History Anime / FutariWaPrettyCure

The show proved so popular that a direct sequel, '''''Futari wa Pretty Cure [=MaX=] Heart''''', followed immediately afterwards. Following the finale of ''Futari wa'', the Queen of Light is forced to shatter her own essence and scatter the pieces to Earth. Nagisa and Honoka are recruited once more by the Garden of Light, given [[FrillsOfJustice upgraded powers]] and tasked with [[GottaCatchEmAll finding the twelve "Heartiels"]] that make up the Queen's heart. Aiding them is a MysteriousWaif called Hikari, who transforms into [[SixthRanger Third Ranger]] Shiny Luminous, avoiding [[SoLastSeason the usual problem with new members]] by acting as more of a SupportPartyMember to Black and White. Opposing them are the remnants of the Dusk Zone, who are seeking a way to revive the Dark King.

The show proved so popular that a direct sequel, '''Futari wa Pretty Cure [=MaX=] Heart''' followed immediately afterwards. Following the finale of ''Futari wa'', the Queen of Light is forced to shatter her own essence and scatter the pieces to Earth. Nagisa and Honoka are recruited once more by the Garden of Light, given [[FrillsOfJustice upgraded powers]] and tasked with [[GottaCatchEmAll finding the twelve "Heartiels"]] that make up the Queen's heart. Aiding them is a MysteriousWaif called Hikari, who transforms into [[SixthRanger Third Ranger]] Shiny Luminous, avoiding [[SoLastSeason the usual problem with new members]] by acting as more of a SupportPartyMember to Black and White. Opposing them are the remnants of the Dusk Zone, who are seeking a way to revive the Dark King.

All their magical abilities [[WonderTwinPowers come from teamwork]]: they have no solo attacks and cannot even transform into their Pretty Cure forms unless they do so in unison. The show focuses heavily on the [[ThePowerOfFriendship developing friendship]] between Nagisa and Honoka, even throwing in some blatant [[RomanticTwoGirlFriendship yuri subtext]] for the older audience. From an animation standpoint, the show seemed to have an aversion to StockFootage: if Nagisa and Honoka were in different clothes when they transformed, a new transformation sequence would be animated.

All of this makes for one of the more unusual MagicalGirl shows to come along in a long time.

It proved so popular that a direct sequel, ''Futari wa Pretty Cure [=MaX=] Heart'' followed immediately afterwards. ''[=MaX=] Heart'' added a MysteriousWaif called Hikari as [[SixthRanger Third Ranger]] Shiny Luminous, who [[SoLastSeason avoided the usual problem with new Rangers]] by acting as more of a SupportPartyMember to Black and White.

[[AlternateContinuity Alternate Continuities]] came in later seasons with ''FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'', ''YesPrettyCure5'', ''FreshPrettyCure'', ''HeartcatchPrettyCure'', and ''SuitePrettyCure''.

After an initial awkward phase with involuntary [[InTheNameOfTheMoon catchphrases]] and their new SuperStrength, Nagisa and Honoka learn about the [[MineralMacGuffin seven Prism Stones]] that protect the Garden of Light, Mepple and Mipple's homeworld. Dusk Zone has already captured five of the Prism Stones, and seek to consume both the Garden of Light and Earth once they have all seven. Fortunately, Mepple and Mipple have the remaining two, but [[GottaCatchEmAll need all seven]] to repair the damage done to the Garden of Light. Thus, the stage is set for the conflict between Pretty Cure and Dusk Zone.

* LovelyAngels (Look at this picture, now look at [[DirtyPair this one]].. Note, jock and brain, note hair colors hmm..)

* LesYay (Nagisa/Honoka is, arguably, the FanPreferredCouple for this series.)

* TooDumbToLive: After about the tenth time weird things start happening around them and they don't ''immediately'' transform, but instead decide to investigate in their normal unpowered state, you start to wonder what is wrong with them. You have superpowers, girls. I everyone around suddenly gets turned to stone, you should probably USE THEM!

Compare to ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' and its successor, ''{{Mai-Otome}}''.

* WeaselMascot (Mepple)
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman (see NeverSayDie, above)
* WritersCannotDoMath (Subverted. The infamous "[[http://www.lurkmore.com/w/images/6/66/1189463749040.jpg You should be able to solve this]]" screencap (the equation resolves to 0=26) is taken from seconds before Honoka points out that the equation can't be solved--it's the in-universe math teacher who made a mistake, not the writers.)

* SpotlightStealingSquad: '''Nagisa'''. She's tolerable in the first season, but in ''[=MaX=] Heart'', she gets more episodes than Hikari and Honoka ''combined'' and then some. The first NonSerialMovie is nothing but Nagisa doing cool things while Honoka and Hikari are barely more than {{Living Prop}}s. Averted in the second movie, however. Worse, [[FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar Saki]] and {{SuitePrecure Hibiki]] are both [[{{Expy}} expies]] of her and both do this too.

* FrillsOfJustice (Just look at their outfits in the first season, then their outfits at ''Max Heart''.)

* WritersCannotDoMath (The infamous "[[http://www.lurkmore.com/w/images/6/66/1189463749040.jpg You should be able to solve this]]." The equation resolves to 0=26.)
** Actually Honoka points out that the equation can't be solved in the episode, so it's less a case of WritersCannotDoMath and more a case of their math teacher being unable to copy problems correctly.

* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil (As always, this trope is used to, basically, ensure that no matter what the heroines do, the evil (namely, the Dark King) is guaranteed to return to wreak more havoc.)

* BigBad (The Dark King)

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu (The Dark King [[spoiler:loses ''three'' times to the girls]].)

** Turns to FridgeHorror, when the Dark King describes what the darkness is and you realise that if the defeated minions retained their consciousness, they are stuck in NothingAfterDeath.

** [[LampshadeHanging Nagisa responds by asking what the heck she is saying.]]

* FridgeBrilliance (Hikari, [[UnexplainedRecovery coming back from the dead]], makes a lot more sense when you realize her InTheNameOfTheMoon speech refers to the heart and wills of light (i.e. the Heartiels) becoming one, but makes no mention of the life of light (i.e. Hikari herself.)
** (Marble Screw could refer to marble cake, a mixture of vanilla and chocolate cake, which are white and brownish black respectively.)

* FridgeBrilliance (Hikari, [[IGotBetter coming back from the dead]], makes a lot more sense when you realize her InTheNameOfTheMoon speech refers to the heart and wills of light (i.e. the Heartiels) becoming one, but makes no mention of the life of light (i.e. Hikari herself.)

* {{Americanitis}} (The dub falls victim to this sometimes, notably with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki takoyaki]] becoming doughnuts...covered in "cheese" and herbs. To be fair, the dub is more faithful than most efforts for a younger audience, which makes such flubs stand out even more.)

* ConspicuousCG (The Queen of Light, the beginning of the {{Transformation Sequence}}s), and Mepple's first appearance.)

* WaveMotionGun (Their signature attack, "Precure Marble Screw" (or [[DubNameChange "Pretty Cure Marble Twister"]]), greatly resembles one.)

* ConvergingStreamWeapon (The "Precure Marble Screw" attack.)

** Then when ''MaX Heart'' comes along, they use an upgraded version of Marble Screw, but that too is eventually outclassed by Extreme Luminario . . . and then Marble Screw is upgraded ''again''.

* SoLastSeason
* StockFootage There's the usual stock footage, and some surprise ones, like Nagisa's lacrosse goal.

* TitleDrop (Borderline example, and the dub is an automatic aversion since the titles is shortened to simply "Pretty Cure". The girls' InTheNameOfTheMoon speech finishes with the exclamation of "We are Pretty Cure!", making this a OnceAnEpisode occurrence.)