Hojo Hibiki

Hojo Hibiki is one of the main Cures of Suite Pretty Cure♪, along with her childhood friend, Minamino Kanade. Like Misumi Nagisa, Hibiki has a bright personality and excels at sports, but is often not too good in school work. Despite both her parents being musically-inclined, Hibiki thinks that she has no musical talent at all, but she works hard at perfecting her piano playing. She also loves to eat sweet things, especially the cakes from Kanade's family shop. Hibiki's alter ego is Cure Melody (キュアメロディ). She uses the pink Fairy Tone Dory to transform. Her catchphrase is "I'm betting my pride as a woman on this!".

Early Life
When Hibiki and Kanade were young, they used to be best friends and played together all the time. They used to go to an old church to listen to music and sing together. At some point, Hibiki also played a lot of piano, which she had a great talent in. However, she spent little time with her parents, who were busy in their own music work. One day, she and her father were to go to the amusement park, but she was asked by him to play an unexpected concert, which she did without failure. She was excited to go to the park, but her father told her that her music was not real, and that she had to discover the answer by herself. Traumatized, she cried to Kanade and claimed that she would never play music again, never explaining this further to her friend.

Hibiki and Kanade's friendship changed at their school entrance ceremony. Hibiki and Kanade made a promise to go to school together under the cherry blossom trees. After waiting under the cherry blossom trees for Kanade, who never showed up, Hibiki gave up and went to school by herself. Then she saw Kanade hanging out with other people and incorrectly assumed that she completely forgot about their promise. In reality, they had misunderstood each other and waited under different trees.

Becoming a Cure
When Hibiki goes to visit the old church she and Kanade used to play in, she meets Ellen, who then transforms back into Siren, who looks into Hibiki's heart and sees her emblem, a G Clef, which she tries to steal. Hibiki runs out of the church, but is blocked by Trio the Minor. They are interrupted by Hummy, who falls from the sky with the Fairy Tones. Kanade, who comes to church so she can listen to the record she and Hibiki once enjoyed together, walks in. Siren notices that she too has a G Clef emblem and attempts to steal the clefs of both girls with Trio the Minor, only to be blown away. Siren then turns Kanade's record, a symbol of Hibiki and Kanade's childhood friendship, into a Negatone, angering both girls and activating their emblems, which become Cure Modules. Hummy tells them that they are the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure, and that by transforming they can get the record back. Wishing to turn the record back to normal, Hibiki transforms into Cure Melody, and Kanade into Cure Rhythm.

The newly-established Pretty Cure try to fight the Negatone, but cannot harmonize and end up detransforming. Siren, Trio the Minor and the Negatone leave the battle, mocking the girls. Hummy tells them about the conflict between Major Land and Minor Land, and that in order to use their powers as Pretty Cure, Hibiki and Kanade must be in harmony. To Hibiki's disappointment, Kanade leaves them, saying that she is not suited to be a Pretty Cure, and Hibiki explains the reason why they are no longer friends to Hummy.

The next day, Hibiki and Kanade see a little girl, crying under the same cherry blossom tree Hibiki waited for Kanade in the past. Kanade leads them both to another tree, where the little girl's friend is waiting. Hibiki is then explained to that the same happened to them; Kanade was waiting under another tree, but eventually had to go with some other girls to class. Suddenly, the villains and the Negatone reappear, and the girls decide to try once more to fight them. Their hearts now in harmony, they manage to defeat the Negatone, return the record, and acquire a scattered note. After the battle, the two girls are determined to protect Kanon Town and collect the scattered notes in order to protect the happiness in people's hearts.

After becoming a Pretty Cure, she and Kanade are now best friends again, but Siren is causing trouble to make them have a rift and split because their friendship is the source of their powers of beating them, but if both of them have trouble, then they would lose. Her plans worked but failed in the end when the 2 work it out and fight together against her. Not only she finally recouncile her Best friend, but finally love music again when she finally understands why her father told her that her music is not good, if she only put joy into it, then the music is better and played piano and practiced with Kanade who wants to do Piano too.

In Ep.20, Kanade and Hibiki noticed that Hummy was acting different and don't know why. When they meet Souta and Ako again, they said that they saw a black cat and a white Kitten together. Now the Precures know why Hummy was acting different and discovered she is being tricked by Siren. They tried to tell Hummy, but Hummy didn't believe them and believes that Siren is her friend. Later, Hummy gathered the Fairy Tones and go to see Siren, but Dory and Rery found Hibiki and Kanade managed to find Hummy. Suddenly, the 3 Minors found Hummy and Siren and the jar that carried the Notes and turned the Jar into a Negatone. Hibiki and Kanade transformed into Pretty Cures to beat the Negatone, but the Negatone is filled with so much Notes, they cannot beat it's stregenth. But Siren tricked the notes in the Negatone to turn against each other and the Precures destroyed it with their final attack. All the notes were back in the the Fairy Tones and gave them to Siren, but Siren took them all and told Hummy that she only tricked her to give her the notes and flew to Minor Land. Hibiki and Kanade were helpless and in despair, but Hummy believed that Siren is still her friend.

When Mephisto decided to bring the Melody of Saddeness, he transformed the town square into a concert and gave out a Pulse of bad music to make the people go away. Hummy was in an alley calling to Aphrodite that she believes in Siren and left to practice her singing. Hibiki and Kanade found her running after speaking to Aphrodite and tried to chase her, until Aphrodite stopped them by shouting. When they met her, they thinked she was beautiful and realized she was the Queen, Aphrodite. She introduced herself and told them that Hummy still believes in Siren and she'll go back to normal. Hibiki and Kanade can't believe it that they had to believe in Siren, even though she did something horrible. Aphrodite asked if one of them turned evil, will they stop believing in each other. Hibiki and Kanade said no and Aphrodite said that Hummy is like that and still believes in her. They got to the town square, they saw the Legendary Score and the worst concert is almost starting. Hibiki and Kanade don't know what to do without Dory and Rery, but then Mesphisto appeared and kidnapped Hummy and on the top of the Tower and the Fairy Tones were in there. Mesphisto said that if they do anything, he'll hurt Hummy. Hibiki and Kanade had no choice but to stand and let the world be in sorrows. Just as Siren was going to sing the Melody of Sorrows, Hummy told her that they're bestfriends and everything is going to be all right and began to sing making Siren touched and Hummy reached her feelings to her. Mephisto was mad and in one snap, she was listening to bad sounds in her ear plugs hurting and Siren, Hibiki, and Kanade were now worried and scared. Siren then used her claws at the Score and the Notes were released. Mephisto was shocked and summoned Negatone. His voice blew the Notes to the tower and turned it into a Negatone. It then started to move and Hummy was falling. The Fairy Tones were pushing the cage to the window and Hummy crashed on the cage and it broked causing the Fairy tones to break free and then freed Hummy from the rope while falling and Hibiki caught her. Now the Fairy Tones are here, Dory and Rery transformed Hibiki and Kanade into Pretty Cure and battled the Tower, but it has so many Notes filled inside that they couldn't beat it. Siren was full of fear and seeing Hummy was now being hurt and about to be captured by the 3 Minors. Siren yelled at them not to make Hummy suffer. Suddenly, her pendant glowed and destroyed causing a light for Siren to become a Precure and saved Hummy. Suddenly, she was shocked of becoming a Pretty Cure that she ran away and met The Masked Cure and Dodory told her that she became a Precure because she wanted to save Hummy and that a Precure couldn't run away. Then showed Siren the direction on how Cure Melody and Cure Rhythm are doing. They were down, but stood up and can't run away. They fought the Negatone again and used their attacks together and defeated the Negatone and all Notes are in the Fairy Tones. Mephisto fled with the Score and his Minions. The Precures cheered and hugged each other. Hummy wondered where Siren is.

Appearance
Hibiki has dark blue eyes and waist-length orange hair, part of which she ties up into twintails at the top of her head with long pink ribbons. She normally dresses in a black dress-like top, with long white sleeves, a pattern of pink hearts on the front, and pink frills at the sleeves and bottom of the dress. She also wears long black leggings and white/pink sports shoes.

In summer,

As Cure Melody, her hair becomes longer and more curly, changing to a bright pink, styled into twintails and secured with braids. Her eyes become a lighter and brighter shade of blue. She wears a white headband with a dark pink ribbon. Her costume is a mix of dark pink, light pink and white, featuring lots of ribbons and frills. Her dress shares many similarities with Cure Rhythm's, the only differences being that her costume bares the midriff, her sleeves are frilly instead of puffy, and the ribbon on her skirt is on her left hip instead of the right. She also wears dark pink thigh-high stockings with white stripes, and dark pink/white shoes with light pink ribbons. She is the only Cure in this series with a midriff-baring costume.

As Super Cure Melody in the movie Pretty Cure All Stars DX 3: Mirai ni Todoke! Sekai wo Tsunagu☆Niji-Iro no Hana, her dress becomes a full one-piece, and her skirt lengthens down to her feet. Her leggings become purple, and her shoes and the ribbon on her headband white. Her arm protectors extend up to her upper arms and become white as well. Her hair becomes a much lighter pink, and she gains small golden wings on her back.

As Crescendo Cure Melody, her costume consists more of white and light pink. The ribbon on her headband and the sleeves of her top become feathery, and the upper layers of her skirt become longer and more flowy. Her leggings and shoes become white as well, with pink highlights. Her hair becomes a much lighter pink, and she gains large golden wings on her back, much like the Crescendo Fairy Tone.

Personality
Hibiki is a 14 year old, currently a 2nd year student at Private Aria Academy's 2A class. With a music teacher father and violinist mother, Hibiki has an uninhibited personality much like her parents. She is a bright girl and a bit of a klutz, but she hates losing more than anything else. She has a strong sense of justice, and dislikes underhanded tactics. On the other hand, Hibiki succumbs easily to loneliness, and enemies have successfully used her naive and unpretentious nature against her. However, this single-mindedness has allowed her great influence in bringing Ellen and Ako over to the Pretty Cure's side. As a single child, she is envious of Kanade, who has a little brother, and enthusiastically embraces Ako into her circle of friends, even before knowing that she is Cure Muse.

Hibiki loves eating, being especially weak towards sweet things. Before they became Pretty Cure, Hibiki often snuck into the Sweets Club kitchen to steal sweets, making Kanade angry. Her favourite food includes Kanade's family bakery, the Lucky Spoon's, cakes. Although she is outstanding at sports, she loves all kinds of sport too much to settle into one club, preferring to provide aid to any team that needs her help instead. She is not very good at her studies or cooking.

Cure Melody
"Strumming the wild tune, Cure Melody!" 爪弾くは荒ぶる調べ、キュアメロディ！ "Tsumabiku wa araburu shirabe, Kyua Merodi!" Cure Melody (キュアメロディ) is the alter Pretty Cure ego of Hibiki. She transforms using her Cure Module, along with Fairy Tone Dory.

Cure Melody and Cure Rhythm can perform an attack together called Passionate Harmony, though with the Miracle Belltier, she can perform Music Rondo, an individual purification attack. With Cure Muse's help Cure Melody is now able to use a powered up version known as Miracle Heart Arpeggio. Also, after Rhythm and herself settle their differences with each other, they are able to preform the group attack Music Rondo Super Quartet. This attack can be used when both Belltiers are in Crossrod mode.

Super Cure Melody
Super Cure Melody is Cure Melody's upgraded form in Pretty Cure All Stars DX 3: Mirai ni Todoke! Sekai wo Tsunagu Niji☆Iro no Hana. This form is achieved using the remaining powers of the Prism Flower and the Miracle Lights. Despite the upgrade, she can still perform Music Rondo.

Crescendo Cure Melody


"Strumming the tune of heart, Crescendo Cure Melody!" 爪弾くはこころのしらべ,クレッシェンドキュアメロディ！ "Tsumabiku wa kokoro no shirabe, Kuresshendo Kyua Merodi!"

Crescendo Cure Melody is the upgraded form that Cure Melody attains, first in the movie Suite Pretty Cure♪ : Torimodose! Kokoro ga Tsunagu Kiseki no Melody!, and then in Episode 47. The Crescendo Tone is required for this transformation upgrade; in the TV series, as the Crescendo Tone was sealed up by Noise, the eight Fairy Tones Dory to Dodory combined to become the Crescendo Tone to allow the Cures to transform. In this form, the Cures can perform Suite Session Ensemble Crescendo Finale.

Relationships
Minamino Kanade is her childhood friend, and they used to sing and play together when they were children. However, a misunderstanding at the beginning of the school year caused them to break up, but they have since recovered and now work together to fight the villains.

Hummy lives with Hibiki, and they often have talks about Kanade or problems Hibiki has at the moment.

Masamune Ouji is a friend of Hibiki. Her father, Dan is his teacher so she might known him for a long time. Unlike the girls in her school and her best friend Kanade, she doesn't have a crush on him or fall into his looks.

Siren: Hibiki used to consider Siren as an enemy when she was still under the control of Minor Land, especially after she tricked Hummy into handing her all the Fairy Tones. However, after Ellen became a Pretty Cure, Hibiki did her best to make Ellen feel welcome.

Shirabe Ako and Hibiki often walk to school together, together with Kanade and Souta. Even though Ako often seemed cold and unfriendly, Hibiki enthusiastically embraced her into her circle of friends. After realizing that Ako is Cure Muse, Hibiki reached out to Ako to tell her that she was not alone, gaining Ako's trust so that she will fight alongside the other Cures.

Ethymology
響 (Hibiki) - The term hibiki means a sound, a ring, or an echo. Used as a verb, it can mean to resound/resonate.

北条 (Hōjō) - The term Hōjō can be split up into two. The hō means north, which would fit with the Cures having a cardinal direction in their names, while the jō means lines. It can be roughly translated into Northern Line. However, Hōjō is also a common surname in Japan.

Trivia

 * Hibiki is the first sporty Cure who has long hair.
 * Her hair has the second most dramatic color change, with Setsuna as the first with hair that changes from dark purple to pink. Hibiki's turns from orange to an intense pink.
 * She is the first lead cure to not have a crush on any one or any boy into her.
 * She is the second Cure to play soccer, after Natsuki Rin.
 * Cure Melody is the first Cure who wears her hair in pigtails/twintails without having blonde hair. She will eventually be followed by Cure Happy and, to a lesser extent, Cure March.
 * Cure Melody is the first lead Cure to have a midriff and not have a sequel.
 * Cure Melody is the second lead Cure to have a upgrade in a movie but which does not cover up the midriff, after Cure Dream
 * For the Pretty Cure All Stars DX3 Movie Character Polls held by Toei Animation, Cure Melody appeared in the following rankings:
 * 3rd in "Favorite Pretty Cure"
 * 3rd in "The Pretty Cure you want to team up with most"
 * 3rd in "The Pretty Cure you want to be most"
 * 3rd in "The Pretty Cure you want to bake with most"
 * In the Pretty Cure All Stars Suite Flower Card Collection, Hibiki is represented by the carnation, which symbolizes sensitivity and devotion in the Language of Flowers.