-aired on TV Asahi's cable channel, TeleAsa Channel 1.
Two animated films based on the Max Heart series were released. 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, Eiga Futari wa Purikyua Makkusu Haato), was released on April 16, 2005. The second movie, Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart 2: 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, Eiga Futari wa Purikyua Makkusu Haato 2: Yukizora no Tomodachi), was released December 10, 2005. The heroines also appear in all Pretty Cure All Stars movies, starting with 2009's Pretty Cure All Stars DX: Everyone's Friends☆the Collection of Miracles!
Both the television series and their movies received manga adaptation which were illustrated by Futago Kamikita in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine as they aired.
Four video games based on the two series have been released in Japan by Bandai. An educational video game was released for the Sega Pico in 2004. A puzzle platformer, Futari wa Pretty Cure: Arienai! Yume no Sono wa Daimeikyu (ふたりはプリキュア ありえな～い！夢の園は大迷宮, lit. We are Pretty Cure: Unbelievable! The Garden of Dreams is a Big Mystery), was released for Game Boy Advance in 2004. A platformer, Futari wa Pretty Cure: Max Heart - Maji? Maji!? Fight de IN Janai (ふたりはプリキュア マックスハート マジ？マジ？！ファイト de INじゃない, lit. We are Pretty Cure: Max Heart - Seriously? Seriously!? A Fight's Okay, Right?) was released for Game Boy Advance in 2005. A side-scrolling beat 'em up game, Futari wa Precure Max Heart – Danzen! DS de Precure - Chikara wo Awasete Dai Battle (ふたりはプリキュアMH DANZEN！DSでプリキュア 力をあわせて大バトル！!, lit. We are Pretty Cure Max Heart - Danzen! Precure DS - The Big Battle for Power) was also released in 2005 for the Nintendo DS. Nagisa, Honoka and Hikari have also appeared in other Nintendo DS games based on subsequent Pretty Cure series.
The series' popularity quickly spawned it into a full franchise with many different 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.
