Higashi Setsuna

Higashi Setsuna (東 せつな) is a young girl who appears to be a teenager. She worked for Labyrinth as Eas (イース) until episode 23, and is the first of the original three members to appear, as well as the only female of the group. Her Pickrun, the Akarun, has a ribbon and wings. She can transform into Eas (イース) and Cure Passion (キュアパッション). Her catchphrase is I'll do my best! (精一杯頑張るわ！).

Appearance
When she was Eas, she had silver hair with a black hairband. A black and scarlet jacket buttoned by two red diamonds. She wore long black gloves with red bracelets attached to it, black hot shorts, black tight-high and socks with red bows and red high heels.

As Setsuna, she has dark purple hair and in her casual clothes, she was seen wearing a pale red shirt underneath a white vest, beige shorts and black boots. Setsuna's eyes are lifeless until Episode 24.

As Cure Passion, she has long pink hair with and wears a white crown-like headband with a red diamond in the center and a red heart on each side with wings. She wears a long red dress with black accents, white ruffles lining the skirt, sleeves, and bodice, and a black bow on the left. Her accessories include red arm warmers with white ruffles lining the top and bottom, red earrings, a white choker, and black leggings. Her shoes are ankle-length red and black stiletto-heeled boots.

Personality
Setsuna starts out as a cold and isolated girl, loyal only to Moebius and acts sly. When she, as Setsuna, meets Love, Love's nature and the "happiness" Love shows her and makes her slightly open up to the girls. She begins to open her heart, cracking piece by piece to them but is too stubborn to realize it. She has a stubborn mind, however, as she refuses to accept the fact that she has weaknesses. This is shown every time Soular or Westar asks her about Pretty Cure after losing to them, in which she throws small fits and leaves, usually thinking that she will be the one defeating Pretty Cure.

After switching sides, she seems to have lost most of her stubborn mind, and is typically sweet, reserved, and patient, though her nature may be due to naivety and guilt when she remembers her sins of doing evil things and hurting her friends in the past but got over it when she faced her real self with the help from her friends, which was shown in Episode 25. She then becomes kind-hearted and loves her friends. Setsuna is also very wise, and tends to think fast.

Eas
Eas first meets Momozono Love while working at the Labyrinth fortune-telling house. She, disguised as Setsuna at the time, tells Love that she will soon "encounter great happiness." Later on, Eas disrupts the Trinity concert where Love is in by summoning a Nakewameke that attacks Chinen Miyuki, the leader of the dance trio. However, Eas then witnesses that Love gains the ability to transform into Cure Peach and defeat the monster. Eas retreats into the shadows, stating with a cold laugh that she was sure they would meet again.

Eas, now as Setsuna, finds Love playing Lucky Draw in town and asks her for a tour of the town. During and after the tour, she tries to steal Love's Linkrun. After the repeated failures, Setsuna receives a clover necklace from Love, which is just an item to show she is friendly at first. Setsuna and Love meet again later, this time with Miki and Inori with her. During a get-together, Setsuna tries once again to steal Love's Linkrun, but when it reacts, she puts it down.

Moebius begins to realize that something is hindering Setsuna, as Eas, from eliminating Pretty Cure, so he gives her the Nakisakebe cards. Upon using it, thorny, black vines dig into her skin. It is not until Pretty Cure defeat it after a hard battle that she is saved. The third time the card is used, the Akarun is spotted in town, but has a hard time choosing its master. The vines fully bind her, but the Nakisakebe is defeated, stopping any further damage.

Resurrection
Soular talks to Eas after the third defeat, because Moebius has given her one last chance to defeat Pretty Cure. During the fourth Nakisakebe attack, Cure Peach encounters Eas. Setsuna reveals her human identity and breaks the clover necklace. After a final battle between her and Cure Peach, Eas' body dies due to her life being offered. She, however is saved by the Akarun, giving her a new form: Cure Passion. Although Love accepts her immediately, she walks away, conflicted on what to do.

Setsuna has realized that now that Labyrinth has kicked her out, she has no place to go. While wandering the streets, she meets Love and her family, who are going to a restaurant to eat. Love convinces her to join and Setsuna begins to enjoy herself more. Westar, wanting to confirm Eas has switched sides and possibly get her back, attacks the city with a tower turned Nakewameke. Cure Peach first confronts the menace on her own, but then Setsuna, realizing that she has felt more happy spending time with Love, becomes Cure Passion and uses Happiness Hurricane to purify the Nakewameke. Love's mother offers to let Setsuna stay in their house, to which she accepts.

Setsuna and Cure Passion
Although Setsuna is adapting to the society of a normal girl, she is still haunted by her past deeds as Eas everywhere she goes. However, she is backed up by the rest of Pretty Cure, and when a Nakewameke representing Eas, attacks the girls, she confronts the fake and defeats her with the girls, putting her past to rest. She later on feels that she should start dancing with the girls, becoming a part of their dancing group Clover, and although she hesitates, she gets help from Inori.

Setsuna transfers to Love's school. She proves to be quite capable and hard working, answering math problems correctly and playing sports well. This gathers the attention of a lot of fans, and she becomes popular, to Daisuke's dismay. After Westar turns a pitching machine into a Nakewameke, Cure Berry uses the Burun to change the group uniforms. Setsuna gets a home run, and all four finish off the Nakewameke.

One day, when Setsuna and Love have been out shopping, Setsuna wonders how Labyrinth is doing with their mission. While eating donuts at Kaoru's shop, she explains what Infinity is and why the Labyrinth is after it. Though the girls are worried about it, they decide to do their best beating the villains. On their way home, they are told by several people good things that are going to happen the day after. It turns out that, after defeating Labyrinth and the Nakewameke that stopped the clock, that Chiffon actually is Infinity, before said, Chiffon disappears.

Leaving to Labyrinth
When Chiffon was captured by Northa and went to Labyrinth, The Pretty Cures discovered that Labyrinth is taking control of all of the parallel worlds and will be destroyed if they don't make it to save Chiffon and defeat Labyrinth. They had no choice but to tell their friends and family they're Pretty Cures, transformed in front of their eyes and explained to them everything and that they are going to Labryinth. When Setsuna was about to use her Linkrun to teleport her and the others, their parents stopped them saying it was too dangerous and said what was going to happen if they don't survive. So they changed back to girls and stayed for a short while of what their Parents decide but they can't waid any longer so they ran away but their parents knew about this but came back to say good bye and promised to come back. Soon they transformed to Pretty Cures and were teleported to Labyrinth.

The Pretty Cures got to Labyrinth and luckily for them, Cure Passion is their guide book for Labyrinth since she used to be a denizen and was a high rank. Then they saw a group of people heading to Moebius Tower and she said that they must be in the line or they'll be spotted. They see a old man carrying a heavy box and Love wanted to help him but Setsuna stopped her telling that if she does that, they'll be spotted so they left the old man as it is saying "Everything for Lord Moebuis" with the other Denizens that the Pretty Cures are sorry that it is how Labyrinth is. When they got to the Tower, they've made a run but then were discovered by Moebius and Klein. When they got to the enterance, a Sorewatase appeared and attacked the Pretty Cures. They destroyed the monster and went inside. Cure Passion led the way to Moebius but went to here and there that it was a maze and a different halls that were changing that Cure Passion cannot the way. Suddenly another Sorewatase came back to get them and when they about to fight, 2 portals came from the floor suddenly appeared separating Passion and Berry from Peach and Pine. They were teleported to the Waste Processing Plant and confronted Soular and Westar. Passion fought with Westar and Berry against Soular. Westar tried to convince Passion to come back to Labyrinth and kept calling her Eas. Passion tried to convince him too telling him that Moebuis is using him as trash and telling him if the world is Labryinth, he won't eat doughnuts which are his Happiness. Just as Westar was about to finish her, the delete hole was summoned. Passion tried to run away but her foot got stuck by wires and a broken machine was about to hit her but then Westar saved her and ripped the wires to get her foot out. Westar told Passion that he was a fool and a trash but Passion told him that he wasn't but a kind friend that acted as a comrade even though she betrayed him and he kept calling her name. But then Westar and Soular were sucked in leaving Passion and Berry in grief losing their friends as they sacrificed themselves to the Pretty Cures.

Defeating Mobieus and Saving Labyrinth
They soon reunited with Peach and Pine but then Northa then appeared and turn to her true monster form. They tried to fight it and used Happiness Hurricane, Love Sunshine Fresh, Healing Prayer Fresh, and Espoir Shower Fresh and defeated her. Just then, Klein appeared, showing them his horrid, true, monster form/self and combined him and Northa into 1 as a monster. It was powerful, they manage to tire it out and used Lucky Clover Grand Finale, but it manage to resist it and threw them to the ground. They were about to give up but then a girl came over to help Peach. She told her that she and the Pretty Cures saved them and she want's to help them which gave a little spirit to them. Everyone in Labyrinth came to cheer them on. Westar and Soular then appeared telling them not to give up. Passion and Berry were so happy they were Alive. The Monster was about to attack but Westar and Soular protected them and the people of Labyrinth. People of Labyrinth tried to stay strong and encouraged the Pretty Cures with their hearts to stand and don't give up. The Pretty Cure will stand up for them and thanks to the hearts of the people of Labyrinth, they gave the Precures power and transformed into Cure Angel. They defeated the monster and flew to the tower to save Chiffon. They encountered Moebius and saw Chiffon.Cure Passion used her Passion Harp and used Happiness Hurricane to try to convince Moebius into joining the good. But, It backfired because he was a robot. He then attacked Pretty Cure and took control of them but they regained consciousness. Everyone collected a lot of heart to prepare the Loving True Heart Fresh!!. With the attack, Chiffon regained consciousness and turn to it's original form, defeated Moebius and saved the parallel worlds. Labyrinth soon cheered for this victory and Precure, Soular, Westar, Tarte, Azukina and Chiffon went back to Clover Town.

At the end of their journey, when Moebius has been defeated, Setsuna decides to follow Soular and Westar back to Labyrinth in order to make it a happy place, just like how Love and Clover Town made her happy. Before she leaves, she attends and wins the dance competition with the rest of Clover.

However, Setsuna appears in the Pretty Cure All Stars series from DX2 and onward, hinting that she comes to visit Love, Miki, and Inori every once in a while.

Relationships
Momozono Love : At the Beginning, Eas and Cure Peach are arch enemies in the battle and ultimately desires to destroy Love. Eas has a mission: to spy on Pretty Cure by using her Setsuna Higashi form to get closer to them, specifically Love. While she spend time with Love and her friends as Love showed her happiness in Clover town she develops a friendship with the Pretty Cures and it was making her begin open up to her, although to her, it feels like something is breaking inside. Love loves Setsuna/Eas as a friend and never suspect her as her arch enemy, until she discover Setsuna is Eas, she was shocked and gotten depressed. But she believes Eas is not evil. Soon after Eas' death/resurrection, she was happy to see Setsuna is no longer evil and revealed to be the fourth Pretty Cure, Cure Passion. She immediately accepted her as a Pretty Cure, but Cure Passion decline because of her past, but soon accepted to become a Pretty Cure. She is welcomed to Love's home and became the adoptive daughter of Momozono family. Now she is Happy as long as she is fully friends with Love and the Pretty Cures.

Moebius : Eas was only loyal to Moebius at first and only follows his commands, which may often be seen as an obsession. Although the Nakisakebe card is taking away her life, she is still grateful that Moebius has entrusted her the card, and is willing to sacrifice her life to use it. Now that Setsuna became a Pretty Cure, she stopped being his loyal servant and enemies with him. Soular has also noted that, although Eas has become Higashi Setsuna, she still cannot live without him, a fact that may become a burning point later.

Westar : Westar is the one most concerned about Setsuna, as he tried to get her back on their side after she became a part of Pretty Cure, though Setsuna thinks that he only wants her back because of the new power she now possesses as a Cure. Especially after witnessing him attacking the citizens, she gains a antagonistic relationship toward him. Soon when Westar and Soular no longer serve Moebius and revived, they became friends again, good friends.

Eas
"I am Eas, denizen of Labyrinth, and faithful servant of Lord Moebius!" 我が名はイース. ラビリンス総統、メビウス様がしもべ！ ''Wa ga na wa Īsu. Rabirinsu soutou, Mebiusu-sama ga shimobe!''

Eas (イース) is the original part of Setsuna, and the one that represents her past as a Labyrinth member. Eas was very stubborn and had a great part of pride, refusing to admit defeat to her partners or let them help her. When meeting Cure Peach the first time, Eas swore to be her enemy by telling that they would meet again. Since then, Eas tried her best to defeat Pretty Cure, and in the end, asked Moebius for his help. At her last days, she was given the Nakisakebe cards, since it was obvious that Pretty Cure were getting stronger, and that she herself was having doubts about Labyrinth's goals.

When Eas' body died and her life energy was sacrificed for Labyrinth's goal, Akarun was summoned by Chiffon and entered her body. This caused her to be revived as Cure Passion. After that, it does not seem like Setsuna can become Eas anymore. She herself has decided that she will never again be helping Labyrinth, so it is possible she still has the ability to transform, but does not want to.

Cure Passion
"The scarlet heart is the proof of happiness! Freshly ripened, Cure Passion!" 真っ赤なハートは幸せの証！熟れたてフレッシュ、キュアパッション！ ''Makka no haato wa shiawase no akashi! Uretate furesshu, Kyua Passhon!''

Cure Passion (キュアパッション) did not appear until episode 23. In order to find out who she was, the other girls had to find the Akarun. Cure Passion's theme color is red/crimson/scarlet and is possibly the strongest of Fresh Pretty Cure.

Cure Passion can use the attack Happiness Hurricane, and, unlike the other Cures, does not need to get to know Chiffon better in order to summon Akarun and the Passion Harp, though she does not yet have any Fresh upgrade. Later, half-throughout the season, Pretty Cure use the power of the Clover Box to use the group attack Lucky Clover Grand Finale, in which Cure Passion transfers her powers into the Happiness Leaf.

Cure Angel
"The white heart is the heart of everyone! Freshly flapping, Cure Angel!" ホワイトハートはみんなの心！羽ばたけフレッシュ、キュアエンジェル！ ''Howaito haato wa minna no kokoro! Habatake Furesshu, Kyuaenjeru!''

Cure Angel (キュアエンジエル) is a second Cure form Pretty Cure gains in the series thanks to the people of Labyrinth. When transforming, the four-leaf clover brooch accquires a fifth white leaf, representing the final transformation. Cure Angel Passion's clothes resemble Cure Passion's, but has a longer dress and different leggings, as well as wings. Her wings can act like a shield.

In this Cure form, Cure Angel Passion is capable of flying in fast speed, and has a powered up strength. Together with everyone else, she can use the attacks Loving True Heart and Loving True Heart Fresh.

Cure Rainbow Passion
Cure Rainbow Passion (キュアレインボー・パッション) is an upgrade Cure Passion gains in Pretty Cure All Stars DX 2: Kibou no Hikari - Rainbow Jewel o Mamore!. Together with the others' upgrades, the group of the seventeen Cures form the group Cure Rainbow. This upgraded outfit resembles that of Cure Angel in the season's finale, except with a pair of small, golden wings instead of white ones.

Transformation
'''Change, Pretty Cure! Beat up!''' - "Change, Pretty Cure! Beat up!" is the official transformation phrase used by Setsuna to transform into Cure Passion in Fresh Pretty Cure.

First, she opens her Linkrun, touches the button and the screen glows red. She shouts, "Change, Pretty Cure..." and her hair ornaments disappear. She puts her foot down and shouts, "...Beat up!" and sinks down into water. Her brooch appears, followed by her dress. Then her hair color changes from dark purple to pink. Her boots, wristbands and earrings then appear. Then Cure Passion lands on the ground and recites her introductory speech.

To transform into Cure Angel, she shouts, "Change, Pretty Cure! Beat up!" and her normal Pretty Cure outfit disappears. She stars to spin around and white light creates her dress, shoes, wristbands and angel wings for her. Then, she recites her introductory speech with the rest of the Angel cures.

Attack
Happiness Hurricane - Cure Passion summons her Passion Harp and recites the first half of the incantation. She lights up the strings on the harp, then gives the harp a downward stroke. The double heart-shaped adornment lights up, and she summons a flurry of feathers as she recites the second half of the incantation. Declaring the attack, she begins spinning as a storm of hearts and angel feathers surround the opponent. Passion stops spinning and thrusts the harp upward. As she spins the harp around, the enemy becomes purified in a red heart-shaped bubble with hearts surrounding the bubble.

Etymology
Higashi (東): Translates to east, an obvious reference to her alter ego of Eas. Hayato, Shun and Nayuta each also have surnames referring to the other three cardinal directions.

Setsuna (せつな): A variety of different meanings can be given to this name, particularly since it is written in hiragana and not kanji, therefore making it difficult to find an exact meaning. One possibility is that it refers to the word setsuna (刹那 / せつな), meaning moment; instant. Some fans believe this to be the case because, like Hayato and Shun's names, it refers to speed or something that occurs quickly.

Her name means "east moment."

Cure Passion: Refers to the passion fruit, the alternative name of the fruit passiflora edulis, following the pattern of naming Cures after fruits in Fresh Pretty Cure!.

Eas: Comes from the word east. She, like Soular, Westar and Northa, is named after one of the four cardinal directions of the compass. Currently, it is unknown if there is a specific reason that she was named after this particular direction.

Songs
Setsuna's voice actor, Komatsu Yuka, has participated in several image songs for the character she voices. Many of them include duets with Kitamura Eri, who voices Aono Miki, and Nakagawa Akiko, who voices Yamabuki Inori.
 * Egao no Hana. Kokoro no Chuu.
 * Mirai no Kimi e

Duets

 * Dreaming Flowers (Along with Oki Kanae, Kitamura Eri, Nakagawa Akiko, and also Iizuka Mayumi)
 * Happiness Wonder land ~Egao no Okurimono~ (Along with Oki Kanae, Kitamura Eri, Nakagawa Akiko, and also M*Cube)

Trivia

 * Out of the four Fresh! Cures, Cure Passion is the one who's costume resembles the original Pretty Cure the most. This fact may be the reason Akarun has a ribbon; the ribbons used to be one of the original Pretty Cure's trademarks.
 * Cure Passion's symbol has not been seen, though, as the three other Cures use the suit symbols heart, spade and diamond, many believe that Cure Passion's symbol is the club.
 * Cure Passion is the only Pretty Cure in Fresh Pretty Cure! who does not introduce her heart's color in English; instead she says makka (真っ赤), which is translated to "scarlet" or "crimson".
 * It should also be noted that she is the only one who does not say "the symbol of" (の印), but rather "the proof of" (の証). It is a possibility that it is a pun toward her color theme, as the "aka" is pronounced, though not written, like the Japanese word "aka" (赤), which means "red".
 * Eas was the first female antagonist to become a true part of Pretty Cure.
 * Cure Passion is the only Pretty Cure who have not received a Cure Stick from Chiffon, although, she also didn't receive the Passion Harp from Chiffon either.
 * Setsuna has the most drastic change in hair color out of all the other Cures in Fresh Pretty Cure! during her transformation, going from dark purple to pink.
 * Cure Passion is the second Pretty Cure to have red as her theme color, after Cure Rouge.
 * Setsuna and Ellen have many similarities:
 * Both were once enemies of the Pretty Cure but later turned good and became Pretty Cure themselves.
 * Both have dark purple hair in their civilian forms.
 * Both have different attack weapons than the other Cures in the seasons.
 * Both fitted in quickly when they first started going to school.
 * For the Pretty Cure All Stars DX3 Movie Character Polls held by Toei Animation, Cure Passion appeared in the following rankings:
 * 6th in "Favorite Pretty Cure"
 * 7th in "The Pretty Cure you want to team up with most"
 * 4th in "The Pretty Cure you want to be most"
 * She is the first Pretty Cure to have no blood relatives.
 * Setsuna is the fourth Pretty Cure to be excellent in academics.
 * Setsuna is the fifth Pretty Cure to be good at sports.
 * Setsuna is the first Pretty Cure to be good at studies and sports in school.
 * Her birthday is estimated to be either June 12th or 13th.
 * In Fresh Pretty Cure's video game trailer, before her Passion Harp forms, it takes a shape of club. In the same trailer Setsuna's background is also filled with clubs, which may refer to her symbol.
 * In her picture from Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage 2, her choker is miscolored as black instead of white.
 * Setsuna appears as Cure Passion at the beginning of the third episode of Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! to do her 10th anniversary congratulatory message.
 * Cure Passion was the first Cure in the Pretty Cure franchanise to have a different outfit than the rest of her team members, despite being an official Cure. (Shiny Luminous and Milky Rose weren't proper Cures).
 * Setsuna dislikes green peppers.
 * Cure Passion is possibly the strongest Cure in the Fresh! series, possibly because she was powerful before as well (as Eas).
 * Cure Passion is the only Cure in the whole Pretty Cure franchanise to have pink hair even though she's not a lead cure.
 * Also, she is the only red Pretty Cure who doesn't have red hair in her cure form.
 * Setsuna sppears to have the ability to see objects or people that are far away; this was shown in Episode 32 when Setsuna points out that Tarte looks like his mother even though she was standing very far away from the King and Queen's thrones; and also how the other Cures couldn't see the King and Queen in that distance but Setsuna could.
 * It's unknown if it was Akarun's powers that allowed Setsuna to see far away or if that Setsuna already had that ability before.
 * Cure Passion was the first Cure that has the ability to teleport with Akarun's power, followed by Cure Honey and her attack, Honey Teleport.
 * The minor character Chika from the same series bears a strong resemblance to her. Both having medium long, dark purple hair, pale skin and red eyes; additionally, Chika wears a red pajama, fitting to Setsuna's color scheme.

Gallery
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