”We’re All Here Together With Our Beautiful Heart Flowers!”note
Cure Blossom/Tsubomi Hanasaki:"The Flower that spreads throughout the land, Cure Blossom!"
Cure Marine/Erika Kurumi :"The Flower that flutters by the ocean winds, Cure Marine!"
Cure Sunshine/Itsuki Myoudouin:"The Flower that bathes in the sunlight, Cure Sunshine!"
Cure Moonlight/Yuri Tsukikage:"The Flower that glistens in the light of the moon, Cure Moonlight!"
The seventh entry in the Pretty Cure series, and the first since Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star to use a pair of Cures as the main characters. It also features the distinctive character designs of Yoshihiko Umakoshi, who previously served as character designer for Izumi Todo's other notable series Ojamajo Doremi.
When Innocent Flower Girl Tsubomi Hanasaki and her parents move to a new town, Tsubomi has her heart set on starting with a clean slate and changing her quiet personality to become more outgoing. Fashion-loving Genki Girl Erika Kurumi immediately attaches herself to her, and no matter how hard Tsubomi tries she just can't pry her off.
Meanwhile, Tsubomi is having a strange dream where she witnesses the last stand of a mysterious woman in white called Cure Moonlight against the sinister Dark Pretty Cure. With the last of her strength, Cure Moonlight implores two fairies — Chypre and Coffret — to search for her successor.
It turns out that Tsubomi is a perfect candidate to take up the Pretty Cure power as Cure Blossom... perfect in every area except actual competence, giving her the title of The Weakest Pretty Cure Ever. However, driven by her desire to change and protect those around her, Tsubomi slowly begins to improve herself.
Soon Erika gets into the act as Cure Marine, and together they fight against the Desert Apostles, who seek to turn the world into a desert by killing the Tree of Hearts. To speed the process along, the Apostles can steal the Heart Flowers of those going through a rough patch and turn them into Desertrians, berserker monsters who are the embodiment of that person's frustrations and insecurities. Fortunately, it's nothing that a bit of punch-based therapy can't handle.
Later on, Bifauxnen Student Council President Itsuki Myoudouin joins as Third Ranger Cure Sunshine to form a team of three. Then there's Yuri Tsukikage, the former Cure Moonlight who has yet to recover from her traumatic defeat at the hands of Dark Pretty Cure.
This installment is preceded by Fresh Pretty Cure! and followed by Suite Pretty Cure ♪.
Heartcatch Pretty Cure! provides examples of:
- Actor Allusion: We see Tsubomi wears a shirt with a numeral 7 on it in the first episode and at other times throughout the series; later we see Erika wearing a similar one. It's either because this is the seventh Precure series or because the first name of Tsubomi's voice actor is Nana, which means seven in Japanese. Nana Mizuki is the most famous actor in the show's credits.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Dark Precure. She spends most of the series as a stoic character who seems to exist only to dog Yuri and provide a strong opponent for the Cures. Then episode 47 reveals that she just wants to cement her place as Sabaku's real daughter, having been made to replace Yuri. Then episode 48 gives us her death scene proper, where Sabaku comforts his now-badly injured "other daughter" and refers to her as Yuri's sister. The vulnerability coming from the heretofore borderline-emotionless Dark as she is embraced by Sabaku and fades away makes it even more saddening.
- All Your Colors Combined: Gold Forte Burst + Floral Power Fortissimo = SHINING FORTISSIMO!!!
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Yuri is tall, dark haired and has a very standoffish personality due to her past. Her alter ego Cure Moonlight brightened the color, but still a little 'darker' than the other Cures.
- Alternate Continuity: To every season that came before it.
- Anatomy of the Soul: Heart Flowers.
- Apocalypse How: Class X, Planetary Annihilation. Dune has destroyed a green forest planet to fuel his desert power. Didn't expect that in a kid's anime, huh?
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Cure Blossom in Episode 2.Cure Blossom: Not only did you hurt Erika-san, you even trampled the flowers. I've... I'VE HAD ENOUGH!
- Art-Style Dissonance: Despite the cartoonish and heavily stylized character designs (courtesy of Yoshihiko Umakoshi, who previously did very similar character designs for Ojamajo Doremi), the show deals with some pretty heavy topics compared to other Pretty Cure installments.
- Ass Kicks You: Beautifully executed by Cure Blossom in episode six. Why she calls it a "punch" is a mystery.
- Blossom seems to be fond of this, actually. And in episode 30, both she and Marine do it in a Big Damn Heroes moment.
- Done again with her whole body in a later episode ("Blossom Body Punch"). She seems to think that any offensive thrust not performed via legs or magic is a "punch"...
- Astral Finale: The final battles are fought in space.
- Attack Reflector: Cure Sunshine's Sunflower Aegis and Cure Moonlight's Moonlight Reflection.
- Babies Ever After: A weird variation where the main characters themselves aren't the parents. After the final battle, we skip ahead at least a few months, after Tsubomi's little sister Futaba has been born.
- Badass Cape: The mascots can transform into flight capes, allowing their partners to fly. Cure Moonlight can have this without a mascot.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: The Cures and fairies can, too.
- Beam Spam: Kumojaki's choice gambit while using his Dark Bracelet.
- Beehive Barrier: Potpourri and Cure Sunshine have the power to create them.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: Sasorina's ponytail ends in a stinger that she claims can inject venom. She never got a chance to use it, though.
- Bifauxnen: Itsuki Myoudoin had quite a few viewers — and Tsubomi — convinced that she was a very cute boy... until Episode Seven. Commence in-universe Unsettling Gender-Reveal for both Tsubomi and Cobraja.
- Big Storm Episode: Episode 22 has Tsubomi and Erika fight Kumojaki and a Desertarian in the middle of a typhoon. The end of the episode has Itsuki discovering and taking in Potpourri, mistaking him for a cute doll.
- Bishie Sparkle: Happens in Episode 7 with Itsuki. Unsurprisingly enough, there are peonies in the background.
- Bland-Name Product: Kanae uses a "Nihon" camera, an obvious stand-in for a Nikon.
- Blood Knight: Kumojaki. Deconstructed in episode 46.
- Boom Stick: The Flower Tacts.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Cobraja makes a whole herd of Desertrians from the kids who haven't done their homework. Once his army is defeated, he threatens the viewers who haven't done their homework before leaving.
- Breather Episode: The first half of episode 47. Between the defeat of Kumojaki and Cobraja and the battle versus Dark Pretty Cure and Prof. Sabaku, we see how hilarious Sunacky can be.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: This time, it's "Pretty Cure, Open My Heart!"
- Cain and Abel: Yuri Tsukikage and Dark Pretty Cure. It ended relatively well, with Mr. Tsukikage acknowledging that both of them are his daughters and that Dark Pretty Cure is indeed Yuri's little sister. But not before Cure Moonlight dealt lethal damage to Dark Pretty Cure…
- Call-Back: In Episode 48, Salamander and Olivier from The Movie appear in Sabaku's Start of Darkness flashback.
- The Cameo:
- Aya Ikeda and Mayu Kudou (singers for Heartcatch's Anime Theme Song and Ending Themes respectively) make an appearance in episode 36 as members of the school's light music club.
- Mayu Kudou has done this before in Yes! Pretty Cure 5 (which she sang the Anime Theme Song of) with Kanako Miyamoto (singer for that season's Ending Themes).
- Care-Bear Stare: Any attack with "forte" in it, if Cure Marine and Sasorina's reactions to getting hit by them are any indication.
- Character Catchphrase: Tsubomi, Erika and Itsuki all have "limit phrases" used when battling against Desertrians. On the other hand, a straighter example of this would be Nanami's "A smile is the best!"
- Cherry Blossoms: Cure Blossom's signature flower.
- Combat Stilettos: All four of the Pretty Cure girls have sharp stilettos on their boots.
- Comically Missing the Point: Tsubomi just got an Unsettling Gender-Reveal about Itsuki being a girl! So, how shall Erika comfort her? "Thank goodness the Fashion Club can continue!"
- Crossover:
- When first airing on TV, the openings of Episodes 5-8 showed all the franchise's characters together in a teaser for the second Bat Family Crossover Pretty Cure All Stars movie. For the show's home video release, these were replaced by the show's normal opening.
- The main Cures of Heartcatch are set to appear in The Movie for Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure, teaming up with that show's cast.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Coupe-sama!
- Cue the Sun: When Itsuki transforms for the first time.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- When Dune finally appears to the Precures in person, he wipes the floor with them, Cure Flower included.
- Reversed in the rematch, thoguh. The girls come at him so hard, he can barely get an attack in. And then he grows big enough to literally punch the Earth.
- Cuteness Proximity: Itsuki.
- Cutesy Name Town: Kibogahana ("Flower of Hope").
- Dancing Theme: The 3D CGI from Fresh makes a return, and is more complex than last time. An entire mosh pit was rendered for the first ending.
- Darker and Edgier: Granted, the show kept to a mostly optimistic tone
(It is Rated G for all ages, after all), but after 49 episodes, some of which contains Parental Abandonment and its consequences, a dead fairy partner which then gets 
Deader than Dead, ultra-violent sibling rivalry, people forced into comas and made into mentally-unbalanced soldiers for alien forces, and several on-screen character deaths including a main character's long-lost father, which was sort-of betraying her, it's safe to say that this is one of the more dramatic and serious iterations of Pretty Cure since Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star. Suite Pretty Cure ♪ nearly kept the pattern going, but was forced to get Lighter and Softer due to the Sendai tsunami.- However, all of these dramatic and serious moments present in the show only make the theme of hope shine much brighter.
- The novels makes things actually even darker, rounding up the villains further: Kumojaki, Cobraja, and Sasorina's backstories were revealed as of why they become Desert Apostles: Kumojacky was kicked out of his dojo due to a violent outburst, Cobraja was expelled from fashion business due to his arrogance and narcissism, Sasorina... had an accident in her career as a child caretaker that killed a child under her care. But that didn't match up with Dune's. Let's see, turns out his father was a super Abusive Parent and wanted him dead, killed his mother and his nanny that tried protecting him while he escaped, all while he planned to Take Over the World, causing Dune to strike a Deal with the Devil and gain power through his sheer hatred to his father and decided that if his father wanted to take over Earth, he'll destroy it to spite on his father. Any wonder that these materials are left out in the actual show?
- Dead Partner: Yuri lost her fairy partner Cologne while battling Dark Pretty Cure and Professor Sabaku. It's why she gets mad at Itsuki for not taking better care of Potpourri.
- Deflector Shields: Potpourri and Cure Sunshine can summon these.
- Despair Event Horizon: Episode 45. Thankfully, there were a few survivors.
- Defied Trope in episode 49. When you're not the Dai-Gurren-dan, the proper reaction to seeing a giant Eldritch Abomination from outer space pummeling your planet with impunity is to tremble in despair. However, Erika instead decides that the Cures must fight it, what with being "14-year old beautiful superheroines". note
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: The opening and 2nd ending themes are played by a cassette recorder in Episode 41. It's actually even possible, since Aya Ikeda and Mayu Kudou exist in-universe, too.
- Disappeared Dad: Yuri's dad has been missing for some time. But she found him when she met with Professor Sabaku after she defeated Dark Pretty Cure.
- Disappears into Light: Cologne in episode 34, Dark Pretty Cure in episode 48.
- Dressing as the Enemy: In episode 47. And it works!
- Easily Forgiven: The movie villain, Baron Salamander gets forgiven for all the shit he pulled, including turning his foster son into a mindless monster to reclaim his former power (never mind standard villain stuff, like immediately using said power to try burning France to cinders… which failed). While Dune in the main series gets similar forgiveness in the end, he gets to be purified to the point of becoming an essentially different entity (even if he survives), while Salamander doesn't. However, Salamander had his power source destroyed so his only way is to restart his life like a normal human instead of repeating his crimes, with Olivier by his side. On the bright side, he does have a chance to change his viewpoint of "The world rejects me! I'm all alone in this world!" thanks to still having Olivier.
- Elemental Powers
- Petal Power: Cure Blossom, arguably Cure Flower as well.
- Making a Splash: Cure Marine.
- The Power of the Sun: Cure Sunshine.
- Lunacy: Cure Moonlight.
- Casting a Shadow: Dark Pretty Cure.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Infinity Silhouette.
- The End of the World as We Know It: Episode 45. Dune kills the Heart Tree, turning the entire world into a desert.
- Enemy Without: Episode 37 had each of the girls fighting their own version of one.
- Energetic and Soft-Spoken Duo: Heartcatch broke the previous color-coding trend by making Tsubomi, the pink Cure, a Shrinking Violet, while her partner Erika was a hyperactive extrovert with No Indoor Voice.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Girls think Itsuki is pretty. Many of them continue thinking this way even long after they find out she's a girl.
- Evil Counterpart: Dark Precure, who else?
- Evolving Credits: The opening incorporates Cure Sunshine and then Cure Moonlight as they join the active Pretty Cure roster.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Itsuki in the final episode. She's finally wearing the girls' uniform too!
- Eyepatch of Power / Supernatural Gold Eyes: Dark Pretty Cure's right eye. Most of the time she fights with it closed, but her power increases dramatically whenever she opens it. As of Ep. 42, both of her eyes are gold, yet her brief appearance there suggests that both tropes still apply.
- Face of a Thug: Ban-kun from Episode 18. He's got a Death Glare that scares off even the baddest of delinquents but he's actually a pretty nice guy.
- Faceless Masses: In the opening, some formless, keyhole-shaped people chase Erika and Tsubomi. Itsuki, Kanae, Nanami, and a background student are the only ones with definite shapes, but the last two become formless in the next shot.
- Fairy Tale Motifs: The Movie with Tsubomi and Olivier, Beauty and the Beast-style.
- Fake Boobs: Chypre & Coffret hide in Tsubomi's shirt to escape Sasorina in Episode One.
- Fashion Show: The co-highlight of Episode 36.
- Fashionable Asymmetry:
- Dark Pretty Cure has a singular wing and heterochromia, until Ep. 42, anyway.
- Cure Moonlight and Dark Pretty Cure both wear an evening glove on one arm. Dark Pretty Cure has it on her left, while Cure Moonlight has it on her right.
- The Fashionista: Erika, very much so, though she's rubbed off on both Tsubomi and Itsuki.
- Fill It with Flowers: Tsubomi is very enthusiastic about flowers and, in the finale when the main cast is discussing what they will do in the future, confesses her dream of becoming an astronaut to fill space with flowers.
- Finishing Move: Naturally. This time around, there are both individual sub-attacks a few standard finishers available to each Cure:
- [Theme Color] Forte Wave, a flower bud-shaped energy blast launched with the help of a tact. Sunshine forgoes this in favor of a Magic Missile Storm variant called Gold Forte Burst.
- Floral Power Fortissimo, which cloaks the cures in a battle aura for a flying charge. Usually a combination move, but Moonlight and Dark Pretty Cure are strong enough to pull it off solo. Yuri, who is aloof, contemplative, self-critical, and apparently cold but ultimately compassionate, is melancholic; Tsubomi, who is shy but kind and people-oriented, is phlegmatic.
- Shining Fortissimo, a variation where Blossom and Marine fly through Sunshine's Forte Burst for a power boost.
- Heartcatch Orchestra, which the four main cures can perform together in Super Silhouette mode. It summons a giant ethereal Cure to deliver an earth-shattering Megaton Punch.
- First-Name Basis: Episode 25 kicks off with Erika excitedly doing this with Itsuki.
- Fleeting Demographic: Young Girls.
- Floral Theme Naming: Tsubomi means "flower bud", and Erika is probably named after the flower erica. Additionally, Itsuki's name means "flowering tree", foreshadowing the fact that she eventually became Cure Sunshine, and Yuri (Cure Moonlight)'s name means "lily".
- Additionally, we have the mothers: Tsubomi's mom Mizuki (the "ki" part probably meaning "tree"), Erika's mom Sakura, Itsuki's mom Tsubaki ("camellia"), and Yuri's mom Haruna (the "haru" part meaning "spring"). And finally, Granny Kaoruko's name is formed with the kanji for "fragrance" and "child".
- Flower Motifs: All humans have a Heart Flower that's symbolic of a vital characteristic of their personalitites (thus the language of flowers is very important in this show).
- Foreshadowing: The poem read in class during the first episode, while Erika is trying to get to know Tsubomi better, hints at the themes of the eventual team members. In particular, it describes the eventual themes of Cure Moonlight, Cure Sunshine, and Cure Marine, before being obscured by the foreground dialog.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Erika, who is very extroverted, passionate and energetic but a little scattered, is sanguine; Itsuki, who is another friendly people-person who is also very disciplined and dedicated to her role as student council president and her martial arts training, is choleric;
- Friendly Fireproof: Marine Dynamite has Damage Discrimination, only blasting the hell out of the enemy.
- Friendly Tickle Torture: In the Mother's Day episode, Tsubomi asks Nanami about her mother; Tsubomi apologizes frantically when Erika tells her she's dead. Nanami is silent for a moment and then tickles Tsubomi to show she's not offended.
- From Bad to Worse: Even Heartcatch Mirage isn't enough to stop Dune. He turns into an enormous giant man in outer space and then starts pummeling the Earth with his bare hands.
- Funny Background Event: Not really "background", as there was nobody in the foreground when it happened, but at one point during the first episode, a background student was shown arriving at school after getting late.
- Fusion Dance: Infinity Silhouette.
- Gaia's Lament: Dune's main goal. He succeeds in episode 45 by wilting the Heart Tree himself.
- Gay Paree: The setting of The Movie. It's the first time a Pretty Cure movie, not counting the two All-Stars movies, takes place on Earth instead of in some fantastical land.
- Genki Girl: Erika, PERIOD.
- Girlish Pigtails: Tsubomi after her makeover.
- The Glasses Gotta Go: One of the first things that Erika does to Tsubomi as part of her "makeover". Though Tsubomi still wears them from time to time afterwards.
- Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Tsubomi, Erika and Itsuki are all doe-eyed to signal their status as heroines. On the other hand, Yuri's eyes start out narrow, but become larger once she regains her ability to transform into Cure Moonlight and starts bonding with the other Cures.
- Go Out with a Smile: A Pretty Cure's Finishing Move causes those who get hit by it to enter a state of complete bliss; if the target is a Desertrian or one of the Desert Apostles, this is accompanied by fading away and returning to human form.
- Gospel Revival Number: The second ED, "Tomorrow Song ~Ashita no Uta~".
- Graceful Loser: Both Kumojaki and Cobraja in episode 46.
- Gratuitous English: As standard for a Pretty Cure series.
- Gratuitous French: Present at various points in The Movie, due to it taking place in Paris.
- Gratuitous Italian: In the names of the Cures' Finishing Moves: forte and fortissimo.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Well, the Sunacky in Castle Planet are sand-brained.
- Heir to the Dojo: Itsuki; it's the reason she has to dress as a boy.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Cologne flew in front of an attack from Professor Sabaku to save Cure Moonlight at the cost of his life.
- Sabaku protects Yuri and Tsubomi from one of Dune's attacks in episode 48, and it kills him in the process.
- Heroic Second Wind: For Cure Moonlight after Tsubomi's speech in Episode 48, with a Theme Music Power-Up.
- Hey, Wait!: The infiltration scene in Episode 47.
- Hot-Blooded: Kumojaki and Erika. Also subverted with Kenji, who appeared to be this because of his fluffy hair, but turned out to be a rather nice guy.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Cure Blossom's first battle. It only counts for her, due to Cure Marine being Genre Savvy and Cure Sunshine being a skilled martial artist.
- Hypocritical Humor: Tsubomi lectures Mayuka in episode 44 about lying to gain popularity and then immediately lies that she's just friends with the Pretty Cure. Mayuka sees right through her.
- I Am Your Opponent: Kumojaki loves this trope. Every Desert Messenger and Precure at least likes it.
- Image Song: And yes, Toei didn't let the singing talent of three of their leads go unused. The Cures actually get three songs each instead of the normal one or two.
- Implausible Fencing Powers: Kumojaki's power-up attacks with the Dark Bracelet are pretty out there.
- Improbable Weapon User: Cobraja throws exploding photos.
- Invisible Backup Band: Considering there's an actual band playing in episode 36, it doesn't seem likely that this would come into play if not for the violin playing in the music when none of the band members have one.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet: In episode 28, Precure come across a park, which is suspiciously empty of kids for the Summer. Tsubomi says "It's quiet" and Itsuki replies "Too quiet. Something's up." Few seconds later, they're attacked by dozens of Desertrians.
- Killed Off for Real: Alas, poor Mr. Tsukikage and Dark Pretty Cure…
- Kung-Shui: Cure Marine versus Cobraja's fight causes massive damage to space platforms.
- Large Ham: Kumojaki, Cobraja, and Erika.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Itsuki Myoudouin is a girl (and Cure Sunshine), Yuri Tsukikage is Cure Moonlight. Notably the trailers didn't even bother hiding their transformations.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In episode 7, the gap between Tsubomi fawning over Itsuki and lamenting that Itsuki is really a girl is about 3 minutes. Her lamentation was…''My first love… ended in three minutes…'
- In the On the Next episode preview at the end of the first episode, Erika complains that she had already been captured, despite being a protagonist. She then groans in disappointment after Tsubomi questions whether or not she's really a protagonist.
- Legacy Character: Other Pretty Cure series had hinted at this, but Heartcatch is the first to actually show it, with Tsubomi's grandmother being a former Precure. The very last shot of the series hints that a little girl bearing a striking resemblance to Tsubomi (or at least from what we've seen of her) has become a Cure herself.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Tsubomi's "I've had enough!" Also, Kumojaki and Cobraja begin taking their battles with the Pretty Cures much, much more seriously after Sasorina is purified, seeking to avenge her death.
- Love at First Sight: According to Episode 9, Tsubomi's parents met that way.
- Love Confession: Yuri gets one in episode 42… by a childhood friend at least 5 years younger than she is.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Cure Sunshine invokes this with her Shiny Tambourine.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: First, Kaoruko mentions never having to deal with anyone like Professor Sabaku during her tenure. Then, she mentions Yuri's father disappeared some years ago while looking for the Heart Tree. Then we find out that Dark Pretty Cure and Cure Moonlight are apparently two halves of the same whole. Sure enough, he is revealed as Yuri's father in episode 47 after his Cool Mask is sliced in two.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Pretty Cure Gold Forte Burst.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Dark Pretty Cure.
- Magic Dance: Cure Sunshine dances to power up her Gold Forte Burst, for some unexplained reason.
- Magical Girl
- Magic Skirt: The normal uniforms are this. The skirts are less so while in Cure form, but they are wearing Modesty Shorts underneath.
- Meaningful Name: Just about everybody.
- Megaton Punch: Infinity Silhouette's attack.
- Merchandise-Driven: Probably the most egregious example in the franchise. The Heart Pot is a piggy bank, the Heartcatch Mirage is a jewelry box, the Shiny Tambourine lights up when spun a few times, and the Tacts have a dial that the Cures have to spin frantically to complete their spells, turning otherwise cool-looking Finishing Moves into complete Narm.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: More like three fourths through, but Super Silhouette.
- Missing Mom: Nanami (who also happens to be the star of the Mother's Day episode)'s mother has passed away.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Kenji Ban. The whole school was terrified of and saw his as a dangerous delinquent, but in actuality, he's artistic and gentle and wishes to become a mangaka against his mother's wishes.
- Mundane Utility: Erika tries to use the powers of the Marine Tact to clean her room and give herself a massage in episode 39. Coffret is not amused.
- Mythology Gag: Has its' own page.
- Never Mess with Granny: Kaoruko Hanasaki, Tsubomi's grandmother, not only won a prominent karate tournament when yonger, but was also a former Pretty Cure. Cure Flower makes a triumphant although temporary reappearance in episode 44.
- New Transfer Student: Tsubomi.
- Nietzsche Wannabe: Dune.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: Nearly everyone who are shown fighting, but especially Cure Marine in episode 46.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: The drama club in episode 16 is doing a play where an extra is playing The Ojou and tries this laugh but gets yelled at that it's not grand enough.
- Nobody Poops: Subverted with Chypre and Coffret, who poop out the Heart Seeds much like Pao-chan. The Brain Bleach is right there. This is probably why the sequence was cleaned up in later episodes.
- And then there's episode 28 where they take out an army of Monsters Of The Week… let that sink in for a few seconds.
- Non-Human Sidekick: The fairies.
- Night and Day Duo: Itsuki and Yuri, Cure Sunshine and Cure Moonlight respectively. Especially telling as their personalities contrast one another (Itsuki's more friendly and outgoing while Yuri's more quiet and reserved).
- Not So Above It All: Itsuki loves cute things, but she can't say so because she wants to be a great martial artist. To compensate, Tsubomi offers to have her join the fashion club.
- Odd Friendship: Tsubomi is a Shrinking Violet while Erika is way too much of a Genki Girl.
- Ominous Floating Castle: Wakuseijo / The Planet Castle.
- On The Next Episode Of Catchphrase: "We'll catch everyone's hearts!" uttered by Tsubomi and Erika.
- One-Steve Limit: Aversion franchise-wide: Kurumi Mimino, meet Erika Kurumi.
- One-Winged Angel: The final form of Dune in episode 49, an enormous giant man in outer space.
- Opaque Lenses: Tsubomi when wearing her glasses.
- Yuri gets these in Episode 34 when the girls ask her to take part in the fashion show and Erika starts taking her measurements just by looking.
- Pajama-Clad Hero: Episode 7 had Tsubomi race to help Erika rescue Itsuki while still in her PJ's. She doesn't realize this until Itsuki questions why she's in school in her PJ's.
- Perspective Flip: The novel is mostly told from Yuri's perspective.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Chypre and Coffret.
- Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: Nanami's mother.
- Pokémon Speak: Averted, unlike other Pretty Cure Monster of the Week, the Desertrians in fact uses the same voice to shout the frustrations of the Victim of the Week loudly. And considering that each episodes have different victims…
- Power Dyes Your Hair: The Cures all have their hair turn a lighter color during the Transformation Sequence.
- Tsubomi's hair goes from apple red to pink.
- Erika's hair goes from deep blue to bright blue.
- Ituski's hair goes from brunette to golden blonde.
- Yuri's hair goes from dull purple to bright violet.
- Power Fist: The maiden that appears when the Super Silhouette Precures use the Heart Catch Orchestra uses this to the fullest.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: As with all Pretty Cure shows, transforming into a Pretty Cure causes the girl's hair to grow. Special mention goes to Itsuki, who gets some luxurious locks when she transforms into Cure Sunshine.
- The Power of Friendship: Cure Marine preaches about it to Kumojaki in episode 46, who thinks that being strong is everything.
- The Power of Love: The power of Infinity Silhouette is Infinite Love, which was used to stop Dune's earth-shaking rampage.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Tsubomi and Erika's catchphrases, "You have gotten on my very last nerve!" and "Even if my heart's larger than the ocean, I, too, have my limits!" respectively.
- Pre-Explosion Buildup: Erika's Marine Dynamite.
- Prehensile Hair: Sasorina's ponytail is capable of extending itself and acting as an additional limb for combat, as evidenced when she tried to sting Tsubomi with it.
- Punched Across the Room: Well, Kumojaki punches Cure Marine across the space platform and through several stone pillars in episode 46. That's some Saint Seiya-level battle there.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "THIS! IS! TSUBOMI!"
- Puni Plush: Compared to previous seasons, at least. A lot of fans will be reminded of Ojamajo Doremi and Casshern Sins, both of which had the same character designer.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Desert Apostles trio.
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs and then Pummel Duel: Cure Marine versus Kumojaki in episode 46.
- Razor Wind: Kumojaki's standard attacks, which Cure Marine counters with Marine Shooter.
- Real Is Brown: Like in Yes! Pretty Cure 5, most of Tsubomi and Erika's classmates have brownish hair, the only exceptions being Sayaka Uejima and episode 15's Hiroto, both having very bright red hair.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Ban-kun is a very scary looking guy with a bad reputation… who also loves drawing weepy shojo manga of Cure Blossom and Cure Marine.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In episode 46, Cure Marine delivers one to Kumojaki while Cure Sunshine delivers one to Cobraja.
- Redemption Equals Death: Professor Tsukikage is horrified at what he has done while working for the Desert Apostles and switches sides, but quickly ends up being killed defending Cure Blossom and Cure Moonlight from Dune.
- Red Ones Go Faster: When the Cures douse themselves with red perfume, they gain a red aura and a speed boost (seen in episode 19, for example).
- Rejection Projection: Episode 16 features a drama club leader who, despite her bossy tone and closed-minded reactions to others' ideas, still gets invited to fashion club meetings and decides not to join them, but then proceeds to non-ironically mope about how they "abandoned" her.
- Retired Badass:
- Kaoruko Hanasaki, AKA Cure Flower, who has fought and defeated Dune in the past. Kumojaki and Cobraja never knew what hit 'em when they temporarily forced her out of retirement in episode 44.
- Coupe, her fairy partner, also qualifies.
- The Reveal:
- Why do the Desert Apostles run with their tails between their legs whenever they're in danger of being purified? It's because they're made from Heart Flowers themselves, making them functionally humanoid Desertians and subject to the same conditions.
- Episode 47 also counts, with regards to Professor Sabaku's identity.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Cure partners, especially Potpourri, resemble plush toys with frilly ears and small, beady eyes.
- Sailor Earth: In-Universe, when scouted for being a new Precure, Kenji, who is already making fan comics about them, imagines himself as "Cure Fire" complete with a tagline that follows the formula of the others.
- Sarcastic Clapping: Dune in episode 48, following Dark Precure's tragic death.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: The student council members (sans Itsuki) have them all the time.
- School Play: In Episode 16, the fashion club is in charge of making costumes for the school play the drama club is holding.
- Secret Test of Character: Episodes 37 and 38 pit the Pretty Cure against the Mirage Pretty Cure. Each Mirage represents the past faults that originally defined their respective Cure, and accepting those faults instead of trying to deny or change them was the only way to defeat them and get stronger.
- Self-Insert Fic: Ban-kun's doujinshi features the Precure falling in love with 'Ken', a romanticized version of himself. Surprisingly, this becomes averted since his planned ending involves the Precure giving up their crush on Ken, claiming that their friendship and duties as Precure matter more.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Downplayed with 3 of the cures here. They have ribbons that criss-cross their backs.
- Shoulder Angels: In Episode 28, Erika has these, arguing over whether to do her summer homework.
- Shout-Out:
- In Episode 5, Tsubomi (Nana Mizuki) adds rapeseed (Nanohana) to the flower arrangement.
- The red / magenta heart seeds are essentially Magical Girl Trans-Am.
- Floral Power Fortissimo is basically a very girly Giga Drill Breaker — projectiles are thrown to hold the enemy in place, complete with a colorful background (just like the galaxy background), then the girls charge at the enemy as the finishing blow, piercing through its "heart". Then, it floats for a second, while the girls strike a pose, at which point it explodes in a mushroom cloud.
- Kumojaki looks a lot like Captain Harlock.
- Yuri is the best in her class, always being the first at every test. Ami Mizuno, anyone?
- The Sunacky can only speak high-pitched "eeee!" sounds like Shocker soldiers from Kamen Rider.
- Cure Sunshine caused a lot of comparisons with a certain other child of the sun… For example.◊
- "Heartcatch Precure!: The Movie" was set in Paris and Mount Saint Michael in France, obviously.
- No, Cure Blossom isn't related in any way to Momoko Hanasaki, or Hyper Blossom, or Papillon Rose's civilian identity for that matter.
- Shrinking Violet: Tsubomi and Naomi.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Happens Once per Episode, with the heroines delivering the Shut Up, Hannibal! moments to the villains, who criticizes the thoughts of the Victims of The Week.
- Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Averted with Erika; to make up for that, we have Tsubomi, who is a Shy Red Haired Girl.
- Signature Headgear: Tsubomi has her yellow flower-shaped scrunchies, and her little sister has a bow that looks like Chypre's.
- Sixth Ranger: Cure Sunshine, whose appearance, powers, and identity — Itsuki — were revealed through leaked merchandising scans. Cure Moonlight became a Fourth Ranger in Episode 33. And then Cure Flower appears as an Extra Ranger in episode 44.
- Spirit Advisor: The power of the Heart Tree managed to revive Cologne's spirit and he gave Yuri a pep talk to convince her to take up the mantle of Cure Moonlight again.
- Spoiler Opening: The second opening, ending, and eyecatches all feature Cure Moonlight very prominently, indicating her return in episode 33.
- Storming the Castle Planet: Episode 45 kicks off an entire arc of it. Man, those Snackies can fly.
- Story-Breaker Power: Infinity Silhouette. A planet sized Precure, who's so powerful the main big bad, who also had grown to the size of the planet, can't even hit her. His punches literally bounce off her like they are nothing, and she literally defeats him with one punch. It's never seen again, not even in the All stars crossover movies that air after the series Infinity Silouette appears in ended, probably because of this trope.
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: Dune. "My hatred will never disappear!" is his response after he is only barely scratched with Heartcatch Mirage. And then he turns gigantic and starts pummeling the Earth.
- Sunny Sunflower Disposition: Cure Sunshine has a sunflower motif and is generally outgoing and optimistic.
- Superheroes Wear Capes: The girls finally got theirs when searching for the Heart Tree.
- Taking the Bullet:
- In episode 6, during battle against a Desertrian that has the power to petrify whoever gets caught in its camera glare, Erika jumps in between it and Tsubomi, getting frozen in the process.
- Cologne intercepts an attack Dark Pretty Cure meant for Cure Moonlight and the Great Heart Tree, resulting in his death.
- Talk to the Fist: Cure Marine to Kumojaki in episode 46. Also doubles as Shut Up, Hannibal!.
- Tempting Fate: Erika's "Don't worry, if powerful enemies appear, we will smack 'em down!" [[spoiler: Naturally enough, the very next scene has the Pretty Cures tasting a sample of Dune's real power. And then Dune reveals just what kind of monster he is…
- Theme Naming: Along with the floral example above, all of the Desert Messengers have desert-themed, and for the Three Generals, poisonous animals-themed names: Sasorina (a play on the Japanese word for scorpion, "sasori"), Cobraja (bonus points for "ja" being a Japanese homonym for "snake"), Kumojaki (a play on the Japanese word for spider, "kumo" and his Verbal Tic), Sabaku (from the Japanese words for "desert" and "evil") and Dune (a rare English example, referring to a sand dune).
- This Means War!: Desertrians destroy flowers. Cure Blossom proceeds to lay a massive smackdown on it.
- Threshold Guardians: Kaoruko and that hot guy… er, Coupe-sama acted as proctors for the Pretty Cures' test to receive the Heartcatch Mirage.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Infuriatingly denied. Even though Yuri has to cope with a machine-gun volley of traumatic revelations and events (her fairy partner dies forever; Sabaku is her father; Dark Precure is her genetic little sister and was created by her Brainwashed father specifically to kill her, only to die at Yuri's hands; her father leaves Yuri to comfort Dark Precure in her dying moments, her father is killed in front of her by the Big Bad) and still manages to save the world, she gets no reward or compensation for the losses she's suffered. It's an incredibly Bittersweet Ending for her character, extremely so by the standards of kids' anime.
- Time to Unlock More True Potential: Getting Heartcatch Mirage, and then getting the Heartcatch Orchestra later on, which require the main cast to undergo tests and trials.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Initially averted, with Tsubomi and Erika both being girly girls. Then Itsuki joins and is tomboy enough for both of them, increasingly evident girliness aside.
- Totem Pole Trench: The fairies disguise themselves in a trenchcoat this way in order to scout for new Precures.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The preview for episode 23 has a shot of Cure Sunshine's identity, while the preview and title of Episode 44 clearly indicate Cure Flower's reappearance.
- Transformation Is a Free Action: The Transformation Sequence is quite long as per Pretty Cure standards. And the villains and Monster of the Week do absolutely nothing to prepare for the fight while it's happening. The barrier protecting the girls justifies them not attacking.
- Transformation Sequence: This time the modesty is kept by long, flowy dresses made of light rather than the usual sparkly bodies.
- Transformation Trinket: The Kokoro and Shiny Perfumes, the Heart Pot and the Heartcatch Mirage.
- Trauma Conga Line: Yuri. Before the series even begins, she loses her beloved fairy partner after he pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to save her life and suffers a crippling loss to Dark Pretty Cure that robs her of her ability to transform. Then comes the final arc, where she is hit by a machine-gun volley of traumatic revelations and events: Sabaaku is her Disappeared Dad; Dark Pretty Cure is her genetic younger sister created by her Brainwashed father specifically to kill Yuri; Dark Pretty Cure (her younger sister) dies at Yuri's hands; her father leaves Yuri to comfort the Evil Knockoff in her dying moments; and her father is murdered in front of Yuri by the Big Bad. And she still manages to hold it together enough to Save the World with nothing more than grit and The Power of Friendship. You would think that the series would give Yuri come kind of compensation or reward for all the losses she's suffered, but no.
- Unexplained Recovery: Not only do the Desert Generals, whose recoveries are explained, manage to recover, returning to being normal humans after being purified, but Erika implies that even the Sunackies survived… somehow. Mr. Tsukikage and Dark Pretty Cure however, aren't so fortunate… Also applies to the whole world, which is inexplicably restored to normal in the epilogue after being turned into a desert despite no World-Healing Wave of any sort occurring onscreen.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Tsubomi develops a crush on Itsuki at first sight and is despondent when she learns that "he" is a girl during episode 7. (Granted, she still fawns over her now and again.) Humorously, Cobraja is pretty shocked that Itsuki is female as well.
- Verbal Tic:
- Coffret and Chypre end their sentences with "~desu".
- Potpourri slurs this into "deshu," presumably on account of being a newborn.
- Kumojaki speaks with a Tosa-dialect, which results in his use of "-jaki" and "-ze yo" to punctuate his statements.
- Villainous Breakdown: Cobraja in episode 46, after he realizes what kind of despicable (read: unbeautiful) monster he is. But he refuses to stop as he reckons it's too late to go back.
- Villain-Possessed Bystander: The show has people with wilting Heart Flowers turned into Desertrian (the Monster of the Week, combined with an inanimate object) who the Cures need to purify. Notably, both Erika and Itsuki were Victims who then became magical girls themselves.
- Villains Out Shopping: In Episode 18, the girls are helping a friend write a manga, so they go to a bookstore for supplies. At one point, Kumojaki's distinctive long red hair and White Mage longcoat cross the foreground holding some presumably extremely manly manga.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Episode 39 reveals that this is the basic dynamic between Erika and Coffret. Coffret might not have known it yet, though.
- Wham Line: See examples here.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The final episode shows everyone a year after the events of the series. The Heartcatch novel gives a proper one for the main heroines: Yuri moves back to Kyoto with her mom and attends Kyoto College, Itsuki goes to France to study fashion, Tsubomi takes up English so she can join NASA, and Erika… just wants to start a High School Fashion Club.
- Who Would Want to Watch Us?: In Episode 18, Tsubomi and Erika discover that one of their classmates has been drawing doujinshi of Blossom and Marine. However it's much lighter on Flanderization than most instances of this trope, and the girls even volunteer to help him ink it.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Itsuki. She dresses as a boy due to it being part of her duties.
- Woobie of the Week: Combined with Villain-Possessed Bystander. Each episode features a character who is having emotional difficulties, which is then taken advantage of by the villains to take their Heart Flower and turn them into a Desertrian.
- The Worf Effect:
- Subverted. The girls (especially Cure Sunshine) were shown to be able to hold their own against the Desert Apostles in the past, but once Cure Moonlight showed up, they were easily beaten up. Justified, since the Apostles were stronger thanks to the Dark Bracelets, and by the end of the episode, the three of them were nearly able to cleanse them, but only after Cure Moonlight softened them up quite a bit.
- Played straight with Potpourri's Deflector Shields. We first see him protect the Heart Tree from Dark Pretty Cure. In nearly every subsequent appearance, they break instantly to display how powerful the enemy's attack is.
- Wrecked Weapon: Cure Marine breaks Kumojaki's sword in episode 46 as part of her Heroic Second Wind. And then the fight devolves into a Pummel Duel.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Let's face it, if Kumojaki were in a Giant Mecha series, he'd be the good guy.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: The "Just the Soul" variant (at first). This is how the Monster of the Week shows up, but the Heart Flowers must have already begun to wilt themselves before the villains can invoke this. The body itself takes the form of some kind of transparent colorful crystal ball thing; and if the victim's Heart Flower wilts completely while the Monster of the Week has it, then that person dies in a way because they are in that form forever and their Heart Flowers cannot be retaken and would make the Great Heart Tree wilt more. Emphasis on "would" because the Pretty Cures are always Just in Time.
Fuwawawawaa…
