Pretty Cure Explained

Pretty Cure
Creator:Izumi Todo
Toei Animation
Origin:Futari wa Pretty Cure
Films:Pretty Cure All Stars, Pretty Cure films
Tv:See below
Plays:Precure Kids
Musicals:See below
Vgs:See below
Toys:S.H. Figuarts, dolls, bracelets

The is a Japanese magical girl anime franchise created by Izumi Todo and produced by ABC Television, Asatsu-DK and Toei Animation.[1] Each series revolves around a group of magical girls known as Pretty Cures who battle against evil forces. Starting in February 2004 with Futari wa Pretty Cure, the franchise has seen many anime series, spanning nearly 1000 episodes to date, as well as spawning movies, manga, toys, and video games. Its most recent iteration, Wonderful PreCure!, began airing in February 2024 as part of TV Asahi's Sunday morning children's television block. As of December 2022, three series have received English adaptations.

Overview

Each series focuses on a group of teenage girls who are granted special items that allow them to transform into legendary warriors known as the Pretty Cure. With the assistance of creatures known as fairies, the Pretty Cure use their magical powers and enhanced strength to fight against evil forces who create monsters to bring misery to the Earth. As the series progresses and stronger enemies appear, the Cures gain new magical items, new abilities, and sometimes new allies to help them in their fight against evil.

Main series

There are currently twenty-one anime television series in the franchise, two of which are direct sequels to their previous series. To date, three of the series have received English adaptations. Futari wa Pretty Cure was dubbed into English by Ocean Productions and aired in Canada under the name Pretty Cure. Smile PreCure! and DokiDoki! PreCure were adapted by Saban Brands and released on Netflix under the names Glitter Force and Glitter Force Doki Doki, respectively. The series, Kirakira Pretty Cure a la Mode, Healin' Good Pretty Cure and Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure, began streaming in Crunchyroll on their respective territories. Each series has received a manga adaptation illustrated by Futago Kamikita, which is published in Kodansha's Nakayoshi shoujo magazine alongside the anime. Starting with Fresh Pretty Cure!, each ending movie featured a dance choreography by each series' Pretty Cure members.

As of 2020, Toei Animation Inc. owns the international rights to the franchise while both the dubs of Smile and DokiDoki alongside the Glitter Force brand is currently owned by Hasbro and eOne.[2] [3] [4] [5]

No.TitleGenerationRunEpisodesSeries directorRef(s)
1Futari wa Pretty Cure1st2004–200549Daisuke Nishio
2Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart2005–200647
3Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star2nd2006–200749Toshiaki Komura
4Yes! PreCure 53rd2007–200849
5Yes! PreCure 5 GoGo!2008–200948
6Fresh Pretty Cure!4th2009–201050Junji Shimizu, Akifumi Zako
7HeartCatch PreCure!5th2010–201149Tatsuya Nagamine
8Suite PreCure6th2011–201248Munehisa Sakai
9Smile PreCure!7th2012–201348Takashi Otsuka
10DokiDoki! PreCure8th2013–201449Go Koga[6] [7]
11HappinessCharge PreCure!9th2014–201549Tatsuya Nagamine
12Go! Princess PreCure10th2015–201650Yuta Tanaka[8] [9]
13Witchy Pretty Cure!11th2016–201750Masato Mitsuka[10] [11]
14Kirakira Pretty Cure a la Mode12th2017–201849Kohei Kureta, Yukio Kaizawa[12]
15Hug! Pretty Cure13th2018–201949Junichi Sato, Akifumi Zako[13] [14]
16Star Twinkle PreCure14th2019–202049Hiroaki Miyamoto[15]
17Healin' Good Pretty Cure15th2020–202145Yoko Ikeda[16]
18Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure16th2021–202246Yutaka Tsuchida
19Delicious Party Pretty Cure17th2022–202345Toshinori Fukasawa
20Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure18th2023–202450Koji Ogawa[17]
21Wonderful Pretty Cure!19th2024-TBAMasanori Sato[18]
Total21192004–present96820

Films

See main article: List of Pretty Cure films. Beginning with Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart, each television series has received a theatrical animated film based on the series, with Max Heart receiving two films. Starting in March 2009, crossover films featuring characters from multiple series have been released annually, with 12 crossover films released to date. The eleventh crossover film, , has been awarded the Guinness World Records title for "Most Magical Warriors in an Anime Film", with a total number of 55 Cures with speaking roles.[19]

Adaptations

Video games

Several video games have been produced by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Bandai) for video game systems and educational consoles, as well as Data Carddass arcade machines.

Console video games
Arcade game
Educational titles

Live-action drama

See main article: Koe Girl!. A live-action series,, aired in Japan between April and June 2018, celebrating the franchise's 15th anniversary. The series follows a group of aspiring voice actresses and stars Haruka Fukuhara, who voiced Himari Arisugawa/Cure Custard in Kirakira PreCure a la Mode.[20]

Reception

The combination of transmedia text products, including anime series, films, live performances, theme stores, and toys, has been analyzed as a "system of consumption, knowledge and action [that] creates a lifestyle-text, a set of fictional media works that are synonymous with the lifestyle practices they promote."[21]

The Pretty Cure films are the seventh highest-grossing anime film franchise.[22] Bandai Namco's net income from Pretty Cure video game sales was from April 2008 to March 2012, from April 2012 to March 2013, from April 2013 to March 2014,[23] and from April 2014 to December 2020,[23] [24] adding up to net sales revenue for Bandai Namco.

Merchandise

Pretty Cure has had numerous licensed merchandise sold in Japan. By 2010, it became Japan's fifth highest-grossing franchise annually.[25]

Pretty Cure licensed merchandise sales in Japan! Year! Japan licensed merchandise sales! Note!
2004
2005[26]
2006Bandai toys only
2007[27]
2008[28]
2009[29]
2010
2011Bandai Namco toys only
2012[30]
2013[31]
2005–2013+ (+)
2014[32]
2015[33]
2016[34]
2017[35]
2018[36] [37]
2019[38]
2020Bandai Namco toys only
2014–2020+ (+)[39]
2005–2020+ (+)

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. AnimetatezakiE. 1435109035909386244. I understand that you are watching the series very carefully. First of all, as you may know, for series sponsored by toy makers like Precure, the rough storyline is fairly pre-determined. That is because the toy sales strategy is prioritized..
  2. News: Saban Brands Gives Glitter Force Trademark to Toei Animation - The Tokusatsu Network. 2017-05-25. The Tokusatsu Network. 2018-11-21. en-US.
  3. News: Glitter Force Brand's Rights Move to Hasbro. Anime News Network. 2018-11-21. en.
  4. Web site: Glitter Force. https://web.archive.org/web/20180706215057/http://www.glitterforce.com/Home/Policy. dead. 2018-07-06. 2018-07-06. 2018-11-21.
  5. Web site: Glitter Force – a legendary superhero squad. Hasbro. www.glitterforce.com. en-us. 2018-11-21.
  6. News: Dokidoki! Precure Trademark Filed in Japan. 2012-10-24. 2012-11-01. Anime News Network.
  7. Web site: Dokidoki! Precure Revealed as New Precure With Logo - News. 2013-02-06. Anime News Network. 2013-02-10.
  8. News: 'Go! Princess Precure' Trademark Filed. 30 October 2014. 29 October 2014.
  9. News: Next PreCure Series will be "Go! Princess PreCure"?. 30 October 2014. 30 October 2014.
  10. News: 'Mahō Tsukai Precure' Trademark Filed. 19 October 2015. AnimeNewsNetwork.com.
  11. Web site: Toei Animation USA - Precure. toei-animation-usa.com. 2019-03-05.
  12. Web site: 'Kirakira PreCure a la Mode' Trademark Filed - News. 2016-10-25. Anime News Network.
  13. Web site: 'Hugtto! Precure' Trademark Filed. 2017-10-16. Anime News Network.
  14. Web site: Toei Confirms Hugtto! Precure TV Anime for 2018. Anime News Network. 28 November 2017.
  15. Web site: 作品情報(さくひんじょうほう) スター☆トゥインクルプリキュア 東映アニメーション. www.toei-anim.co.jp. ja. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190924025855/http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/precure/info/. 2019-09-24. 2019-09-24.
  16. trademark_bot . 1186660520000012294 . 22 October 2019 . 東映アニメーション株式会社により「ヒーリングっど♡プリキュア」が商標登録出願されていることが、公開商標公報から明らかになりました。出願番号は2019-130108です。 .
  17. Web site: Toei Animation Unveils Hirogaru Sky! Precure as Franchise's 20th Entry. 2022-11-30. Anime News Network.
  18. Web site: Precure Franchise Announces Wonderful Precure! Anime. 2023-11-30. Anime News Network.
  19. Web site: 55 anime characters unite in anniversary film to achieve unique record. 2018-11-22. Guinness World Records. en-GB. 2019-03-31.
  20. Web site: Precure Anime Inspires Live-Action Show About Aspiring Voice Actresses. Anime News Network. en. 2019-03-31.
  21. Becoming Purikyua: Building the lifestyle-text in Japanese girls' franchises. Contemporary Japan . 2019 . 31 . 1. 61–78. 10.1080/18692729.2018.1558023. Benson. Anya C.. 158476337 .
  22. Web site: Box Office Gross, TV Anime Adaptations . https://web.archive.org/web/20181023181525/http://www.someanithing.com/268 . dead . October 23, 2018 . Someanithing . June 19, 2018.
  23. Web site: Financial Statements . IR Library . . September 13, 2018 . ja.
  24. Web site: Historical currency converter with official exchange rates (800 JPY to USD) . fxtop.com . 13 February 2021.
  25. Book: コンテンツ2次利用市場(ライセンス市場)に係る 競争環境及び海外市場動向実態調査 . 2011 . . 22–23 . ja . 2018-09-08 . 2015-04-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150413021105/http://www.kanto.meti.go.jp/kankobutu/data/contents_kaigaishijyo_chousa.pdf#page=24 . dead .
  26. Web site: 日本のアニメ・マンガを取り巻く状況 . Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) . 25–6 . 6 March 2007 . ja . 27 January 2021.
  27. News: キャラクターが日本を救う . Characters Save Japan . 26 January 2021 . . . 26 January 2009 . ja.
  28. News: Japan's Character Products Market in 2008 . September 7, 2018 . Character Databank (CharaBiz) . . 2010 . September 8, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180908094344/http://www.licensing.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/japan-character-product.doc . dead .
  29. News: 09年国内キャラ市場1兆5770億円 CharaBiz DATA調 – アニメ!アニメ!ビズ . AnimeAnime.biz . May 29, 2010 . ja.
  30. 慶應義塾大学学術情報リポジトリ(KOARA) . KeiO Associated Repository of Academic Resources . 2015 . 8–9 . . ja.
  31. Book: CharaBiz DATA 2014(13) . 2014 . Character Databank, Ltd. . ja.
  32. Book: CharaBiz DATA 2015⑭ . 2015 . Character Databank, Ltd. . ja.
  33. Book: CharaBiz DATA 2016⑮ . 2016 . Character Databank, Ltd. . ja.
  34. Book: CharaBiz DATA 2017(16) . 2017 . Character Databank, Ltd. . ja.
  35. Book: CharaBiz DATA 2018⑰ . 2018 . Character Databank, Ltd. . ja.
  36. Book: CharaBiz DATA 2019(18) . May 2019 . Character Databank . ja.
  37. News: Content Tokyo 2020 》Vtuber、疫情中重塑品牌、以AI創作,日本內容產業熱議的3件事 . Content Tokyo 2020 》Vtuber, Rebranding During the Epidemic, Creating With AI, 3 Things That Are Hotly Discussed in the Japanese Content Industry . 3 February 2021 . . 30 December 2020 . zh.
  38. Book: CharaBiz DATA 2020(19) . May 2020 . Character Databank . ja.
  39. Web site: Historical currency converter with official exchange rates (288,870 JPY to USD) . fxtop.com . 13 February 2021.