Everyone is a hero for someone. note
"Hop! Step! Jump! Into An Expanding World!"
Soaring Sky! PreCure (known in Japan as Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure) is the twentieth installment of the Pretty Cure franchise, preceded by Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure followed by Wonderful Pretty Cure!, and released on February 5th, 2023. As the title suggests, the main motif of the series is the sky, while the theme is heroism. It is also the 20th anniversary season.
Sora Harewataru is a brave girl from Sky Land who aspires to be a hero one day. When a monster belonging to the evil Underg Empire kidnaps Princess Elle, Sora jumps into action to try and save her. The attempt causes Sora and Elle to fall through a hole and arrive in Sorashido City on Earth. There, Sora befriends Mashiro Nijigaoka, a sweet and caring young girl. When the Underg Empire follows them to Earth, Elle gives the girls the ability to transform into the Legendary Warriors known as Pretty Cure, Cure Sky and Cure Prism, and work to return Elle and Sora to Sky Land.
Take off into the soaring Tropes:
- Action Prologue: The first episode is extremely dense with action even for this franchise. Kabaton kidnaps Elle the moment before the opening sequence plays. Witnessing this, Sora chases him endlessly to rescue her even if it means fighting Kabaton himself and his Ranborg. She ultimately succeeds in doing so after transforming into Cure Sky.
- Actor Allusion: This isn't Ayumu Murase's first time voicing a young boy whose Color Motif is orange and is associated with birds; add the beach volleyball scene in episode 30 and you get Hinata Shoyo.
- Alliterative Title: The series is officially translated as "Soaring Sky! Precure".
- A Birthday, Not a Break: The first episode takes place on Princess Elle's birthday, and she's been kidnapped due to her immense currently hidden power, being accidentally thrown into another world, as a baby no less. Fortunately, she's in good hands, being taken care of by the Cures.
- Animation Bump: The series received a notable uptick in animation quality during major fights, like episode 33 and most notably episode 49 when Dark Cure Sky fights Darkhead and is almost forced to kill Prism.
- Bait-and-Switch: Episode 32 and 33 were kept secret, partially to hide which one would see the first appearance of Cure Majesty... who actually made a partial appearance in the 31st episode.
- Every single thing releasing in or after September, including All Stars F, had modified posters and adverts that didn't include Cure Majesty, despite all of them featuring her in some way.
- The 44th episode preview featured an unknown red-haired woman in a Pimped-Out Dress and (seemingly) an older untransformed Elle, implying that Elle would grow up and the redhead was the Legendary Cure. Actually, the red-haired woman is the Undergu Empress, and the titular Princess and Cure are the same person, and the adult twin of Elle.
- The final episode has the inevitable departure scene, which would normally lead to a Time Skip Distant Finale, however, as mentioned below, even that gets subverted in record time, as they come back the following morning to hang out together, since there's zero reason, with Yoyo's mirror or the former Undergu Empire's own portal system, that they can come back as much as they want!
- Beach Episode: Episode 30 is this, also doing double duty as the last Breather Episode before returning to the main plot with Episode 31.
- Big Damn Heroes: Kabaton, Minoton and Battamonda arrive to help the Pretty Cure during Empress Undergu's invasion.
- Birthday Episode: Several episoders aired on or close to specific character's birthdays. Each episode features a special card for that character.
- Episode 6 aired on Ellee's birthday.
- Episode 16 aired on Tsubasa's birthday.
- Episode 24 aired on Mashiro's birthday.
- Episode 27 aired on Ageha's birthday.
- Episode 33 aired on Sora's birthday.
- Book Ends: Sora started her journey as a hero after Captain Shalala protected her from an attack when she was little. In the final battle, she protects her as Cure Sky in the exact same fashion. And in The Stinger, Cure Sky is shown helping a little girl that was in the same forest she was in when Shalala saved her all those years ago.
- Breaking Old Trends: It feels like this season took one look at the Precure manual and decided to shake things up:
- Sora breaks a lot of trends this go-round. While not the first non-Pink leader (being beaten to the punch by both Cure Black and Cure Summer), she is the first Blue-colored leader and the first off-world leader Cure.
- This also is the first season to explicitly have both a non-pink Cure in the opening lineup and a secondary pink Cure.note
- Cure Prism is the first Cure whose seiyuu previously appeared as a major mascot in a previous season before being cast as a Curenote.
- Cure Wing is the first male Cure to be a core member of the cast rather than just a one-off.
- Cure Butterfly is also the first core cast member Cure who is unambiguously 18 or over (physically and mentally). note
- This is the first season to not have the secondary Cures visibly appear anywhere in the first episode, or visibly show them untransformed in the first opening.note
- This is the first season since Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure to not have "Pretty Cure" as part of the transformation phrase, as mentioned below.
- This is the first season to have a Half-Human Hybrid, as episode 3 reveals that Yoyo is a Skylandian, making Mashiro at least one-fourth Skylandian.
- This is the first series to not reveal the identity of the commander of the enemy faction in the first episodes, with their first real presence being a voice-only cameo in the fifth episode.
- This is the first series not to have the full original team within the first cour of the series, with Cure Butterfly appearing during the second cour, when traditionally they're setting up for the mid-season Curenote.
- Consequently, also this means that the villain finally taking things up a notch isn't a set-up for a group finisher with the initial team (which, since KiraKira★Pretty Cure à la Mode, is usually around the 10-12 episode mark. Instead, Kabaton is taken out by the usual finishing Updraft Shining move). This also means it is the first season, at least with a mid-season Cure, where there is only a group finisher with the entire team.
- This is also one of the first instances of a Monster of the Week being able to withstand the usual finisher (which generally is a norm) but thanks to outside interference, they're still defeated by the same finishing move.
- This is the first season to have a situation where episode titles are kept secret until broadcast, with Episode 32 and 33 both being kept secret, in order to hide Cure Majesty's debut episode and her weapon's name.
- This is the first time a mascot character who becomes a full Cure doesn't automatically default to a human form around the same age as the Cures.note
- This series has the explicitly youngest active Pretty Cure, along with the oldest active Pretty Cure, in that Elle is a Cure while still being a toddlernote and Ageha is the oldest Cure that hasn't retired already.note
- This series is the first series where the current Pretty Cure witness the birth of the first, and therefore Legendary, Cure of their team in person.note
- The group finisher doesn't involve the Pretty Cure transforming into an upgraded version, instead they simply get a Battle Aura. Before this, the last series that didn't involve that was Suite Pretty Cure ♪, over 11 years ago.note
- This is the first season where the antagonists completely and unequivocally make a Heel–Face Turn and dissolve whatever group they were part of.note
- This is the first season since HappinessCharge Pretty Cure! where the final battle happens in the final episode.
- This is the first season since Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure where the next season’s leading Cure does not appear in the final episode itself.
- This is the first series since Yes! Pretty Cure 5 not to use a Super Mode.
- This is the first season since it was first started to effectively remove entirely the Distant Finale.
- Cure Majesty is the first mid-season Cure to make a full appearance in the All Stars movienote despite the movie releasing practically alongside her first episodes.
- Its tie-in All Stars movie has release plans for Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Italy, effectively releasing it all across Southeast Asia... and, for a secondary first, part of Europe, with Italy.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: During the early episodes, this happened constantly in scenes with Kabaton, including that they keep using wordplay to say his name wrong, and with Kabaton referring to any character other than the Cures and Ellee as 'side-characters'.
- In Episode 4, Kabaton calls Mashiro a 'side character' when he's surprised that she turns out to be Cure Prism.
- In Episode 5, he brazenly tells all the 'side characters' to run in terror as he begins deploying the train Ranborg.
- In Episode 6, Sora, downright pissed about him interrupting her moment, tells Kabaton that he's a waste of screen time.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: Tone Connect! Soaring Change!
- Call-Back:
- Episode 31's final battle includes reframed scenes from the intro, which were already references to Futari wa Pretty Cure.
- Shalala's thoughts when the group takes her to the mall in episode 42 are the exact same thoughts that Sora had when Mashiro took her to the mall in episode 2.
- The Cameo: Starting with episode 3, a past Cure can show up on the Mirror Pad during the credits as well as doing the short scene before the credits, with the only exception so far being episode 22. In a bit of Audience Participation, fans could vote on who gets to show up via the official Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure webpage. From Episode 32 forward, past Cures have stopped appearing.
- The list from episode 1 on is: Sky, Sky, Precious, Prism, Summer, Sky, Prism, Grace, Wing, Starnote, Yell, Whip, Miracle, Flora, Lovely, Wing, Heart, Butterfly, Happy, Melody, Blossom, Dream, Prism, Bloom, Peachnote, Butterfly, Black, Summer, Precious, Grace, Majesty, Majestynote, Prism, Sky, Butterfly, Sky, Wing, Butterfly, Majesty, Wing, Sky, Prism, Majesty, Butterfly, Prism, Majesty, Wing, Sky.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Skyland has a food that's functionally similar to taiyaki called "yakitai". They also have relay races, though they call them "raluy".
- Casting Gag: In Episode 35, Sora gets a request to be the special coach for Sorashido Academy's girls' baseball team. She does do very well though it might be because she used to commentate for a baseball season played by Heroic Spirits instead for a one-off April Fools' Day event.
- Childhood Friends: Mashiro and Ageha have been good friends since when they were kids. Flashbacks show they were both neighbours in their childhood until Agaha had to move away thanks to her mother's job, but thankfully the two of them could still keep connected.
- Child Prodigy: Elle learns to walk, speak, think for herself and even become a Pretty Cure. And all this when she's 1-year old.
- Cloud-Clearing Burst: The first part of Cure Sky's finisher, Soaring Sky Punch, has the clouds burst outwards before she flies towards the enemy and attacks.
- Colour-Coded Characters: Cure Sky is blue, Cure Prism is white, Cure Wing is orange, Cure Butterfly is pink, and Cure Majesty and Noble are purple.
- Combat Parkour: As a nod to one of Sora's specialties, the combat in this series involves heavier use of parkour from the Cures to navigate around the monsters in order to defeat them. They often scale the sides of buildings, vault around, and swing around poles to maneuver to great effect.
- Corner of Woe:
- In episode 31, both Sora and Ageha end up sitting in the lounge chairs fully depressed after Elle tells them she hates them.
- This happens again to Tsubasa in episode 40 after she tells him the exact same thing.
- Custom Uniform: Averted. Sora and Mashiro wear the same style of uniform as everyone else.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to the previous two seasons, there are elements which are considerably darker. For instance, the first episode involves a kidnapping of a baby (fortunately safe in the hands of the heroes, but still scary to know said baby is far from home), Empress Undurg, the perceived leader threatens any of her henchmen who fail too many times with death, and Battamonda's deeds are a lot more serious than many other henchmen.
- Early-Bird Cameo: As has been traditional since Maho Girls Pretty Cure!, Sora makes a cameo appearance at the end of the final episode of Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure.
- Evolving Credits:
- After Cure Wing joins the team, the opening changed to show him with Sora and Mashiro. Ageha's car now shows all four Cures in civilian form.
- Once Battamonda shows up in episode 14, he replaces Kabaton in the opening sequence. The same thing later happens with Minoton.
- The opening changes yet again from episode 19 onwards when Ageha joins as Cure Butterfly, inserting her in more scenes.
- It's updated yet again in episode 33 to include Cure Majesty at the beginning and end. The ED is updated from episode 32 onward to feature her as well.
- Fashionable Asymmetry:
- While all the Cures have slight asymmetry to their outfit, Cure Butterfly has the most asymmetry to make her design stand out against the others. This includes a long purple sock on one leg and a ribbon on the other, along with a huge bow pinned to the right side of her skirt.
- The school uniforms worn by Mashiro and Sora have the tied ribbon offset to the left.
- Finale Credits: The Credits for the final episode has the cast singing the first ending over a montage of events of the series done in the style of Mashiro's picture book.
- Foreshadowing: When Skearhead first appears, he's the only character so far who has had an explicit opinion on the situation between Skyland and the Undergu Empire, telling the Cures that their optimism and bravado is worthless, and that the Undergu Empire will crush them with their unstoppable might. Skearhead has been engineering the entire conflict for centuries, creating more and more Undergu Energy while possessing strong and powerful heroes to continue to spread his influence, with Cure Noble almost ruining his most recent attempt with the Undergu Emperor.
- For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: The Cures initially have their own costumes in Episode 39 but towards the end of it remain in their Cure forms to go trick-or-treating when they head back after the usual Kyoborg fight. Hilariously, Ellee's Older Alter Ego does not help with getting the good candy, because the one giving the Cures treats already knows her identity as a baby.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Undergu empire generals - Kabaton is sanguine, Battamonda is choleric, Minoton is phlegmatic, and Skearhead is melancholic.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Watch carefully when Cure Butterfly transforms and when performs her Soaring Butterfly Press: the explosion of energy briefly takes the form of her Hummer.
- Gassy Gastronomy: In episode 10, Kabaton devours two sweet potatoes in one bite and then unleashes a smokescreen with his flatulence, incapacitating the other Cures.
- Genki Girl: Both Sora and Ageha are always very energetic and enthusiastic.
- Graceful Loser:
- Played With with Kabaton. When he's defeated by Sky, he breaks his promise and tries to kidnap Elle anyway in fear of being destroyed by his superior, but fails. However, when Cure Sky later saves him from being killed, he admits that she's far stronger than him and decided to move on with his life.
- After being purified a second time, Minoton shakes hand with Sky and gracefully accepts defeat.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: A downplayed example with Cure Sky and Cure Prism being female. However, the tomboyish Cure Sky uses Sky Punch while the more feminine Cure Prism uses Prism Shot.
- Intra-Franchise Crossover: The Pretty Holic fashion brand returns in this series having a store in Sorashido City continuing from the previous two seasons. This time, the special variant is stationery, with the inactive henshin device doubling as a personalised pen.note
- I Should Write a Book About This: In the final episode, Mashiro decides that she'll be writing a picture book about her adventure as Pretty Cure alongside her friends, and the final ending involves her drawing about the flows of the main events of the story.
- Large Ham: Sora is very energetic and does not do anything in a non-bombastic manner.
- Living Toys: One such sentient plush, a cat named Marron, is the central focus of episode 29.
- Meaningful Name: El in Hebrew translates to God. This fits the theme of the series being sky/heavens based, on top of her coming from the heavens.
- Mundane Utility: The Sky Mirage henshin wand is first introduced, in Sora's cameo on Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure, as a stylised quill pen called the Mirage Pen, which Sora constantly uses as a pen since it's always to hand.
- Mythology Gag: Has its own page.
- Never Found the Body: Captain Shalala's body is never found after she's nearly killed by the bomb Ranborg. That's because Battamonda found her in the forest..
- Nom de Mom: Played with as Ageha's parents are divorced and her sisters have a different last name. It's revealed it's Ageha that got their mother's name.
- The One Guy: Cure Wing is the sole male cure of the team. And, indeed, the first main male cure in 20 seasons.
- One-Steve Limit: Mashiro and Ageha are unique, but other names have been used before in previous installments:
- Sora shares her name with Sora Hanasaki.
- Tsubasa shares his name with Tsubasa Momoto and Tsubasa Takami.
- Ageha's sisters are a double whammy; Maria shares her name with Maria Kasugano, Maria Hojo, and Maria Hikawa, while Kaguya shares her name with Madoka Kaguya.
- Opening Shout-Out:
- The scene from the opening where Prism and Wing pull Sky and Butterfly by the hands finally happens in Episode 31.
- The battle scene of the Cures fighting a group of rock-based Ranborgs in the opening occurs in Episode 47.
- Pictorial Letter Substitution: The English logo dots the "i" in "Soaring" with a cloud-like heart.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: For most of the series, Ellee-chan could only age up into a teenager when transforming into Cure Majesty, and would revert back to a baby after de-transforming. However, in episode 46, her age-up becomes permanent, though she is forced back into a baby if she is hungry.
- Power Dyes Your Hair: As typical for a post-Futari Wa Pretty Cure series:
- Sora's hair goes from dark blue to cyan with pink ombre.
- Mashiro's hair goes from peach brown to pink.
- Tsubasa's hair goes from orange-brown to vibrant orange.
- Ageha's hair goes from dark brown to blonde with orange highlights.
- Elle's hair gains a noticeable gradient.
- Protagonist Title: Cure Sky is the protagonist of Soaring Sky'! Pretty Cure.
- Punny Name:
- While “Hirogaru” does mean “spreading”, phonetically, it sounds like “hero girl”, which is a big nod to Sora’s love for super heroes, and makes the title read as "Hero Girl Sky! Pretty Cure" or even "Hero Girl Sora!"
- The 1st ending “Hirogarism” is a play on the words “rhythm” and “hirogaru”.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The fiery, energetic, bubbly and enthusiastic Sora and Ageha are the Red Onis while the gentle yet mature, calm and reserved Mashiro and Tsubasa are the Blue Onis.
- Screaming Warrior: Fitting the Darker and Edgier tone of the series, the Cures scream a lot more during intense battles, especially in later episodes.
- In episode 37, Cure Majesty and Cure Sky scream really loudly during the battle against the Kyoborg.
- In episode 42, Cure Sky screams as she destroys the Undergu Energy.
- In episode 44, Mashiro screams as she charges towards the Kyoborg to attack it with the giant bird she's riding.
- In episode 45, all the Cures scream during the battle against Empress Undergu.
- Shipper on Deck: Ageha does everything she can to get Sora and Mashiro talking to each other before Sora returns to Skyland in Episode 13, faking loudly snoring so they'll go outside.
- Shout-Out:
- Kabaton's design looks like Bebop from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, except purple, a lot more rotund, and without shades.
- Cure Sky's blue outfit with a red cape invokes Superman, although her design is different enough for it to be subtle.
- Sky's cape, particularly how it hangs off on one side of her shoulders, looks very similar to the capes from Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.
- In Episode 1, the website CureTube is brought up, a clear reference to YouTube.
- Cure Prism's Prism Shot looks very similar to attacks such as Stoner Sunshine, Spirit Bomb and Gaia Force particularly in the pose that she does as she charges the attack.
- Cure Wing's Sky Attack visually resembles Getter Robo G's iconic Shine Spark, in particular the more visually exciting versions used in various Super Robot Wars entries.
- Ellee's floating sling/cradle (which allows her to fly), the fact she's a target for the Undurg Empire, and that she has some psychokinesis (she was able to save Cure Wing from falling) mirrors a bit of Grogu from The Mandalorian.
- In episode 16, Ageha tells the story of Momotarō to Ellee. Later on, she and the others make a puppet version of the story using Ellee as Momotaro.
- Someone on the production team must be a Final Fantasy fan:
- The second half of Titanic Rainbow Attack, where Cure Wing turns into a giant version of his Puni Bird form, looks very similar to the Fat Chocobo summon.
- The Pals that the Azure Guard ride look like Chocobos.
- Cure Sky's corrupted form has a single black wing on the right. Yes, we all know who you're thinking of.
- Minoton says Muda, Muda, Muda during his fight with the Cures in episode 32.
- Sora is asked to clear a boulder in episode 45, she does so by using the Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken from Fist of the North Star complete with with Funny Bruce Lee Noises.
- That Was Not a Dream: Sora and Mashiro try to mutually calm themselves down in the first episode, after seeing earth technology she is not used to (Sora) and seeing a girl fall from the sky and clearly be caught by magic from a baby (Mashiro). This works...until Kabaton crashes near them too and goes on the attack, after which, and some self-pinching from Mashiro, make it clear it is not a dream.
- Token Adult: A downplayed example. Butterfly is the oldest Cure of the team, being 18 compared to the rest of the cures, who are traditionally in their early to mid teens.
- Town Girls: The athletic Sora is the butch, gentle and kind Mashiro is the femme and mature Ageha is the neither.
- Trapped in Another World: A "Reverse Isekai" example, as Sora and Elle are from Sky Land and suddenly found themselves on Earth.
- Triggered by the Name: Minoton deeply hates Kabaton for being a Messy Pig and gets annoyed at the mere mention of him, so Sora declares Kabaton's name a "taboo word" when Minoton is around.
- Visual Pun: When Cure Sky is transformed into Dark Sky, she ends up getting a single wing on her back. In other words, she's become a One-Winged Angel.
- Wham Episode:
- Episode 15 features Shalala seemingly disappearing after getting shot down by a Ranborg and Elle's parents getting hit by a dark curse by Battamonda while defending Elle.
- Episode 22 we find out that Battamonda actually found Shalala and turned her into a Ranborg; because she was near death when he did so, purifying her could very likely end up killing her—not that refusing to do so will help, as Underg Energy isn't meant to be used on humans and is slowly killing her anyway. This causes such a Heroic BSoD to Sora that she loses her ability to transform.
- Episode 31: Empress Undergu, tired of the failures of the previous generals sends a new general, Skearhead to capture Ellee. Skearhead is easily able to capture her and send her to the Undergu Empire, but before he is able to finish the Cures off, a new figure appears, transforms into a Cure and drives him off.
- Episode 44: Empress Undergu decides to personally get involve and easily defeats the Cures. But before she can start her attack on Skyland, Sora, Mashiro, and Ellee are sent 300 years into the past where they end up meeting the Legendary Cure battling with the Undergu Empire and Empress Undergu not wanting a fight to happen.
- Episode 45: Continuing from where the previous episode left off, Empress Undergu is able to get a meeting between the Legendary Cure and her father Undergu Emperor in an attempt to allow peace, only for him to reveal that it was a trick. This causes a battle to occur between the Emperor and the Cure that is only stopped when Empress Undergu jumps into the line of fire causing them to realize what they are doing with both sides agreeing to peace. Meaning the current conflict should not be even happening.
- Wham Line: Examples can be found here.
- Wham Shot:
- In the second episode, as they confront Kabaton, the picture zooms out to show that Mashiro's grandmother is watching it live on her mirror, while revealing she knows a lot more than she's letting on about Sora and Elle. This is because Yoyo's also a Skylandian.
- During the battle between Sky and the Ranborg in episode 22, the Ranborg turns around and summons Undergu Energy to from a cape on its back, the same cape that Captain Shalala wore.
- Episode 31: Skearhead looks to be about to finish off the Cures when suddenly a bright light appears overhead. The light is from a mysterious girl that Skearhead decides to eliminate first, for her to softly utter two words: Soaring Change... When the dust settles from his attack we see that she has transformed into a Pretty Cure, introducing herself as Cure Majesty, then she unloads with a Megaton Punch.
- Episode 48: Right as it looks like the Cures have gotten through to Undergu Empress and can talk things out, a spear suddenly pierces through her with Skearhead, having survived his seemingly death being the one who threw it.
- World in the Sky: Sora, Tsubassa and Ellee’s home world is made up of large islands floating in the sky.
- You Mean "Xmas": Skyland has a holiday equivalent to Christmas called Strichmas.