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Pink Heroine

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Two words: think pink.

Having been influenced by Sentai, many Magical Girl shows are Color-Coded for Your Convenience. And in these shows the protagonist and/or leader of the team is often the one in pink.

For a character to fall under this trope, they must meet two requirements:

  • The character must be a magical girl/boy or superhero
  • The character must be the protagonist OR the leader of their team.

There's usually a good chance this character will have a Heart Beat-Down or Petal Power attack.

This trope often crosses over with Rose-Haired Sweetie, Cheery Pink, and Princess Protagonist.

A Sub-Trope of Red Is Heroic and Pink Means Feminine.

Compare Princesses Prefer Pink, Pink Product Ploy. Contrast Psycho Pink, when pink is used for villains.


Examples

    open/close all folders 

    Anime and Manga 
  • Animal Detectives Kiruminzoo: The lead character Riko Mikogami has in her transformed state the powers of a large, noticeably pink, cat.
  • Cardcaptor Sakura: The main character, Sakura Kinomoto, is heavily associated with the color pink. One of her favorite colors is pink, her wands are pink, and her most iconic costume is the pink dress and cap from the cover of the first volume of the manga and the first opening of the anime. When the Clow Cards are converted into Sakura Cards, they also become pink. The predominance of pink in her design is likely due to her name meaning "cherry blossom" in Japanese.
  • Corrector Yui: The online avatar of the titular character's default outfit, her fairy corrector suit, is pink.
  • Cutey Honey: When the protagonist officially became a magical girl in Cutey Honey Flash, her fiery red hair was changed to hot pink. This change stuck in all future incarnations.
  • Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA: The protagonist, Illyasviel von Einzbern, wears a very frilly, pink outfit as a magical girl.
  • Milfeulle Sakuraba is the main heroine and Love Interest in the manga based on the Galaxy Angel videogames. She has pink hair, wears pink flowers in her hair, her military uniform has a pink skirt, and her Emblem Frame is also pink in color.
  • Akari Sakura of Jewelpet Twinkle☆ wears pink everyday clothing and has a magical girl dress in the same color. She's also associated with cherry blossoms, which have pink petals.
  • Kaitou Saint Tail: The protagonist's costume is pink and black.
  • All mages in the Lyrical Nanoha series have a "magic color": the default tint of their released magical energy. The title character's is pink (though as a character, she's more associated with the color white).
  • Magical Girl Ore: Saki has light pink hair, and both her idol and magical boy form wear an all-pink ensemble.
  • Magical Princess Minky Momo's trademark pink hair stays with her no matter what form she takes. Her name, Momo, means peach in Japanese, which is typically associated with the color pink.
  • Momoka of Menhera-chan has pink hair, a pink collar and a pink skirt in magical girl form, her name means "peach" and her codename is Menhera Pink.
  • Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch: Main character Lucia's tail as a mermaid is pink, and her idol form outfit consists of a pink dress, pink gloves, and pink boots.
  • In Moldiver, lead character Mirai Ozora frequently wears pink clothing and her Moldiver costume includes a small pink cape.
  • Nanako SOS: Nanako's "superhero" costume is pink.
  • Ririka from Nurse Angel Ririka SOS wears a very pink Magical Girl outfit. Even in casual attire she often wears pink.
  • The main character of Ojamajo Doremi retains an entirely pink color scheme throughout her outfit, which changes between seasons.
  • Tsubomi of Papillon Rose - her outfit is pink, her hair is pink, and her Lingerie Soldier name means "Pink Butterfly".
  • Like her Western Animation counterpart, Momoko of Powerpuff Girls Z wears a pink dress, a pink belt, a pink waistcoat and pink-banded gloves in her Hyper Blossom form. Also, her eyes are pink, she wears a pink bow, and her name means "peach".
  • The heroine of Prétear, Himeno, has both pink hair and pink eyes.
  • In the Pretty Cure franchise, the protagonist of each series is always decked out in pink. They also tend to overlap with Cheery Pink. Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure and Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure are the two very rare entries that emphasize a different color altogether for their leading cures (blue and white for Hirogaru and white+rainbow for Tropical Rouge).
    • Futari wa Pretty Cure and Futari Wa Pretty Cure MaX Heart: Although Cure Black's theme color is, well, ...black, her secondary color is pink. In official games and merchandise Cure Black is consistently grouped along with other pink Cures.
    • Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star: Cure Bloom/Bright begins the trend of having the heroine of the show decked out in pink, with a primarily magenta uniform.
    • Yes! Pretty Cure 5 and Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo: Cure Dream manages to top Cure Bloom by having pink hair as well as a pink uniform.
    • Fresh Pretty Cure!: Cure Peach manages to top Cure Dream by having a name that alludes to the color pink (Momozono/Peach), two shades of pink in her uniform, and even pink eyes.
      • Pink hair, however, is reserved for Cure Passion, whose theme color is otherwise red.
    • Heart Catch Pretty Cure: Cure Blossom manages to top Cure Peach by having all of her design points (two shades-of-pink uniform, pink-alluding name, and pink eyes), along with pink hair.
      • Her predecessor and grandmother, Cure Flower, also had an equally as pink design.
    • Suite Pretty Cure ♪: At this point, it's easier to just name aspects of the lead that AREN'T pink. The only aspect of Cure Melody that isn't pink are her eyes, which are blue. Interestingly, Cure Rhythm's color scheme is the inverse of Melody's (white with touches of pink).
    • Smile Pretty Cure!: Cure Happy manages to top all the previous heroines by having pink hair and eyes both transformed and untransformed (although it's a much darker pink untransformed).
    • Doki Doki! PreCure: Cure Heart is the first Cure to get less pink when she transforms, with her pink hair turning blonde (although she keeps her pink eyes).
    • HappinessCharge Pretty Cure!: Cure Lovely's uniform is comparatively less pink than previous Cures, though it's still her theme color. Her hair and eyes are also pink.
    • Go! Princess Pretty Cure: Like Cure Heart, Cure Flora's hair turns blonde when she transforms - unlike Heart, however, she gains pink streaks in her hair. Her outfit is also pink.
    • Maho Girls Pretty Cure!: Cure Miracle's outfit is bright pink (except the skirt, which is a lighter shade of pink), she wears a pink bow in her hair, and her hairband has a small pink witch hat.
    • KiraKira★Pretty Cure à la Mode: Cure Whip has magenta eyes in her civilian form, her hair turns bright pink, and her white dress has a dark pink frill accent, a pink bodice, a hot pink bow on her left hip, pink boots and a magenta choker.
    • HuGtto! Pretty Cure: Cure Yell has pink eyes and hair in both civilian and Cure form (although her hair is darker as a civilian), and her outfit is pink.
      • Her successor, Cure Tomorrow, aka Hugtan, also has a pink outfit in her Cure form.
      • If we focus just on the “plus two” part of the Three Plus Two team, the leader of that part, the nominally red Cure Macherie, also has a lot of pink in her design.
      • In episode 37, an explosion aftermath shows all thirteen pink leader cures jumping out at once.
    • Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure: Cure Star has hot pink hair and pink eyes in both civilian and Cure forms, her hair has light pink rings surrounding her large ball shaped buns, she has a pink choker with a gold star attached to it, her dress has different variations of pink, she wears one pink sock on her right leg, and her shoes are pink with light pink at the end.
    • Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure: Cure Grace has pink eyes in both civilian and Cure forms, her hair becomes bright pink with pale pink flowers sprinkled throughout, she wears a pink choker and a pink-and-fuchsia dress with a hot pink rose in the centre, her gloves have pink hearts, and her boots have fuchsia ankle straps and soles.
    • Cure Summer of Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure plays with this - her outfit is white with a Rainbow Motif (making her the first non-pink main character since Cure Black), but pink is one of her predominant colors, along with yellow and blue.
    • Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure: Cure Precious has both bright pink eyes and hair, and she wears a frilly hot pink headband, a light pink dress with pink detail, a pearl pink frilly petticoat, white gloves with pale pink frills and white boots with pink scalloped trim.
    • Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure: Cure Butterfly fits most of the traits associated with the pink Cures, having a pink color motif and a cheerful and kindhearted personality. However, she isn't the main protagonist — that's Cure Sky, who has a blue color motif and an energetic Fish out of Water personality.
  • Ahiru of Princess Tutu has pink-orange hair and a pink and white ballet outfit. In the manga, her outfit is completely pink.
  • Kaname Madoka, the principal mahou shoujo of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, has pink hair and, when transformed, wears pink and white though when she goes Goddess near the end of the anime, her costume is a pure white and her eyes are gold.
  • Utena of Revolutionary Girl Utena has pink hair and turns into a pink car at the end of Adolescence of Utena. In the beginning of the manga, her school jacket was pink (although her hair was strawberry blonde).
  • Sailor Moon
    • All of Usagi's transformation sequences involve pink ribbons swirling around her. Her first, second, and fourth brooches are also heavily pink. Her standard uniform is actually equal parts red and royal blue, though it was often a pink shade of red. Her eternal form also has big pink puffy sleeves. And in the first manga artbook, Usagi is associated with the color pink. Some of her early designs also show her with pink hair. This was subverted as the series went on, as Usagi came to be associated more with white/silver while her future daughter becomes heavily associated with the color pink.
    • Both Chibi Moon's transformation and uniform are predominantly pink. Like Usagi, she also has her own guardians that protect her, which also makes her the "center" of her group. Her pink hair and red eyes are meant to evoke the image of an albino rabbit's ears and eyes, and possibly the idea that Princesses Prefer Pink.
  • Amu from Shugo Chara! has a largely pink color scheme (and hair), and her default form, Amulet Heart, is the pink one.
  • Chocolat of Sugar Sugar Rune's witch dress is hot pink, complete with hot pink hat. It was black in the manga, however.
  • Karin of Super Pig transforms into a pink pig.
  • In Tokyo Mew Mew, team leader Mew Ichigo has pink hair and eyes while transformed, as well as a pink dress and weapon.
  • We Are Magical Boys: For a rare male example, we have Kaito Odagiri, who has the extremely cute and girly Tokimeki Pink transformation despite being a rough and tumble little boy.
  • In Wedding Peach, the main character has pink hair, a pink themed name (Momoko, meaning "Peach"), and a pink frill at the bottom of her dress in her Wedding Angel form. In the manga, her Fighter Angel outfit is pink as well, though the anime makes it red.
  • Yuna from Yuki Yuna is a Hero is a redhead. Her magical girl appearance has pink hair and an equally pink attire.

    Asian Animation 
  • Balala the Fairies: Only in Over the Rainbow, where the team leader, Jessi, has pink as her theme color. Subverted as she is treated as the red girl rather than pink, though her hair is still pink. For many seasons the team leader was the "yellow", Xiao Lan.
  • Xia An'an from Flower Angel has a few magical girl outfits that are prominently pink in color. This makes sense since she represents the camellia flower, which is typically pink.
  • Ari from Flowering Heart. Her hair is pink, and so are all of her outfits.

    Comic Books 
  • The Unbelievable Gwenpool: Gwen has pink highlights in her hair, wears a pink and white version of Deadpool's costume, and she (along with everyone from her home dimension) speaks in pink word bubbles. As she learns to use her Reality Warper powers, they show up with a pink motif.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • Wonder Woman and the Star Riders: While all the Star Riders but Dolphine have a little pink in their outfits, Wonder Woman is decked in almost all pink, with a magenta top, cape, boots and accents, light pink vambraces and belt and pink stars on her tights.
    • In a tie-in to Blackest Night, Diana gets a Star Sapphire power ring and the pink costume that comes with it.
  • Emma of Zodiac Starforce has a predominately pink-and-red outfit, unlike her teammates, who have light blue-and-white outfits (with their own individual color scheme). She also gains pink hair in Magical Girl form.

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animation 
  • In most of the Barbie movies, you can expect Barbie to be the one decked out in pink.

    Live-Action TV 

    Video Games 
  • In League of Legends, there are two five-person teams in the Star Guardian skinline, styled after Magical Girls. Their respective leaders, Lux and Ahri, are both pink to their teammates' blue, red, green, and purple.
  • In Persona 4: Arena Ultimax, Yukari plays the Pink Argus ranger in Phoenix Ranger Featherman Victory. Unlike many of the sentai shows the Featherman series parodies, and even some of its own installments, Feather Pink is the center ranger here.
  • Sakura Shinguuji and her successor Sakura Amamiya from Sakura Wars are rare mecha examples. Both characters in-story are at the front of the (mostly female) Flower Division in the Imperial Combat Revue, wear pink in their civillian and pilot clothes, and have a bright pink mecha to match due to having Cherry Blossoms as a motif.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog: Amy Rose has pink fur and is the leader of Team Rose.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
    • Super Princess Peach: In her first solo outing, Princess Peach gains powers, a talking parasol companion, and control over the local elements of Vibe Island on her way to save Mario and Luigi, all while wearing her frilly pink princess dress.
    • Peach falls into the role once again in Princess Peach: Showtime!. In addition to her normal dress, Peach gains a pink ribbon courtesy of her companion Stella that she can use to turn into various forms. The ribbon can also be used for attacks as well as triggering scenarios in the stages she travels through.
  • Magical Girl Pretty Miyuki, the Show Within a Show from Yandere Simulator, has the titular character's theme color be pink.

    Visual Novels 

    Web Comics 
  • Pink Starlight from M9 Girls!. Justified since she fully embraced the magical girl look when she designed the hero costumes for the team.
  • Princess Love Pon from the comic of the same name wears a white and pink-outfit.
  • Farah from Shattered Starlight has pink hair and is the protagonist and former leader of a magical girl team.
  • Tessa from Sleepless Domain has pink as her signature color, and is the leader of a magical girl team. Heartful Punch, equally pink in her color scheme, is idolized by many magical girls for being a powerful solo heroine, although she does not claim an authority position within the magical girl training club she's a part of.

    Western Animation 
  • Atomic Betty: The titular superheroine sports a pink dress.
  • Aelita from Code Lyoko has pink hair, her Lyoko avatar has also shades of same color, and in real world, she likes to wear pink and purple all over.
  • Happy Ness, the main protagonist in Happy Ness: The Secret of the Loch, is pink in color.
  • Ami Onuki from Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (her hair is magenta-pink and she is one of our two heroines from the J-pop star duo).
  • The lead singer and protagonist of Jem is pink-haired and often pink-clad. In her civilian identity, Jerrica Benton, she is a blonde but still tends to wear pink.
  • Iris in LoliRock tends to wear pink even when not transformed, but her Magical Girl form is pink and white as well as giving her pink hair.
  • Mia and Me: Mia's elf form has dark pink hair tied with a pink hair tie, she wears a short strapless pink dress, pink stocking-like boots, and has white wings with a slight touch of pink.
  • Played with by Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. She is more of a lilac in color, but her magic (from Season 2 on, as in Season 1 it was a very pale pink) and sigils are all bright pink.
  • Penelope Pitstop is a protagonist in Wacky Races while a heroine in her own show. In both cases she is kitted out primarily in pink.
  • Blossom, leader of The Powerpuff Girls, sports a pink dress as well as pink eyes.
  • In Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, Gwenevere, the main heroine, wears pink armor. Since she's also a princess, it also qualifies as Princesses Prefer Pink.
  • The titular superheroine of SheZow is decked out in several different shades of pink, though it's Played With in that she's actually male and only presents as female while on duty.
  • Steven Universe:
    • This show plays with this trope. Having been hugely influenced by the magical girl genre, the main character is indeed the one with the pink shirt and gem... the twist is that the protagonist is a boy.
    • Steven's late mother appeared to be the traditional pink heroine; her hair, gem (which Steven would later have), weapons, and even her name (Rose Quartz) are a light pink. She was also the leader of the Crystal Gems. To top it off, her true identity was Pink Diamond.
  • Though Ruby would consider herself the leader of the Trollz, Amethyst is the real protagonist and The Heart of the team; she's decked out in a bright pink as opposed to her friends' red, purple, blue, and yellow.
  • Double-subverted in Winx Club, where the main character Bloom is primarily associated with the color blue. As the series goes on she starts adding more and more pink to her outfits. However Flora remains the main source of pink among the team.
  • Will from W.I.T.C.H. wears a combination of pink and red, wields the pink Heart of Kandrakar, has a pink transformation sequence, and gains the power of pink lightning. That said, she's a tomboy and not a hugely feminine girl.

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