Mariko Ito

**Mariko Ito** (伊藤 真理子, ***Mariko Ito***?) (or **Mary Irving** in the English dub, or **Maria Illera** in the Spanish dub), is the main protagonist of *Happy Happy Pretty Cure!*. She is a calm, but happy girl with interests in cooking and fashion design. At the start of the series, she is a shy transfer student of the Yozora Girls' Middle School, but she quickly becomes more extroverted.

Mariko's Pretty Cure alter ego is **Cure Glitter** (キュアグリッター, ***Cure Glitter***?) and her theme color is pink. Her catchphrase is **Don't worry** (くよくよするなよ, ***Don't worry***?).

## Bio

### Appearance

As a civilian, she is often seen with her grape-colored hair in a right-side ponytail with a pink ribbon. She usually wears her blue, denim jacket open. Inside it is a white short sleeve shirt with a light pink cat painted on it. She also has a plum purple, ruffly skirt. She wears plum janes and long, white socks in the footwear area.

As Cure Glitter, her hair grows to her neck lightens to a rose pink color with one strand put to a ponytail on the right side. She wears a giant, light blue hair ribbon. Mariko's top is a hot pink midriff with no sleeves. She wears the Pretty Cure transformation item on her light blue bow with ruffles. Her skirt has a top layer of frilly pink with layers of white underneath it. The skirt has many light pink and white details. She wears hot pink, knee-high boots with x-shaped laces.

### Personality

Mariko is an avid admirer of the French aesthetic and 1950s culture, to the point of obsession. She dreams of becoming a fashion designer alongside her childhood idol, Riko Imasaki, and making a name for herself in the fashion industry. Mariko hails from Nikomura, a small village in Japan, and is excited to move to the bustling city of Yozora.

Sunday is her favorite day of the week, as it provides her with a chance to relax and take in the sights of the city while indulging in her love of all things French. Mariko also adores the music from the 1950s, and often spends Sunday afternoons listening to her favorite singers and bands from that era. She is constantly inspired by the art, fashion, and culture of the past, and she hopes to one day be able to incorporate these elements into her own designs.

Mariko is a person who is truly appreciative of the people and things she loves, such as her family, friends, cats, and the hues of pink, blue, and purple. But her biggest passion lies in the world of fashion design. She can be known to be overly enthusiastic and sometimes her interests can cause her to become easily distracted from her work. Even though her enthusiasm for design can be an obstacle, Mariko is passionate about her work and it is something she will continue to pursue and devote her time to.

As the series is based on emojis, Mariko is represented by the cat emoji.

### Relationships

* Misaki Kagome - Misaki and Mariko are great friends. When the one is down, the other tries her best to cheer her up. They love watching anime together, and their favorite to watch is *Sailor Dione*.
* Kaede Ueda
* Junko Mori
* Sayuri Mori
* Asao Ito - Mariko and Asao do not like each other. They insult each other and generally don't care for the other's well being. For example, when Asao turned into a Dononsuta in episode 1, Mariko was unwilling to help him, but Sato forced her to go get him.Template:Storylink
* Riko Imasaki - Mariko's idol.
* Ren Sakura - Childhood friends.

## History

### Childhood

Mariko was born in Nikomura and was best friends with Ren since they were babies. Their favorite thing to do is to watch stars.

### Moving to Yozora

When Mariko turned 13, she had to move away for her dad's job in the city, which has made Ren resentful.

Mariko was really excited to move to a new place, and enjoyed all of the sights of Yozora.

### Becoming a Pretty Cure

After getting into a fight with Asao, Mariko cries in her room when she meets Sato, who warns her about an upcoming Don'yonsta.

### Etymology

**Itō** (伊藤): The term *Itō* means wisteria. In the language of the flowers, wisteria means "welcoming".

**Mariko** (真理子): The term *Mariko* means "true village child", to represent Mariko's village life in Setaka.

**Cure Glitter** is a pile of small particles that shine reflectively when exposed to light.

## Cure Glitter

**"Cutting a design, the cat's meow! Cure Glitter!"**
デザインをカットし、猫のニャー！ キュアグリッター！
*Dezain o katto shi, neko no nyā! Kyuagurittā!*

**Cure Glitter** (キュアグリッター, ***Cure Glitter***?) is the Pretty Cure alter ego of Mariko. In order to transform, she needs to say Pretty Cure, Pure Emotion!.

## Songs

Mariko's voice actor, **Imamura Madoka**, has participated in several image songs for the character she voices. Many of them include songs with **Iida Riho**, **Toyosaki Aki**, **Tadokoro Azusa**, and **Saitō Chiwa**.

* **Soyokaze**
* **Mariko à la Mode**

### Group Songs

* **Smile with Two Mouths** (*with Iida Riho, Toyosaki Aki, Tadokoro Azusa, and Saitō Chiwa*)

## Trivia

* As the series is based on emojis, Mariko is represented by the cat emoji.
* Mariko's personality is based on Miyuki Hoshizora and Hibiki Hojo.
* Her initial appearance was based on Hibiki Hojo and Ruby Akahane.
* While not inspired by her, her current civilian design resembles Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
* Mariko's original civilian name was Wanda, and her Cure name used to be Cure Sundae.
* Her quote is a reference to Bobby McFerrin's song of the same name.
* Nicknamed by the team, Mariko's nickname is "Itoriko".
	+ Riko Imasaki calls her "Marco".
* Mariko used to be a brunette, but it was decided her hair color would be a dark purple, making her the third ever Cure to have dark purple/black-purple hair, preceded by Fuuka Shirasagi and Setsuna Higashi.
* Just in case Cure Glitter was going to be taken by the (at the time) ambiguous Kirakira Pretty Cure à la Mode, her name was going to be changed to Cure Sprinkle. However, the Cure Glitter name stayed because if Kirakira had chosen Cure Glitter, that was only due to pure luck.
* Mariko's original name was "Wanda Nichiyōbi". She was over-obsessive of originating from Setaka, her favorite day of the week was Sunday, and Cure Glitter represented silver, gold, *and* bronze.
* Before finally deciding on Sato to be the mascot of the entire anime, Heureux is an anonymous mascot who was supposed to watch over both Mariko and Shika Sutechi, who is now Misaki Kagome. And then, I found that weird, so I changed it to Rêver, a zebra who only watched over Mariko.