Toei Animation is no stranger to making shows both aimed at young girls and littered with terrifying moments, and this magical girl anime is no sloth in this department. But it has one major difference: instead of adapting a Shojo manga, Toei decided to make it a full-blown Cash-Cow Franchise in-house. God help us all...

Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned!

Futari wa Pretty Cure

Pisard might look like a silly Kabuki version of David Bowie at first glance, but make no mistake, he can be surprisingly frightening. His evil plans target civilians far more often than not.
- In episode 2, Pisard's Zakenna blows the Cures into an elevator shaft. Then Pisard shows up at the top and cuts the cables, and the elevator plummets at a dizzying speed. As he does, the five people inside the elevator — including Nagisa's friends Shiho and Rina — all start screaming at the top of their lungs! Anyone who's afraid of elevator accidents will have a difficult time with this episode.
- Pisard's third plan is horrifying. Impersonating the student teacher Ryuuichi Kazama, he visits Nagisa and Honoka's middle school and brainwashes Ms. Takenouchi, their teacher, into bringing them to him alone. Imagine being 14 years old and having your teacher ask to speak to you outside, not suspecting anything, only to lead you to the gym, where a strange, threatening man you don't know is waiting... Once Pisard reveals himself, things get even scarier: while the Cures are busy fighting off his Zakenna, he's hypnotized Ms. Takenouchi into walking off a beam all the way up on the ceiling! Thank goodness Cure Black and Cure White rescued her in time.
- Episode 4 features Pisard at his absolute grimmest. He shows up without saying a word and gives the school bus a spooky glare that turns all the passengers to stone. When he sees that he missed the Cures, he barges into the museum and starts petrifying everyone he comes across. These people actually notice him, and they only have enough time to move a couple inches and scream before getting frozen. Even the Cures' Transformation Sequence doesn't let up on the scares, as it usually does: Pisard brings the paintings to life and washes them into a huge gallery, where he reveals he's petrified dozens of museum guests. Some of them float by the camera, allowing us to see the lovely image of every single one of them screaming in horror. And he even has the audacity to use them as a Human Shield. He knows full well what he's doing, as he taunts the Cures with the idea that if they attack too recklessly, they could shatter the people inside. No wonder Nagisa has nightmares about him in the next episode. Brrr.
Episode 9's Zakenna is a possessed anatomical model. It's introduced when Vice Principal Kometsuki sees a "student" standing in the halls after dark. Then he goes to reprimand it. Cue the Face-Revealing Turn. Not only is it sudden enough to give any viewer a little jolt, it frightens the bejesus out of Kometsuki, and he screams loud.
Episode 11, where Nagisa, Honoka, and Ryouta visit the aquarium, is nice and light... until the Zakennas are called in. Once possessed, all the sharks suddenly go berserk and hurl themselves against the glass. But they can't hurt anyone, right? Wrong! After a few hits, the glass starts to crack. Then it breaks, and the halls are flooded with water. The entire aquarium has to be evacuated. For anyone with thalassophobia or a fear of drowning, this can be uncomfortable to watch.
The final fight with Gekidrago, who up to this point has been mostly goofy, is much scarier than his previous encounters. Fusing together with the possessed marine life, he transforms into a hideous giant with his head inside an enormous shark mouth, a stingray's whip-like tail, and a pair of moray eels for hands that can spit cannons of water. Then Ryouta makes the mistake of running out onto the battlefield. Gekidrago's eel attack misses Cure Black and hits right in front of the little boy, who gets launched back from the impact... and doesn't move. You'd be forgiven for thinking Gekidrago just killed a child, and on screen no less!
Cure White: To go as far as involving such a young child... What kind of person are you?!
Poisony's tenure as Arc Villain raises the stakes tremendously. She's much smarter than the previous villains, and is so terrifyingly competent that she very nearly wins half the time. To make matters worse, she's a Shapeshifting Trickster, so it's nearly impossible to tell who the heroes can trust and who is really Poisony in disguise until she has them right where she wants them.
- Her debut outing is both suspenseful and scary, and excellently shows what the Cures will be up against going forward. Mepple is stolen away easily, and by the time Nagisa realizes the "chocolate lady" is not to be trusted, Poisony has already transformed into someone completely different and tempted Honoka with a dream-like illusion. When the jig is up, she reveals she had Zakenna possess everybody in the town square as a backup plan, and they descend upon the Cures and Honoka's grandmother like a horde of zombies. The music swells, Cure Black and White recite their catchphrase... and Poisony is gone. She disappeared during the Transformation Sequence. That alone speaks volumes about what kind of person she is.
- Episode 14 features some of the most harrowing action in the show up to that point. Here, Poisony takes a page out of Pisard's book and brainwashes the Cures' classmates: she also tries to have them walk off the edge of a tall building. But she doesn't want them to die, oh no. It's a feint. When the heroes try to rescue their friends, Poisony has her victims turn the tables, and the Cures nearly fall to their doom.
- During midterm exams, the Cures fling open what they think is their classroom door. It turns out to be a perilous fall — they drop, and keep dropping, for several minutes straight into a bizarre room while Poisony's eyes and lips float by to taunt them. They actually manage to land a hit in the ensuing battle... then, Poisony snaps her fingers. Instantly, they're transported inside one of the mirrors, which Poisony shatters one by one, taunting them about how they are going to die. If not for Kiriya, she would have broken them into tiny shards of glass! This is also one of the few dialogue edits concerning death in the English dub, because Poisony says the mirrors wil be Pretty Cure's grave in the Japanese version.
- Poisony's role as Paranoia Fuel incarnate comes to a head when she turns herself into a carbon copy of Honoka, down to tiny details like wearing her perfume and replicating Mipple's Card Commune. What follows is a very tense game of Spot the Imposter, where both of the Honokas look, act, and sound completely identical to one another. Poisony is eventually exposed, but not before giving the viewer another scare: the false Honoka gives a Psychotic Smirk and says, now speaking in Poisony's voice, "well, I guess it can't be helped!"
- The final battle against Poisony is her biggest spectacle of all, and somehow makes her several leagues scarier. She tells the Cures she's going to "get serious"... and, when she says "serious", she means absolutely batshit insane. Gone is her usual composed self: now, Poisony is flashing deranged grins left and right and yelling at scenery-chewing volumes about how useless it is to fight her. And that's just the start. After she scores a few hits, Poisony busts out a never-before-seen ability: her Prehensile Hair. It's like a force of nature, and she can make it grow several times her size — by the end of the battle, it's grown out to five times the length of her body and unfurled into a pair of jagged, unruly "limbs". And she's absolutely merciless with them. Once she has the Cures in her hair's grasp, she wastes no time smashing them into rooftops at breakneck speed, then dragging them against the walls all the way to ground level. Family-Unfriendly Violence at its finest!
There's a brief Jump Scare with the owner of Reikusaido: he puts on a frightening mask to scare the Misumis, but it's likely to startle the viewer too.
The Reveal about a third of the way through the show that Jaaku King's Power of Darkness affects him too. The way he describes it, with the word mushibamu (to eat away at, corrode, or cripple) and increasingly frequent growls and roars from the pain, makes it clear this is an agonizing experience for him. From then on, his voice gets progressively raspier. As intimidating and evil as he is, it's quite frightening to witness his decline.
Episode 19 subverts the usual formula in a big way. Instead of Poisony, who's bad enough on her own, the main antagonist is Illkubo himself. What follows is the absolute bleakest 25 minutes of the entire season up to that point, and it's all because of him.
- The episode begins in typical light-hearted fashion. Mepple and Mipple get into a fight over him overeating and not acting heroic. Then, out of nowhere, there's a shot of a man collapsing. The Cures look out from the alley, startled, only to find that everyone in the city has fallen unconscious. They've all fainted wherever they were standing. The flowers are wilted. And there's no explanation whatsoever for any of it. Just dark clouds, muted colors, and total silence.
- Immediately after Nagisa and Honoka see this, we cut to Poisony... who is just as confused as they are. Once she finally realizes what's going on, she looks genuinely frightened. That's right. Poisony, the heartless Femme Fatale who's been manipulating and brainwashing others for the past seven episodes, is scared shitless of Illkubo.
- Things go From Bad to Worse once Illkubo shows up in the flesh. He's the cause of the disaster, of course — the Crystal Ball he's holding sucked the life energy out of the entire city, which knocked all the citizens unconscious. And why did he do this? Well, let's hear straight from the horse's mouth:
Illkubo: Hoh... There seems to be more than I thought. Even though the power is small, if it is collected, it will prove a fine gift for my lord Jaaku King.
- The battle against Illkubo is one-sided, to say the least. He has the Cures completely outmatched, leaving them helpless just by countering their attacks. He barely uses any techniques of his own besides the occasional blast of wind, and considering the diverse magical abilities of previous villains, you can't help but get the sense that he's holding back his true power. Then, with our heroes at his mercy, Illkubo holds up that terrifying Crystal Ball of his. Drained dry of light, their transformation wears off. Never has battling the forces of darkness seemed so utterly hopeless for Pretty Cure. And there's no respite when Nagisa and Honoka transform back, either — Illkubo takes the full brunt of a Marble Screw and simply vanishes, like Poisony did seven episodes before, and the stolen Power of Light comes down in the form of a somber rain.
- Ilkubo shows up one last time at the very end of the episode, and he's totally unharmed. And a little annoyed, too, judging by his Fist of Rage. His presence totally spoils the Surprisingly Happy Ending — just seeing him will make you think the Cures' desperate struggle against him only served to delay their inevitable defeat until the next episode. He cryptically mutters that they might be getting stronger. The scene then cuts to Jaaku King alone in the Dotsuku Zone. He doesn't say anything. He just sits there, staring into the camera and letting out raspy, wheezing breaths. And then the credits roll. Chilling.
Episode 23 features the return of Illkubo's vampiric Crystal Ball, and this time he's at odds with nature itself. Trees turn to autumnal reds and oranges or nearly fall and crush people, spontaneous blackouts strike buildings, and a gorgeous lake dries up completely... the whole thing is framed with much suspense and mystery, and even knowing it's Illkubo's fault doesn't make his impact on the landscape any less drastic. The episode's battle with Illkubo is appropriately dire, too: this time, he actually fights back. Rather than undo Pretty Cure's transformations, he tears hope away at the last second when he breaks their Marble Screw off in his hands. Then, using their energy, he's able to summon Wisdom through a portal. Just like that, the Dotsuku Zone has five of the Prism Stones, and it's all Nagisa and Honoka's fault!
Illkubo keeps up the frights in episode 24. Once again knocking everyone unconscious except our heroes, he transforms the entire area into a ruined city full of towering skyscrapers to cage them in, and some of those buildings come crumbling down on their heads as if the entire city is trying to kill them. At the very end, after a brief chase squence, he takes the last two Prism Stones. For one heart-stopping moment, it looks like The Bad Guy Wins, and Illkubo is happy to indulge in some triumphant evil laughter as he gloats.
The Series Fauxnale, episode 26, is every bit as terrifying as you'd expect. Just when Pretty Cure's quest seems over, a revived Illkubo, now huge and shadowy like Jaaku King, appears out of nowhere to kidnap them to the Dotsuku Zone... and that's where everything goes to hell.
- Illkubo kicks the episode off with a dramatic transformation into a hideous, muscle-bound giant with grey skin and a face that looks like a Rage Helm. Gone is his usual calm, composed self: now, he's little more a raging beast that tries to beat the heroes senseless and lets out echoey roars with every strike. Illkubo is somehow even more impervious to harm than before — he doesn't even notice a flurry of punches to his back — and he's added an all-new attack to his already fearsome arsenal. He charges up power, ready for a fatal blow... and launches a tiny spark. The spark floats harmlessly past the Cures. Then it detonates. And whew, boy, does it detonate. The entire blast zone is reduced to a smoldering crater. Illkubo was terrifying enough in his normal form. Make him insane with rage, practically invincible, and give him the power to shoot cluster-bomb blasts from his hands, and you have a foe even more frightening than Jaaku King himself.
- Illkubo's death. Just before he can use his new explosions to blow Pretty Cure to kingdom come, Jaaku King's eyes suddenly flash across the screen and a huge Bolt of Divine Retribution strikes Illkubo's body. That horrifically powerful, souped-up enemy who was more than capable of killing Nagisa and Honoka is reduced to a screaming wreck before their eyes. In between those cries of pain, he's howling "Pretty Cure" and "Jaaku King-sama", until his body crumples into nothingness. Then there's a huge explosion. It's as if Illkubo couldn't resist giving the audience one last Jump Scare before he went.
- Rather than kill Pretty Cure right away, Jaaku King poses a seemingly simple question: "what is darkness?" Cue a Motive Rant full of existential horror where Jaaku King's disembodied voice speaks to Cure Black and White, who are suspended, wordless, in a pitch-black void.
Jaaku King: ABSOLUTE STILLNESS. ABSOLUTE NOTHINGNESS. ABSOLUTE DARKNESS. "DARKNESS" IS EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD. ONE DAY, THE GARDEN OF LIGHT AND THE GARDEN OF RAINBOWS MUST BOTH PERISH. AND IN THE END, WHAT REMAINS... IS DARKNESS. DARKNESS WILL RETURN EVERYTHING TO NOTHING. NO MATTER HOW YOU FIGHT, IT IS POINTLESS. EVERYTHING SHALL PERISH. FOR IT IS THEIR DESTINY TO BECOME DARKNESS. FALL INTO ETERNAL SLUMBER IN THE DARKNESS.
Episode 27 begins with a scenic river vista. Then, the flowers suddenly wither and die, and something dark starts to ripple across the field and kill the grass like a fire swallowing paper. As ominous music plays, a shadowy plant sprouts, and keeps growing... until the shape it takes on is unmistakably, disturbingly human. The silhouette exhales, its mouth opened wide. Creepy enough on its own, but then you learn that this could very well have been the birth of one of the Seeds of Darkness, and you were there to witness it.
Juna's "awakening" is frightening to witness. At an office building somewhere in the city, a weather report is talking about a coming storm, and the office ladies are gossiping to each other about the recent company trip. Kakuzawa, one of the employees, walks in front of the TV and stops, not responding to anyone. A Heartbeat Soundtrack begins thumping louder and louder... and then the man shoves his coworker to the ground with a berserk scream and hurls himself out the window for no apparent reason. After he turns into Juna, we cut back to the window, which is inexplicably fine, and the same gossip resumes again. It was like Kakuzawa was never there — he's even missing from the trip's photo. You'd be forgiven for drawing comparisons to The Twilight Zone.
The Seeds of Darkness's death is very unsettling. Also, once their fused body is absorbed by the Dark King, their faces can be seen contorted in pain and horror as they disappear. Must have been a terrible experience for them despite how much they deserved it.
A giant hole where everything falls into (trains, trees, oceans, possibly humans...) isn't exactly something you'd expect to see in a show like this. And it might be unnerving to see Black and White in the middle of said hole, on the only solid space, chatting normally like nothing is happening, meaning...they gave up.

Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star

In Episode 24, after Midori tells Saki she doesn't know who Kaoru is. Other than Saki's reaction, the sound effect is truly terrifying. It's brief but intense.
Ah, isn't just nice to see the world turned into a desolated landscape with nothing to see but a withered tree in miles and miles? Well, no. And I'm pretty sure the Cures will agree.
And after that the world is destroyed by Goyan, leaving only floating fragments behind... Things get better but that scenery is haunting.

Yes! Pretty Cure 5

Kowainas are pretty creepy for being Monsters of the Week. Especially their mask.
Kawarino's Despair Mask just look plain creepy and haunting. Not to mention every non-named Nightmare members are wearing one, and at one point, all Cures end up wearing one, to the point that Nozomi in Go!Go! used that event as 'something she doesn't want to happen again'... Well, they ain't called "Nightmare" for nothing.
And when Nozomi broke that off thanks to Coco, she dove in to her friends' mind... and found her friends first acting normal, but later revealed to have been thoroughly brainwashed and have extremely creepy Dull Eyes of Unhappiness. Pretty chilling.
None of them are nice people, but Nightmare employees' defeats are enough to make you feel uncomfortable. These are notable in the franchise because they basically get an extremely powerful upgrade that takes their sanity to the point they cant do more than rampage and try to kill Pretty Cure, and when they are defeated they are desintegrated and killed off entirely. The only reason the Cures doing this doesnt make them cross the Moral Event Horizon, is because they lost their selves entirely already and ending their suffering was indeed the most merciful thing to do.
The one exception to the sanity loss is Bloody, who indeed is horribly transformed against his will into a powerful monster... Who takes revenge on Kawarino by taking him to a new dimension where he will has his revenge by torturing him.
Okay, who thought it was a smart idea to have Nuts accidentally cause a bleeding injury to Coco with a Miracle Light during the premise of the movie? In all seriousness, it might have been for comedy but...apart from Coco's rather disturbing reaction and that being one of the very few moments where blood appears in the franchise, there was really nothing comical about it. Well, at least when it was first aired in the cinema it scared children enough so that they wouldn't play around with their lights.

Fresh Pretty Cure!

The Blackboard Nakewameke can make anything disappear as long as a photo of it is inserted in it, including people.
Infinity!Chiffon. Those eyes. Those eyes.
Whatever happens to Eas when she summons a Nakisakebe. It involves strangling. And thorns.
And the less we speak to what happened to France once Moebius got a hold of Chiffon the better.
Northa. Anything she does is creepy. Heck, even the original Terrible Trio fears her.

HeartCatch Pretty Cure!

The Desert Devils.
Dark Pretty Cure's defeat is unsettling. Not the one where she disappears in the light, but the one where she collapse with her body twisted in an odd way and with open eyes staring ahead, while the camera zooms away. It's like watching a corpse.

Doki Doki! PreCure

The destruction of the Trump Kingdom and the fate of its citizens. The younger kids probably won't understand what it's like to lose your home and your folks, but it makes the older kids (and the older audience) cringe.
King Trump is this as well. His internal conflict in Episode 46 is unsettling at best, like his expression when breaking the seal. Then it becomes worse when the Proto Jikochu possesses him and turns him into King Jikochu. The black mass envelops and make him suffer so much that he smash the window and then falls off the balcony, all the while screaming in pain. And then he turns into a giant monster. That's not something you usually see in a kids' show.
While we're at it, King Jikochu resembles a giant demon, with a skull-like face and horns. Proto Jikochu is like him, but also with six arms, wings and with a mouth on his stomach. Thankfully, he's not as big as King Jikochu, but still...
Also, Bel might not have been a good person, by a long shot, but you may feel unnerved when the black mass twists his body enough to make him cry for help (and be promptly ignored).

Maho Tsukai Pretty Cure

Dokurokushe is perhaps one of the creepiest characters in the franchise. He's literally a skeleton and it's not a cartoonish one, but a real one. And it's what remains of Kushe. Yep, you read that right. It's whatever remained of him after using the dark arts too much. You know what that means right? Dokurokushe is a literal human skeleton.
Everything about Deusmast is haunting if this picture◊ is any proof. And if you're wondering, then yes. Those are planets.

Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure

In Episode 21, Precious was this close in becoming slush, had Black Pepper not stopped the ice shaver Motto Ubauzo in time.
The fact that Godatz was more than willing to cause a famine is surpirsingly dark even among villains' objectives. Most of the time, Pretty Cure villains want to conquer the world or destroy it, not slowly letting its people die until they submit to them.

Pretty Cure All Stars

When the revived villains speak to the Cures through Bottom in All Star DX 2. Not only they are part of the giant mass of...whatever that is, but they also twist their body parts in ways that certainly shouldn't be possible. And Northa is no doubt the creepiest of them all.

Nightmare Fuel / Pretty Cure

Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned!

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Nightmare Fuel / Pretty Cure

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