Team/Season: Fresh Pretty Cure
Number of Cures: 4
Members: Cure Peach (Love Monozono), Cure Berry (Miki Aono), Cure Pine (Yamabuki Inori), Cure Passion (Higashi Setsuna)
Link to character pages on TV Tropes: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/FreshPrettyCure
Fresh Pretty Cure is known for bringing many new things that would end up saving and revamping Japan's phenomenal magical girl franchise and the team, in terms of dynamic, is no different. The initial three protagonists we start off with are Love, Miki, and Inori. Rather than becoming friends after being able to transform into Pretty Cure, they are already friends to begin with. On top of that, they all attend to different schools within the town. They all look somewhat older and taller, nearly comparable to the Sailor Moon scouts, and they all have different career goals. Technically, the last part isn’t that new but the main point is that we have a set of friends who are super tight despite their different characteristics and locations before transforming into the legendary warriors. Due to this, one would assume the interactions would be super boring due to being friends from the start, right? Surprisingly, no. From the fact that they are BBFs prior to the season, this means that the team already know each other’s personalities and quirks. As a result, we get to see these how friends work out with each other even before and after becoming super heroines. One example is how Love and Miki admire Inori so much, they nicknamed her Buki and another is that due to the amount of respect Love and Inori had for Miki, they weren’t against the fact about her pursuing her big chance in becoming a top model over being a Cure nor were they harsh on the fact she lost the Clover Box, knowing it was her fault albeit the fact it was unintentional and it happened due to a kind act helped. Probably the best example of this is after figuring out Setsuna is Eas, Miki rightfully pointed out about how she’s a member of Labyrinth and was quite angry with the fact she fooled her friend’s heart while protesting that she’s the enemy as a result but Love doesn’t believe that and went to fight Eas alone. Miki and Inori, knowing who her friend is since their youth shed tears knowing what she was really trying to do during that battle. Speaking of which, Sestuna was a natural addition to the Fresh Cure team. Initially being devoted to Mobius, it was after hanging out with the Cure team for a while that she became utterly confused until Love helped her. Of course, after dying and becoming a Pretty Cure, she didn’t think she deserved such an opportunity but Love invited her to family with open arms like a sister, while Buki and Inori as share some rather tender moments with her. Hanging out with these girls have made Setsuna more open and happy as a result, into the point her eyes are filled with more life and she also developed her own quirks such as not liking peppers and being abit too annoyed with the fact Tart ate all the ice cream. Because of this, she is harbors just admiration for her new friends as vice versa.
As Pretty Cure, the Fresh Cures excels in physical attack combinations. From pulling the Double Pretty Cure Punch to the Quandruple Pretty Cure kick. A few Cure teams afterwards would occasionally use similar attacks but the Fresh Cures remains dominant in this aspect. Peach, being the pink Cure, is the leader but it feels abit more natural than most since her teammates already knew her beforehand. She specializes in punching and her match with the Bruce Lee doll in the movie definitely shows that with her static counter punch. Pine is known to have great stamina and due to her heart and animal specialty, she’s usually left in charge with dealing corrupted animals. Berry is the Cure who excel in kicking and while she’s not as intelligent as some other Blue Cures, she still proven to be rather cunning and deceptive. This is seen with her match against Soular when trying to retrieve the Clover Box from him, seemingly was about to use her Espoir Shower Fresh but faked it in order to drop his guard. Passion is a Cure who’s quick on her feet and her head. With her ability to teleport, she’s a difficult Cure to keep up with. Thanks to the fact she was a former henchmen of Mobius, she was able to provide some intel about how his faction operates. The team's sync is really put on the test on the episode where Miyuki decided to train the Cure's after facing a new adversary, Northa. It wither at first due to the Cures being frustrated from the lack of progress but as soon the Cures acknowledge their common goal in protecting Chiffon and stopping Labyrinth's conquest, it became stronger than ever, enabling the Cures to obtain a new Team Attack called Lucky Clover Grand Finale. While probably the one of longest in terms of sequences, it’s still a great attack to watch and one of the better animated ones. Prior to this attack and Setsuna joining the fray, their team attack would be Triple Fresh. As you would have guessed, it involves the initial trio using their special attacks all at once, giving the enemy a triple dose.
True to the season’s name, this team’s friendship is a fresh new take on the franchise. From an already established friendship without the need of transforming into Pretty Cure, to having a former enemy being a new friend and ally in the process. Much like the fruits the Cures are based from, they were ripened, picked, gathered, and harvested to make one lovely fruit basket.
Pretty Cure Team Rank: A
Link to analysis of the members:
Cure Peach: https://prettycure.fandom.com/f/p/3100000000000004687
Cure Pine: https://prettycure.fandom.com/f/p/3100000000000004334
Cure Berry: https://prettycure.fandom.com/f/p/3100000000000004128
Cure Passion: https://prettycure.fandom.com/f/p/3100000000000005024
Other Precure Teams: https://prettycure.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:Dino_Ranger_Black/Analysis_and_Review_of_Pretty_Cure_Teams
