Futari wa Pretty Cure, known as simply Pretty Cure outside Japan, is a Japanese magical girlanime series produced by Toei Animation and broadcast across Japan on TV Asahi's ANN network. It is the first series in the Pretty Curemetaseries created by Izumi Todo. The original series, directed by Daisuke Nishio, aired on TV Asahi between February 1, 2004, and January 30, 2005, in the same timeslot as Izumi Todo's previous work Ashita no Nadja. It was the first of the Pretty Cure series to have received an adapted English-language version, which aired in Canada from March 2009. A direct sequel, Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart, or simply Max Heart, aired in Japan between February 6, 2005, and January 29, 2006. It was then succeeded by Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star. Two Max Heart movies were released on April 16, 2005, and December 10, 2005, respectively. The series' main motif is yin and yang.
Plot
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.
Characters
Where appropriate, names on the left are from the original Japanese version, whilst names on the right without Japanese text are from both the Canadian and Singaporean English dubs. Character descriptions pertain to the Japanese version of the show.
Pretty Cures
;Nagisa Misumi / Cure Black ;Honoka Yukishiro / Cure White ;Hikari Kujo / Shiny Luminous
The villains of the first series emerge from the Dark Zone, which is a realm of darkness ruled by the Dark King. ;Dark King ;Zakenna
Dark Five
The Dark King's first wave of servants. ;Pisard / Pijard ;Gekidrago ;Poisonny / Pandora ;Kiriya ;Ilkubo
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. 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 / Genbu Yuuki ;Regine / Shoko Koyama ;Juna ;Zakenna Butlers
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. ;Baldez ;Circulas ;Uraganos ;Viblis ;The boy in the mansion / Hikaru Kujo
Other characters
;Takashi Misumi / Terry Blackstone ;Rie Misumi / Glenda Blackstone ;Taro Yukishiro / Ken Whitehouse ;Aya Yukishiro / Luca Whitehouse ;Akane Fujita / Alex Fujita ;Shogo Fujimura / Shawn Ferguson ;Ryouta Misumi / Ryan Blackstone ;Sanae Yukishiro / Susan Whitehouse ;Yoshimi Takenouchi / Yvette Woodgrove
Classmates
;Rina Takashimizu ;Shiho Kubota / Shawna Knowles ;Yuriko / Lilian ;Mayu Kashiwada / Maya Kennedy ;Yumiko Nakagawa / Nickie ;Yuka Odajima / Emma ;Natsuko Koshino / Summer and Kyoko Mori / Crissy ;Seiko Taniguchi / Sophie ;Yui Morioka / Julie Woodhill ;Chiaki Yabe / Sienna ;Nao Tabata and Miu Kagayama ;Maki and Megumi
Media
Anime
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 Pretty Cure" by Mayumi Gojo whilst the ending theme is "Get You! Love Love?!" 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 " by Mayumi Gojo. The first ending theme, used for episodes 1-36, is "Muri Muri!? Ari Ari!! In jaa Na~i?!" by Mayumi Gojo with Young Fresh, whilst the second ending theme, used for episodes 37-47 is "Wonder Winter Yatta" 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 Crunchyroll. The subtitles were produced by "Nippon Golden Network", a Hawaii-based cable network that broadcasts Asian programming. In April 2009, Funimation used to license the English-subtitled version of the series for online distribution on the company's website. 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. Although uncut in content, 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, in March 2013.
Films
Two animated films based on the Max Heart series were released. The first, movies, which ran between 2009 and 2016. Another crossover film, Hugtto! PreCure ♡ Futari wa Pretty Cure, will be released on October 27, 2018, celebrating the franchise's 15th anniversary.
Manga
Both the television series and their movies received manga adaptation which were illustrated by Futago Kamikita in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine as they aired.
Video games
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, was released for Game Boy Advance in 2004. A platformer, Futari wa Pretty Cure: Max Heart - Maji? Maji!? Fight de IN Janai 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 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.
Reception
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, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Magical Angel Creamy Mami.
