Pretty Cure Mirai ~ Spark! is a Pretty Cure fan series by Caits Meow.
Hiroko Tsubasa arrives at Mirai Academy hoping to find a sense of purpose. On her first day, she meets a variety of people, including the tomboyish gymnast Izumi and the Headmistress' stoic daughter Yasu, and rescues the excitable Muse, a priestess from the Hallowed Wellspring from a servant of the Shade Kingdom. Muse, impressed by Hiroko's resolve and recognizing her high level of spirit power, asks Hiroko to become a Pretty Cure, a magical warrior tasked with defeating the Shade Kingdom.
When a monster attacks the campus, Hiroko takes on this duty; soon afterward, Izumi and Yasu also become Cures. The newly-formed Cure trio must thwart the plans of the corrupt King Kagemera who seeks to tear down a barrier between the Shade Kingdom and Earth and very nearly succeeded at doing so in the past, only to be (barely) thwarted by Pretty Cure's predecessors.
The story is complete and can be read here
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Pretty Cure Mirai ~ Spark! provides examples of:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Done from Izumi to Shun in episode 10 and later, Kamryou to Seimono in episode 33, in order to snap their respective love interests out of brainwashing. It succeeds both times.
- And the Adventure Continues: Ends on this note, with Pretty Cure very much still active, looking forward to the adventures lying ahead of them, and ready to face any threats that might show up in the future.
- Beach Episode: Episode 19, which is set on the Yoshimoto family's private beach.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Yasu is beauty, Hiroko is brains, and Izumi is brawn.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Izumi, Hiroko, and Yasu, respectively.
- Botanical Abomination: The Tree of Wrath. Nobody knows where it came from, it's described as a "thing" only resembling a tree, it's unfathomably large and constantly growing, and its seeds produce the monsters of the week. That's not even getting into it being stuffed with multiple souls, or the fact that it can share its power with other beings, albeit at a price.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: "Pretty Cure! Spirit Unleash!"
- Cast Full of Gay: Nobody in the core team, which features two different sapphic couples, is straight, and plenty of other characters of significance, be they antagonists or supporting characters, are textually queer.
- Character Catchphrase: Hiroko has "We have to try!" or variations thereof, while Izumi has "Doesn't this just rule all?" and "You have truly crossed the line!"
- Chekhov M.I.A.: Princess Soyokaze is brought up early in-series but believed deceased, despite no body ever being produced. Indeed, not only is she not dead, she's a rebellion leader and the mother to four other plot significant characters.
- Christmas Episode: Episode 32, which also kicks off the start of the series' finale arc.
- Coming Of Age Queer Romance: Hiroko quickly develops a crush on Yasu - which she does not immediately recognize as such - and slowly comes to terms with both those feelings and her own sexuality and gender identity. Mirai Academy is implied to be a common stage for these kinds of romances in general.
- Custom Uniform: The Fukuda siblings wear white and sky blue uniforms, signifying their status as the headmistress' children.
- Dark Magical Girl: The Asjun twins, Kae and Shahei, although the latter fits the archetypal DMG personality more than the former.
- Early-Bird Cameo: In keeping with the current tradition of the canon franchise, the final episode has a brief appearance by two of the next fanseries’ leads and their fairies.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The story concludes on a high note, with the two spirit realms better off than before and every heroic character looking forward to a bright tomorrow... but Pretty Cure and their many allies have to go through a lot to make this happen, with their ultimate victory being over ten years in the making.
- Elemental Powers: Every member of Pretty Cure has them, as do a few of the villains.
- Elevator School: Mirai Academy.
- 11th-Hour Ranger: Kooyoo, Tobi, and Shahei join as full-time allies during the story's final set of episodes and become Pretty Cure themselves, alongside Kae by the final battle.
- Elsewhere Fic: Like a lot of Precure fanfics.
- Alternate Continuity: Takes place in one.
- Original Character: Pretty much all of the characters.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- King Kagemera did love his son, Tsukimera; not enough to not feed him to the Tree of Wrath prior to the series, but he did love him. He even spends his final days asking to see him again.
- Tamakushi genuinely loves King Kagemera, and stays with him purely out of this plus her own loyalty. It’s to the point that she has a Dying Dream in which he appears to guide her to the next life.
- Heel–Face Turn: The Magnificent Trio start showing signs of one around episode 19 and officially formalize it come episode 23. Seimono and Kamryou also end up defecting from the villains' side by episode 20. Finally, Shahei is brought to the side of good after being rescued in episode 31.
- Hot Springs Episode: Episode 20, which is set predominantly at a hot springs inn owned by friends of the Fukuda family.
- Ki Manipulation: What the Cures' power source, "spirit power" essentially boils down to.
- Legacy Character: What Pretty Cure is in this series, with the current team inheriting the titles and powers of their predecessors after the latter's defeat 10 years ago.
- Let Them Die Happy: Tamakushi uses her shapeshifting powers to do this during King Kagemera's final moments in episode 26, allowing the ailing king to die believing that Tsukimera was by his side and would take over for him after he was gone.
- Make My Monster Grow: Parodied in episode 14 - Kae tries this on the Trio's already-large Nikuina, but unfortunately for her, the Square-Cube Law chooses to kick in, and the creature collapses under its own weight.
- Meaningful Name: Just about every important or semi-important character has one.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: The Spirit Arms, although they show up fairly early in the plot. The Lux Carillon and the Umbra Carillon, which allow the group to perform their Combined Energy Attack form a more straightforward example.
- Mirroring Factions: What the Hallowed Wellspring and the Shade Kingdom turn out to be - they have the same origin, used to be closely allied, and parted ways after a disagreement over what form their relationship with humanity should take. While the Shade Kingdom's current regime is genuinely awful, most of its citizens are no different from the Wellspring's, whose leadership is threatening to make some ill-advised mistakes of their own.
- Monster of the Week: Nikuina are this season’s.
- Motif:
- The Four Gods: The Cures are named after them. Sealing stones featuring the likeness of the Four Gods (plus Ouryuu, the golden dragon) play a prominent role in the story as well.
- Flower Motifs: Every main character has an image flower, and flowers, especially roses, figure heavily in the iconography of Mirai Academy.
- Non-Uniform Uniform: Invoked - everyone in Mirai Academy can freely choose between pants or a skirt and a tie and a neck ribbon. Izumi especially stands out for wearing her uniform in a more disheveled fashion.
- Our Spirits Are Different: In this case, "spirit" is a catchall term for Pure Magic Beings hailing from Another Dimension. Both the inhabitants of the Hallowed Wellspring and the inhabitants of the Shade Kingdom are referred to as such. Episode 14 reveals that they can have children with humans, while episode 17 reveals that the spirits of the Wellspring and the Shade Kingdom share the same origin, even if they diverged later on.
- Precursor Heroes: There have been teams of Pretty Cure active long before this one, with the most recent example being forcefully retired 10 years prior to the story. It's later revealed that the Shade Kingdom also had its own Pretty Cure team, once, but most were killed in action 25 years ago.
- Really Royalty Reveal: Shun, Kimiko, Kae, and Shahei turn out to be Soyokaze's children and thus royalty by bloodline.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: King Kagemera and the members of the Dark Triumvirate employ this color scheme in their attire. The Shade Palace's decor is also themed this way.
- Redemption Promotion: The Magnificent Trio go from a group of borderline joke villains that Pretty Cure doesn't take seriously to respected and genuinely useful allies post Heel–Face Turn to Pretty Cure in their own right by the final battle.
- Reformed Bully: Played with in Motoko Kusakabe, an Alpha Bitch from Yasu's previous school who bullied her to the point where Yasu left the school. She returns in the present, seeming apologetic and eager to be friends with Yasu now that they're both older... But it turns out she also believes she's entitled to forgiveness simply because she said sorry, is angry that Yasu "is still salty about all that," and makes it clear that while she's not a bully anymore, she's still not a friendly person. She does seem to want to move past their previous relationship, but her idea of doing so is to simply pretend it either never happened or have Yasu accept her apology and move on. In the end, Yasu says she hopes Motoko has a nice life, but she wants nothing to do with her either way.
- Sentai: The Cures form this kind of group, naturally. Also, parodied with the Magnificent Trio, with Kae, a devoted fan of these sorts of series, deliberately invoking this.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Multiple examples:
- Yasu and Haruki Fukuda - she's a (seemingly) emotionless artist who was socially isolated until the events of the series, while he's a kendoka who wears his heart on his sleeve and seems to be on good terms with everyone in Mirai Academy.
- The Asjun sisters, Kae and Shahei form a Polar Opposite Twins example - the former is loud, brash, and not particularly good at her job, while the latter is emotionally repressed, withdrawn, and a much more competent villain.
- The Yoshimoto-Siegel sisters are also an example, with the traditionally feminine, steely, and teasing Kimiko and the masculine, soft-hearted, and earnest Shun.
- Spot the Impostor: Resident shapeshifter Tamakushi pulls this in both episode 4 and more heavily in episode 9 in an effort to poison Pretty Cure against each other.
- Story Arc: The plot is organized into these.
- Episodes 1-6 are focused on establishing the initial team and their dynamic.
- Episodes 7-10 comprise power-up episodes for the Cures, with focus on individual character development for each.
- Episodes 11-16 act as an introductory arc for Pretty Cure's two mid-season additions.
- Episodes 17-18 form a power-up mini-arc for Ouryuu and Suzaku while also introducing additional series lore and setting up future plot developments.
- Episodes 19-25 act as the introductory arc for the sixth and final team member while also establishing more series lore and creating some major shakeups in the villain roster.
- Episodes 26-31 serve to cap off each team member's character arc while laying groundwork for the finale.
- Episodes 32-35 comprise the finale arc.
- Supervillain Lair: The Shade Palace
- Terrible Trio: The Magnificent Trio, who else? They're also a Comic Trio, with Kae as the schemer, Kooyoo as the dim-witted follower, and Tobi as the "rational one".
- Three Plus Two: The present-day Pretty Cure are a team of three until episode 16, when Haruki and Jun awaken as Cures, bringing the group to a full team of five. Shun later joins the team, making this a case of three plus two plus one.
- Transformation Trinket: Pretty Cure's cellphone-esque Puricells
- Villain Teleportation
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: A good chunk of the final chapter is devoted to showcasing what the heroes and their allies are up to several months after the conclusion of the final battle.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: By the time Pretty Cure and their allies drive Hinyu into a corner at the end of episode 33, it's already too late, and he is able to set his conquest of Earth and the spirit realms into motion.
- Youkai: Most of the inhabitants of the Shade Kingdom, including the villain roster, are patterned off of them.
