Break The Cutie / Pretty Cure

• As Doki Doki! PreCure possibly holds the record as the darkest Pretty Cure season to date (not to mention the most family unfriendly season), Mana, Makoto, and Regina are subjected to this to varying degrees. Mana almost crosses the Despair Event Horizon when Regina gets brainwashed, rinsed and dried in episode 22. Makoto's homeworld was destroyed by the forces of King Jikochuu. And Regina... let's just say "brainwashed, rinsed and dried" doesn't even begin to describe what she has to put up with on a regular basis.
• And it wouldn't even be the first time it happens in Pretty Cure. Yes! Pretty Cure 5 has an episode dedicated entirely into breaking the Cures. First divided because of an accident, Kawarino then separately subjects them (except Nozomi) to a Curb-Stomp Battle, using a Girinma without any will of his own, and then places a Despair Mask on each of them, brainwashing them with allucinations. Nozomi isn't excluded from this since in the next episode, she despairs over her brainwashed friends...and gets brainwashed as well with that mask (minus the allucinations...like that change a thing). And with no will of their own anymore, the Cures are commanded to fall into an endless pit, which they oblige. Then they are seen in an illusion, chatting happily, unaware of their fate. Seriously... What the hell!?
• In Suite Pretty Cure ♪, Ako got this. She's only 9-years-old, being the youngest Cure known, and she has to fight her own brainwashed father, who hardly remembers her. And it's strongly implied that at first she didn't even know her father was brainwashed.
• There's also Smile Pretty Cure!, which maybe has too many, most of them involving Joker:
  • Episode 22 has Joker subjecting the Cures to a Curb-Stomp Battle and then to a Break Them by Talking. It works. They despair, Joker uses that despair and Pierrot is ready to be revived.
  • Episode 32. Joker traps the Cures in an illusory world where everything is happy, but everyone finds that following their dreams is a pain. Miyuki is the only one who doesn't immediately falls for it...then unfortunately gets Dull Eyes of Unhappiness like the other Cures. When Miyuki snaps out of it, she has to witness her friends being brainwashed and then fights an Akanbe, while said friends watch without doing anything.
  • Episode 42, this time courtesy of Majorina, who kidnaps Nao's younger siblings. Nao had to bear every attack, without being able to do anything to save her brother and sister. Majorina then targets Nao's other siblings and for a moment she thinks that her siblings died. Nao almost crosses the Despair Event Horizon, but luckily the other Cures pull a Big Damn Heroes moment.
  • In Episode 43, Joker strikes again by pulling another Break Them by Talking, this time only on Reika. It almost works, but she snaps out of it thanks to her friends.
  • At last, we have Episode 47, where the Cures finally crosses the Despair Event Horizon when Pierrot splash the Cure's book with black ink. They all fall unconscious and then we see them in a world of darkness, sinking into black ink with Dull Eyes of Unhappiness...and doing nothing to get out of there, before Candy's voice reaches out for them.
• In HappinessCharge Pretty Cure!, we have Hime and Iona. The latter lost her sister because of the Phantom Empire, while the former CAUSED the invasion of the Phantom Empire, losing her kingdom and her parents in the process. Hime has it particularly bad. While she tries to be happy, she's actually hurting a lot inside. Also, she became a Cure to save her kingdom, but was too weak to put up a fight. Namakelder makes fun of her, while Iona, before joining the Cures, openly insults her. While she starts to get better, Iona reveals about her releasing the Phantom Empire to Megumi and Yuko, breaking Hime even more, who kept it a secret from them for fear of her friends hating her. It becomes so bad, that at one point, she allucinates that Megumi wants to leave her and team up with Iona.
• Go! Princess Pretty Cure has two:
  • The first one, and probably one of the worst cases of this, is Towa Akagi, Kanata's sister, who is brainwashed as a child and then raised to be Twilight, Dyspear's daughter. Even after she's purified, she still hurts a lot. The fact that she got separated from her brother again due to his Heroic Sacrifice doesn't help either. And after that she also gets trapped by Dyspear after being subjected to a Break Them by Talking. Even after she starts recovering, she breaks down a little after finding Kanata suffering from amnesia and not remembering her. Fortunately she gets better, but she went through hell and back.
  • Another one involves Haruka, the Plucky Girl and Cute Clumsy Girl. She was bullied because of her dream of becoming a princess when she was little. She got better, but Episode 38 and 39 has an amnesiac Kanata telling her to give up her dream. Kanata himself was the one that told her to follow her dream and the first person (outside her family of course) to not make fun of her for it. She has a Heroic BSoD and Dull Eyes of Unhappiness because of that, which also fuels the despair seeds Close planted. Kanata rightfully gets a What the Hell, Hero?. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero indeed.
• Kirakira Pre Cure A La Mode does this...a lot of times to be honest. To summarize it all, some enemies pull this, either by talking, targeting the family members or other ways. At least three Cures get brainwashed (namely Ichika, Ciel and Aoi) and Himari almost falls for it, and towards the end, every Cure gets trapped in an illusory world without memories.