Hino Akane


 * This article is about the Smile Pretty Cure! character Hino Akane. For the Futari wa Pretty Cure! and Max Heart character, please go to Fujita Akane.

Hino Akane is one of the main Cures in Smile Pretty Cure!. An unusually passionate girl, she is able to get into any mood easily, and loves to make others laugh. Her family runs an okonomiyaki restaurant, and she often helps out there. In school, she is part of the volleyball team. She was born in Osaka and thus speaks in the Kansai dialect, like Tarte from Fresh Pretty Cure!.

Her alter ego is Cure Sunny (キュアサニー). She controls the element of Fire.

Personality
Being born and raised in Osaka, Akane speaks in the Kansai dialect, and refers to herself as "uchi" instead of the usual "watashi". Her catchphrase is "aka~n", the Kansai equivalent of "dame da" or "This won't do". She is also fond of saying "uchi no deban ya!" or "It's my turn now!". She possesses a boyish personality, often reflected in the way she stands or sits. However, she seems to love cute things, and has an especially soft spot for gorillas.

Akane is a passionate girl who loves making others laugh. The first impression she gives is that of the class jokester, always full of puns and jokes to make her classmates laugh. As such, she appears to be generally popular and well-liked. Her friends see her as an interesting girl who always manages to make them laugh. She has a habit of speaking her mind, which can get a little out of hand sometimes, such as when she introduced Nao, Reika and Yayoi to Miyuki as being a "female gang leader", "Miss Popular" and "crybaby" respectively, causing visible discomfort to the three. Yayoi, with her crybaby personality and fascination with superheroes, is often the target of Akane's jokes. However, there does not seem to be any ill meaning behind the teasing, and the other girls seldom take offence.

Despite all the teasing, Akane is extremely loyal to her friends. She also has a tendency to act before she thinks. For example, when she witnessed Cure Happy being defeated by an Akanbe, she remembered how Miyuki had helped her out, and immediately went to help Happy even though she had no chance of winning against the Akanbe. Her strong wish to help her friend earned her the Smile Pact and allowed her to transform into Cure Sunny.

With regards to being Pretty Cure, Akane was initially against the idea, turning down Miyuki's bold invitation. When she did become a Cure, she seems quite cool about the whole idea, ready to do her best in battle, though not overwhelmingly enthusiastic like Miyuki or Yayoi. Similar to Nao, she does not understand why Miyuki and Yayoi are so hyped up about being "superheroes", and gave Miyuki a cool reception when she insisted on the group coming up with a signature phrase. Ironically, though she loves to make puns, she was initially embarrassed by the ones made in her own Cure introductory speech.

In terms of sports, Akane is excellent at volleyball, easily beating her classmates in a friendly match. She aims to become the ace attacker of the school volleyball team, and comes down hard on herself when she is unable to perform well. She is also an independent girl, as she told Miyuki that she does not normally allow others to help her out, but gave Miyuki a chance to help her with volleyball training due to her enthusiasm and willingness. She can also be extremely focused, as she turned down Miyuki's offer to become Pretty Cure (or "kiripura" as she mistakenly calls it) as she wanted to focus on her volleyball training.

Akane's family runs an okonomiyaki restaurant, and it is probable that Akane enjoys cooking.

Relationships
Hoshizora Miyuki - Akane describes Miyuki as being a scatterbrain who can be serious when she wants to. Miyuki often showers her with hugs and encouragement whenever she feels down, and Akane values her as a true friend, risking herself to help Cure Happy, which gained her the Smile Pact to become Pretty Cure. However, she does not understand Miyuki's enthusiasm sometimes.

Kise Yayoi - Despite teasing Yayoi lots about various things, the two seem to be good friends. Akane acknowledges Yayoi's talent in drawing and often praises her about it, making the latter blush with embarrassment.

Midorikawa Nao - Akane respects Nao as a fellow sports ace, and teasingly calls her a female "gang leader". The two seem to share a close friendship, probably due to their similar personalities, and are often seen together.

Aoki Reika - Akane seems to respect Reika, expounding her position as a member of the class committee and school council. She also describes Reika as being excellent at studies and calls her "Miss Popular".

Cure Sunny


"The Sun, sansan, hot-blooded power! Cure Sunny!"

太陽サンサン熱血パワー！キュアサニー！

''Taiyou sansan nekketsu pawaa! Kyua Sanī!''

Cure Sunny (キュアサニー) is Akane's Pretty Cure alter ego. Cure Sunny has the power of Fire. Out of the 5 Smile! Cures, Sunny has the most physical strength, and can lift up Akanbe monsters single-handedly and fling them a fair distance away.

Her basic attack is Sunny Fire.

Appearance
Akane has short red hair worn in a small ponytail with long bangs on both sides of her face, held with 2 yellow hairpins on the right side. Her eyes are a matching shade of red as well. Her casual outfit consists of a loose long-sleeved orange dress-top with crisscrossing yellow stripes, red pockets and a red ribbon at the back, blue skinny jeans and red flats. She wears her school uniform with a red tie, and a orange sweater tied around her waist.

Cure Sunny has bright orange hair, the upper part of which is worn in a single bun on top of her head with a few loose strands, while the rest is around chin-length and is let down loose. Her eyes also become a bright orange. Her tiara has one angel wing attached, and she wears it on the left side of her head. Like March, she wears her earrings on the helix of her ears. Her outfit is mainly light orange, with bright orange lining and white highlights. Her sleeves are single-layered, and the bow at her chest is small with a large frilly piece behind it. The back of her top extends out in a single pastel orange frilly piece. Her arm protectors reach past her elbows, and are decorated with orange ribbons at the top and light orange folds at the wrist. Her boots are long as well, reaching past her knees with orange ribbons at the top.

Etymology
Hino (日野) - 日 has multiple meanings, but the one that fits the best will be "sun". 野 means "field" or "plain".

Akane (あかね) - Akane means Madder Red, the name of a shade of intense red. It is used mostly to describe the sun and sunset.

Trivia

 * The color of the circle depicted on the Japanese national flag is officially madder red ("akane"), and the translation of Japan's name "nippon" is incidentally "Land of the Rising Sun". Coincidentally, the shape of Sunny's Cure Decor is a circle.
 * Cure Sunny's theme color of outfit is mostly orange, though on the other hand, her transformation Cure Decor is red.
 * Akane is the first Cure to come from Osaka.
 * Akane is the second character to speak in a Kansai dialect, after Tarte from Fresh Pretty Cure!.
 * Cure Sunny is the second Cure to control fire, after Cure Rouge from Yes! Pretty Cure 5.
 * Overall, Cure Sunny is the third pyrokinetic in the franchise after Moerumba and Cure Rouge.
 * Cure Sunny, along with Cure March, are the only Cures to wear their earrings attached to the helix of the ear instead of at the earlobe.
 * Cure Sunny is the first Cure to have her Cure hair styled into a bun.
 * Akane is the second Cure after Cure Marine to be the 'Class Clown' type.
 * Akane shares her first name with Fujita Akane from Futari wa Pretty Cure!.
 * Akane shares her name "Hino Akane" with the female heroine from anime Cannon God Exaxxion, as well as one of the idol girls from The iDOLM@STER's Cinderella Girls series. The characters from Cannon God and The iDOLM@STER have their first names written in kanji (茜), while Smile! Akane has her first name written in hiragana (あかね). However, all their surnames are written in exactly the same way (日野).
 * The air date of Episode 2, in which Akane becomes Cure Sunny for the first time, is coincidentally the birthdate of her seiyuu Tano Asami.
 * Like Akane, Tano Asami is also a Kansai native, born in Hyogo Prefecture.
 * The Hino family's okonomiyaki restaurant is named after Akane.