Futari wa PreCure

A poster featuring Cure Black, Cure White, Mepple, and Mipple

**Futari wa PreCure** (Lit. "We are Pretty Cure") is the original anime series that spawned the *Pretty Cure* franchise.

Directed by Nishio Daisuke and produced by Toei Animation, it premiered on TV Asahi on February 1, 2004, replacing the series *Tomorrow's Nadja* in its timeslot. The story revolves around two girls, Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro, who fight the forces of the evil Dotsuku Zone. Unusual for a magical girl series, the fights are mostly physical hand-to-hand combat.

It has a sequel, *Futari wa PreCure Max Heart*. The 15th anniversary of the series was celebrated in 2018 during the airing of *HUGtto! PreCure*.

## Summary

The Dotsuku Zone's actions necessitated the escape of two of the Garden of Light's protectors, odd talkative creatures named Mepple and Mipple. They serve as a source of information and peanut gallery for the series and are usually found within Card Communes, transformation devices which resemble mobile phones. For some periods, they can transform into their real selves and interact more easily with each other.

The initial run of the series has Cure White and Cure Black searching for the Prism Stones, which they collect in a heart shaped device known as the Prism Hopish. The Prism Hopish is protected by the Guardian, Wisdom. Once they have collected all of the Prism Stones, their power takes them to the Garden of Light and repairs most of the damage.

The series motifs are rainbows and hearts, and the Cures' signature motif is the two parts of the Yin-Yang symbol, though it was later omitted in the sequel. Other than the rainbow and hearts motif, no true scheme of the whole season is noticed.

## Main Characters

### Pretty Cure

* **Nagisa Misumi** (**Natalie "Nat" Blackstone** in the Canadian English dub): Nagisa is the athletic heroine of the series. She is a member of the school's lacrosse team and is very popular. Although she is bad at school and is immature, she has her own sense of justice and never lets anyone dear to her down. Her alter ego is **Cure Black**, with her special abilities lying in her great physical strength and prowess.
* **Honoka Yukishiro** (**Hannah Whitehouse** in the English dub): Honoka is the best student in the class, and loves reading books and science. Though popular with the boys, she has no interest in them. She had a special bond with Kiriya, helping to teach him the virtues of kindness and friendship. The friends that she has are very close to her, and she will do everything to protect them. She has a lot of hope and can always see the good in people. Her alter ego is **Cure White**, with her abilities lying in her vast intelligence and agility.

### Mascots

* **Mepple** : He is the chosen protector of the Princess of Hope, and is in Nagisa's care. He is quite arrogant and constantly argues with his care-taker, but he loves Mipple, and they are often seen having a "lovey-dovey" relationship. He ends his sentences with "-mepo" in the Japanese version.
* **Mipple** : The Princess of Hope, and also in Honoka's care. Unlike Mepple, she is reserved and seems to get along well with her care-taker, but she still cares very much for him. She ends her sentences with "-mipo" in the Japanese version.
* **Pollun** : The Prince of Light who is sent to be with Pretty Cure in the second half of the series. He is extremely selfish and usually only thinks of himself. He lives with Nagisa and annoys her and Mepple to a great extend. He ends his sentences with "-popo" in the Japanese version.

### Dotsuku Zone

* **Pisard** (**Pijard** in the Canadian English dub): The first denizen of the Dotsuku Zone. He mainly uses his Zakenna to possess daily objects for use in fighting Pretty Cure. His prism stone was green.
* **Gekidrago** : The second denizen of the Dotsuku Zone. He is large, monstrous and muscular, and relies more on strength than intelligence. His prism stone was blue.
* **Poisony** (**Pandora** in the Canadian English dub): The only female of the Denizens, Poisony is the third of them. She is much more sly and careful than the others, and usually transforms into a human to gain Pretty Cure's trust first. Unlike the others she summons Zakenna by clicking her fingers. She has a younger brother, Kiriya. Her prism stone was orange.
* **Kiriya** (**Kirea** in the Canadian English dub): The youngest and fourth of the denizens, and Poisony's little brother. He is arrogant and thinks of himself as being better than the others. He was sent to the Garden Of Rainbows to spy on Nagisa and Honoka but fails because of Honoka's kindness and relationship with him. His prism stone was yellow.
* **Ilkubo** : The last and strongest of the denizens, emotionless Ilkubo can be considered the Evil King's right hand man. His prism stone was purple.

### Seeds Of Darkness

* **Belzei Gertrude** : One of the Seeds of Darkness that appears in the second half of the series. He is a plotter and a sadist. His human alias is **Yuuki Hidehiko**.
* **Regine** : The only female of the Seeds of Darkness. As a human, she has much lower confidence than when she is in her real form. Her human alias is **Koyama Shouko**.
* **Juna** : 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 **Kazukawa Ryuuichirou**.
* **Zakenna** : The physical form of the Dotsuku Zone's power. They infect items or people's shadows to turn them into evil mascots.
* **Evil King** : The imprisoned ruler of the Dotsuku Zone, and also the series' main antagonist. He is made of darkness and has red glowing eyes. He wants the Prism Stones to prevent the power to consume all things to consume himself, and to gain immortality to destroy all worlds.

## Trivia

* *Futari wa Pretty Cure* is the only season so far that has only one ending song; all others have two different ending songs. It does, however, change one scene of the animation sequence where the villains from the first half are replaced by the Seeds of Darkness and Mepple, Mipple, and Pollun are added to the final scene.
* *Futari wa Pretty Cure* is the only season that has only one transformation sequence, while all other seasons have at least two different transformation sequences, including its sequel.
* The series was originally meant to finish at episode 26, but due to the season's popularity, the staff wrote more episodes and even decided on a sequel, thus creating the *Pretty Cure franchise*.
* It is the only season that does not have any movie dedicated to it. *Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart*, its sequel, has two movies.
* It is the only (old) season without any villains revived in *Pretty Cure All Stars DX 2: Kibou no Hikari - Rainbow Jewel o Mamore!*. However, its sequel has one revived villain.
* A special Audio Drama was created pairing up the characters of *Futari wa Pretty Cure* with the characters of the then-current *Tokusatsu Super Sentai* series *Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger.*
* The two main characters' voice actors initially auditioned for each other's characters.
* In the "All Pretty Cure Big Poll", *Futari wa Pretty Cure* is ranked 1st in "Favorite Series Productions".
* In 2011, *Futari wa Pretty Cure* was briefly licensed by Media Blasters' adult animation imprint Kitty Media, with the plan to sell the series to adult viewers as an ecchi title called "Futanari wa Precure", but Toei sued the said company to gain back the rights of this season before release.