Pretty Cure Mirai Spark

Pretty Cure Mirai ~ Spark! is a Pretty Cure fanseries by cyanfox27.

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, the Headmistress' stoic daughter Yasu, and the excitable Jun, who is actually Muse, an emissary from the Hallowed Wellspring. Muse informs Hiroko that she, along with two others with high levels of "Spark Energy", was chosen to become a Pretty Cure, one of the city's guardians. 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 Devil King Aseimera, who seeks to tear down a barrier between the world of demons and Earth, with potentially cataclysmic results, by sending his servants to destroy the barrier's energy and target Pretty Cure's predecessors. Two more teammates eventually join their group: Muse herself and Haruki, Yasu's younger brother.

Pretty Cure:

 * Hiroko Tsubasa (Cure Draco): The main character and the brains of the team. Usually kind and comforting but shows a fierce temper in times of duress.
 * Izumi Hamasaki (Cure Kame): An upbeat and rowdy tomboy and the acting team muscle. Lacks tact but is reliable in a pinch.
 * Yasu Fukuda (Cure Tora): The cool and aloof school princess with an icy veneer but a warm heart.
 * Haruki Fukuda (Cure Phoenix): Yasu's idealistic younger brother and the team's emotional center. He joins the team later on.
 * Muse/Jun Inoue (Cure Kirin): The cute and energetic Mentor Mascot, who can become a human girl. She becomes a Cure later on.

Allies:

 * Kisu: The other mascot, a young mouse who holds the power to create a new seal for Kyukai.
 * Elder Sol: Muse's father, who was acquainted with the previous Cures and occasionally drops in to play an advisor role.
 * Shun Siegel (Licht Panzer): A boyish-looking racer and cousin to the previous Cure team's leader. Befriends the Cures early on and later joins the team.

Devil Kingdom:

 * Devil King Aseimera: The Big Bad, who wants to ravage Earth because he can.
 * Hinyu: The de facto boss figure who plans on betraying Aseimera whenever convenient.
 * Tamakushi: A literally faceless shapeshifter and Dark Action Girl.
 * Seimono: The stoic strongman of the group and an avowed fatalist.
 * Kamryou: Seimono's timid and sexless vassal, who is a little too devoted.
 * Magnificent Trio: A "fearsome criminal gang" of would-be Psycho Rangers hired by Hinyu:
 * Kae A. Dama: The Trio's leader, a Dark Magical Girl with delusions of grandeur. Actually half of a set of very close twins.
 * Shahei A.: Kae's seemingly emotionless twin, a fellow Dark Magical Girl who acts as team medic and later, as a spy.
 * R. Kooyoo: The easy-going, if dim-witted team strongman.
 * P. Tobi: The devoted but sour Lancer of the team.

"Muse: Why were you all sad for? You're not under a spell, are you?"
 * Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Well, not really, but Nanami thinks she's running one.
 * All Your Colors Combined: Pretty Cure Mirai Storm. The Magnificent Trio has their own version, the Magnificent Tempest, which debuts much earlier... and fails horribly every time it shows up.
 * Anticlimactic Sibling: Hiroko spends a bit of episode 8 worrying about Chiaki's visit to Kyukai, convinced that her teammates will abandon her in favor of her more talented older sister as soon as they meet. When Chiaki actually shows up, nothing of the sort actually happens, and everyone spends a fairly ordinary (off-screen) afternoon together.
 * Anti-Villain: Seimono is a type I - he's shown to have actual standards and is only really serving Aseimera because because he believes himself fated to do so. Most of the Magnificent Trio also lean toward type I territory (with the exception of Kooyoo, who's more of a type IV), although Kae will swear up and down that this isn't the case.
 * Applied Phlebotinum: Spark Energy.
 * Arbitrary Skepticism: In episode 11 - despite being a Magical Girl Warrior who fights Youkai-inspired enemies and answers to a talking cat and a magical mouse, Izumi refuses to believe that ghosts actually exist. She hits the roof after finding out that yes, they actually are real.
 * Ascended Fanon: The notion that some citizens of the Devil Kingdom are transformed humans was first posited (albeit in a slightly different form) on a forum thread by one of the author's readers. The author liked the idea so much that she decided to work it in, and it does become a backstory point for one of the characters.
 * Beach Episode: Episode 18.
 * Big Sister Bully: Hiroko's sister Chiaki is implied to have been a milder version of this. Hiroko doesn't seem to resent her too much for it, though. Kimiko was an Older Cousin Bully towards Shun when they were kids. She's mellowed out a lot over the years, but she still likes teasing Shun.
 * By the Power of Greyskull: "Transmute! Pretty Cure Henshin!"
 * Call Back: In episode 8:

"Cure Draco: "The hidden azure scales, Cure Draco!"
 * Catch Phrase: Hiroko has "We have to try!", while Izumi has "This just rules everything!" and "You've crossed the line!", the latter of which usually gets shouted at the villain of the week.
 * Cats Are Magic: Well, they are the mentors here.
 * Christmas Episode: Episode 32.
 * Crossover: Episode 17 of Pretty Cure Bukatsudo Energetic sees both series' Cure teams meeting. The events of said crossover are later alluded to, albeit not shown, in this series.
 * Custom Uniform: Unlike most Mirari students, who wear parochial uniforms, the Fukuda siblings wear pristine miltary-style uniforms, much like Ohtori's student council in order to signify their status. According to Yui, they're partially a holdover from Mirai's previous uniforms, which were all military-style.
 * Dark Magical Girl: Kae and Shahei. It's not quite as evident with the former, who's portrayed as a ditsy Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, but it becomes more obvious later on.
 * Debut Queue: Played straight with the introduction of the Cures, swapped around with the early-season upgrades - Yasu, introduced third, gets hers first, then Hiroko, then Izumi.
 * Dramatic Irony: During episode 9, Kae mentions that she wants to hire (read: kidnap and brainwash) a human to replace Tobi in the Trio, with two caveats - the replacement has to be male, and he can't be anyone important to Pretty Cure. She ends up targeting Shun Siegel. Whoops.
 * Dramatically Missing the Point: Marina tells Pretty Cure that one earns their Cure Arms by overcoming a weak point - Yasu accepted that she's allowed to have emotions, Hiroko realized that she had to be strong for herself, not because she wanted to outdo Chiaki. Izumi decides that "overcome your weak point" means "train harder". Her stubbornness means that her Cure Arms doesn't appear for her in episode 9, and she doesn't realize what Marina really meant until the next episode.
 * Elemental Powers
 * Color-Coded Elements
 * Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: In episode 12, Marina's ice powers are at a distinct disadvantage against Hinyu's control of fire.
 * Personality Powers: Explicitly; the user's inner character is said to determine their Cure powers.
 * Elevator School: Mirai Academy and the neighboring Kyukai Public Academy, its non-boarding counterpart.
 * Elsewhere Fic
 * Alternate Continuity
 * Original Character
 * Emotionless Girl: Yasu initially appears to be one but soon turns out to be a Sugar and Ice Girl. Shahei is a straighter example, but even she isn't as emotionless as she seems.
 * Excited Episode Title
 * Failed Attempt At Drama: The Magnificent Trio try to come off as fearsome in their first appearance, but their "evil rangers" act (Super Sentai Stance included) makes Izumi and Hiroko burst into laughter instead. Izumi is also behind at least one of these.
 * Fashion Shop Fashion Show: Hiroko proposes that the girls do this in episode 4; she, Yasu, and Muse finally get around to it during episode 9. The dresses that a friend of the author designed for the characters put in an appearance.
 * Feminine Women Can Cook: Girly girls Hiroko and Yasu are quite good at cooking, while the tomboyish Izumi is absolutely terrible at it, to the point of somehow managing to light instant ramen on fire. On the other hand, episode 11 reveals that Shun is quite the cook, and she's far from feminine.
 * Festival Episode: Two, one for the town festival and the other for the School Festival.
 * First-Name Basis: The core trio shifts to this by the end of episode 4, while Shun prefers using it with everyone, if possible.
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The Heroine/The Smart Girl: Hiroko
 * The Big Girl: Izumi
 * The Lancer: Yasu
 * The Heart: Haruki
 * Kid Appeal Character: Muse
 * Sixth Ranger/The Big Sister: Shun
 * Team Pet: Kisu. Muse also occupies this role during the first half.
 * Flung Clothing: The Magnificent Trio pull this when shedding their human disguises.
 * Foil:
 * Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Hiroko, a (usually) sweet and accommodating Yamato Nadeshiko and Team Mom, and Yasu, a troubled and (seemingly) emotionless Tall, Cerise, and Bishoujo type.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Izumi and Yasu. Shun is both - she's the Red Oni to Kimi's Blue but the Blue Oni to Izumi's Red.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Out of the two named members of the kendo club, Haruki is the sensitive one, and Shouji's manlier. Tobi and Kooyoo are a villainous version of this.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: The upbeat and combative Izumi is the tomboy of the team, while the more traditionally feminine Hiroko is the girly girl. Other duos of this type include Yuriko and Shiori, Shun and Kimiko, and Kae and Shahei.
 * Giant Spider: The Dogou in episode 12. Marina thinks it's cute.
 * Happily Married: Emi's parents, Yamato and Mei, are this. In fact, they're too happily married, if you ask their daughter.
 * Haunted House: In episode 11, complete with the appearance of an actual ghost.
 * Her Codename Was Mary Sue: The "masterwork novel" Nanami pens over the course of the series (with help from her seven-year-old brother) is a very bizarre version - although it's implied that she's actually fully aware of this and is writing a stealth parody.
 * High School Dance: In episode 24.
 * Home Base: Fukuda Manor and sometimes, Hiroko's dorm room have ended up defaulting to this for Pretty Cure.
 * Identical Stranger: Atsuko, Kou's older sister, looks exactly like an older version of Hiroko, to the point of being almost identical in height and build. Naturally, Hiroko passes herself off as Atsuko at one point.
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Cure Kame and the Brainwashed and Crazy "E. Kasoku"/Shun have one during episode 10. Kame's "Remember who you are!" lines don't work, and she ends up insulting Shun awake.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains: The Magnificent Trio. They really want to be fearsome villains but have no idea about how to actually go about it. While they do manage to cause trouble for Pretty Cure on a personal level, it's pretty much always by complete accident, and their defeats end up with one or all of them being humiliated in some manner. The Cures stop taking them seriously fairly early on, much to Kae's distress.
 * Insistent Terminology: Nanami is called "Madame President", not "Council President", and Kae is a fearsome criminal gang leader, thank you very much.
 * In the Name of the Moon:

Cure Kame: "The forceful black shell, Cure Kame!"

Cure Tora: "The shining silver fangs, Cure Tora!"

Cure Phoenix: "The intense scarlet wings, Cure Phoenix!"

Cure Kirin: "The musical gold hooves, Cure Kirin!""

- All: "Live in tomorrow, fight for today! We are Pretty Cure!"

"Kae A. Dama: "The double-effective leader, Kae Asjun Dama!"
 * The Magnificent Trio have their own version, which only shows up once:

R. Kooyoo: "The never-ending fighter, Rasa Kooyoo!"

P. Tobi: "The razor-sharp planner, Potai Tobi!""

- All: "Fight for glory, live in the moment! We are the Magnificent Trio!"


 * Lower Deck Episode: Episode 21 is told entirely from the perspective of the Student Council and focuses on Nanami's quest to dig up more information on Pretty Cure.
 * Meaningful Name: Just about every important or semi-important character has one.
 * Memento MacGuffin: Yasu and Haruki's father bought a Maneki Neko statue to bring good luck into the house a few months before he died. Yasu is not happy when said statue gets stolen in episode 3.
 * Mid-Season Upgrade: The Cure Arms ), although they come a bit earlier than mid-season. The mid-season proper adds two more Cures, who subsequently earn upgrades of their own.
 * Minion Shipping: Seimono and Kamryou, who also fall under May-December Romance.
 * Motif:
 * Animal Motifs
 * Flower Motifs: Kimiko is heavily associated with Cherry Blossoms, while Muse's outfits have a daisy theme, and moonflower petals show up in Cure Tora's attacks and transformation.
 * Monster of the Week: Dogou, which also come in Mook form.
 * Mr. Fanservice: Spoofed with the Show Within a Show, Chrome Detective Tetsu. Hiroko wonders if Tetsu's ability to lose his shirt every five minutes is one of of his super powers. (Fittingly, his sidekick, Anna is Ms. Fanservice... at least for Izumi.)
 * Nonuniform Uniform: Izumi wears her uniform in a much more disheveled fashion, while the Student Council (yes, including Shinobu) all wear unique, color-coded neck ribbons. Shun used to wear Kyukai Public's male uniform and later dons it again when passing herself off as a high school student.
 * Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You!: Izumi tells Shun this almost verbatim after the latter recovers from her Disney Death in episode 10.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Nanami proposes to become Muse's big sister at the beginning of episode 6. From her body language and the way she starts her request, Kaoru assumes she's proposing something else.
 * Official Couple: Seimono/Kamryou is strongly implied, while Yuriko/Shiori is flat-out stated. Izumi and Shun are already showing signs of eventually becoming this.
 * One Head Taller: Shun and Izumi, Yamato and Mei. On the villainous side, Seimono and Kamryou take it into Huge Guy, Tiny Androgyne territory.
 * "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase: "Let's reach towards a new tomorrow!"
 * Our Demons Are Different: In this case, "demon" is a catchall term for nonhuman beings who hail from Another Dimension. Most of them aren't any more antagonistic than humans.
 * Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Yasu wears a pink uniform and Haruki wears a blue one. Their accessories and some of their rooms' decor, including the nameplates Yasu created for their doors are also appropriately color-coded.
 * Power Trio
 * Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Yasu is beauty, Hiroko is brains, and Izumi is brawn.
 * Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Izumi, Hiroko, and Yasu, respectively.
 * Terrible Trio: The Magnificent Trio, of course. They're also a Comic Trio, with Kae as the schemer, Kooyoo as the dim-witted follower, and Tobi as the powerless sane man.
 * Precocious Crush: Jirou, Nanami's seven-year-old brother develops one on Izumi after she saves him from a gang of bullies. She's not very happy about it. There's also Yasu's crush on her English teacher, Alan Bell.
 * Quicksand Sucks: The cake Dogou in episode 5 acts like this.
 * Red and Black and Evil All Over: Aseimera and the main Triumvirate members employ this color scheme in their attire. The Black Palace's decor is also themed this way.
 * Reluctant Monster: Episode 19 has Madoka, a plant-monster Dogou capable of transforming into a human boy and feeling emotions. He's created to infect the plants around Kyukai and entrap at least one of the Cures but soon decides he'd rather live like a normal human.
 * Sadistic Choice:
 * Sentai: The Cures and the Magnificent Trio, complete with synchronized posing. The latter takes it a step farther by sometimes summoning monsters that act like Combining Mecha.
 * Serious Business: Izumi is very passionate about pizza. Way too passionate, in fact. Kae is also a repeat offender - apparently being a "fearsome criminal gang leader" means freaking out over trivialities like someone "stealing" your intro speech.
 * Shout-Out: Numerous.
 * Kou tries to mention Lucio Fulci in episode 8 before Marina says, "Kou, the zombies can wait."
 * As mentioned above, three of the dresses in the Fashion Shop Fashion Show came from a Fan Art the author requested from a friend; the author liked the resulting designs so much that she decided to incorporate them into the story somehow.
 * Show Within a Show: At least two - Space Team Cross-3, a Sentai anime and manga that Kae (badly) cobbles ideas from, and Chrome Detective Tetsu a (suspiciously fanservice-laden) tokusatsu series about a cyborg police detective.
 * Sick Episode: Episode 20.
 * Single-Minded Twins: Kou's Annoying Younger Siblings, Takeru and Maya.
 * Sixth Ranger: Haruki, Muse, and Shun for the initial trio, a fact that was spoiled as soon as the author first started sharing ideas for the story. Nanami invokes this during the Lower Deck Episode, temporarily allowing Kou to follow the Council along just so they'll also have five members to parallel Pretty Cure.
 * Sneeze Cut: Used in the beginning of episode 2.
 * Spot the Impostor: Tamakushi tries catching Pretty Cure off guard during episode 4 by using her doppelgangers to impersonate their loved ones (Chiaki, Shun, and Haruki, respectively); later on, she assumes Izumi's form during episode 9 in an attempt to alienate her from the team (and steal their Puricells while she's at it). Both times, she's outed by fudging important details about the people she's imitating.
 * Supervillain Lair: The Triumvirate and Aseimera have the Black Palace, while the Trio have Club Tsukikage.
 * Those Two Guys: Emi and Kou, to an extent. Nanami and Kaoru combine this with Heterosexual Life Partners.
 * Through Their Stomachs: One of Hiroko's favored befriending techniques. This is also why Izumi decides to seemingly drop out of character and enter a cake contest - she's convinced that baking something for her parents will help them understand her feelings. Unfortunately, she's, well...
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Izumi loves pizza, Shouji loves soba noodles. They fight over which is better at one point. Shun is also inordinately fond of pancakes, while Kaoru enjoys donuts. Izumi also has a trademark hated food in miso, which becomes a minor plot point in one episode.
 * Transformation Trinket: Pretty Cure's cellphone-esque Puricells and Shun's wrist-mounted Mirai Changer.
 * Twin Tropes: Kae and Shahei embody a few of them.
 * Creepy Conjoined Twins: The two have one body but two faces on opposite sides of the same head. The two change who has control over their body by twisting their face forward to take over. Even the twins' teammates are a little freaked out by this.
 * Polar Opposite Twins: They even control polarized elements - darkness and light, respectively.
 * Twin Telepathy: Revealed to be an ability of theirs. Kae tends to respond to Shahei's telepathic comments out loud, making it look like she's talking to herself.
 * Unsettling Gender Reveal: During his first year at Mirai, Kou gave a love confession to the council's "adorable secretary", Shinobu... who then revealed that "she" was a boy. He still gets flak about this, primarily from Shinobu himself.
 * Hiroko develops a crush on Shun at first sight... and immediately loses it after learning "his" actual gender. Later on, Kae forcefully "hires" Shun as a replacement henchman, remaining unaware of her actual gender until Kooyoo finally points it out. Kae decides to just ignore that piece of information, to Shun's mounting annoyance.
 * Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Most of the villains seem a bit... off when passing as humans. Few people in Kyukai seem to notice unless said villains are actively causing trouble.
 * Verbal Tic: Muse tends to end sentences with "~nya" in mascot form, and every member of the Magnificent Trio has their own personal sentence-ender. Yuriko also tags many of her sentences with "ya know?".
 * Villains Out Shopping: Primarily with the Magnificent Trio, who spend a good deal of their off-time hanging around Kyukai playing pachinko machines, fetching lunch, shopping, etc.
 * Villain Teleportation
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: A type 1 example with Kooyoo and Tobi - the former thinks the latter is one of his "best buds", the latter usually tolerates the former at best. There are also type 2 examples with the bickering "siblings" Izumi and Shouji and loyal but argumentative cousins Kimiko and Shun.
 * When Trees Attack: The sentient Rage Tree, whose fruits give rise to the Monster of the Week. It also apparently feeds off of liquid despair.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: Episode 23.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Shinobu and Shun, each of whom throws at least one person off during the series.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Curtains Match the Window: All of the Cures and a few side characters.
 * Youkai: Most of the villains are patterned off of them.