[[anime]]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lt/prettycure.jpg
''Servant of the darkness...\\
... return to the shadows!''

The first series in (what would become) the ''PrettyCure'' franchise, ''Futari wa Pretty Cure'' (literally, "We are Pretty Cure") is {{Magical Girl}}s done with a low-key kind of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' approach, postmodern and self-aware.

Yukishiro Honoka and Misumi Nagisa are two eighth-grade girls who normally would have never become more than passing acquaintances. Honoka is the class brain, the class president, and chased by all the boys; Nagisa is an unrepentant jock and secret romantic who has a crush on an older boy but gets unwanted love letters from other girls. After receiving strange cell-phone like devices that house a pair of bizarre living creatures, though, they discover that they can transform into a duo of {{Magical Girl}}s -- Cure Black and Cure White, together known as Pretty Cure! Caught up in a battle against a world-spanning evil, Honoka and Nagisa find that they have a destiny to fulfill -- one that will save worlds and just incidentally make them friends along the way.

Despite being aimed at the 10-to-13-year-old girl demographic, ''Pretty Cure'' is made with a very grown-up awareness of the MagicalGirl genre, its history, and the basic silliness of some of its cliches -- and it shows. There are sly references to other ''mahou shoujo'' shows throughout, and the characters themselves -- particularly Nagisa -- seem to not quite believe what they're doing at times. (For example, after her first transformation, pose and speech, Nagisa stops cold and blurts, "What am I ''saying''?") Because it is aimed at the younger set, it doesn't get as much out of its [[PostModernism po-mo]] sensibilities as it could, but it still manages to work in a wink and a nod here and there.

''Pretty Cure'' bucks the usual formula in other ways. Firstly, the girls are very physical when fighting -- leaping, punching and kicking their foes and reserving magical attacks for the ''coup de grace''. Both girls seem to be Spider-Man-level in strength and agility, making them far more formidable in hand-to-hand combat than the usual magical girl. It's worth noting at this point that the director of ''Pretty Cure'' was Daisuke Nishio, whose resume also includes ''[[{{Dragonball}} Dragonball Z]]''.

Secondly, all their magical abilities [[WonderTwinPowers seem to come from teamwork]]; they have no solo attacks and cannot even transform into their powered forms unless they are acting in unison. Combined with the ''Buffy''-like genre awareness the characters show (not to mention the first villain, who's a dead ringer for David Bowie in ''Labyrinth''), and this makes for one of the more unusual MagicalGirl programs to come along.

YTV have signed a deal with Toei to air the show in Canada in 2009. And if you live in America, you can legally watch the subtitled version [[http://www4.funimation.com/video/?page=show&b=276 right here]], right now.

[[AlternateContinuity Alternate Continuities]] came in later seasons with ''FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'', ''[[YesPrecure5 Yes! Precure 5]]'' and ''FreshPrettyCure''.

For an even more subversive [[PostModernism postmodern]] take on the MagicalGirl genre, see ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' and its successor, ''{{Mai-Otome}}''.
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This program provides examples of:
* ActionGirl
* AllYourColorsCombined
* AlternateContinuity (at least 3 so far)
* AlternateRealityGame
* [[{{Americanitis}} Canadianitis]] (takoyaki are referred to as donuts in the dub again...)
* AndroclesLion
* AnimeFirst
* BecauseDestinySaysSo
* BerserkButton (Nagisa's friends and her brother serve as her buttons: harm them, and your life is forfeit, as Gekidrago learned the hard way in episode 11)
** Later, in episode 42, when Honoka/Cure White is in serious danger, Nagisa/Cure Black (after initially panicking and crying) [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome fights the bad guys on her own and shows of a LOT of power]], especally considering she and Cure White are supposed to get their powers from teamwork. LesYay? [[SarcasmMode Noooooooooo, of COURSE not...]]
* BigBad (The Dark King)
* BigEater (Nagisa)
* BigFancyHouse
* BrandX
* {{Bishounen}} (Several)
* CallingYourAttacks
* CatchPhrase (Arienai!)
* ClarkKenting
* ConspicuousCG (The Queen of Light, the beginning of the {{Transformation Sequence}}s), and Mepple's first appearance.
* {{Crossdresser}} (Nagisa in at least two episodes)
* CrossPoppingVeins
* DancingTheme
* DemonicInvaders
* DidNotDoTheResearch- So, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki takoyaki]] are doughnuts that are '''covered in "cheese" and herbs?'''
** At least some people on the dub made an effort- the ThemeTune begins with a shot we never would have seen otherwise.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu (the Dark King [[spoiler:loses THREE times to the girls]].)
* DownerEnding (the first season)
* {{Dragon}} (Ilkbo in the first arc)
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt
* EveryCarIsAPinto (When she was pissed in episode 42, Cure Black's BattleAura was the bolt in the differential necessary to destroy an entire subway car, making this one Every ''Subway'' Car Is A Pinto)
* EvilMinions
* EvilCounterpart ([[spoiler:Two of the heroines' classmates were used to make 'evil' Precures, but they were no better than zombies, having no superpowers.]])
* {{Expy}} (their AlternateContinuity successors)
* ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl
* FourthWall (Subversion -- not ''quite'' enough to qualify for NoFourthWall, but it's there)
* FleetingDemographic (young girls)
* FridgeBrilliance (Hikari, [[IGotBetter coming back from the dead]], makes a lot more sense when you realize her InTheNameOfTheMoon speech refers to the heart and wills of light (i.e. the Heartiels) becoming one, but makes no mention of the life of light (i.e. Hikari herself.)
* FrillsOfJustice
* GenkiGirl
* GenreBlindness (Subverted)
* GoodOldFisticuffs (Well, before they start raining hell on their opponents)
* GottaCatchThemAll (Used differently then in most series as Pretty Cure makes no real effort to collect the Heartiels [[spoiler: near the end of the series its revealed they never intended to revive The Queen and are in fact offended by the idea that they would be willing to sacrifice anyone]])
* GratuitousEnglish
* HeterosexualLifePartners
* HeyItsThatVoice (Despite not quite matching the character's usual tone (and external research), is it just me, or do I see Mepple ready to drop a [[GGundam Shining Finger]] on someone... despite his small size, or for that matter, Honoka addressing Mepple as [[FullMetalPanic Sargeant Sagara]]? Maybe she'll act [[CodeGeass All Kuudere]] to Mipple? Do not however call Hikari [[RozenMaiden Junk]] unless you want Honoka to fly at you in the [[CodeGeass Lancelot Frontier]] now would ya...)
* InTheNameOfTheMoon (mildly subverted at times)
* InvisibleToNormals - subverted most-of-the-time
* IHaveTheHighGround
* LesYay Nagisa/Honoka is, arguably, the FanPreferredCouple for this series.
* LonelyRichKid (Honoka)
* LoveLetterLunacy (Nagisa and her female admirers)
* LovelyAngels (Look at this picture, now look at [[DirtyPair this one]].. Note, jock and brain, note hair colors hmm..)
* MagicalGirl
* MagicRealism (hints of it, for instance the art gallery episode)
* {{Malaproper}} (Nagisa)
* MerchandiseDriven (rumoured, unconfirmed)
* MetaGuy
* MonsterOfTheAesop
* MonsterOfTheWeek
* MotorMouth (Shiho, who punctuates her verbal barrages with a stutter-like triple repeat of the occasional word.)
* MultipleDemographicAppeal (See note under Lolicon, above)
* NameThatTune
* NeverSayDie ("returning to the darkness"; Mipple and Mepple assure Honoka that they haven't ''really'' killed their enemies, but later on, the villains treat it as punishment and Kiriya once mentions it in a context that sounds like committing honourable suicide.)
* NonHumanSidekick (Mipple and Mepple)
* OddCouple (Honoka is a tidy, feminine intellectual from a rich family; Nagisa is a rough-and-tumble middle-class tomboy)
* {{Ojou}}
* PeripheryDemographic (adult males)
* PillarOfLight
* PostEpisodeTrailer
* ThePowerOfFriendship
* PuppyDogEyes
* QuirkyMinibossSquad
* RedOniBlueOni (Nagisa and Honoka respectively)
* RepeatCut
* RopeBridge
* SchoolPlay - with added LesYay
* SchoolgirlLesbians (implied: Nagisa's admirers)
* {{Shipping}} (Nagisa and Honoka are the undeniable postergirls for friends shipped together by yuri fans. The RomanticTwoGirlFriendship cultural view may have something to do with this.)
* ShipTease- possibly, the aforementioned SchoolPlay episode
* [[{{Shojo}} Shoujo]]
* {{Shorttank}} (Nagisa)
* ShoutOut (''SailorMoon'' and other ''mahou shoujo'' references, both straight and satirical)
* SixthRanger (Hikari's a ''Third'' Ranger)
* SlowMotionPassBy
* SnotBubble
* SoLastSeason
* VerbalTic (the mascots)
* StockFootage
* TheSweatDrop
* TeamSpirit
* TeenGenius (Honoka)
* ThisIsUnforgivable (Honoka, ''every single week'')
* TheThingThatGoesDoink
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl
* TomboyishName
* TransformationSequence
* VisibleSigh
* WaveMotionGun (Their signature attack, "Precure Marble Screw" (or "Pretty Cure Marble Twister"), greatly resembles one.)
* WeaselMascot (Mepple)
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman (see NeverSayDie, above)
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