Midorikawa Nao

Midorikawa Nao is one of the main Cures in Smile Pretty Cure!. She is a plucky girl with a strong sense of justice, and has no tolerance for wrongdoers. An older sister-type, she is popular even with the girls. While tough, she also has a feminine side, as she loves cute things. Excellent at sports, she is part of the girls' soccer team. Her alter ego is Cure March (キュアマーチ).

Personality
Nao is said to have a strong sense of justice and does not easily forgive one's wrong actions. She is also known for her exceptional courage. Also she has a fear of bugs that was revealed when the cures were shrunk by Majorina's Turn me small.

Meeting Miyuki
Nao meets Miyuki for first time in Episode 1, when Akane introduces her for Miyuki. Later in Episode 4, Nao plays soccer and Miyuki watches her game. Miyuki wants meet Nao, because she thinks Nao is Pretty Cure. Miyuki meets her when she is coming form Market. Nao calls Miyuki for dinner in her home. Miyuki meets Nao's brothers and sisters and they become friends.

Becoming Cure March
Nao found Hoshizora Miyuki while returning home from grocery shopping. After Miyuki offered to carry the bags, Nao invited Miyuki to lunch at her house. Miyuki was impressed because Nao can cook. When Nao's brothers start to annoy Miyuki; she runs out of the kitchen with a wooden cooking spoon yelling at them to stop bullying her.Later, Miyuki and Nao are watching her siblings play soccer when Akane and Yayoi, who is holding Candy, show up. The Midorikawa Siblings decide to have a soccer challenge against Miyuki, Akane and Yayoi, but as they started the challenge, Akaoni appears. Akaoni decides to collect Bad Energy from them.When Cure Happy is caught in the Akanbe, Nao wakes up. She then identifies Miyuki, Akane, and Yayoi. The Akanbe flys toward Nao's siblings, intending to hurt them. Nao stops it in time by kicking a soccer ball at it. When she yells that she will not let her family bonds be destroyed; she transforms.Now Cure March, she goes after the Akanbe, but instead runs into a wall. This makes Akaoni fall because of the impact since she could not slow down. She is still surprised by becoming a Cure.Nao finishes the Akanbe with her basic attack, March Shoot.After everything has gone back to normal; her siblings are playing soccer again. She thanks Miyuki and the others and asks Miyuki if she can join their team as well as asking to them to call her Nao. In Episode she gets new power, Tiara Mode and uses new group attack, "Rainbow Healing" with other girls.

Relationships
Hino Akane - The two seem to share a close friendship; possibly due to their similar personalities and are often seen together.

Cure March


"Courage rinrin, a clear-cut match! Cure March!" "勇気リンリン直球勝負！キュアマーチ！" "Yuuki rinrin chokkyu shoubu! Kyua Māchi!" Cure March (キュアマーチ) is Nao's Pretty Cure alter ego. Cure March has the power of Wind, which grants her the ability to run at super speed. She is the fastest in terms of speed out of the 5 Smile! Cures, and can run up and along vertical walls.

Her basic attack is March Shoot. In the Ep.12, she gains the Miracle Jewel Decors to transform her into Tiara Mode and combine her power with the other cures to use their group attack, Rainbow Healing. In Ep. 23. she gained a Decor to transform her into her Princess Mode and have the Princess Candle to combine her power with the other precures to perform their second group attack, Rainbow Burst.

Appearance
Out of the 5 girls, Nao is the tallest in terms of height. She has dark green hair worn in a ponytail at the top of her head with a yellow bow and bangs parted down the middle. Her eyes are a dark shade of green. Her casual outfit consists of a 3/4 long-sleeved yellow-green button-down shirt with multiple decorative badges, olive khaki shorts, orange socks and black boots with red laces. Her summer outfit consists of a short-sleeved light green blouse, a blue short denim skirt, khaki socks and light brown shoes. She wears her school uniform with a green tie and a pale green sleeveless pullover.

As Cure March, Nao's hair becomes bright green and much longer. The side of her bangs curl in towards her face, and her back hair is worn in a very long ponytail held with a gold barrette with an angel wing attached. Part of her hair is also worn in high twintails held up with smaller yellow barrettes. She wears her tiara on her forehead, and her earrings on the helix of her ears. Her outfit is mainly light green, with dark green 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 green frilly piece. Her arm protectors are elbow length with light green folds on top and dark green ribbons at both the wrists and elbows. Her boots are short, with light green legwawrmers, tipped with green as well as her heels, and small dark green bows.

In Tiara mode, her white tiara is replaced by a golden crown worn in the center of her head. The centerpiece of her tiara is a green jewel, and the angel wing on her barrette turns golden as well. Her white angel wing earrings are replaced by gold ribbon-shaped earrings with green hearts in the center, and she now wears them on her earlobes.

Transformation
'''Pretty Cure! Smile Charge! '''- "Pretty Cure! Smile Charge!" is the official transformation phrase used by Nao to transform into Cure March.

The Smile Pact opens first and Nao sets her ribbon Cure Decor piece into the recess. This causes her individual light to light up first, followed by the seven lights inside the Smile Pact in sequence. A background voice asks, "Ready?" and in response, Nao shouts out, "Pretty Cure! Smile Charge!" The Smile Pact produces a powder puff, which she taps on the Smile Pact to collect up magic powder. Nao uses her puff to draw a triangle of magic powder, which then explodes into wind that forms her arm protectors, shoes and dress. Her hair lengthens as its color shifts from dark green to light green. Lastly, she pats the powder puff onto her cheeks to give a rosy glow. After transforming, Cure March flies down from the sky, lands on her feet and recites her introductory speech.

Attack
March Shoot - Cure March first charges up her Smile Pact with fighting spirit, making it glow and granting her power. When enough fighting spirit has been collected, the Smile Pact explodes with wind energy that lifts Cure March off the ground and into theair. March then compresses the wind into a ball and kicks it at the enemy soccer-style.

Etymology
Midorikawa (緑川) - 緑 means "green", while 川 means "river".

Nao (なお) - Nao has the meaning of "straight", as in "straightforward". In Episode 19, it was revealed that her father Genji gave her this name, because he wishes to bring her up to be a straightforward person.

Cure March - Cure March's name could refer to the fact that the month of March marks the beginning of Spring in the northern hemisphere in meteorology. This relationship to Spring could explain her name and theme colour. There is also a general assumption that March is the windiest month of the year therefore establishing a link between her name and power over wind. It could also do with the fact that marching is related to courage, which is what her personality shows.

Cure March

 * In her introductory speech, Cure March says "rinrin", which has multiple meanings. Rinrin can mean "severe" or "intense", which corresponds with Nao's personality. It can also mean "piercing and cold", which may be a reference to March's power over wind.
 * March is only the second full-fledged green Cure, the first being Mint from Yes! Pretty Cure 5.
 * March is the first Cure to sport a ponytail and twintails simultaneously.
 * March is the second Cure to have her earrings on the helix instead of the earlobe, the first being [Cure Sunny].
 * March is the only Cure from her team to have a tiara over her forehead instead of on her head. She is the third Cure overall to have a tiara over her forehead, the first being Milky Rose from Yes! Pretty Cure 5: GoGo!, and the second being Cure Muse from Suite Pretty Cure♪.
 * March is the second Cure to control wind after Windy from Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star.
 * March is the first Cure that was shocked about her transformation twice.
 * March is similar to Sailor Jupiter from Sailor Moon because:
 * Both have green as their theme color.
 * Both wear their hair in a ponytail.
 * Both are tomboys.
 * Both are shown to be very good with children.
 * In the June issue of magazine Animage, an interview with one of the producers revealed that March was initially designed as a Purple Cure, but was changed to Green later on. The reason for the change was because green matched the other Cures' colors better to create a "bright rainbow" scheme.
 * When the first pictures of the Smile Cures were leaked, Cure March was constantly compared to Trip from Power Rangers Time Force, due to both having green hair and forehead gems, and despite the fact that they were complete opposites in terms of personality. Even now, the comparisions remain, but to a lesser extent than earlier.

Nao

 * Nao is the third Cure to play soccer, following Natsuki Rin from Yes! Pretty Cure 5 and Hojo Hibiki from Suite Pretty Cure♪.
 * Nao is the Cure with the most number of siblings in the entire franchise.
 * Nao shares her surname, hairstyle, appetite and skill at soccer with Midorikawa Ryuuji from Inazuma Eleven.
 * Nao is the only Smile! Cure to have recieved her powers while in casual clothes. The others all recieved their powers while in school clothes (Miyuki, Yayoi and Reika in their school uniforms and Akane in her sports attire).
 * It is shown in Episode 11 that Nao is afraid of insects and heights.
 * Just like Takatsuki Yayoi from The [mailto:iDOLM@STER iDOLM@STER], they have many siblings . And their parents are always out doing work.
 * Nao's voice actress, Marina Inoue, has also voiced other lead characters such as Seno Natsuru from Kampher and Miyamoto Rei from High School of the Dead