Anime / Wonderful Pretty Cure!

"Everyone's friends! Wan-derful!"

Wonderful Pretty Cure! is the twenty-first installment in the Pretty Cure franchise, preceded by Soaring Sky! PreCure and released on February 4th, 2024. The series' themes are animals and friendships, emphazising the bonds between pets and their owners.

The series follows a girl named Iroha living in Animal Town, a place where humans and animals all live alongside each other. When an evil ram named Garugaru attacks, Iroha's dog, Komugi, gains a human form. Together, they become a new generation of Pretty Cure.

Wonderful Pretty Cure contains examples of the following tropes:

• Animal Lover: Wonderful and Friendy live by this trope, with Iroha living at a clinic, as well as Komugi being an adopted stray. Notably, they also don't use aggressive actions against the Garugaru, talking them down so they can be calmed down and brought to safety in the Niko Garden.
• Animal Motifs: The season revolves around animals, specifically focusing on the bond between pets and their owners, with a secondary theme of animal cruelty and the pitfalls of it.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Satoru gives Komugi a gentle one in episode 7 while she’s crying about not being useful to Iroha and how she thinks Iroha hates her, asking her why she became a Cure. After thinking about this and reflecting on how much helping others means to Iroha, Komugi is ultimately able to realize that she had only been worried about her desire to stay with Iroha at all times over everything else, ever since she became a Cure, and resolves to change that, vowing to protect the things Iroha cares for, even if she’s scared. ^note  This resolve is what finally allows Wonderful to use the Friendly Wand, as she had realized what being a Cure really meant.
  • Friendy gives a much less gentle one when Cure Nyammy attacks the owl Garugaru, asking her pointedly about the fact that the bear Garugaru was visibly injured, with both her and Wonderful trying to tell her not to hurt the monsters.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Implied to be the case with the villains, as the Garugaru act like abused animals in the wild and captivity, with most of their damage being lashing out at people nearby.
• Badass Pacifist: The Cures of this season can transform and defeat the monster without even needing to throw a single attack at it, with the closest thing to a genuine attack being Wonderful tackling the lion Garugaru to get it away from Friendy.
• Bait-and-Switch: Just like Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure, in the episode before the two-parter that's supposed to be introducing Cure Nyammy, Yuki is seen in both her human form and as Cure Nyammy, with Nyammy being the first Cure this season to visibly attack a Garugaru, damaging the gem embedded into it's forehead.
• Bland-Name Product: When Satoru is trying to find information on the Garugaru egg he saw, he uses the search engine Search, with a very familiar logo.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • The logo is the very first instance where the 'Pretty Cure' in the logo is rendered in hiragana rather than the usual katakana. This is due to the fact that hiragana is used for many Japanese animal onomatopoeias, and because Komugi and Yuki presumably don't know how to read Katakana when they turn into humans.
  • This is the first series where an existing piece of merchandise is updated for the following season, in that the Pretty Cure All Stars Mirror Pad is being updated, as well as re-released, as the Wonderful Pretty Cure Mirror Pad.^note Even Futari wa Pretty Cure and Yes! Pretty Cure 5 replaced practically everything when they switched over to Max Heart and Go Go.
  • This is the first series to have a colour scheme of pink, purple, blue, and green. Thus, this is the first time since Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure that the second Cure has been purple, and the first time since KiraKira★Pretty Cure à la Mode that the third Cure has been blue. This is also one of only five series^note After Futari wa Pretty Cure, Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star, Maho Girls Pretty Cure!, and Soaring Sky! PreCure to lack a yellow Cure entirely (for now).
  • This is the first series to introduce an animal as a main character instead of a mascot^note Milk/Kurumi/Milky Rose started out as a mascot and was only upgraded to a main character midway through her second season, with Komugi/Cure Wonderful being our first canine Pretty Cure and Yuki/Cure Nyammy being our first fully feline Pretty Cure.^NoteSeiren/Ellen/Cure Beat is a cat-based fairy mascot while Yuni/Cure Cosmo is a cat alien.
  • This is the first series to have the Cures be distinct non-exclusive pairs from the start, in that each human Cure automatically is paired off with their pet, but also Iroha and Mayu pair off as friends and Komugi tries to befriend Yuki at the same time.^note Often, series with an even number of Cures have two pairs which are mutually exclusive, like Soaring Sky! PreCure having Sora and Mashiro as a distinct pair while Ageha and Tsubasa formed a second pair. While Iroha and Komugi, along with Mayu and Yuki, are set up as a pair in battle, many plots see Iroha and Mayu interacting together, while Komugi and Yuki have their own interactions.
  • This is the first season since Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure to not have the lead cure do an Early-Bird Cameo in the final episode of the previous season.
  • This is also the first time where a proper noun is used as a Cure name, as in the case for Cure Lillian, with Lillian meaning "knitting nancy" but also being a person's name. ^note Cure names tend to often be common nouns and adjectives like Black, White, Aqua, Blossom, etc.
  • This is the first season where the first version of the ending doesn't feature the other two early Cures at all, only featuring Cure Wonderful and Friendy.
  • This is the first season where the pouch that stores the henshin device is part of a Cure's untransformed outfit, with Komugi having her pouch at all times, since she uses her henshin item to change between human and dog.
  • This is the first season where the Cures have almost zero aggression towards the monsters, not even using their power items to attack them, including having a Cooldown Hug as a finisher.^note A few seasons have had only passive aggression, to subdue monsters instead of fight them, but never outright not fighting them at all. The only time they even show mild violence towards them is to get their attention, not to fight them.
  • While a Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure shows up in the series at least once per season, this is the first time since Suite Pretty Cure ♪ ^note in which that was pre-baked into the backstory, it has happened so early.
  • This is the first series with an explicit two-episode story arc as the introduction for a Pretty Cure.^note Nyammy has two episodes, as well as appearing prominently in the previous episode.
• Brick Joke: In episode 1, when Iroha conversed with Satoru about the Mirror Stone, she says that she would wish to be in the same class as Satoru. When the school year starts in episode 8, they are indeed in the same class, with Iroha calling back said wish.
• By the Power of Grayskull!: Pretty Cure! My Evolution!
• Call-Back: Mayu's family are running the latest Pretty-Holic store, continuing its year-on-year appearances since Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure.
• Cat/Dog Dichotomy: Komugi is an excitable dog with No Sense of Personal Space, who always loves to play, while Yuki is a calm cat, who doesn't like her space to be forcefully invaded and would rather rest alone. Naturally, Yuki tends to be annoyed by Komugi invading her personal space to play. When they both gain the ability to become human, Komugi mainly wants to use her human form to spend more time with her owner, Iroha, while Yuki mostly stays away from her owner, Mayu, whenever she is transformed into a human to protect her from the shadows and keep her away from the Garugarus.
• Conveniently Seated: Iroha and Satoru are seated in the two seats next to the window and at the back of their class, meaning Iroha has the Protagonist's Seat, Satoru behind her, while to the right of Iroha is Mayu, while Komugi sits behind her, with Yuki sat in the middle back seat.
• Cooldown Hug: Even before Wonderful and Friendy obtained the Friendly Wand, they purified the Garugaru by showing they mean no harm while hugging it. Once they obtain the Friendly Wands they gain the ' "Friend Liberale" finisher, which has them shroud a Garugaru in magical energy while hugging it, purifying it of its corruption.
• Coordinated Clothes: The four Cures are split into duos of pet and owner (Wonderful & Friendy/Nyammy & Lillian), and their outfits have similar necklines, cuffs, skirt decorations and shoes.
• Custom Uniform: The Wanyan Middle School girls' uniform comes with either a skirt or shorts. Iroha and Mayu wear skirts while Komugi wears shorts.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Both Komugi and Yuki were both strays when they were still a pup and kitten before receiving kindness from the girls who'd become their respective owners and sisters.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: To an extreme: every non-human in Animal Town freaks out when a Garugaru hatches.
• A Girl and Her X: Iroha and Mayu are this with their respective pets Komugi and Yuki.
  • Also Satoru is A Boy and His X with his rabbit Daifuku.
• Hellish Horse: The Garugaru fought in Episode 8 is a corrupted horse. It can easily Speed Blitz the Cures until they use the Kirarin Lion's Super-Speed to Flash Step in front of it.
• Humanity Ensues: Komugi and Yuki start off as Iroha and Mayu's pet dog and cat respectively, before they gain the ability to become humans and Pretty Cures.
• Lighter and Softer: Compared to its predecessors. This series seems to be focused on catching and purifying possessed animals rather than fighting them. Furthermore, the monsters are scattered randomly around Animal Town, without a general commanding them to attack.
• Meaningful Name: People in Animal Town seem to have the species of their ideal pet as part of their last names.
• Mook Horror Show: Cure Nyammy is a traditional Pretty Cure who uses heavy strikes to weaken the monster before eliminating them. In this season, where the monsters are corrupted and possibly abused animals, Friendy and Wonderful are horrified to watch a typical Cure-vs-monster fight and force her to stop so they can purify it, with Nyammy not being impressed at all by any of it.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When Friendy uses the Friendly Wand to summon a Kirarin Animal, she says Fure fure, Friendy!
  • The city that Mayu says she moved from to Animal Town is "Koizumi Gakuen".
• New Transfer Student: Two of them in back-to-back episodes:
  • Mayu transfers to Iroha's class in episode 8, as does Komugi in episode 9.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Episode 6 has Komugi being completely misunderstood by Iroha due to the fact that the Friendly Wand doesn't want to work for her. When the Monster of the Week gets the better of them and escapes, Iroha scolds her further and, since she never bothers to explain herself, Komugi believes she's hated and runs off.
• Protagonist Title: Cure Wonderful is the protagonist in Wonderful Pretty Cure!
• Punny Title: The 'Won' in 'Wonderful' is a pun on a dog's bark ('Wan'), fitting the season's pet motif, with one of the trailers even having Komugi's bark instead of 'Won' as someone else says 'Pri~', and Komugi constantly saying 'Won-' as 'Wan-'
• Revisiting the Roots: This is the first season since Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star that the Cures lack any Finishing Moves they can use by themselves with Wonderful and Friendy initially using their kindness to purify the Garugaru until the Friendly Wand allows them to use the Friend Liberale.
• Running Gag:
  • Mey Mey trying to convey important info to Iroha and Komugi only for the two of them to get invariably distracted by something else and leaving Niko Garden to do said thing.
  • Mayu confides everything with Yuki, and often pulls her into a hug to act as a security blanket. Weaponized by Yuki in Episode 11. Yuki, in her human form, persuades Mayu not to go up into the mountains, knowing exactly what's there, having attacked it to weaken it enough to cause it to hide until Wonderful and Friendy can subdue it.
• Shout-Out: A possibly unintentional example in Episode 11 with Mayu's reaction to seeing Yuki as a human for the first time mirroring Miyo's thoughts when she meet Kiyoka for the first time at the end of episode 1 of My Happy Marriage 's anime adaptation with a similar zooming out Eye Take framing. It also should be mentioned that both Miyo and Mayu share the same voice actress; Reina Ueda.
• Shown Their Work: In Episode 11, Mayu has put down some milk for Yuki to enjoy, seemingly following the trope. Later in the episode, it's revealed she's been buying Yuki a special cat milk, which is designed specifically to avert the hazards of giving it to a cat.^note Most cats are lactose intolerant, and cannot gain the full benefit from normal milk.
• Sibling Team: The first time in the seasons that a pair of Cures in the team are effectively sisters (Cure Wonderful and Cure Friendy as well as Cure Nyammy and Cure Lillian), since, once Komugi and Yuki become humans and Cures, they respectively declare themselves to be Iroha and Mayu's sisters.
• Signature Headgear: Cures Wonderful and Nyammy both wear crowns, whereas Cures Friendy and Lillian have a deerstalker and stylized top hat, respectively.
• Summon Magic: The Friendly Wand (Tact in the original Japanese) allows Cure Friendy and later, Cure Wonderful, to bring in a specific Kirarin Animal as an assist in purifying Garugarus.
• "Super Sentai" Stance: Discussed; At the end of episode 7, Iroha asks Komugi if she wants to perform a special pose after they transform. In the next episode, they perform said pose.
• Talking Animal: The animal Cures become this after gaining the power to turn into humans. There's also Mey Mey and the Kirarin Animals.
• Transformation Trinket: The Wonderful Pacts, each having a unique design exclusive to each pair of Cures.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: The animal Cures can willingly change to human and back to their original forms.
• Wham Line: Examples can be found here.

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