Pretty Cure

is a Japanese tokusatsu heroine, magical girl anime franchise created by Izumi Todo and produced by Toei Animation. Each series revolves around a group of magical girls known as Pretty Cures who battle against evil forces. Starting in February 2004 with Pretty Cure, the franchise has seen many anime series, spanning over 1000 episodes to date, as well as spawning movies, manga, toys, and video games. Its most recent iteration, Star Detective Precure!, began airing in February 2026 as part of TV Asahi's Sunday morning children's television block. As of December 2022, three series have received English adaptations, although many others have received English subtitle versions.

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.

Production There are currently twenty-three 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. 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 PreCure!, each ending movie featured a dance choreography by each series' Pretty Cure members.

As of 2020, Toei Animation Inc. and Toei Animation Europe 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.

Main series No.TitleGenerationRunNo. ofEpisodesSeries directorRef(s)1Pretty Cure1st2004–200549Daisuke Nishio2Pretty Cure Max Heart2005–2006473PreCure Splash Star2nd2006–200749Toshiaki Komura4Yes! PreCure 53rd2007–2008495Yes! PreCure 5 GoGo!2008–2009486Fresh PreCure!4th2009–201050Junji Shimizu, Akifumi Zako7Heart Catch PreCure5th2010–201149Tatsuya Nagamine8Suite PreCure6th2011–201248Munehisa Sakai9Smile PreCure!7th2012–201348Takashi Otsuka10DokiDoki! PreCure8th2013–201449Go Koga11Happiness Charge PreCure!9th2014–201549Tatsuya Nagamine12Go! Princess PreCure10th2015–201650Yuta Tanaka13Witchy PreCure!11th2016–201750Masato Mitsuka14KiraKira PreCure a la Mode12th2017–201849Kohei Kureta, Yukio Kaizawa15HUG! Pretty Cure13th2018–201949Junichi Sato, Akifumi Zako16Star Twinkle PreCure14th2019–202049Hiroaki Miyamoto17Healin' Good Pretty Cure15th2020–202145Yoko Ikeda 18Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure16th2021–202246Yutaka Tsuchida19Delicious Party Pretty Cure17th2022–202345Toshinori Fukasawa20Soaring Sky! PreCure18th2023–202450Koji Ogawa21Wonderful Precure!19th2024–202550Masanori Sato22You and Idol Precure20th2025–202649Chiaki Kon 23Star Detective Precure!21st2026–202751Koji KawasakiTotal23212004–present1,06721

Adaptations Films

Starting in 2005, Beginning with 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 2009, crossover films featuring characters from multiple series have been released annually, with 14 crossover films released to date. The eleventh crossover film, Hug! Precure♡Pretty Cure: All Stars Memories, 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.

Extras Power of Hope: PreCure Full Bloom (2023) Witchy Precure!! ~Miral Days~ (2025) PetitCure ~Precure Fairies~ (2025)

The Stage Dancing Star Pretty Cure The Stage (2023) Dancing Star Pretty Cure The Stage 2 (2025) Dancing Star Pretty Cure The Stage 3 (2025) Dancing Star Pretty Cure The Stage Party (2026) Colorful Runway! Pretty Cure The Stage (2026)

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 (2004, Game Boy Advance) (2005, Game Boy Advance) (2005, Nintendo DS) (2006, Nintendo DS) (2007, Nintendo DS) (2008, Nintendo DS) (2009, Nintendo DS) (2010, Nintendo DS) (2010, Nintendo DS) (2011, Nintendo DS) (2012, Nintendo 3DS) (2013, Wii) (2013, Nintendo 3DS) (2014, Nintendo 3DS) (2015, Nintendo 3DS) (2017-2020, iOS, Android) (2018, Nintendo Switch)

Arcade game (2007–2017)

Educational titles (2004, Sega Pico) (2005, Beena) (2006, Beena) (2008, Beena) (2009, Beena) (2010, Beena) (2011, Beena)

Live-action Drama

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.

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."

The Pretty Cure films are the seventh highest-grossing anime film franchise. 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, and () from April 2014 to December 2020, 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.

+ Pretty Cure licensed merchandise sales in Japan Year Japan licensed merchandise sales Note 2004 2005 2006 Bandai toys only 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Bandai Namco toys only 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Bandai Namco toys only 2005–2013 + (+) 2014–2020 + (+) 2005–2020 + (+)

References

Pretty Cure

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