Joyful Pretty Cure is a Pretty Cure fanseries written by TwinklingCupcake, centering around toys, happiness and kindness, and growing up. The last part includes many of the ups and downs, trials and tribulations, as the Pretty Cure are in their first year of high school and are facing a lot more than they did in middle or elementary school.
The Kingdom of Toys has been attacked by a toy jester named Pinocchio, who stole away and warped the kingdom's Reality to make the toys lifeless and listless. Afterwards, he planned to steal Earth's Reality as well, so he could sever the bond between humans and toys forever. In an effort to keep the bond and stop Pinocchio, King Drosselmeyer sent the stuffed rabbit toy Velvet to Earth as well, where she soon met 15-year-old Moe Aito, a girl who loves stuffed animals... and who quickly became Cure Sweetie.Soon, Pretty Cure become a quartet; Aika Tokuwa, Moe's academically-minded best friend becomes Cure Kindness; Etsuko Kiyowa, a girl who loves music and pop culture becomes Cure Jolly; and Lyka Caro, a tall and shy girl, becomes Cure Charity.
Together, the four of them combine their powers with Poppets, their fairy partners, to stop Pinocchio once and for all, and also deal with all that life throws at them.
It can be found on Archive of Our Own
and fanfiction.net
Joyful Pretty Cure contains:
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: Genderflipped with Moe's father; while the other parents are described as being in their forties or middle-aged, Moe's father is only 33. This would make him only 17 or 18 when he fathered Moe.
- Affectionate Nickname: Cappelia is called "Cappy" by fellow villains Pinocchio and Rags.
- Artistic License – Education: The Pretty Cure are in high school and go on a field trip to an aquarium. In Japan, high schoolers don’t go on field trips until the end of the school year, when they go on a class trip. In fact, in Japan smaller field trips begin getting phased out in middle school.
- Ascended Meme: In episode 5, Bogeybox actually mutters "I despise when people are laughing and having fun."
- Big Bad: The Kingdom of Toys was robbed of its Reality by a living jester toy named Pinocchio.
- Bunnies for Cuteness: Velvet, the series mascot, is a brown plush rabbit. The fanseries logo also has a bunny face in it.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: "Pretty Cure, Wind Up!"
- Cast Full of Gay: Many characters are LGBT+; all four members of Pretty Cure are confirmed to be not straight.
- Celeb Crush: Etsuko has an obvious crush on a singer she likes, Venus Angel. She's made references to wanting to marry them in the future, and another episode suggests she dreams about them.
- Cheerful Child: Pinocchio. While his age is ambiguous he at least resembles a young teen, and is perpetually happy and smiling, eager to play innocent games with his minions.
- Childhood Friends: Moe and Aika have been best friends since they were babies, which initially makes it troubling to them when they're accepted into different high schools.
- Curtains Match the Window: When transformed, Pretty Cure's eyes match their hair color, though one or the other will be lighter and more vibrant. Also applies to their civilian forms, though it's played with a bit in Etsuko; her hair is blonde but her eyes are dark brown.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Cappelia is revealed to have been a life-sized doll created by a toy maker in the past, in an unknown village. She gradually gained awareness and sapience, until she began walking and talking, at which point the villagers took her to be a creation of witchcraft and formed a torch-wielding mob to run her out of town.
- Daytime Drama Queen:
- Invoked in episode 6, when Moe tells a sick Velvet that "garbage TV" always makes her feel better when she’s sick at home. She gets a few seconds in before realizing Velvet is too young for the subject material and changes the channel.
- Etsuko’s sister and her boyfriend are hooked on a fictional, teen version of a soap opera. Etsuko catches a glimpse of it as the onscreen heroine is confronting a cheater while her boyfriend listens in.
- Debut Queue: Each of the first four episodes properly introduces each of the four Cures.
- Dimension Lord: Pinocchio looks like he aims to make himself this with the Reality from the Kingdom of Toys and by stealing even more from the human world.
- Dreaming of Times Gone By: Pretty Cure, the Poppets, and Velvet all visit the Kingdom of Toys in their dreams so Drosselmeyer can show them how it used to be, and what happened on the day Pinocchio attacked.
- Elsewhere Fic: As is common for fanseries in the fandom, this fanfic is a completely new continuity with original settings and characters.
- Enfant Terrible: Pinocchio resembles an adolescent, and gleefully attacked the Kingdom of Toys while declaring he was only “playing.” He appears to have no remorse for what stealing Reality did to the toys inhabiting the kingdom, and treats nearly everything with the same flippant manner.
- Everybody Hates Mathematics: Moe's worst subject is math; she gets flustered and panicked when the teacher asks her a question.
- Eye Catch: The eyecatches change from episode to episode, rotating through the four Cures in turn as they sleep/prepare for the morning.
- Frills of Justice: The Cure outfit is very frilly, with a wide skirt full of petticoats.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Moe certainly does; many other members of the cast do as well.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: A happy toy's aura is pink and gold; Gomingyō and Shadow Jacks are black and purple.
- In the Name of the Moon: Per tradition, each Cure has their own introduction.
- Intelligible Unintelligible: The Poppets all speak in a series of squeaks, and their dialogue is left completely untranslated in the text. However, both Velvet and Pretty Cure can understand them perfectly fine.
- Light 'em Up: Pretty Cure's attacks all seem to be light-based, rather than any particular element.
- Living Toys:
- Nearly every resident of the Kingdom of Toys.
- Pinocchio and his generals. All of them are dolls, though Rags is much more crudely-made than the other three.
- Velvet and the doll-like Poppets.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Classmate Yoshie is rude, snobby, and arrogant, but she does have several genuinely friendly interactions with the leads and her little sister adores her.
- Meaningful Name: Velvet gets her name from "The Velveteen Rabbit." Poppets were witch's dolls.
- Monster of the Week: The Gomingyō, a portmonteau of gomi (garbage) and ningyō (doll).
- On The Next Episode Of Catchphrase: "See you soon! Bye-Bye!"
- Paper Destruction of Anger: In episode 12, Pinocchio is given a flier advertising a toy drive. For some reason, the sight of this causes him to scream in rage and burn the flier in his hands.
- Playing Sick: Moe fakes a stomachache in episode 6, so she may stay home and tend to Velvet, the one who’s actually sick.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Michi is a man who runs the sweets cafe Sweet Dreams, has a sweet tooth, and carries around a plush hamster he’s affectionately named “Cheeks.”
- Real Song Theme Tune: Invoked; the spaces for the opening/ending theme name J-Pop songs "Hello, Everybody!" (day after tomorrow) and "Joyful" (NiziU).
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mr Shinoda, the homeroom/math teacher at Omocha High School. He's shown to be a friendly, well-liked teacher, and gently encourages Moe to study hard. Even when he's disappointed, either by her incorrect answers or appearing not prepared for class, he comes off as more of a disappointed parent who knows she can do better, rather than humiliating her.
- Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: Sometimes the characters will do this when the Poppets speak, saying things like “You think I can?”
- Save Both Worlds: Pinocchio and his team have already drained Reality from the Kingdom of Toys, and are now attacking Earth.
- Second Place Is for Winners: Aika’s classmate, Nozomi, enters a short story contest in episode 20 and receives an Honorable Mention. She’s still excited, because it was her first competition and it’s difficult to place at all. She’s eager to try again the next year, certain that she’ll win the next time around.
- Shrinking Violet: Lyka, of the main cast. She's been extremely shy in school her whole life, hoping to finally open up in high school. She does, gradually.
- Shout-Out:
- Episode 5 has the group visit Luminous Dress Up, and mention Kyoukai City.
- Said shop features an ad for a line of necklaces; star-shaped pendants with a facsimile of a ball of light inside, and the ad references an "inner star."
- Kamen Rider has been mentioned, albeit likely not a canon one.
- Episode 14 has two employees at an aquarium who named and modeled after Cures from Pretty Cure Ocean Splash.
- Etsuko and her sister’s boyfriend talk about a musical duo named Blue Moon, with songs called “Second Spin” and “Etherium.”
- Show Within a Show: Type 2; Risa is a fan of the magical girl franchise Beauty Warrior, a fictionalized version of Pretty Cure.
- Sick Episode: Velvet gets sick in episode 6, due to a combination of high stress and homesickness affecting her physical wellbeing. Pretty Cure wonders the logistics of this, since Velvet is a toy bunny, not a biological creature.
- Sickening Sweethearts: Etsuko’s older sister and her boyfriend Daisuke are this when they’re together, frequently engaging in PDA, having affectionate nicknames for one another, and Daisuke frequently spends the night at her house.
- Soup Is Medicine: When Moe fakes being sick in episode 6, her father offers to bring home soup when he returns from work. Later, the others bring soup when they visit Velvet.
- Superstition Episode: Episode 13 sees Moe breaking a school mirror, which causes her entire class to fall under a curse of bad luck. Burying the shards under the light of the moon breaks the curse.
- Theme Naming: The Poppets' names are all related to their and their partners' theme color: Rosie (pink), Celes (blue), Amber (yellow), and Leafy (green).
- Torches and Pitchforks: One such mob ran Cappelia out of the village where she was created, believing her to be the product of witchcraft.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Everyone likes waffles, and Pretty Cure frequently gather at a waffle cafe after school.
- Transgender: Aika is referred to with they/them pronouns and is feminine-presenting nonbinary.
- Transformation Trinket: The Cure Key, a heart-shaped ring with a colorful jewel in the center, which appears thanks to the Poppets' resonating with one of the Pretty Cure.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: The fierce and scary-looking gym teacher Mr Kumagai is married to a petite, pretty woman and has an adorable toddler-aged daughter.
- Villain Teleportation: Pinocchio and his generals can all do this as a result of Pinocchio stealing Reality.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Episode 15 shows Moe and Aika becoming friends in nursery school.
