Anime / Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure

"Draw it in the sky! My very own imagination!"

Clockwise from bottom left: Cure Star, Cure Milky, Cure Selene, Cure Soleil, Prunce, Cure Cosmo, and Fuwa

Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure is the sixteenth entry in the Pretty Cure series, the fourteenth separate continuity and it began airing in February 2019, at the tail end of the Heisei era. It is preceded by HuGtto! Pretty Cure and followed by Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure.

Second-year middle school student Hikaru Hoshina loves to stargaze and is fascinated by the constellations and space. One night when drawing a picture of the nighttime sky, her drawing morphs into a fairy named Fuwa, who falls on top of her.

The following day, Hikaru encounters Fuwa once more while enjoying the outdoors. Just then, a rocket falls from the sky, carrying a girl named Lala and another fairy, Prunce, both of whom are extraterrestrials. Suddenly, alien invaders known as the Notraiders appear before them and go after Fuwa, however Hikaru vows to protect her. She gains the power to become the Pretty Cure, Cure Star, and save Fuwa.

Hikaru soon learns about the 12 Constellation Princesses who lived in the Star Palace located in the Starry Sky Region until the Notraiders attacked them, thus turning them into the Star Color Pens that scattered across the universe. Now Hikaru and the rest of the legendary Pretty Cure, consisting of Lala as Cure Milky, the popular Elena Amamiya as Cure Soleil, Student Council President Madoka Kaguya as Cure Selene, and the elusive Yuni as Cure Cosmo, must travel through space to collect the Star Color Pens and save the universe from darkness.

Star☆Twinkle PreCure contains examples of:

• Actor Allusion: The Cures singing to morph is very fitting for character as the seiyus (except for Milky) are singers. Cure Star's seiyu is from an idol group (Dempagumi.inc).
• Alcohol Hic: A G-Rated Drug variant occurs in episode 23. When Fuwa eats one of Yuni's snacks, her face becomes flushed and she starts hiccupping. AI explains the snack's main ingredient is an alien version of matatabi, making this a fantastic case of High on Catnip.
• Alien Among Us: To protect their identities and adhere to the Alien Non-Interference Clause, Lala and Yuni are made to assume human identities on Earth. This is fairly easy in both cases—Lala is enrolled in school as a conveniently Human Alien, while Yuni is a Master of Disguise thanks to her Rainbow Perfume—but both still have difficulty adjusting to Earth culture.
• Aliens Are Bastards: Zigzagged here. We have alien overlords, Fantastic Racist people, cunning cats... and then we have Star Princesses, Human Aliens who become Cures, and a squid and his baby. Ophiuchus believes that the entire universe is beyond saving because of the way its lifeforms misuse imagination, thus putting her plan as Darknest into action. When the Cures fight to prove her wrong, she decides to give them a second chance.
• Aliens Love Human Food: Practically a running gag.
  • Inverted in episode 2 where Lala gives a Cosmo Gummy to Hikaru. The latter agrees that they are delicious specifically for how sweet and squishy they apparently are. In return, Hikaru gives an umeboshi rice ball to Lala who (while initially nervous) plays the trope completely straight despite the eventual and intense sour shock to her.
  • Another inversion when on Planet Saman, Hikaru, Elena and Madoka try a Saman Jelly (alongside Yuni, Fuwa and Prunce) and they all seem to really enjoy it.
  • Prunce loves donuts and even invents a machine to make his own. This is then Exaggerated in episode 15, as Star Donuts from the local shopping district the girls live near are apparently so delicious that a famous alien food critic deemed them to be worth 1 billion yen each.
  • Hikaru also offers onigiri as a sign of friendship to Topper (in episode 31) and Kappard (in episode 47), who both admit that they enjoy it.
  • It is revealed that just like Lala, Yuni also seems to really enjoy onigiri.
• Alien Non-Interference Clause: According to Lala and Prunce, planets that have not discovered space travel are not allowed to know about aliens, on pain of being banned from space travel for 100 years.
• Aliens Speaking English: Played with. The fairies, Fuwa and Prunce, speak Japanese right off the bat. Lala can't until Fuwa magically grants her the ability, and even then she can only fully understand human language when it's Hikaru speaking for the first few episodes; the Pendants eventually gain the ability to act as universal translators. In addition, when the villains arrive, Kappard is shown to be wearing a sort of translation collar that immediately picks up "Earth language".
• All Just a Dream: The first half of the final episode where a suddenly regenerated Fuwa along with Lala and Yuni return to Earth to hunt for a lost Nottorei mask with Hikaru and the others turns out to have been a dream had by a grown up Hikaru.
• And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Every episode ends with a constellation fortune-telling skit.
• Bait-and-Switch: The 25th episode has Tenjou seemingly turning Yuni into a Giant Nottorei (the dogpiling animation is even similar to how Tenjou captures her other victims) ... but shortly after, it's revealed she just turned two of her minions into them.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: Played with and thinly justified as an ability held by specific characters, such as the Cures (because of Fuwa's power) and Kappard (who's a "space amphibian").
• Big "NO!": Literal example with the Nottorei's, as they have a large "NO" printed vertically on their helmets.
• Bittersweet Ending: The ending of episode 48—though Ophiuchus is well and truly defeated, the Cures sacrifice their powers to resurrect Fuwa, and Yuni and Lala part ways with Hikaru, Elena, and Madoka.
• Book Ends: The first episode begins and ends with a shooting star, although the second one is actually Lala's rocket burning up.
• By the Power of Grayskull!: "Color Charge!"
• Central Theme: Family. All of the main characters' major arcs involves theirs in some form, whether it's the absence of a parent causing misunderstandings, sibling trouble, Parental Neglect, or trying to regain theirs.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • Hikaru: "Kirayaba~☆" ^jpキラやば～っ☆, an expression of excitement translated by fansubs as various space/sparkle puns. The most frequent of these is "Twincool~☆" which latter became official in merchandise.
  • Lala: "Oyo~" ^jpオヨ～, used as an expression of surprise or frustration. She also has "-lun" ^jp-ルン as a Verbal Tic, though she also says it by itself on occasion, usually to express agreement or confusion.
  • Elena: "Chao!" ^jpチャオ！, meaning "bye" in Spanish and "Sounds nice!" ^jpいいねぇ！ Iine!
  • Madoka: "Good day" ^jpごきげんよう Gokigen'yō
• Crash-Into Hello: How Fuwa meets Hikaru.
• Conclusion in Another Medium: From this series onwards, The outright finale is done as part of the Thanksgiving live show. In the case of Star Twinkle, it features Hikari and Lala reuniting as adults and regaining the ability to communicate, with the Kamikita Twins doing several images presumably set during this time.
• Cosmic Motifs: The series has a space theme. The main Pretty Cures are Cure Star, Cure Milky (after the Milky Way), Cure Soleil, and Cure Selene (after the sun and moon). Their goal is to save the 12 Star Princesses (based around the Western Zodiac) from being captured by the alien Notraiders.
• Crossover: As standard for the franchise, the team will be front and center for the concurrent installment of the Pretty Cure All Stars franchise, Pretty Cure Miracle Universe, which uses this series' space theme to explore the origins of the Miracle Lights.
• Darkest Hour: As is tradition at this point, this happens in episode 46. The 13th Star Princess captures the others and kidnaps Fuwa, even after her minions are fully purified.
• Distant Finale: The second half of the final episode is this, taking place 15 years after the end of episode 48, showing how the main cast has changed and what they're currently up to.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Hikaru drops in in the final episode of HuGtto! Pretty Cure, helping Cure Yell rescue Hugtan and reclaim a MacGuffin which now bears Hugtan's face. In turn, Nodoka from Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure shows up in the final episode of this series.
• Easily Forgiven: Darknest/Ophiucus; even after the Cures stop her from engulfing the entire universe in darkness, she isn't truly defeated. She offers Garuohga her power ring, in case he wants to take vengeance on her, but he doesn't pursue this goal. For her part, she does acknowledge the Cures' pure imagination and strength, and allows the universe to keep existing so long as Hikaru and the others can prove that it truly is "twincool".
• Energetic and Soft-Spoken Duo: Hikaru (energetic) and Lala (soft-spoken), Elena (energetic) and Madoka (soft-spoken), Aiwarn (energetic) and Bakenyan/Yuni (soft-spoken).
• Even Evil Has Standards: Yuni infiltrates a mafia summit to retrieve a ring from Planet Rainbow that changes color depending on the wearer's emotion. The mob boss, Don Octo, ultimately lets her keep it after she honestly explains the situation and why the ring means so much to her—when she puts it on, it turns blue for sorrow.
  • When Aiwarn infects the Mother Ai and takes over Planet Saman, even Tenjou is horrified watching the scene, thinking she has gone too far.
• Evolving Credits: The opening sequence:
  • Episode 2 reveals Kappard as a villain, and episode 4 introduces Tenjo. By episode 11, all of the villains are revealed, including Aiwarn and Bakenyan.
  • Episode 26 introduces a new OP:
    • Yuni appears between Madoka and the fairies, chases the ship before the logo appears, and appears when the Cures meet at the ship.
    • The Blue Cat scene is replaced with Cure Cosmo's attack.
    • The villain scene is updated with Darknest's new form, Bakenyan being removed, and Aiwarn wearing a hoodie.
  • Starting with episode 31, the opening and ending are both updated to show Fuwa transforming into her Winged Unicorn form.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In the Distant Finale. Hikaru cuts her hair short and dyes a strand of it turquoise, while Lala grows hers out long and styles it into twintails, a sign that they were both thinking of each other even after they parted ways.
• Fade to White: The series ends with one, with the screen fading to white as Hikaru sees a now fully restored Fuwa appear from a warp off-screen in the final episode.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • The inhabitants of Rainbow were ostracized by other aliens because of their ability to change their appearances.
  • That her father doesn't have a good opinion on aliens is why Madoka had to be convinced by Hikaru and friends to keep Fuwa as a secret from him.
  • Saboro suffered from this due to their inability to speak.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Almost every cure has this on their respective outfit. Cure Star and Cure Milky only have one Stocking, Cure Soleil's skirt and design are very asymmetrical and Cure Cosmo's rainbow skirt adds asymmetry to her outfit. Cure Selene's cure form is the only outfit to be perfectly symmetrical, fitting for her being the perfectionist in the team.
• Fictional Constellations: Hikaru comes up with her own constellation, which turns into the mascot Fuwa.
• Fictional Currency: The alien currency Shiens. Lala comments that one shien is one yen.
• Filler: It's fairly light on this for a Pretty Cure season, with each episode either having an important plot point, or character development and worldbuilding. The most obvious examples are episode 23 (Fuwa eats one of Yuni's cookies and starts multiplying when she hiccups) and episode 33 (Fuwa attempts to help the girls with their schoolwork, but gets captured by Kappard alongside Hikaru's dog, Yeti).
• Foregone Conclusion:
  • Episode 1 ends with Lala's rocket falling back to Earth after receiving substantial damage and crashing into the mountains with Hikaru, Lala, Fuwa, and Prunce still inside the rocket. The fact that this is only the first episode makes it obvious that the four of them will survive.
  • Episode 3's title and synopsis imply that the Precure are going to disband. Given that we only have half the team thus far, viewers probably weren't that surprised when Hikaru and Lala resolved their argument.
• Foreshadowing: Two points pertaining to the identity of the Big Bad. The first, and more immediately obvious, is that Darknest is voiced by a woman, though the filter on her voice disguises this as long as you don't read the credits. The second, more subtle but also more revealing, is that Darknest's fully-powered form has a snake motif. If you're familiar with the Western zodiac and put these two points together, you can figure out ahead of time that Darknest's true identity is the Ophiuchus Princess, which is otherwise an endgame twist.
• Fourth-Wall Portrait: Hikaru's mom, a mangaka, comes up with a manga about an alien girl landing on planet Earth and making friends with a human schoolgirl. The retro designs she shows off give a taste of how the series would look in an '80s Shoujo artstyle.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Cure Cosmo tells Garuoga "Just because you couldn't protect your planet, that doesn't excuse relying on Darknest's power and taking from others!"
• Frictionless Reentry: Averted in episode 1. Lala's rocket takes enough damage during the space battle to fall back to Earth, and it looks like a fireball while doing so. Elena and Madoka (who were watching this from their homes) assume it to be a shooting star.
• From Bad to Worse: As if losing two pens wasn't bad enough, episode 10 ends with Madoka's father and his men seeing the rocket come back to Earth.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: The girls have to collect the Star Color Pens to free the princesses trapped inside of them.
• Genre Throwback: The season is intentionally an homage to the '80s Space Opera, and while it sticks with many of the modern Pretty Cure conventions, there are several reminders that the series is meant to represent the '80s. For example, computers and cell phones are rarely seen (other than the occasional background character), with much of the alien technology being a retro-futurist sort; the group at one point watches a movie on cassette tape. Compared to, say, Mepple and Mipple being kept in cell phone-like devices, Hikaru keeps Fuwa in a notebook. Even the series' music largely uses a retro synth sound, while the ending themes cross into synthwave territory. It also makes the ending timeskip more understandable, as it's not 20 Minutes into the Future, but rather the present day.
• Human Aliens: Lala's an alien whose species looks completely human aside from having pointed ears and nearly-transparent antennae. The Constellation Princesses also look largely human, aside from a few of them having horns and various animal parts. Yuni looks the part being a Little Bit Beastly with cat ears and a tail, but it's only a disguise for her true form, which looks more suitably alien.
• Impersonation Gambit: In #36, the Cures, Fuwa, Prunce, and Blue Cat disguise as a mafia clan to infiltrate the mafia summit.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Elena's brother Touma goes through a bit of angst after he hears his friend calling his family "weird" for dancing and singing in public. Elena herself used to think this way when she was younger, as shown through flashbacks, before she realized that everyone is unique in their own way. It is worth noting that Elena comes from a mixed-race family (a Japanese mother and a Mexican father), so there is some subtext here.
• I Want Them Alive!: Garuoga says that he did not hit the ship's vital parts so that he can capture Fuwa alive.
• King of Beasts: One of the mobsters seen in the #36 cold open is a lion.
• Little Stowaway: Hikaru sneaks into Lala's rocket in episode 1 after Lala and Prunce takes Fuwa to their ship to escape from the incoming Notraiders. Similarly, Yanyan (a hermit crab) stows away on the ship in episode 26 when they're forced to stop on a nearby planet for repairs.
• Magic Music: Each of the girls sing when they transform into their Pretty Cure form. While it's not unusual in this franchise to hear background singers during the Transformation Sequence, this is the first time the Cures themselves sing while transforming. It gets a somber reprise in episode 48, as the girls try to reawaken their imagination after the universe has been plunged into darkness.
• Magic Versus Science: Played to a Logical Extreme given that this is about Magical Girls fighting against an Alien Invasion primarily using hi-tech weaponry.
• Masquerade: The Japanese government is aware about the existence of aliens, and Madoka's father is part of a faction dedicated to finding any aliens among Earth without the public ever finding out.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Elena has six younger siblings, who she often has to look after while their parents are busy.
• Master of Disguise: Yuni's Rainbow Perfume allows her to change her appearance and thus assume many identities. She initially moonlights as the phantom thief Blue Cat under the guise of an idol named Mao, and also took on the identity of Bakenyan to infiltrate the Notraiders. Even her human form is a disguise, as her true form more closely resembles a cat than a human. During one battle, she also briefly takes on the appearance of Cure Star for a Mirror Match.
• Meaningful Name: To fit this season's space motif, we have a new set of meaningful names. See them here.
• Meaningful Rename: Since her planet doesn't have family names, Lala has to be given one to assume the role of being an "exchange student" while living on Earth. Hikaru decides on "Hagoromo", in reference to the traditional Japanese story which involves a goddess descending to Earth to reclaim her hagoromo (feathered kimono) from a human fisherman.
• Million to One Chance: Lala's ship describes Hikaru's and Lala's odds of becoming Cures as a 0.000000012% chance (approximately 1 in 83 million).
• Mood Whiplash: The first half of episode 49 is a whimsical romp akin to the earliest episodes of the show, which comes as a direct contrast from the dramatic finale arc from the last few episodes. The second half shows this was just an adult Hikaru's dream, and the rest of this timeskip episode continues with a more poignant tone.
• Mooks: Nottorei, humanoids who wear a gray space suit with the word "NO" printed vertically on their helmet (or "NOT" when you look at their collar/tie thing), serves as this. They are the first mooks in the franchise since HappinessCharge Pretty Cure!'s Choiarks.
• MST: An in-universe example, when the girls watch an old B-movie in episode 26 and commentate over it. Hikaru is an Unabashed B-Movie Fan, Lala sarcastically notes the Special Effects Failure, Madoka gets invested in the story and upset when Hikaru spoils it, and Elena is scared out of her wits. Yuni just sleeps through it.
• Mythology Gag: Has its own page.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: A recurring character is an alien film director named P. P. Abraham, though he more closely resembles a caricature of Francis Ford Coppola.
• Not What I Signed on For: The Notraiders joined Darknest to subjugate the universe. When Darknest reveals herself the Ophiuchus Princess and her plans are to go Soiled City on a Hill on the existing universe, they're shocked and try to attack her. Unfortunately, she is quicker.
• Omniglot:
  • Prunce is one, and acts as Lala's Translator Buddy until the Pendants take over.
  • Elena is a lesser example, thanks to her mother being an interpreter and her Mexican-Japanese heritage. She's shown to fluently understand Japanese, English, and Spanish, making her at least trilingual.
• One-Steve Limit: Two franchise-wide aversions:
  • Not the first time a Cure had "Madoka" as a name, nor the first time a name (Kurumi) had been used for a Cure as both a surname and forename.
  • Hikaru's surname is Hoshina, which is not to be confused for the Hoshina from Yes! Pretty Cure 5: Go Go.
• Pictorial Letter Substitution: The logo for Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure weaves a star into the end of the word "Star", and replaces the small line in "ン" with a star (changed to dotting the "i" in "Twinkle" with a star for the English logo).
• Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: Hikaru's absent father is first mentioned in episode 18, where Hikaru says he works overseas and can only see his family once a year. There's a photo of Hikaru with her parents in her room, but the father's face is hidden by glare.
• Pointy Ears: Anyone who's a humanoid alien in this series sports these, likely to indicate their status as aliens.
• Pseudo-Santa: The Santanians are a race of aliens that fly on sleigh-shaped spaceships and deliver presents to other worlds because they like surprising people. The thief Blue Cat once employed Santanians to help her distribute her earnings to the poor.
• Recurring Riff: The soundtrack makes extensive use of an immediately recognizable eight-note melody.
• Samus Is a Girl: Darknest is actually the 13th Star Princess, Ophiuchus, disguised under bulky armor and a voice-changing helmet. You might be tipped off early if you read the credits, since the character's voice is provided by a woman.
• Science Fantasy: This is a Magical Girl show whose theme is outer space, and one of the magical girls is a Human Alien. Many of the villains are also based on various Youkai despite being aliens, in a similar vein to Urusei Yatsura.
• Shout-Out:
  • Episode 25: While in yukata, Hikaru does her hair up in odango, which makes her look like a teenage Doremi Harukaze.
  • Episode 26: The group watches a slumber party-themed B-movie called Jamassic Park.
  • Episode 37: During their intro, Cure Cosmo says "We shall Punish you" which is a reference to Sailor Moon.
• Slumber Party: The group has one on Lala's rocket in episode 26 while en route to her home planet, Saman.
• Space Opera: Look at the Brian Aldiss poem on the trope page - it pretty much checks every single line.
• Stellar Name: The Cures take their names from things related to the sky and outer space.
• The Stars Are Going Out: What apparently will happen to all the stars in the universe if the Star Color Pens are not collected in time and is what the girls have to prevent from happening.
• Soiled City on a Hill: Darknest's ultimate goal. She has deemed the current universe she created with the other Star Princesses to be flawed because it is full of lifeforms that misuse the power of imagination they were granted. She plans to use Fuwa in a ritual that will create a black hole large enough to swallow the universe, then start from scratch.
• Subbing for Santa: Apparently in this season, Santa Claus is actually an alien from a race called Santanians. When the one coming to Earth crash lands and his delivery helper robot breaks down because of it, it's up to the PreCure to deliver the gifts he brought.
• "Super Sentai" Stance: When Kappard crashes a Halloween festival, the Cures are forced to do a sentai gimmick as "Mihoshi Stars" to protect their identities.
• Sympathy for the Devil: The Cures come to this conclusion in episode 21. While the Notraiders have done terrible things in service to Darknest, they still don't deserve to have their imaginations stripped away to become mindless fighting machines anymore than decent victims do. This is actually what activates Twinkle Imagination, by the Cures extending their sympathy to their enemies and opening the path to acceptance.
• Terminally Dependent Society: The people of Planet Saman have their job decided by AI based on personality and strengths. Aiwarn exploits this flaw by corrupting the Mother AI, as the Samanians are unable to fight back.
• Theme Tuneless Episode: Episode 48 lacks the show's usual theme tune, in this case indicating the Darkest Hour by simply opening with the title on a black background.
• Town Girls: Of the three humans in the team, Elena is the Butch, Madoka is the Femme and Hikaru is the Neither.
• Transformation Trinket: The Star Color Pendants.
• Translator Microbes: The Star Color Pendants act as universal translators, thus allowing the Cures to comprehend any alien language (and Lala to understand Japanese). At first, she's unable to be understood by anyone other than Hikaru, but this changes once she gets her own Pendant. The villains, meanwhile, wear collars that allow them to pick up other languages. For any other species, Translation Convention takes over, as they apparently speak a common tongue regardless of the Cure's presence.
• Trojan Horse: The Cures infiltrate a spaceport by hiding in a box of supplies.
• The Unintelligible: Lala is introduced unable to speak human language. Her native tongue is instead represented as various permutations of the word "lun", which is kept as her Verbal Tic once the Translator Microbes kick in and she starts speaking Japanese. It's also played for heartbreaking effect in episode 48; after their powers fade away, Lala's language reverts back to being unintelligible.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: How Lala is introduced. After landing on Earth, she stumbled out of her ship dazed due to motion sickness before covering her mouth and doubles off to the side to vomit off-screen. According to Prunce, Lala suffers from motion sickness pretty often.
• Wham Episode:
  • Episode 10 shows the Cures actually losing, with the Notraiders getting their hands on two of the Star Princess Pens.
  • Episode 19: Blue Cat was actually Bakenyan in disguise, and she manages to swipe all the pens the Cures have obtained so far.
  • Episode 20: Blue Cat suddenly finds herself with her own Star Color Pendant and Pen, as she chooses the Cures in a Friend-or-Idol Decision.
• Wham Line: See examples here.
• Wham Shot:
  • The ending of episode 29 has hooded Aiwarn snickering at Lala and friends being branded for imprisonment.
  • The end of episode 31 shows Fuwa transforming into a Winged Unicorn.
  • Episode 32 has the Cures seeing Darknest.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: The series shows that the Nottorei aren't just faceless mooks, but actual people who lost their planets much like the other Notraiders; Aiwarn developed a special suit that amplifies their power by feeding on their despair. When the Cures release them from Darknest's control, they also take a Heel–Face Turn, and are shown living peacefully among each other after the episode 49's timeskip.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The final episode, as per recent series tradition, takes place after a timeskip—15 years, to be exact. Madoka leads a government project to launch Japan's first manned space shuttle, Hikaru becomes an astronaut for said project, and Elena is an interpreter between the United States and Japanese governments. Lala, meanwhile, becomes a respected foreign ambassador for Saman and influences change in its terminally-dependent lifestyle, while Yuni and Aiwarn work together to restore Planet Rainbow to its former state. Even the Notraiders now have a beautiful planet to live on, free from the control of Darknest. The episode ends as Hikaru launches into space and hears Fuwa's voice once more. It's later revealed in the post-season Thanksgiving event that all five of them would eventually reunite at some point after the final episode.
• Youkai: The leaders of the Notraiders are each themed after a different one; thus far, we have Kappard (a kappa), Tenjo (a tengu), Aiwarn (a hitotsume-kozo), Garuoga (an ogre/oni), and Bakenyan (a bakeneko). Other than Aiwarn, they each come from a planet populated by other members of the same species; episode 8 also shows a planet filled with dog-like jinmenken.
• Zodiac Motifs: Each of the Star Princesses is styled after one of the Western Zodiac constellations. In the final arc, it's revealed the Big Bad, Darknest, is also a Star Princess, styled after the Ophiuchus constellation, which is occasionally included as a sign in the Zodiac.

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