Aspiring Writer

Uta Sakura/Cure Idol

This season's lead pink Cure, a cheerful young girl who likes to sing, and often spontaneously starts singing when the mood strikes her. It is also usually her to-go method of trying to cheer on or cheer up those around her. She can occasionally be a bit clumsy socially, but is usually quick to bounce back with the support of her friends.

When meeting with Purirun, she does what she can to help the young fairy find the person she's looking for, being patient if a bit dismayed about some of the trouble Purirun unknowingly causes for her in the process. Despite initially not believing she herself was the one Purirun was looking for, after becoming a Pretty Cure and very quickly starting to develop a fanbase after Purirun uploads a video of Cure Idol's performance leading up to her finishing move, her newfound fame quickly goes to her head. Luckily, she snaps out of it while saving her friend Mikoto after she got trapped inside a Makkuranda.

I really do like Uta. She's really cute, and I like her designs as both a civilian and as Cure Idol. Of course, she's a sweet girl who does what she can to help those around her and make sure her friends are happy, like most Pretty Cure leads.

I like the friendships she forms with the other Cures, and how she grows into her role as the center of the group. Two episodes also raise the question of whether Uta would consider becoming an idol outside of being Cure Idol, and I like how they explore that and how they reach the conclusion of yes, she'd like to, but not right now. Yeah, she loves singing, but she's just a middle schooler and there are other things that require her attention, you know? I just liked how that was handled. Plus, it serves as some nice foreshadowing for the final episode, but I'll get into that later.

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Nana Aokaze/Cure Wink

The second Cure to join the team, a young girl with a talent for the piano, taking after her mother who is also a pianist. When we first meet her, Nana is currently dealing with some doubts over her piano playing due to everyone's expectations of her. When Purirun's antics lead to a conversation between Uta and Nana at school during lunch, Nana reveals that she had witnessed Uta in action as Cure Idol fighting a Makkuranda, and promises to keep her secret. She also expresses wishing she could be as brave as Uta. This gives Uta the idea to invite Nana over to Café Glitter to try to cheer her up.

While at the café, Nana also befriends Uta's younger sister Hamori. While Hamori demonstrates her basic piano skills, Uta admits she briefly tried playing the piano as well, before deciding she preferred singing. Finding a photo from an old piano recital, Nana realizes that she and Uta had briefly met when they were younger during said recital, with Uta having given Nana some advice to help calm her nerves before her turn to play.

Nana begins to recall just playing the piano for fun while playing the piano alongside Hamori. While Nana still has some revervations about playing the piano at an upcoming school event, she decides she'll still have to try her best after Hamori says she wants to hear more of her playing.

The next day, Hamori is turned into a Makkuranda after she left the café ahead of her parents to watch Nana's performance, with Cure Idol urging Nana to get to safety while she tries to save her sister. Nana, however, can't bring herself to just stay behind, and follows them instead. When Cure Idol gets trapped in a cage of musical notes from the Makkuranda, Nana attempts to help free her. Zakkuri wants to turn Nana into a second Makkuranda, but Nana refuses to leave despite Cure Idol's pleas for her to get to safety, wanting to be as determined as Uta and make Hamori happy.

Nana's emotions lead to her own Pretty Cure Ribbon taking shape, and with Purirun providing her a Heart Ribbon Brooch, Nana assures Cure Idol she'll handle this and becomes Cure Wink. With her newfound powers, Cure Wink manages to fight off the Makkuranda and free Cure Idol from her cage, the two working together to purify the Makkuranda and save Hamori.

Over the course of the series, Nana rekindles her love of the piano while also beginning to explore other sides of herself and trying new things. As she develops more confidence in herself, she also learns how to reach out to others struggling with their own doubts.

I really like Nana/Cure Wink. I like her design and she's a sweet girl. She starts out the series with some self-esteem issues and wanting to be a little more like Uta. Over the course of the series, she gains more confidence in herself, which allows her in her own way to reach out to others much like Uta once helped her. I really like that aspect of her arc, with Nana managing to help both Zakkuri and Meroron work out some of their own issues when their arcs intersect with hers. All in all, I enjoyed her self-discovery arc and watching her grow into a stronger version of herself.

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Kokoro Shigure/Cure Kyun-Kyun

The third Cure we meet is Kokoro, a first-year student attending the same middle school as Uta and Nana. She lives with her mother and grandparents. She is a fan of idols and idol culture, and ends up becoming a big fan of the Idol Pretty Cure. She forms a research club at school dedicated to the Idol Pretty Cure, eventually catching the attention of Uta, Nana and Purirun. She's also a talented dancer, but doesn't really do so in front of others, with the only one who really seems to know about her talent being her friend Odoru, who tries to convince her to join the school's dance club.

When Purirun takes an interest in her and decides to observe her to get to know her better, she ends up unwittingly being discovered by Kokoro, who recognizes her as the Idol Pretty Cure's mascot from a commercial the Cures appeared in. The two end up bonding, and Kokoro asks Purirun if she can arrange for her to meet Cure Idol and Cure Wink.

Purirun convinces Uta and Nana to meet with her in their Cure forms, and Kokoro is ecstatic to meet her idols. After expressing her desire to dance as gracefully as the Cures someday, the Cures thank her for her support and hope to stand on stage with her someday. Talking to Purirun after meeting the Cures, Kokoro realizes she wants to become one herself, giving Purirun the idea to offer the remaining Idol Heart Brooch to Kokoro, figuring she'd make the ideal third Cure to fight alongside them. However, Purirun neglects to explain the other part of being an idol Pretty Cure, leading to some problems once Cutty shows up and turns a nearby gardener into a Makkuranda.

Purirun tries to get Kokoro to transform and deal with the Makkuranda, but the poor girl has no idea what Purirun is asking of her. Luckily, Uta and Nana come to the rescue, leading to Kokoro learning their identities and of the Idol Pretty Cure's mission. After witnessing all this, Kokoro is understandably shaken up, and she decides she doesn't have it in her to become an idol Pretty Cure after all.

Kokoro reluctantly decides to give up on being a fan of the idol Pretty Cures, and even considers taking up Odoru's offer to join the dance club rather than continue the Idol Pretty Cure Research Club. However, when Zakkuri sets up a fake concert as part of a trap and turns Odoru into a Makkuranda, Kokoro's outrage at seeing somebody taking advantage of the Idol Pretty Cure's fans and disrespecting idol culture leads to Kokoro finding the resolve to become an Idol Pretty Cure after all, becoming Cure Kyun-Kyun.

After joining the Idol Pretty Cure, Kokoro becomes determined to learn from her older teammates, Idol and Wink. Kokoro's knowledge and passion for idol culture also becomes a great asset to the team, since she is able to suggest a variety of events to make their fans happy. And over the course of the series, Kokoro gradually gains more confidence in herself, realizing she does shine just as bright as her fellow Idol Pretty Cures.

I really like Kokoro. Cute designs, and I really love the energy and passion she brings, as well as her creativity and determination. Her shyer side is also quite endearing, and it's really sweet to see how both her older teammates and her fans support her. I also really like how she puts her knowledge of idol culture to good use, helping come up with events and such simply because she wants the fans to feel the same excitement and joy she feels around her idols. I really admire her dedication to her passion.

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Purirun/Cure Zukyoon

The first of the fairy mascots to be introduced this season. Purirun is cheerful, but also a bit too laidback and impulsive for her own good, as she early on in the series ends up obliviously causing problems for Uta and the others. She arrives in Hanamichi Town to search for the legendary saviours, the Idol Pretty Cure, after Kirakiland's Big Kirakira Ribbon was cut in half, and most of the fairy inhabitants were sealed inside dark crystals.

Purirun wholeheartedly supports her friends, cheering the Cures on during battles and helping them get their online following by uploading videos of the songs the Cures sing while getting ready to purify Makkuranda (even if this keeps getting her in trouble with Queen Pikarine for doing so without the permission of the Cures). And of course, her ability to sense when a Makkuranda/Kurayaminda/Darkranda spawns is also useful for alerting the Cures.

As the story goes on and Purirun realizes the Cures consider her part of the team on equal terms with them, Purirun is happy with this, but also wants to be able to do even more to support the Cures. After Purirun tries to intervene in one battle after the Cures get knocked out by a powerful monster, only to get injured herself, Purirun decides to head back to Kirakiland to see if she can possibly revive the Big Kirakira Ribbon with the Kirarun Ribbons she has collected so far.

When it turns out she hasn't yet collected the necessary amount, Meroron, seeing how strongly Purirun feels about wanting to help the Cures, decides to offer up an idea of her own: They'll use the Heart Kirari Lock that Meroron has had with her the whole time. However, Meroron warns Purirun of the consequences she only recently learned about from Queen Pikarine, namely how if you use the lock to grant your wish, the lock will take away what is most important to you in exchange.

Purirun is willing to do it if it'll help the Cures, but is surprised at the end result being that she and Meroron are given the power to become Pretty Cures themselves. Purirun becomes Cure Zukyoon, but loses her memories of the time she spent in Hanamichi Town with Uta and the others. For a while, Meroron/Cure Kiss tries to keep her from remembering so she can have more alone time with them, moving into Tanaka's place while he's out checking up on the situation in Kirakiland.

However, the original three Cures eventually discover the identities of Cure Zukyoon and Cure Kiss, along with Purirun's memory loss. They spend a day together, hoping to jog Purirun's memory, but nothing seems to work. However, when the inevitible battle against the monster of the week happens, Purirun starts cheering on the Cures with her Kirakilight like she used to, noting that the feeling of doing so feels familiar to her.

On the way back, Purirun realizes she dropped the Kirakilight when Meroron had to push her out of the way to avoid an attack, with Uta catching a cold after staying out in the rain until she found and retrieved it. After noticing that Purirun's memory loss is starting to seriously bother her, Meroron starts looking into ways to restore her memory. However, when Uta shows up to talk, they're interrupted when Zakkuri uses a special orb provided by Chokkirine to trap Purirun herself inside a Kurayaminda.

With Purirun trapped, Meroron is unable to transform, and the Kurayaminda soon disables Uta's Heart Ribbon Brooch as well, leaving them both unable to fight back. The two manage to avoid the Kurayaminda's attacks, trying to protect each other, but Meroron is eventually struck and trapped in crystal. Uta gets the idea to try singing to Purirun, and this eventually succeeds in jogging Purirun's memories and allowing her to free herself from the Kurayaminda, causing the monster to lose control of itself.

After Purirun's memories return, the five Cures start working together more, although Meroron still denies that they're a team. It's not until they discover what Meroron gave up to the Heart Kirari Lock and help her resolve the situation that the Cures become a proper team, with Purirun and Meroron moving back in with Uta. Some time later, Purirun and Meroron manage to gain the ability to take on human form even outside of their Pretty Cure forms.

I like Purirun. Her various designs are really cute, and I like how the decorations on Purirun's ears are incorporated into Cure Zukyoon's hair decorations, and how it ended up being a minor plot point in that it allowed Uta to eventually piece together Cure Zukyoon's identity. I like her innocence and the way she supports her friends with all her heart. While she initially causes some trouble for the Cures, like the problems she causes for Uta when they first meet, or the incident leading up to Kokoro becoming a Cure, she does get better about that later on. I also like how she comes across as a bit more mature while in her Cure Zukyoon form, although we do see in later episodes, particularly outside of battles, she's still as silly as ever.

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Meroron/Cure Kiss

The second main mascot, and another Kirakiland fairy who with the help of Purirun managed to make it through the attack on Kirakiland without being sealed away in crystal. Meroron has always felt out of place in Kirakiland, spending most of her time alone reading. With Purirun being her only real friend, Meroron is quickly shown to be rather clingy towards Purirun once she arrives in Hanamichi Town and manages to reunite with her.

Meroron is initially envious of how close the Cures, especially Uta, have gotten to Purirun. However, as the Cures try to get to know her better and even arrange a date between her and Purirun, Meroron gradually begins to warm up to them.

However, Meroron is also in possession of an item called the Heart Kirari Lock, which contains a power she is trying to learn the specifics of. She eventually learns that the lock can grant a wish, but at a price: Queen Pikarine warns her that in exchange for granting the user's wish, the Heart Kirari Lock will take whatever the wisher values most in return.

We later learn that Meroron has had the lock since she was born, and that unlike most of the other fairies in Kirakiland, Meroron is born of darkness, which is why she feels so out of place. Due to her origins, she has a better understanding of 'darker' emotions, such as loneliness, than the other fairies in Kirakiland who were born from light.

When Purirun and Meroron temporarily return to Kirakiland to see if they can restore the Big Kirakira Ribbon, only to find they don't have enough Kirarun Ribbons, Meroron eventually decides to suggest that she and Purirun use the Heart Kiraki Lock together, warning her of the consequences. As long as it can help the Cures, Purirun accepts, with Meroron going along with it for Purirun's sake.

Purirun and Meroron become Pretty Cures themselves, with Meroron becoming Cure Kiss in exchange for her future with Purirun... however, unlike Purirun and her memory loss, Meroron doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effects from the lock, although she does start acting even more cold towards the Cures, denying any offers to join the Idol Cures as a team and that they are friends.

However, Meroron's loneliness gradually becomes too great for her to deal with, and after spending a day at the library with Nana, Meroron eventually decides to accept the Cures' offer of friendship. Unfortunately, this means that she now has a clearer image of what she actually wants her future with Purirun to be like, which means she is no longer safe from the consequences of the Heart Kirari Lock, which proceeds to trap her inside itself.

While the Cures try to figure out how to free her, Darkine tries to take the oppurtunity to recruit Meroron to her side like she had done with Cuttin and Zakkurin, creating an copy of Meroron embodying the darkness within her. With the Cures eventually getting through to her, Meroron rejects her double, owns up to her flaws and finally decides to be honest about her true feelings, allowing her to break free and finally accept the other Cures' friendship.

After this, she is finally able to get along with the other Cures besides Purirun just fine, eventually discovers how to take on human form alongside Purirun, and finally discovers her true purpose, allowing her to finally fully realize that it is possible for light and darkness to co-exist.

I really like Meroron. Her fairy form is really cute, and I also like her human form and Cure Kiss' designs. It is also neat to finally have another Cure whose theme color is black, since we haven't had one of those since... well, Cure Black from the very first Pretty Cure series. And sure, I did find some of her jealousy driven antics early on kind of annoying, but I was willing to let it slide because, well, I was curious about her character arc and how she was eventually going to overcome those particular flaws.

I also found the concept of her character really interesting, having been born from the same darkness as Darkine and thus able to understand the emotions that make up said darkness. Part of me kind of feels like maybe they could've done just a little more with that concept, but I'll go more into detail on that later.

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Tanaka

Since Purirun and Meroron double as both Cures and the mascots of this season, I think I'll briefly talk about Tanaka before we move on to the next part, since he's also a pretty essential part of the team and I think including him here feels right.

Shortly after Nana becomes Cure Wink, the Cures are approached by a mysterious man who seems to know all about the Idol Cures' battle against the Makkuranda and offers to be their manager. While initially presented in a bit of a "Who is this? Can we trust this guy?" manner, it quickly becomes apparent that, yes, they can trust him. Turns out he's actually a fairy from Kirakiland named Tanakhan, who has been living in Hanamichi Town as a Kirakiland Ambassador and is also an old friend of Purirun.

He's decided to assist the Cures, although he seems a bit skeptical when realizing the Cures are considering taking on regular idol work unrelated to their mission of saving Kirakiland after receiving an offer for an advertising job at Pretty Holic. However, once they decide to take the job, Tanaka proves himself to be an effective manager to the Idol Cures, and even gets a part-time job at Café Glitter so he can easily stay in contact with the Cures.

Tanaka for the most part comes off as rather stoic and a bit of a workaholic, to the point where one of his focus episodes has the girls convincing him to take a day off during the summer, only for him to find himself unable to fully get hid mind off of work and just relax, eventually deciding to look into other things he can do for the Cures. His relieved reaction when the Cures admit they weren't actually able to finish the work they had promised to do for him while he was taking his day off makes it clear that he actually just enjoys working and that he's happy knowing how important his work is to the Pretty Cures.

He also later allows Cuttin and Zakkurin to move in with him after learning their true identities, and hires them to help work in the Idol Pretty Cure's official merch store and assisting with the fan club.

I really like Tanaka/Tanakhan. He does a great job supporting the Cures as their manager, and he's also a really nice guy who looks after his friends. He maintains his stoic and professional demenour for the most part, leading to some comical moments whenever he gets caught up in some silly stuff while still retaining his usual demenour, usually because of Purirun and/or Meroron's antics. What I particularly like are the occasional moments where his true emotions show, one of my favorite such moments being in episode 24, with his joyful reaction to realizing just how vital he truly is to the team.

Another moment from him I really liked is him reassuring Cuttin and Zakkurin during the final battle that the Cures will be able to stop Darkine, because he's seen how much they've all grown during their time working together. It's just a nice moment highlighting both the Cures' and Tanaka's own character development over the course of the series.

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The Villains

All right, onto the villains. This time around, our villains were the scissor-themed Chokkiri Gang, led by Chokkirine on behalf of their true leader, Darkine. Let's go over them in the order they first fought the Cures, saving Darkine herself for last.

First, we've got Cutty, a big brute-ish looking guy. However, after his first encounter with Cure Idol, he finds himself fascinated by her and keeps watching her performance video, claiming to his fellow villains that it's all for the sake of research on the enemy. As he keeps becoming more and more of a fan of the Cures, he naturally starts feeling very conflicted about continuing to fight them.

The moment he makes up his mind that he can't bring himself to fight them anymore, he finds himself being forcefully converted into a monster, a Cuttinda. The Cures are unable to defeat it and purify him on their first encounter with the Cuttinda, but they manage to get through to Cutty enough that he's able to fight back from the inside of the Cuttinda, stopping it from attacking and fleeing before it can do anything else.

When the Cures have to face the Cuttinda a second time, which has been upgraded since the last encounter, the Cuttinda is ultimately purified when Cure Zukyoon and Cure Kiss make their debut. He thanks the Idol Cures for saving him when they check on him after the battle, noting that even if it was Zukyoon and Kiss who purified the Cuttinda, the original three were the ones who managed to reach him while his heart was engulfed in darkness. He declares himself their number one fan, before leaving.

We don't see him again until Zakkury has also left the dark side, where both of them end up joining the Cures' new fanclub and stop by Tanaka's place to see them. The two reveal themselves to be Kirakiland fairies, Cuttin and Zakkurin. Cuttin reveals that back when he was living in Kirakiland, he would selfishly do whatever he felt like, not realizing he might be hurting the feelings of others until one of the other fairies tearfully called him out on his behaviour.

His guilt over the problems he had caused and not knowing how to make up for it led him to become vulnerable to Darkine's darkness, allowing her to corrupt both him and Zakkurin into working for her.

After returning to the story, he and Zakkurin start working with Tanaka to support the Cures, run the official Idol Pretty Cure merch store they eventually open up and help organize events.

I like Cutty/Cuttin. His arc leading up to his redemption made him really endearing with his growing admiration for the Cures and his resulting inner conflict since they're supposed to be his enemies. Didn't see the twist of him and Zakkuri originally being Kirakiland fairies coming, but it was a neat reveal. Plus, I felt it was a neat way to foreshadow how Darkine would attempt to bring Meroron over to her side a few episodes later.

Next, Zakkuri. He initially comes across as a bit more of a jerk compared to Cutty, with his first victim being Uta's younger sister, Hamori. As the series goes on and Cutty eventually gives up on covering the world in darkness, Zakkuri finds himself being pushed to work even harder by Chokkirine. He gradually grows more and more frustrated as Chokkirine keeps giving him more work, and it eventually starts to put a strain on him.

While exhausted from all his work, he ends up encountering Nana during a hot summer day, while she and the other Cures are filling in for Tanaka so he can take a day off. Nana notices the state Zakkuri is in, lending him her hat and handkerchief and offers him a bottle of water to help him cool down a little. Concerned for him, Nana tries to convince Zakkuri to quit trying to cover the world in darkness, but Zakkuri bluntly informs her that it's not that simple.

While looking for a new target, Zakkuri still finds himself thinking about his encounter with Nana earlier, realizing he forgot to return her handkerchief. He soon finds someone to turn into a Kurayaminda, but during the Cures' battle against it, Zakkuri finds himself feeling conflicted as he watches Cure Wink fight, although he doesn't fully understand why. After the battle, Zakkuri nearly collapses again, only for Cure Wink to catch him. She's still concerned for him, but Zakkuri ends up snapping at her. Seeing Cure Wink's reaction to his harsh words leaves Zakkuri at a loss for words, before he retreats. He's later seen regretting what he said, considering Nana/Cure Wink had only been acting out of concern for him throughout the episode.

Nana continues to worry about Zakkuri, later expressing her concerns to the other Cures and wondering if they might be able to get through to him like they did with Cutty. As for Zakkuri, he continues to feel conflicted after the encounter with Nana. After Chokkirine orders him to get back to work, he tries reminding himself that he's part of Team Chokkiri, but he keeps thinking back to the harsh words he said to Nana and is unsure about what to do whenever their paths cross again. Unbeknownst to him, Zakkuri has caught the attention of Jogi.

While Zakkuri tries to sort out his feelings and decides he'll return Nana's handkerchief whenever he sees her again and thinks about apologizing, he happens to come across her in a sunflower field the Cures were visiting. Zakkuri attempts to return the handkerchief, only to accidentally drop it and get it dirty. He tries cleaning it, feeling like he messed up again, although Nana at least can tell he's trying and appreciates his effort.

Before the two can make an effort to communicate further, Jogi makes his appearance, much to Zakkuri's surprise since he didn't even know about Jogi. Jogi proceeds to turn Zakkuri into a monster, the resulting 'Zakkurinda' going on a rampage. During the fight, Cure Wink asks Zakkuri about his true feelings and tries to get him to stop his rampage.

After a while, she manages to get through to him, stopping the Zakkurinda in its tracks while the two talk. Zakkuri admits that he has hurt people before, and thinks Team Chokkiri suits someone like him. However, Cure Wink has seen that there's good in him and thinks he has potential to do better, much to Zakkuri's surprise. With the other Cures cheering her on, Cure Wink is able to purify Zakkuri and return him to normal.

Having been saved, an embarrassed Zakkuri apologizes for getting Nana's handkerchief dirty. Nana is able to clean it off, and assures him that it'll dry off quickly in the sun, before offering to let him keep the handkerchief as a token of friendship. Zakkuri declares that he'll start looking for a new job, and that he'll be Cure Wink's fan from now on. It's clear that he's still got a ways to go when it comes to learning to be honest with his emotions, as he soon gets embarrassed and starts yelling at Nana again.

It doesn't take long before he and the Cures cross paths again, when he and Cutty join the Cure's new fan club and arrive at Tanaka's place, revealing themselves to be Kirakiland fairies. Not too surprising, Zakkurin's problems stem from his inability to be honest about his feelings, which caused him to hurt the feelings of the other fairies he lashed out at without thinking. While he and Cuttin were both feeling down about hurting others due to their personality flaws, Darkine ended up corrupting them.

And as I mentioned before, Zakkurin and Cuttin start working with Tanaka after these reveals.

I like Zakkuri/Zakkurin. He starts out as more of a jerk than Cutty, but as the show progresses, Cutty leaves the dark side, and Zakkuri ends up getting more and more work assigned to him, you do feel a little bad for him. And then we eventually learn the truth about him, how his lack of control over his emotions led him to hurt others' feelings and pushing them away, allowing Darkine to corrupt him since he already believed himself to be a bad person. It's also nice seeing the little moments of him putting in the effort to try to improve himself after his redemption.

Anyways, next villain, Chokkirine. The one female villain working under Darkine and leader of the Chokkiri Gang. She initially lets Cutty and Zakkuri do most of the work, sometimes reminding them of what Darkine might to do them if they don't get the job done. Chokkirine seems to both admire and fear Darkine. Chokkirine first joins in on a fight against the Cures to even out the odds by going 3-against-3, but the Cures ultimately win.

After Cutty quits, Chokkirine starts putting more work onto Zakkuri, refusing to give him any breaks. However, after Zakkuri also quits, Chokkirine starts to feel lonely and regretting how she treated him. When Jogi shows up, Chokkirine initially dislikes him, but in later episodes, she attempts to connect with him due to just wanting someone to spend time with, only for him to dismiss her.

Eventually, after Chokkirine uses up the last crystal provided by Darkine to make Darkranda, along with the last chance Darkine had given her to beat the Cures, Darkine proceeds to forcefully have Chokkirine dragged back to Kurakuland and sealed away, despite a terrified Chokkirine's protests. Chokkirine remains sealed away in a dark crystal for a few episodes, before Darkine unleashes the now powered-up and brainwashed Chokkirine onto the Cures.

With the help of Cuttin and Zakkurin, who hoped to reconnnect with Chokkirine, the Cures are able to purify her, allowing her to finally fully understand those sparkling feelings. Cuttin and Zakkurin suggest they start a new group dedicated to doing good, and while Chokkirine admits she'd like that, it's unfortunately not that simple.

Chokkirine reveals that unlike the two of them, she was created from one of Darkine's shadows to aid in covering the world in darkness. And unfortunately, now that Chokkirine has seen the light, Darkine has decided that she no longer needs her. Darkine proceeds to have Chokkirine re-absorbed, much to the Cures, Cuttin and Zakkurin's horror, but Chokkirine faces her fate with dignity.

The fact that they were able to get through to Chokkirine in the end does provide the Cures with the confidence they need to go through with their plan to try to do the same with Darkine, since Chokkirine was created from Darkine's darkness. In the final episode, sometime after the Cures reach an understanding with Darkine, Chokkirine is reincarnated as a Kirakiland Fairy named Chokkirin.

I really like Chokkirine and her character arc. I also like how they differentiated her from the other villains by having her be one of Darkine's shadows brought to life, and even before the Cures purify her, we see that she's developed feelings beyond her purpose of covering the world in darkness, with her caring about her fellow villains and desire to make a connection with someone after Cuttin and Zakkurin leave the team.

I like what they did with her final fate, with Chokkirine essentially proving to the Cures' in her final moments that their plan to reason with Darkine might work, and her rebirth in the final episode allows her to start over with Cuttin and Zakkurin, this time as equals. Considering we only see Chokkirin for a brief scene, I guess there's some ambiguity to how much she might remember about her previous life, just thought that was interesting to think about.

Anyways, onto the next villain. As mentioned above, Jogi is introduced as a mysterious villain who shows off a new type of corrupting power as he turns Zakkuri into the Zakkurinda. Neither Zakkuri nor Chokkirine were aware of his existence prior to his debut, so they're also surprised at his sudden appearance. As he shows up at the Chokkiri Gang's hideout, he does bring with him the new power he himself used, allowing Chokkirine to also use the new variety of orb to create Darkranda.

Despite working with them, Jogi seems uninterested in the Chokkiri Gang, admitting to the Cures when they question his motives that he doesn't really consider himself one of them. However, he seems quite familiar with Kaito, giving us our first few clues to who Jogi really is. Turns out Jogi used to be Kaito's friend, Kazuma Touya. Kazuma had plans to audition to become an idol, and after overhearing Kaito singing, thought he had potential and suggested the two of them audition together. The two started spending more time together, growing quite close.

However, after the audition finally came, only Kaito got accepted. Kazuma tried to assure Kaito that he should go on ahead, and that Kazuma would catch up to him. Kazuma kept trying, but after he kept failing, he started growing more and more resentful of Kaito, eventually getting Darkine's attention and letting her bring him to her side.

As Jogi's backstory is gradually revealed, his initial calm demenour begins to crack, revealing his bitterness. After learning what's going on, the Cures, particularly Cure Idol, attempt to reason with him, but Jogi won't hear it. When Jogi eventually attacks during one of Kaito's concerts, Kaito manages to enter the 'Heart Garden' with the Cures and discover what has become of Kazuma. Jogi/Kazuma explains to Kaito how he wound up working with Darkine.

Cure Idol defends Kaito once more, explaining how he's been trying to reach out to him the whole time. Jogi still won't listen, being annoyed with both her and Kaito. As Kaito tries to apologize and make a promise not to leave Kazuma behind again, Jogi's resolve begins to falter, but believing it's too late to turn back, he orders the Darkranda he summoned to keep up the fight, powering it up with the anxiety from the confused fans back at the stadium.

The Darkranda knocks out Cure Kiss, causing the Heart Garden to partially break down, bringing everyone back to the stadium. With Cure Idol's encouragement, Kaito begins singing to Kazuma, starting to break through Jogi's darkness as Darkine tells him to block it out. Kaito's transformation into Cure Connect finally allows him to purify Kazuma and return him to normal.

Having returned to his senses, Kazuma is ashamed of his actions and believes he doesn't deserve Kaito/Cure Connect's friendship, but Connect assures him that he doesn't think Kazuma is a bad person, after which Kazuma apologizes and the two reconcile. Kaito resumes the concert as Kazuma looks on. After the concert, Kazuma notes that he was right about Kaito's talent from the start, while Kaito encourages Kazuma to keep pursuing his dreams, suggesting the two of them give it another try together, with Kazuma accepting.

Kazuma is seen with Kaito in later episodes. When Darkine corrupts the Heart Tree as she sets her plans in motion, Kazuma is quick to realize what is happening. The Cures later ask him for more information on Darkine, but while Kazuma is able to provide some information on how Darkine gathers darkness, he doesn't know why Darkine is trying to cover the world in darkness, leading the Cures to conclude they'll have to try asking Darkine herself. Kazuma is surprised to hear this, but intrigued to see how the Cures will pull it off.

At the end of the series, Kazuma and Kaito head to New York to continue their idol work there. Kazuma contacts Uta before they leave, allowing her to make it to the airport on time to say good-bye to Kaito.

I like Kazuma/Jogi. He stands out a bit from the rest of the villains, mainly due to his demenour and also the fact that he's the only actual human among them. He has a cool villain design as Jogi, and I enjoyed his story, from the mystery surrounding him after his initial appearance and why he's working with the Chokkiri Gang despite his low opinion of them, to his past friendship with Kaito and how his frustrations at not getting any closer to achieving his goal no matter how hard he tried left him susceptible to Darkine's influence.

I also like how he's ultimately purified, with him during the final battle starting to come to his senses, but feeling he's gone too far with everything he's done and that he can't go back, with Kaito still refusing to give up on him and ultimately being the one to return Kazuma to his normal self. I'm glad the two of them were able to restore their bond.

All right, onto Darkine. Throughout the series, Darkine usually appears as a shadow, who is constantly watching the Chokkiri Gang. The Chokkiri Gang is shown to fear disappointing her, which is understandable considering how she ends up turning Cutty into a monster the exact moment he decides he wants to quit. We also see she can be quite manipulative, considering how she recruited Cutty, Zakkuri and Jogi, and her attempt to recruit Meroron to her side. Towards the end of the series, we finally start getting more information about her as the Cures start questioning exactly why Darkine wants to cover the world in darkness.

We learn that Darkine is the ruler and seemingly sole inhabitant of Kurakuland, the dark counterpart to Kirakiland. She is also a being that feeds on dark emotions, particularly anxiety and such, but an unfortunate side-effect of this is that she keeps hearing the voices of the people she feeds off of. As you can imagine, hearing the pained cries and groans of random people struggling to fulfill their dreams and so on isn't a pleasant experience, so Darkine has decided that the best course of action is to cover the world in darkness, trapping everyone in a world without feelings so she won't have to hear everyone's suffering anymore.

During the final battle with the Cures, she refuses to believe that they just want to talk things out and thinks they want to destroy her. However, the Cures eventually finally get through to her, causing Darkine to revert to her true form as a fairy. She accepts the Cures' offer of friendship, and Kirakiland and Kurakuland make peace.

I think Darkine is a cool villain. Her humanoid design is pretty cool, giving sort of a vibe that brings to mind classic villains from past media, if that makes sense, and I think her shadow abilities are quite cool as well. I like the concept of her characters, and how she feels different from previous villains based off of similar ideas, like Noise from Suite Pretty Cure and Dyspear from Go! Princess Pretty Cure. Honestly, the more I think about Darkine apparently being subjected to constant sensory overload due to her own powers, I can kind of understand why she'd end up going evil.

I also liked the reveal of Darkine's true form, since it pretty much confirmed my theory that I had early on that there was some sort of connection between her and Pikarine just based on the similar names. Well, sort of. At the very least, Darkine is Pikarine's dark counterpart. Plus, the main villain being a fairy was kind of a fun twist.

I have more to say about Darkine, but I think I'll go over it in more detail as I talk about the story itself. So, yeah. We'll get back to that later, and for now, let's move on to the next category.

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Other Characters

All right, with most of the important characters covered, let's move on to the supporting cast. I'll talk about the most notable ones. And as usual, I'll start with the Cures' family members.

We'll start with Uta's family. Her father, Kazu, her mother, Oto, Uta's younger sister, Hamori and the family's pet dog, Kyutaro. She also has a grandfather, Heiji, who lives out in the countryside.

Kazu and Oto run Café Glitter, with Uta and Hamori occasionally helping out. Kazu and Oto are good parents to their daughters, with Oto seeming to be a bit quicker of the two to catch on when Uta has something on her mind. Hamori is a cheerful kid who enjoys playing piano and is a fan of a detective-themed show. One episode has Hamori trying to play detective herself when the family come across an early menu from when Kazu and Oto first opened the café, noticing a crossed out item on said menu.

When the parents are too embarrassed to admit what the item was to their daughters, Hamori takes it upon herself to figure it out, seeking out the regular customers to ask if any of them might remember something. In the end, it turns out the menu item was a 'one-liner joke', with Kazu admitting his jokes weren't that good. That said, it wasn't entirely a waste, as a former customer returns to the café after finding success in another city to thank them for unknowingly inspiring him to pursue his dream of being a comedian after hearing Kazu's bad jokes.

When visiting Uta's grandfather out in the countryside, we learn how Uta's grandmother had passed away some time ago and how Kyutaro originally lived with her and Heiji, before he went to live with Uta and the others after the grandmother's passing. While there, Heiji asks Uta about helping him move some of her grandmother's old things while he's still in good enough health to do so. Uta doesn't take it well, retreating to another room alongside Kyutaro to be alone for a bit. Wanting to cheer up Uta, Kyutaro helps Nana, Kokoro, Purirun and Meroron locate a time capsule that Uta's grandmother buried years ago.

After locating the time capsule, and shortly after digging it up, Chokkirine shows up and ends up turning Kyutaro into a Kurayaminda. Uta and the others manage to return Kyutaro to normal after Uta takes a look at the time capsule's contents, finding the first 'spoon microphone' she made as a child in order to cheer up her grandmother with a song. Uta is able to come to terms with her memories of her grandmother, and before heading back home with the others, Uta promises to come back and help her grandfather with the cleaning up in the near future.

I like Uta's family. It's sweet seeing how supportive they are to Uta, and I like the parts where we learn more about their backstories, such as how they met and decided to open Café Glitter and all that. It's also really wholesome how one of their main priorities with Café Glitter was making it a place that would bring smiles to their customers. I just think it's neat seeing how Uta has picked that up from them and learned to make people smile her own way via her songs.

Okay, I think we can move on to Nana's family. Nana lives with her father, Hajime, while her mother, Mutsumi, is a renowned pianist who is currently over in France to perform at recitals and stuff. Hajime and Nana seem to have a good relationship, with him being supportive and all that. Nana admires her mother a lot, even if they don't get to see each that often. They stay in touch via phone calls and such.

Upon learning of how Nana has made new friends and started discovering new interests, Mutsumi encourages Nana to keep exploring various aspects of herself, inspiring Nana to try even more new things. Later in the series, Nana and her father go to visit Mutsumi in France. While getting to spend some time together, and seeing how Nana has improved on the piano, Mutsumi asks if Nana would be interested in staying in France so the two can perform together.

Nana contemplates the offer for a while, but ultimately decides to go back to Japan. Mutsumi supports her decision, and the two have a heartfelt conversation with Nana expressing how her mother is her idol. After Nana returns to Japan, Mutsumi later sees one of Purirun's videos of Cure Wink, and recognizes the way she plays the piano as how Nana plays it, realizing the two are the same person. Calling back to their earlier conversation, Mutsumi says that Nana is her idol.

I like these characters. Not too much to say about Hajime, since we don't really know that much about him besides him being a nice guy and good dad. As for Mutsumi, I like how she's Nana's role model, with their shared love of playing piano and Mutsumi basically being the one who makes Nana realize how she's started exploring new sides of herself and inspiring her to keep trying new things. I also thought Mutsumi figuring out Cure Wink's identity based on her familiarity with how Nana plays the piano was a nice touch.

I think we can move onto Kokoro's family. Kokoro lives with her mother, Ai, and grandparents, Keiko and Makoto. Kokoro's father, Shinji, passed away from an unspecified illness when Kokoro was younger. He and Kokoro seem to have been close, flashbacks showing that he encouraged her love of dance and taught her his favorite proverb. Ai is a business woman, and does her best to balance her career with being a good mother to Kokoro.

The relationship between Kokoro and Ai is the focus of episode 14, which takes place on Mother's Day and features Kokoro wanting to find the perfect present for her mom. However, before Kokoro can give it to her, she must first save her mother after Zakkuri turns her into a Kurayaminda.

Cure Kyun-Kyun puts up an impressive fight against the Kurayaminda in order to save her mother, with even Zakkuri being touched at seeing how much Kokoro cares for her, also giving us one of the first glimpses of Zakkuri's softer side.

After saving her mom and returning home, Kokoro is greeted with a surprise birthday party, having been so focused on finding the perfect present for her mom that she had forgotten that her own birthday happened to fall on the same day until then. Kokoro and Ai exchange their presents to each other, while expressing how much they care about each other.

Not too much to say here, since there were only really a few episodes that really centered around them, but I like how supportive Kokoro's family is and I really enjoyed the Mother's Day episode really showing the bond between Kokoro and her mother.

Now, since Purirun and Meroron don't really have familiies in the tradional sense considering Kirakiland fairies are born from a tree, and I've already talked about Tanaka, I guess the next character I'll talk about is Queen Pikarine.

She's the fairy who rules Kirakiland, and although she was sealed away inside a crystal just like most of the other Kirakiland fairies, she's still able to communicate with the Pretty Cures via telepathy. She offers them advice and insight into their mission to protect Hanamichi Town and restore Kirakiland, as well as occasionally messing up Purirun's (and later Meroron's) hair for uploading videos of the Idol Cures' performances without asking permission first.

Pikarine seems to have a lot of faith in both Purirun and Meroron when it comes to supporting the Pretty Cures so they can save Kirakiland. She also seems to be the only one who knows most of the details regarding a prophecy about the Pretty Cures and the circumstances around Meroron's birth, the Heart Kiraki Lock and how Meroron was always destined to be a saviour to Kirakiland, finally being able to explain this to Meroron after being freed from her crystal prison. After Kirakiland is restored and Pikarine and the other fairies freed from the dark crystals, she is quick to take measures to prevent Darkine from destroying the Big Kirakira Ribbon a second time by summoning Kirakiland's defense system, the TSUBOMI.

Pikarine spends the remainder of the series trying to maintain the TSUBOMI alongside the other fairies while cheering on the Cures from afar, while the Cures work to help out in every way they can from Hanamichi Town. After the Cures manage to get through to Darkine, Kirakiland and Kurakuland are joined together.

I really like Pikarine. She has a cute design, and I like how she cares about the fairies in Kirakiland and how much she trusts Purirun and Meroron. That said, I feel there was probably a few more things I would've liked them to do with her. I don't know. I've read a few places that there were plans to give her a human form, and at the very least it would've been cool to see her as a human and see how she looks compared to Darkine's human form. I might talk about a bit more about Pikarine when I get to my thoughts about the overall plot.

All right, with the families (and Pikarine) covered, let's move on to Kaito Hibiki. Despite only being eighteen years old, he's already considered a 'Legendary Idol'. His debut has him stopping by Café Glitter after recently returning to Hanamichi Town, even though he was supposedly supposed to be studying vocal performance abroad. When Uta is temporarily left in charge of the café while her parents head out on a quick errand, she finds herself overwhelmed and Kaito steps in to help her, having previously played a waiter when he appeared on a TV show.

He quickly picks up on what to do and proves to be quite effective at the job, making Uta envious of his talent. Kaito later witnesses part of the Pretty Cure's battle with a Makkuranda when he rushes in to help save one of Café Glitter's regular customers who got caught up in the chaos of the battle. While curious about Cure Idol and the Idol Pretty Cure, he never really presses that hard whenever he tries questioning her about it, sensing that she has her reasons for wanting to keep whatever is going on a secret.

Uta and Kaito gradually get to know each other over the course of the series, since Kaito being a more experienced idol means Uta will often go to him for advice whenever the two happen to cross paths. And for the first half of the series, that pretty much seems to be his designated role. But considering he's shown pretty prominently in the opening, surely he's gonna play a bigger role at some point, right?

Indeed he is, and as Uta gets to know him better, we eventually learn a bit about his backstory and what led to him becoming an idol: Kaito had a friend named Kazuma who took note of his singing one day, and already having plans to audition to become an idol, suggested the two of them audition together. As they practiced for the audition, the two gradually developed a close bond.

However, as I've already mentioned earlier, things fell apart when Kaito got accepted, but Kazuma didn't. Although Kazuma encouraged Kaito to go on ahead and tried to act like it didn't bother him, the two of them drifted apart, with Kaito losing contact with him.

Kaito has since been hoping his songs will eventually reach his old friend. When Kaito gets trapped in a Darkranda by Jogi, Cure Idol discovers Jogi's true identity during the ensuing battle. When Cure Idol gives Kaito a speech about her belief that a broken bond can be mended after saving him, Kaito realizes that she and Uta are the same person since Uta said basically the exact same thing to him earlier that day.

Next time he meets with Uta, he decides to pretend to have not realized anything, realizing she isn't ready to admit her secret identity yet. After going on another tour for a few episodes, he returns to Hanamichi Town for its conclusion, inviting Uta and the others to the concert. Of course, Jogi ends up crashing the party, revealing to Kaito what has become of his former friend.

While the Cures intend to deal with the situation, Kaito ends up following them into the Heart Garden. He tries to reason with Jogi, but struggles for a while to get through to him, and even when he starts making progress, Jogi feels he has gone too far to turn back now. Kaito's determination to bring Kazuma back ultimately allows him to temporarily become a Pretty Cure himself, Cure Connect. With his new power, Kaito manages to purify Jogi, while the Idol Cures handle the Darkranda.

The rest of the concert goes well, and Kaito and Kazuma are able to reconcile, with Kaito inviting Kazuma to join him as they give working together as idols another shot. After this, Kaito and Kazuma are frequently seen together in the last few episodes. Kaito and Uta briefly spend time together during the Christmas episode, with Kaito giving Uta his scarf. A few episodes later, when the Cures prepare for their final concert to deal with Darkine, Kaito finally admits to Uta that he had figured out that she's Cure Idol and wishes her luck.

During the final battle, Kaito and Kazuma help Mikoto and the Idol Pretty Cure Research Club rally together the townspeople to cheer on the Idol Cures. After the Cures manage to get through to Darkine, Kaito and Kazuma decide to head to New York to continue with their idol careers. Although Kaito initially didn't tell Uta, Kazuma contacts her to let her know in time for her to come say good bye to them at the airport.

Kaito thanks Uta for reminding him of some important things as an idol, and that he'll keep everything she taught him in mind going forward. The two of them promise to meet again someday, before Kaito and Kazuma head off to get on the plane.

I do like Kaito, particularly how he and Uta are both sort of mentors to each other when it comes to their idol careers, with Kaito the more experienced idol giving Uta/Cure Idol helpful tips on how to handle certain situations, while Uta/Cure Idol helped Kaito remember some important things and of course, helped him reconnect with Kazuma. As for Uta's crush on Kaito, I didn't mind it, but I didn't really care that much about it either, because, you know, the age difference. I do appreciate that while Uta does become someone important to Kaito, it's clear that his feelings for her are entirely platonic.

Anyways, back to Kaito's determination to save Kazuma, I really liked Kaito's brief stint as Cure Connect and how he was the one who purified Jogi/Kazuma. I'm really glad he got to be the one to do that, since finding and reconnecting with Kazuma was his goal all along. Cool design for Cure Connect as well. I did kind of want to see Cure Connect again, maybe helping the Cures out during the final battle, but I do think Kaito did contribute well as he did, and besides, he didn't really understand much of what was going on, so it makes sense to not incorporate Cure Connect into that.

Okay, not too many characters left to talk about. I guess I'll briefly talk about Ema Komiya and Renji Jou, two regular customers of Café Glitter who appear multiple times throughout the season. Ema is a young woman who at the beginning of the series had recently published her debut work as a manga artist. She also happens to be the first victim of the Chokkiri Gang to be turned into a Makkuranda, leading to Uta becoming Cure Idol in order to save her.

As for Renji, he's an older gentleman who has been a regular customer of Café Glitter for quite a while. When rescued by Kaito during an attack by a Makkuranda in episode 4, he thanks Kaito for saving him and claims that Kaito's looks reminds him of how he himself looked in his youth. Renji later shares some of the spotlight with Hamori during episode 34, when she seeks him out to try to solve the mystery of the mystery item on the old Café Glitter menu. We learn that Renji used to be a detective in his youth, and he decides to help Hamori solve the mystery. In a later episode, he's helped by Kaito again, and decides to thank him by giving him two tickets he had won to Hanamichi Land, an amusement park, leading to Kaito inviting Uta to go with him.

Not too much to say, but I like them. They're just friendly and loyal customers of Café Glitter.

Next character I'd like to talk about for a moment is Mikoto Higashinaka, one of Uta's friends from school. Mikoto is quick to become a fan of Cure Idol after Purirun posts the first video of her finishing move performance online, and she later joins Kokoro's Idol Pretty Cure Research Club. Mikoto is the second person to be turned into a Makkuranda, and is rescued by Cure Idol.

Mikoto is seen throughout the season spending time at the Idol Pretty Cure Research Club, as well as spending time with some other friends of hers and Uta's, Wakaba and Ruka. During the final battle, Mikoto and the rest of the Research Club attempt to rally together the anxious townsfolk into cheering on the Pretty Cure. They initially don't get much of a reaction, but Kaito is inspired to join in and helps them rally the people together in cheering for the Cures.

I like Mikoto. She has a really cute design, and she's just a really sweet girl. Her enthusiasm for the Idol Pretty Cure is really endearing, and I thought it was cool seeing her and the rest of the club trying to rally the people together in cheering on the Idol Pretty Cures during the final battle, even if they needed some help from Kaito to really get that going.

All right, next up, Odoru Sunda. Odoru is a childhood friend of Kokoro, having known her since they were in elementary school. He's fairly laidback, with a talent for dance. He tries to recruit Kokoro for the school's dance club after noticing her talent, but accepts it when Kokoro declines his offer because she has other priorities at the moment.

When Zakkuri sets up a fake Idol Pretty Cure concert in an attempt to lure out Kokoro to prevent her from becoming the third Pretty Cure, Odoru ends up getting turned into a Makkuranda as he was attending the concert in hopes of getting ideas for some new dance moves. This along with Zakkuri's blatant disrespect of idol culture ends up leading to Kokoro becoming Cure Kyun-Kyun, the very thing Zakkuri was trying to prevent. After Odoru is saved, Kokoro tells him about her dream of being like Cure Idol and Cure Wink, with Odoru supporting her in her dream.

Odoru is later the focus of episode 39, when he is practicing his signature spinning move for an upcoming dance competition. Kokoro decides to help him practice, and he's able to find his confidence when he recalls what his grandfather taught him about dancing when he was younger, and that the important part is reaching your audience if you want to make them smile.

On the day of the competition, Odoru's cap is knocked off while he's headed inside, causing him some panic as he tries to find it since he needs it to perform one of his dance moves. This is enough for him to become the target of the villains a second time, with Chokkirine turning him into a Darkranda. The Idol Cures are able to save him with some surprise help from the Dancing Star Pretty Cures, and after coming to his senses, Odoru manages to locate his hat and get ready for the competition.

While he does well, he only ends up getting second place, which he is somewhat disappointed about since it was the last time he'd be participating in the junior high category, but he is quick to cheer up after some encouraging words from Kokoro.

I like Odoru. He's fairly laid-back for the most part, but he's also pretty serious about his dancing. I like how he and Kokoro support each other and encourage the other to follow their dream. The fact that his love of dance is something he inherited from his grandfather, who travelled the world and made people all over smile with his dancing, is also pretty neat.

Next up, Tsumugu Kijima, a plucky, young journalist working for "Entertainment Vroom-Vroom". The Cures encounter her while she's trying to look into the identities of Cure Zukyoon and Cure Kiss shortly after their debut. The Idol Cures, from a mix of trying to locate Cure Zukyoon and Kiss themselves, as well as wanting to keep Tsumugu from discovering their true identities having realized they transform into Pretty Cures the way they do, decide to accompany Tsumugu for a bit.

During their search, Tsumugu gets turned into a Kurayaminda by Zakkuri, which leads to the Idol Cures reuniting with Purirun and Meroron and witnessing their transformations into Cure Zukyoon and Cure Kiss. After Tsumugu is returned to normal, Cure Zukyoon and Kiss stick around for a bit to make sure she's okay, allowing Tsumugu to get her interview with them before leaving.

Tsumugu makes a few appearances throughout the second half of the season, particularly towards the final arc as sightings of the monsters the Cures fight and so on leads to people catching on that there's more going on, and Tsumugu starts wondering exactly what the Idol Cures' connection to it all is, even questioning Tanaka about it at one point.

Around the time the final battle takes place, Tsumugu realizes that the Cures are fighting to protect them all, and decides to do her part to help spread the word to help keep people's spirits up and allow them to give the Cures' their support.

Not to much to say here, but I really like her contributions towards the end of the story, with her looking into things and later doing her best to let the people know that the Cures are doing their best to save them all from the darkness spreading throughout Hanamichi Town and beyond.

All right, almost done. The final character I feel has enough relevance to be talked about here is Kurikyuta. He's a sumo wrestler that Uta and Purirun encounter during their search for the Idol Pretty Cure in the first episode, and due to a mishearing/misunderstanding, they end up mistaking Kurikyuta for the person Purirun is looking for, leading Purirun to nearly bring him back to Kirakiland, only to realize her mistake on the way there, leading her to quickly turn the MOMO around and return Kurikyuta home. He doesn't seem to think too much of the odd incident and carries on with his life as normal. His curiousity about who Uta and Purirun were really trying to find later leads him to become one of the Idol Pretty Cures' fans.

The Cures later seek him out while trying to jog Purirun's memories, and Kurikyuta later gets a focus episode when a leg injury leaves him with doubts about his sumo career. He ends up seeking out the Idol Cures, asking if they'd be willing to let him join. While the Cures and Tanaka decide to give him a chance to show his skills, they soon realize he's probably better suited for other things and decide to try to figure out why he's considering quitting sumo in the first place.

With one of Kurikyuta's young fans tracking him down in order to convince him to keep going, Kurikyuta admits what's going on, and is concerned about how much he's going to fall behind on his training while recovering from his injury. He later gets turned into a Darkranda by Jogi, with the Cures having to save him. After returning him to normal and talking things out, Kurikyuta is able to regain his resolve, deciding that even if he does fall behind, he'll just have to train even harder once he's fully recovered.

This guy's okay. Just kind of a gentle giant. It was nice seeing him get an episode focused on him later into the season, giving some us some insight into his daily life and his ambitions when it comes to being a sumo wrestler.

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Overall Thoughts

All in all, I really enjoyed this series. I thought the wordplay of the title of the series itself was sort of clever when I first saw it when it was announced. The characters, animation, music and all that is great. I enjoyed the story, although there are certain plot points I feel they could've done a little more with. Aside from idols, the main themes of the series are about the bonds between people, how we can support each other and the importance of that, and how the world can be kind of a scary place and how we sometimes need some fun little distractions from it all so we can renew our strength to face whatever the world might throw at us. At least that's how I interpret it.

Some of the more recent series in the Pretty Cure franchise have been experimenting a bit with the usual formula, particularly in the two series that preceded this one. This one mostly sticks to the formula, but there's nothing wrong with that in my opinion. One thing that comes to mind is how nice it was to see the villains regularly interacting again, after Hirogaru Sky barely had any interaction between the villains until late in the show, while Wonderful Pretty Cure didn't even introduce its villains until halfway through the series. So, it's nice to have the villain interactions be back from the start, and to have the bond between the villains be a plot point later into the season.

As for the parts of the story I felt could've been explored a bit more, it mainly ties into Kirakiland, Kurakuland and Darkine. I thought the idea of the fairies of Kirakiland not really understanding certain negative emotions was an interesting concept, along with Darkine not really understanding positive emotion leading to a disconnect between the two opposite realms.

And like I mentioned while talking about Darkine while going over the characters, the more I think about Darkine's powers and how they affected her, I can understand why Darkine would be driven to make everything quiet by any means necessary. She has some similarities to Noise, who fittingly was the main villain of the previous music themed Pretty Cure season, Suite Pretty Cure. Unlike Noise who sought to end his own existence because being the embodiment of sorrow made him miserable, Darkine didn't seem to mind her actual purpose, she was just overwhelmed by the noise her powers subjected her to.

As for how it could've been improved... hmm... maybe if the Cures had started asking themselves about Darkine's reasons for wanting to cover the world in darkness sooner? And maybe involve Pikarine more in trying to figure that one out? I guess what I've been imagining is the Cures discovering the details regarding how Darkine's powers work a little sooner, and upon being informed of what the problem is, Pikarine would realize how awful it must be to live like that and wanting to look into whether there's a way to help Darkine deal with that particular aspect of her power.

And then, you know, things kind of play out the same way, with Pikarine having to activate the TSUBOMI to defend from another of Darkine's attacks, and leaving it to the Cures to try to contact Darkine and try to reason with her. Of course, Darkine doesn't believe them when they tell her they want to help, thinking it's all a trick so they can try to eliminate her, and things playing out mostly the same way, except incorporating more of the "the denizens of Kirakiland and Kurakuland don't really understand each other that well" angle.

And from there, it plays out the same way, with the Cures managing to get through to Darkine and offering her their friendship. And then after Kurakuland and Kirakiland have been connected, we get explicit confirmation that they've worked out a solution to allow Darkine to perform her duties without having to deal with all the noise, whether it's related to the Cures managing to purify her or something with connecting the two realms together. I guess it's sort of implied that that did happen in the finale, considering Darkine finally looks content the last time we see her.

I don't know, I guess I just felt the whole "light and darkness can co-exist" message they were going for would've felt a little stronger if they explored the dynamics between Kirakiland and Kurakuland more. Maybe. I feel like maybe they could've also done a little more with Meroron/Cure Kiss during the finale, considering her heavily her character arc tied into the light and darkness theme.

I do think the story works as is, but I guess there was just something about those particular plots point that kind of stuck with me and that left me wanting just a little more. Still, I really liked this season. The various songs were all great, with Trio Dreams being one of my favorites this season for how catchy it is.

Speaking of how this series mainly sticks to the usual Pretty Cure formula, this season also brings back the epilogue taking place a few years after the events of the series, which was last done in Star Twinkle Pretty Cure. It's nice to see that in the five years since the final battle, a new Heart Tree has been growing and has grown sufficiently to make travel between Kirakiland and Hanamichi Town possible again, allowing Purirun and Meroron to go see their friends, heading to Hanamichi Town to attend a concert by Uta, who has become an idol as herself. We also see that Nana is now a songwriter, while Kokoro is now an influencer. It's nice seeing that the bond between them is as strong as ever, and a nice payoff to the plot point of Uta considering whether she'd be interested in becoming an idol aside from being Cure Idol that I talked about earlier. It was a really nice ending.

And with that, I think I've mostly covered my thoughts on this series. Sorry this took so long, in case anyone was waiting for this post, been kind of distracted by RL stuff, among other things. Avoiding spoilers for Star Detective Pretty Cure is getting harder, so... yeah, got a lot of catching up to do on that.